2023 Hunting Adventures Recap

[BradA]

September - This month started off great. With a bighorn sheep tag to be a part of, I wasn't going elk hunting until it was filled.

I drove out to C's dad's sheep unit and glassed the evening while they were out. They had passed a couple of rams, but right before dark I spotted a glimpse of one up high.

We brought stuff to stay a couple nights and started hiking at 3am.

We located the ram and my buddy's dad, two years shy of 70, made a nice shot on the him.

This was his first Rocky. He got a Stone DIY as a resident of Canada and also a really nice Desert from drawing the NV Silver State tag about a decade back.

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Tell him to go get that dall sheep!

 

[Desk Pop]

Tell him to go get that dall sheep!

Haha ... I did, but he said he would rather get a Marco Polo. To which I said, "I agree, but now is the time."

 

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We hiked in the almost 11,000 feet and set up camp. It was raining, then slush, then snow. We got soaked. It was cold the first night on the mountain. We found sheep, but after a stalk on a herd, my gun went click. The firing pin spring has frozen and gummed up, as well as the extractor spring...so it wouldn't hit the primer hard enough to go "boom," and then the bullet got stuck in the chamber as the bolt wouldn't grab it.

My buddy ran back to camp to grab his rifle, which he had brought as a back up.

We got back on the sheep, and this time the trigger on his rifle wouldn't break because something in his trigger/safety had frozen. At this point, we were down to nearby rocks or our Havalons for weapons, but thankfully I was able to work his safety on and off a couple times which released something in the trigger.

Then, a rifle finally actually shot and I got my sheep.

 

[Desk Pop]

I was able to get a buck in my home state. It took a bit more effort than typical, but I was happy to have a few mornings and evenings on the mountain.

 

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Also did some bird hunting in October.

 

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November - I spent a couple days muzzy hunting cow elk without success. I took different kids on different outings. They carried the .410 in case of grouse sightings.

 

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I got some bird hunting in. Here is my Brittany stud dog, Rocky, showing off a really nice point on a pheasant.

 

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December - Lion season began and C and I did a big hike on the opener that yielded zero tracks.

 

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The next day I went out solo with three dogs. I turned loose on a pair of lions and had a split race. My old dog, Spike, caught his own. The other two were apparently on the other track. That lion was pretty far ahead of the dogs and ended up walking like 5 yards from me while I was watching the other tree that Spike was on. I got a photo while it ran off. I pulled the other two dogs that were on that track when they got to me and headed out. I had hiked to find those tracks and was on the other side of the mountain. My wife came and gave us a ride back to the truck in the minivan.

 

[Desk Pop]

That concludes my third year of these write-ups. I'm excited to hear stories from Huntalkers from their success this fall.