July was an awesome month. Spent nearly every weekend scouting high country mulies and found my areas to focus on in August.
Opener rolled around and I spent the first two days with my wife trying to get her her first elk with a stickbow. She walked out sunday and I stayed in to focus on velvet bucks.
Got on top of my target basin on Sunday and found a good buck one basin further out. It would require relocating my camp the next morning.
Got up at 4:30 and made the big push. Made it to a new glassing spot by about 8:45.
Started planning my approach on the target buck, and then turned around to see three other hunters above my camp. One started approaching me.
I knew the stick, you know "we've been on these bucks...my buddy is going in for a stalk....etc." So I said, "Awesome, let's watch your buddy kill this buck!" I showed him pictures of the buck from July. They were out of staters filming a "project" and hadn't scouted but got some good "beta." Of course.
Me and this instagram hero watched his buddy come straight from upwind on this buck and he didn't break 400 yards. Game over.
Another buck was in the basin and I figured I'd give it a shot. Parted ways with the instaguy with a "good luck my friend." I ended up killing that buck at 5:00 that night.
I packed the buck back to the tent and arrived at 2:00 am.
Woke up the next morning at 9:30 and made the 5 mile hoof out with just the meat and the head. Temps were 80's and high country august buck meat is lobster as far as I'm concerned.
Left my swaro spotter inside my tent with all of my gear. Tent was about 500 yards from any trail tucked in a little coulee. Only people I saw were the instaguys.
Had to work on wednesday and came back in on Thursday. Made it to my tent at 11:00 pm. Swaro 65mm gone and my WM sleeping bag also gone...it was a long cold night at 12,000 feet.
So, there it is. Filed a report with the Sheriff, homeowners insurance claim would be the same as replacement cost, but most importantly, I learned a brutal lesson: backcountry hunters apparently will steal from other backcountry hunters.
Those remote basins aren't just the places we hunt, they are the places we go for refuge. They are the places we go to get us through the rest of the year when we're behind a f&cking keyboard. But, that warm and fuzzy shit is naive I guess.
So if you hear of some dudes yammering about stealing some shit from another hunter, well, I know what I'd do.
DISCLAIMER: Everyone is innocent until proven guilty. I'm not saying instaheros did it, but it damn sure smells funny.
Opener rolled around and I spent the first two days with my wife trying to get her her first elk with a stickbow. She walked out sunday and I stayed in to focus on velvet bucks.
Got on top of my target basin on Sunday and found a good buck one basin further out. It would require relocating my camp the next morning.
Got up at 4:30 and made the big push. Made it to a new glassing spot by about 8:45.
Started planning my approach on the target buck, and then turned around to see three other hunters above my camp. One started approaching me.
I knew the stick, you know "we've been on these bucks...my buddy is going in for a stalk....etc." So I said, "Awesome, let's watch your buddy kill this buck!" I showed him pictures of the buck from July. They were out of staters filming a "project" and hadn't scouted but got some good "beta." Of course.
Me and this instagram hero watched his buddy come straight from upwind on this buck and he didn't break 400 yards. Game over.
Another buck was in the basin and I figured I'd give it a shot. Parted ways with the instaguy with a "good luck my friend." I ended up killing that buck at 5:00 that night.
I packed the buck back to the tent and arrived at 2:00 am.
Woke up the next morning at 9:30 and made the 5 mile hoof out with just the meat and the head. Temps were 80's and high country august buck meat is lobster as far as I'm concerned.
Left my swaro spotter inside my tent with all of my gear. Tent was about 500 yards from any trail tucked in a little coulee. Only people I saw were the instaguys.
Had to work on wednesday and came back in on Thursday. Made it to my tent at 11:00 pm. Swaro 65mm gone and my WM sleeping bag also gone...it was a long cold night at 12,000 feet.
So, there it is. Filed a report with the Sheriff, homeowners insurance claim would be the same as replacement cost, but most importantly, I learned a brutal lesson: backcountry hunters apparently will steal from other backcountry hunters.
Those remote basins aren't just the places we hunt, they are the places we go for refuge. They are the places we go to get us through the rest of the year when we're behind a f&cking keyboard. But, that warm and fuzzy shit is naive I guess.
So if you hear of some dudes yammering about stealing some shit from another hunter, well, I know what I'd do.
DISCLAIMER: Everyone is innocent until proven guilty. I'm not saying instaheros did it, but it damn sure smells funny.
