The Way West...a bowhunting journey.

[AZStickman]

Just had to get post 400.....  :D  Charlie, Vance, and Terry, I know how much time it takes to do a thread l;ike this.... Thanks for the effort.....     Terry

[DarkeGreen]

Did ya stick him?

[**DONOTDELETE**]

well!!!!!!!

[cjones]

ok you can't just stop on us like that. That ain't even right.

[Terry Green]

So, where is the buck?......

I eased into the scattered willows scanning for the nice buck I'd seen go in, much sooner than later I saw movement....it was a doe...and another...and a 3rd.....and the buck was taking up the rear.

I figured they were going back out to the field to the right via the 2nd point of willows that lead out to the open planes.  I needed to get back across the creek quick and get set up.  As they moved behind a wall of willows I scampered across the creek and got on my knees just a few yards from the bank....just maybe they would come close enough for a shot.

Here they come, crossing a wash and heading toward me.  The lead doe was quicky in range, but I figured the buck was going to follow the same path so I let here keep walking, and sure enough....here comes the buck trotting out of the wash following the same footsteps.....

Be back in a bit.....

[Terry Green]

The lead doe stopped and looked my way, as did the other two....but the buck kept coming.  He trotted right up to where I wanted him and stopped broadside.  

My lower limb was resting on the ground, and I began to ease it up, but for some reason it didn't want to lift more than 3 inches.  Some stray sage had grabbed my fletch cover and I had to lower the bow and lean it over to clear it.  I guess that was all they needed to see, cause when I came back up with the bow they all bolted.  What a sight that was to see that beautifull buck kick it in to hyper space, man was he cuttin a shuck.

That was about all the exitement I could stand.  With the horses, the Mexican stand off with the herd of does, and this 'almost' with the buck, I took off my hat and layed on my back for a couple of minutes.....it was some morning.

Stay tuned...its the last evening for me...the 4th quarter, and you never know what might happen in the two minute warning......

[Terry Green]

Vance, Charlie and I tried to figure out a plan for my last hunt this evening, and we decided I should go back to the same place I was last night.  With the sightings of two different bucks we thought I'd best give it another shot, but this time I'd move up hill about 50 yards from the cabin a bit inside the sage.  From this 'stand' I would have had both bucks from the night before in range, and maybe one would come back.

As we arived, we saw the 4 wheelers again parked in the same spot as last night, and there were comments asking if I wanted to stay.  I chose to figuring they might have moved some out of the bottom again and they might come in from the top to feed or drink from the little spring.

The sage in this area was about knee high, but there was a little flat spot in a depression on the side of this hill that looked like the place to be if anything showed on the upper end of this valley.

I suited up with Vance's Ghillie suite, and the guys wished me luck and went on their own journey of mule deer and elk.  

Not long after they left, the sage hens began to pile in.  Other than the 3 dozen birds grazing about it was very quiet.  The next thing I spotted were the two hunters from the night before climbing back out to their rides before the sun had even gone behind the mountains.

As they finaly left, I caught some movement from way down below and raised my binos. It was a song dog out for a stoll.  He scurried about paralleling the sage line.  He kept me entertained for a while, and I though I'd give the predator call Charlie had left me a whirl if he didn't get in decent range, and that's what I did.  He came bounding across the grassy valley toward me, and as I adjusted Vance's ghuillie hat he spun and lit out looking over his shoulder at me most of the way till he was safely into the sage across from me some 100 yards away.

It was very quiet in the valley now, too quiet really.  As I sat in the silent beauty of it all, I began to recall the stalks I'd made with Vance and Charlie, the storries they'd told about 'back in the day', the meals we'd had, and all the diverse scenery I'd had the pleasure of hunting in.  It had been quite a hunt to say the least.  I was a lucky man to share a camp with these two men at the same time.

As my mind was wandering about all that, I got interupted by the sound of trotting footsteps coming from my left......

[charlielambsdaughter]

hey dad hope your trip is going well my freezer is getting low!  have fun but not to much without your daughter say hi to home for me i love you


 love melissa

[Charlie Lamb]

Hi baby! With luck I'll have plenty of meat to share. It's great to see you here. I love you!...Dad

[cjones]

What was coming in from the left? Your killin me Tarzz.

[Frank AK]

ohh Mr Green you took to many literature lessons from Mr Lamb. To many tea breaks.

[DarkeGreen]

Is he still coming from the left or did he circle around to the other side?

[Charlie Lamb]

Good morning all. Terry isn't off in the willows this morning. He's not sitting on a sage covered hill somewhere.
He is in the shower at this moment and will be heading south to Salt Lake City and the freedom bird home.

This long awaited portion of the trip is complete and new adventures are just over the mountain.

It's certainly been grand, like it always is when good friends meet for the first time and old friends are reunited.

I'll leave Terry's unfinished tale for him to tell... it's a beaut! So this is a good news bad news thing. The good news is it was great. The bad news is that you have to wait until Terry gets home and settles in for the exciting conclusion to his hunt. (don't jump to conclusions guys!    )

[IB]

What a week        :eek:  

As for Mr Lam"O" who really knows whats left in his pocket ? Rest Assured he does have a few more TRICKS left ta pull on us  

[Charlie Lamb]

Between the time the sun rose over the Wind River mountains to the east and set behind the Wyoming range to the west yesterday, we about did it all.

Let me fill in a few blanks.

The morning was all about coffee and watching Terry work antelope. After that I threw together a pot of chili and set to cooking in the crock pot. We wouldn't see it again for 9 hours!

Loading up in the Suburban the three of us headed for high country. There were goats there, hanging around the fringes of timber and providing unique opportunities for our antelope hunting buddy.

Where we had seen plenty the day before, this day none were spotted in positions to stalk. It's the name of the game.

Our travels took us up beyond the antelope and into the realm of the mule deer and elk.

[Charlie Lamb]

The last thing I expected was to run into a nice mule deer buck... but we did.

Just an off colored spot against a pine green backdrop, my buddy Vance picked up on it quickly and we were soon using our optics to confirm what lying old eyes suggested.

Still sporting his red summer coat the buck fed unconcernedly in the grass in the fringe of lodgepoles. It was Ghillie time and Vance was soon suited up and slinking off through the timber, bow in hand and tag in pocket.

Terry and I took the rig and headed up the mountain to kill some time and a few stumps.

On our return we found Vance waiting. His quiver was full and all the arrows in it were dry.
It's tough stalking up there right now. In near corn flake conditions Vance had approached almost within range before the crackling ground cover gave him away.

Before long we were on our way again but this time we were taking Terry back down into antelope country for a late afternoon set at the cabin site.

A quick strategy session, hand shakes and best wishes, and Vance turned the Suburban back toward the mountains. We'd see what we could see.

I don't think either of us expected to run into another buck like the first one, so we were just putting along merrily looking over likely elk cover when at a bend in the road we came on another muley.

Pulling out of sight I again left Vance slipping into the pines while I went else where to kill time.
When the game is afoot it's tough not to have a tag in your wallet. Dang!!

This time when I made my way back down the mountain, I found Vance with an arrow missing from his quiver and a wry look on his face.

In his usual style he made me guess what was going on as we walked into the lodgepoles.

What he showed me was something I'd seen before. The buck had stood for the approach and allowed a solid full draw and anchor. However, as the arrow sped toward his ribs he bolted in time to avoid the well aimed shot.
   

[Charlie Lamb]

Now Vance swears the buck saw the Luminock blazing toward it and that's what caused the reaction. It made me think.

It made Vance think too, because he didn't know that was the arrow he had on the string. All of the nocks on his arrows were the same color.
So when the tracer whizzed across the dark forest opening, he was as surprised as the buck... it was his first time shooting a lighted nock.

We spent quite a while whittling the Magnus II out of that tree... good thing it was a pine and not an oak like back home or it would still be there.

Soon we were on our way and before long we found more bucks.
These deer were within 50 yards of a hunters truck. He'd parked back in the pines and undoubtedly was off chasing elk... I wondered if he had a deer tag in his pocket.

That stalk ended in short order and we were once more on the road. Still high on the mountain, Vance's cell phone rang. The results of the call would have us racing toward the sagebrush country.

[beachbowhunter]

[hormoan]

DEAD CENTER HEART ( OF WOOD?) SHOT, IF ONLY HE HAD NOT HAVE MOVED.          BETTER LUCK NEXT TIME VANCE! CHARLIE IS CORRECT LIFE IS WODERFUL IN WYOMING. EVEN IF WE ARE STUCK SOMEWHERE ELSE!

[Nate Fikkert]

Charlie,

Well we broke camp after more climbing ridges and seeing very little.  Here I have been climbing to the top of the mountains looking for Muleys and looks like I should have been staying lower.  We took you and Vance's "secret" walk yesterday and found where the elk "had been" but seems we were just a day or two behind them, until next weekend I guess.

Nathan