HuntingNet.com Forums - NM elk and MO whitetail success!!!

Hi Everyone!!! Hope all is well in your lives. I would like at this time to apologize to anyone that I have had any arguments with in the past. I am sorry for the childish behavior at times, and life is too short for such ridiculous behavior. God wants us to get along and we are to love one another and settle our disagreements. The internet has us sometimes act much differently than we would act face to face in the real world. Again, my sincere apologies. Alright, an update on my life and what I have been up to. I would 1st like to announce that I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal savior in August!!! Yes, Hardcorehunter has realized that God, and to walk with Christ, is the only way to live my life. I always considered myself a Christian, but I had not taken the final step of asking the Holy Spirit to come into my heart and confessing to the Lord that I wanted to live my life for Christ. Once I did, God blessed me overwhelmingly with a calm and peace in my heart and my life. He has also cleared up many of my problems I had facing me, and is still taking care of my needs. I have become hungry for the scripture of God’s Word, my demeanor, my language, and the values in my life have changed. God has answered my prayers, and he will yours too, if you let Jesus be your best friend. Ask, and you shall receive. I had an unexpected split up with my wife a couple of months ago that I didn’t want, or see coming. We never ever had an argument, were best friends, were inseperable, and shared the same hobbies. My family and our friends didn’t see it either, as we were crazy about each other. I don’t want to embarrass her on a public forum, so I will not disclose anymore. Our friends and families all know why she did what she did, and so does she. She has to live with the bed she has made. I forgive her, through Christ, and pray for her salvation.
Alright, my elk hunt story 1st. This elk hunt started off March 29, 2008 with my wife at the time and me, applying together for the hunt and the application had to be done by April 9, 2008. 40 days later, I discovered she closed the bank account we had used for the elk hunt application and stole all of the $$ I had put into the account. The hunt was SABOTAGED and my dream of elk hunting for the year was gone!! Or was it? On June 15, 2008, I discovered on NM Fish and Game’s website, that it showed me as “pending” for hunting; indicating the state had not drawn yet. I emailed the state and said,”Help, estranged wife has sabotaged my hunt, can I give new debit card info?” The NM Fish and Game emailed me back a day later and stated I had till noon that day to get my new $$ paying info to them. I hurriedly got the new bank info to them. The very next day they sent me a confirmation email telling me,”Congrats, you have successfully been drawn for elk.” I was ecstatic!!! We had applied together as a team so I couldn’t get her name off of the application and bought her an elk tag twice. I have always wanted to do a do it yourself elk hunt out of my own wall tent. I took my baby sister from CO with me and we lived in the woods for 14 days. We arrived early before season so that I could acclimate myself and have camp all ready. I probably hadn’t spent over an hour with my sister in the last 10 years, and it was a blessing to spend the time with her. We spent the 1st day driving up and down nearby logging roads and cutting a load of wood for the wood stove. The temps would get down to the 40’s at night, so we would need wood for warmth. We were in the Gila National Forest and they allow chain saws and all of the dead wood you want to cut, as long as you don’t leave the Forest with the wood. Our campsite was perfect, water across the road, and a beautiful site sitting at 9300 ft. With the warm temps, I knew the elk would be high. The 1st evening we laid down to sleep and at midnight we were awakened by a bugling elk, 100 yds from camp. One to two elk would bugle every night late for the next 13 days, but bugling would cease by dawn. The entire 14 days we were there, the elk would not bugle during daylight. They would not respond to any calling. The weather was hot and too early for any preseason rut activity. We were hunting in the SW corner of NM and the date was Sept 1-10. I talked with other hunters in the area and they all said the same thing. To get a bull was going to have to be in the right spot at the right time. It rained about everyday for a little bit and hunting over water was not a surefire way to hunt, as there was plenty of water and the grasses were lush everywhere. Opening day started off with me still hunting in a light rain. Within a half an hour, I had a cow standing perfectly broadside at 5 yds!! Pretty cool, and we just stared at each other. I spent a lot of time, painstakingly moving very slow and quiet for the next couple of days, while I hunted and learned the land. I saw several cows and calves. Day 3, I took an evening treestand and got to see a nice bear. I knew there were bear in the area, as earlier that day, I came across a huge hole that recently had a huge rock rolled out of it. On day 4, my sister wanted to go with me. I taught her the day before in camp, how to rake a tree with a dead tree branch, stomp her feet, and how to basically sound like a bull raking a tree. Within the 1st hour of still hunting, we saw 2 cows and a calf at 50 yds working their way to us. We dropped to our knees and when they got within 20 yds, the wind swirled on us and the cows smelled us. They stopped and stared, and at about that time, a bull that was bringing up the rear and had yet not appeared, grunted and half bugled at his girls, sounding an alarm to run. Away they went. One of the cows stood perfectly broadside at 20 yds and after they had run off, my sister asked why I had not shot. I explained that I wanted a male with antlers, and that the meat was really of secondary importance to me. I told her if meat was my reason to hunt, I would shoot a cow as the meat is better. She said, “Don, I could really use the meat and our Grandparents are on a fixed income and that they would surely appreciate the meat too. You guys and your bragging and boastfulness, all for some dumb antlers.” She had me, and there was a lot of strength and truth in her words, but for the next 5 days, I passed on several cows. We saw a nice bull that day, but he was on alert and we saw him within minutes after spooking the girls that the bull had been with. It may have been him, he was standing in a logging road at 200 yds and busted us as we crossed it. We spent the rest of the day until dark, still hunting, raking trees, and doing some cow calling and bugling. Day 5 found me setting in my Double Bull blind near a burned area with lots of grass that bordered heavy timber and had a creek running through it. I brushed myself in real well in some shaded, brushy area near the stream. I had also heard a bull bugle there in the evening approx at midnight. I had a cow and a calf feed by me at 25 yds that am, but no bulls. I tried treestand hunting, ground blinds, and still hunting. I knew my still hunting tactics were good, as I walked upon several cows and calves over the 10 day hunt, and I even got within 20 yds of a trophy mule deer buck in velvet that would have scored at least 170. He was a dandy. On my last day of the hunt, early am before the sun came up, I read some bible scripture and then I got on my knees and prayed and said,”God, you have given me plenty of opportunities and I know that only 20% of archery elk hunters get their elk; if you present me with a cow or a bull, I will take whatever you give me.” I then proceeded to go on my hunt and I was still hunting towards a treestand I had hung near a small stream. It hadn’t rained in 2 days and I thought that this site had a lot of elk sign and it looked like a gr8 place to spend some time, so I started still hunting towards my treestand. 20 minutes into my still hunt, a mature cow busted out of the bush at 30 yds and I bawed at her and she stopped at 40 yds in some open pine timber and looked back at me, offering me a perfect broadside shot. My A/C/C arrow with a Slicktrick broadhead flew true and I double lunged her. My arrow got a complete pass thru. She ran a short distance and I heard her crash. My equipment was a 2007 Bowtech Guardian 60# bow peaked at 62#. My sister had went to town that am and she got out of all of the work. I boned all of the meat out, and put in a trash bag in my back pack, and 5 trips later, I had all of the meat in camp. I had 2 sections of camo mesh that measure approx 5’ wide by 12’ long. I placed the meat in the shade on the ground on the netting, and then covered the meat with netting, to keep flies and yellow jackets off of the meat. I used rocks and logs to seal the edges as the yellow jackets especially, were relentless at trying to get to the meat. The next day we tore down camp and headed to town so we could get the meat on ice. The hunt was my dream way of doing a hunt, and I was successful. I lost 12 lbs of my body weight in 10 days of hiking and hunting, and never got altitude sickness at all. I felt great every day, and actually wore out my sister the day we went out. Most days I would leave in the dark, and not get home till after dark. I had biked and lifted weights for two months prior to the hunt, and I was glad I was prepared. What really made the camp life enjoyable was the wall tent. Without it, I don’t think one could possibly stand to spend that much time in the wilderness, especially with the daily and evening rains. I only gave $300 for it and the wood stove went with it. $$ well spent. I brought a dome tent and used it as a storage tent. We never wished we had brought anything else and the entire trip was comfortable. My GPS system was a must too, along with my very comfortable and roomy MadDog backpack. I can’t wait to do it again. I love and miss you Sis!!! Don.
Everyone, God Bless and take care. I hope you all have a safe and fun hunting season. In the past, I spent WAY too much time on forums and myspace and have closed my myspace acct and stay off of the forums, for the most part. My business, family, and friends take up most of my time, and that is the way I like it. I’ll stop by from time time though, and I just wanted to stop by and say hi and let you all know what has been up with my hunting and life so far this year. Take care!!
P.S. My MO bowhunt story and pics immediately follow this story in the next post.

Camp

I had already bones the meat by the time I realized I hadn't taken a pic

Lunch break

Boned meat