RE: Official Team Elowapi Thread (15)
 

Congrats Ryan, and Mauser! Haven't been around here much, but finished out the PA rifle season last evening. Passed on plenty of does all season, even in rifle. My dad took a decent 8point on Dec.2, so we have enough venison for now. I saw plenty of deer during rifle as well ( averaged about 3 per sit), and plenty of small bucks, but no shooters. I will hunt a little in late archery over our remaining food source (our winter wheat/rye plot), but I'm not going at it as hard. A bit burnt out, but it was a rewarding season. I certainly saw more deer this year than ever, and had one really nice one within range. Hopefully I can continue to improve over the next year.

RE: Official Team Elowapi Thread (15)
 

thanx Matt...


heres a couple pics...



skull my buddy boiled for me...i gotta touch up the bases a bit...i dont know how he does the bleaching but sometimes its on the antlers and sometimes its not....cant complain for a FREE euro....he even did the bottom jaws and glued everything back in place for me(i have them off i was examining them :D)

heres the only pic of the deer i have....well, a couple others but same thing..hanging in the garage...just a big mess with dead batteries etc...love my camera...but stinks when its dead because it has its own battery...might have to buy a spare to keep handy....wouldnt be a bad idea.....




still dont know how old he is...im definently saying 3.5+ based on teeth wear and color for what i can tell....just looking at the full body tells me he is mature...i dont know that he was on the decline...maybe just bad genes or nutrition...definently wasnt a baby!

and yes, the busted G2 does make him legal...it measures 1.5" or something...definently over an inch....i know you guys wouldnt likely call me out on it....but i wont post it anywhere else because i know it would turn into a disaster with me trying to prove its legality!

RE: Official Team Elowapi Thread (15)
 

Nice buck mauser. Sure does have a big body, as far as age goes though I am not one to even take a guess.

I'm guessing you had a real good look at him to pick out that busted off tine [8D]

RE: Official Team Elowapi Thread (15)
 

actually knew it was busted before i shot...seen the good brow and the nub...i knew the nub was going to be close but felt confident it was over an inch...actually thought he had the other brow...him and a pile of does trotted right to me on the far side of the ravine and they seemed to stop to try to decide which way to go...


could you imagine me posting him on HPA Ryan?!?! those guys would hang me by my balls...saying he wasnt legal and then saying that im "unethical" and theres no way i knew he was legal...


im poly-ing a couple cherry slabs i cut a year or 2 back....im going to mout the skull on one and mount my first bucks rack on another piece and hang them up...its Christmas break....i usually strip the flintlock stock and refinish it but i finally got it looking how i want...FOR NOW lol...so now i gotta find other things to occupy my time on rainy days....nice days i'll take the shotgun or 22 for a walk small game hunting/scouting for next bow season....

RE: Official Team Elowapi Thread (15)
 

Nice buck there, and i like the mount.

I am headed out tomorrow to check the camera and then i am hunting sat-tuedsay morning. cant wait. the deer are hitting the unplowed colver that is burried by snow and the uncut corn.

Seen lots of tracks.

Just got wind that there is a 15 pointer out on the farm just across the fence!!!

Will let you know
Mike

RE: Official Team Elowapi Thread (15)
 

thanx Mike! good luck!!! food sources would be a hot spot this time of year!


i will have to take a new pic of the mount....got it on a cherry slab hanging on the wall now...also mounted my first bucks rack on another cherry slab...both are beside my first bow kill mount...Christmas break...i get bored and like to tinker...dont get to get out deer hunting till the 26th when our late season comes in...i'll be hunting for a doe or 2 with the flintlock....

i love the euro mounts....but im going to have to start doing my own...sometimes my buddy bleaches the antlers like he did mine...sometimes he doesnt lol....and he used bleach, not peroxide. the bleach will continue to eat at the bone which isnt good...cant complain about FREE...and right now i dont have a place to do my own(smells pretttttty bad for 8 hours!) i will eventually get around to trying to stain the bleached bases to match the color...might be a little tricky being the antlers are kinda different colored..

RE: Official Team Elowapi Thread (15)
 

Mauser, sometimes you can complain about free. I’ll give you a free air conditioner. It doesn’t work and leaks Freon, but you can’t complain about free right? ;):D

If your buddy is using bleach, he’s “freely” ruining your treasured trophies. Request that he not use bleach on yours. I’m not familiar enough to know how long the process takes for the bleach to chalk the bone, or if there is anything that can be done to lesson or minimize it.

Mike,
Good luck getting after them, food is the key these days.

RE: Official Team Elowapi Thread (15)
 

Nice Looking buck there Mauser, Congrats! I agree, can't complain about free!

We didn't have any luck during the rifle season here. Saw a few doe's and small bucks, but nothing worth shooting. I'll be headed up north of Saskatoon here in about 10 days. It was kind of a last minute thing, but was able to squeeze it in over the Xmas & New Years holidays. Should be some cold weather hunting up there... last I checked it was -25F & -47F with windchill. Hope we see some bucks!

Good luck to you guys still out hunting!

RE: Official Team Elowapi Thread (15)
 

rybo, i hear ya! instead of criticizing his methods and telling him what hes been doing for 30 or 40 years is wrong, i had him teach me how to skin the heads and how to boil them....all i need is a place to boil them and i'll be able to do my own...not hard, but its nice to have someone show you the steps and process first hand....his method works....i just dont like the bleach and the way he bleaches...

i dont know how long it takes to break the bone down bad enough that it falls apart...he has some one his wall that are probably 20 years old...

if nothing else, i'll boil them at his place and whiten them myself...but, i think i can find me an outdoor burner that will work perfect and not stink up the house....

RE: Official Team Elowapi Thread (15)
 

Glad to see our team still talking it up. Sorry I've been MIA recently, busy busy busy.

I'm still pulling for ya'll that haven't scored.

Nice buck captain, shame he busted that G2 but he has character and you know how I like character in my bucks. :D

It's been a fun year guys, keep at it if you can.

RE: Official Team Elowapi Thread (15)
 

thanx Rob...that G2 and brow tine would made him a NICE 6pt...kinda disappointing he could easily had 5 on easy side! not a huge buck by any means....just my first that would been half decint...definently oldest and biggest body...

the more i think about it, the more im glad i filled my buck tag. sure, i have the whole late season to hunt with my bow if i wanted....but i forgot in my unit, does season NEVER went out for any weapon and wont until about the end of Jan. i wish i had a seceret place that hold unpressured deer....i think the late season could be a great time to sit on a hot food source..


good luck guys still hunting!!!

RE: Official Team Elowapi Thread (15)
 

Hey team, hope everyone had a good Christmas and new year. I havent been in the woods thepast 2 weeks. Ive been spending time w/ my girlfriend and her family in New York for the holidays.

Season here in MO closes on January 15th. I have five days of hunting planned before it closes and Im still confident in scoring a buck. I have a couple hot spots for late season and optimism never hurt anyone.

Im still holding out for a 130" or bigger butthings might change if a 120" walks by again. Ive passed several 120's this year and last year but Im really feeling the urge to shoot a buck. I have at least 7 bucks on camera on the farm ill be hunting next week. Wish me luck!

If a 400+" buck walks out we might have a chance at this contest[:-]:)

RE: Official Team Elowapi Thread (15)
 

good luck drhntr!!! glad to hear someone is still bowhunting for the team!!!


i got my 2nd deer ever with the flintlock this afternoon! my buddy pushed me 4 does and i took a 15-20yd shot at the biggest and dropped her...






bad camera man...i didnt think to look at the pics before leaving the woods....but ive had worse pics taken.....nice to have a few places still somewhat thick with deer to hunt....its kinda like the OLD PA...bunches of does but not hardly any bucks...the owners are buck hunters and dont allow us in there till the late season...they dont care if we take bucks, but they know most of the time we take does...

hope everyone had a good, safe holiday season!!

RE: Official Team Elowapi Thread (15)
 

Capt, that's pretty cool. I'm 100% with my flintlock.....yup, I'm 1 for 1...never even misfired.:D

dh, good luck....we could use some more points. ;)

RE: Official Team Elowapi Thread (15)
 

VERY nice track record Rob!!! i been flint locking since i was 16 or 17 (21 now!) last year i got my first finally! i can shoot targets all day no problem...but i had a serious issue with flinching...i can follow through with the bow...i can make a 350yd headshot on a groundhog with a great trigger squeeze...but couldnt follow through with the flinter...wasnt the lock being slow or jumping at the flash...i was sub-consciously pulling the trigger and dropping/lifting my head up to try to see around the smoke cloud...kinda how alot of guys miss gobblers...i cant count how many ive missed with that danged rifle! i was getting close to wrapping it around a tree till i connected last year....

RE: Official Team Elowapi Thread (15)
 

Congrats Mauser & good luck drhntr. I likely have one more trip out myself before our late archery ends & officially hands me tag soup for a PA buck.

BUT, the good news is I whacked my first late season archery doe this morning. 4 deer got pushed into me from the ML hunters & I whacked one at 12 yds. Nice way to break in my "new" backup bow.
I swear they hunt harder during late season than they do in regular gun. There was a group of 7 trucks that drive practically the entire township with not much regard for posted land. [:@]

RE: Official Team Elowapi Thread (15)
 

Without a doubt Ryan. Once gun season is over, they are about as hard to hunt than any whitetail in the country. I've never seen such a wired whitetail then our girls once the second season roles in. Taking any doe is just about harder than taking a mature buck.

RE: Official Team Elowapi Thread (15)
 

Awesome job on the late season deer, guys! To think, I had 9 of them off my back porch Tuesday evening. Tried to sneak around the house, but no dice:D

RE: Official Team Elowapi Thread (15)
 

congrats Ryan!!! thats a feat!! in 2B thats about the only way to see deer is if someone else moves them...i can drive around my township any day and find a crew of rifle hunters...pressure is still rough...

a guy stopped down my buddies farm the other day asking for permission and places to hunt...a crew of them are coming clear from Altoona to rifle hunt! they seen all the coop farms in the area and thought it was worth the trip....they are in for a bit of disappointment i do believe....

we been doing some new and some OLD pushes we havent done in a long while the last week....finding some deer...i managed another small doe with the flinter today! was a good bit of "shrinkage" mainly due to the lead deer being even SMALLER...i figured the 2nd one was the mother just looking at size at first glace...did a button check best i could and dropped her....yearling doe...im happy...will be great eating! and came from a herd that thrives because in the regular season they hide in a housing development...all summer they kill my buddies corn, but once bowseason starts they move out and become pretty nocternal and stay close to the houses...2 buddies pushed for me today and caught a group in our woods doing a push we havent done in a long while...





bucks must still be in hiding...only seen a couple small bucks this flinter season...

without the deer having houses to hide behind, we wouldnt have deer left in the area...between the long rifle season and the coop maps online, guys seem to flock to the area...the area glows on the coop map because all the farms are enrolled...thats the reason me and the crew i hunt with wont take does anymore in our regular woods...few exceptions like wounded, a jrs first deer etc...we havent pushed our regular woods at all when we do have someone with us thats buck hunting just because we dont wanna push them into rifle hunters...when we have noone but me shooting, we are in woods we dont regularly hunt and areas that still have a good population so if i do take one, its not from an area that isnt looking so good...

RE: Official Team Elowapi Thread (15)
 

Congrats on another doe Mauser! You're having a really good year.

I will be out at some point tomorrow. Not expecting too much, would take nothing short of a miracle to score at this point. I don't know whether to scoot up a tree in some thick stuff & hope a nice buck strolls or gets pushed by. Or just snow camo up, grab the longbow, point my nose to the wind and sneak thru some bedding areas. That could be pretty fun if nothing else.