It’s the fifth day of a five day hunt.  So far, no shot opportunities, just a few blown stalks.  Tired and reaching the point of defeat, you stumble upon a herd of animals.  Pulling off an excellent stalk, you are now in shooting distance of an animal that you would love to harvest.  After not taking a shot for the last five days, can you pull off this shot?

To help myself be more successful in these types of situations,  I practice a “cold shot” routine at every shooting session.  Every week, I practice shooting with broadheads, at 3-d animals and at spots on the bales.  With my “cold shot” routine, one thing remains the same.  Only my first and last shot of the day counts.  Why the first and last?  The first shot because I used to have a habit of  taking “warming up” shots, and these first shots of the day used to be horrible.  The last shot of the day, because after a long day of shooting, I’m tired and unfocused.  I like to finish my shots off strong especially when I’m mentally and physically drained.  For myself, these two shots mimic bowhunting situations. 

There are a few things that I do to practice my cold shot routine.  One thing that really seems to help me is a shot sequence.  I practice my shot sequence religiously.  My goal is to have my shot sequence become second nature.  The second thing is a quick reminder to myself,  “don’t just shoot to shoot, shoot to kill”. The quick reminder helps me to settle down and focus,  which allows me to naturally go through my shot sequence.  The last thing, would be to always have a positive thought during the whole process.   Be positive and confident about your shot, because one negative thought can ruin your whole day!

This is just one of many strategies that I try to use to help me become successful in the field!  

a successful "cold shot" on this small billy

Another tough public land hunt.  Got lucky on the second morning and shot this sheep. Just a meat hunter!

sorry, bad pic..had issues with the tri pod and self timer

Going to prepare some for a party tomorrow.  First I soaked the meat in water with some salt and unripened papaya.  The papaya is used to break down some of the connective tissues.  One form of a meat tenderizer (papain). 

After two hours, I drained the water and cut the meat into smaller pieces.

Next, I made the teriyaki marinade.  1 cup soy sauce,  1/2 cup sugar, 2 T chili pepper paste, 4 cloves garlic, 1 T minced ginger, 1 T sesame seed oil.  I mixed all the ingredients together, and threw all the meat in to soak over night.

Hopefully everyone will enjoy the bar b que ewe tomorrow night!

I was able to stick this buck on my second attempt while spotting and stalking in SD. Last winter was extremely harsh on the population in the area and overall numbers where greatly reduced. I was very happy to find this P&Y buck all alone in a spot that allowed me to get plenty of cactus in my knees and elbows! To me, it is well worth the opportunity at such a fine creature. Thank you Sitka!

Jared “J-Rod” Bloomgren

My first hunt of the fall was  a successful one but started off to a rough start with downpours, 40-50 degree temps, and high winds.  Waterhole hunting was extremely slow from all the standing water so I had a great opportunity to put Optifade to the test, especially since this ranch has little cover.  On Sunday everything came together and I was able to take this goat at 45 yards.

I got into town on Friday morning, met Fred and did some looking around. It looked like we would get lucky and time the weather just perfectly. Opening morning was nice and sunny and it got hot fast. After 4 smaller bucks had attempted to approach my waterhole only to get about 40-50 yards and then turn away, this guy was about to do the same. He was ultra cautious and was not real comfortable coming in. He walked up to 40 yards facing me for just a second or two then did an about face. I wasn’t going to let this one walk without attempting a shot. I didn’t make the best connection as it was a bit of a longer poke for shooting out of a blind, through screen, and in some wind, but it put him down and I could tell he was hurting. After a few minutes he tried to get up but couldn’t make it far and bedded right back down, facing away from me. That allowed me to get out of the blind and stalk him. I got to about 40-45 yards when he got up and started walking straight away. I put a Rocket Steelhead sraight up the kiester that penetrated all the way to the brisket. He went ten feet and fell over. He should score in the 74” range. I saw more P&Y goats here than I ever have anywhere in my life. The number of mature bucks was jaw dropping. A couple other hunters even killed 2 bucks over 80” gross.  All told there were 6 bucks killed ranging from 70 -82 inches.  The two hunters that did not fill had multiple opportunities on good bucks, they both also had to leave a day early due to schedule conflicts.  It was an awesome hunt!  If any of you ever get the chance to hunt with Full Draw, jump at it. They do things right.

Isaac ranging a group of antelope

First visitors of the morning

Soon after, our first buck of the day appeared. However, he never came close enough to the blind.

First buck to appear

We had antelope all around us all morning. When the morning movement seemed to be over, I spotted a nice buck bedded about 500 yards from our blind on the edge of some tall sagebrush…a perfect place for a stalk. I slipped in to 90 yards and could see him bedded alone, facing the opposite direction. I crawled up to 50 yards as the wind hit the back of my neck. I hunkered there behind a small bunch of sagebrush hoping he would stand and not run immediately. He did stand up, but took 2 steps that put him behind another clump of brush leaving me with no shot. The does all jumped up and ran, causing the buck to follow. Close, but not quite.

I slipped back to the blind and watched as more antelope headed our way. Around 2PM a large group of 40 antelope with 2 great bucks moved in and bedded 250 yards from Donnie’s blind. They stayed there all afternoon. Notice the big buck in the top left hand corner of the picture.

Antelope bedded near Donnie's blind

Finally, after 3 1/2 hours of torture, the group stood up and started towards the water. They passed by Donnie’s blind at 112 yards and fed their way to the point of the lake 300 yards from his blind. The first half of the group made their way back past him again at 112 yards and it seemed like our chances of an opening day antelope were fading. The rest of the grouped lingered and began feeding their way up the shoreline, however. From our position 200 yards away, it looked like the antelope were right on top of Donnie!

I was videoing out of our blind as the biggest buck we had seen all day walked in front of Donnie’s blind and stopped broadside. The antelope scattered and Donnie’s buck ran 120 yards and stopped. I could see the arrow on the exit side of the buck, mid-way up the body and behind the shoulders. The buck bedded down and the celebration started soon after! Congrats Donnie on an awesome 15″, Idaho, public land buck!

Donnie's Opening Day Buck

Donnie and Corey with Donnie's Buck

Well…..so far all my day equiptment, 100 oz of fluids and two deboned goats.  I really wanted to find out if I could fit one more, but I had to get the meat back to the cooler.

Flash 20...two deboned goats and still room for more!

Well, this is not about MY hunt of a lifetime…it is about the organization Hunt of a Lifetime.

Hunt of a Lifetime is a non profit organization whose mission is to provide hunting and fishing adventures for children with life threatening illnesses.

I have come to know the Arizona Chapter of the Hunt of a Lifetime program due to some crazy coincedences playing the western big game tag lottery this year. I had 9 Utah elk points going into this year…I really wanted to hunt elk this year! I put in for a unit I would have drawn last year with 8 points thinking I was a sure bet for ‘09. Wrong! Three other guys had the same idea and I was not the lucky one of us that would draw the tag. With that down the tubes, I had a bunch of Arizona deer points I decided to cash in on one of the LE Archery units. While waiting for this next “sure” tag, a screamin’ deal came my way on a brown bear hunt in Alaska and I grabbed it. Of course, now with the rest of my vacation time until it resets in mid-October spoken for, I drew the AZ deer tag. Unable to use the tag, my opportunity to do a good deed was to donate it to a Hunt of a Lifetime kid!

My tag is in the mail right now and the wheels are in motion to fulfill the dream of a deserving young man or woman.

I used to support the Make-a-Wish Foundation, but when they took hunting trips off their wish list, I found other worthy organizations specializing in helping these children to donate to.

I would urge any of you to get involved and help one of these Outdoor Wish organizations in your state or on a national level. We have a wonderful one here in Michigan called Benefit for Kids…check it out at http://www.benefit4kids.org/

optifade jetstream vest!

Sitka’s layering system performed well for me this past weekend.  Although our temperatures here in Hawaii aren’t nearly as extreme, having Sitka Gear provided me with additional functional comfort.

3:30 am rise and shine…temps in low 40’s.  Started the day with my traverse t, traverse bottom, ascent pants, and jetstream vest.  Keeping myself nice and warm.

5:00 am  just got to the hunting area…  temps still in the low 40’s.

6:00 am spotted some goats on a hillside, made a stalk and pulled off a shot at a nanny.

6:30 am temps in the 50’s….adrenaline pumping I only swaped my traverse t for a core crew to take up the trail. Still got on the rest of my gear.

7:00 am found the nanny, deboned her and headed back to the truck.

8:00am temps in the mid 60’s…shed the jet stream vest and the traverse bottoms. 

Hunted the rest of the rest of the day in the scorching mid 80’s in my cool and comfortable ascent pants and core crew.

In that one hunting area, the temps can vary from low 30’s to mid 80’s in a matter of hours. I hunted there a few years ago without Sitka Gear.  I refused to carry my jacket because it was too big and bulky.  Boy was I misearble.  Being uncomfortable causes me to be sloppy with my hunting and I can’t afford to be sloppy while hunting from the ground. Before my only options were to stay warm in the morning and lug around a bunch of bulky clothes, or freeze for half a morning and hunt in misery.  Now I have the best of both worlds.  I guess thats’s why they call it Gear!

My buddy Steve Gerlach and I were lucky enough to draw tags for the September 16-22 archery hunt in the Valle Vidal in northern New Mexico.   Since drawing the tag I have spent many hours researching the area, getting gear ready, attempting to get in shape, and talking with other hunters that are familiar with the area.  The Valle Vidal is a once in a lifetime tag which has made the job easy when getting valuable information from past hunters.  My wife and I were able to slip away this weekend and scout the area we plan on focusing our efforts come September.   On our drive to the campground Friday evening we saw a small group of elk standing off the road. 

This trip was also a good excuse to test out the new Optifade and the other new gear I will be using this fall.   Saturday morning we woke up to 30+mph winds mixed with cool temperatures.  The jetstream vest was one new addition I was glad to have. 

We dropped down through the first drainage and entered into elk heaven! 

Intermingled between aspen groves, the small meadows were flush with lush green grass.  We saw fresh sign, along with old rubs scattered throughout the area, adding to the anticipation of the hunt.