Ron G.

Very nice! Congratulations to your friend. Awesome looking deer!

Well, my weekend started a few days early for me. My wife, kids, and I headed up to my parents where we were going to stay for the extended weekend. We headed up Tuesday night and arrived pretty late. I wanted to get in some preseason scouting on Wed and Thurs before the archery deer opener on Friday. Wed morning went for a drive to where some of the locals had been seeing a 4 pt mule deer. On my way there I saw two groups of deer right off the highway, 3 in each group. The second group had two bucks, a forked horn and a spike. Later in the day I took the family for a drive and went and checked on a couple of my trail cams. Nothing too exciting was seen on the cameras. Thursday I went for a quick drive to check out a couple of tanks and after seeing multiple deer tracks around one decided to hang a camera for a day to see if I could determine if there were any bucks hitting the tank. On my way back I saw this little guy. (He's right at 50 yds from the road, about 200 yds from a subdivision. I took the wife on a quad ride later to drop off a camera for a day on the tank I was previously at. I had my dad pick it up Friday evening due to several factors: location of a road nearby, holiday weekend coming up, and the number of shell casings littering the ground. I didn't want my camera to be used for target practice. (One day wasn't enough as there weren't any pictures on it...) That afternoon was spent with family and then I went to set up my ground blind at the location I'd chosen to hunt. I picked a spot where I have recently been seeing a couple of white tail bucks hanging out. Here are some pics of my ground blind. It required some additional brushing after these pics were taken. Friday morning found me in my blind at zero dark thirty. With the elk bugling around me, I was excited that the season had finally started. My long period of sitting had begun. Not being the most patient person in the world, I was curious how long I'd last sitting in the blind. I brought plenty of water and food and was hoping to make a day of it. The first thing seen was a 4 pt bull that came up for a look. He didn't stick around long. Not sure if it was the sight of the blind or what. Some cows and a calf came in later. Around 11am I broke off from my reading and glanced out the window and saw some movement outside. I looked closer and saw that it was a deer. Closer observation revealed two does coming in. Seeing those does really got my blood pumping. One walked within 10 yds of the blind, out of curiosity it seemed. One was an older doe, and the other looked like a yearling. About 1:30 that same afternoon I took a break from writing some notes in my journal and looked out to see movement outside again. More deer, and these deer had antlers! Excitedly, I grabbed my bow and tried to calm my racing heart. The bucks were following the same path as the does, but then started veering further away. I looked over at the salt, and there were 3 elk just arriving at it. There were 2 cows and a calf. The bucks just fed on through and stayed safely out of range at about 60 yds. However, I was elated. I'd seen the bucks and knew they were still around. I knew then there was a slight chance I'd be able to arrow one of them in the coming days. I watched the bucks move out of site, hoping they'd return later on. They never did come back that day. I never did pick up my camera to get any pictures when the bucks came in. I wish I had, but I was worried about any additional movement or noise. I spent the rest of the afternoon, reading, taking notes, and watching the elk come in to water and hit the salt. Here's a shot I would love to have if I had a cow tag. (right at 30 yds) This little one made itself comfy... While watching one cow at the salt I heard a splash behind me. I turned and peeked out the rear window and saw a 6 pt splashing around in the water. In my rush to get my camera on him in the water, I think he heard or saw something because he jumped out of the water and looked in my direction. He then proceeded to walk over to a nearby pine tree and take out some aggression on it for 45 seconds or so. I did manage to get some video of him raking his antlers on the tree. The rest of the evening I watched elk come in and enjoyed the show. I ended up sitting 13 hours in my blind that day. Very excited by the prospect of seeing deer, I left looking forward to the next day. Saturday I arrived early, and prepared for my vigil. I was trying to mentally prepare myself that there was a good possibility that I wouldn't see any deer today. That ended up being the case. Instead, I heard multiple quads and other vehicles on nearby roads. While a good 600 yds from the nearest road, the sound carried well. What could I expect; it was Labor Day weekend after all. Time went by slowly the rest of the day. Around 3pm, I almost talked myself into going back to where my wife had spotted the same flock of turkeys cross the road about a quarter mile apart, within an hour on two consecutive days. There was a gimpy one that brought up the rear that made the flock identifiable. I decided against it, making the deer hunt my first priority. At about 5pm I decided enough is enough. My butt hurt and I hadn't seen anything, but had been hearing quads driving surrounding roads all day long. After 12 hours in the blind, I packed up my stuff and went for a walk to stretch my legs. I came across this guy twice, the second time with him crossing the closed road in front of me at 35 yds. This pic was taken of him further away, but the other pictures I have of him close up are pretty blurry. Amazing how those guys can get your heart pumping. On Sunday I had a good feeling. I arrived at the blind with elk bugles echoing all around. I figured after a day like yesterday and me not giving up, something good had to happen. Well, nothing did. Except for about 3 hours of rain and the 2 does returning. I kept up a constant watch, just knowing the bucks would have to be coming in at any time. While not waterproof, I stayed plenty dry inside the blind. During some of the harder downpours water dripped through some of the seams, but not an issue. It was light to moderate rain for the 3 hours. Once again, I heard a lot of quads driving around. Here's what kept me entertained during the long hours in the blind... Well, the last morning. I figured I'd put so much time in already, I couldn't give up now, even if I could really only hunt until noon or so. The little bit of a chill in the air must have really fired up the elk. They were bugling all around me, sounding more fired up than they had the previous days. With bugles echoing through the trees, I snuck down to my blind. At about 7am I had to pee, so I went to the area I was using away from the blind to relieve myself. On my way there, I spotted a 4 pt bull coming down the trail towards me. He veered slightly off from me, and I ranged him at 38 yds as he moved through the trees off to the side of me. He moved off and I made my way back to the blind. About 9am, I hadn’t seen anything else. I felt the urge to pee returning, so I scanned the area outside for any sign of anything. Nothing, so I decided while the coast was clear I would exit the blind and go relieve myself. I was about 10 steps from the blind when I looked up and saw a white flag outlined by a velvet rack heading away from me. Ahhh! I about dropped to my knees when I realized I’d been busted and my days of sitting waiting for the buck(s) was all for naught. I watched him slow to a walk and disappear in the trees. The wind was almost blowing directly towards him, so I figured he either winded me or more than likely saw me. Trying to salvage something out of it I moved perpendicular to the wind and figured I'd try to get around on him, and if possible, beat him to the road that he would likely cross to dump into a deep canyon, his most likely escape route. After a bit, and what seemed like an eternity, I made it to the road. I sat waiting for a couple of minutes, but feared I was too late in getting there. While debating what to do, try to go find him or go back to the blind, and determine how many bucks there had been (1 or 2???), I slowly started walking up the road. I caught movement off to my side. I stopped and looked hoping it would be the deer, but instead was a respectable 6 pt bull meandering towards the road. I crouched down wishing I had my camera with me and had not left it in the blind. He stopped at the edge of the road and glanced over at me for a few seconds. I ranged him at 35 yds before he turned and walked quartering away across the road. I sat and watched him disappear into the trees. While continuing my slow walk up the road I noticed the perfectly formed turkey tracks in the dust on the road. Those tracks were so fresh you could see all the detail on the pads of the feet. I figured they were left either this morning or last night at the latest. Most likely I was sitting in the blind several hundred yards away as the turkey walked down the road. I moved up towards where the elk tracks crossed the road and saw fresh deer tracks crossing the road also. The gait looked like a walk, but I figured it was the deer I'd spooked. I figured my best plan would be to go spend the last few hours I had to hunt for the weekend in the blind and hope the buck or bucks returned. No use pressuring him and making him go nocturnal or blow him out of the area. I slinked back to the blind, frustrated with myself, yet excited to have seen a buck and that bull. I spent the remaining couple of hours watching and waiting, listening to the elk bugle just out of sight, hoping a buck would return. Shortly before it was time to call it a weekend, I peeked out the back and saw 4 elk slowly approaching. There were 2 cows, a calf, and a 6 pt bull that had his nose up the last cow's rear end, low bugles coming from deep inside him. The first cow was only 10 yds away, looking right at me, trying to determine if anything was wrong. They came down the same trail as the deer would have come down, and the wind was just offline from them by a few degrees. The rear cow and calf walked over to the water tank and directly into my scent cone. I saw them take a whiff, and turn to leave, taking the other cow and the moaning bull with them. I then figured that chances are, even if I hadn't been out of the blind the buck probably would have winded me before he got to the blind, so I probably wouldn't have gotten a shot anyways. However, I'll never know because I had to pee. Soon after that I packed everything up, and headed back to have lunch and pack up the family in preparation for the drive home. What an exciting weekend. I impressed myself with my resolve to sit and wait for those bucks. That is usually not my style. I like to move around a lot and cover a lot of ground. It was a very relaxing hunt, and as always, I learned a lot. I hope to be back up there in a couple of weeks, this time with an empty gallon water jug that will accompany me in the blind! Overall, I had a great weekend! Here’s a pic of me and my son from the weekend. Ron

Awesome buck 4pt! Congratulations! Ron

I've only had mine since about April, but it's been out 90% of the time. The only reason I pulled it at first was to recharge the batteries and change the memory card. Now that I have extra batteries and cards, I leave it out all the time and swap out cards and batteries every 2-3 weeks. Another camera I've had out for going on 3 weeks, just checking it last weekend. I put out a third camera for a day last Thurs to Friday due to the high volume of traffic (and target shooters!) this tank gets, but put it back up Monday afternoon. My dad is pulling it for me either Thurs or Friday. The only reason I wanted it on the tank was there were quite a few deer tracks around it. I just hope curiosity doesn't kill the cat (or camera)... Ron

Congratulations! Can't wait to hear the story.

Great pictures! Thanks for sharing. Good luck to you guys this weekend. Ron

To my surprise I had some coues posing on my camera just in time for archery season. Hopefully they stick around another week or so. I think I know where I'll be come Friday... Thought this was a neat picture with the velvet hanging down in this bull's face. Ron

The last several deer hunts I've been on have been in the pines, so there's been an abundance of pine trees to use for rests. Does anyone use a gun rest that attaches to their tripod? I'd think the amount of time it would take to get set up would be the biggest factor. I'll have to play with my bogen pistol grip to see how it would be to shoot off that similar to what kast1 referred to. Ron

But that wasn't specific enough! J/K! Nice video!! Thanks for sharing! Ron

Great pics! Good luck with him.

Great pictures. Thanks for sharing!

Cabela's and Sportsman's each has their place with me. Sportsman's is closer, so I'll still be going there for odds and ends. I think Sportsman's is going to have to improve their customer service, mainly regarding returns. SW 30 day return policy stinks. I'll often buy things in the summer for the upcoming season and won't really get to use it until after the 30 days. If it fails I'll want to return it. Another thing that ticks me off about SW is that the Phx store seems much better stocked than the Mesa store. I see better selections at the phx store and it seems like some different stuff, mainly in regards to clothes and outerwear. I've ordered plenty from Cabelas and they've never done me wrong. It was nice to finally put my hands on some things I've only seen in the catalogs so far. It will be nice to be able to try on boots and clothes now. Ron

Some of the nylon stuff is decent. The Whitewater superlight series is ok. Not too noisy and very lightweight. Shirt I have is vented and does a pretty good job of keeping you cooler. The nylon moves the sweat from you, but sometimes seems to stick to you also. Wouldn't hold up as well as a heavy duty cotton though... Here's a link to the Whitewater stuff... http://whitewateroutdoors.com/osc/product_...p;cPath=126_133

I'll be there with my wife and 2 kids. Hoping to be there right at noon and stay as long as everybody is able to... Ron

I drew a 5AB Oct deer tag. It was second choice, so pretty excited!

'Only' a hit for deer so far! Ron

Right now I'm saving up for some bigger glass. I had originally planned on getting a spotting scope but now plan on getting some 15X binos first, and then save up for the spotting scope. Spotting scope I'm using now is 20+ years old and I can almost see things better through my Nikon 10X's unless the scope is just right. For my hunting goals right now I think the 15X binos will be better for me than a spotting scope. I can see in a few years wanting the spotter though for better zoom to determine if it is an ear or leg I'm seeing through the binos and for digiscoping. For long term glassing I prefer to look through binos rather than a spotting scope.

I think I finally saved enough of my pennies to get one. Might get one at the Cabela's members only day on the 26th... In regards to the heat, I've heard that packing along some ziplock bags with ice in them and then placing those on your head under your hat works well at helping to keep you cool. Same idea of the wet washcloths mentioned above. I tried it last weekend while mowing the yard and it worked well. Especially with the cool water running down my back... Ron

Good job on summitting! Weather this time of year can be the biggest detractor. Last time I was coming down a woman was heading up and her hair was standing up. When we saw that we quickened the pace to get down quick. Ron

Got my catalog and my club member invite for the 26th also. Planning on spending a good part of the day there. Ron

Thanks for sharing the pics. Liked the sequence of the one across the canyon. If you don't mind me asking, what's the elevation there? Ron

Thanks for sharing the pics! Hopefully next time you have that buck's antlers in your hands he'll still be attached to them. Good luck in the draw and this fall. Ron

Great pictures! Thanks for sharing.

Spent the weekend up north visiting the folks and just relaxing. Took advantage of the forest opening to go and retrieve my camera. Thought I'd share some of the pics on it... 2 Bulls Whatcha lookin at? Younguns Flirting I was surprised to see how skinny some of these elk were. Bring on the rain!

It's a salt lick my dad started years ago. The hole to the right of the stump is where he originally put the salt. It's a good sized hole now. Here's a couple of additional pics... 2 animals in this pic Mommies and babies Bull