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After striking out last year, I put in for and drew Wyoming again. This year I gave myself 5 days to hunt and arriving 2 days early to scout. The hunt again aligned with my son's fall break and he accompanied me on the hunt. I learned last year that you need to know where you want to be at sunup opening day and that anything easy access will have a ton of hunters. I found a spot on the map that was a peninsula of public land of about 2 square miles but required a brutal 3-4 mile hike to reach. I was worried about my son being able to do that hike, let alone day after day. Well on the first day of scouting we hiked in there an hour and a half before the sun rose and got there right at first light. Right off the bat we started seeing antelope. Within half an hour we saw about 50 in 5 different groups spread out across the public land. I knew this was where we wanted to be. No need to scout more so we spent the rest of the day and the next fishing. We hiked into that area Saturday, Sunday and finally connected on this buck on Monday, having this tough to reach spot all to ourselves. We had plenty of antelope at about 400-600 yards but I was shooting a pistol and my max range was 300 that I was comfortable with. I glassed him up bedded and snuck into 324 yards. I built up the dirt so my pistol was rock solid, aimed right where I wanted it. 1 shot and he never got up. About 34 miles total hiking in the trip. One of the hardest pack outs I've done but my son wanted to help so he carried the skull out. When we arrived back at the truck there was another group parked by us loading up a buck they killed. They asked asked how old my son was and said they watched us from a high ridge for most of our pack out and wanted to treat him to ice cream in town, to which we obliged . They said none of them wanted to hike that far and a 6 year old showed them up. Another great hunting trip with my son by my side.

My two boys and my niece drew 20C youth tags this year and we knew it was going to be a challenge as it is a unit that we have never hunted. We did multiple scouting trips and were only finding does, fawns and a handful of spikes or small two points. As the hunt started we settled on an area that seemed to have a high deer density and just kept pounding away looking for some bucks. The second morning of the hunt we found ourselves glassing some country we had not worked over yet. Right away, I glassed up a bigger 2 point and a smaller one. My older boy told his brother to take the shot on the bigger buck. One shot at 543 yards and the buck was down. We had to reposition as the smaller buck had moved around a small rise in the ridge and joined some does. We got my niece to 282 yards and she hammered the buck. My brother was able to carry the smaller buck over so that we could get pictures all together. We headed home to get some work done and regroup. We got back out into the unit on Thursday night in hopes of my son filling his tag. We made a plan to look over some new country but were met with the same old story: does and fawns. We found a nasty 4x4 road that got us back into some great looking country and the best part is there were not any other fresh tire tracks on the road. It appeared that we would be alone back there. We made the slow crawl in the side by side early Saturday morning. We glassed and glassed and glassed some more. The country was beautiful, the weather was beautiful and we were seeing... you guessed it! Does and fawns. About 8:30 am, my dad made a move about a 1/4 mile away to get a look at some other country that we could not see from our vantage point. Within a few minutes he glassed up a mature buck. He let us know and we joined him. We made a quick plan and made a move on the buck to get closer. As we were trying to get into a position that we could see the buck as well as get into a stable shooting position, the buck bedded. We found a spot we could shoot from and started to relocate the buck. After some communication with my dad we found him in his bed at 520 yards. The first shot was a little high over his back which caused the buck to stand and move about 20 yards to the left. When he stopped, the second shot rang true. Heart shot, and he piled up. We made our way to the buck and were pleasantly surprised. My son was super excited and it was great to see all of the hard work pay off.

TLDR: Easy is a 4 letter word, hunted hard for 3.5 days w/o success, changed hunting area shot one at 350 yards. This was what I consider my son's first real big game hunt. He shot a mule deer spike 2 years ago, but we sat water for 2 days in a blind after the first morning of hiking when I found his pants were too short causing his socks to fill with burs. I knew an area chock full of cows, but decided to hunt another part of the unit first where I've been told there were cows. I wanted him to truly hunt, and not think all hunting was as seen on 30 minute TV shows. Got to where we'd camp the afternoon of opening day, found a travel trailer in our proposed spot. Decided to talk to them, it was a guy who had helped his buddy's son who tagged out at first light. Guy said there were a bunch of cow's in the area and it should be an easy hunt. Hunted the area Friday evening through Monday night with no success, lots of glassing and hiking. Lots of SxS activity and hunt pressure. We had seen 1 cow 1000 yards away with no chance to gain ground, 2 other cows were shot in the area Sunday evening, Monday night decided to sleep in Tuesday morning and drive across the unit to the area I knew there were cows, Hiking through thick brush, we spooked 4 cows we didn't know were there. Glassed till sundown, didn't see anything. Wednesday morning; back to the second area, hiked in a mile to our glassing spot with headlamps. As the sun was rising, heard a bugle across a canyon, another one behind us minutes later. I responded to the bugle behind us with a hoochie mama, he bugled again only closer. I cow called again, he bugled a third time even closer, I cow called. A few minutes later a raghorn 6x6 came busting though the brush 50 yards away, no cows with him. He looked around for a few minutes before deciding there was no cow and walked back into the brush out of sight (side note: I don't think he had any idea we were there, and I'm always amazed at their location abilities- he was able to almost pinpoint our location from 3 cow calls). Son saw a heard of elk across the canyon, 350ish yards away. 5-6 cows, a few calves and a big bull. We had to reposition multiple times and wait as the herd was stacked up with no clean shots. They finally fanned out a bit and he was able to shoot one. Found her, I quartered her right side, he her left. Packed her out in two trips, Processor weighed 150 pounds including bones in the quarters, don't know what the straps/tenderloins/organs we kept weighed. I think my plan of not going to where I knew there were cows was a good one, my son said he was real frustrated in not seeing any elk in our fist location especially after meeting the guy Friday afternoon who said how easy it was. He said he learned a lot the days we struck out, though he would have preferred to have shot an elk earlier in the hunt. I don't like the word easy, not just for hunting, but in general. Very few things in life are easy. Try telling a four year old tying their shoes is easy, or a new driver driving a stick shift truck is easy. Sure, once you get the hang of it it becomes second nature, but it's not easy to learn. IMHO lots of preparation and even some dumb luck etc... can make a quick, but not easy hunt.

After twenty years of watching me leave to hunt and fifteen of me taking my three boys hunting, she was finally ready to go. Our last headed to college this fall and I guess she felt this was her time. She’s a lefty which meant new rifle. She got her Christensen Arms 7mm mag dialed in and I had her shooting to 500 fairly quickly. She drew a tough unit with only 15 tags but I’d seen elk in one canyon pretty often in Jan OTC deer so I was hoping they’d be their when is was warmer. Pre scouting showed they were there but bear hunters and early hunts had them holding in deeper canyons. After four days of hiking and glassing our work paid off we picked them up mid day but they pegged us and pushed a mile back. I sent my boy after them to keeps eyes on from a distance and we circled around behind them but they didn’t flop over to where I thought they would. My son watched them bed in thick juniper at three so we backed out again and circled back to where we thought they’d pop out at sun down and move across a ridge. At 4:30 two hunters we didn’t know were right below decided they’d had enough and packed out to their truck and left. Good luck for us. At 5:00 they popped out like we thought and moved across an open ridge. We cut the distance to 600 yards by 5:45 and got her setup. So funny because game time was much more stressful then practice shooting but she held it together First shot was back a little and the elk just stood there as the Barnes passed right through (I’m on the fence on this bullet performance). She was at a steep angle so my bad for not adjusting her point of aim. I adjusted her turret down a bit and next shot punched through the shoulder and back into the boiler room. Elk fell back and was done. Nice steep climb to the elk but easy pack down. She did great. So proud of her. Never complained and carried her own gear and rifle. Thanks to my son who works at GoHunt for some new gear for us and for his work on the spotter. She’s hooked and still has a grin on her face.

A buddy and I went out striper fishing down here in Yuma a couple days ago. We ended up with 9 solid ones and let some of the smaller ones go. We also caught a 12lb limit of smallies. Fun time on the water.

For sale $2600. Boat runs and starts everytime. Just sits in my backyard. It belongs to my mom. Trailer title and boat reg in hand ready for sale. Does need some work on floor and new gauges. Will also prob need new impeller do to it sitting for so long. Honestly sense it was purchased back in 1987 by my mom and dad who are original owners its only made it out once or twice a year and sometimes not at all. Great engine!

Well now that my daughter can no longer put in as jr, she and I put in for cow elk in 6A together. The draw gods were on our side and we got drawn. I used my oldest sons archery 6A bull hunt as a pre-scouting trip for our hunt. Well needless to say, everywhere we saw cow elk a month earlier these spots were empty. Opening day turned up nothing, Saturday in a new spot heard some bugles, high tailed it up the mountain in chase. While trying to get ahead of the bull I notice movement about 60 yds away. It was a black bear lumbering our way. I did buy an OTC bear tag because during my sons hunt we came across 2 different bears. I asked my daughter, should I shoot this bear and then hunt elk later, she said yes. I take a knee and squeeze the trigger. The bear buckles, does a summersault and is rolling around. I’m just completely beside my self that I just shot a bear. I look up and the bear gets up and runs down hill. Now I’m wondering…. Uh oh, where did I hit this bear and how pissed off is this bear if it’s not dead. We both unholster our sidearms and cautiously walk up. We find blood, bits of bone and the ground is all torn up where the bear was rolling around. Reading and hearing stories about bears, especially hurt bears I wasn’t going to put my daughters life in danger rummaging around the thick brush. We backed out and we’re going to give it a day to possibly bleed out. Obviously after that gun shot the bulls quit bugling. We went to a new spot where I was able to tag a very small cow elk…..aka calf. Yesterday after miles and miles of hill climbing my daughter was able to tag her 3rd cow elk. She was completely exhausted and of course the $hit talking hasn’t stopped since hers was so much bigger. We did end up going back to where I shot the bear, but with the amount of rain we received all the blood was washed away and we both still were very wary about looking through the brush. Take away…..shoot again and again if uncertain!!! Great trip all around, county was absolutely beautiful with the leaves changing and memories that will last a lifetime!!! sorry for the sideways pics.

Bill@roofer is a great guy!

Or maybe i let her enjoy for the first few hunts the feeling of success before i push her hard on anything. She is a tuff little girl and will not complain about anything. I just want her to be my hunting buddy and not ruin it for her

I like stories like this. My daughter turns nine next month and i will be preparing her for her first big game hunt and for her hunter safety. I am always tossed up on how The hunt should go. I am big time turkey feen and have some great spots. I got a few great elk spots as well. I want to hook her with the excitement of harvesting her first animal but also want her to understand the same thing that nothing comes easy. I would love for her to fill tag on the opening day but will she learn from it? I also am a firm believer that you are not successful during the hunt you need to find and prepare and scout before the hunt To be successful. Hunting happens before the hunt startS so maybe thats where she will learn to put the work in!

This is the Waterport Weekender, rebadged/sold by CaliRaised. I have the little WaterPort and love it for camp showers. Great deal! GLWS.

Congratulations. I've yet to recover a barns copper bullet they seem to pass right thru.They have done there job with a few elk and a California pig but I'd like to see the bullet after it does its work.

My best memories are watching my wife and kids be successful on their hunts .... congratulations and cherish this great moment.

Took my daughter out to look around last weekend. There was a good storm that made the washes run the afternoon before so no deer or deer tracks to be found. We found a couple coveys of quail and I shot 6. I could’ve shot more but the population is so poor this year I chose to let the rest be. Had I been solo I wouldn’t have shot any but my little girl wanted to eat a few for dinner. Speaking of eating, we cooked some hot dogs together over a fire for lunch and just enjoyed being in the desert together! I am so happy she enjoys the outdoors and I cherish our time out there, It just blows me away how fast our kids grow. hopefully, some of you have been out and finding some good bucks.

Awesome. I love seeing wives and daughters out there getting it done! Congrats to momma!

Great post... thanks for sharing!

Nice job and congratulations!

Thats awesome. Which Barnes bullet were you using?

That’s Awesome! Congratulations to you both!

Congrats!

Even the same projectiles with different lot numbers will be different.

Mexico this February.

4B

My first buck of the San Carlos!