6 X 6 BULL ELK on public land with an "any bull" tag !

I have been excited for a couple of months for elk hunt 2014.  I had prepared by sighting in my .338 Win. Mag. and getting all my cold weather gear out of storage.  I actually cleaned out my camper and put butane in the proper tank and water in the other tank.  I was ready to "party" with an elk.

Thurs. 10-2-14 I traveled to Roosevelt, Utah and spent the night with my son and his family.  I so relish visits with my son and his family.  I really enjoy wrestling with the kids and reading stories to them.  Friday morning I got up with elk hunting on my mind no more Diary of a Whimpy Kid for me.  My son and I took some time to buy food at the local super market and then headed to the mountains.

We found a fine camping place near where we had camped 4 years ago.  I had taken a 5 X 5 elk in a meadow near by and we were hoping to score again.  My son's friend came with his boy.  Clint and Trail were a great addition to the camp.  They had a wall tent complete with a small stove.  Trail and I were in charge of making a fire.  We would all sit around the fire Friday evening and verbally dream about the elk to be harvested tomorrow.  This was Trail's first elk hunt.

A comfortable camp

I must mention when Dax and Clint go camping the food is a big part of the equation.  I have seldom eaten so well while hunting.  I think I will always invite those two hoseheads to my hunting camps if for nothing more than the great food they prepare.   Clint can really cook and Dax is not going to be out done by him so we ate really well.  Elk steaks for dinner on Friday night to get us in the mood.  They were seasoned just right.  They were cooked perfect -- still some pink in the middle but heated all the way through.  To top it all off there were fresh made scones!  These were man sized scones not like the Relief Society would make.  Served with homemade peach jam.  It was heavenly.  Other meals included chicken cordon blu sandwiches and always fresh hot scones.  I could really get into the scones with every meal.

Everyone was in bed by 10 p.m. and wake up calls were set for 5:45 a.m.  Early up and excited we move out to our hunting locations.  We are all tethered by two-way radios.  I head to the west to the meadow where I had scored last time we hunted in this area.  Clint and Trail went to the center of a clear cut timber area directly north and Dax went to the east edge of the clear cut areas.  I walk briskly in the dark with a head lamp for a guide.  I get to the meadow and pick a spot to look like a bush for the morning.  I am waiting for a bull to walk into the meadow and enjoy the grass covered with frost.  I have a cow tag and will shoot any elk I see.  Bull, cow, or calf it doesn't matter to me.  I love the meat and my freezer is getting low on protein.

 The meadow with no elk this year

I hear a shot or two at 7:50 a.m. off in the distance and think some one has scored an elk.  At 8:05 a.m. I hear a shot and the telltale smack of bullet striking meat rather close.  I think Clint or Dax has had opportunity.  A minute or so later I hear another shot.  I figure it is a "finishing off" shot and calculate someone has a elk bagged.  The radio in my pocket beeps and Dax is excited to tell me he has a 6 X 6 down.  I am so happy for him.  I tell him I am coming over to help with it.  I get up and put on my backpack then head east.  I walk down a heavily worn trail covered with elk tracks and am thinking about Dax's good fortune.  I come face to butt with a cow elk who was surprised at me on "her" trail.  She has turned to run away.  I raise my rifle and then think Dax already has an elk down about a mile east of here.  It is only the first morning and I can shoot a cow later.  Besides she is headed down a very steep mountain and getting her out will be a task for an old man with a bad heart like me.  I pass on the "Texas heart shot".  Now weeks later I realize that was the only elk I was to see live on the 12 day hunt.  Crap-o-rama.

I hustle over to Dax's area and Clint with Trail have beat me to the location.  Dax hung an orange vest in the tree so we could find him.  We congratulate each other profusely.  To take a 6 X 6 on public land with an open bull tag is more or less a . . . .  MIRACLE.  This is just a wonderful moment.  I am as happy as could be and I did nothing for the event except to be here.  I am so glad for Dax. 

Bull down -- YAHOO! ! !

Trail wants to straddle the elk and ride him lots.  We take a significant number of photos.  We are all grinning like someone who just won the lottery.  The air is clear and crisp.  The comradry is flowing, and success is already in our camp at 8:10 a.m. on opening day of the season.

We have to cut the beast in two pieces to move it.  It is a "big" one.  We are all pleased with the size of the game.  It seems real healthy and we are thankful to have been blessed with this meat.  Fortunately we can get a four wheeler to within rock throwing distance to the animal so the pack out is not bad at all.  We take the animal back to camp and skin and quarter it.  Wrapped in a special game bag it is cooling in the shade.  We all eat some sandwiches and take a short nap.  Later that evening we go back out to hunt for its twin brother.  No luck this evening.   Back at camp after dark more scones and excellent food.  I am so glad we are eating so well.  Food in this camp is lots better than MRE's and ramen noodles, my usual hunting fare.  SCONES with home made peach jam rock!  I want more scones.

Sunday morning we head out again for another bull, or cow in my case.  No animals are seen but a group from Washington State fill up in Dax's position from the day before and score a 5 X 5 bull.  Good for them, but Clint should have had that 5 X 5 shot I think.  {Public land means the dang Public will be there when you don't want them to be.}  We help them load the 5 X 5 and congratulate them with our fingers crossed.  Back to camp mid-morning.  We listen to LDS General Conference on the radio, eat lunch and have a nap.  In the afternoon we listen to conference again then Clint, Trail, and Dax have to go back to town for work Monday.  I am left alone in camp to defend against hopefully an onslaught of elk for the next few days.

I don't mind hunting alone.  I really enjoy the quiet and the mountains and the clean air.  We have had a full moon every night.  It is so bright it is gorgeous.  The stars seem brighter than ever and it is so quiet up here.  I love every thing about the 9,800 ft. elevation except for the lack of oxygen and the cold.  I wear my thermal underwear all the time.  I sleep in a sweat shirt with a stocking cap on my head.  Yes, there is a heater in my camper but still I wear all the warmth I can.

I hunt for several days alone and see no elk.  I drive around to some camps in the afternoons and don't really see any elk hanging.  Maybe the elk have read the hunting proclamation and have all moved on to the Ute Indian Tribe lands where they can't be followed or hunted.  {I hate that when the elk learn to read.} 

I look down on the Unitah Basin and can see Gusher, Ballard, Roosevelt and other towns.  It is really cool to be up on top of the mountain.

 Part of the Unitah Basin

Dax calls it Mountain Church and I agree.  One can feel closer to the Creator with these surroundings.  It is a spiritual experience to enjoy the magnitude of nature God has made for us.  I am so glad to get to go out to do this.  I am so blessed to have been in a group that harvested an elk.  I am blessed to have two sons that appreciate nature and enjoy it as much as I do.  Life is good, even if it is cold and I can't catch my breath hiking.

EXCITEMENT IS IN THE AIR, HOLD THE SNOW PLEASE

The Utah "any bull" rifle elk hunt is just one month away!  I also have a cow tag this year.  I am starting to think about elk hunting all the time.  I can't help myself.  I just love getting out and being in nature with my son -- trying to find a bull or a cow for the freezer.

I need to go shooting some.  I haven't pulled a trigger for over 10 weeks.  I need to practice my rifle skills.  Who knows, maybe my rifle has grown mold in the barrel?  Maybe my scope has lost its eyesight?  I need to practice.  I also need to walk to the park or to the intermediate school or to Cool Canyon and back everyday or two and get in better shape for the opening day of the hunt.

Some photos from days gone by elk hunting:

I hope to have more results photos to post soon.  I know I will have a great time!  With harvest or without -- any day hunting is better than a day working.  Days with family just make the whole camping, hunting, outdoor experience even better.  I am so blessed to be able to do this.

WORK GETS IN THE WAY OF HAVING FUN

You won't believe it, but work does get in the way of having fun. I am trying keep this house  construction going and haven't had time to go hunt anything for weeks.  I haven't even been able to go target shooting.  I am worried my chizzler harvesting skills are deteriorating at a rapid rate.  I am concerned my rifle barrel is getting 'moldy' through non-use.  I am just depressed about it all.  I envision the chizzlers in Iron County multiplying and replenishing themselves in the farmer's fields to the level of no or hardly no alfalfa to harvest.  {Agriculture is such a hard way to make a dollar.}

I need to do my job and thin the chizzler herd.  Bounty Hunter 6 didn't help the situation one bit when he went off to California to work fighting fire also.  Heck, let it burn.  All the medical marijuana growing in the foothills will just add a pleasant layer to the pollution in Cali.  I hesitate to go hunting alone but can do it.  I really don't know of anyone that is hunting the little profit eaters right now.  I hope to get this house thing under control and go North to do my duty for my friends the farmers.

I haven't even had time to take any photos lately.  I am on the job at 7:00 a.m. and completely worn out by 2:00 p.m.  The heat is really hard on an old man like me. 










I look forward to weeks to come when I can leave home base in the early a.m. and go hunt in Iron County then return home to work on the house project at 10 -- 11:00 a.m.

P.S. I did draw a buck deer rifle tag for the Pine Valley, Utah unit this fall.  I came in the mail last week and I am glad to have something to look forward to this October.  Maybe I will have to take the old bear killer .30-06 and go on another trophy jackrabbit hunt to practice up in September?

QUICK TRIP BUT . . . LOTS OF FUN.

Bounty Hunter 6 is in town for just a few days in between fighting fires.  He took me to lunch Tuesday and we had a great conversation.  I asked if he would like to go hunt some chizzlers just for a short time in the morning and of course he said "YES!"  He is one of two guys that like to hunt the little varmints more than I do.  The next morning we took off on a quick trip to Iron County to see what damage we could do to prevent alfalfa crop shrinkage from the chizzlers and help the farmers make more money.

We arrived in a good location at 9:10 a.m. and set up two squirrel-o-matics in the back of my truck.  We started to shoot almost immediately.  We fired for about 2 hours and then the critters kind of were "shot out".  Bounty Hunter 6 had fired just over 100 rounds and I had fired maybe 75 rounds.  As I looked over the target area for Bounty Hunter 6 there were dozens of bodies in various poses of death at distances from 10 yards to 175 yards.  The wind started to really blow and even the birds, e.g. crows = 'nature's undertakers', were not flying due to the wind.  We packed up and headed home.

The short hunt was do to the fact that I had work to do and Bounty Hunter 6 had to get ready for another round of flying to keep California from totally burning up.  My best shots of the day were at three big old crop destroyers at 160 yards.  Not bad if I do say so myself for a little .22 L.R.

CLEAR -- NO WIND MORNING

Took off this morning at 8 a.m.  My son was with me and we were on our way to Iron County to help the farmers lower the vermin eating up the profits in their fields.  It was a great time to drive and talk about all kinds of topics and get together one on one with my son.  I really enjoy the trip to and from the hunting area a great time to converse, share ideas, and not be interrupted. 

We arrived and and set up the squirrel-o-matic in the back of the truck.  We started seeing chizzlers right off.  I could tell the varmints had been shot at recently as they were moving real quick and trying to get in their burrows and into the concealment of the grass or alfalfa.  My son said they seemed far away for our .22 l.r. firearms.  I told him not to worry as the closer targets would be back out in a few minutes.

 Rusty on squirrel-o-matic

Once we got set up and started to get serious about shooting the little rascals began to pop out of their hiding places and run into the dry plowed up area between the alfalfa and the rough desert terrain.  Chizzlers would stop and look all around in the dry no-man's land and then the carnage started.  Rusty was the first to fire and hit one on his first shot.  Many more were to follow the example of their leader on his way to Valhalla alfalfa.

{NOTE:  This kid is a naturally excellent shot. I asked him if he had practiced shooting lately.  He replied the last time he went shooting was with me.  I think it was 18 months ago.  Crap-o-rama, I practice shooting almost weekly and try to shoot better all the time.  He can shoot as well as me and sometimes better than me and only shoots when someone takes him.  He owns no firearms.}

We acquired targets and made them do the break-dance of death, plop and flip flop in the air, separate into multiple pieces, and just permanently retire for about 2 hours.  We were shooting bolt action .22's and the pause while loading our magazines was the only reprieve they got from us.  Rusty got into it.  He started to snicker from time to time when he would make a long shot.  I was truly impressed as he toasted them at from 30 to 116 yards.  I took my laser ranger finder and as we did a quick verification body count I ranged back to the truck to get exact distances.

I got a few at distance and was really please with my "luck."   I got a double at 124 yards.  I was more lucky than good on this one, yet the chizzlers were still laying there dead as heck even after the "luck" had all dissipated into the atmosphere. 

double

I also got a herd bull at 156 yards for my longest confirmed hit of the day.

There was little or no wind and we really scored well for the farmers.  We packed up at 11:00 a.m. and headed back to St. George as my son had a lunch appointment.  We had a great time and I will always remember going with Rusty to do something I like to do.  He told me he had a good time and that was icing on the cake!

FAST FIRING MORNING

I ran into a good friend at Karl's Jr. after picking up some lumber.  Our conversation, of course, turned to chizzler hunting and we set a date.  I was right in the heat of the effort in building a new house but I decided to take a morning off and go hunt some anti-agriculture varmints while sitting there eating onion rings.

It was a great drive to the location with my pal.  We caught each other up on our families and various topics.  We arrived at the northwest side of a circular pivot irrigation system around 9:30 a.m.  We had no sooner parked our truck when the chizzlers went nuts.  They were constantly crossing the bare earth "no mans" land between the desert vegetation and the irrigated alfalfa field.  We were shooting as we were setting up our individual positions.

I went through about 225 rounds of .22 l.r. ammo. all in all.  My pal was shooting a nifty new Mossberg MVP .223 Rem. caliber that used AR-15 clips to feed the bolt action.  He shot about 100 rounds of .223 Rem. and launched several chizzlers into a low orbit over the alfalfa field.  He was also exploding them into red mist.  I was really impressed.  After about an hour of this mischief he then switched over to a Ruger 10-22 and proceeded to nail dozens more varmints with his "little" rifle.  He is a good shot and not boastful at all.  I just noticed the consistent "plop, -- plop, -- plop" sound as he fired rounds and they hit their intended mark.  One can tell when the projectile hits vermin by the sound of impact even if you don't see the projectile strike.  {It's kind of a cool sound to me and others who hunt chizzlers.}

I had a well stocked nest of varmints about 60 yards out from my firing position and another good nest about 110 yards out.  I was using the stadia lines in my scope and really found the sweet spots on the stadia lines for the two ranges.  I would lay waste to one nest for a 10 - 15 rounds then move my point of aim over to the other nest and unload another 10 - 15 rounds at that group of profit eaters.  I would pause in my bombardment to reload my magazines and in a few moments start the whole adventure over again.  I did this for 2 1/2 hours.  It was amazing.  There were some big old "herd bulls" out that morning.  I was kind of proud to get three or four of them.  They are really lots bigger than regular chizzlers.

Herd bull circled in red

 
 I was joking when I told my hunting partner my trigger finger was sore.  He agreed his too was sore but he wasn't kidding.  My thumb and my trigger finger were dark grey from loading ammo.  His were dark also.  I don't know if I have ever experienced trigger finger fatigue before, it was a new and different situation but COOL.

Yes, I took many chizzlers out on May 16, 2014.  No, I don't feel sorry for them.  They were in the wrong field and eating the wrong farmer's alfalfa.  I was helping out and having a real good time doing it.  The chizzlers could be poisoned and die a slow and painful death or could be shot and instantly be transported to the big alfalfa field in the sky.  I was just helping out.

Work gets in the way of having fun.  I look forward to another run away day in the future helping out my friendly farmers.

DRAW A TAG? SO NOW WHAT ???

I am waiting.  Waiting for the big game draw results.  I need to know if I should be happy or totally dissatisfied with my ability to draw a hunting tag for the fall.  I like to hunt.  I like to get ready to hunt.  I like to day-dream about hunting.  I am so totally happy to remember both in my mind and through photos the wonderful hunts in the past years.  I am not alone among sportsmen who travel in my Goddess Diana worship circles.

The State of Utah Division of Wildlife Resources seems to have my hunting life and dreams in the belly of their contractors' computer belly over in Fallon, Nevada.  Crap-o-rama, I want to have a tag to hunt some big game every year.  I guess I could try to get a camel permit for the desert around here.  I could put in for and probably draw a Sasquatch tag for the mountains above Heber City.  Still I would really like to draw a deer tag or a bear tag or a bison tag somewhere in Utah with relative consistency.

I am not rich.  I can not buy an auction tag for $250,000 for deer or elk at the wildlife banquets --  I am out of luck and out of buck$.  I can recognize big game hunting is going to get harder and harder to do for the next decades.  I need to find an alternative.  I am going to start looking at Africa and good 'ol Namibia lots harder in the future.  I can buy a Namibian license, travel to the far away Kalahari desert, hire a great guide (PH is what they are called over there) and harvest 3 - 7 big game animals and return for less cost than a single elk hunt on a CWMU.  I have been to Namibia before, and I am sure I will go again.  "Utah We Love Thee" is the state song, however, Namibia is where the oryx run free and the kudu are home on the big red sanded range.  Tags are available .... 

WHAT A PLEASANT MORNING

Bounty Hunter 6 is back in town from Alaska and wanted me to go hunt chizzlers with him.  I agreed to go but with the condition we came home early as I had lots of work to do.  {I am actually trying to make a living here you know.  Besides, with the price and scarcity of .22 l.r. ammo -- it is harder to make ends meet.}  We left Santa Clara at 8 a.m. on May 8th.  We drove to one of the farms plagued with vermin and set up our battle station.  We started to shoot as soon as we got out of the truck.  We seemed to be surrounded by mostly teenager and baby chizzlers.  There were a few big old "herd bulls" taken out during the battle.

I was loading and shooting as fast as I could and still maintain accuracy.  We delivered lethal doses of lead to the varmints for 2+ hours.  I fired about 170 rounds.  The wind came up slightly and the area where we were was "shot out" so we packed up and started for home.  It was amazing.  While we were shooting I could hear the telltale "plop" sound from Bounty Hunter 6's .17 HMR as he connected over and over and over again with chizzlers.  Occasionally he would snicker loudly and I could hear it through my ear plugs.  I admit I too was snickering as I laid waste to tribes of chizzlers.  I even got to shoot some cannibal chizzlers.  When they started munching on their recently shot dead cousins I shot the cannibals as well.  The best bait to draw out the adolescent chizzlers is a dead chizzler.  The two dead chizzlers is even better bait for more chizzler targets to show themselves.

I had a dream I was taken hostage by some renegade chizzlers and was forced to fabricate a proto-type nuclear powered super revenge chizzler robot.  I was tortured and finally forced to make the mechanical beast for them.It was made of the only metal available in the chizzler domain, empty brass.  I have a picture below the dream seemed so real  ???

I need to quote my friend from Soda Springs, Idaho.  He and I used to hunt rockchucks lots.  We hunted so much we got in deep trouble with our wives year after year for never being home in the spring when the rockchuck season started up as the snow melted. We hunted with centerfire varmint rifles out on lava flows between farmers fields in the potato state.  It was great fun.  He said, "This is really fun but wouldn't be half as much fun if they shot back."

HUNTER SCORES AT DISTANCE

April 18, 2014.  It was a less than stellar day.

The conditions were not right and the little vermin were holed up or already shot from weeks of bombardment.  We went to find a few survivors and make them not survivors.  Hunter was patient and saw several chizzlers that were too quick moving for him to get the crosshairs on.  Finally, one cheeky varmint thought the range was too great and hesitated at about 65 yards in front of Hunter.  Great mistake for Hunter and bad mistake for the chizzler.  Hunter couldn't be prouder of any game shot.  He did the deed with a .22L.R. at about 65 yards and the scope on 4X.  GREAT SHOT LITTLE BUDDY!

Check out the smile on Hunter's face.  Mack was showing the distance as if through binoculars.  Dad is way pleased too.  We all shot other varmints but this one was especially rewarding.

The family that hunts together stays together.

TOO MUCH OF A GOOD THING?

What a beautiful morning.  The fellow below had just stepped out of his burrow and was looking for the choicest, greenest, leafiest alfalfa to eat when -- he suddenly died. 

I have been hunting chizzlers lots lately.  I went on three different mornings with my son last week and the first of this week.  I went with my pals this morning.  I have fired about 600 rounds of .22L.R. at chizzlers over the last 11 days in four trips. I calculate I have connected with my intended targets about 50 - 60% of the time.  Is this too much of a good thing? 

NO, I don't think so!

I have done my best, to do my duty, to help the farmers in Iron County, Utah.  I have "plooped", flopped, and bounced vermin all over the fields.  The little critters seem to just keep coming.  The crows and the raptors {nature's undertakers} are getting so fat they just waddle around the fields.  I doubt they can even fly with their heavy load of chizzler meat built up in their "pot-guts".  I have taken chizzlers at ranges of from 20 yards to 142 yards.  I have taken them with no wind and with wind gusts in the 20 MPH range.  I have taken them in a hurry to beat my pal Bounty Hunter 6, and I have taken them slowly when they are just giving me a head shot target.  I have taken no prisoners.

The majority of the varmints taken in the last two trips were about 85% males.  I think the females are down their burrows and are having the next wave of baby varmints.  I will have to sharpen my skills for the tiny varmints.  Even though, the tiny varmints are rather dumb they present a really small target to hit.  Smaller than a golf ball.

Am I having too much fun?  NO, I don't think so.

MACK vs. Chizzlers . . . MACK wins!

Wednesday morning 3-19-2014 Mack, his dad (my son), and I went to hunt some chizzlers in Iron County.  We left home base rather early but arrived just in time for the little rascals to start coming out of their dens looking for food and companionship.

 Mack takes a big one.

It was cold and windy.  Mack had not come prepared with a coat so I loaned him a down vest and hat that were behind the seat of the truck.  He and I set up a card table in the back of the truck at around 9:15 a.m.  We started seeing chizzlers right away.  We set up the smallest repeater .22 L.R. I had on a bipod and a sand bag for a rear rest.  Mack took careful aim and fired at many chizzlers.  He finally got the "hold your breath, squeeze the trigger, and follow through" fundamentals down and started to connect with the vermin.  Mack is only 6 years old and has hunted very little in his life.  He is a natural though.  He can hunt chizzlers with the best of them.

Mack's dad brought a bolt action heavy barreled .17 HMR rifle with a 4-12X scope and commenced to do major damage on the chizzler population out to 150+ yards from our shooting station.  The telltale "ploop" of a chizzler exploding was heard every half minute or so.  The slowest part of the carnage was the reloading of magazines.

Mack at one period was so cold he was shivering.  He couldn't hold the rifle still so I took over and he got into the cab of the truck to warm up.  I shot 10 - 12 chizzlers with Mack's small rifle and had a good time.  He then told me to come sit in the cab of the truck and let him shoot out the window opening.  Of course I obliged and we sat in the truck for another hour and harvested a couple dozen more varmints.  All the while we were shooting from inside the cab of the truck we listened to Mack's dad making the "ploop" rhythm from the squirrel-o-matic in the back of the truck again and again.

A farmer near where we were hunting came by to thank us for helping lower the number of profit eaters.  The farmer said this time of year each big chizzler you take out is 10 - 12 little ones that won't be born and eat even more alfalfa later.  We were helping agriculture and having fun at the same time!

Mack's dad had a meeting to go to so we cut it short and headed home at 11:30 a.m.  It was a short but good hunt.  Mack is a great hunting pal as is his father. 

We stacked up a few of Mack's varmints.

Mack had to bring back a dead chizzler to show his mom and grandma.  We let him bring one in the back of the truck.  He was so proud to carry it around the yard and tried to bring it in the house to show everyone.  Everyone has a different definition of what a "trophy" is, Mack had his on Wed. morning.  For a six year old kid with a borrowed rifle in the wind and the cold truly his chizzlers were all trophies.

VENGEANCE OF THE SUPREME COMMANDER .. or .. Spring Break boredom

 On target, hold breath, squeeze the trigger, . . . pop goes the chizzler

Spring break has been upon us in Southern Utah.  The Supreme Commander slept in multiple days.  She and I went to Las Vegas shopping.  She worked in her garden.  All is well except she was bored on Friday morning, 3-14-'14.  At noon I suggested we go hunt some chizzlers in Iron County.  She was so bored she agreed to go!  I was so surprised and happy at the same time.

We arrived at a nice location, set up the squirrel-o-matic and I gave her the basic instructions on how to load and fire a .22LR rifle.  She had some trouble finding the little vermin in the scope for the first 45 minutes or so; then all heck broke loose.  She was doing head shots and jumping them up in the air and even giggled once or twice I think.

I was shooting a .22LR also and we were doing our duty to help the farmers preserve their alfalfa profits.  All in all I think we did rather well.  We shot for about 4 hours and then took the drive home.  On the way home I heard the words that every husband longs for, "I really had fun, I think I could get into this".

Who knows maybe in two more years she will have spring break and we can go hunting again.  I love this girl.

Take no prisoners!

CHIZZLER SEASON IS OPEN ... maybe?

 A serious moment

Thursday 3-6-2014 Bounty Hunter 6 and I went to Iron County and surveyed the prospects of chizzler hunting.  It is early in the year.  Usually we don't get into the chizzler hunting until mid-April.

We saw some varmints and did our duty; in early March, mind you.

Just a little longer in the year

It was a cool day with significant wind.  We took out a dozen or so chizzlers who were looking for food and companionship.  Things kind of slowed down and Bounty Hunter 6 said, "Let's go, it's too early in the year still"  I replied, "Just wait awhile, the little varmints are hungry and horny and will be out yet this morning."  Sure enough within15 minutes or so we started to see the rascals come out of their burrows and start toward the alfalfa fields.  We started to shoot at a consistent and reasonably rapid rate.  Bounty Hunter 6 could just keep up with his magazine loading at his rate of firing.   He actually did really well.  I could hear the tell tale "ploop" of various vermin getting hit by a .17HMR round very regularly.  I also could hear the sly snickers of a man that really enjoys his work in preserving the profits of agriculturalists.  Overall I estimate he connected about 75% of the time he fired.

I was shooting a .22LR cartridge and with the wind as it was I had to use more than Kentucky windage.  I was using Louisiana--Texas windage.  At a lazer ranged 106 yards I was holding off about 4 chizzler body thicknesses.  I did connect with many varmints and feel like I did a good job.  I averaged at least 50-60% connection with my rounds fired.

We had great conversations on the travel to and from the hunting area.  We had a fun lunch at Karl's Jr. The fact was proven again:

ANY DAY HUNTING IS BETTER THAN A DAY WORKING!

Although, I did some get real work done when I got back to my office in the early afternoon and evening.  The farmers are happy, the IRS is happy, and I am happy.  The only one not enthralled was the chizzler population.

More to come ...............

Bald eagle buffet