supposed to have headed out at 2:30 on Friday afternoon but the wife had issues at work and we didnt get any hunting done on Friday as it was dark when we got to the hunting area.....
since speed goats(pronghorn antelope) are active all day and arent just mostly limited to dawn and dusk like deer and elk we werent in a hurry to get up Saturday as we had several nights of lil sleep during the week.....prolly didnt hit the road till 7:30a.m. or so, usually out by 6 for deer and elk(the season for these didnt open till sun up today)......cruised around all morning but no real pictures to show.....spent the time with my eye glued to the spotting scope looking over animals 1/4 to 1 mile away looking for a trophy buck.....saw about 120 animals total prolly a dozen or so average bucks that were in the 10-12 inch range.....saw half of a monster, the left side was prolly 16 or 17 inches but the right side was deformed, or busted off or something right above his ear.....the other side being as massive as it was i would have likely shot him anyways but couldnt get close as my wife, having a bone spur on her heel, couldnt help me with my stalk and i wound up crawling 300 yards or so on my hands and knees before he wondered off to join a group of about 50.....
a high pressure front moved into the area bout noon and it started to rain a bit.....the back roads are lil more than powdered clay and when they get wet things get interesting so we headed for gravel roads....and back to the cabin.
where we stay is at my inlaws cabin at the Pines Recreation Area, the last 3/4 of a mile of the point is a no shooting area so my father in law went on to the back porch and called his "pet" whitetails for their afternoon snack.....
the gal in the pink is my youngest daughter, the gal in the white is my wifes sister
a nuthatch on the back porch
it cleared up a bit at about 3 so the wife and i went for a ride, found some sharptail grouse, got one, my first bird in 8 years
second wave of the storm front moving in
sunset
got up this morning and winds were steady at 35, gusting over 55mph.....was going to be rough hunting and since the main plan was to go after elk for my oldest daughter we decided that the forecast looks FAR better next weekend we pulled up camp and came home.....on the way by the Dredge Cuts, the spot where the dam drains into the river we took a picture looking into the wind across a bay only bout 250 yards across......the wind is blowing hard enough to cause white caps in this short distance
since speed goats(pronghorn antelope) are active all day and arent just mostly limited to dawn and dusk like deer and elk we werent in a hurry to get up Saturday as we had several nights of lil sleep during the week.....prolly didnt hit the road till 7:30a.m. or so, usually out by 6 for deer and elk(the season for these didnt open till sun up today)......cruised around all morning but no real pictures to show.....spent the time with my eye glued to the spotting scope looking over animals 1/4 to 1 mile away looking for a trophy buck.....saw about 120 animals total prolly a dozen or so average bucks that were in the 10-12 inch range.....saw half of a monster, the left side was prolly 16 or 17 inches but the right side was deformed, or busted off or something right above his ear.....the other side being as massive as it was i would have likely shot him anyways but couldnt get close as my wife, having a bone spur on her heel, couldnt help me with my stalk and i wound up crawling 300 yards or so on my hands and knees before he wondered off to join a group of about 50.....
a high pressure front moved into the area bout noon and it started to rain a bit.....the back roads are lil more than powdered clay and when they get wet things get interesting so we headed for gravel roads....and back to the cabin.
where we stay is at my inlaws cabin at the Pines Recreation Area, the last 3/4 of a mile of the point is a no shooting area so my father in law went on to the back porch and called his "pet" whitetails for their afternoon snack.....
the gal in the pink is my youngest daughter, the gal in the white is my wifes sister
a nuthatch on the back porch
it cleared up a bit at about 3 so the wife and i went for a ride, found some sharptail grouse, got one, my first bird in 8 years
second wave of the storm front moving in
sunset
got up this morning and winds were steady at 35, gusting over 55mph.....was going to be rough hunting and since the main plan was to go after elk for my oldest daughter we decided that the forecast looks FAR better next weekend we pulled up camp and came home.....on the way by the Dredge Cuts, the spot where the dam drains into the river we took a picture looking into the wind across a bay only bout 250 yards across......the wind is blowing hard enough to cause white caps in this short distance