2010/2011 Hunting stories and pics

[Gixxer Jon]

Nightforce are great scopes. My buddy has one on his M82 and 98 Bravo. Dead nuts accurate

  I just looked up the nightforce that i was looking into and i went onto midway to get a rough price quote because i know my local gun dealer will give me the cheapest price since im a repeating customer, but midway listed it for $1987.99      

[Zs Confederate Toy]

 


  I just looked up the nightforce that i was looking into and i went onto midway to get a rough price quote because i know my local gun dealer will give me the cheapest price since im a repeating customer, but midway listed it for $1987.99      

Thats the only downfall to nightforce

[Gixxer Jon]

Thats the only downfall to nightforce

This is the nightforce that i am looking into getting with the new velocity 1000 reticle. 

nxs 5.5-22x56

http://www.nightforceoptics.com/SCOPES_OVERVIEW/5_5-22x50___5_5-22x56/5_5-22x50_-_5_5-22x56.html

heres a link to the new reticle.

http://www.nightforceoptics.com/NightforceVelocity1000Data.pdf

[Gixxer Jon]

So has anyone been bear hunting this year? Only 127 have been harvested to date, so where they at this year? Last year I only ran into a 350-400 lb in the piute mountains. Last year the dfg warden said he saw alot of people pulling a bear out of up north in mammoth area. So anyone know of where they are this year? I had no luck In the southern Saquoia's area all the way up to springville area last year. I didn't have any time to get out and scout this year since work, wheeling and gf taking up my free time.

[kneedownnate]

What elevations are you hunting?  I haven't actually seen one yet this year, but I'm seeing the most activity and tracks at mid elevations, though most of those are juvenile tracks.

[Zs Confederate Toy]

So has anyone been bear hunting this year? Only 127 have been harvested to date, so where they at this year? Last year I only ran into a 350-400 lb in the piute mountains. Last year the dfg warden said he saw alot of people pulling a bear out of up north in mammoth area. So anyone know of where they are this year? I had no luck In the southern Saquoia's area all the way up to springville area last year. I didn't have any time to get out and scout this year since work, wheeling and gf taking up my free time.

Saw two on my drive home from work tonight, but Im 1300 miles away lol  . Had to throw that in there, sorry 
Good luck with your Bear hunt though.

[Gixxer Jon]

What elevations are you hunting?  I haven't actually seen one yet this year, but I'm seeing the most activity and tracks at mid elevations, though most of those are juvenile tracks.

I'm in 6-8k elevation

[IronClad]

in the area ive been deer hunting in (4-6k) ive seen loootttssss of tracks and activity. Yesterday we saw some tracks that had to have put the bear in the 500lbs range. If i can get some more time off ill probably grab a tag again this year and see what i can get. Hunting in the feather falls area

[kneedownnate]

I've also been finding more heavily used bear trails a bit off the beaten path than I have in previous years, so maybe they've taken to staying a little more out of the way for some reason 

[yotaneck13]

archery season opened here in pa last saturday
not much activity this week a cupple does and a buck fight about 35yards away was cool to watch.  But on wednsday i seen a huge black bear prolly pushin 450 or 500 lbs.

ive been gettin a big 10pt on my trail camera at my feeded all summer haven seen 1 hair of him since a few weeks ago if some one poached hi ill be stuffing their limp body down an oil well

[kneedownnate]

So today turned out to be my best day deer hunting this season.  Saw double the amount of deer I have seen any other day and had a good feeling, then saw a legal buck staring back at me through the fog.  Watched him and his buddy the spike for a minute before they jetted, then kept on up the ridge still feeling good. 

Doubled back down the mountain toward where I thought a trail would be, found an old grown over logging road and started working slowly back toward the truck.  Road opened back up to a well groomed trail and I kept slowly pushing along, but not slow enough.  I caught movement after hearing a thump and caught the backside of a large set of antlers on a very large bodied buck, but only saw it for about 2 or 3 seconds    I have a threshold for little bucks I won't shoot, in between bucks I have to think about, and big bucks I don't even have to ponder.  He was the latter.

He was with a doe (which made me wonder if the rut had already kicked in ) and absolutely dwarfed her, but after he left she stuck around and I noticed that she had a big enough body to shoot if she had a rack, so the dude was just plain big!

I'm bummed but happy at the same time.  It's been a while since I've seen a buck big enough to get me excited, but seeing 3 bucks in a matter of a few hours is a tough one to pull off around here.  Should have about the last 5 days of the season to go out and will hopefully have a friend with me for a couple days to poor over that area!

[yotaneck13]

ok so im sitting in the tree last night watching a bob cat catch and begin to eat a chipmunk when a 6pt comes in and chases the bob cat off.  The 6pt then returns to the dead chipmunk and begins licking the blood ozzing out of it.  About 5 mins later 2 does come up over the ridge and also begin licking the blood.  while im watching them wondering what in the hell is going on a small 8pt also walks over to lap up some of the chip munks blood.  WTF? never seen or heard of this has anyone else?

[superyota]

wow. thats weird. 

[Zs Confederate Toy]

Thats definitly strange. Never heard that before.

[yotaneck13]

thats what i thought i have asked everyone i know pretty much and no one has ever seen or herd of that happening

[skylinetoy]

Bow season here opens Sat. and the week is draggin! I'm ready to sling some arrows.

[Zs Confederate Toy]

My neighbors boy shot a doe in their back yard Friday morning, his first kill. Bright and early. We helped with the butchering of it tonight.

[Stocker]

- This is kneedownnate on Stocker's computer -

Started my short vacation/hunting this morning.  Saw great sign, saw tracks over mine from earlier in the day, saw 2 giant sets of very recent tracks in close proximity to where I saw the big buck 1 1/2 weeks ago, and saw TONS of sign off the sides of a nearby road I checked out on my way out, but didn't see even 1 deer all day.  Also found a watering hole inside the roots of a fir tree, with lots of game activity in the area too, and 2 trees with a line of sight to the watering hole... tree stand 

Will be going in and canvasing the area again tomorrow with more focus on the side of the canyon where I saw the greater sign, and hopefully I can turn that sign into something 

[Stocker]

- This is kneedownnate on Stocker's computer -

Yesterday turned up absolutely nothing, so I changed it up and headed up the ridge where I saw all the deer in the rain, and surely enough I saw deer again!  Started thinking that some day I'd look over the edge of a hill and see a large rack poking up through the brush, then looked over the edge about 10 minutes later and saw just the top of a rack sticking up, but he was eating his way down and I never even got a chance to see anything below to gauge his size or make a shot.  Back up again tomorrow morning to see if I can scare something up, which seems to be the case cause they are jumpy!

[Gixxer Jon]

- This is kneedownnate on Stocker's computer -

Yesterday turned up absolutely nothing, so I changed it up and headed up the ridge where I saw all the deer in the rain, and surely enough I saw deer again!  Started thinking that some day I'd look over the edge of a hill and see a large rack poking up through the brush, then looked over the edge about 10 minutes later and saw just the top of a rack sticking up, but he was eating his way down and I never even got a chance to see anything below to gauge his size or make a shot.  Back up again tomorrow morning to see if I can scare something up, which seems to be the case cause they are jumpy!

Good luck tomorrow. Let me know how it goes. I leave for my elk hunt on the 3rd

[kneedownnate]

It was a bust!  I saw the same 2 fawns and doe in the same area, got to within less than 20 feet of the fawn and it knew something wasn't right, but didn't panic and went about it's business.  Then mom stepped out and saw a blob sitting in the middle of the trail, realized it wasn't there before and panicked.  I found some sign that will help me next year as I made my way down next to an older cut, but didn't find any more deer. 

2 things I've found in the area have led me to believe the deer are even more pressured than I thought;  I came out of the woods to find 2 fresh dog piles across the road from my truck, as well as quite a few spots where the dogs were digging around in the dirt, and I've found multiple sets of cat tracks, as well as one set that was quickly following a very large set of deer tracks where the deer seemed to be in a big hurry heading down the mountain.

I have lots of mental notes in case I intend to hunt the area again next year, but a friend has decided to get into hunting and we plan on going next year.  My plan is to go over topo maps and find a low pressure valley or two in a wilderness area, extensively scout from as early as possible to make sure there's an established herd and mature bucks, pattern their daily routines and make sure they stay the same, pack in and hide supplies so we can sneak in more quietly when it counts, then come out with a nice buck or two next year 

[kneedownnate]

Oh, and good luck on your hunt Jon!  Elk is my dream kill.  I would feel completely content if I were able to kill a nice big bull!

And I also plan on getting a new rifle for next year.  I've clanked and clunked around for years with the old remington 788, and while they're incredibly accurate, the metal magazine is loud and awkward and has spooked too many deer!

[superyoat]

My wife's first bull

[Stocker]

Very nice!! Congrats to her! 

[Zs Confederate Toy]

Thats great for a first bull!! Congrats to the both of you.

[yotaneck13]

NICE RACK


Wish i could go elk hunting

[superyoat]

NICE RACK


Wish i could go elk hunting

ya its nice. i shot my cow elk about 2 miles from my house last year.

[yjay]

45 kokes.

[Zs Confederate Toy]

Do they give them away where you are too? We can get like 40 with a fishing lic after they milk em. Cant wait for that time to come. Gonna smoke me some Salmon

[brainlessfool]

love kokies. have not got any in a lonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnng time.