This year’s shed season had it’s ups and downs. We found a couple of sheds from deer we know very well. We unfortunately found some dead bucks that were on our hit list for this year.
This deer is nicknamed Top Hat.
There are a lot bigger deer on the property but we've been seeing this deer for a long time. He's on my hit list for this year.
Here are Top Hats sheds from the past couple of years.
One weekend worth of shed hunting.
This is a big six pointer. We've got three years of his sheds and he's always been a six pointer. Not sure how he died but he was laying right next to a pond.
Found this one buried in the ice and snow. By the looks of it he probably broke a leg trying to cross a big ditch.
Opening week in California did not let us down with the temperature reaching 105 degree’s.
My buddy was able to put a good buck down. As I drew the sort straw on this one. Justin and I put a plane in motion to make a stalk he was able to cut the distance in half to make a great shoot at 58 yrd.
As the week whent on and the temperature keept creeping up I was able to catch a glimps of the buck Im after
Just got home from New Zealand. Hunted tahr on the South Island and red stag on the North. Sure is a beautiful country.
Since Cade was having trouble getting the shoulder of the barbs on his arrows thru the scales of these tough fish, I “tweeked his points a bit giving them a little cutting edge to help the barb get thru…
The next fish he hit on this beautiful morning, was very solid hit, but ended with the line tangling around a rock and the fish pulling off. We’re getting closer all the time..
On this fish, I decided that we’d both shoot at it in case his arrow wasn’t in good enough, hoping my arrow would be in it in case so he could land it with my arrow. I shot on his release. Both arrows hit the water at about the same time…unfortunately it was only my arrow in the fish…but he did get to land it….
Another night of bowfishing with our friend Terry on his little boat proved to be a little slow because of the tide and muddy water. But again Cade got a good hit on a fish that tangled in some heavy vegetation. We did a little action though…
Earlier this week, I squeezed in a quick evening ‘chuck hunt…
That brings us to yesterday morning…. Cade decided to sleep in, so I hit the river at very first light with good friends Glen and Gary. We got in about an hour of bowfishing before the rain hit…
Gary, Glen, and myself…
Later in the day, the rain stopped and Cade and I hit a pond for a couple hours of froggin’ before dark….
A cool sneak, then shot…
Another good shot with his little longbow almost parallel to the ground…
Cade did a lot of the shooting and ended up with 8 big frogs, we shot 12 all together on a very hot, humid evening…
Anybody with young kids eager to get out there and do some “hunting”. Find a pond with some frogs, get a whole bunch of arrows, and let them have a blast! You’ll end up with some fine table fare as well…
Don’t let summer be a slow time just waiting for fall to get here, get out and get after some fish and frogs!
I say “we’ve” because for the last month or so it’s been all about getting my son Cade more involved in what I do. Not just tagging along like he has been for a couple years now, but getting to carry his bow and shoot some arrows with a purpose!
I’ve been holding him back from bowfishing because I didn’t think his equipment was “strong enough” to get an arrow enough into a fish to land.
Well I couldn’t hold him back any longer, and at the end of June, we started a quest to get him a fish or two.
Cade’s “almost first shot”…
His very first time out, and very first shot ever at a carp…
Almost!!!!
The next adventure was an invite from a good friend to bowfish on an awesome boat, the “Carp-ageddon”!
Getting ready to shove off…
We had a great time and he hit several fish, but just didn’t get the barb in far enough and just came up with scales more than once…
I managed to make good on a few…
Cade and our host, Terry Receveur…
Me and Terry with one of his fish…
Terry’s son Tyler and myself with a couple…
A great experience for both of us and certainly a night either of us will ever forget…
Still no fish landed for Cade, but now I knew I definitely needed to “tweek” his equipment a little before next time…
Next up would be some froggin’. First time I’ve ever done it with a bow, and certainly his first time as well.
Cade’s first ever “bowkill”…
He didn’t stop there…
He did most of the shooting, but I did get in a few shots myself. With one strike against me, I made good on the second swing…
Check out Cade’s stalk and his last shot of the evening…
He ended up with 6 when the smoke cleared…
Nine all together…
Another awesome experience for both of us…my boys first bowkill!!!
To be continued…
What a great country we live in where you can do fun stuff like this over the 4th of July. God bless the men and women who have served our country, giving us the freedom to enjoy the outdoors.Just a lil’ sow. Steep 29 yd (shot for 22) quartering away shot. First hog I saw of the weekend. Quick stalk down one side and up the other side of the canyon, and intercepted her on her way to water. I should have taken a pic, but the hole the RazorTrick put in the chest of this thing was insane, it was like throwing an axe through through the pig! LOL.
Also managed to catch some mediocre pics of a nice buck. This may not seem all that exciting to big muley hunters, but bear in mind this is a southern Cal buck that lives only an hour away from Los Angeles. He is a genuine monster for So Cal.
And lastly, here’s a pic of my new designated ranch driver.
I love the July 4th holiday. And, seeing as how it is just around the corner I thought it would be worth mentioning what that means around my household. First, I use this holiday as my official start date for trail camera deployment, hoping that for the next several weeks I will get some photos of the great bucks that will no doubt make a fool out of me come this fall. Also, by this time most of the western draws are complete so I generally know what my fall will entail. As is generally the case, this year proved to treat me pretty much the same way in the draws as it has for the past several, meaning, lots of refund checks, and very few hunts. I say that as a true hypocrite because I actually have a very full plate this fall and the coming holiday always drives the point home that in a few short weeks we will all be unleashed by the western states to match wits with the animals that keep us up planning, scheming and hoping that this will be the year. I hope everyone’s fall is turning into what you want it to be! Also, I don’t have any pictures to post with this because frankly, I don’t really know what type of photo would be appropriate!
Every year during Elk Seminars, this seems to be a repeated question. Switching to the Ascent 14 last year for day hunts forced me to compact my gear. Below is a list and photos of the equipment and gear I keep in my day pack. On “Going in Deep” day hunts I will grab the Bivy 30 so I can at least get one load of meat out if needed. By keeping most of my pack contents in stuff sacks it makes it very easy to switch packs before leaving camp.
- Water Bladder (One for each pack)
- Head Lamp with fresh batteries
- Extra Release*
- First Aid Kit (1/4 role of cloth tape or duct tape, 2-3 bandages, quick clot, butterfly bandages, space blanket, small tube of Neosporin a Maxie Pad ” Don’t laugh they are supper absorbing”, Inhaler, Epipen, Benadryl, and Ibuprofen.)*
- Iodine Water Tabs with 1-2 packs of WA Drink Mix
- 2-3 WA Bars
- Parachute Cord (50-100 ft)*
- Rain Gear (Sitka Storm Front Lite)
- Gloves
- 10 latex free gloves
- 4-5 extra mouth reeds
- GPS
- Havalon Piratna knife with 5 extra blades
- Extra Broadhead with blades*
- Batteries ( 4 AA and 1 3V for rangefinder)
- Lighter or flint*
- Allen Wrench set*
- D-loop material (my Range Finder is tied to my pack with 2 ft of quality D-loop material).*
- Flagging/Marking Tape
- One large black contractors garbage bag (Bivy 30 only)
- 5 - Alaskan Game Bags that are vacuum sealed. (one set in each pack)
- 2 – One Gallon Zip locks (1 – for those Grouse Breasts and 1 – to keep the TP dry)
- 1/2 Roll of TP with 5-10 unscented baby wipes.
- 1/4 tube of string wax*
- Pepper*
- License and tags
Items with a * behind them all fit into a small stuff sack.
Everything layed out
Main Compartment minus SF lite and Water Bladder
Outside compartment. TP, WA Bars and Drink mix are placed into the water bottle pockes on the outside of the pack.
It amazes me that it all fits in such a small pack, but it does with room to spare.
The general spring bear season in my area has about a 2 week window of bear activity before closing. My buddy and I made the most of it this year with 2 successful spot and stalk hunts.
Tyler's first bear with a bow- A textbook stalk led to a 20 yard shot and a 6 ft Black Bear for Tyler.
My 1st color-phase bear - The last hour of the last day produced this nice 6 ft chocolate boar.
Cooling in the draw - We left the hide overnight to cool and "de-tick" for the pack out.
As school finishes up for the year, my times becomes a little more flexible and it’s time to get back to doing what i love to do! This year, we slated a pig trip for June down in California. The late spring made the hunting very tough but one pig was killed that was worth talking about. Kurt was able to take this great boar that was sporting a 4 inch tusk on one side and broke off at about 2.5 on the other. Hands down the largest wild pig i’ve seen down there. I want to say it was 243lbs without guts if i remember right. Hope everyone’s summer is going well and look forward to reading about some of your trips. We had a ball and it was a need vacation!
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