View Full Version : 2021 Big Game Hunts
Another Hail Mary on public land in Rio Blanco, this time at 60 yards! Spotted him moving toward me with four does at ~600 yards, I stalked around behind hills and sat down low in a cattle trail baking in the sun for an hour and 40 minutes waiting for him to move into view. What luck!
The 120 grain Barnes Vor-Tex in 7mm-08 hardly had a chance to gain speed.
87820
Next up is second rifle season in the Flat Tops for bull and cow elk, and black bear. Then third season buck deer south of Rangely. I have a busy fall schedule.
Another Hail Mary on public land in Rio Blanco, this time at 60 yards! Spotted him moving toward me with four does at ~600 yards, I stalked around behind hills and sat down low in a cattle trail baking in the sun for an hour and 40 minutes waiting for him to move into view. What luck!
The 120 grain Barnes Vor-Tex in 7mm-08 hardly had a chance to gain speed.
87820
Next up is second rifle season in the Flat Tops for bull and cow elk, and black bear. Then third season buck deer south of Rangely. I have a busy fall schedule.
Nice tag fill.
On another note, is it just me or does the light/shadow combination in the pic make it look like your barrel is bent... [hammer]
Good job Hummer.
I had to really look at the picture, but when I zoom in I can see what you mean about the barrel.
Nicely done! I went out Saturday morning and had a buck lined up right at sun up but passed because he was kind of a dink. He was the best I saw all day.
It was a long day of hunting with all of my closest strangers. Didn't need OnX to know public from private land. The public land had pickups parked at every corner.
Nicely done! I went out Saturday morning and had a buck lined up right at sun up but passed because he was kind of a dink. He was the best I saw all day.
It was a long day of hunting with all of my closest strangers. Didn't need OnX to know public from private land. The public land had pickups parked at every corner.
Yesterday morning I would have happily taken a dink. By 8:30 I was on a high hill surveying miles of grassland with nothing showing on public land. I texted my wife and told her I was heading home. Then I spotted animals miles away on private thinking there was a remote chance of some crossing a fence. More patience and time watching made the difference this time. This was my 10th or 11th pronghorn.
I once hunted GMU 3 where there are sizeable herds on public land but it takes a lot of points to draw the unit now and I don't have the years left. Maybe it's okay to hunt a small, sparsely populated area. Two years ago I decided to head home when I came up behind a bedded buck at 65 yards. He was a dink too young to hold a harem. I was happy to have the delicious meat.
Next year I might explore hunting Wyoming where one can get two doe tags.
Exactly what I'm looking into with respect to Wyoming.
Exactly what I'm looking into with respect to Wyoming.
Little Dutch
10-05-2021, 18:57
Nice buck! Congratulations on a good hunt.
Thanks fellas. I titled the thread as a place to post your hunt stories, whether success shines or not.... Good luck!
Will have three tags to fill when I come back. Realistically expecting to fill one.
I was looking for a 21 hunt thread to post my harvest I put over on PWT.
Here's your "dink" picked out of a large group.
Had this on the ground by 0715 opening morning, drug it out 200yds, waited for the vehicle to return. In the cooler by 0830, gutless quarters and backstraps.
300yds prone up a little rise. Easy shot but he moved just as I squeezed. Exit seen here. 178gr ELDX Hornady Precision Hunter .308WIN.
I'm still sore from the drag and bending over to quarter it.
Hunting buddy had his dink on the ground by 0900, Satellite buck at 100-150 yds he had to shoot at 4 times. It just turned and looked at him the first two. LOL.
We went home after lunch in the truck and a chat with the landowner.
https://i.imgur.com/F4dagxZ.jpg
Good work, Brutal. You're fortunate to have access to private land. It's a relationship worth keeping. The landowners I've encountered in NW Colorado seem to want big trespass fees that are beyond reason to me.
Good work, Brutal. You're fortunate to have access to private land. It's a relationship worth keeping. The landowners I've encountered in NW Colorado seem to want big trespass fees that are beyond reason to me.
It's secondary through an old friend. Only cost is a tiny part of the harvest.
We're also hunting some private land bordering public forest outside Grand Lake 3rd rifle. I have cow elk and buck deer tags. First hunt with a different group but we got burned out last year.
Congrats to you other successful hunters. I also got lucky on opening day. Most of the luck was the fact that I actually had antelope on my property to start with. Used my AR15 .243 WSSM.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51617640412_3afd3679e8_c.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2mDgUas)IMG_0207 (https://flic.kr/p/2mDgUas) by Tim Richard (https://www.flickr.com/photos/156405073@N02/), on Flickr
What a beauty, congratulations! Guessing a 15"+ pronghorn and worth mounting.
Mine was about 13.5" and the best buck I've gotten beyond an atypical with a down curved horn. I mounted that one because he was so unusual.
Congrats to you other successful hunters. I also got lucky on opening day. Most of the luck was the fact that I actually had antelope on my property to start with. Used my AR15 .243 WSSM.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51617640412_3afd3679e8_c.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2mDgUas)IMG_0207 (https://flic.kr/p/2mDgUas) by Tim Richard (https://www.flickr.com/photos/156405073@N02/), on Flickr
Nice TR!.
Looks like the view from your back yard. Or is it looking west? Is that the 100yd berm? LOL
Good guess Hummer, only off by an inch. 14".
Yep brutal, looking west back toward the house. It's just over the big hill in the background.
Today I met forum member Henpecked, an avid outdoorsman who often posts photos to the wildlife thread. He reached out to me last month to offer advice about the area he has hunted elk for many years. Henpecked and his friends are hunting elk, I'm hunting buck deer in an area new to me. What a nice group of people! Maybe we can help one another with reports of what we see.
This evening while scouting before season I saw 67 mule deer including three decent bucks between 4-5:30 p.m. No elk yet. A snow storm could change that quickly. Wish us luck.
Today was the season opener and shortly after dawn I watched a 7 or 8 bucks parry over a group of does. One big bodied buck chased the younger bucks to keep them away from the does but the group began to break up and big buck kept getting distracted by certain does nearly but not quite ready to mate. What a show it was! And it was one of several shows throughout the day. By 9 a.m. I lost count but had seen 35-40 buck deer among countless does.
I have never hunted the mule deer rut before, and clearly I've missed out. What fun it was to watch this incredible mating behavior all within a hundred yards with the deer completely careless of my presence. By the end of the day I had watched over 50 buck deer. Still exploring the area looking for that special one....
encorehunter
11-14-2021, 07:35
I had to work opening day. While on the way to a call, we saw a very large buck in a yard. I would take a guess he was atlwast 180-190", one of the largest I have seen in years.
After the call, I called my captain and asked if I had to get a drug test for hitting a deer with the engine. He told me no. When I mentioned the homeowners weren't going to be to happy about their fence and yard, he just went silent. I think my superiors hate me.
Got this image through the spotting scope at 350 yards with the cell phone. 3x3 buck not including brow tines, and somewhat bigger than the typical I've been seeing. I'm thinking he's about the best I will find. 88394
I have 3 days left....
whitewalrus
11-16-2021, 23:29
Got this image through the spotting scope at 350 yards with the cell phone. 3x3 buck not including brow tines, and somewhat bigger than the typical I've been seeing. I'm thinking he's about the best I will find. 88394
I have 3 days left....
Good looking buck from that angle. Not a monster if you are on a high preference point tag, but a good size.
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Wow Hummer that sounds insane and incredible!!! I have never in my life seen that many bucks in a single day! I hope you get a good one!
If it were me..........Ka Pow!!!!!
If it were me..........Ka Pow!!!!!
100% agree. That guy's a tad bigger than the one I took 2 weeks ago.
Our 4 man group took two cow elk today. Mother and 2 year old (est).
We still have 2 Bull, 2 cow, and 2 Buck to try to fill...
Don't freak out about meat in the sun. They were already cool and just hung to dry a bit in 35F after getting cleaned up. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20211118/79e91e02c6e2df12973995ab4ec4eb13.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20211118/aedd7effbbdcbadff425f33d9ade679b.jpg
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I had a nice Buck in my sights Sunday morning just waiting a moment for him to clear a thick groove of small trees and some dbag that parked himself about 60 yards from me spooked him before I could squeeze the trigger.
[Mad] [Rant1][Rant2][Bang]
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Thanks for the reality check, guys. When I got the pic it verified what I saw with binoculars and I decided to set up to see if I could make a good shot. Then, my cell phone rang and I told Mrs. Hummer that I was watching six does and four bucks. In a few moments of distraction they all disappeared. (I was concealed 350 yards up the mountain).
This evening I returned to relive the moments but nary a deer was to be found.
Almost dark on the drive back to camp a buck suddenly appeared crossing the road and nearly collided into the side of my truck. He and antlers were at arms length from my driver side window when he rotated off. It would have been an ugly collision for all including the truck body. I rolled the window down and suggested he needed to be more careful when crossing the road. He trotted off oblivious but the does were paying attention. Rutting bucks. He was an impressive 2x2 fork horn with 14" tines.
Fwiw, road kill is not a legal method of take no matter how it played out.
Two days left....
Our 4 man group took two cow elk today. Mother and 2 year old (est).
We still have 2 Bull, 2 cow, and 2 Buck to try to fill...
Don't freak out about meat in the sun. They were already cool and just hung to dry a bit in 35F after getting cleaned up. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20211118/79e91e02c6e2df12973995ab4ec4eb13.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20211118/aedd7effbbdcbadff425f33d9ade679b.jpg
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meat in da freezer baby!!!
encorehunter
11-18-2021, 20:49
88408
I had a fun hunt with my 8 and 6 year old tonight. We went for a 1/2 mile walk in 30 degree Temps, both of them were sniffling when we got back to the truck. We decided to head to the house, and on the way out a good group of does were out in the field on state land. We went around the corner and this guy was standing out at the edge of them. He was nice enough to let me get out of the truck, get my rifle out its case in the back, and walk into the field to sit down and get situated. A couple does spooked, but he stood there at about 100 yards. One Partition from my .308 did the trick. I feel like I may have to change my screen name as this is the second animal I have taken with this rifle. My poor Encore was at home in the safe.
He's a beauty. How were the kids handling the process?
encorehunter
11-19-2021, 04:58
They love it. They have been around it since we have livestock and do a lot of our own processing. There is something about the venison my 6 year old loves. He still remembers my wife's deer from last year and eating the jerky. When it was ready, he would go in and swipe it out of the dehydrator.
henpecked
11-21-2021, 18:52
88458
Unit 21 buck
henpecked
11-21-2021, 19:57
88460
We did get a calf elk in 21
henpecked
11-21-2021, 20:02
88461
tmjohnson
01-21-2022, 17:08
89188
If this guy keeps tearing my trees up he may have an accident
Be nice to him. He'll drop the antlers soon and come back next fall just in time for a steak fry.
You could spray your trees with a soap/ammonia solution or other deer repellant. I've done that twice recently and so far it's kept the moose moving through rather than chewing the aspen trees. Too much snow here for deer now....
tmjohnson
01-21-2022, 20:02
I sprayed my trees today, but it is snowing heavy so it will probably wash the spray of.
He sure does tear up a lot.
ManOnTarget
01-24-2022, 07:04
Here?s this year?s public land bull. He?s not a trophy but I worked hard for him. Had a little raghorn with him that just stood there and watched as I dropped his friend.
FWIW I shot him 2x through the lungs with Nosler ballistic tip hunting bullets with my 30-06 and they both disintegrated. Granted 1 went through a shoulder blade but, all we found was copper flakes. Not impressed at all. Im going to work a lot harder to keep finding accubonds. I?ve always found those in one piece.
89224
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encorehunter
01-24-2022, 09:12
I made the mistake of shooting an elk with a ballistic tip once. I wasn't as lucky as you, we never found it. I trailed it for miles in the snow. What weight Accubonds are you looking for? I get most of mine from shootersproshop.com.
Back in the day I was a big fan of the Barnes solid copper projectiles for big game.
ManOnTarget
01-24-2022, 10:05
I?ve shot 180s before with great success. They are just so tough to find with the madness these days.
I have also tried the solid copper and they seem to hold together much better than other bullets. Only issue I have with those is that the 180s are really long and seated at min COAL they won?t fit in the internal mag on my model 70s (that being said I?ve only tried the TSXs)
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Nice bull, congratulations! The ones you work hard for (which is almost all of them) are all trophies. I had always used Nosler Partition in 150-220gr. weights in my .30-06 with great success. I tried the 180gr. Nosler ballistic tips on elk and deer and didn't like the results. They fragmented badly and tore up too much meat. Never used them again beyond range practice.
Now that I'm shooting 7mm-08, I've gone all copper with the Barnes 120gr. Vor-Tex TTSX. So far I've taken a bull moose, two pronghorn bucks and two mulie bucks with them, all with excellent performance. It's my go-to hunting round now. I'm confident the 120gr. will work well on elk when I get the opportunity. The problem is sourcing them but fortunately I still have two boxes.
Fantastic bull and I too echo what the others are saying about the bullet choice.
165gr Nosler Accubonds and 150gr Barnes TTSX are all I’ve ever used on Elk and both have been perfectly effective for me over the years. I wouldn’t doubt the 120gr ttsx that Hummer’s using too, as long as I’m within 300m.
I found a box of 50x 150gr .308 TTSX bullets at sportsman’s warehouse last week ($40), so am good for the next decade of hunting.
theGinsue
02-19-2022, 02:21
Just got my 2022 Colorado Big Game booklet in the mail today. Time to start looking at whether or not I'm elk hunting this year.
No elk in my freezer lately. At least not since I started focusing on bow hunting. Still, a great time.
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Lol, I’m on probation. Just saw that.
Submitted my 2022 big game applications today for buck deer, buck pronghorn, cow elk, and cow moose. With 3 preference points it's possible I could draw a cow moose tag. We're still eating 2018 bull moose, mostly various sausages like smoked summer sausage, Italian and breakfast sausages, and some German knapwurst that we made last weekend. On August 2, I'll pick up bull elk and bear licenses.
Don't wait until the last day which is April 4. The online application system sometimes has delays, glitches and shut downs in the last day or two of heavy traffic.
https://kdvr.com/news/data/colorados-hunting-culture-is-booming/
[panic]
LOL, I did mine early last week.
Good luck if you waited too long.
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