Haven't been on here in a while, too busy hunting and having other fun. I got a lot of help and advice on here last summer leading up to the season and wanted to share some of the results. Was definitely my best year so far in terms of success, experience and lessons learned.
First off did a 5 day hunt for the archery opener in an OTC unit in CA. Followed a ridge for 3 days over 15 miles almost all above 9000'. Glassed up over 10 bucks a few of which were very nice for this part of CA, put on quite a few stalks but never ended up with shots I was comfortable on. Also had found a good bear but lost it into thick timber before I could close the distance.
In Sept. I went to Idaho and hunted whitetail for the first time on a friends' property near Livingston. It was does only for me and on the 2nd day after a few decent opportunities trying to ambush deer from the ground, I reverted to my preferred spot and stalk and killed a doe. My brother also got his first deer and with a bow that I'd talked him into getting a few months prior.
Next was a horseback hunt in unit 17 which has a Sept. rifle hunt. It was my first time elk hunting and I learned a lot but in the end we only heard one bugle in a week though it should have been the peak of the rut and very little fresh elk sign. It was frustrating but a great experience. We lost a mule off the side of a mountain, spent 15 hours covering 25 miles of blowdown one day and all ended up beat down and smiling. Got really close to a mountain goat, saw some whitetail and on the last evening back at basecamp and with our legal hunting zone a few miles up and over the top of a ridge I gave it one last go and sprinted the 1000' feet up over the top for one last shot at it. In the fading light of the last day I had a nice bear materialize out of the timber at 70 yards. For the next few minutes I tried to parallel it and get a window through the thick trees but as quickly as it showed up it disappeared. It affirmed in my mind that the only way to ensure good luck is to put yourself out there as much as you can.
I went back to Idaho in November for another whitetail hunt with two buddies who'd never shot deer before. Our first plan got derailed by the outbreak of Blue Tongue they experienced earlier in the fall so we went to a backup area I'd picked out. Over the course of 4 days we saw well over 200 deer and were passing up multiple bucks. The ones we shot weren't big by any measure but we were stoked to all tag out on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th days. We put in the miles through the snow to get away from the ATV trails and were rewarded with fantastic hunting and long, steep packouts. Getting to watch both of them shoot their first deer and teach them to break down an animal was far more rewarding than shooting a deer myself. It was an epic trip.
As a side note, all three bucks had broken off tines and one was missing half its rack. Not sure how common this is for whitetail but I can only imagine the battles they'd gone through to cause that damage, sure we lost some points but the character of these fighter bucks was pretty cool.
December and January turned out to be the best duck season I've had to date. I've never been that serious into it but always have had fun giving it a go, this season I took it a bit more serious and was rewarded with consistent, good hunting. I shot my first limit and got my first banded bird, all on public land and not on refuges. Also put a number of people on their first birds.
I'm already making plans to head back to new parts of Idaho at least for 2 trips this fall. Though whitetail hunting was fun I much prefer mule deer country and will be going back for round 2 with the elk as well. Thanks again to this awesome community and for the help and advice I received.
First off did a 5 day hunt for the archery opener in an OTC unit in CA. Followed a ridge for 3 days over 15 miles almost all above 9000'. Glassed up over 10 bucks a few of which were very nice for this part of CA, put on quite a few stalks but never ended up with shots I was comfortable on. Also had found a good bear but lost it into thick timber before I could close the distance.
In Sept. I went to Idaho and hunted whitetail for the first time on a friends' property near Livingston. It was does only for me and on the 2nd day after a few decent opportunities trying to ambush deer from the ground, I reverted to my preferred spot and stalk and killed a doe. My brother also got his first deer and with a bow that I'd talked him into getting a few months prior.
Next was a horseback hunt in unit 17 which has a Sept. rifle hunt. It was my first time elk hunting and I learned a lot but in the end we only heard one bugle in a week though it should have been the peak of the rut and very little fresh elk sign. It was frustrating but a great experience. We lost a mule off the side of a mountain, spent 15 hours covering 25 miles of blowdown one day and all ended up beat down and smiling. Got really close to a mountain goat, saw some whitetail and on the last evening back at basecamp and with our legal hunting zone a few miles up and over the top of a ridge I gave it one last go and sprinted the 1000' feet up over the top for one last shot at it. In the fading light of the last day I had a nice bear materialize out of the timber at 70 yards. For the next few minutes I tried to parallel it and get a window through the thick trees but as quickly as it showed up it disappeared. It affirmed in my mind that the only way to ensure good luck is to put yourself out there as much as you can.
I went back to Idaho in November for another whitetail hunt with two buddies who'd never shot deer before. Our first plan got derailed by the outbreak of Blue Tongue they experienced earlier in the fall so we went to a backup area I'd picked out. Over the course of 4 days we saw well over 200 deer and were passing up multiple bucks. The ones we shot weren't big by any measure but we were stoked to all tag out on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th days. We put in the miles through the snow to get away from the ATV trails and were rewarded with fantastic hunting and long, steep packouts. Getting to watch both of them shoot their first deer and teach them to break down an animal was far more rewarding than shooting a deer myself. It was an epic trip.
As a side note, all three bucks had broken off tines and one was missing half its rack. Not sure how common this is for whitetail but I can only imagine the battles they'd gone through to cause that damage, sure we lost some points but the character of these fighter bucks was pretty cool.
December and January turned out to be the best duck season I've had to date. I've never been that serious into it but always have had fun giving it a go, this season I took it a bit more serious and was rewarded with consistent, good hunting. I shot my first limit and got my first banded bird, all on public land and not on refuges. Also put a number of people on their first birds.
I'm already making plans to head back to new parts of Idaho at least for 2 trips this fall. Though whitetail hunting was fun I much prefer mule deer country and will be going back for round 2 with the elk as well. Thanks again to this awesome community and for the help and advice I received.
