The Rokstaff's 2018 Hunting Season

Jim Carr

Super Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Feb 29, 2012
Messages
226
Location
North Idaho
I find I am notching fewer tags myself these days, the bigger priority is on getting our daughter Molly out on trips and helping other people do more of the tag filling. I can't complain as I still logged around 70 days in the field for 2018, our freezers are full, and we have done nearly all of it as a family. Overall I managed to tag along (with a toddler) on successful black bear, deer, moose and mountain goat trips in 2018.

LfmnlPO.jpg

Molly pushed a dump truck around on the spring black bear hunt because she wasn't walking yet and it kept her from crawling in the mud. The bears in the background were harvested by our friend's kiddos (age 8 and 9)


An unsuccessful (but super fun) summer backpack hunt for interior grizzly



Our annual trip to Kodiak for Blacktail deer
You can't beat that; being able to have your whole family with you in the back country.As my wife would say any time i try to take the whole family on a hunting or scouting trip; that's having your cake and eating it too.
 

robby denning

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Feb 25, 2012
Messages
14,994
Location
SE Idaho
The domain will be expiring in March and unless that site starts making me money from the fan club dues, I may let it lapse ;)

It was a bad investment to begin with. Cut it loose. Start a new one for Mr. Jumbotron. No Jumbotrons for me. Remember, in 2019, Ryan will make his TV debut, but I won't be on any TV. #TheDudeHasHisOwnPodcast #newLegendInTown #passingTheTorch #itsHisTime #elkFearHim #WomenWantHim
 

Longrider

FNG
Joined
Apr 17, 2019
Messages
1
Longtime observer of Rokslide, but I finally decided to join. Great forum and crew here.

We had another great year hunting here in Wyoming again.

My son and grandson, although they did not have tags joined me during gen season Elk.

They had never experienced Rocky Mountain Elk hunting before, so needless to say it was cold, windy, strenuous and tough going.

Day five I scored on a nice bull with them at my side. Very grateful; I have killed a lot of Elk, but it was very special to have my boys with me. (Plus they were great pack mules)

0CDB3956-07E2-4498-AB28-0D3B6C59825F.jpeg429BD94D-8051-487C-8C84-F0D330E716F5.jpeg
My wife with her WT doe

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My doe. Couldn’t find a buck I wanted so shot a good eater (besides we are over populated with WT)

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I found this dude for my neighbor after 5 days of scouting, I put him to bed and got him up there in the late afternoon to close the dealde42A21C03-A767-4A9B-BBFC-C91CFEE6EBE0.jpeg6075742B-B0CF-4D25-9A2D-2B352AA1378C.jpegCB6B32D3-E4DE-4C74-99E0-E0DF1EE95212.jpeg
 

jbunn

FNG
Joined
Nov 24, 2017
Messages
3
Location
Colorado
I thought the staff should post up their 2018 season. We had a great year and most of our staff is way too humble, so I will start it off.

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New Mexico

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Colorado

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Idaho


Unfortunately, I did shoot an Idaho bull but I didn’t find him for six days:(
I did tag him.
What a year

Washington spring turkey

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Idaho spring bear

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Nice bear

Stud buck

Biggest pile I’ve ever seen

I had a great time this year with lots of days in the woods. My kids were stacking them up, but I only punched one tag all season. All in MT:

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Good eats

r
Really cool mulie

2018 was good to me as well but I spent too much time away from home chasing animals.
For the first time in probably 7 years, I hunted with other hunters for a week. We filled a WY bull tag, buck tag and a cow tag. It was easily one of my favorite hunts and I’ll be joining them again in the future.
Colorado
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Colorado
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Wyoming
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Wyoming (Derik’s cow)
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Wyoming (Jaci’s bull)
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Wyoming
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Kansas
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New Mexico
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Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
That Colorado buck is impressive

While I'm the technical fella around here, I shoot stuff too. I had a great season but an absolutely horrific hunting schedule. I had 3 weeks of hunting planned between Washington and Montana. It got boiled down to a total of 5 days between archery and modern in Montana and 2 days in Washington.

Started by driving to Montana to hunt for elk, after getting unpacked I got out for the evening hunt. When I checked in with my wife she told me we had a work emergency and drove home to Washington that night. After a few days home I decided I wanted to go punch a tag in MT so I ran back over and shot a doe with my b-tag. Super stoked on my first archery kill.

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My next hunt was scheduled to be a solo hunt in the Blue Mountains in Washington. Unfortunately, my wife had to fly to France, in the middle of October for 3 weeks, to care for her sister who had surgery removing a tumor the size of a brick. Leaving me home with 4 kids and our business to run. To make matters worse, my father-in-law and his wife flew over shortly after the surgery and my father-in-law's wife passed away within 12 hours of landing in France. After the insanity my family was going through, I needed to clear my head. With a 3, 4, 6 & 8-year-old trying to do anything overnight wasn't an option so I picked out a feel free to hunt area nearby. I will say my pack had enough calories for a week and yet my kids ate through it all in a night. We watched some does but didn't see any bucks.

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My folks came over for a couple days to give me a hand with my kids, I was able to sneak out one morning and shot a buck on another feel free to hunt property.
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To wrap up my season, I usually head to Montana with my in-laws. After the family turmoil, I ended up being by myself. After missing a bull on the first day, I knew I needed to shoot the next legal elk I saw to fill the freezer. Luckily, I cut some tracks and caught up with a herd 3 miles later and took a cow. Good thing I had my Kifaru, wouldn't have been able to pack her out without it ;)...
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Way to persevere

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2018 Colorado Elk

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2018 Southern Idaho Mule Deer

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Idaho Elk
Nice CO bull

What an awesome buck

Longtime observer of Rokslide, but I finally decided to join. Great forum and crew here.

We had another great year hunting here in Wyoming again.

My son and grandson, although they did not have tags joined me during gen season Elk.

They had never experienced Rocky Mountain Elk hunting before, so needless to say it was cold, windy, strenuous and tough going.

Day five I scored on a nice bull with them at my side. Very grateful; I have killed a lot of Elk, but it was very special to have my boys with me. (Plus they were great pack mules)

View attachment 96427View attachment 96428
My wife with her WT doe

View attachment 96429
My doe. Couldn’t find a buck I wanted so shot a good eater (besides we are over populated with WT)

View attachment 96430

I found this dude for my neighbor after 5 days of scouting, I put him to bed and got him up there in the late afternoon to close the dealdeView attachment 96431View attachment 96432View attachment 96433
Wow
 
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