making old hobbies new again

I've been around hunting as long as I can remember and I enjoyed it. Not so much the kill part always, as I'm my own worst critic and am always concerned with making good, ethical shots. I like to take my time and sometimes that makes it very hard for me to come away with meat in the freezer. I went through a couple of years of not pulling the trigger because I wasn't confident in myself to make the good shot. The part of hunting that I enjoy most is not pulling the trigger, rather I look forward to being outdoors with the people I choose to go with me. I like the feel of the crisp air on my face, followed by sunshine. I like watching wildlife. I like having wild game in the freezer to eat all year long. I even enjoy processing the game meat to fill the freezer.

This year, I met a boy who loves to hunt and he drug me out to remind me how much I enjoyed it as well. I made some good shots this year, renewing my confidence in myself.

Coyote then Antelope. Most people don't like antelope or antelope hunting. I am the opposite, I love it. Its warm, its not especially difficult unless you want it to be. I'm usually a "shoot the first one, put in the freezer and be done, drinking coffee by 9A". I've shot several antelope and like the meat, but this year I wanted to be a bit more selective. I had plenty of hunting days left and I had insider information that there was a freak on the land that I had permission to hunt.

I had invited Wyoming Hunter to go with me (because I need a babysitter) and he also wanted to film the hunt to work on his video editing...check him out on youtube, he has some pretty cool videos! Mitch had tagged out his hunters and had a free day, so he came along too. I was nervous, even though I had been target shooting well. When we first pulled off the pavement to look at a herd of antelope, I dismissed them, they weren't what I was looking for this year, but Wyoming Hunter spotted a pair of coyotes moving towards the herd. I took one of them down with one shot, while the other escaped my range. I immediately felt reassured and excited about the prospect of a freak antelope.

 During the drive in, we saw a couple of small freaks (I passed) and a huge buck (on private property that I didn't have permission on), but we kept going "just to see what else was out there". As we entered the property and topped a hill, we all say him at the same time. As I grabbed my gun, both boys were hollering that if I didn't shoot him, they would. I told them to calm down as I jumped out of the pickup. I tried to steady myself, kneeling, but couldn't so I quickly moved a little closer and laid down, using the bipod on my rifle. Just as I was steady, he turned and faced me, taking my preferred shot with him. He saw us and I was nervous that I had missed my chance as this awesome buck. As I tried to remain calm, Mitch and Wyoming Hunter whispered to stay on the scope and wait, he would give me another shot. I took a deep breath as he turned broadside again, immediately followed by a doe that stepped right in front of him. As she wandered off, he forgot about us, too interested in the does. She stepped forward, leaving him broadside. Deep breath. BOOM. He went down. I knew he was cool, but as we walked up to him, I realized just how cool he was. And just like that at $30 hunt turned into a $700 hunt and he hangs on my wall now.

Cow Elk. In efforts to control the elk population, there are late season cow elk hunts in Jackson, WY. Again, Mitch's hunters had tagged out, so he had a free morning and took me. The lack of snow had made elk hunting pretty difficult this year, so I wasn't expecting much. As we drove by a pumphouse, we spotted a huge herd of elk in the short range weapons area. We had the shotgun slug gun, so I was able to hunt there. We were pretty sure that as soon as we pulled in with the horse trailer the elk would run up the hill, out of legal shooting area. We decided it was worth a shot anyway. As we pulled in, 95% of the herd took off as expected, but about 10 head stayed. We jumped out of the pickup, Mitch setting up shooting sticks as he moved. He ranged a cow at 200 yards. Deep breath. BOOM. I missed. She moved out of range for the shotgun, but there was another near the back of the herd. Ranged at 218 yards, I found her in my scope. Deep breath. BOOM. She went down. The people nearby whooped and hollered, good shot. I was so excited to get an elk, elk meat is one of my favorites. We called Game and Fish because she was collared, they came to retrieve the collar for data purposes and to use the collar again. She was collared at the Jackson refuge and was an old lady.

Texas Whitetail. I had never even been deer hunting, but when Mitch invited me to go to Texas with them to hunt whitetail, I jumped on the chance. I'll tell you more about this trip in a later post. We we working with a private landowner to cull the whitetail herd, so that he could bring in better genetics on his ranch. I harvested 2 small bucks and we will be making it all into sausage. Since meeting Mitch I went from a 1/2 freezer family to a 3 freezer family.

 

Wild Hog. On the same trip to Texas we also hunted wild hogs, which are very destructive, dangerous and booming populations. We hunted out of a helicopter with shotguns. I was very nervous that it would be fast paced and I wouldn't be able to get myself to shoot that fast. It was quite opposite, flying looking for hogs was a beautiful way to see the ranch. Once we found hogs we would follow them to a clearer area before shooting. We did this so that the ground crew on the side by side would be able to retrieve them for processing. Everyone was able to harvest a hog and the meat is delicious! This was one of the most fun experiences that I've ever had!

The freezer is full, I have some eating to do before fall!