2020 Hunting Season Live Hunt!

[TheCougar]

I’m 17 days away from starting the 2020 hunting season. All I’ve got to do is get to Korea and back without testing positive for COVID and getting quarantined by USFK, then I’m in the clear and home until the hunts start. I enjoyed writing the Live Hunt thread from last year, as it served as a journal for my family to read and a few others as well. This year I’ve got the following hunts lined up:

September: Arizona Archery Bull
October: Wyoming Rifle Antelope
Early November: Montana Rifle Elk, Deer, and Antelope
Mid-November - December: Texas Youth Deer and Pigs
Late November: Arizona Youth Rifle Bull x 2
January: maybe helping a fellow Rokslider on his NM Barbary Sheep Hunt
February: Profusely thanking my wife and banking brownie points until next September

I’ll be trying some new equipment this year, including a Mathews VXR 31.5, the new Marsupial Harness, Kifaru LPP and UA Down Pants, OR Foray rain pants and Black Diamond Stormline rain jacket, Leupold BX-4s, ELDX in 6.5 man-bun and 7RM, maybe a Sevr 1.5, and possibly a few others. I’ll try to sneak in some real world gear reviews if/when they get used. I’m really excited for this year and the opportunity to experience some excellent hunting with my two oldest kids!

 

[TheCougar]

Step 1 TRANSPAC to Korea without diverting or getting hit with lightning. Check.

Step 2: Don’t test positive for COVID. Check.

Step 3: get on the Freedom Bird and get home. T-minus 7 hours. 22 hours from now, I’ll be back home and 11 days from until wheels up for Arizona! I’ve got some gear prep to do and shooting to catch up on.

 

[gburk]

Welcome back.
If I remember your earlier post correctly I’ll be in your AZ unit in October for a youth deer hunt.. I will send you a late / post rut scouting report if I see any bulls worth mentioning.
great looking schedule if you ask me. Good luck!

 

[TheCougar]

Welcome back.
If I remember your earlier post correctly I’ll be in your AZ unit in October for a youth deer hunt.. I will send you a late / post rut scouting report if I see any bulls worth mentioning.
great looking schedule if you ask me. Good luck!

Yup. I’ll let you know if we see any deer. I did the youth deer hunt in NM last year and it was tough not seeing anything for days at a time.

 

[TheCougar]

T minus 11 days... today’s prep was shooting after being gone for a week. Happy with the groups at 60 yards, broadheads and FP. I haven’t shot past 60 yet, so that will happen this weekend so I can validate the tape I put on there.

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[realunlucky]

Subscribed to follow along!

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[raptor16]

Gonna be a heck of a season with all those trips lined up!

 

[TheCougar]

T minus 10 days. Meh. Not good shooting today. Just erratic. I’d put three in the center and then have a flier.

This was 40 yards, kneeling in the middle of gusting winds, and hitting a cow call before release. The one on the right of the target was released right as a gust of wind moved the bow. That’s not going to cut it.

Shot with my son a bit

Had the girls Bedazzle my bow

Fletched a dozen arrows and played board games with the kids.

Tomorrow was supposed to be a range day, but it’s supposed to storm all day. I’ll have to find a backup plan.


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[Northernpiker]

Sounds like a good season...I'll tune in!

 

[TheCougar]

T minus 9 days.

Did a buckle mod to my Marsupial Harness. Rides a bit higher now and a little less bulky. I used some split ladder locks I had leftover from my Exo/Kifaru frankenpack build.

Did a little shooting at 80 yards. About 5-6” low at 80 - probably need to bump my sight tape down just a smidge. Looked to be on at 70... ignore left error, I was shooting into a steady right to left wind.

Some 60 yard shooting - better today when the winds were dead.

Tried to flex seal some thick socks to make sneaky socks. They are heavier than I expected, by I’m tired of thorns in my feet. They sure look janky, but maybe these will be awesome. Or maybe not.

Went to my bow shop and bought their old press/drawboard and a few other things, then set up my old bow as a backup.

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[WillHunt4Food]

Interested to hear how the Flex Seal Sock experiment turns out!

 

[TheCougar]

Interested to hear how the Flex Seal Sock experiment turns out!

Hopefully they perform better than they look!

 

[TheCougar]

T minus 7 days. Yesterday and today was less about preparing for a hunt and more about preparing to be gone...

Painted watercolor eggs with my two youngest girls

And spent about 10 hours in the kitchen making 30 freezer meals for my wife. This is the third year I have done this and this is by far the biggest thing I can do for my wife to say thank you for letting me hunt so much. Making dinner with 4 young kids isn’t easy, and having freezer meals makes dinner time much less stressful for her. I had a helper for all the chopping!

With exception of some chicken, all the meat was game - MT elk, NM deer, TX wild pig, and NM aoudad. Good chance to empty the freezer before we fill it up again.

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[TheCougar]

T minus 6 days

Today I started packing and took my oldest kids shooting. They have the November AZ Bull tags, so I’m trying to take them shooting often. Today we worked on seated position off the tripod using a 22LR. Tomorrow we will repeat with the 6.5.

I also made my knockoff Peak Refuel Granola breakfasts. I really like the taste and not having to waste time and water with a morning boil, but I hate paying $7 for a bag of granola. I made my own recipe and can make a similar granola with better nutrition for less than $2 a bag.

24g dry milk powder (I used nonfat, but whole milk would be better)
24g unflavored protein powder
12g freeze dried fruit
80g high protein granola (nature valley or Kind)

So for the same 140g as the Peak Refuel, I end up with 540 calories, 45g protein, 10g fat, 69g carbs, and 40g sugar.

They also sell a chocolate protein granola, and for that I use 12g protein powder, 10g sugar, 24g dry milk, 20g powdered peanut butter, and 80g protein granola.

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[TheCougar]

T-0 days. Leaving my amazing family is the hardest part of the hunt, or at least so it seems. My amazing wife is letting me run off for an epic elk hunt and she is staying home with four kids. I’ll never deserve her love and sacrifice. I really hit the jackpot. Leaving the kids is always tough; but I try to send them pictures and I look forward to the days when i can take them hunting. I am a truly blessed husband and father. I’m always excited to go hunting, but I always miss my family and can’t wait to get back to them.

Notes from the kids in my truck!

Pretty much how excited I am...

Loaded up and ready to go!!!

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[TheCougar]

I’m pretty much at the lowest of lows right now. On my way to AZ for my elk hunt, I threw out my back just bending over. I’m pretty sure I bulged a disc and I can’t even tie my boots right now. I had to race to the AZGFD office to surrender my tag by COB in order to use my PointGuard. My hunt is over before it started. In 2015 I drew this tag with 7 points in the random draw, but I got sent to Afghanistan and had to turn the tag back in. Fast forward 5 more years and I finally had the points to legitimately draw the tag with my points. And here we are. Ten years of waiting and several years of elk hunting as practice for this tag so I could capitalize on a great unit. Instead of tossing and turning listening to bugles and thinking about the possibilities of an epic hunt, I am hopped up on drugs, laying in a buddies camper, throwing myself a pity party eating giant chocolate cookies topped with Prednisone and Cyclobenzaprine.

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[realunlucky]

Damn very sorry to hear this.

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[Salmon River Solutions]

Ohh man thats too bad! Hopefully you heal up to take advantage of some later hunts this season! But losing the AZ one is a definite bummer!

 

[TheCougar]

Well, I’m ambulatory, so that’s something. At this point, I’m no longer hunting and I’m just scouting for the kids rifle bull hunt in November.

 

[EastMT]

Sorry to hear this man, terrible start to what sounds to be an awesome season. I’ve crawled across the floor a few times, disc problems from good job choices haha. I’ve found if I over hydrate it tends to keep the bad episodes a little farther apart. Good luck man, hope the season is fair sailing from here.