Yearly Archives: 2013
Mule Deer Archery Hunt in Colorado
Headed out to western Colorado to do a combo archery hunt for trophy mule deer and elk near Rangely, Co at Twin Buttes Ranch. The six day hunt ran 8/31 to 9/5. Hunting with my friends Dylan & Holly Carr, Rodney, Jim, and Eric. I’m driving out in hopes of bringing back coolers of elk meat. We all connect at Cabela’s in Reno and caravan from there to spend the night in Tooele, UT. We make Rangely early the next morning. Our tags are waiting for us in town and we get all our licenses in order and head up to the ranch.
During the course of the hunt we seem many great bucks. Some I just can’t get close enough for a shot. Early in the hunt I get within 55 yards of a pretty nice 4×4 but end up passing on that shot. It ends up being the buck I take on the fourth day. They had some scouting footage of him from earlier that they sent me below.
Eric draws first blood on the third day with a tall 2×3. I end up getting a shot the morning of the fourth day at the same 4×4. I shoot from just under 40 yards. It’s a good shot but we’re concerned he’s headed off a pretty steep drop. I put another into him from behind at 32 and he beds down on the steep slope. We see his head go down and then he rolls another 75 yards down but stops before the drop. It makes for a challenging recovery and messed up the velvet. Luckily we have lots of help. Dylan and Owen dress and quarter him right there on the hill side. I’m super happy to have taken my first mule deer with a bow.
Jim shoots a very nice tall 4×4 on day five and Dylan shoots a great buck that night. The last day Rodney scores on another great buck and we watch the drama from a adjoining ridge. After taking my deer I sat on water in a blind for elk but no luck. It was beautiful country, great accommodations, food, lodge and wonderful hospitality from the Robertson’s family.
August & September Trail Cam Videos
Compilation of the deer trail from August and September. Some unusual non-indigenous creatures make their appearance at the halfway point.
August Bow Hunt
August and I’m back to the Diamond C Ranch for a blacktail bow hunt. I’m after several bucks, some we’ve seen previous years. Moose, a big non-typical, Johnny a nice 4×3, Stubby a thick based 4×3, and AP a super wide symmetrical 4×4. Moose is the primary target. Friday I’m in a blind looking for him to come in. At dusk a super tall buck appears. I’m thinking of taking him but further scrutiny shows he’s aptly named ‘Off-Limits’ a big 4×3 that’s too young. Saturday night while heading to the Herf blind we spot a big buck walking in the woods below us to our right. It’s ‘Johnny’. Dylan and I are after him, walking above him parallel to his path searching for a good shooting lane. Finally one develops. Dylan ranges him at 38 yards. I hold my 40 pin on his body, he’s quartering away, I release. I hear my arrow impact a branch on the way. It deflects my shot but we hear it impact. He’s off and we decide to cross the creek bed and see if we can head him off. While on the opposite side I can hear him walking through the woods. We cross back and at the creek bed we can see him bed down above us on the side I shot from. We recover him there. My arrow went through both back legs and hit an artery. He’s a great buck! Nice 4×3 with his velvet intact. My best bow buck by far.
My August blacktail bow buck “Johnny”
With so many great bucks on the ranch I decide to sit the Herf blind Sunday night in hopes of seeing AP. While I’m getting into the blind a tall 4×3 stands up from under an oak tree and slowly walks off. I thought it was Off-Limits again but Dylan texts me that it was Stubby and I can take him if I want. He looked pretty good but I’m thinking of holding out for AP the huge 4×4. Around 6:30 a doe walks in. She’s pretty spooky, starting at the slightest noise from the blind and staring in. She leaves eventually. Later another doe comes in and same thing, slightest noise has her full alert. Sunset is 8:18 and at 8:20 a young fork horn walks in. Around 8:30 Stubby is back as well. I give him a good look with the binos. He looks pretty good. Taller than Johnny but not wide. Super thick bases. Finally at 8:40 he stands broadside at 23 yards looking my direction. I decide to take him. I draw and can make out his back line. Lower the green 20 pin below and slowly release. I hear the arrow impact and the black silhouette of a buck walking out and away to the left. I grab the binos but not in time to identify which. I think I see movement in the grass. I call Dylan and tell him I shot Stubby. I think the shot is good. Possibly he’s ‘dead right there’. We give him 30 minutes and then the truck pulls up. I’m out of the blind. Stow my gear in the truck and then go look for my arrow. There is Stubby lying dead where he was standing. Too good to be true. He’s a super buck with 6″ plus bases and patches of white velvet. A great double for the weekend and my two best bow bucks by far.
My August 2013 blacktail bow buck ‘Stubby’
Free Diving Timber Cove
Met Jerry Hong at Timber Cove. He’s up from LA with his wife Lillian. We’re in the water around 8am. Gorgeous day but not great visibility and a little big of surge and swell. I found my three abs with some difficulty. And as usual saw many many more bigger abs while hunting for fish. Jerry got his first three abs pulling some nice sized ones. Was great to get back in the water again and encouraging to see a lot of good sized abs at such a popular easy dive location. Looks like things are looking up for the abalone population finally.
Did not see a lot of fish out but managed to first get a calico with my pole spear. Kept at it ignoring the perch and greenling, flushed a big ling that got away, and finally found a good sized blue in a hole. Was a great day to get my limit and a couple rock fish under some challenging conditions.
Spring Turkey at the Diamond C Ranch
Back to try turkey hunting again with Dylan Carr at the Diamond C Ranch. I stopped at Rio Dell on my way to pick up my Remington ADL custom rifle Fred at Grundmans had been putting together for me. My original first hunting rifle, a bargain basement ADL, now transformed with pacnor stainless fluted barrel, jewel trigger, robar coated with NP3 on the bolt, and topped off with a 4.4-14×40 Leupold VX3 with CDS turret. Looking forward to sighting it in. My inspiration was an article from Hardcore Outdoor where he gave his 30.06 a similar treatment.
Friday we tried calling in some Toms with Harley and Dylan doing the calling but the wind made it difficult and the birds weren’t moving. Saturday morning Dylan and I drove back down to where we’d been hearing them and immediately got a gobble back to our crow call. We found a good position behind a rock above them and proceeded to call them in.
We had expected some birds to come up on our right but before we knew it two toms arrived off to our left. I had to re postion the gun over Dylan to be ready. Dylan saw the first and told me to take the second one. Waited for them to get into range. Finally the second arrives and I shoot him. The other bird immediately comes over and starts tearing him up, standing over him. Eventually slipped off my gloves and got my iPhone out for a little video. We then slipped out there not wanting to spook them so that Dylan’s daughter Ashley could try for them later.
Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning we hunted with Ashley, Dylan’s 10 year old daughter to try and get her first turkey. We had several stands and toms come in but it was never quite right or too far to shoot. She was shooting off of sticks. She did great though exhibiting great patience and not taking a bad shot. I’m sure she’ll have her bird later this month. Was so fun seeing different hunts unfold and the toms coming in to the calls. Really enjoying turkey hunting and looking forward to doing it again each Spring.
Stage Road
Nice Sunday ride on Stage Road.