John is on the road to hunt Feral Hogs  today.  So he thought you might enjoy this site below…

If you like to read hunting stories from a fellow Western archer, check out my buddy, Elkbreath.

He is a Stickbow shooting elk hunter from Wyoming and he has had a great year so far…I hope his luck rubs off on me!

I received this e-mail of a picture taken last spring of 2008, when the State of Wyoming opened season on wolves.  It is interesting to hear the perspective of a Wyoming resident on the hunting of wolves.

First two wolves of the first five wolves (shot legally) near Pinedale and Big Piney, Wyoming after the season for wolves was opened up. I would venture to say they are ‘just a little bit bigger’ than the local coyotes! These were caught, with two others, in a calving pen, killing livestock…..not eating the livestock, just killing it.

I’m thinkin’ my 340 Weatherby isn’t too much gun for one of these critters….. fortunately the wolves I saw on Wanda’s place weren’t near this size…… they were 3x the size of our coyotes,though…..these guys have been eating really well! Acutally, eating TOO WELL! It’s no wonder the elk and moose calves only have a 20% chance of making it to 6 months old in the Yellowstone area with thesebig boys around! Amazingly, the Colorado Division of Wildlife has requested anyone catching a wolf or wolverine in a leg hold trap to”please try to release it alive”……. that could be a pretty goodtrick! I was expecting much smaller wolves to be in the ‘not safe for wolves zone’ …… wonder how big the wolves are that ran these two out of the ’safe zone’? 

Dont think I want to snowshoe or cross country ski in Wyoming anymore……. expect to see these critters in Colorado pretty soon….coming to a favorite deer or elk haunt near you!

My friend Sonda has always been quite a bit of fun to be around at feed industry events, and we have even had some good hog and bird hunting trips together in Central and Northern California.   She is a pretty good wingshot and can hang with the guys even on the toughest hunts. 

This Fall Sonda went on a pronghorn hunt in Wyoming with friend Frank Ahrenford of Mt Baldy Bullets and her fiance Jim Killen.   A snowstorm blew in and they tracked several groups of antelope for about 3 hours before she got a 150 yard shot at this beauty with her .243 Remington Model 7. 

Sonda said that it was whiteout conditions a couple of times, and that yes, it WAS as cold as it looks.

You can find Sonda and her fiance Jim hunting elk usually in the Fall from their elk camp in the Bighorn Mountains.  Sonda was kind enough to send along some photos of it from this Fall as well.    It’s got me excited for next fall just looking at the photos.

CHEYENNE– Some 56,000 nonresident big game application booklets for the 2009 hunting seasons were mailed out in late December along with 60,000 postcards to nonresidents who applied online.

All nonresidents who applied online last year will be receiving a postcard in the mail as a reminder of the online application process. Big game application information is now on the Game and Fish Web site . Those nonresidents who applied through the mail will be mailed an application booklet. Hunters who want a printed application booklet can contact the Game and Fish at (307) 777-4600 or request an application from the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, 5400 Bishop Blvd., Cheyenne, WY 82006.

Resident application booklets will be available at Game and Fish offices and license agents by the last week of December.

A number of application periods begin on Jan. 1. The nonresident application period for elk is the month of January, and Jan. 1-Mar. 15 is when nonresidents must apply for deer and antelope. Applications for the drawings for both resident and nonresident moose, bighorn sheep and mountain goat licenses are accepted during the months of January and February.

Hunters with questions on hunting in Wyoming or the application process can contact the Game and Fish at (307) 777-4600.

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

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

Well, we pull out for Wyoming for the 2008 Elk Season in the morning on the 22nd.  On the travel itinerary includes stops at:

•  Cabelas in Reno
• The Star hotel/restaurant in Elko NV.
• Sportsmans Warehouse in Twin Falls, Idaho

If all goes according to plan, we will buy our additional stamps and permits on the afternoon of the 23rd, and I’ll have a couple of days to archery hunt before the general season opens on the 26th.  We will be back there until we all tag out, or Oct 2nd.  Then it’s a race back to California for a cousin’s wedding. 

During that time I’ll have a few columns lined up to run, but for the most part, I’ll be out of touch.  With any luck, I’ll have some photos to share. 

A Cody bowhunter in search of an elk found a grizzly bear instead in a Sept. 12 mauling incident on the South Fork.

And Ron J. Leming, 37, attributes his father’s lifetime of bowhunting for saving his life.

“There are not many people who could stand their ground like that, especially with a bow and arrow,” Leming said Wednesday.

“I would have been mauled way worse, if not killed, if Dad hadn’t had the nerve to stand his ground and shoot that bear with his bow. There’s not many people who could have done that.”

Leming said his father’s shot with a compound bow severed a major artery in the bear and hit his heart. The bear then moved about 80 yards down hill after being shot before falling dead over a log.

Read the whole News Story in the Cody Enterprise