2022 Season

Joined
Oct 20, 2019
Messages
1,256
Well this year was like any other. The hunt started off with me being a tag holder for Wyoming, Idaho, and New Mexico (Deer and Elk) with 34 days of paid vacation. I call this my yearly sabbatical. It started off with @hoytforlife and I each getting a cow elk in Wyoming during the first week of October.

Afterwards we beat feet up to our area in Idaho that I’ve hunted the last few years to scout for deer and elk. This year it was unseasonably warm compared to last. We set foot in the backcountry 6 days before the deer opener and got a boots on the ground feel for the game in the area.

Saw several elk and deer which led to me being successful on the opening day taking a nice mature 4x3. However, once deer season went into full effect with people being everywhere, dirt bikes, guns going off the elk we had previously seen vanished which prompted us to relocate for deer and elk.

A few days prior to elk season starting my buddy flew back to Colorado which left me flying solo. I spent the last several days looking for elk only to stumble upon day after day old sign or running into a friendly local who had shot a bull the previous day and was retrieving his last load of meat.

With warm temperatures and deer season closing in, I relocated and ended up taking another mature 4x3. Afterwards, I spent my remaining time looking for elk only to get complacent and not aggressive enough in closing the distance on a herd in hopes the elk would come back out that evening in which case they never did.

Therefore, I should’ve capitalized on the moment that I had and went for the gusto in closing the distance to attempt a clean shot. Additionally, I should’ve been more welcoming to the snow as it had the elk moving and not so paranoid about getting stuck but I’d rather be safe than sorry.

Overall, I left empty handed on a bull elk but was satisfied with taking two mature mule deer. I left Idaho and followed the late October snow storm down to New Mexico which was a bust.

I’m already chomping away at the bit to get back to Idaho as if the mountains there are as captivating as the way Louis La’Mour described the Southwest Desert (for those of you who’ve read his Westerns).

Enjoy the pictures.

 

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OP
Tips n Tails
Joined
Oct 20, 2019
Messages
1,256
Some more pictures.
 

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