October 2008
Monthly Archive
Will gets a gift
Posted by Wes on 25 Oct 2008 | Tagged as: General
See trophy gallery for a better photoThere is no greater feeling than when everything comes together all at
once. When my father surprised me with a Mule Deer hunt for my
birthday, I couldn’t have been more excited, I had harvested many mule
deer, but never a buck. I hit the shooting range more in the 2 weeks
leading up to my hunt than I have ever in my life. I spent my days at
work and school trying to visualize the shot. The night before the
excitement got the better of me and I couldn’t fall asleep untill
midnight, but getting up the next morning was no problem. We started
glassing hillside a little before day break and it didn’t take long
for Rob and my father to spot a group of 5 bucks. We spent the next
couple of hours watching this assorted group, including a stag, a
couple smaller bucks, a great looking 4×4, and of course my beautiful
management buck. For a while I was sure that they wouldn’t ever lay down
as the sun was rising, but our perserverence paid off and they bedded
down in a bowl about 500 yards from us. We spent a few minutes debating how to go about our
stalk, and Rob decided that we should come up from the bottom instead
of the side. Rob navigated us to about 225yrds out and the bucks
stood up right as we got set up. I don’t know if my heart has ever
beaten faster or if I have ever breathed harder than those few moments
when I found him in my scope. I took one deep breath and squeezed it
off and dropped him in his tracks. “DUUUUDE”, thats my best
impression of Rob at the time. Walking up on this beautiful buck is
one of the best moments of my young hunting career. I couldn’t have
asked for a better first buck. Thanks dad, Rob, and Wes for a great
hunt and a memory I’ll have forever.
once. When my father surprised me with a Mule Deer hunt for my
birthday, I couldn’t have been more excited, I had harvested many mule
deer, but never a buck. I hit the shooting range more in the 2 weeks
leading up to my hunt than I have ever in my life. I spent my days at
work and school trying to visualize the shot. The night before the
excitement got the better of me and I couldn’t fall asleep untill
midnight, but getting up the next morning was no problem. We started
glassing hillside a little before day break and it didn’t take long
for Rob and my father to spot a group of 5 bucks. We spent the next
couple of hours watching this assorted group, including a stag, a
couple smaller bucks, a great looking 4×4, and of course my beautiful
management buck. For a while I was sure that they wouldn’t ever lay down
as the sun was rising, but our perserverence paid off and they bedded
down in a bowl about 500 yards from us. We spent a few minutes debating how to go about our
stalk, and Rob decided that we should come up from the bottom instead
of the side. Rob navigated us to about 225yrds out and the bucks
stood up right as we got set up. I don’t know if my heart has ever
beaten faster or if I have ever breathed harder than those few moments
when I found him in my scope. I took one deep breath and squeezed it
off and dropped him in his tracks. “DUUUUDE”, thats my best
impression of Rob at the time. Walking up on this beautiful buck is
one of the best moments of my young hunting career. I couldn’t have
asked for a better first buck. Thanks dad, Rob, and Wes for a great
hunt and a memory I’ll have forever.
Will
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The coin flip buck
Posted by Wes on 20 Oct 2008 | Tagged as: Mule Deer
As told by OE manager Jerome Vinet
After 4 hard days of looking for a buck worthy of a stalk, we watched a great buck bed down, ¾ of a mile away, along a weed stuffed fence line. The buck had bedded with two other bucks, neither of which was good enough to pursue, so we were left with a dilemma, two hunters and one buck. Good friends Gene and Kevun came to a compromise, the dreaded Coin-Flip. Gene found a dime and prepared for Kevun to call it in the air. Kevun went with the ever popular “Tails Never Fails” and won the flip. So at 10:30 am, Kevun and I began across the valley after the big buck. As always our original plan to approach the deer from the same draw they had went up was blown by the wind direction. We were left with only one other approach, get to the fence line and crawl through the weeds up to the buck. We reached the fence line at about 11:30 am and were left with around 300 yards of belly crawling to get within range for the muzzleloader. The next two hours were spent crawling and glassing, trying to ensure we would not jump the bucks out of their beds. Finally after hours of crwling I spotted the tops of antlers in the weeds less than 50 yards away. Now this is when time stood still, waiting for the big guy to stand up and present a shot. Lying in the weeds we traded shifts watching the buck, while the other napped and relaxed, not a bad way to spend a few hours for sure, but nerve racking at the same time. Just after 4 pm Kevun blurted out those words we had been waiting to hear “He’s Up”. Kevun did not waste time and as the buck headed back to the draw he originally went up, Kevun’s muzzleloader filled the air with smoke. That shot and the follow up found its mark in the boiler room. The buck went only another 40 yards and we had our trophy, and later Gene gave Kevun the dime as a keepsake. Thanks Gene and Kevun you are Special people and a joy to be around. See you next year, Jerome
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Derek with a few words on his antelope hunt.
Posted by Wes on 05 Oct 2008 | Tagged as: Antelope
To explain this experience briefly is incredibly difficult as any hunter would know… boring to some but a memory that’s “priceless”.
Being a native Coloradoan, seeing antelope is nothing new, but getting one is a different story. This being my first year w/ Outdoor Buddies, an incredible organization that helps handicap people get back outdoors to hunt and fish, I didn’t know what to expect. Larry with OB called me on short notice and asked if I was available and interested… didn’t take much arm-twisting. Not being able to hunt for the past several years and now not able to use my right hand I knew it was going to be a challenge to shoot from a tripod with one hand and asking someone’s help. Looking at so many bucks in the early morning it was almost mouthwatering. We came across the buck I ended up taking and actually decided to look more since we had so much day ahead of us still. On this ranch there’s dirt roads & two-tracks. We ended up, as we ended up calling it, ‘going around the block’ and looking at the buck again. Wes got me to around 270 yards. But I don’t like long shots and with my new challenge I was even more hesitant… and I would have had to stand, which is difficult for me right now for very long. Wes was incredible and got me to within 170 yards. I was able to get set up, sitting down and take him with one shot. After getting numerous muleys, I couldn’t be happier and more excited with my first antelope. Thanks Wes, you were more than a guide, you really were my “right hand”! This was an incredible hunt thanks to Outdoor Buddies and Atkinson Expeditions.
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Jason takes care of business for the youth opener.
Posted by Wes on 01 Oct 2008 | Tagged as: Waterfowl
As told by Jason Palmer,
This year marked our 1st ever Southern Colorado Youth Waterfowl hunt. Due to prior commitments with either 4-H or Football, many of the youths invited were unable to make the Saturday hunt. So, we ended up with 2 hunters and 4 mentors for the morning. Joining us for the hunt would be: Ira (8 and a 1st time goose hunter) Kelley (14 and also a 1st timer)
Leon (Ira’s dad)
Scott (my brother and partner in all things waterfowl)
Roy (Scott and I’s dad)
The icing on the cake for this one was the fact that, for the 1st time, we had 3 generations from my family in the field….I was excited to say the least!
We spent a good portion of Friday afternoon and evening going over the “rules” with the youngsters and then finished off the day with some trap shooting and practice in the layouts.Saturday morning found us in the one place I LOVE to be, a freshly cut cornfield! Both boys were a huge help in getting the decoys’ set and in putting the “finishing touches” on the layout blinds. The birds were both early and plentiful that morning with a large number of geese coming into the spread well before legal shooting light and then making their way on to an adjacent (and hunter free) field. The first bird hit the ground at a little after 7, with two more on the ground by 8. As an added bonus, one of them was nice enough to bring a band for one of the youngsters.We ended the day with 3 birds total, a lot of smiles and, 2 new goose hunting addicts!!This was my 1st experience with the youth season in S. Colorado and I gotta say, I can’t wait to do it again next year!!
Thanks, Jason
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