2011 Was Good

My first hunt of 2011 was a limited Merriam's turkey hunt in Colorado.  There were four other tag holders, but I never saw any of them.  The hunt was excellent, and with a few tips from the District Wildlife Manager (game warden) I was into the birds in no time.  The first day I called in almost 25 birds including 8 or 9 toms and jakes and I missed twice with the bow.  I left work early on a Thursday the following week and called this longbeard up less than 100 yards from the truck after a 4-mile hike.

I used a Hi-Mountain brine mix and smoked the breasts--one over hickory and the other over mesquite.  I didn't get pictures as I wasn't planning this blog, but they turned out great and made awesome sandwiches.


The next hunt was Colorado archery season and I had mule deer, elk, and bear tags.  I managed to kill my best buck yet on the last morning of the season and I passed a 19-yard chip shot on a nice black bear.  I had several close encounters with the elk but never had a shot opportunity.

The hunt I was most looking forward to in 2011 was Wyoming antelope with my dad.  We don't seem to get much time to hunt together anymore, so getting to spend a few days together in his old stomping grounds was a lot of fun and we both killed nice bucks. 

My friends Rod and Ray "Rooster" Cogburn with "Rooster's Guiding and Outfitting Adventures" in DeBeque, Colorado had asked me earlier in the year if I could help guide hunters during Colorado's third rifle season.  I had to be at work during the week so opening weekend I took Matt and Shanna from Texas out and Shanna put a nice little 7mm-08 to work on her first mule deer.

The next week I took off early from work and picked up my buddy Garrett to try to fill our cow elk tags.  He'd been having trouble with his rifle, so he brought his muzzleloader hoping for a close shot opportunity.  As luck would have it we spotted a small group of elk in a pocket of timber over 600 yards across a canyon with no time and no reasonable way to get very close.  A timely snow squall hit us and with white-out conditions we closed the gap to 435 yards and I was able to fill my tag on a nice young cow with my new Tikka 7mm-08.  It was getting late and we both had to be at work the next day so we didn't take the time for field pics.  It was way past dark by the time we got the elk broken down and to the truck, but I snapped a cell phone pic of the quarters before I dropped them off at the processor.   Time to start cooking!