Kilimanjaro

Today is a day that I live for.. and it was a long time coming.. I missed all last season with my ill fated move to MT. But alas, all is right with the world now.. It was an opener for the books. All day yesterday and most of last night, we had a great, slow soaking rain that came in with a cold front. At around midnight, the front pushed on through and behind it was some of the most perfect weather one could ask for for quail hunting. Around 37 at first light, an almost cloudless sky, and better scenting conditions couldn't be had!! Should you want to find Mearns, you're more than likely pass through these "pearly" gates.. We made our way to the first place of the morning and hit the ground at 9:15, and it ended up being the only place we went to!! With the amount of birds we found, there was no need to go anywhere else. "And here we go!" We hadn't gone 10 minutes and I find Penny locked down on a HUGE covey!! Knock one down and spend a few minutes praising the dogs.. "if ya see these, you are in the right area.. Be ready! They're REAL close!" Another big covey that was pinned down by both pups.. This point cracked me up.. Both dogs were burning up the hillside when they both did the 'ol screaching halt points at the exact same time.. You can almost read it in they're faces.. "Oh crap, they're right there between us!! Don't twitch a muscle!" "Got 'em locked down here, Dad.." Takin' a well deserved break from all this hard work. Fruits of the labor.. In a little over 2 hours, we found 8 coveys and brought to bag 8 Mearns quail. I made it a point to take only 1 bird per covey. And for once, I held up my end of the bargin!! A better day of hunting would be hard pressed to be found. We'll see what tomorrow brings!

Since moving to MT from AZ back in Sept., I had told myself to make it a point to find the time and do trophy bison hunt while I was living up here. This country is steeped in bison history and I could think of no where else I would want to do such a hunt.. I have a buddy up here who ranches around 12K acres in central MT who just happened to have a herd on his property.. and within that herd, there are a handful of real bruiser bulls.. We made plans back in Sept to wait till the dead of winter to let the bulls grow their full winter capes.. FINALLY, the hunt rolled around and I headed out east to the ranch in the COLD MT winter.. We started out the hunt by stopping at the foreman's house for a cup of cowboy coffee and making sure the tractor had the loader on the front end!! After cussing the wind and the chilly weather for a few minutes, we were on our way.. We then made our way onto the rolling prairie in search of the herd.. Out here on the endless open sea of grass, a herd of 20+ bison isn't too hard to spot. You can see their hulking masses from at least 3 miles away!! We had spotted them out to the south of our location, up towards the foothills of the mountains and a good 500 ft higher in elevation than where we were at the time. With the herd now in sight, we ditched down into a coulee that paralled the herd and would take us right within shooting distance, should they not smell us.. We made our way towards the herd, periodically taking a peek at them to make sure they hadn't made us out.. When we finally got to within range, I eased the cigar sized 45-70 blackpowder cartridge into the open rolling block breach of the Shiloh Sharpes rifle I was toting.. A true bison gun if there ever was one.. As we eased up out of the coulee, we had put ourselves to within 75 yards of the feeding herd. The wind was howling out of the west, and with the wind, the herd hadn't heard us, or caught our scent.. We glassed them over and gave each bull the twice over.. Finally, with pretty much every bull within range, it was just a matter of which one tickled my fancy.. I was hoping to find a bull that was at his full potential...fully mature, with horns that weren't getting any longer, and huge body size.. There was a couple of bulls in the herd that fit that bill to a tee. We narrowed it down, and waited till one of them eased into a open shot. After a short wait, one of the two target bulls fed off a few yards away from the rest of the herd. I eased the hammer back on the Sharpes, slowly sqeezed the set trigger, and then eased the trigger back.. BOOM!! The acrid smell of the blackpowder burned my nose as the smoke came right back in my face.. The bull was hit well, but he didn't hardly react to the hit at all!! I quickly threw another round in and hit him again. This one hurt him alot! He tried to make off with the rest of the herd, but was soon wobbling on weak legs. After about 20 seconds, it was over. The old bull tipped over into the golden grass. But as soon as he did, the WHOLE herd came back and surrounded the fallen bull and started pawing at him and hooking him, trying to rally their fallen compadre back to his feet.. It was quite a sight to see that. It also made clear how a buffalo hunter in the 1800's could set off in the distance and wipe out an entire herd with ease.. When we made our way up to the bull, I was blown away by his sheer size!! He was beyond huge!! We then radioed back down to the ranch house and told them to fire up the tractor!! We took plenty of shots of the bull, and then made our way back to the barn in preperation of the HUGE workload that lay ahead of us!! The amount of work that comes with shooting an animal of this size is staggering..the caping, fleshing,boning, and packaging took us all that afternoon and all of the next day as well!! I was glad when we were do with all of that! As I now type this, I can reflect on this hunt.. Was it a hard or physically demanding hunt? No, not by any means. But that aspect didn't take away from the experience at all. This was a hunt that I've always wanted to do since I can recall, and can now say I've done it. I probably won't ever shoot another bison, but I am glad I did it. I took a super sized bull and I'll be plenty happy with just him as my only bison I ever take.. It was a fun hunt, and a great way to spend 3 days after all the other seasons have closed.. I didn't get to hunt any big game this season because of the move to MT from AZ fell at the wrong time, so this was a great way to "feed the fire" this winter, in preperation for another African safari coming up this Aug.. A great hunt that I would recomend to anyone! There were HUNDREDS of Sharptails on the ranch this weekend.. That's my luck though, hunt Sharpies on the ranch all season, can't buy one.. hunt bison, they're everywhere you turn!! This was the view I had when we had finally got up on them and peeked up out of the coulee. There were about 10 others in the herd that were just outta camera view.. BIG BULL DOWN!! The Sharpe's did the trick!! My bull was estimated to be around 11 to 12 years of age and weighed right in around the 1 ton mark..a giant bull!! And from those of you who are numbers counters, he was a hair over 18" on lentgh, and had 14" bases!! don't let the warm weather look in the pics fool ya.. it was about 24 degrees with a good 30 MPH wind howling!! It was damned cold out there!! The ONLY way to take care of a bison in the field!! haul him off the ranch and into a barn and outta that wind!! I now have a whole new apprieciation for the plains indians who made their living off these animals..they are a ton of work, and I couldn't imagine doing one without modern convinences.. buffalo slayer... thanks for looking, guys!!

"I'm dead serious Dad, they're RIGHT under my nose!!!! D-O-N-T M-O-V-E A M-U-S-C-L-E.." "I got'em right over here.. Now hurry it up with the best part.. The shootin'!!" "Sometimes you gotsta get every last inch outta yer snooter to get the jump on them rascally quail birds!!" Lucky dogs.. This is their office and this is what they do for a living.. They are promply paid in full with these and hearty ear scratches.. Union break.. Happiness to an English Pointer is a bloody tail tip.. How many do ya see in the pic?? Like Casey mentioned, we were witness to some stellar dog work today and were weighed down in a bit over two hours by bulging game bags full of our intended quarry.. One of those days you'll talk about years down the road for sure.. I live for days such as this one. Take care guys!!

Casey and I musta saw 25 of them today just out of Patagonia..

I'm in Silverado Hills east of Houghton right off of Broadway..

Kast, you could probably count the distance from where we live from eachother in yards instead of miles.. I live in that exact same area.

Hey guys, not to re-hash old topics, but I thought ya'll might enjoy these pics of a couple more big boys we pulled out of MT.. LOTS 'O WORK on these bad boys!!! This bull was old, wore out and a BRUTE!! My bud smoked him with a .50cal frontstuffer. And this bull was the "prettiest" bison Ive seen.. Super cape on him and an abslolutey HUGE body on him!! He got thumped with a Sharps 45-70. Take care guys!!

Nice buck, Dude!!! He'll look good on the wall for sure! Now get yer butt in gear for some quail hunting!!

Nice 1000th post, ultramag!!!!

If you saw the damage they do to the ecosystem first hand (I did in Nevada), you'd agree that the only thing they're good for is either target practice or a one way trip to the glue factory with a short stop by the French butcher shop. I hate those things.

Thanks Darren.. Brandon told me to be on the lookout, but I wasnt sure if it was in the Nov or Dec issue. Ive been looking, but cant find that magazine anywhere here in Tucson!! Thanks for the heads up in which month its in. Amanda, I knew that pick didnt come out too well, but those were FRESH diggings! As in the covey flushed right there when we interupted their lunch! Made it out again this morning and decided to make it a little bit of a challange. Knocked the dust off the .410 and found a couple of boxes of shells. I hadnt shot her in a couple of seasons now, and figured it'd be a great excuse to shoot a few through 'er.. A few turned into a quest. A quest to actually kill at least one bird!! Oh, there were plenty of them found by the dogs ..10 coveys to be exact. But I couldn't BUY a bird today!! I musta shot 6 shells for every bird brought to hand!! I finally said mercy when I had no more shells to shoot!! And my vest was a tab bit lighter today with only 5 birds to show for all that blazin'.. But, even with the less than spectacular shooting, it was still a great morning to be out. These are the days I daydream about all year! Some covey points of the day from the "A" team. And some singles points.. Man, those suckers will hold tight! And I guess if I'm gonna shoot a small gun, small birds are par for the course!! This has got to be the smallest Mearns Ive ever seen shot!! I had to wipe the milk off his lips before I took the pic!! "Avian veal" Two days of hard huntin' will wear ya out so much that you won't even be able to make it those last 2 feet to your kennel... I'll be out after 'em again next Sat!!

Very nice amigo!! I see the mutts did their jobs!! How many coveys did ya'll put up?? Glad to see ya with your first mearns of the season!!

Yep... that'd be your's truely!! Ive been in quite a few articles for quail hunting/ big game hunting over the yrs.. several of my best friends are professional outdoor writers and they'll throw me in there every now and again. BTW, what month is that issue?? I cant find it anywhere and Ive been looking!

great lookin' desert buck!! I'd have busted him as well. No brainer!

It looks like its going to be a season to remember for sure. I could have been finished in an hr if I would have shot a few outta each covey. There were young birds EVERYWHERE!! The coveys were 90% this season's birds. Family groups. Those young birds are a hoot to watch. They've never even seen a hunter, and show almost no fear of you or the dogs. Virgil had a young male run under his belly while he was on point!! I was 1/2 a second late on getting a pic of it!! If you're headed down that way in the morn, let me know. I'll be leaving at around 6:30 or so from the house. I live on the N/E side. Make that a 1/2 marathon!! I've done a full 13 a couple of times this past few weeks and I gotta say, THAT'S MORE THAN ENOUGH!! I seem to have a wall that is a deal breaker (almost) at around 11 miles. Im still kickin' around the idea of the full montey at the PF Chang run in PHX. But I will say this, I'm sick to death of running. Thats the worst part of all this.. You gotta run yer butt off in order to only do it once, officially!! At least I'll be ready for my death marches at my upcoming acdemy.. I'm headed out to the Search & Rescue academy in late Feb. for 5 weeks of torture!!

Great deer Jim!!

Well, this is my first PE of the season.. Havent had too much luck with recent bird hunts with the hot weather and lack of real hunting time on my end. My coues hunt was a bust as well. But I made it a point to get the pups out this evening for a quick run 'round for a covey or two in a spot thats always produced birds for me. This hunt pleasently suprised me. I was going out more to excersize the pups and get our kinks worked out for the upcoming Mearns season, and came home with a grin from ear to ear. I swung by and picked up Casey and we were in the area in no time. And as usual, the locale didn't disappoint!! We were into birds from the moment we got out of the truck till we had to pull the dogs back because of darkness. While we surely didnt hold up our end of the bargin with shooting, the dogs did wonderfully. We were given a show of bird finding, honoring and backing, and just all around good dog work!! We did manage to scratch down a handful to show the pups that we were trying!! Only problem with this hunt was that is was only about 2 1/2 hrs long! It was one of those afternoons that you don't want to end. Gambel's country A special place to someone else too long, long ago. PINNED DOWN!! (Of course I missed him!) Pay dirt!! Gotta love it.. Thanks for lookin' guys!!

Cuz there ain't no south TX monsters here in AZ!!! And I just love the country they live in. The deer themselves dont do a whole lot for me. But they're habitat is what mountain hunting is all about. I love that part of it the most.

Animas/Silver City area muley. Been confirmed for awhile now.

Isnt that what a coues deer is?? A blast to hunt, but not much there in the head-ware dept.

Not to steal the thunder from Tommy, but I have the same request... Only mine is the Nov issuse. I cannot find it ANYWHERE!! And one of my best buds wrote an article in it with some pics of of me and my pups and I'd like to get a copy or 2. Thanks guys!

Great looking deer, Ron! The holes in the ears almost looks like a serious skin condition that has gotten worse and worse. The only thing I have seen that compares was a couple of Impala ewes in Africa that had the same looking affliction.. The guys I worked with over there said that it was caused by a severe allergic reaction to too many tick bites in a small, local area.. like the backs of ears.. But this aint southern Africa!! So it could be anything!

I'd take him to Africa.. No doubt.

I agree with Clay. Looks like a Prairie rattler. And you were in the right part of the state for them.

Nice looking ocellated birds, couestaxi!!