2008 Deer Hunting & Elk©2008 Samuel Sims |
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Child-like Stealth I look forward to hunting season like a farmer does the next rain. This year was no different, my daughter passed her hunter's safety last year with relative ease. So this year I was planning on doing hunts closer to home (those under 100 miles away). On my birthday the family, in cahoots with my mom, surprised me with a compound bow I had been eyeballin' for sometime. Not just any bow, the New Bowtech 82nd Airborne, this bow rocks! Drooling for hunting since the end of last year, I was overly hyped now. Bow hunting means hunting comes a month earlier now. I began getting gear together and planning my hunts in the National Forest Area this year about the time the kids were dreading the start of school. So a new hunting season has arrived and I am ready to gear up for "good weather hunting", unlike rifle hunting for big game in Wyoming, bow hunting has its advantages especially when it comes to weather. I was like a 'kid in a candy store' this year getting ready for the hunt. Last minute surprises have come along all year long this year. My wife & kids agreed to go with me on my first bow hunt. All Geared Up & Nowhere To Go First weekend of bow hunting was so exciting, not to mention hunting with my family. We sprung for the first rifle for both of our kids, single shot 22's to hunt small game. We had a 3 day weekend planned over the Labor Day weekend. Would have been perfect except for the typical vehicle troubles. Heading over the summit and having sighted the kids' 22's in we were planning on a night in the hotel and early out to the field for a solid day of bow hunting. On the descent into Laramie, WY we had an awful noise coming out of the rear axle on my truck. I decided we had better stay in Laramie for the evening, which I later found out we really had no choice. Next morning I woke up at first sunlight to check on my truck. Looking at the rear axle I found gear oil leaking our of the pinion bearing seal. I knew that wasn't good! So we went back home without any more small game hunting or bow hunting. The truck was stranded in my driveway for two and a half weeks, waiting on parts to come in. Close to Home My original plan to hunt close to home came to reality after having missed nearly 3 weeks of the bow hunting season working on my truck. The kids and I started calling around for permission to hunt on private land in addition to planning on public lands and National Forest areas. We did find a private land owner who granted us permission on the last 5 days of bow hunting season. The adventure begins... ...on our first day out, the kids & I packed up our backpacks, camouflage gear and the Bowtech 82nd in tow. Tromping across the new area none of us were familiar with, we were carefully looking for a place to set up. We had a stream running to the West to East, just to the North of us and some pretty high fencing to the South. The first sight of wildlife was a few red fox jumping in and out of the deep grass. The first time bow hunting and I have to admit it was nothing like rifle. Even getting that close to any deer during rifle is unheard of, unless of course you hit one with your truck on the way home after hunting! Calling it a day The first afternoon was littered with about 12 doe and nothing with horns would come out of the trees or thick brush. We had decided to head to the far East side of the ranch to get a look around the stream. We were on a gate off the public highway which I did not know if it was the ranchers land or not. Sure looked like it, but as soon as I thought about calling it a day, Logan pointed and said look at that buck! He wasn't kidding, it was a beautiful white tail with his rack outside of his ears. The buck and another doe were about 500 yards away on the East end of the fields. They were not spooked at all, just strolling. I was frantically looking for the number to the ranch and thought to call anyone I could to get the number for me. After about 5 minutes I managed to call the ranch and asked if the land was part of their ranch and if so could we access the gate off the public highway. Of course all along it was the ranch we had been hunting since the morning. I looked up as I was hanging up from the call to the ranch and you betcha something spooked the deer. I figured it would be best to drive through the gate and get at least off the entrance in case other hunters needed to get through the gates. The kids and I packed up the gear to see if we could stalk up for a shot on the nice white tail we just saw. Without success we called it a day and figured on another chance tomorrow evening. A deer a doe, A deer a doe Day 2, all we had was an afternoon-evening hunt scheduled for our second day. So for all of you hunters out there, imagine having hunted deer for over 20 years in the worst weather Mother Nature can offer. Now I was delving into a whole new realm of hunting, which begins with the lightest of clothes you could ever imagine. It took about 4 trips back and forth to the truck before I figured out that I didn't need half the gear I had packed. Day 2 was riddled with more doe running around even one at about 20 yards that never even spotted me and the kids. After seeing deer without antlers running around we decided it was getting close to dinner time and decided to trek back to the truck. About 100 yards from the truck I glanced right and saw an nice 8 point buck at 60 yards away. Just watching us walk across the field. The kids dropped to the ground instantly when I whispered "there's a buck". Of course our reaction made him a bit jumpy, but we crawled about 30 yards using the grass as cover. As soon as I knocked an arrow an looked over the top of the grass he did a 180 and ran about 15 yards. We managed to stalk up to where he was and found the ground all around the stream covered in deer tracks. To our surprise as soon as we walked up to the hillside and looked down the otherside I knew we would find him in the brush around the creek. ELK Season 2008
HUNTING 2008 |
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