Hunting - The DIY Hunter

Details: Written by: The DIY Hunter; Category: Hunting; Published: 25 October 2015; Hits: 2913

Hanging out under our rain fly on opening morning.

The clouds starting to clear out on opening morning.

KB and Dallen hanging out by the ground blind.

KB and Dallen finding some elk rubs.

We watched this bull way off in the distance on opening day.

Oh no! The trail cameras revealed that the bull we were calling to came in to where Dallen could have easily shot him but we left to soon to try another spot. No!!!

I managed to slide the Montero off the trail and got it stuck real good.

Another angle of the stuck Montero.

A couple of cows we tried to catch up with.

A lady bug invasion inside of the ground blind.

With the muzzleloader deer season coming to a close with me getting skunked and Dallen taking a nice buck, it was now time for Dallen to hunt elk with a rifle.

With a bull taking a 150 grain Accubond Long Range bullet last year by Dallen and getting away I wanted Dallen to use a different bullet this year. (see: 2014 Utah General Rifle Elk Hunt - A Bull Gets Away ) I was going to try a 150 Gr SST but didn't have time to work up a load in my 270 WSM X-Bolt. (see: 150 Gr Hornady SST In My 270 WSM X-Bolt) I also thought about trying the 150 Berger VLD that I love but also didn't have time to test it in my X-Bolt.

So with the lack of time to test bullets and work up loads I had Dallen carry my 300 Win Mag Model 1885 rifle with a 208 Gr A-Max load. This 208 A-Max load has been shooting great out to 1,000 yards with great accuracy.

I checked my trail cameras the day before the opener for what the elk activity looked like for the past month. Nil, Nil, Nil... not a single elk on any of my eight trail cameras. The elk had been in the area quite a bit around the last week in August but after the first couple days of September they completely disappeared. Darn it.

The night before the opener Dallen, KB and I spent the night in a tent on the mountain. And it rained lightly off and on all night long.

Before light opening morning we set out hiking in the rain to one of my favorite places to watch from. Once we got there we setup a military poncho as a rain fly over top of us. As the fog and storm cleared we didn't see any elk at this location.

For the evening we hauled up my Browning Powerhouse ground blind to the location where Dallen shot Charlie One Horn in 2013. I wanted to have the ground blind there for us to get into whenever it rained and we were up there. I planned of just keeping it setup for a month so that during my muzzleloader elk hunt I would also be able to use it if I was hunting that area.

Not long after we got to this area we spotted a good looking bull feeding two canyons away from us. Whenever I would bugle this bull would lift up his head and look our way but other than that he appeared to pay us no mind and just continued to feed. This bull was way out there and across a steep and nasty thick canyon and after a while the bull feed out of sight.

We continued to call every 10 minutes or so to try and attract a bull into the canyon we were watching but nothing responded or showed up.

With a half hour of shooting light left we quickly moved to another spot. At this other location we spotted a cow elk briefly as it moved through a lane and into the thick maples and oak brush. We setup waiting for her or any other elk to move back out into the lane where we could get a shot but nothing ever did.

With the rain off and on during the day and the night before the roads were a greasy messy. I thought of spending the night and driving out in the morning but we wanted to get back so we could attend church first thing in the morning.

We made our way down the mountain in my old Montero and were in the process of trying to crawl over some large rocks while on a side incline the back of the Montero slid off a bank and the front wheel dropped into a hole right behind a large rock. We were on a 23 degree incline from one side of the Montero to the other. Oops! We were stuck for the night.

At somewhere around 11pm we pulled our a tarp and some sleeping bags and slept on the ground next to the Montero. The next morning we were able to get chains on three of the wheels thanks to a handy man jack. We also dug out under the Montero clearing the rear axle and we dug a slot in front of both rear wheels and place a flat rock in front of both of them. Once we had this done the Montero crawled right out without any problem.

KB and Dallen will remember the night we got stuck well. I remained calm and discussed with them that everything would be just fine. We were prepared and would be able to get out in the morning. KB reminded me of one of his hunter's safety videos where a guy panics and takes off all his close and gets hypothermia. That's right KB, we remain calm and always try to be prepared to spend a night if we have to.

Dallen was out of school on Thursday and Friday so we headed back up Wednesday evening. Thursday we hiked a long ways and hunted the whole day. We found a couple cow elk but were unable to close the distance and find them again.

Friday we hunted back around the area I have my trail cameras out. At mid day we checked the trail cameras. Thanks to the USB cable and SD card reader we were able to skim through some of the photos and video while we were out hunting on my Samsung phone. To our horror and surprise we learned from the cameras that had we have stayed put on the opening Saturday a six point bull had came in with just enough light to get him. Dallen could have easily shot the bull from where we were setup at 185 yards away from one of the cameras. NO! We're pretty sure it was the bull we had been trying to bring in that was across two canyons from us.

Having this bull come this far really taught us a lesson to stay put if you are in a good spot and the bull you see has disappeared.

After the bull showed up it spent from 7:00pm to 2:00am going up and down this small draw passing four of my trail cameras repeatedly in the dark. Probably looking for those other "elk" he could hear...

Saturday we decided to go into bow hunting mode. We knew where some elk had been hanging around and there was plenty of sign in the area but it was really thick with maples, oak brush and quaking aspens. So Saturday we slipped into this area and snuck around really quietly. At midday we took a nap and that afternoon started sneaking around again.

In one spot we sat down on a side of a hill in the maples watching an opening below us as I cow called. It wasn't long and Dallen swung the rifle around to a cow elk that had come in right to 10 yards right behind us. All Dallen could see was it's face before it took off into the thick trees. That was pretty cool as Dallen had never seen an elk up that close before.

We continued to sneak around and call from time to time that evening. We made one last setup on the edge of a small meadow and I sounded like four different cows and a bull making short mini bugles. That did the trick and a cow elk came sneaking around the corner of the meadow 75 yards from us. I told Dallen to wait to see if a bull was following but it didn't take long for the cow to stop and suspect something was wrong so Dallen placed a 208 Gr A-Max into her lungs. She started to run off, spun and took a second round from Dallen and she fell. She was dead on the first shot but we wanted to make sure.

I wasn't feeling the greatest so it took us until almost 4am before we had the elk all boned out. Dallen actually did a lot of the boning this time and did a great job. Being so late we decided to just sleep under a tree for a couple hours and pack out his cow in daylight the next morning.

Both Dallen and I didn't draw regular cow elk tags this year but we were able to purchase $30 cow tags that we could use in the area we were hunting during any big game hunt. I was glad that we did because we have been out of elk meat for many months.

Even though it wasn't a bull we were both tickled to get some more elk meat back in the freezer.

We did get out one more time but couldn't find any elk.

Nice work Dallen. Great memories!

So now I have just one big game hunt left, my muzzleloader elk hunt. ( see: Hunt For The 7x8 Bull - 2015 Utah Muzzleloader Elk Hunt )

Dallen with his 2015 cow elk.

My Model 1885 in 300 Win Mag with Vortex Viper PST scope.

Dallen posing wanting me to take his picture.

Details: Written by: The DIY Hunter; Category: Hunting; Published: 01 October 2015; Hits: 3938

Selfie of me with my CVA accura V2 muzzleloader.

Glassing for mule deer with my Vortex Razor HD 11-33x50 spotting scope. I love this little spotting scope.

Sleeping in "luzury" in my Alp Chaos 3 tent.

My CVA Accura V2 muzzleloader with Vortex 1x24 scope.

After Dallen's successfully getting a nice buck on the opening day of the muzzleloader deer hunt I was itching to get back out on the mountain and find a nice buck for myself. I was packing my new CVA Accura V2 with Vortex 1x24 scope that Dallen used on his muzzleloader hunt to take his buck at 192 yards.

Even with only a one power scope shooting milk jugs out to 200 yards was not a problem for the Accura V2 muzzleloader when I was setting up the muzzleloader.

I planned on hunting the last four days of the hunt. I had my dad drop me off at the trail-head and I started the six mile hike across the mountain.

The spot I wanted to hunt generally is only hunted by a few guys who hunt from horses and that is only during the rifle season. Of those that hunt in this area I am not aware of anyone hiking down into some of the area I like to hunt. So as always I had really high hopes that I would be able to find a nice buck or two in the area.

As I was hiking in I glassed occasionally and found a few small bucks but nothing of any size.

This trip a took a luxury with me, my Alps Choas 3 tent. On many of my trips I only take a tarp and a military poncho to save on weight. This tent is quite lightweight, very breathable, with lots of room inside and it sure was nice to crawl into in the evenings.

For the next three days I spent hour after hour glassing. The weather was a little warm for this time of the year and the deer weren't very active during daylight hours. What I found successful in finding deer was to glass for a half hour then move 50 yards around a canyon rim and glass the same areas again and again and again from the different angles to see if I could spot any bedded deer. Where I wouldn't see a deer from one angle I would from slightly different angle.

Although I was able to find a lot of bedded deer I was unable to find bucks of any size. I did one evening find a pretty looking 4 point buck buck but after examining it with my Vortex Razor HD spotting scope I found it to be a might on the small size. Having the spotting scope with me saved me a long hike going after this buck.

One evening I could hear a elk bugling off and on while I was in my tent. The next morning I found a 3x5 and two spike elk. I made a few cow calls with a cow call I always carry with me and the two spikes came on a string all the way across a large canyon right into my lap. I was able to get some nice photos and video of the three bulls.

On another day while I was glassing a canyon I heard something to my left and a cougar was coming over the ridge and going to pass right in front of me. I was able to reach back and grab my camera just in time to snap three quick photos of him. Upon a close look at the photos I noticed that the cougar had been hooked with what I would guess to be a deer antler in the side of his face making a nasty rip in is face. This cougar passed by at 21 yards in front of me.

On the last day I hunted I only found a single deer, a three point that was bedded. So much for getting a deer this year. At some point in my life I'll get rewarded for my hard work with a nice buck but apparently it wasn't to happen for me again this year. It was pretty disheartening to work as hard as I did, to hunt such a remote area, and not see any decent bucks to go after. It still was a lot of fun and I will always remember the cougar and those three bull elk playing around.

I think I really need to find a way financially to be able to hunt out of the state of Utah. I hear lots of stories of large bucks in the surrounding states on general public ground.

Mountain Lion with rip in his face that I would guess happened with an antler hooking this kitties face.

At this spot the Mountain Lion is 21 yards from where I am sitting.

These young bull elk played around a lot at this wallow. I have some shaky hand held video footage of these three bulls on this page.

Spike elk up really close. It's amazing what a cow call can do to a bull elk. Two of these spikes came all the way across the canyon and right into my lap for a nice photo shoot.

Sunset one evening.

I made a little dam under this rock to filtering water from this spring.

This was the largest buck I saw on the hunt and he wasn't big at all, not to mention he was across the canyon on a CWMU.

Doe and fawn bedded in a favorite deer bed.

Small buck bedded in the scrubby pines...

and another small buck bedded.

and another...

and another.

How about one more small buck bedded.

And some more small bucks.

The largest buck I could find on public ground. A beautiful 18 inch wide four point.

This Dusky Grouse was keeping an eye on me one morning.

Charging my phone with a Goal Zero solar panel.

Details: Written by: The DIY Hunter; Category: Hunting; Published: 28 September 2015; Hits: 3973

Dallen hiking down the mountain at sunrise.

Mule Deer does out feeding.

Dallen spotted this nice 3x4 mule deer buck first thing in the morning.

Dallen setup with my CVA Accura V2 muzzleloader in the place where we watched a two point buck in the cliffs.

This bull moose was chasing a cow moose around the canyon.

Dallen spotted this two point buck that was up in the cliffs close to us.

Relocating the 3x4 buck bedded in the chaparral at near 700 yards from us.

Closing the distance, the 3x4 buck is now at 269 yards.

This is all we could see of the buck where we setup at 192 yards from him.

Dallen with his heavy antlered, 2015 muzzleloader mule deer.

In 2015 Dallen and I both drew muzzleloader deer tags in Utah. I had to get a second muzzleloader so that we both could hunt together. I chose a CVA Accura V2 with the new Nitride finish and it has been shooting great while setting it up and sighting it in.

We were both wanting to pack in 5-6 miles for this hunt but as the hunt approached they're we just too many things going on for both of us to be able to pack in for the opener, things that included a pinewood derby for KB.

For the opener Dallen and I chose to hike down into the the steep canyons where he shot his 4 point buck in 2014. This is an area that isn't too far from the road but receives little hunting pressure because of the really steep terrain. And when you shoot something in this area you have to bone it out and haul it back up the really steep incline, through boulder fields and overgrown rock fields etc.

Early in the morning of the opener Dallen and I were headed up the mountain in my old Montero. As it was getting light we were slowly working our way down into the canyons.

It didn't take long for us to start spotting deer. Dallen was doing most of the spotting. Does and fawns were plentiful in the area. Not too surprising as this area usually is full of does, fawns and small bucks.

Within a few minutes of our decent Dallen spotted a nice, heavy looking three or four point around 1,000 yards below us. We watched it for a few seconds before it walked into some cover and out of sight. I was able to snap a photo or two before we lost sight of him.

This buck got Dallen pretty excited and he was chomping to go and find him. Not to be too hasteful and pass by other possible nice bucks we continued to slowing work our way sneaking around and peaking into small finger draws looking for other bucks as we worked our way towards the area we last saw the larger buck.

After a couple of hours of hiking we were sitting over a bowl of patchy thick jack pines. I figured that the buck was probably bedded somewhere in these thick small pines. We took a break on a cliff overlooking this bowl and started glassing. Although I figured it would be difficult to find any buck bedded in the think small pines I thought I should at least try.

The plan was to swing through this bowl and hopefully find the buck and gently bump him out so that he makes a couple bounds then stops and turns to take a look allowing for us to get a shot at him. At least this was the plan we were formulating as we tried to figure out where he might be.

While we were glassing from the cliff I started to glass the think chaparral that covered the far sunny side of the canyon. Bingo! I found him. He was bedded in the chaparral and we happened to be at just the right angle to be able to see into the hole he was laying in, that was in the middle of all the thick chaparral. At our current location he was just shy of 700 yards away.

We made a new plan to work our way through some pines on the opposite side of the canyon and see if we could sneak in close enough to be able to take him with our muzzleloaders.

Off we went going as fast as we could yet as quietly as we could so as not to scare him out before we got to where he was located. My biggest concern was that we would bump some other deer or the two moose that were somewhere in the area, out and they would run and scare off the buck.

Trying to be quiet going down the mountain was jamming our toes into the front of our shoes. I was thinking about how uncomfortable my toes were right when Dallen mentioned the same thing.

As we would go through windows in the pines we continued to glass to find him and make sure he was still in the same spot. As we got closer we also got lower and our window to view him diminished. When we got to 192 yards we could only see the top of his antlers over the chaparral.

We looked over the situation and figured that if we tried to get any closer we would highly risk being able to see him to get a shot. If we went any closer and lower we would be in thick quaking aspens that were twenty feet tall. If he took off while we were in the quakeys we might never see him. If we were able to make it to the other side of the quakeys we would now be right next to the chaparral and we also might not be able to see him very well at this angle.

Given the location we decided to setup at 192 yards. Both of my muzzleloaders were very capable of 200 yards shots. A week or two earlier I was shooting milk jugs out to 200 yards with my CVA Accura V2. I felt that if we waited it out the buck would stand up at some point and Dallen would be ready.

I plugged in 192 yards into Strelok Pro and the current barometric pressure and other weather conditions into my Galaxy S4 phone. Strelok gave me a 4.5 MOA for the shot. We removed the elevation caps on our muzzleloaders and dialed up the 4 1/2 minutes of angle and then waited and waited...

After over an hour of waiting the buck stood up. Dallen was quickly on him. When he stood up he was facing directly away from us offering a shot up the rear. Dallen was patient and after a few seconds he turned broadside looking directly in our direction. I think he could hear us whispering/talking as Dallen prepared to take the shot. Anyhow shortly after he turn broadside Dallen sent him a 300 Gr SST that gave a loud audible whop and the buck dropped like a ton of bricks and out of sight into the chaparral. Time to take a dirt nap Mr. Buck.

Just to be safe I sent Dallen over to find him just in case the buck jumped back up. I was able to guide him to find it as he fought his way through the chaparral.

The buck had dropped right back into the hole he was bedded in. And a hole in the ground it was. Deer have probably been bedding in this spot for who nows how long. There was a near two foot deep whole dug into the side hill.

We decided there just wasn't enough room to work in that location and that all the dusty dirt would get all over the meat if we tried to bone him out in this spot. So we pulled him out of the chaparral and into the quakeys on some grass so that we could work on him.

After we boned out and caped the buck we loaded it up in our Alps Outdoorz eXtreme Commander and Pathfinder packs for the trip back up and out of the canyon.

The trip out was in the dark. With it being a hot day it was nice to hike in the cool of the night. We spooted a few deer checking us out from the skylines on our way out.

The Commander eXtreme pack was so comfortable for the pack out. Although I didn't weigh it I'm pretty sure I was pushing near the 80 pound mark and this pack fit like a glove to my back making the trip out "enjoyable" given the amount of weight I was carrying.

What a fun hunt. Good job Dallen!

Now it's time for me to get a good muley with a muzzleloader.