Not all Western hunts are epic adventures into the back country.  Kirk Beckstrand arrowed this nice Blacktail on a small piece of property during an impromptu hunt after work.  In fact he said he couldn’t get traction to  drag the buck out since his “work shoes” were leather soled loafers!  He managed to sneak up to within 28 yards of the buck bedded under a tree, but shot over him on the downhill shot.  The buck jumped up, confused, and Kirk put one in the boiler room with his second shot.  The buck weighed over 125 pounds field dressed.

In the spirit of the Election season, I thought I would do some investigation into why so many sportsmen support John McCain and his running mate Sarah Palin in the upcoming presidential election. in fact I found a site, Sportsmen for McCain that presented in an embedded video a detailed discussion of how John McCain represents sportsmen.

First and foremost, McCain has a better stance on firearms, gun control and the second amendment than Senator Obama.  This is the number one reason most hunters I speak to endorse the Republican ticket. 

Also I feel his agricultural policies are in line with the development of habitat for wildlife, by enabling Americas farmers and ranchers to continue produce the worlds safest and most abundant food supply.  Since wildlife depend on private agricultural lands a healthy agriculture industry means a healthy wildlife population.

McCain has even stepped up on the subject of climate change with market based incentives for reducing greenhouse emissions.  It is a balanced approach to stimulating a healthy economy , while maintaining a healthy planet.

When I saw Sarah Palin as the vice presidential candidate, I knew this was a ticket for sportsmen.  As the governor of a state with the most square miles of wild lands, and the greatest production of gas and oil in the United States, Sarah brings a unique perspective regarding the balance between energy and habitat.  After visiting Alaska in 2007, I’ve seen how wild it truly is.  I doubt there is a sportsman in the lower 48 who wouldn’t like their local hunting grounds to be more like those in Alaska in terms of wildlife diversity and population.  That value of wildlife both in economic and recreational terms is a good addition to the McCain ticket from a sportsman’s perspective.

So there you have my personal political opinion.  Something I’m not very used to giving, and you won’t see very often in this column.  But I felt it warranted a mention before election day.  Regardless of your personal views, I do hope that all of my readers will turn out to vote.  I feel it is our civic duty to use our democratic privilege.   I’ll see you at the polls.

To my readers…

There is one proposition on the ballot that I feel deserves to be addressed even in a column dedicated to hunting the West.  Why?  Because the same people behind banning cage housing systems, are the same ones who want to end hunting.  The Humane Society of the United States.

Read the details below why this is a bad proposition…

With over five million absentee ballots already in voters’ hands and the election less than 30 days away, this year’s November election has already begun. One measure in particular, Proposition 2, is a dangerous, risky and costly initiative that deserves your NO vote.

Prop. 2 would place new, extreme mandates on how egg-laying hens are housed, banning almost all modern egg production in California, which would have dangerous and expensive impacts for our state. In addition, the measure is unnecessary given that existing state laws and standards already protect animal welfare and food safety here in California.

Today’s modern housing systems, which constitute about 95 percent of U.S. egg production, were developed by leading animal scientists to ensure the fundamental components of sound animal care, providing optimal feed, light, air, water, space and sanitation for egg-laying hens.

Not only is this initiative unnecessary, it is dangerous. Banning current housing practices threatens our food safety and increases the risk of salmonella. These systems were designed to protect our eggs from salmonella and hens from direct contact with migratory birds, which carry Avian Influenza, Exotic Newcastle Disease and other diseases. By banning these housing systems, we’ll expose farm animals to deadly diseases and jeopardize the state’s public health.

On top of the public health risks, this measure will have dire economic impacts on our state that will result in putting the egg industry out of business, thousands of lost jobs and increased prices that consumers and businesses pay for eggs. With the growing statewide, national and global economic crisis Californians, cannot afford this costly and dangerous initiative.

The largest and most trusted newspapers in the state including the Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Orange County Register, Long Beach Press-Telegram, Bakersfield Californian, Modesto Bee and Redding Record Searchlight have all come out against Prop. 2.

Californians for SAFE Food is a broad-based and growing coalition of public health and food safety experts, labor unions, consumers, family farmers and veterinarians who want to keep food choices in California safe, local and affordable. The coalition has already received the endorsement from a number of prominent groups and individuals, including the American College of Poultry Veterinarians, Association of California Veterinarians, National Animal Interest Alliance, Congress of California Seniors, California Teamsters Public Affairs Council, United Food and Commercial Workers Western States Council, Mexican American Political Association, National Latino Congreso, Southern Christian Leadership Conference of Greater Los Angeles, Agricultural Council of California, California Farm Bureau Federation, California Grocers Association, California Small Business Association, Neighborhood Market Association, among many others. 

To learn more about how you can oppose Prop 2, please visit www.NOonProp2.com and remember to vote NO on November 4, 2008.

Continued from part 2

September 26th opening day of Elk rifle season

So with my bow put away, (un-shot), I slid the Ruger .300 Winchester Magnum in the scabbard as I rode out in the dark along with my Father and Billy.   this morning we got an even earlier start.  2 hours later, we arrived at the base of “Action Alley”  We could faintly hear the bull calling.  We dismounted from the horses and began our climb up the ridge in the dark. 

Now my 66 year old father had experienced difficulty with the altitude last season. So this year I ordered him a pack of the Hy-Altitude Advantage, from Wilderness Athlete.  He remarked that this season he was better able to cope with the lack of oxygen at 7000-9000 feet higher than we live. 

As dawn spread across the upper reaches of the ridge, The bulls began singing out.  Instead of setting up lower on the ridge, we continued to climb up to the trail I saw the bull traveling the morning prior.  As we began to traverse the side hill took the lead and began to see elk cows below and in front of me.  I motioned to dad that we were into the elk and continued to scan the hillside in front of me. 

What I didn’t count on was that the bull we had been hearing would come out of the timber BEHIND my father and I.  I heard the rocks rolling  above me and saw cows below me look up.  I followed their gaze and saw elk crossing the saddle above me.  I wheeled and brought my rifle to my shoulder just like I was quail hunting.  I had one shot and fired before the bull disappeared over the finger. 

My father called to me, 30 yards behind…”You hit ‘im?”

I responded: “I was on him when the shot went off”. 

But my thoughts were on the lack of a reaction from the elk.  Before I could follow up, I began hearing rocks clattering, and I saw dust rising from the next saddle.  I jogged around the finger to watch my elk rolling head over heels from 9500 feet elevation down PAST ME, until he finally came to rest 500 vertical feet below where he had been when I shot.

When we examined the elk, I could see the bullet entered under his “elbow” on the left side, punched through the thick Brisket bone, through the left lung, and major arteries, through the right lung, through the shoulder bone and muscle until coming to rest under the skin on the right side at the point of the shoulder.  you can see the bump on the right shoulder that is the bullet under the skin in the picture above.

As the dust cleared, another bull called his scattered cows from the dark timber below us and we scrambled to grab a cow call.  30 minutes after my shot, a raghorn 4 point snuck in to my cow calls.  Dad had his rifle up but elected to pass on the bull as he spooked and hot footed back into the timber. 

We spent the remaining day field dressing the bull when Billy rejoined us from the creek below.  He made the 5 hour round trip ride for pack horses, and this time I elected to wait rather than pack it out myself (like I did in 2007).  We arrived back in camp shortly before sunset, tired but smiling. 

Sept 27th

Did a meat run to town, and did a load of wash at the laundromat.  The rest of the crew hunted hard all day, but saw no elk.

Sept 28th

Took dad back to “Action Alley” and had the same bull calling in the timber.  I tried some cow calls and a 5-point with one Antler broken completely off crossed the side hill at 200 yards.  Dad “virtually killed” him as he held the crosshairs on him and then let him walk.  The big bull continued to answer our calls occasionally in a deep timber hole, but with a day old gutpile in there we did not want to meet up with a grizzly in the timber.

We continued to hunt mornings and spent the mid days exploring old cabins and even fishing the native cutthroat trout in the small stream that flowed through the beaver choked valley.

On our Final Day hunting we rode near the Continental Divide through some new country.  It was as much a scouting trip for next year as an elk hunt.  I managed to get a picture of the four of us as the sun broke over the horizon.

That evening we were back in civilization in Jackson with a hot shower and a cold drink.  We had a long couple of days of travel ahead of us on which to recount our tales of bulls that could have been.  Another Wyoming Elk season lies behind me, but there may be a trip, later this month for my partners.  If it materializes I will pass along the epic tale… 

Continued from Part 1

Thursday Sept 25th.  One day before rifle season opens

We arose before daylight and saddled horses in the dark for a morning bowhunt to a different canyon.  We actually got a late start, and arrived at the head of our hidden draw about 20 minutes after the sky had turned grey.  In the draw we could hear a bull bugling faintly.  Billy held the horses while I climbed up the ridge.  I followed the sound of the bulls calls until I thought I had a good calling position and then I cow called, and he immediately hammered back with a bugle. 

“GOOD SIGN!”  I thought to myself and continued to call.  Then a second bull chimed in from the ridge behind me  and the bulls had a screaming match going. 

After about 20 minutes neither of the calling bulls had budged from their hidden positions so I moved up the ridge about 100 yards.  Not an easy task at 9000 feet after having been at sea level three days prior.  Then I saw the bull above me, still 500 yards away as he gathered three cows from the open meadow, and escorted them into the timber another 400 vertical feet up the ridge.  I retreated back down the hill.  Opening day was tomorrow and I didn’t want to push him out of the country. 

We hunted the rest of the morning and I still hunted a ridge until 1pm with no results.  We rode back to camp and helped my uncle Colby and his buddy Jerome get set up in the wall tent.  

Continued on Part 3

OK I ‘m back after 2 weeks of travel, hunting, travel, wedding, travel, chores, and I think I can pull together some highlights from the trip.

The Last Week of September was a beautiful Indian Summer.  Highs in the 70’s and even an occasional 80 degree afternoon.  This was in sharp contrast to the 25 degree mornings. 

 Evening of Sept 24th.  2 days before Rifle season opens ..First hunt

We arrived in our elk hunting Tent Camp on the evening of September 24rd with the assistance of Mr. Brendan Rien.  For the last 2 weeks he had been setting up the camp, cutting firewood and packing in groceries.  Even though it was 2 days before the rifle opener we had a warm dry place to sleep,  and a cook tent.  He fixed us spaghetti, and informed us that the REAL cook would arrive on the 25th.  I’ll talk more about Brendan in a future column.

Before dinner I rode out with Billy Goodvin for a short evening hunt.  We thought it would be a good idea to find a route around a Beaver pond that had inundated the trail.  In the process of scouting out a new route, our horses punched through the sod and became bogged up to their bellies.  Both horse struggled until they were exhausted.   Finally after a rest, both of the mountain horses managed to free themselves and we hastily clawed our way to solid ground. 

We rode into the canyon where I killed my bull the year prior and sat on a viewpoint until dark.  A couple of bow hunters had been camped in there the week before and killed two respectable bulls.  We had no action that night and rode back to camp in the dark, avoiding the bogs. 

to be continued…  Part 2

Marc Smith of Wild Country Outdoors has scored ONCE AGAIN.  I guess that is one of the perks of living in a state with the most variety of big game animals (Nine big game species in Colorado).

I have not been out once this year chasing speed goats. Decided to hit some public land after work last night. My buddy Jace and I went out for an evening hunt. We found this buck at 5:30. He was bedded with two does in a hilly draw. I was able to stalk out on the knob and shoot this buck in his bed below. The buck was ASLEEP! I made a perfect 76 yard heart shot and buck went maybe 90 and piled up. Great public land over the counter goat.

He’ll tape about 75″.

Marc

John is in Wyoming hunting elk.

 So you might wonder who is taking care of the livestock at home….

Don’t worry, they are in good hands.  John’s wife, Natalie and kids are keeping them fed.

John will be back on the 6th to resume his duties….

John is off chasing elk in Wyoming.  But in the meantime, read about his buddy Kirk Edgerton who is an accomplished bowhunter.  He seems to make the best of a bad situation and is a successful hunter because of his tenacity and good conditioning.

Kirk is a fellow California bowhunter, P&Y and CBH Measurer.  He had a hard week in a Northern California wilderness on opening weekend.  Smoke, heat, and a full moon all compounded to foil his plans for a heavy pack out.  So when the last weekend in August came, Kirk made a quick hunt in the Sierra foothills. 

So here’s the scene; it’s 15 minutes till shooting time is over, there’s two bucks feeding under the oaks 150 yards away, no cover to stalk, and a doe staring at me from 70 yards. Bump her and the bucks are gone, move right and I’m out of cover to get around the doe and to the bucks, they’d see me for sure. So I head far left, careful not to spook the doe, checking the wind, which is now perfect, and as soon as I loose sight of the bucks under a small rise, I run to give myself enough legal shooting time to get an opportunity.

Nearing where the bucks where feeding and a slight rise hiding my approach, I came to full draw and crept forward. Antlers quickly appeared and the larger of the two bucks was already aware of my presence. I let down and quickly ranged the buck, 45 yards, I need two more steps to see his vitals.

It only took one step for the buck to know I wasn’t another deer coming in for a snack, so he bolted taking the other buck with’em. They ran to 95, stopped and just watched me from the fading shadows of a few large oaks. I knew I had one more chance, bump’em again, they’ll be too far to approach and I’ll be out of shooting light. So I kinda threw all conventional hunting wisdom out the window and got way aggressive on these bucks. I walked out into the open, so they’d see me, did my best not to look at them, and simply walked paralleling their position (I really think they thought i was just walking on and didn’t notice them). As I got farther away from’em (quartering away), I turned their direction, now quartering towards them. I pulled up my range finder, putting it in scan mode and ranged as I walked. At 64 yards, I slowed down and crept forward. The larger buck was in position for a shot, I anchored, relaxed, and touched the trigger.

He kicked high with his back legs and ran low to the ground out of sight to my left. I searched for my arrow and couldn’t find it or any blood……it was now getting dark and I headed to the truck to think about my next move. Not 100% sure of my shot, I figured waiting till morning would be best. After finding a bit of blood near a fence crossing, I eased foward, he didn’t make it too far once he hit the trees, bedded down, then was done.

He’s a solid forkie and has a small kicker on his left base, kinda tough to see in the photo, but it’s about an inch+ long. My first pacific hybrid buck, but I’m still suprised my ‘non conventional’ hunting tactic worked, sometimes ya gotta throw up a “Hail Mary” and make it happen.

After having a tough month of deer hunting, I’m sure Kirk really appreciated connecting on a nice freezer buck.  There is something to the saying that “Success breeds success”.  Once we know we can accomplish something, we approach all new challenges with confidence in our abilities.  Now when Kirk is on his next great bowhunting adventure (and he has a lot of them lined up), He can visualize that 64 yard shot and know he is capable of bowhunting accuracy.  In addition to being accurate, Kirk showed that he could improvise when he ran out of cover. 

John is Hunting elk in Wyoming.  But in the meantime, here is some bear news from the western part of Wyoming from the Wyoming Game and Fish. 

Bear conflicts rise along with temperatures

Associated Press

Published July 11, 2007 at midnight

JACKSON, Wyo. — Bear conflicts in northwest Wyoming’s Jackson Hole region have increased sharply this year, in part due to hot, dry weather that has forced the bruins to look for food at lower elevations, state Game and Fish biologists say.

Grand Teton National Park also reports an increase in bear incidents, including one in which the bear had to be killed after he broke into a kitchen at Jenny Lake.

While Jackson Hole saw 34 bear incidents during 2006, this year the region is poised to pass that threshold by mid-July, Wyoming Game and Fish bear biologist Leon Chartrand said.

Read the rest of this story from the Rocky Mountain News…

 

May 16, 2008
Bear activity is increasing in the valleys of northwest Wyoming and the potential for conflicts is “really high,” officials say.

On May 9, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department relocated a 400-pound male grizzly after it killed a cow calf on a ranch near Dubois. Game and Fish bear management officer Brian DeBolt said officials moved the bear to an area on the Shoshone River west of Cody.

Still, DeBolt said the season is off to a slow start in terms of actual conflicts despite the heavy snowpack and increasing bear activity in northwest Wyoming, including Jackson Hole.

Read more in the article in the Jackson Hole Wyoming news