Grunter's 2004 Hunting Season

[Grunter]

Well, finally after 4 weeks of weekend hunting the porcupine hills we landed upon some good numbers of game. Our first scouting mission in August we saw 5 elk in different areas, mostly out of the forestry and five HUGE mulies - one ol' swayback and a group of bachelors that were looking good.

First weekend out, skunked.

Second weekend out, skunked but had a number of deer in the headlights :?

Third weekend out saw lots of mule deer high on top of the ridges only. Two great bucks on one ridge, pursued a group of does on another ridge. Pushed a blk bear down a quad trail wth my buddy's toyota - man those trucks are awesome! Oh - ya, this time I shot a skunk!

Fourth weekend out we saw a herd of 27 elk plus one invisibile yet vocal herd bull as well as 30+ mule deer and a young cougar. We called in a spike bull to about 50 yards on the wrong side of a fence but he wasn't legal anyway - just practicing our calls and watching the herd's behavior. The herd bull was unhappy with our challenges but left the spiker up to dealing with us. Called in two cows in the evening after sunset but they were too far from us across a pond - they really liked the Hoochie Mama. :lol:

Now I have to sit in remorse and prepare to leave tomorrow for 7 days at a training conference in Las Vegas and miss out on this weekend's hunt, so much for the elk rut! and likely miss out on the next weekend due to Thanksgiving!

[Grunter]

Managed to get out this past Saturday and even an early morning scouting mission before heading home for a Turkey hangover.

Lost out on our elk hotspot - cattle have moved in and the elk were no where to be seen. We're going to have to try and hit up some landowners now to try and get in on some leases.

We did have 3 encouraging but unsuccessful stalks on Mule Deer. They have become a lot more active in the past week - maybe they're starting to anticipate the rut, maybe there's just a lot more hunters out... don't know but we sure had some fun in the hills!

Still trying to find that forsaken Steeples Road... maybe one day!

[Grunter]

Despite the many reviews this story has already had (150+) I've pulled it off this journal simply because it was so long and it had a lot of typos in it since I was staggerinlgly wiped out when I typed it all in (took me almost 3 hours!)

I have submitted it as an article to Warden so it may or may not appear on the website as an article but until then you can go to following link to read about my most recent experience.

http://www.bowzone.ca/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=356

[scooter]

Thanks for the story Grunter! You're now published!! :smile: :smile: :smile:

http://www.bowzone.ca/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=356

Great story man! You all have to read it!!

[Grunter]

Well we had another great weekend without success. Walked into a herd of 23 elk - but no bulls (what a shocker)!

We were within 40 yards of the closest one that was feeding so we could have likely had two cows for dinner if we had draws for them this year.

Managed to cross a fence onto adjacent property... which we ended up finding out was not where we had access when the landowner showed up on his quad! Warning to everyone - be very sure of where you are and what boundaries you need to keep within! Even though this gentleman was respectful and didn't chase us off his place we did exchange names and then left his 1/2 section knowing full well that we didn't have pre-approved access for the day. He told us that he only lets in a few people and that nobody was in there so we could have stayed but it just didn't seem right. Nice guy though.

Same three 1/4 sections that we hunted had a fair amount of recent elk and deer sign - loads of tracks, many of them with dirt on top of the snow. Came across some fresh urine a couple of times (none of it was frozen even in the shade).

Ended up counting 20 mule deer all within 100 yards of us as we were walking mid-ridge tracking elk droppings and beds - 8 of them were mulie bucks, mostly forked horns but one very non-typical 5x4 with a weak left horn.

Went looking for elk elsewhere since deer were not open, but didn't find any. Talked to a CO we bumped into close to northside Bob Creek ranch (Chimney Road) and he said there is only a lot of moose in the area (HINT for the Moose Special License holders!)

On our way home we spotted another 20 or so mule deer on Riley Road and the #27, I believe only one was a small buck though.

[Grunter]

Well its official for me - no more hunting season... My last available day was this past Saturday and we saw nothing but freezing rain and fog... until driving home outside of our hunting area.

All in all it was an awesome season with a lot of experiences and one really amazing day with a herd of elk.

I leave this weekend for two weeks in Puerto Vallarta and I plan to go Deep Sea Fishing so hopefully I will have some interesting photos to share with those that may be interested!

[Grunter]

Well I'm back and sporting a great tan... but I sure missed hunting! Iwill never go anywhere on vacation from August - December ever again if I can help it!

The deep sea fishing didn't go as expected, maybe it was my lack of experience - or maybe the Mexicans don't quite have it figured out but I thought Deep Sea Fishing meant downriggers and sailfish not topwater baits dragging across the surface catching small tuna.

Anyway, here are a couple of pics of my lunker (Blue Fin Tuna) from Mexico. Pardon the hairdo - it is salty windy air after all!

http://www.exceladvantage.info/fishpic1.jpg

http://www.exceladvantage.info/fishpic2.jpg