WHAT HAVE WE BEEN UP TO? House Rock Buffalo Hunt

[Lance]

This season started like all the others, scouting, scouting and scouting! We knew where we wanted to be so watching snow conditions and access was realy the plan.

 

At first there was loads of fun deeeeep snow! Don't it look like fun?

This type of thing is pritty tiring but Russ still has a Big smile. I think we are a little sick that way, But arn't we all?

 

Access was tough but fun, in a sick and twisted sort of way!

 

Finaly close to where we wanted to be, we found tracks! But were they the tracks we were looking for?

 

 

Conditions were just not right that week so we headed in. More scouting was planed and we kept an eye on the weather changes.

 

 

To be continued....

 

Lance

[Red Rabbit]

Tell Russ to put some chains on that Ford . You certainly are back soon; does that imply success?

 

Doug~RR

[Lance]

So the next trip to check on conditions was planned but only I could go this time. My solo trip started out low looking for that lucky gold strike. I knew it was a long shot but you still gotta check right!

 

 

 

Loads of deer were found as well as many picture opp's! But I just confirmed what I already knew that day. None of what we were looking for had been there all winter. So I headed back up to check the snow conditions. This time they were a little better!

 

 

To be continued....

[Red Rabbit]

Rica wants to know if you are scouting for Chukar?

[Lance]

Doug

 

I don't know about being back soon, we arrive precisely when we mean to.

 

Sorry Rica. Ain't seen any chuckar but if you want to go blue grouse huntin....! Yee haw!

 

Lance

 

 

[Lance]

So the next day I head up top and venture in on my own to see how things were looking. The hunters and rest of the guys were waiting patiently back home for a report. That day I spent two tanks of gas and busted snow for just over 140 miles on my quad from sunrise tell a couple hours after dark. It was an awesome day! I knew where I wanted to be and was checking access to the area and eliminating possibilities of other areas. Access was still not exactly what I was looking for but I got close enough and found out what I wanted to find out, and found what I was looking for!

 

Found some young Lion Tracks in one area, but still not the tracks I was looking for....

 

And As I got close to where I wanted to be I found what I was looking for! I put a AA battery in the track for your comparison.

 

But I still couldn't safely access the area and the day was getting late. So as any good Coues Whitetailer would do I broke out the glass on the tripod and got to work! I found more sign and sights to confirm what I wanted to know! Then made some phone calls and headed back to camp ariving a couple hours after dark. I packed up and headed back to Flag because I had "Donuts With Dad" at the grade school to go to with my kids the next day. I took a 4 hour nap along the road and got home about 4am just enough time to wake up to excited children screaming "Dads Home! Dads Home! Lets go lets go!" Kids are great!

 

Since the area was still not accessable in the way I wanted it to be we made plans for an overnight trip into the area the next week..... Continued....

[Lance]

I gave the report to the hunters and guys back home and told them we would make one more over night trip into the exact area to make sure all was well and success would be high before everyone was summoned for the party. I was informed by tag holder Richard that him and his son would like to go on the overnighter with us. That was fine with us and it turned into a scouting trip with option to shoot! Those are the best kind!

 

We met at base camp and the next morning we started our 25 mile quad ride into spike camp. Lo and behold, right there in the first big snow bank was a small car And as we drove up in the dark with our 4 quads a man got out He was very happy to see us and as he walked up to me he said "I hope you don't mind if I kiss you!" He was bigger than I was and could do what he wanted I'm sure so I exposed the pistol on my hip and I said " Oh, I think we could pass on that." The poor man began to break down and so I said "But you can give me a hug". He latched onto me with a full bear hug and began to cry he was a broken man.... I could see a woman sitting in the back seat of the car and she stared forward without much acknowledgment that we were there. She seemed to be pretty upset herself and I'm sure he was hearing allot of "I told you so's". The poor guy hugged me like I was his mama so I began to pat him on the back and tell him "It's OK now, were here, let it out , we've all been there before" And if he's out there somewhere reading this I meant it and it's all good my friend! It was OK to just let it out!

SO after he gathered himself up we asked "What in the world are you doing out here in that?" He replied with "We just had to see the Grand Canyon." Oh my, "How long have you been here". "Since 1 pm the day before". He said he had gas and was turning the car on now and then to keep warm. He had enough since to not run it the whole time. He also said he had food and watter. There was no cell signal in the area. He asked us 4 or 5 times if we were Search and Rescue. "No were just Buffalo Hunters" we told him. That just added to his confusion. He wasn't all himself and I'm sure they were just realizing they might not die after all, so we were as helpful as we could be to help get their minds on the right track

 

He had driven into the slushy snow and sunk deep. He said he had never shoveled so much snow in his life, but we did not notice any marks in the snow. It was now 5AM and the car was froze solid to the ground! We hooked up two quads to the car and Andrew and myself pushed hard! We got them out, turned around and on their way. For the sake of their sanity I did not take pictures of them and the car.

 

We were then late so hurried as much as we could to get to spike camp.

We arrived safe after the 25 mile ride but conditions were stil not what they could have been. Right off we found some tracks. They were about 2 days old and by noon we had tracked them down to about half a day behind them! They had crossed some major canyons and we were sure where they went but it wouldn't be good to hunt there with the time we had if we couldn't get the quads there. So we had to pull off for the sake of proper meat and trophy care not to mention a little safty on our part. We then tried to get the quads around to the area where we could start the hunt again but we couldn't do it. The miles of 3 to 6 foot snow were just too much to cross the canyons and half way there we were forced to make camp for the rest of the day. That was ok though, our scouting trip was a success and we knew what we wanted to know.

 

I'm sure I did some pushing in there at some point but someone had to take pictures right?

 

 

That night we made camp in a little hole out of the wind and after a hot dinner Russ and I threw down by the camp fire and Richard and Andrew slept in the tent. We headed out the next morning and plans were made to make an extended hunt into the area with the whole crew.

 

 

Note the sticks and logs used to dry socks and boots

 

Continued.....

[CouesWhitetail]

Wow, this is quite the adventure! I am enjoying the story!

 

Amanda

 

[Red Rabbit]

Rica wants to know if that snow will be gone by Sept grouse season (she is not a mush dog), and why you are working so hard in the snow to find a bovine half-breed

[catclaw]

Have you not heard of snow machines??? Wow that's a lot of work for a stinking robe!

[Lance]

Have you not heard of snow machines??? Wow that's a lot of work for a stinking robe!

 

 

Oh, we have done the snow machines and that is fun as well. There are pictures of that in our "buffalo photo gallery" on our website. I prefer the quads for many reasons.

There comes a time when there is not enough snow for snow machines but too much for other forms of transportation. You get a mile of snow and a mile of dirt and patchy spots and it just tears a snow machine apart. We were scouting to see when we could do a safe trip with quads.

[Tines]

Have you not heard of snow machines??? Wow that's a lot of work for a stinking robe!

 

I'm a desert rat so know NOTHING about snow machines but what if it's just deep snow in certain areas.....seems a quad would still be favorable considering patchy snow??? I don't know......

 

[coues7]

I don't think you guys carry enough fuel.....

 

Looks fun though.

[cmc]

WHAT HAVE WE BEEN UP TO????, Can you guess?

 

Oh.... I know, I know, I know...

 

oh... pick me... pick me

[Lance]

cmc- no you cant guess

 

So the first real trip was planned and cmc's father-in-law Dennis was one of the tag holders!

 

There would be Dennis and Richard the two lucky tag holders, Richards son Andrew and three TLO guides, Russ, Jon and myself.

6 quads were loaded down with camp food and supplies enough for a comfy stay for 3 days of hunting out of spike camp. The ride in was pretty eventful and a 10 mile quad ride took a couple of hours. But we finally arrived at spike camp safely and everyone in one piece minus Dennis's gun that was broke in two pieces.... But no big deal, the morning was getting late and we needed to get hunting! Richard offered to share his gun with Dennis so we switched our hunting plans around a little, dropped camp and headed out.

 

Russ would take the one gun and hunters and head to one area and Jon and I would head into another area that was a little harded to get to. We hadn"t been apart for 5 min when Russ calls me on the radio and says he's got buffalo! We turn our quads around and head over to them! They hadn't gone but a couple of miles when they drove up on a herd of buff the buff spent no time hanging around and got out of there quickly! Every one got to see the buff but there was no shot opportunity. When we caught up with them they had tracked them for a 1/4 mile. I took the shooters and picked up the track while Jon and Russ spread out on my flanks scanning the forest ahead

 

The buff made their way into a canyon and up and down they went while folowing the canyon down. We came apon lots of fresh tracks and it was hard to decifer them. Buff tend to line out and go for miles. The tracks were getting colder and hunters were getting tired. We were all a little tired starting the day at 3:30 am.

Some buff hair on the brush

refilling the watter bottles after several miles of tracking

 

 

 

 

We continued on their trail tell they gave me the slip in a jumble of other tracks in the pine needles. We circled the area but I didn't pick up their getaway tracks tell the next day. We rolled into camp that night dog tired and ready to catch up on some sleep. Dennis decided we could try to fix his gun in the early am after we all had some sleep. That was fine with us and after a hot dinner we slipped into our warm bags and a deep sleep.

This is a pic of us headed back to camp

 

The am started with a plan from what we learned the day before and from what we knew from hunts passed. Russ was doing an awesome job on fixing the gun but it was taking longer to fix the gun than expected.

 

So I grabed Richard and Andrew and headed to our spot. We decided Jon would go down into the area we had planned for Dennis and sneek in to try to find the buff befor they slipped into the thick stuff. If he found them Jon would keep an eye on them tell Dennis and Russ could get there. Well guess what? Jon found them! 7 Bulls were feeding calmly in front of Jon and The newly designed gun was on its way! But then as buff often do they threw a wrench into our plan They turned and fed strait to Jon! Soon they were feeding all around him! One young bull behind him feeding at 15 yards and another large bull feeding right up to the large ponderosa pine trunk Jon was hiding behind. Was he realy hiding haha yea in between taking pictures!

This is the young bull 15 yards behind Jon!

 

When the big bull got to withen 6 feet on the other side of Jons tree, Russ called on the radio and the bull heard the squelch and leaned around the tree to look Jon up and down uuuhh, it was a stare down that lasted a minute! Then the bull turned and quickly walked away taking the rest with him. Including the young bull that was 15 yards on ther other side of Jon that figured he was being left behind and ran to catch up pasing by Jon at three feet!

Jon has nerves of steel and took this picture as the bull ran by!

 

A little duct tape, some tie wire and a couple of tent stakes and it was as good as new, solid and ready to rock!

 

Needless to say, the bulls had mooved off before the gun got there. We converged on them and begain the tracking and circling. We tracked them for several more miles and had to pick up where we left off the next day.

A hot dinner and a great time around the camp fire with friends led to sweet dreams of the next days hunt.

 

The next day we quickly eliminated some areas and decided where they were headed. Instead of slowly tracking the now day old slow mooving spread out feeding tracks we decided to spread out and make a hunt into the area where we were sure they were! This was the way we figured we could catch up to the bulls that were a full day ahead of us. We had found buff on both days and realy couldn't beleive we hadn't killed one yet but hey, thats huntin Just keep it up and give it what you got and keep smiling

 

 

 

 

To be continued....