OH NO......IT'S SNOWING/TradGanger adventures and the hunt for old Crooked Horn.

[Caddo]

Sounds like ya'll are having an outstanding Time!    

Vance, I'm glad to see that was critter blood on that knife and not yours!    


LD

[Larry Surtees]

Can't wait for the stories to follow.  I know that Chris is enjoying reading and hearing all about the "Cutter" -- thanks and Good Luck!

[tippit]

Cutter sure knows his business!  I can attest to that from Bear Camp...but those stories have been told  :mad:  I hope to read some before having to go out of the country...not so bad really as the Atlantic Salmon are starting their spawning runs in New Brunswick and our deer season doesn't start til Oct 13Th  :(  Doc

[Terry Green]

I saw a dandy buck last evening at 40 yards, but unfortunately he saw me 1st.  I enjoyed watching him pogo through the aspens toting that rack.

I also got on the same doe and yearling 3 times, never could get a clean shot on the big doe but it sure was a fun scramble for an hour playing cat and mouse.

I can't even tell ya how good the food has been.  Vance and Brent have really raised the bar!!!

1st hunt like this I've been on that I actually gained weight.

[Charlie Lamb]

DANG!  It’s been busy around our little chunk of Wyoming. I’d hardly removed my bow and luggage from the truck and was off and running on another western adventure.

Over a period of days I was joined by Dick “Rabbitman”Easter, with Brent “Hormoan” McCormick close on his heels. After Dick’s visit (much too short) we awaited the arrival of our fearless Tradgang leaders, Terry Green and Rob DiStefano.

While I was waiting for Terry and Rob I did manage a little antelope hunting in between figuring stratagies  and locating blinds. It was good and bad.

The very first day Brent and I set up a blind we call the rockpile blind and decided it looked so good that I’d stay right there until evening.

Settling in was easy and I felt quite at home with the set up and my hunting “intensity”.

It seems like each fall I go through a period of adjustment from working around the yard and shop Charlie to get squinty eyed hunter Charlie. I was to find shortly that I hadn’t made the transition.

With a couple hours of intent observation on a barren hay meadow, I’d relaxed my vigilance and leaned against the sun warmed wall of the Double Bull blind. I expected at least a day or two for the antelope to become accustomed to the blind.

You see we don’t hunt over waterholes in this area very much. There is a lot of water on the ranch and that makes patterning antelope at water difficult at best.

I’d identified several antelope bucks that would do just fine to fill my buck tag.

One we called “Droopy” has a horn that runs at a right angle from his head and he’s an impressive buck for sure…. Vance claimed him as his target, so he is off limits to me.  

Another we called “Crooked Horn”. His left horn is twisted outward so that his cutter points toward his ear.

The third buck I named “Wide boy”. His horns are set way out to each side with respectable length and mass.

After more than a little study through the spotting scope I’d decided that the buck I wanted the most was the one called “Crooked Horn”.  

So it was that I dozed slightly in the blind, sheltered from the stiff wind that swept down from the high mountains in an unrelenting, icy blast and warmed against the sunny side of my camoed shelter.  

I started fully awake to the sound of hooves beating hard and fast on the hard packed hillside behind me. Jerking around I was greeted to the sight of four antelope moving hastily toward the hay meadow and within ten yards of my blind.

(cont.)

I'll add more later today (promise) and will work on adding photos.

[K.S.TRAPPER]

Here we go    O yeah !!

Tracy

[beachbowhunter]

Keep typing Ole Squinty Eyes...   :D

[Killdeer]

Dangit Charlie, you little stitch!!  :mad:  

Killdeer  

[rabbitman]

Arrived back home last night and just got off the phone with Iron Bull....but have been swore to secrecy about the hunting so as not to mess up Charlie's tale....sorry folks    you'll just have to wait for the big guy to carry on. I will say what a beautiful ranch and swell bunch of guys to share camp with.  

[hormoan]

I have been just a little quite as I have been so very busy!!    :D    So sorry, I won't let it happen again! I know many of you are thinking we are(click link)
 
 http://s94.photobucket.com/albums/l101/GUNSMITHAMMO/Ryegrass/?action=view¤t=Hardatwork2008_09_06_18_35_39.flv


at the switch    but not all of us are!  :D

[Charlie Lamb]

They’d come down the hill at a lope, but slowed to a walk to navigate the irrigation ditch behind me. Clutching for my bow and the broadheaded carbon shaft I’d stood beside it, I watched the antelope move through the ditch and out into the meadow. The whole time they were shielded by the tall, rank, grass that had provided such good cover for the blind… I’d have to fix that.

It was literally a wakeup call to stay on my toes and not be relaxing too much. It was an especially poignant lesson in that, as my binoculars confirmed, “Crooked Horn” had been leading the little band.

In and out of my life in seconds, I was not a happy camper. This incident solidified my resolve to make “Crooked Horn” mine.

I spent the next couple of hours watching the old boy and his girls, hoping on hope that they would return the way they’d come. I’d decided that they wouldn’t pass my way again when a movement along the ditch got my attention. Two does and a couple of yearlings were feeding right to me.

I made the decision to focus on this group and see what happened.

In short order they’d closed the distance and fed mere 15 yards from the tip of my arrow. Once again the grass which I’d thought would be such a blessing to my set up proved to be an obstacle  to deal with…. I’d DEFINITELY be fixing that.

Finally one of the does fed closer to one of my openings and with only sparse grass between her and I, I decided to take the shot and fill my doe tag.

Isn’t it funny how extreme optimism can get shoved in your face in the form of humble pie.

I lined up on the doe and released a very deliberate arrow. The big two blade Magnus I sliced effortlessly through the blind’s mesh screen and was immediately lost to my vision.
The antelope were instantly in motion and I strained hard to see blood or some indication of a hit as they crested the nearby hilltop.  Nothing!!

I kept my seat until almost dark before looking for my arrow, which lay clean but dusty in the sandy soil behind where the doe had stood.
Brent and Vance had gone off on a mission to somewhere just before I’d taken my stand and I sure didn’t expect to find them waiting for me at the house. Not only were they waiting for me, but had watched the entire scenario from the “run through” of the first group to the miss of my “slam dunk” doe.

Not only did they watch everything develop and go awry, but Brent had also gotten the whole thing on video. Even at the long distance he was videoing the white fletched and wrapped arrow showed clearly when they played it back on TV for me. I’d be eating crow over that for a while to come.

[Killdeer]

Aaaah! The suspense was killing me!
Actually, Charlie, I would gleefully have penned such an adventure into my journal as one of my GOOD hunts. I am saving up bribe money for a copy of the video. I have lots of crow recipes, BTW.

Killdeer  

[Danny Rowan]

           

[Littlefeather]

Didja have a crow tag?

[Charlie Lamb]

Nothing like a little crow for supper.... poached or otherwise.
  :D

[Charlie Lamb]

I don’t know if you can redeem yourself from a miss like that, but just before dark I’d give it a try.

Vance has lots of problems with the creek that runs through his property. OK so it isn’t the creek that’s the problem, it’s the beavers in it.

As they do, they are always busy trying to dam this or dam that. A certain amount of dam building isn’t bad in a trout creek, but there are limits.

Bucky and friends had chosen a huge culvert under the main road for their latest project. Vance could have chosen firearms, traps or bows and arrows.

Guess what he chose?

We were hiding in the willows near the culvert as the sun burnt up in a blaze of glory just beyond the distant mountains. It was the queue the master builders were waiting for and we soon had action.

I watched as Brent drew down on an unsuspecting rodent which swam by ten yards out. The arrow flew a touch high and impaled a fence post which was floating in the water. With a slap of his tail and a swirl of water old Mister Chisel Teeth disappeared.

I’d positioned myself off to the side of the pool more to watch the action than to participate. Of course I had bow in hand and arrow nocked must in case… and it was a good thing I did.

As dark enveloped the scene a dark “lump” appeared on the bank ten yards away. In the gathering gloom, its parts slowly came into focus. First an eye, then the whole head, then a shoulder took shape.

I think he was checking out the huge blob that had materialized in his territory. Whatever the reason, it was an opportunity I soon took advantage of. The carbon shaft slid noiselessly across the rest and I hesitated only an instant at full draw.

I couldn’t see the dark brown arrow’s flight or the impact, but the beaver tipped over backwards, falling in the water with a huge splash. There was some thrashing and then all was still.

I put the arrow that had somehow found its way onto my string back in the quiver and stepped toward the water’s edge to retrieve my prize.

   

   

[Toecutter]

That is the biggest "beaver" heart I ever did see    

Keep it coming...

Thanks for sharing,
Nathan

[Rob DiStefano]

A few random pics ...

Iron Bull at the Trad Gang helm ...
 

Andy, the most lovable official doggy camp mascot ...
 

Feisty Kitty, always underfoot ...
 

Keeping tabs on the troop movements in the "back yard" ...
 

Much more to come ...

[Charlie Lamb]

The next morning I was up with the sun…. OK, I’d been sleeping in since day one and this was no different. I'm not sure if I was just so relaxed that I slept better,if the mountains were kicking my butt, or both of the above.

The sun was well above the horizon before I started my quest for a morning cup of coffee.
The plan was to wait until I could see antelope moving on the distant hills before heading for the blind by the rock pile.

The antelope here don’t seem to move much at first light and that suits me fine. They’ll lay up in the sage until mid morning before even thinking about heading for the hay meadows…. each night they vacate them.

With a good breakfast in my belly and a well caffeinated brain I made my way to the blind about ten o’clock.

I really don’t know how long I’d sat there as I’d not brought a watch, but it really didn’t seem all that long, when I spotted the head of a doe antelope rise above the nearby hillside and then disappear. They were obviously headed for the “slot”.    

I readied my stuff and crossed my fingers.

[Roughcountry]

Sure have missed these stories Charlie