Blessings of THE GREAT HUNT-pics added page 5

[the Ferret]

Lots of coming and going, but not much story tellin    :rolleyes:  what's up with that?

[Missouri CK]

Can't wait to see and hear about this trip. Good Luck!

Chris

[IB]

Till Lam"o" gets a cup down    

 

 

[Charlie Lamb]

Good morning everyone.

   

I fully intended to get this rolling a little quicker, but you know how it goes.... lots to catch up on with my bud Vance.

So far all that's been going on is a lot of eye time behind the spotting scope and binoculars. All part of the game as you know.

I did get a few pictures yesterday so will get those posted sometime today.

We've got a few patterns figured with the antelope and wanting real bad to put the Double Bull into play.
It's the timing so far that's messing with us. The old Zig and Zag thing.

We watched antelope passing and eating in front of a big pile of boulders across the valley for two days.
There's a grassy gap between the boulders and an old hay stack yard that spans 30 yards max. The goats have been coming right down the middle.

There's an addition to the boulder pile as of night before last.... a big camoflage boulder "look alike".    The shot should be no more than 20 yards.

I spent a few hours there yesterday but as mentioned, they goats zigged while I zagged. Got to observe a lot of bird life and that's about it.

The plan for this morning was to wait until later (around 10) to get back in the DB. It's the antelope's habit to move down to the meadows from the sage around 11 or 12.

As I sat on the porch with a bowl of Cheerios at 7:30 I looked across the valley and about choked. The antelope were flowing into the meadow above the blind in numbers.

We're gonna check them again after this post and with luck they'll bed in the upper grass flat before making the push to the meadows below... and  past my blind.

I can use the lay of the land to approach the blind from below and enter in unseen if they'll just hang out for a while.

Anyway, we took care of a few odds and ends yesterday afternoon. Broadheads were checked and touched up and of course I took time to sling a few arrows.

Vance has his 3D deer set up and I've been shooting 40 yards from sitting in a chair. Laying them right in there I might add.    
Should make the 15 yarder I'm expecting a slam dunker.

We've got to run up to Jackson Hole this after noon for some errands, so don't know when my pics will be installed.

I will get caught up shortly... I promise!

Going hunting... you guys take care of the important stuff.    

[IB]

This should draw JC away from work in a day or two    

And a NEW one joins the FOAL

 

Not all was about Chasing Goats about in the SAGE.

 

[Gary Kellar]

Thanks for taking the time to keep us posted Vance! Appreciate the opportunity to participate and enjoy the event right along with you guys.
Best of Luck to All!!

[cjones]

Keep it coming guys. Great pics so far.

[robtattoo]

Y'see, this right here is why I come here so much! Autumn's my favorite season too, can't hunt but heck, with all the story telling going on (hint-hint Charlie) I don't rightly feel like I need to!
Vance buddy, you truly have some B-E-A-yoootiful views there my friend.      

[Shaun]

Charlie, put down the Zig Zags and get out there. Those pics bring back some sweet memories of the visit last spring. I know all those spots and can almost smell the sage and mountain air when I see them again. Any fall gopher hunting? Did you eat yet? Hero pics are near, I can feel it...

[Guru]

Charlie       I can't believe you said that,you should know better than to say "slam dunk shot"    

Vance, thanx for the pix bro,you certainly live in one of the prettiest places on the face of this planet!   Some day.......  


Looking forward to more....

[Whip]

Musta got stuck in traffic in Jackson Hole  :rolleyes:

[Talondale]

That's quite the stiff wind in that pic of JC and the new archer.  Hope it's blowing in the right direction for their blind.

[Charlie Lamb]

Rob... sometimes I think I'm guilty of taking this all for granted. I don't really, but at times forget that there are folks in places that don't have the freedom of the hills like I do.

I'll try to be a little more "current" with my posts, though I think that the updates are gonna be more like every other day this trip.

Last year I almost wore myself out trying to hunt, photograph, work with the photos to get them ready for Trad Gang and taking the time at the keyboard to put down my thoughts.

Curt... I'm very confident in my shooting at the moment of truth. It's the getting to the moment of truth that sure as hell isn't a slam dunk.

I can sure miss. I'm not a big enough liar to say I don't, but if an antelope or deer lets me get to full draw at 20 yards or less, he's about to have a real bad day... most times!  

Shaun... As Joe found out during his stay here, the ground squirrels have already gone to bed for the winter. It happens pretty early out here. Same for the rock chucks.
Those little guys spend more time sleeping than my ex wife.

Chuck... the wind is pretty predictable...out of the west most of the time. My hideout is perfectly down wind from the spot I intend the goats to come from.

Antelope don't tend to be quite as tuned in to their noses. The eyes have it with them. Not that they won't smell you... they're just not as touchy about it.

 

Joe... traffic  in Jackson was stupid. I couldn't wait to get back out of a "town" and all the stuff I come hunting to get away from.

[Charlie Lamb]

What's been going on in my blind has been pretty uneventful until this morning.
   


Early in the day the antelope drift down from the high sagebrush hills where they spend the night right now.

Some mornings they've poked and dinked there way. It makes for pretty slow times in the blind.
   

   

   

There's a bench just above where the Double Bull is positioned and most of the antelope that come my way seem to like to lounge on the smooth shortgrass meadow. They'll lay and chew cud for an hour or so before moving down toward the creek for water and more grass.

Knowing that I got up this morning and went out of the back porch to have my coffee. I'd head over to the blind on my bike as soon as I saw antelope on the move toward the flat.

I about spewed my first black sip of my steaming cup when I looked across the valley and saw a doe and two youngsters standing in the kill zone of the blind... ZIG
   

[Charlie Lamb]

Resigned to sitting on the porch and formulating plan "B" I kept an eye on the trio in the "slot".

In minutes they strolled up over the brow of the hill and lay down out in the meadow with about 20 other antelope.

I knew it was time to act and quickly had a bottle of water in my pack, bow strapped to bike, and coffee transferred to a small
Thermos... go time!!!!

The bike works slick in this situation. I could move quietly and quickly in a circuitous route.
Within minutes I was throwing an aching thigh over the seat and laying the bike out of the way just short of the blind.

I'd make the last 60 yards on foot, following an irrigation ditch that wound just below the blind.
As long as I approached in a crouch I would remain totally out of sight of the lounging antelope.

It seemed that I'd barely got settled in the blind when I looked up to see the backs of of 3 antelope feeding toward the gap, following the fence that bounds the old stack yard.

   

I slipped on my shooting glove and nocked an arrow on the string. The Double Bull gave me the advantage and luxury of flexing the bow and bringing it to full draw a couple times.

If I can, I like to short draw a couple times and then do a half dozen repititions slightly overdrawing the bow.

It's a kind of mental and phyical "imprint" that sure beats hell out of a cold shot.

The antelope were now 40 yards away and feeding slowly down toward me. I sat ready.

Finally one of the does looked up and seemed to get edgy and before long all of the animals were drifting back the way they'd come.
     

I was let down hard... no doubt.

All the animals above finally drifted out of the field by other routes and I gave Vance a shout on the walkie talkie to come get me.

I was all packed and standing at the gate when he rolled up in a cloud of dust.

"Get your bow off the bike and get in, I've found a troublesome badger you need to take care of for me." Vance was obivously excited...I've deleted any obscenities which actually occurred in his exclamation.
      :D

[Whip]

Now that's more like it!      
Actually Charlie, we're just teasing ya' about posting more often.  I know last year it became almost a job for you to keep it all going around here. It takes a lot of time to tell a story right.
This year you need to just relax, have fun, and drag this one out for as long as it takes....  We'll be waiting.      Patiently.   :rolleyes:   Sort of.  :p

[Roughcountry]

Allllllright, the hunt begins. Charlie, glad your still using what CK calls the ATM.  :D  

Hey guys, I've witnessed what happens to a critter that lets Charlie get to full draw.  

[Charlie Lamb]

It didn't take Vance long to explain the situation. He'd seen a badger on the way down to meet me.

These little lions of the sagebrush are a pain in the patoot for ranchers and dig leg breaking holes wherever the fancy strikes them.
They can be taken for predation anytime by ranchers on their property.

As we pulled into the area where Vance had seen the striped faced critter, Vance quickly spotted him scurring up the nearby hill.

I was out of the vehicle in a flash and over the fence.
I'd hadn't actually seen the badger and was going on directions given to me as I left the rig.

I'd covered fifty yards when I suddenly spotted the culprit looking over his shoulder from a stubby sage bush. I hadn't expected to run into him so quickly.

He was about fifteen yards away and holding really still. If I tried to get a few steps closer there was a good chance the badger would run and then I'd have a closer running target. I readied an arrow.

It was a Carbonwood shaft in the 4000 series with four five inch parabolic fletch and a two bladed Magnus I honed razor sharp up front.

I only hesitated at full draw for an instant and sent the missile spinning forward. The wide broadhead slice from rear back forward into the chest cavity and plunged into the dirt.

Without a sound the badger leaped from the sage bush. Obviously hurt he scampered a few yards and laid over. It was done that quick. Something that I hadn't experience in a lot of other badger encounters.
   

       


I took the front claws and we disposed of him.

[Charlie Lamb]

Plans were made for tomorrow as Vance and I headed up country to put in a tree stand for the upcoming mule deer hunt and we cruised some areas that we both knew for deer sightings.
 
 
 
 
 

We saw little but one small bull moose and returned home for a late supper.

Having trouble getting photos to my storage file and from there to the internet. Once we get it worked out, we'll plug in the right pics in the right spots.

[cjones]

Congrats on the first critter of the hunt. I patiently wait for the pics.