New Mexico Muzzleloader Hunt

[NCArchery]

Great story, great outcome, love to hear about hunters helping out each other.

 

[streamer]

great story glad to hear your partner worked out

 

[SilverDollars]

"Hornart", which unit are you hunting? Best of luck to you!!

 

[spook12]

Great haul for a couple guys from Texas and an ''Axe Murder''!

A successful hunt,any way that you figure it.Congrats.

 

[hornart]

Now lets get this all straight, I have never used an axe, lol

 

[Festus]

Great story!
Congrats to all.

 

[hornart]

Well I would like to add to the story that Paisano started, I too got the ribbing from friends about how did you meet these guys and what if they take all of your gear and so on, I just told them that I had talked to this guy on the phone several times and I just had the feeling that they were good guys just looking for a great hunt for elk, and not knowing the area like me I felt that as a fellow hunter that it was the right thing to do to help them out on their hunt, something that my whole crew enjoyed, the new friends and the new memories. We had all been there since thursday, setting up camp and getting all of our gear ready for the hunt. Opening morning came upon us fast. The plan was Paisano (Jason) and his partner Nathan and I would all head out together , taking off from camp in near darkness, we started down the trail and I turned to them and asked if they could see without their headlamps on, and they said yes Sir, so off with the lights as elk can see those from far away, as we got down into the first meadow we could hear bulls bugling and knew we had elk to our right, we travelled a ways when it was deceided to leave Nathan to watch over this area where there were several meadows coming together, Jason and I headed on to another meadow, as we approached a big meadow Jason saw some movement ahead of us and stopped me, pointing ahead there was an elk walking away from us in the timber, we waited for a short while to let the daylight catch up a bit and we headed down into the big meadow, as we got down where we could see there was a small herd of elk in the meadow, a bunch of cows and a couple of smaller bulls, and a good 6 point that wouldnt come out of the timber, I set up my trigger sticks and was hoping that the 6 point would come out enough to give me a shot, they were 150 yards away and I had a cow watching us but she didnt spook cause she couldnt make out what we were, Jason was just a few feet away, watching out to our right side as we had heard a bull buling in that direction, all of a sudden this 4 point bull comes out of nowhere and he is right in my face, broadside and staring right at me, I knew that all of the elk would be gone in just a short second if this young bull deceided to bolt and my chances for the 6 point would be gone, so I made the decision to take the 4 point and be done with my hunt so I could help Jason and Nathan on theirs. Jason heard me pull the hammer back but was unable to see this bull, he just knew that something was about to happen, boom it was over in just a few seconds, the 4 point was down. Jason headed down farther into the meadow hoping that other elk would come thru the meadow after the shot, my crew showed up shortly after my call on the radio, horses were being saddled and they would be on their way from camp, we got my bull all sectioned up and hanging in the morning air, I walked to the top of the meadow to meet the horses, the morning hunt was done,

 

[hornart]

After resting in camp from the opening morning hunt,Jason and I headed back down to the big meadow for an evening hunt, Nathan would join my son-in-law and head to some meadows farther west of camp, Jason and I would sit in this patch of evergreens out in the meadow, we could overlook a lot of meadow from our vantage point, as evening neared we could hear lots of bulls bugling in almost all directions from where we sat, at about 5:00 pm we were both looking downhill from our position and I spotted some cows coming out to feed in the shadows, it was 2 cows and a calf and a small bull, the bull had 3 on one side and 4 on the other, from Jasons vantage point he was never able to see the small bull, they fed for quite a little while when we heard someone shoot up the canyon from us, thinking that maybe Nathan had gotten an opportunity, the little herd didnt like that and they headed back towards the timber and into the canyon in front of us, we heard a bull bugle up the canyon from us and I told Jason that he needed to pay attention to the area to our left, so he repositioned himself to overlook that area a little better, we had sat there for just a short while when here comes this herd at a trot from the timber to our left, there were 8 to 10 cows and then a real nice 5 point bringing up the rear, they were coming right towards our position and Jason was having to follow the bull as he was traveling by, Jason cocked his hammer and the bull finally came into an opening and gave Jason a shot, The shot went off and the cows started to run back in the direction that they had just come from, I couldnt see the bull from where I was sitting but I knew what was happening when I heard the bull fall with a crash, Jason`s bull had fallen in 20ft after turning to follow in the cows direction, Jason had taken his first bull, there were high 5`s and congrats, it was a very emotional moment for my new friend having just taken his first bull, of course it was now picture time and then we had to get to work on taking care of this bull before dark, as Jason was skinning the bull I went to the nearest timber to look for a place to tie up a meatpole, after finding a good spot I tied up a pole as high as I am able to reach, Jason had finished skinning the one side so we hauled those sections and tied them as high as we could then we went and skinned the other side and section it up, after we had all of the meat in the air it was very dark and we made our way back to camp, with the use of our headlamps, when we arrived at camp it was congrats all around for Jason, opening day was done.

 

[L. I. Yankee]

Great job guys.....and even better story . Thanks Steve .....

 

[walnuttree]

Amazing how we meet people and form relationships

Cool to know there are still some good ones out there!

Congrats on the hunt - sounds like a great time for sure!

 

[WV Hunter]

Hornart is good people. I'd like to sneak into his shed hunting spot

 

[hornart]

You know that if you sneak into my shed hunting spot that I will no longer be a good person ,Right ! LOL

 

[hornart]

Here is some more of the Story, With opening day out of the way and 2 bulls already on the ground it was time for me to help Nathan, We took off from camp in the pre dawn darkness and headed for the big meadow, as we were getting close we could hear several bulls bugling back and forth, this mornings air currents were different from opening morning and it was going to make our hunt more difficult, as we reached the big medow we could see some elk ahead of us, we were having to make a quick run to get caught up to the herd, as we were about to catch up a small herd of cows that we hhadnt seen winded us and they took off running in the direction of the herd, this put the whole herd on alert, Nathan had a chance at a small 4 point bull but the angle wasnt right and he wasnt comfortable with the shot so he declined to take it, the big bull with the herd was a really good 6x6 and he never gave Nathan a chance for a shot, always facing away and moving for the timber it was too far to shoot even if he would of turned for Nathan, after the morning slowed down we new that Jason and my crew would be coming down with the horses to pack out Jasons bull, we chose to go back up towards where they would be coming into the meadow to wait for them, when they got there with the horses we helped them get all of the meat that we hung over night into the pannierds, we deceided to head back to camp with the crew and Jason and take a break before the evening hunt, As the afternoon came we planned for Jason and Nathan to sit in the same grove that I had shot my bull from, and I would try to push some elk in their direction, I still had a bear tag so I was hoping to come across a bear somewhere, shortly after I left Nathan and Jason, a sow with a cub showed up at the gut pile from Jasons bull, they watched the sow and cub for probably 45 minutes before they chose to head back into the timber, I was at the very bottom of the big meadow when I ran into a small herd of cows with a good bull , i was finally able to see that he was a good 6x6 so I got downhill of them and hoped they would head up the hill towards Nathan, I saw several bulls while I was traveling the timber, but was never able to push any towards Nathan and Jasons position, when it was starting to get dark I headed towards Jason and Nathans position to get back to them and head back to camp, when I got to them they had only seen the bears that evening, the plan for the next morning was to hunt the bottom of the big meadow, but after walking over 11 miles on sunday in some of the toughest terrain I was unable to get around in the morning, my son-in-law would help Nathan and Jason on the hunt, I am mobility impared with a bad back and broken ankle so I had over done it on sunday and was unable to hunt the rest of the hunt, Here is where Paisano will have to fill in the Rest of the Story

 

[hillbilly]

Looks like a really fun hunt. I hope to do it myself someday.

 

[Paisano]

Sorry to drag out this thread, life has been good but busy the last few days. Day 3 Nathan, Joe, and I headed out of camp before daylight with the plan to hunt the far end of a meadow where we'd seen several elk cross the last few days. We worked our way in and out of the timber in the dark until daylight started to crack. As we got to the area we wanted to hunt, we slowed the pace, glassed carefully, and listened. The elk were dead quiet and the weather was a little warmer. After hunting through a couple meadows and checking the backside of a ridge, we were starting to get a little worried. The bulls had been bugling like crazy the previous two days...we hadn't heard a peep all morning. Nobody said it but the three of us were all starting to think we'd have to work a lot harder for find elk at this point in the hunt. But, we caught a break. As we were inspecting the backside of a saddle on a ridge, we heard a bugle. We quickly agreed on the location it came from and decided to head towards what we thought was a major thoroughfare through the big meadow. We adjusted our position by about 200 yards and had stopped to listen. Then, a second bugle.....and much closer. Despite the distance of the first bugle we heard, the elk sounded like they had covered some ground and were coming our way. What luck! At this point I'd say our crew went from calm and calculated to more of a "oh sh@t, he's coming!" mode. In about half a second, Nathan and I decided to close to gap to make sure we'd be in range of where we thought they'd cross. With nothing more than a quick look, Joe decided to stay were he was at to cut down on movement and commotion. Nathan grabbed Joe's shooting sticks and we bailed off the ridge to the toe of the slope and set up in some small trees. Within two minutes a cow came trotting out of the timber across the meadow from us. Then, a second cow. We're thinking...surely there is a bull chasing this cow....at that moment two bulls appear and quickly trot toward the lead, and evidently hot, cow. I'm thinking what a break, this is getting real interesting. The hot cow keeps trotting across the meadow and instead of taking the trail we are set up on, trots straight at us bringing the two lovesick bulls. (Again, dumb luck wins over skill). The whole batch keeps coming and it is getting hard to keep them all in my binoculars at one time. Neither of the bulls were giants, but I'm thinking....I bet Nate would be willing to take the bigger 5x6 and get a solid do-it-yourself bull under his belt. About that time I hear the hammer @#)(#.....the lead cow puts on the brakes at 60 yards all Nathan has is frontal shots. Cover was scarce in the scattered aspens so we think the cow may have caught movement or picked us out. She get nervous and acts like she is going to bolt to our left in a quick way. She whirls and takes off in a trot, the biggest bull pauses for a second, and then starts to whirl and follow suit. I have to brag on Nathan here, the nanosecond that bull squared up to us to run, no sooner, no later, the smokepole barked and we got a whiff of blackpowder for the third time. The shot was perfect and the bull trotted 30 yards, got shaky, and fell over. The celebration commenced and we had filled our third and final tag of the hunt. Here's a shot of Nathan with the bull and another of the lay of the land. Good luck to all this season!!

 

[hornart]

I didnt realize that my bull was abnormal until after we had him back at camp, you can kind of see it with the hide still on but with the hide removed it is really noticeable

 

[Southwind]

Awesome, congrats!