And the response is the same across all the forums….NO response.

Well before you drop kick your laptop, think about how you approached the situation. You came into a community of folks, and without any greeting at all asked for their spots they have spent years scouting and refining their tactics in. Would you do this face to face? No.

Here are some ways to get the most out of an internet forum:

1. Introduce yourself. Most forums have a place that new members can introduce themselves and tell a little about their style of hunting and where they are from. Many times you will discover other hunters that live or have family nearby.
2. Use the search function. Forums are made to be a discussion and the search function helps you weed through the variety of topics by focusing on keywords. For example searching on “unit xy Idaho” will bring up past topics on that unit you are interested in.
3. Contribute! Not money, but knowledge. If someone is asking in a topic about some boots or a pack you have experience with, pass on your experience. You don’t have to be a cheerleader and do an ad pitch for it, but a sincere mention about how you think certain aspects could be improved, or a new way to use a product are always appreciated. Congratulate successful hunters that post photos. Believe it or not, folks want to get to know more about the person behind the avatar and internet handle. The more outgoing and sincere you are online, the more other posters will appreciate you. Your personality may come through differently in writing than if you are with your buddies, so lay off the sarcasm until you know other readers will “get it”.
4. Pay attention to the Sections in forums. With the wide variety of topics discussed in a hunting forum, chances are they are categorized. If your question is state specific, try a state section; if it is species specific post it in the deer, or elk section for example.
5. Lay off the Caps Lock. THIS IS YELLING ON THE INTERNET.
6. After you have a few posts and start recognizing other people on the forums, you can share your plans for the upcoming season. After getting acquainted with the other forum members and developing relationships, you will be amazed at how helpful some people can be. Chances are you will have already developed some information about your hunt destination just through using the search functions and ongoing topics.

With these hints, I hope you will be able to use internet forums to your benefit and become a valuable part of the community. Over the years, I’ve hunted, fished, shot archery tournaments and roomed with fellow forum members that became lifelong friends, all because we shared the same interests on an internet forum.

Mule Deer : Nevada Aug 8-16

Antelope: Colorado Early September

Blacktail Deer: California November 14-29 (Awaiting the Draw with fingers crossed)

With these premium archery hunts scheduled, plus a bear tag, and one more General Deer tag for California,  the physical conditioning and archery practice has begun to consume nearly all of my free time.

My calendar now has these items locked in on a weekly basis:

Sunday: Trail Run (mileage increases from 8-15 miles through July 26th)
Monday : Rest and recover from Sunday’s run.
Tuesday: 40-45 minute Run (recovery run 5-6 miles)
Wednesday: Archery 3-d League
Thursday: 45 minute Run
Friday Tempo run easy:tempo:easy for 40-60 minutes.
Saturday: Cross train (hiking, biking, something other than running)

One of the things I like to do with my trail cams is hike them into some remote basins and set them up on wallows and springs. Obviously I get some pretty neat elk pictures and bear pictures, but I am more surprised at what I don’t get. Not one picture of a lion, lynx, wolverine, or other small carnivores like weasels or martens.

Like I said, I get lots of elk, and two bulls stirred my interest in the summer of 2007, one I dubbed “toad sticker” and the other “thirds”. The “toad sticker” bull had a freakishly long left second tine, it stuck out to the side like a sword. Overall he was a nice six, long main beams but very narrow, not being 36 inches wide. “Thirds” was a nice bull, the big dog in the basin; his third tines were much longer than any other bull I had ever seen in this country. They never showed up together, but “thirds” had a little tag-along rag horn that was always with him. Both bulls played into archery season 2007, but “toad sticker” is the most interesting story.

My buddies and I were on the second day of one of our usual weekend over-nighters. We were hunting two basins to the south of where I had the bulls on camera and were heading back toward our trucks pretty much beaten. Sitting down, filling our water bottles, bugles started ringing out above us, two bulls, bugling right on top of each other. I had obligations back home to get to, so I told me buddies, good luck, let me know if we need to pack them out tomorrow, and I headed up the packers trail. They were going to keep the wind and bushwhack straight to the bulls.

Well, as luck would have it, the packers trail looped up and back right under the two screamers. I can’t see them as I am stuck in an alder patch, but they couldn’t be 80 yards up the hillside. I hopped up on a root wad of a wind-thrown tree to see over the alder and asses the situation. There they are, 5 feet apart, screaming in each other’s face. What a sight. One turned his head, and WHOA, it’s “toad sticker”!

I fumble around in my pockets for my little camera to get a picture. Just then they start fighting! Major rumble, not just pushing and shoving. I get a couple pictures taken, jump down, and knocked an arrow. This is my chance to move in, right?

Let me tell you, next time you try to get close to two fighting elk, know that you are risking your life. I started up that packers trail trying to get to the end of this idiotic alder to where I could see them. They wouldn’t be more than 40 yards away from there. You could feel the ground shaking from those two behemoths throwing each other around the hillside. I was ten yards from the end of the alder, ten yards from glory. Then I heard them come apart and one is running. Coming like a train right at me. I had to enough time to kneel down and see this bull blast into the alders, head down, legs and feet flailing, dirt flying. Right past me, nearly over the top of me, that left second sword missed my shoulder by mere inches. I literally ate dirt coming off that elk. Down the trail and over hill he went. Crushing trees and brush all the way, I could hear him going clear down toward the creek. Now the other bull, a descent six, is trotting down the hill to, just to make sure “toad sticker” is gone, I guess. He pops his head into the alder, but won’t show me any vitals. I am shaking like a leaf now, he zeroes in on me and then bolts. It was all over in a flash.

I didn’t see him ever again that year, or on my cameras during the summer of 2008. “Thirds” had disappeared as well. That is the worst part of trail cameras. I always wonder what happens to them. I want to know if someone harvested them, did a lion or wolves kill them, did they succumb to winter on a snowy ridge somewhere, or did they just move off to new country.

As luck would have it, at the end of this past rifle season, I was talking with a guy who was uncharacteristically forthcoming about where he was hunting. He was hunting 3 basins to the north of where I keep my cameras. I knew it well as I had hunted there occasionally. He told me he saw a giant bull way up in a slide. He got a quick look at it through binocs and said it had a third main beam sticking out the left side. I just grinned, because I knew what he saw.

How the tragedy happened is unknown. Particularly the fact that the cattle began EATING the deer, even when being supplemented with a fortified feed and hay.  This is the first incident of this type. 

The 5 year old buck was a fixture at the Martin ranch. He had survived many a bow season and dozens of bowhunters.

A memorial fund has been created for those who want to make donations.  Proceeds will go towards fencing to keep those vicious beasts where they belong.

The caretaker of the cattle wished to remain anonymous and had no comment.

The victim years before the vicious cattle mauling occurred.

I found out today our group did not draw the Elk hunt we applied for in Wyoming. That figures since we were successful in the Draw the last two years. The good news though is that we have two years of Deer points that may help us draw a tag in the later Wyoming Deer and Antelope draw.

But not all is lost. I still plan to apply in Nevada, and I recently found out my Brother – in – law has moved to the antelope unit in Colorado I’ve been interested in.  According to GMUResearch.com, I have enough points to draw an archery Antelope permit there.

Then there are the in state permits. I can count on at least one over the counter tag for deer and bear in California. I’ve committed to put in for a late season tag for blacktails as well, so we will see how this pans out. I may be bowhunting in November!

So in between work and applications, I’m continuing to prepare with weekly indoor archery sessions, and the trail run training.

As Kyle Meintzer, a well known ultra runner and sheep hunter, said : “Now is when we make a deposit” that will benefit us when we are in the hills, and at full draw on a big buck, bull or bear.  Nothing beats the confidence knowing you have the fuel in your tank to get to that far-off buck you spotted and knowing once you are in that killing range with your weapon, that you CAN make the shot. 

So think to yourself “What can I do today, to make that hunt of a lifetime the best it can be?”  Making the deposits early and often does add up in confidence, endurance and skill.

Big Coyote…

This one AIN”T a Coyote though…Yep that’s a wolf.

There is more than one…

The predators aren’t JUST Canines in the winter

Scouting cameras have been widely adopted by Midwest Whitetail hunters, but see limited use in the West in the vast tracts of public land. When I asked DJ how and why he got started he replied:

“I hunted this brushy country since I was 12. Spent lots of time scouting, out hiking, all that. Two kids come along and that changes a guy’s priorites. They are the most important thing in my life, along with my wife of course. So I started thinking I needed something to help me scout.”

DJ’s early experiments with Game cameras were a learning experience. He finally began building his own “homebrew” cameras.

“My friend bought a Leaf River cam, we played around with it, got some pics, but it was just so slow on the trigger, and bulky. Started surfing the internet, found some homebrew websites and got hooked. I have built about 25-30 cams, I run about 13-15 during the spring and summer. It is so fun to see what is there when I am not. ”

Where DJ hunts is thick and brushy and that part of the state is not as conducive to long range glassing as other more open parts of the West.

“Northwest Montana is tough to scout anyway, you can see the sign, but just don’t see the game like in other parts of the state and country, you can be 20 yards away from an elk, and not see it! Even glassing, you get a glimpse of game but never a good look before it’s into the next patch of alder. ”

DJ has captured some unbelievable pictures from his cameras. Some of the most memorable have been of the predators that share his hunting area.

In November of 2007 he found a mule deer carcass and set up a camera, hoping to catch pictures of scavengers such as coyotes. When he downloaded the pictures he was surprised to find these BIG toothy buggers in his hunting area:

He even kept tabs on them when spring rolled around. He set up a camera on a logging deck where the grass came early (Probably to catch Deer and Elk). The family unit of Grizzlies was back.

Over the next few weeks, I’ll give you folks a taste of DJ’s remote scouting. Perhaps it will encourage folks to get out into their hunting areas and see what’s happening when they are not there….

It’s not often you come across a hound runnin’ cowgirl on the Web, but Cowgirl Jules was kind enough to comment on a column a while back so I thought I would give her a lil’ tip ‘o the hat.  It turns out she is in the Central Valley area and enjoys chasing bears along with her husband and friends. 

Her Blog”…There’s got to be a pony in here ” covers a variety of subjects near and dear to my heart…Categories such as “Cowboy Up”, “Rednecks on the Internet” and “hunting” get a first glance from me right off.  So if you get a chance (after reading my latest) look her up in my Blogroll on the right.

Now I have found a free topographic map source that interacts with Google Earth. 

MapFinder™ for Google Earth™ is a searchable index utilizing base map information derived from Google Earth™.  Want to know more about a specific location? Dive right in — Google Earth™ combines satellite imagery, maps and the power of Google™ Search to put the world’s geographic information at your fingertips. NOTE: Currently MapFinder™ for Google Earth™ shows only the 1:24,000 scale USGS topographic maps. For USGS 1:100,000 scale  please use MapFinder™ for Adobe Reader™.

System Requirements: Google Earth™ version 4 or higher

It is available for a free download at http://www.usgsquads.com/mapfinder.html

Once you download the .KML file, you are taken to an instruction screen that tells you how to activate the overlay of the topo map quads.  Once you open the overlay file for your state, then you can click on an icon that allows you to download the appropriate map quad as a .tiff file, and view it in Microsoft Image
Viewer.   I have printed these maps off on an 8 1/2 x11 piece of paper and still have enough detail that i can scribble notes on it.  Users with access to a large format printer may be able to print the 7.5 minute quads at their full size.

I’ll still use my topo maps from DeLorme that allow me to choose my level of detail and combine topo quads on one map.  But for the  ”real deal” USGS 7.5 minute quadrangles, viewable on your computer screen, you can’t beat the cost and quality.