I didn’t get out in the field as often as I wanted this fall, but who ever does, except George Cook. Fortunately, I got to take part in several great hunts, including an archery antelope foray with my girls where we spent the night in the back of my truck under the stars. We were able to make two long stalks on nice antelope bucks, but I couldn’t fling an arrow. Each time the shot was too risky.
A friend of mine was able to take a small mule deer buck with his bow. He shot it in the evening and we had trouble tracking it, even though he’d made a nice lung shot. After a while we were crawling along the ground looking for blood, so I suggested we hold off and come back the following day. My friend was dejected, but when we returned in daylight we realized the buck had run downhill, across a road. So we combed the area and I finally was able to yell, “Yes! Got him right here.” And my friend had his first bow kill.
I was also fortunate to hunt pheasants over a young German shorthair this fall. He was awesome, holding points for us until the birds flushed from our feet. I didn’t shoot as well as I hoped but ended up getting a few roosters.
Elk hunting was a bust for me this year but I did get a play on a nice whitetail that carried impressive brow tines and giant G2’s. I’d beaten through the brush all day trying to find a monster and had only seen a few decent bucks. But no bruiser. When I finally got out of the brush, I found Mr. Big in a field chasing does. Put him down with the .300 Winchester Short Mag and now have a great supply of sausage and snack sticks for the winter.
Hope all of you had a great fall hunting season. Send pics and I’ll try to share them here.