Year in review

[204guy]

Been a year to remember for a lot of reasons. Drew 2 very good NR tags in CO and NM. Which brought all kinds of uncertainty with shutdowns and whether or not I'd get to hunt at all. When that was looking a lot better the Govt decided to throw Covid $$$ at hospitals and in typical fashion 6 months worth of work was to be completed in 2 months. So I was able to get a week each to do my NR hunts but that meant very limited time to do instate hunts. So efficiency was the name of the game this year.

I was able to get a quick 2.5 day deer hunt in on my way to CO for my goat hunt. Was able to locate and kill a very old but not high scoring deer on the first day. He lived and died like a mtn goat.

 

[204guy]

On to CO for a solo goat hunt. Started in more of a fringe area hoping to find a bigger billy in a less commonly hunted area. Came up empty. So I relocated and hiked into an area known to have goats on the day before opener.

Group of 4 goats on opening morning with no obvious kids present. Billy's time to get closer. They're in this pic on the far ridge.

After some sketchy scrambling in places you shouldn't be solo, I was able to peek over a ridge and look over 3 billies from 150 yds. The fourth had went up and over the ridge.

One was only 2-3 yrs old. The other 2 I could tell where both more mature and I could make both out to be at least 5. 1 was broken the other wasn't. Neither was big but I was more concerned about killing an older billy than anything. After about 15 min the wind swirled and they all got up and casually dropped off a ridge. When they got up it looked like the broken goat was the biggest bodied of the group. I ran up to where they had just been bedded to try and catch them.

 

[204guy]

Shot was about 200 yds. He's just off the 1 o'clock end of the suppressor. 30-06 155 scenar.

Had nice little sleet storm roll in mid picture taking.

Pack out was rough. Had to relent and couldn't do it in 1 trip. Had about 3.5 rough miles to get back to my camp.

I put him at 8.

 

[204guy]

Had a buddy join me for resident elk. Had 4 days to hunt and got it done in 3.

Highlight of the trip might have been losing 2 wheels on my cargo trailer 20 min into out trip. I had repacked all the bearings this summer and I don't know what happened but I didn't get lug nuts torqued enough. Didn't find the second wheel until the trip home.

 

[204guy]

Not to many pics of my NM elk hunt. Hunted really hard in surprisingly very rugged country. Bitter sweet hunt. Temps where warm and I didn't hunt as deep as maybe I should have, concerned about getting meat out. Saw an incredible number of elk but mostly 300" and smaller bulls. Saw around 10 what I consider big mature bulls. 8 of them where severely broken. Like 3/4 of a main beam gone broken. Ended up going after a good bull that had pushed a cow into some cover and mistakenly killed a smaller bull as he pushed a cow around in the same patch of timber. Insanely steep hillside that this pic doesn't do justice. Worst butcher job I've had.

 

[204guy]

Had a weekend to do an antelope trip. Which by the time we packed and drove 3 hours ended up being a 1.25 day hunt.

 

[204guy]

Wrapped the buck/bull tags up for the year killing 3 bucks in 3 days of hunting.

 

[Anello]

Wow. Awesome season!! Congrats man.

 

[BiggMc]

What a great catch

 

[rooster440]

Congratulations on a great season! That billy sure is awesome!!


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[Fatcamp]

Holy cats! Talk about getting it done.

 

[Travis Hobbs]

Awesome!

 

[Islandeer]

Wow!!
Hardwork, preparation, and family support equals magic!! Hold onto it....

 

[hobbes]

Awesome season. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Outlaw99]

You did in a year what most would love to accomplish in a lifetime. Awesome story and great pics

 

[204guy]

Thanks, guys.

 

[WildHart1]

Congrats on a great year of hunting.

 

[MarkB71]

Awesome Stuff!