TR's: 08 Fall Days Afield

[MakersTeleMark]

BUMP.

Where are the other hunters out there; LB, Makers, etc? This thread needs more life this fall.

I actually haven't had much luck lately. A few weeks ago LB came up for a bit of bird hunting. Sue flushed a few, I missed a far shot. LB took a whack at a errant dove and missed. The rest of that day was a lot of walking.

The last 2 weekends I've logged one full day of hunting/scouting about 12-16 miles each day. Didn't see a damn bird.

I'm really looking forward to 3rd and 4th rifle. I've got a cow and buck tag for 3rd and an either sex elk for 4th. Yay, some long deserved time off.

Fishing's been decent though, although I did spend an entire 8 hour stretch trying to snag some koke's that weren't really running that day. Switched to my flyrod and landed a decent bow which saved the skunk count.

Had elk backstrap last night (medalions in a creme fraiche reduction sauce, garlic mashers, sauteed chard, and a lentil stew) to up the luck/stoke factor for the upcoming hunts. It's been cold(ish) lately - low 20's at night.

[LT]

I'm really looking forward to 3rd and 4th rifle. I've got a cow and buck tag for 3rd and an either sex elk for 4th. Yay, some long deserved time off.

Awesome, where are you that you get that many tags? The buck I shot was my first and I'm now hooked; bummed I seem to only get 1 hunt a season. Don't have the time or $$ to travel and put in for tags in other states. Good luck and keep us posted.

[flyandski365]

How do you acquire a falcon?

Well, there are some state and federal permits to be gotten first. To get those you need a sponsor who is a Master Falconer (in many states General class falconers can sponsor as well) and pass a test on raptor care, training and biology. Then there is a facilities and equipment inspection done by Fish and Wildlife.

Once you have done all that then you can trap a juvinile red-tailed hawk (like my bird) or an american kestrel. Those are the birds allowed for apprentices in most states.

Thats the short answer anyway.

[MakersTeleMark]

Awesome, where are you that you get that many tags?

Colorado. 2 tags per species per year is possible.

[LT]

Colorado. 2 tags per species per year is possible.

I have a friend in Salida; next year I want to make it out for rifle cow.

[Yeti]

I've just turned on to duck hunting. For whatever reason, the green-winged teal are thick this year, and last week we bagged a blue-winged teal as the last bird of the day. I'm still trying to get a better handle on mallards.

Anyone here hunt Canada goose?

[Grange]

Got the camera batteries charged, bought myself new chaps for cutting wood, dog is rested, and I'm already packed. I'm getting up early tomorrow to purchase my firewood permit for the Nat'l Forest and then it's time for an extende grouse hunting and wood cutting weekend. It's been about 3 weeks since I've been hunting and I'm anxious.

[flyandski365]

Bump.

This thread is too good for page four.

[Grange]

I was just about to bump the page with my TR from grouse hunting Oct 17-19, 2008. Unfortunately my camera broke halfway through the weekend so I don't have pictures from the day we encountered a mess of woodcock.

Anyway I took off Friday and headed up north right away in the morning to pick up my firewood permit for the National Forest. After grabbing the permit I stopped on the way to my cottage to do a little hunting.

First spot of the trip.


After being laid up due to her eye injury for almost 3 weeks, Summit was ready.


We didn't have much luck so we loaded up and went to the cottage. After unloading I grabbed the gun and followed Summit's nose. We found some birds (2 grouse, 1 woodcock), but my shooting wasn't so good, which saddly became my theme for the weekend.

Even though it is past peak colors some trees are hanging on. Summit disappears easily and it is difficult to get a clean shot.


Summit didn't want to wait for me and was ready to keep going.


I missed one bird and couldn't get clean shots at the other two before we had to call it a day to meet my father. He brought both of his brittanies this weekend and I was looking forward to hunting with the young female. This was her first real grouse hunt. She is a firecracker in the woods.

the next morning after hearty breakfast my father and I decided to cut some wood on the National Forest. We found a nice area with great wood. There were several dead trees still standing and the bark was falling off, which in my experience makes the best firewood. We cut enough wood to fill both our pickups.

This will burn nicely.


Still have a lot more room.


After cutting wood the day was half gone but we still headed out to do some grouse hunting. I didn't see many birds that day but came upon an interesting site.

I wonder how long that tire has been there.



Summit began to get birdy.


And she produced a nice woodcock.



The next morning after breakfast we headed out to do some bird hunting. After only a few hours out my camera broke and I couldn't take anymore pictures. I was quite disappointed because my goal of the day was to get some pictures of the young brittany, Falcon. I did however get a few pictures from the day.

Find the birds.


A nice riparian wetland that was once flooded by from a beaver pond.


After reluctantly putting the camera away we went to another spot and found a pocket of woodcock. My father limited out in a half hour, while I missed my chances serval times over. His young brittany had her first woodcock find and retrieve. She also had a nice back on the older brittany that produced the last bird. Again I was upset I couldn't get any pictures.

Another fine weekend with the dogs. I was able to get a load of firewood for home and got to see Falcon get her first bird. The brittanies are off with my father at the NSTRA Dog of the Year Trial (his older one is competing) and I'll be heading back up there for more hunting and firewood. I hope my camera will work.

[xboat]

good stuff, grange. you headed out to SoDak again this year? we had another great 3 day hunt this past opening weekend. can't wait to get back!

only took a couple pics this time. was trying to get some pics of this cool old tractor on the farm. we think this thing is pre-1950 and it still fires right up.

[Fieldys Nuts]

Hey There,
Congrats to all the successful hunters this year and to those that enjoyed good times afield with family and friends.
Well I returned last week from my trip and figured I better post it up. I packed in for seven days of hunting in the high country and enjoyed a great and successful trip. I scouted the day before the opener and glassed five good bucks and felt real good about the week ahead. Opening morning I passed on a few deer and shot my buck at about 90 yards in his bed using my 270 WSM. He is not the biggest buck I've taken but I'm super happy with him and the way the hunt unfolded. Had him quartered up and back in camp by 2pm. Stayed in the high country and scouted around and helped my buddy take and pack his deer. The last day I was out glassing and saw two very impressive deer that I'll be looking for next year. I had gone quite a few years without taking a critter due to not hunting so it felt real nice to get that big buck fever again. Something I hope I never get over.

[Grange]

good stuff, grange. you headed out to SoDak again this year? we had another great 3 day hunt this past opening weekend. can't wait to get back!

Great picture. Black and white photos can be better than color.

Yes. I'm headed that way next week (Nov. 3-7) sometime. I was planning on giving NoDak a try, but since I spent a small fortune on my dog and her injured eye plans have changed. I'm now going to bum free room and board from my sister and brother-in-law, who currently live in Sioux Falls. I'll probably make daily excursions to the Brookings or Mitchell area. Not my ideal trip, but I hope to see some birds.

[Grange]

Well, I made another trip to the cottage. I went up Saturday morning due to the rain on Friday. I did however have my first fire in my fireplace at home.

Summit enjoying the fire.


Saturday morning after screwing around in town, I headed up north and cut another load of wood so I only had about and hour's worth of hunting light left. I went to two spots near where I cut wood.

The first spot wasn't too productive but Summit didn't seem to care.

Spot 1


Sending her off.


I noticed a big boulder that had fractured sometime in the past. I am often intrigued by how rocks weather.


After a short walk into the cover Summit got birdy and stopped.


This wasn't as strong a "point" as she's done quite often this season because her tail was still curled. But since she's becoming more reliable when she stops I decided to take a quick picture. After re-loading the gun I sent her in and a bird flushed way out and I couldn't get a shot. After that it was just a walk in the woods.

As I was driving to the second spot I saw a grouse fly accross the road. The area looked like good habitat so I decided to give it a go. We found two birds fairly quickly but like the first one they flushed very early and I couldn't get a shot. I began to sense a pattern and that pattern played out for the rest of the weekend. The birds were very spooky.

We ended up flushing 6 birds in the area, and I took a quick shot at one of them. I missed, but Summit liked hearing the gun. It was getting close to closing for the day so I unloaded my gun too a qick picture of Summit and left the area.

It wasn't as dark as the flash indicates.


The next morning I went out hunting with my father and his brittanies. The weather was highly variable. It rained on and off the entire day with strong winds and temps in the 40's. The first spot is one where we've had success in the past, but I haven't tried yet this season.

Out come the brittanies.


The area is a nice popple stand.


As we began we walked down a path to get to the opposite side when we came along a red pine stand along a creek. I barely had time to load my gun when the older brittany went on point in the red pine stand. If I would have been smart I would have grabbed my camera instead of getting my gun ready. It was a beautiful point.

Hawken had a wide front stance and was as staunch as I ever saw him. He had that grouse pinned! About 10 yards ahead of Hawken (toward us) I saw a grouse. It would have been a perfect picture. My dad started to walk toward the bird and it flushed along with a second bird I did not see originally. My father shot and dropped the bird I was going after and he got a nice retireve from Hawken.



Through the rest of the area Summit flushed three more grouse, but I barely caught a glimpse of just one of them. Since it was fairly windy the birds seemed to hang out under spruce trees mixed throughout the popple stand. When I met my father back at the vehicle I commented that I felt at a disadvantage without having a pointing dog. While my dog will sometimes "point" at birds she is not as quick and efficient at pinning a bird and they flush too early.

As we went to a second spot we were detoured somewhat by an irresistable urge to collect some firewood. Eventually though we got to our destination.

After some time in the woods and a few long distance flushes I met up with my father to push one last section of the area. The male brittany went on point again. This time however I grabbed my camera and got a picture.


My father walked in front of Hawken and couldn't locate the bird. Thinking it was a false point he released Hawken. Hawken ran forward a short distance and established point again. My father then went forward some more and sure enough a grouse flushed.

As we were leaving the area we saw a grouse fly across the road and stop just off the shoulder. We stopped the vehicle and took out the young brittany to see if she'd point the grouse. Almost as soon as we opened the door the bird flushed. We still took out Falcon and she pointed the scent.


She's got a ways to go to ge as good and the older birttany, but I think she's got the right stuff.

The rain finally forced us to quit for the day and I headed back home. This was the first time I've gone home empty handed this season, but at least we saw some birds. Next week I'm hoping to head to South Dakota for some pheasant.

[flyandski365]

The bird is catching on. First cottontail of the season!!!

Helping her with the kill:

[flyandski365]

This bird is going to be a killing machine. Rabbit No. 2.

[FreakofSnow]

It's been one productive and super fun week of hunting. Last week 4 of my buddies and I packed up 2 trucks and rallied to Eastern Montana for some antelope hunting. This was our 4 annual trip, things have become much more organized and dialed by the year.

Anyhow, we went over with 15 tags to be filled 5 bucks and the rest of them does. Here's the basic story:

Much beer drank the night we arrived. Rain came down hard and made the roads into pure Gumbo. Four low, rapping it out at 5.5k and all over the road


The camp was bad ass. Had two wall tents this year, one for sleepin & one for partying


Lots of looking at land like this. We saw a lot of animals, but most of the party did not get the shots they wanted


Eventually I found this nice buck. Stealthy shot from 275 yds.


The ultimate man load


All in all we came back with 6 antelope (2 bucks and 4 does). I got lucky and came out with 2 does and big buck, tagged out! The buck scores about 73.

We hauled the meat back across the state on Friday. I butchered my 3 antelope up on Saturday.

Enter Sunday, opening day of Elk and Deer in Montana. A buddy and I go out to a spot that I have been scouting all fall. I had a special cow tag for the area. We're about to head back to the truck. I make one final lap around a knob we had been sitting on. Spotted 20 elk at 500 yards looking like they are going to bed down. The next 2 hours were spent trying to get closer than 250 yards. I didn't like the shot, I had with the sun coming into the scope.

I ended up sneaking in upwind and on a game trail. Shot taken at 40 yards. Boooyahh. One big ass cow for sure.


And the prize piece!


Opening day elk,............never would have thunk it.

[Joey Joe Joe Junior Shabadoo]

Nice work, that elk looks like good eatin.

[LT]

Awesome work FoS; that looks like a big cow and a nice Antelope Buck. Yuuuuuum, back straps.

[Doober]

I have been getting in quite a bit of upland hunting this fall, but little to no pictures to show for it. Here is a picture from the past weekend.

The dog who got it done. I can't believe how many people go bird hunting without a dog. The number of birds I would have walked right by or would not be able to find once I downed them would be over 75% of the birds I have shot this fall.

[Grange]

Well I recently got back from my pheasant hunting trip to South Dakota. Weather changes were fast and dramatic. I hunted Nov. 4-7 and the first 2 days were way too warm. Temps were in the high 60's to low 70's both days. The third day was cut short due to rain and the 4th day was cold with high winds and snow.

Tuesday morning I got up and planned to got the Game and Fish Department to purchase my license. When we got there they informed us that by ordinance they can not sell out-of-state licenses. After purchasing a license at a local retailer I realized I forgot the chokes to my gun so I was stuck with cylinder and improved cylinder. My ideal is improved cyl. and mod. but I was SOL. After a few choice words for myself we loaded the up the dogs and headed out. We were hunting in the Brookings area on public land. From the first day I was struck by how few hunters I saw.

We got to the first spot and found it was tilled. What a disappointment. This area has always been productive and now it is a barren field. At the second spot we decided to hunt in a field adjacent to a lake and corn field.

Summit looking for bird scent.


She found a path in the grass.


After flushing several hens we decided to work our way back to the truck when I took this picture.


While waiting for my father to return I decided to walk along the edge of some cattails. Summit flushed two more hens and one rooster. I was able to knock a few feathers off the rooster, but he maintained his flight pattern and left town.

The next spot was a Walk-In area next to a corn field.


We had luck with the birds, but again roosters were far and few in between. At the end of the day neither one of us had limited out though with me it was because I am not a great shot though I like to use the lack of ability to change chokes as an excuse.

The second day my brother-in-law joined us. The weather was again too warm, and the birds weren't as plentiful. Again I couldn't limit out. In fact I only had one shot and it was quite far out. The only reason I don't toss this day in the bad category is because I saw some excellent dog work by all the dogs. Summit was really starting to hold birds. I had to tell her to flush several of them, because she didn't rush in.

My brother-in-law's GWP, Casey, ready to hit the field.


Casey, locating her owner.


My brother-in-law in nice cover.


My father and brother-in-law discussing the next spot.


My father heading to a promising Walk-In area.


We ended the day at the same spot as the first night. I couldn't hunt very long due to a paw injury on my dog. My father however shot his first double over his young brittany.

On the third day it was noticeably cooler. The forecast called for rain after 3:00, but like an annoying guest it arrived a couple hours early and wouldn't leave. I left my dog home due to her cut pad though for as long as we got to hunt it probably wouldn't have mattered if I had brought her. We went home wet and empty handed.

Hawken, My father's older brittany, wasn't ready to quit.


That evening the weather took a turn. Rain turned into snow and the wind seemed to be fueled by the cold. By morning the area where we were headed had three inches of snow. Most fields were matted down and we thought this might be a good day. It turned out to be a very good day for me. Summit's paw was much better thanks in part to the EMT gel and the birds held extremely tight. It was to the point that you'd almost have to step on them to get them to flush. Dog work was amazing. Out of the the three roosters in my game bag my dog pointed all three and I ended up flushing two of them while Summit remained steady. I decided that morning not to tell my dog to flush and see how close to flushing the bird myself I could get while my dog remained stready. I thought to myself by the time I limited out I've got a pointing lab.

Summit finding some scent.


Summit zeroing in on the bird. A hen flushed from under that clump of grass shortly after the picture.


After I limited out I saw Summit's paw was bleeding again so I put here in the vehicle along with my gun and head out with my camera to walk with my father and his brittanies.

My father watching his dogs.


I have several pictures of them on point and with everyone I'm posting here there was at least one bird being pointed.

Falcon (the younger brittany) pointing a hen.


In this picture Falcon pointed a rooster. After my father searched the area no bird was found. I put the camera away but Falcon wasn't moving. Turns out a rooster was in there and took my father and myself by surprise when it flushed. We re-learned that valuable lesson, trust your dog!


We loaded up and went to another area. This site contains a lot of cattail wetlands and some fields. Again walking in the fields the dogs found several birds bedded down under the snow covered grass.

Falcon backing Hawken.


Another back by Falcon.


A double point !?


My father flushed a pointed hen. The dogs were pointing the bird on the other side of the clump of cattails.


After a while we saw as wooded area off in the distance. We thought that with the wind the birds might use this area for shelter.


As we approached the older brittany, Hawken, went on point.


When Falcon saw him she made a nice back.


My father went in and flushed a large number of birds. He dropped a rooster.


The birds kept flushing, which showed the disadvantage of an over/under shotgun.

At the end of the day the younger brittany got too cold and I carried her out.

Of all the birds we got this week (which wasn't a lot) most of them were young. Many didn't have much of a tail. In fact one of the my birds had no tail at all (must have gotten ripped out). For these reasons I didn't take many pictures of our birds.

While we didn't bring back a bunch of birds we did get to see some great work by the dogs. I am looking forward to getting back in the grouse woods this weekend with Summit.

[Phall]

Antlers through the trees, its deer hunting eve.
in vt at least.

[Andy_B]

Well this weekend was the annual 10 hunters to 1 deer family trip...

My brother in law and I had hatched a master plan to get my sister her 1st deer. She is rather impatient when it comes to any from of sitting and hunting. So, I set her up with a 30-06 that has been holding 4 inch groups at 200 yards, put her the "honey hole" blind.... Anyway, she got buck fever on the mother of all doe's and never connected, I watched from 300 yards away. During the shootin' a 6 point stepped out in front of my Bro in-law and he dropped it at 150 yards.



We all stroll back out for the evening hunt with high hopes of bring home some more venison, between the 3 of us that wen out we only saw 2 squirrels a turkey and a raven.

The next morning, I was feeling a little under the weather and not really up sitting out in the cold. But, not wanting to catch any flak from my sister, who walks out to her blind with a pot of coffee none the less. I drug my sorry-butt out of bed and geared up, I grabbed my riffle and started walking. I could see their lights just slipping away over the hill side as I made my way in to the swamp and into my blind.

BOOM, BOOM!

I snap to attention... 6:45am. The radio crackles, my sisters asking who shot. No one answers, it's still dark. She comes back saying she can she 30 to 40 shadows moving in the tress 250 yards away. About 20 minutes pass by. I hear a familiar crack, then another one, two 30-06 shots. I hear a loud crash and look over my shoulder to see 12 deer moving fast, 50 yards out. No shot. I can see them clearly on the far side of the swap, they are panicked, tails twitching ear's up. I drop down to my knee's to get a better look under the low branches, the deer highlighted against the snow. I glass up the largest of the bunch, adjust my scope. I pause, thinking to my self, this is a long shot. I wrap the sling around my arm, flick the safety off. Pause again, man, the deer is a long way off, safety on, safety off, safety on. Pause, still looking through the scope, safety off. Hold your breath idiot, squeezzzzzzeeee. Still glued to the scope, I see the muzzle flash and hear the crack, I see the bullet impact the deer, its jumps, then falls in to the snow. I rack another round, waiting for it to get back up. I'm thinking I broke its back, no movement. I get back up and sit in my chair and take a deep breath and look and my watch,

7:15am.


The radios are still silent.

I sneak out of my blind and work my way along the swamp to see my sister and her husband standing and out in the field. I work my way over to them to get a tally for the morning, my sister did not get a shot, her husband missed one and shot a doe.

Trevor is on lookers left with his doe, I'm on the right with my 4 point.


In the end, my long shot was longer than I thought. 124 yards through cover. I'm being honest, if i had to do the shot again I would not. It was a stupid, but lucky shot. Even though he was dead before he hit the ground, with a pass thought shot to the heart. My .44mag drops off fast after 75 yards. We tagged 2 bucks and doe. Played lots of cards and have some new stories for family Christmas partys.

[Grange]

Glad someone's seeing deer. For only the second time since I've been deer hunting I won't be hunting. The first time was due to a death in the family and this time is due to not seeing any damn deer! While my TR's in this thread give some idea of how much I've been in the woods, they don't cover all of it. I've spent over many many hours in the woods bird hunting and have not seen a single deer in the woods. It wasn't until this past weekend that I found a scrape and a rub. That is pathetic!

Anyway I spent another 3-day weekend in the woods and this time were were fairly successful. I was too sick/lazy to take many pictures of this hunt so I only have a couple of pictures. My father, who went up earlier in the week took home a few grouse between the rains by the time I got there. On Friday I was still sick so I didn't spend much time hunting. I ended up only hearing two flushes from trees and saw no birds. On Saturday we only hunted the morning and spent the rest of the afternoon cutting wood. My father came home with two more birds while I came home with empty shells and a disappointed dog. Sorry Summit. Sunday was better. We hunted all morning and both of us got birds.

[Yeti]

Nice reports all around. Grange, nice picture ^^^ !

[MakersTeleMark]

For the first time in quite awhile I did not hunt 2nd rifle season- and I’m glad I didn’t. It was really warm and the only animal I heard of being harvested was on opening day on private land.

I hunted everyday of 3rd season with a buck and a cow tag. Passed on a small buck opening day, passed on a herd of cows at close range due to it not being legal shooting light, got skunked the rest of the week, and had 3 opportunities on bulls. Oh well, at least I got into shape.

Opening day of 4th season was greeted with some nice fresh pow and an either sex tag. Started hiking at 4:30 a.m., hunkered down for a few hours in the late morning, and spotted a small herd crossing into deep dark timber about 70 yards below me. Thinking that I blew it on the only herd seen in weeks, I made one last effort to get back into them. Did a downward sloping traverse to where I met their tracks. Impressive group which I must have just caught the tail end of. Stayed on the highest track at a ridiculously slow crawl and spotted a bull about 60 yards trying to hide. The only shot that was presented was head on downhill. I attempted to use my shooting sticks but lost sight of the bull every time I crouched down. Ended up taking the shot off hand. 1 shot to the heart. The bull bucked, then crashed downhill with tons of blood.

Took a cigarette break to wait it out, and found him crumpled about 100 yards downhill from the kill site. Perfect shot, no meat damage at all, absolutely nosler’d. The heart actually jumped out of the animal while I was working on him. Spent the rest of the day skinning, quartering, and hauling it down to a trail. Hung it up and hauled the straps and the loins out that night. The next day I humped a sled up, boned it all out, and got it all out the remaining 3 miles in one go; a very heavy haul. While the rack wasn’t impressive (a beat-up 4x5), the mass on the animal was huge. Seemed to be an older bull on his way down- definitely a good one to harvest.

I don’t carry a camera when hunting to save weight (I actually used every single item in my pack that day), but I did get a couple of shots of what counts. LB has a shot of me about to bone-out a hind which I’ll post up when I get it, but in the spirit of FreakofSnow, here’s one which I hope will be a tradition (taken by LB):



Ready to bone out:



And a very small portion of that glorious meat:



Spent all day Saturday and Sunday processing. Got the backs, loins, and hinds done and sealed up. All I have left is the fronts and a bunch of work with the grinder.