kidso

Looks great! Tom really knows his elk. Now, i wonder what he can do with a bear rug!

Sweet bull! What plans do you have for it's hide?

Odds are that any bears that were in that little canyon were there for food. Your best bet is to hit that canyon again around the same general time frame this year as the same food sources should likely be producing. Granted certain nuts and fruits produce heavier fruit yields in multi-annual patterns, but at least some of the same foods should be produced. The question is whether or not that specific food will out-produce another food product that may be generated in greater quantities this year in another location, as bears will travel miles to capitalize on bumper food sources in very specific locations.

they all swam across the lake!!!!!!!!!!! That year, they did! It was a slaughter fest in 23 south, which closed opening weekend for the first two and maybe all three of OTC fall bear hunts in that unit if my memory serves me correct!

Great job on the cow. Snow on the ground. When was your hunt?

Man, you are killing me! I had four cameras out, and I thought that was a lot? It must take you a full weekend to review those SD cards!

At least not during the year we drew unit 22 bear tags!

What a trophy...the pig's heart! Your friend is now addicted! Nice job!

Great job! Thanks for the sweet story.

Great job! My wife is now ready to try a javelina hunt next year. Lots of female role models are having a positive impact on her feelings of harvesting a pig.

Take your time reading posts in the bear section of this site. Plenty of great bear hunting information from calling, spot and stalk, sitting water, and running hounds. Lots of them from unit 23 as well. Welcome to the site.

Sweet facial expression! Bear looks "annoyed"!

...that little piggy went home for dinner! Tasty javelina meat!

Yes, that rifle is beastly large in size! Nice piggy!

Kudos to Tom for doing the right thing! Elk is looking fabulous!

Late request...running out tomorrow afternoon to hunt javelin in 37b near Superior. If anyone wants to come along on the east side, tag or no tag, let me know. Leaving around 1 pm. Obviously a no-tag holder would not be taking a pig!

Brian and I were stalking the pig I initially glassed to the east. When we were almost on the ridge where the pig crossed over, we saw two hunters in camo on a ridge parallel to us that looked to be trying to get into the same location where we were heading, but they backed off when they saw we had a 100-yard or so lead on them. I had wondered if perhaps they had seen the pigs too, but were further away than I was when I spotted them? Brian did not know those two hunters and neither did I. But, it was neat that they pulled away from the path they were heading on, because we were out ahead of them.

I did take another guy with me. He was in camo, but unarmed, as he did not possess a tag. I actually wore black pants and some weird red/blue/green shirt,instead of my usual camo. Also, I never told the rest of the story, but after doubling back and not being able to find Brian, I pushed forward trying to locate the pigs that vanished at least two ridges over. I ended up jumping them out of the bottom of a ravine three ridges over and they took off like there was no tomorrow. I had never, until that moment, ever fired a shot at a moving target. I fired three rounds at three different pigs as they raced single file up to the ridgetop in front of me about 250 yards away. I was shooting just behind the pigs or barely in front of them, but was spot on horizontally. But, I'll tell you something, that was one of the neatest experiences I ever had --shooting at moving targets. It was awesome, just sliding the bolt up and over three times in rapid succession! Just a few minutes after my three shots, I heard a blast off in the distance coming from the direction the pigs had headed. I thought to myself, "Some lucky guy or gal just capitalized off the pigs I just pushed!" Imagine that, to think I actually helped Brian get his first pig after all!!! Very neat follow-up Tdub. I'm glad you had some missing pieces of the pig puzzle and that it was a happy ending after all!!

It is always sweet to get a pig!

Yes, the drought is over!

Plenty of bacon to go around! Great job on the harvests. Imagine the love a taxidermist would have given you if you kept showing up with all your pigs to mount!! That would almost be comical!! What, you again, and with another pig!! Vey nice harvest numbers, once again!

They don't give us equipment that nice... Nope, that is one of those "bring your own gun" to work pieces!

That looks like a nice border patrol gun. We don't need to construct a fence along the border, we just need to plant shin daggers a few yards deep to keep the smugglers out. Nice pig.

I don't think he bailed purposely, as he was very excited. I actually think he "lost" me in my 100 yard stalk while watching the pigs through his binos and did not see exactly where I stalked to. Thus, he walked past me and was not sure where I was at and he never saw the pigs jet either. I think he went right on by me, too far above to see the pigs or myself and quietly pulled back to not ruin any chance I had, still unaware that I was waiting for him to show up before shooting!

Update: Wife was feeling better, so she gave me the green light for a half-day hunt. I raced up near Gonzales Pass on the northern end of 37b at daybreak and hiked 10 minutes up a ridge to do some glassing. I spotted a lone pig cresting over a ridgetop 800 yards away after a mere 10 seconds of glassing ---my new record. I headed that direction and noticed a young guy glassing in the opposite direction about 30 yards away from me. I waved him over and asked if he had seen anything. His answer was nothing, nothing after glassing all day yesterday and so far this morning. He was a young guy, perhaps 20 years old, so I asked him how many pigs he has tagged. He said zero, and added that the only thing he has ever shot was a single coyote. I guess I am getting old, or becoming more and more like TJ, because I found myself inviting this stranger to come along with me if he would like to score himself a pig, as I had spotted one already and they love to keep smelly company! I lead the way over by running along various ridgetops and we crested in the same general area where I had observed the javelina. After 30 seconds of glassing, the young man excitedly announced that he spotted a pig. They were feeding on a hillside two ridges over from our current location. I ranged the pigs at 220 yards and told my new recruit that we would lie prone and shoot together on the count of three. He said that the distance seemed too far for his confidence and asked if we could narrow the distance by advancing one ridge closer to the pigs. I told him to keep his glass on the pigs and I would stalk up to the next ridge and locate them and then he would leap frog up to join me. Ten minutes later, I had my rangefinder showing three pigs at 120 yards. I beckoned for my protégé to join me and waited. Five minutes, ten minutes...where in the heck was he? I kept looking over my shoulder, but never saw him. I then heard a few rocks shuffle behind me on the ridge, but the pigs did too, and they took off racing through the brush and over the hill. I still held my safety, hoping that the young buck would pull his trigger above me. But, no sound, and no young buck. I doubled back and my new friend was no where to be seen. Interestingly, I found myself not feeling angry, nor bummed out. Yes, I could have nailed a javelina at 120 yards any time during that 10 minute period, but my hopes were with a complete stranger I had just met thirty minutes earlier filling his first ever big game tag.