This year has been a successful year to fill several big game tags. Clarence is big into archery, and we works very very hard at making sure he is accurate with his shots. He works hard and usually comes home with meat for the freezer. I get to go with Clarene sometimes, but this year was a first for me to fill some tags. Here is a recap of our hunting activities for this year:
Hunt number 1: Coues Deer
Early January Unit 23
For the last couple of years it has become a tradition that Clarence takes the first part of the year off of work and goes into the wild to hunt these little critters. Of course it usually means that he is gone scouting for our anniversary, and somehow always manages to miss the new years eve party. Hmm, imagine that. This year was no different! He did his homework and hiked a LONG ways and came out successful.
Hunt #2 Archery Antelope
August 24-Sept. 6th in unit 10
This was Clarence's first time to ever hunt antelope. He has been putting in for years and YEARS for this opportunity. He finally got his wish! I was lucky enough to go with him for this one, and what a fun hunt it was! I must say this was probably my favorite hunt ever. We saw so many antelope and had several opportunities to shoot. These are some sneaky little boogers that can see you from miles away, so stalking them is tough! We figured out the best way to hunt them and then it was game on! Derron came out to help the last week and I was able to glass and drive the truck. One time we saw some antelope way up on the plains and Clarence and Derron were going to go in for a stalk. My job was to drive the truck a little ways off and distract the antelope. As soon as they got out of the truck the antelope spotted them and took off running. They told me drive for awhile with them in the back of the truck and see if they would settle down or stop. The antelope didn't. they took it as a personal goal to beat me to the road and cross in front of me. I was flying down the road with the antelope running alongside the truck for 5 miles! It was so neat to see how fast those goats could run! I felt bad for Clarence and Derron in the back of the truck as I am FLYING down the dirt road, but we all laughed and laughed when we stopped. Those antelope would run and sometimes fall and it would be a dominoe effect to the onces behind them. But they would just get back up and run at full speed! It was fun to see those two brothers still being partners in crime. A couple of days later Clarence was able to get a shot at a really nice one, but we were unable to recover it. We glassed and glassed the mountain to find him. After a couple of days Derron and I went home and left Clarence there to hunt. He was able to locate this bad boy and put a stalk on him. One shot: game over. A hard hunt, but a very fun hunt!!!!
Hunt #3 Archery Bull Elk
Sept. 14-27 Unit 4a
Derron and Clarence were some of those lucky suckers to draw this early archery tag. They were missing one of their hunting buddies on this one who wasn't able to make it this year, and I think after seeing these bad boys he was pretty mad he missed this trip! Clarence and Derron had been hunting the first weekend with no success. I had planned on joining them on Monday afternoon. When I got to the "man's camp" I waited and waited and WAITED for these two boys to get back from their hunting trip, Finally, late that night, they pull into camp with not 1, but 2 elk under their belts! The story goes that they were just hiking around and Derron said," wouldn't it be funny if we had an elk come down this canyon right now?" About 5 minutes later they heard the sweet sound of a bull elk crashing through the trees. Derron went after that one and put an arrow through him! They spent the afternoon and into the early evening gutting and hanging the meat. They smelled like a rutting elk by the time they were done. While heading back with the backstraps and the head, Clarence said, 'wouldn't that be funny if we saw an elk on the way back to the truck?" Not much later they heard the sweet sound of a bull elk. Clarence couldn't believe his luck! He ran after the bugle and put an arrow into elk #2! What are the odds of that? Of course when Derron came to see the bog boy, Clarence could only say, "Trina's not going to be happy about this!" I had been looking forward to hunting and hiking with Clarence. I love this stuff! By the time they got back to camp I had already predicted that they would have both tagged out and I was right! The next day was spent hiking, quartering, and hiking several times up and down the canyon to retrieve the elk. Derron already had his quartered and hung, so he hiked his out by himself and then came back to where we were and helped us finish the last couple of trips. He is a freakin' mountain goat! After a shower and a good nights rest we decided to go and scout for MY hunt which was coming up the following weekend.
Clarence and Derron's bulls
Hunt# 4 Muzzlleloader Cow elk
Sept. 28-Oct. 4 Unit 8
Several years ago I was drawn for the late rifle bull elk hunt. We were not familiar with the area and did not have enough time to do our homework. Needless to say we came home empty handed. This year I was determined to have better success. When we put in for our hunt, Clarence put me in for this area and thought it was a bull elk tag! We were surprised and yes, I was angry, to find out all my bonus points were used for a cow tag. BUT nontheless, it was a black powder hunt and those are hard to get! We put in our time scouting the area and after researching the maps we found a couple of places to hunt. We got there the night before drove around listening to the elk bugling in a couple of areas we wanted to hunt. After a good night sleep we woke up and started hiking in an area where we heard them bugling the night before. We were not disappointed and heard them right away. We tried to put a stalk on this group, but the conditions were not favorable and they winded us. We spent the morning chasing this group until we accidently spooked them out of thier bedding area. Game over. I wasn't feeling very well and so we decided to spend the rest of the day on a water hole that looked promising. I spent the afternoon sleeping while Clarence kept watch on the waterhole. After a couple of hours of sleep I was feeling better but very discouraged we hadn't seen anything. It was starting to get late, and I thought we would come home empty handed, but then out of nowhere we heard the wonderful sound of crashing through the trees. Out came a bull, a calf, and finally a cow elk. We watched them for about 30 minutes before the mom gave me a shot. I steadied myself and them BOOM! I shot her right in the kill zone and dropped her. The bull and the baby stayed there until it got too dark to see them anymore. It was kinda cool! The bull would go push the cow to try to get to to get up, but she wasn't going anywhere! After giving her enough time we went over and I was able to claim my first KILL! It was too dark to take pictures, so we gutted, quartered, and hauled the meat to the truck. It took us several trips with both back packs completly full. I was carrying about 35-40 lbs on some of the trips. That's a lot of weight for me! The next morning we went back to the scene of the crime to take this picture. I was one happy girl, and Clarence said it was more fun for him to watch me shoot one!
Hunt #5 Archery deer in Oklahoma
Nov. 7-12
Every year Clarence and Derron go to Oklahoma to hunt whitetails. It has been a dream of mine to go with them, but I was not ready with my bow. This year I started lifting weights and working my arms more and I was able to go from 35 lbs. to 50 lbs! It was quite an accomplishment for me. Anyways, I had been hinting to Clarence the last couple of months that I would like to go, so finally I just had to ask him if I could go! He had to to talk with all the guys who go and get the ok, but they all agreed and I was on my way! We drove 15 hours and then got to the stands late morning and sat all day. Ok, we did sleep a little too. No deer. Derrron saw a couple, but no shots. All we saw on our stand were several armidillo and a bunch of turkeys. Still fun. We got to the ranch house (more like a shack) and waited for the rest of the crew to come. They started filtering in late that night, so bed time was pretty late. We were all tired from the long drive, but we if was fun to catch up with Todd. The next day we went to the same place and had the same luck! Nothing! The weather was extremly warm. I think the high was 83 that day! Very unseasonable. We decided to take a break from hunting and go look at some property in Kansas as an investment. After spending the day up there we decided that we needed to buy us some hunting property! Todd came with us and it was so fun to spend the day with him. He is a good friend to Clarence and Derron, and I am glad to have him around. He's a hoot! That night the weather changed and the cold front finally came in. And boy it was COLD! The high for the day I think was 29. It was perfect weather to kill a deer! The roads were terrible and so we couldn't hunt the spot we wanted to, but we did manage to get to another area and we finally saw some deer! Clarence got a a couple of shots off but no success. We had a guy from Wyoming hunting with us and he was able to slay 3 of them that day! We went into Wakita for some lunch, and by then the roads were clearing up so we were able to hunt in our desired location. Clarence and I sat a stand called the Island. Right off the bat we saw deer. The problem was the wind was blowing in the wrong direction and the deer kept winding us. We did see a big ol' boy come in and I let Clarence take that shot. The problem was he didn't have a great shot angle from where he was sitting and had to let down his bow. Dang it. It was a beauty! A little bit later I heard a deer coming from behind. It was a big doe! I very carefully got ready to take a shot. Clarence told me when to draw back and WHACK! I hit her in the neck! I was a little excited to finally be getting a shot that I didn't pay attention to my form or how I was holding my bow and well, I think this was a guided missle from above. I hit her in the jugular and she didn't go very far. While giving her some time, another deer came from behind and Clarence took her out. Derron also was able to tag out on a little doe. It was AWESOME!! I am defianetly addicted to archery hunting. This was so exciting and my favorite hunt by far. It's harder and so much more rewarding. I can't wait to see what next year brings!
I could not have done this if I didn't have such a wonderful family that allows me to go out with my hubby and spend time with him. Karly found another mom, Aunt Ty. She has been such a blessing to have close! I'm glad my mom is willing to check on my other kids, and aunt Ju Ju is also willing to let them come over to her house. And I'm glad my kids let me go too!
