1 for 5 Draw was brutal to me this year, 2020

 I drew but one tag this fall for hunting.  I had 4 bonus points for pronghorn buck antelope in Wyoming and I drew a tag.  I am glad to have some kind of game to look forward to. 

I actually like hunting antelope as you usually drive around a lot, glass a lot, even with a spotting scope, and then when you see one worth going after you park far away and try and stalk as close as you can for a shot.  Antelope have 6X powered eyes and you have to be rather sneaky to get a good shot.  I have had reasonable success in the past.  I hope my luck continues ? !

I think I will load up my .300 Remington Ultra Magnum with 150 grain Nosler ballistic tips and practice at 350 yards or so.  I have used this load two other times with excellent results -- both one shot kills.

I bought an over the counter spike elk tag for Utah.  I am hoping to see one but who knows?  My son drew a cow elk tag and we are going elk hunting together hunting in early October.  Then in later October my Wyoming antelpe tag is valid so maybe I can talk him into going with me and helping me out to find a speed goat in Wyoming.

I can practice now for some long shots.  I really enjoy practicing.  My eyes are not what they used to be but maybe I can find an old antelope with eyes as poor as mine.

Wish me luck, I will keep you apprised of my progress.

Draw Results

My luck continues . . .  I drew no elk tag, no deer tag, and no bear tag for Utah. Crap-O-Rama 💀

Perhaps, I will be better favored by the stars on my pronghorn draw in Wyoming. I will buy a spike elk tag for Utah when and if they come available.

I am getting OLD. My years for hunting big game are limited. Doesn’t the State of Utah know this?  Come on draw center staff — give a senior citizen a break.

Just one little deer tag :

sample deer desired

Maybe an extra elk tag:

Just an old man wanting to spend some time out in nature this fall. . .

VERY DRY YEAR . . . . again

I have gone to hunt chizzlers four times in Iron County, Utah in 2020.  All four trips have been the CRAPS compared to other years or current expectations.

I am so displeased to say there are few -- to almost zero chizzlers eating the farmer's crops in 2020. Farmers kind of love this bonus in income from the estimated $10,000,000 in agricultural products often lost to vermin in the fields. (Utah State University did a study a few years back to estimate the $ value of crops lost to vermin in the fields in the Beryl area)

Bounty Hunter 6 and I went up in later March and we saw a few and shot at them.  We finished up a three hour hunt in various fields taking just seven each or so out of the crop harvesting mode.  We went up to hunt again in mid April and had a great, comparatively speaking, hunt and shot about 11 each in three hours of hunting in three different fields.  We went up in early May and shot in two different fields and took just seven or eight each.  The shots were long and the chizzlers very wary.  {I kind of like long shots with .223 Rem or .22-250 Rem rifles but 200 yard shots with a .17 HMR it is hard to connect on a regular basis.}  Our final outing in late April was also a bust.  We ended up taking about eight each after 3+ hours hunting in two different fields.  On the long and quiet drive home we both agreed that the season is over and the chizzlers won.  Nature has its cycles and the Universe has decided the low end of the chizzler cycle is upon us for a year or two more.  Why didn't Mother Nature consult with me on this?

I want to admit that I was so ready for a good season this year.  I was excited at the prospects of getting into the dealing out the wholesale death mode again in 2020.  Last year's hunting, 2019, was poor and this year was to be the turn around.  NOT SO!  I have schooled The Supreme Commander on how to shoot her Savage H.B. .22LR with really pretty good precision*.  She and I have gone practice shooting a few times in the desert near my home.  She actually said she wanted to go hunt with Bounty Hunter 6 and myself on the last trip in May.  I told her to wait until the chizzlers came out more and she would have a more enjoyable hunt.  She has gone with me in days of old, 2017 and 2018, and done her duty taking over 150 in a day with the accurate little Savage bolt action.  She runs the scope at about 7 power all the time and if the little vermin are within 75 yards of her they are usually toast.

Who really enjoys chizzler hunting is Bounty Hunter 6's dog -- SKEET.  He went with Bounty Hunter 6 a couple of times this spring and caught and killed more than a handful each time.  Skeet smells or sees them than puts his "4-paw drive" in high gear after them.  He quickly learned to cut them off on their way to their burrow.  The chizzlers would stop and stare at him when confronted by the 100 pound labrador and he would do the death-chomp on them.  He was really proud of himself.  Bounty Hunter 6 thought it was fun to watch and then finally realized he had been hunting for about 2 hours and not fired a shot as the big bad black lab had done all the hunting and Bounty Hunter 6 was just an observer.

I guess I will have to go to Idaho and hunt rockchucks and The Unitah Basin and hunt prairie dogs.   Chizzlers are on another planet for now.  {Maybe I can sneak close to Area 51 and find some space  chizzlers, I have made the targets for practice already.}

* Practice target for the Supreme Commander.  Just in case you wondered.

ANOTHER COW ELK TAG IN THE BOOK CLIFFS ?

I had suffered the wrath of the Supreme Commander for being gone from home too much hunting in fall of 2019.  3 OR 4 TIMES I was gently reminded I had been hunting for about 25 days in the fall and 15 days in April, not to mention hunting in Washington and Iron counties in between times.  The local hunting entailed returning home at night to eat, bath, and sleep over.  

NOTE:  I did, however, draw a cow elk tag for the Book Cliffs area near the Utah Colorado boarder in June for late in the year.  I didn't tell her about the tag as she was on melt down about me being gone for so long in Sept, Oct, and Nov.  Not to mention the month of April when I went to Africa for a significant amount of time.  I am sorry.  I am a butt.  I just go nuts for hunting.  I had to make a plan to hunt cow elk.

My plan went as follows:

1.  I would go to my son's house in Roosevelt, Utah for Thanksgiving holiday and the great turkey feed.  I would enjoy the family and eat way too much on Thursday, Thanksgiving Day.
2.  My son and I would get up and go hunting for cow elk in the Book Cliffs on Friday while the women folk did their things: a) sleeping in, b) shopping, and c) talking about Christmas up coming.
3.  We could slip out and the girls would not know we are gone.  Hopefully we could get to the Book Cliffs perimeter within a reasonable amount of time and do some hunting.
4.  We took some sleeping bags and bought some food at Smith's Food King in Vernal, Utah "just in case" we had to stay over a night in the Book Cliffs hunting.  Forgiveness is easier obtained long distance rather than permission in person. . . .

Finally, a plan went together for me. --  We, Dax and me, got up and had breakfast with everyone who was awake at 9 a.m.  We kind of, gradually in stealth mode, loaded the truck with gear and then told the few folks conscious goodbye we were going to the Book Cliffs hunting for cow elk.  We snuck out of town ever so quietly.

It is a 2.5 hour drive to the Book Cliffs cow elk hunting perimeter from Roosevelt.  We had a great time talking to each other Father-to-Son and Son-to-Father.  This is one of the best parts of hunting.  The communication between your fellow hunters.  Whether driving or sitting around a fire or just looking at God's majesty of creation together perched on a ridge top -- the thoughts shared while hunting are high lights in life.  We finally breached the perimeter of the hunting zone around 2 p.m.

Dax was driving and  took me to down a snow covered road in the hunting area.  It had been snowing the night before.  There were tire tracks, so we knew someone had been down the road before.  I was hoping the other party had not scared the elk away from the road.  I would like to re-do the "shoot the elk and slide it downhill in the snow into the back of the truck whole" operation as we had done two other years while in this area hunting cows.

We took a branch of the road that was still snow covered and virgin to tire tracks.  We drove down the road about a mile and Dax said "there are some on the hillside straight ahead."  My spirit leaped!  There they were -- a medium sized cow, a large calf, and a big mama cow.  Dax ranged them at 494 yards.  There was no cross wind - thank heavens.  They were walking along the ridge top and away from us.  They were not walking very fast, kind of eating and walking, and visiting as cow elk do among themselves.  They were not concerned because of the distance between us.  They did not know I had an ICBM readying for use.  {ICBM = Inter County Barnes bullet Magnum}

I got out of the truck and loaded a round in my .300 Rem Ultra Mag.  The Barnes 180 gr. triple shock bullet resting in the chamber had a job to do.  I took aim at the big mama cow calculating the distance hold over in my scope and switched off safety then gently eased the trigger back.  The rifle went off and I heard the bullet smack ribs.  The cow staggered and then walked over the top of the ridge.  Oh, Crap-O-Rama,  no sliding the meat animal downhill in the snow; now she was on the other side of the hill 500+ yards away.

Dax went after her directly on foot.  I being a 66 year old with a bad heart whisy went around the hill to the south and west on the road in the truck looking for the wounded elk to leave the area and perhaps get another anchoring shot.  I drove maybe 1.5 miles looking for tracks crossing the road, for blood on the hill sides, and just animals moving.  NO sightings.  Dax found a blood trail on the ridge top.  He followed the blood trail in the snow for a short distance and found the cow dead in a small ravine.  The Barnes bullet had passed clear through even at the 500 yard distance.  Two holes make for a better blood trail than one hole, if you know what I mean?

Dax started skinning and gutting the elk for transport as soon as he got to it.  I got back together with Dax and drove the truck to within 250 yards of the downed animal.  We made some pack-out trips to get the meat to the truck and I was so glad to have my son with me to do most of the work.  He treats me really well.  I HAVE TWO SONS AND THEY BOTH ARE PERFECT, SORRY WORLD.

We congratulated each other on another successful Book Cliffs hunt and the delicious natural meat we will have for the next year in the freezer.  I am so happy to share with Dax and his family the fruits of our efforts.  If Matthew were closer he too would enjoy the elk meat with his tribe.

We headed home just at dark.  I drove and it was another great conversation time.  I am truly blessed in life.  We arrived home around 8:30 p.m. and no one really mentioned we had been gone all afternoon and evening.  We just casually mentioned we got an elk and then everyone was back to playing fish around the woodstove and eating treats.  It was totally cool!  I don't think the Supreme Commander actually put it all together until the next day - that we had been hunting on Friday after Thanksgiving.

Even I get lucky sometimes.