Jon Boys 2018 Season Wrap Up

Jon Boy

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May 25, 2012
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Paradise Valley, MT
Another year, another wrap up thread. Once again a long winded wrap up but lots of great pics for you guys to scroll through, This year was a bit different for me as I only had a few days of archery season to hunt and only did 26 days a field, which is around a half to a third as normal. However I was able to experience some of the greatest hunts I've ever had and of those 26 days nearly all were days of productive, hard hunting. Some of my 50-75 day seasons I've had in the past had many days that were far less than productive so I was happy to make the most of my short season.

Out of the few days of archery hunting I had, only two are memorable with some elk sightings and slightly vocal elk, but no successful call ins. The first time in as long as I can remember that was the case.

Early October came and I found myself deep in the wilderness of Wyoming with 3 great friends from work. Two of which were Wyo residents holding general elk tags. Myself and another were just along for the ride and I wanted to experience an elk hunt in Wyoming. The hike in took us about 4 hours from the trailhead that had 20+ horse trailers at. That sign was fairly discouraging but we had a game plan to hunt the middle country, closer than the horse hunters were going to be, and farther than anyone wanted to hike. The hike ended up kicking our asses more than we thought considering we all had just got done with 5 months of toting heavy packs and gear. That evening we glassed many elk on the ridges just out of our responsible hunting distance but we were all eager to hunt our way down the ridge we had camped on.

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First light came and we started our hunt down the ridge. About an hour later we pop up over a rise to see two bulls looking to move out of the country. A few shots later and friend had his first elk. The work began as we broke the bull down and packed him back to our spike camp. We decided to grab our camp and one trip camp and bull out. 7.5 miles and 26 switch backs later we were back to the truck.

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Jon Boy

Jon Boy

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Paradise Valley, MT
Next up was opening week of the MT general season. My friend Greg and I gathered some intel on a spot we had heard of made the trip in there the night before the season. We hunted our way in and out over the weekend with only 2 smaller bulls being spotted and getting much farther from the truck than I should have. Sunday afternoon we were back to the truck meeting up with my good friend nick that drove out from Oregon just to tag along as he had filled two elk tags during archery season already. We then drove to my house to meet with another buddy, Dustin, to come up with Plan B and assemble a war party, becoming known as team Poleaxe.

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Monday late morning we drive to a trailhead that we had bear hunted in the spring and always wanted to try. We hiked in the 4 miles to our first spike camp.

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Full moon and warm weather had animals moving very little until last and first light. We decided the next morning we needed to relocate our camp before light to have a better glassing location. 5 Am came early and everyone was less than thrilled with me as I woke everyone up with a stern reminder that camp needed to be packed up and moving by 6 am :D

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We made it to our new camp location a little before light and we took the time to get tripods set up and coffee made. As the darkness gave way to light we slowly started picking up white mule deer butts but no bucks or elk. As the morning trickled on Nick and I split off a hundred yards from Greg and Dustin to cover a little bit different country.

An hour after first light Nick and I agreed we should try and cover some ground before everything bedded for the day. As we stood up to get Dustin and Greg, I glassed once more below us to see a blonde blanket appear over a ridge sporting 5 nice points per side. Knowing Dustin or Greg would be ecstatic with there first bull I told Nick to grab them while set up and doped my rifle. After ranging him I knew the bull was outside of Gregs comfortable range but will within Dustins. (Dustin and I shoot year round and regularly shoot each others rifles) The bull was getting ready to feed over into a different drainage and likely be gone forever. So Dustin slid right behind my rifle waited for the bull to turn broadside and made a great shot. The bull went 20 yards down the hill and Dustin sent another one into the bull, completely poleaxing him.

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We packed the bull back to our spike camp and had a quick bite to eat. We all decided we wanted to keep hunting and would pack the bull out the next day. Off we go deeper into the back country.
 
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Jon Boy

Jon Boy

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A little bit before dark Nick spotted a nice bachelor group of bucks with 2 nice bucks in it. We devise a stock and make our way to them. We had all agreed that Greg would be up first with hopes that we could double and Dustin would hang back to glass. As we crept close to the bucks last location, Nick and Greg went one way and i veered off to peer over a ledge. As soon as i crested the ledge the bucks appeared and had me pegged at 250 yards. With the bucks getting ready to bolt I had a split second to shoot and no time to grab Greg. The buck was down shortly and all I could think about was how I wanted my friend to shoot the deer but all understood the situation and were just as happy to see me fill my tag.

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We broke the buck down in the dark and packed him the 2.5 miles back to camp. With two animals down and our camp being in a ways we decided to pack the buck and camp out that night and get the bull the next day. 1 AM came and we finally made it to the trailhead. The next day with sore legs and heavy eyes we made our way in and out with the bull. 3 beers never kicked so hard as they did at the trailhead that afternoon!

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Jon Boy

Jon Boy

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Messages
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Paradise Valley, MT
We made it back to my house that night to come up with another game plan and crash hard. Greg and Dustin had to get back to work so it was just me and Nick. The next morning we re-pack our gear and send it on anther spot. Two hours later finds us at a new spike camp location with bulls spotted and a loose base on my rifle. Extremely frustrated, we hike back to the truck that night and drive home to get my spare rifle.

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The next morning we arrive at the trailhead well before light and are back at our spike camp as the sun is coming up. The same 4 bulls are where we left them. We put them to bed and catch some shut eye ourselves.

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That afternoon we work our way over to there last location and wait for them to feed out.

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Sure enough they feed out where we want them too. When the shooting is over the bull is down and I'm tagged out! We make it back to camp well after dark and finish the job over the next few days.

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An awesome end to a great week of HARD hunting. Seriously have never hunted so hard for so many days in a row. The rest of my season consisted of looking for new elk spots and looking for big deer. Both of which were successful. All in all it was a great season for me, I learned a lot but was also able to apply a lot of knowledge I have learned over the years into situations that in years past I would of screwed up, and that was a rewarding experience. But most of all I can't explain the feeling of gratitude and respect I have for all of my Brothers of the Hunt who day in and day out would push each other past their limits and would rather see each other succeed more than themselves. I can't thank them enough.
 

realunlucky

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Enjoyed your write up congratulations on another great season

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Jon Boy

Jon Boy

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May 25, 2012
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Paradise Valley, MT
Thanks for the write up! Nice work you guys! Figure out why the base came loose or just one of those things?
I really wish I knew! Looking like it's going to get some bedding compound later this winter

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ElkNut1

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Feb 25, 2012
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Good stuff guys! I see Nick Leb in there, he's a true killer! Looks like a great group of guys, congrats!

ElkNut/Paul
 

Cliffy12

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Aug 31, 2016
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Great write up! Congrats on the hunts

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Loved the photos. You have a good eye for telling a story through them.


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