Was your season a success?
01-13-2015, 09:50 PM
#26
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: May 2009
Location: NE Alabama
Posts: 1,060
Killed a coyote opening day of rifle season then killed about a 120 lb doe 2 weeks later. Passed up several small deer. Rut is kickin in here in Alabama so hopefully I'll kill a buck before season ends the 31st.
01-14-2015, 06:10 AM
#27
Spike
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: Idaho
Posts: 69
Took a spring bear this year, haven't ever really bear hunted, usually only turkey hunt in the spring. Definitely was fun and will probably do it again this spring.
Got to spend quite a bit of time deer hunting and looking/hoping for a mature buck. Saw a lot of deer, had a doe not know what I was and get curious, ended up walking up to about 20 yards from me. Rattled in a coyote with my brother in law, let it walk since I enjoy calling them in during the winter and we were deer hunting. My ultimate goal is to always put a deer and/or elk in the freezer, enjoy the choice cuts and making sausage out of a lot of it. With only one tag, I look for a mature buck to extend my season and have a reason to keep going out, in most cases a doe can be taken within the first couple of weeks. I took a doe the last week of the season, about a 3-1/2 year old that should eat great. Definitely a good deer season.
Archery elk season was a diferent story, went late in the rut and heard a lot of bugles, but with cows readily available and in heat, the bulls wouldn't leave them. The unit I hunt is very accessible and this causes the elk to be in small little groups all over the place, not really the typical "herd" of elk with a mature bull and satellites hounding it. This ends up with dink bulls usually having a cow or two, so you don't really get the satellite bull effect that has them run in to cow calling. We usually go the second week which makes for less bugles but better odds of them committing when they do answer, but it can still be pretty warm weather and that makes them really nocturnal. It was really warm last year, as in 90 freakin degrees during the day, so we decided to go the last week of september this year hoping for cooler temps. Still had a blast, nothing else compares IMO to hunting elk in the rut. We decided that we'll go back to hunting early in the season, we just seem to have better luck before a bunch of the cows are in heat and the bulls are sticking close to them. I'm also trying to convince my hunting partner to hunt a less accessible unit next year, I hunted it years ago and know the terrain. We'll see.
I did muzzleloader hunt for elk in december as well, but it was warm and no snow, which made it tough hunting. All my archery spots that usually hold elk were virtually void of sign and I couldn't ever find where they had moved off to. Still always have a blast when I can get into the woods though.
Got to spend quite a bit of time deer hunting and looking/hoping for a mature buck. Saw a lot of deer, had a doe not know what I was and get curious, ended up walking up to about 20 yards from me. Rattled in a coyote with my brother in law, let it walk since I enjoy calling them in during the winter and we were deer hunting. My ultimate goal is to always put a deer and/or elk in the freezer, enjoy the choice cuts and making sausage out of a lot of it. With only one tag, I look for a mature buck to extend my season and have a reason to keep going out, in most cases a doe can be taken within the first couple of weeks. I took a doe the last week of the season, about a 3-1/2 year old that should eat great. Definitely a good deer season.
Archery elk season was a diferent story, went late in the rut and heard a lot of bugles, but with cows readily available and in heat, the bulls wouldn't leave them. The unit I hunt is very accessible and this causes the elk to be in small little groups all over the place, not really the typical "herd" of elk with a mature bull and satellites hounding it. This ends up with dink bulls usually having a cow or two, so you don't really get the satellite bull effect that has them run in to cow calling. We usually go the second week which makes for less bugles but better odds of them committing when they do answer, but it can still be pretty warm weather and that makes them really nocturnal. It was really warm last year, as in 90 freakin degrees during the day, so we decided to go the last week of september this year hoping for cooler temps. Still had a blast, nothing else compares IMO to hunting elk in the rut. We decided that we'll go back to hunting early in the season, we just seem to have better luck before a bunch of the cows are in heat and the bulls are sticking close to them. I'm also trying to convince my hunting partner to hunt a less accessible unit next year, I hunted it years ago and know the terrain. We'll see.
I did muzzleloader hunt for elk in december as well, but it was warm and no snow, which made it tough hunting. All my archery spots that usually hold elk were virtually void of sign and I couldn't ever find where they had moved off to. Still always have a blast when I can get into the woods though.
01-14-2015, 07:56 AM
#28
Typical Buck
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Midlo, Va
Posts: 561
Any time I get out in the woods is a success. This is the first year since I retired that I could hunt all I wanted. Did I get a deer? What does it matter. I know I saw more deer then I ever have this year but I figure that to being in the woods more than any other year. As long as I am in nature it is a success
01-14-2015, 10:59 AM
#30
Fork Horn
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Montana
Posts: 309
We had a great year...... as I get older any year I can get out and hunt is a great year regardless of what I put in the freezer, but despite the lowest deer numbers we've had around here in a very long time, my son and I killed two nice bucks. In September I killed a nice bull moose in British Columbia... We ended the season with a lot of pretty decent pheasant hunting.... Now it's time to sit back and relax, chase a few coyotes around, and do a little ice fishing.... We're happy campers around here!
