Wife's hunting season 3:3 down....UPDATED 11/6

[jrebel]

My wife is a teacher so she doesn't get to hunt as much as I would like her too  .  It seams that if we get 2-3 days a year it is a good year.  Well this year she drew three tags (doe, second deer / doe, and cow elk)....got to love our draw system.  Well as stated above days are hard to come by so we did some planning.  Second deer tag is a one day hunt (got it done today in about 3 hours).  General tag (doe or buck) is a two day hunt next weekend and elk hunt is a 4 day hunt next month.  I will update the post as her hunts transpire and let you know how we do.

Second deer hunt:  I got off work today at 0800 hours.  We had plans to spend the day looking for her doe.  I get home and we load up the truck and take off for the hunting grounds.  First place we check we find a large group of deer about 700 yards away.  There were approx 20 in the group and they were in a place that made a stalk really difficult.  We had to cover 400-500 yard to get my wife in range and we had very little cover to do it in.  Figured what the heck.....lets give it a go.   30 minutes later we are a little over 200 yards away and we are set up on the sticks. The deer know we are there and are getting a little skittish.  They all bunch up, which makes it really hard to get a shot.....I am very proud of my wife as she was patient and passed on many shots because it just wasn't right for her (another deer to close, not comfortable with her backdrop, etc.).   We sit and wait for the correct shot and the deer finally get tired of us and off they go.  No big deal....I was very proud she didn't take a shot she was not comfortable with. 

Well we hike back to the truck and take off for where I think, the same group of deer, are going.  20 minutes later we have them spotted off in the distance and make our play.  We start about a 500 yard stalk, again in the wide open, using the terrain as our cover.  Approximately 300 yards into our stock we see the deer sky lined on the ridge.  They are 200 yard and walking / feeding.  We make a small loop to get in front of them.  As we come over a small ridge we see two of the deer in a bowl about 150 yards away.  We set up on the stick....safety off....and the other group, who were bedded, stand up.      Again they all group up and we are back to trying to get one to give us a shot.  They all bound off with no shot.  We hurry up the ridge to find the group 120-150 yard away.....and there is a doe straggling.      Her mistake!!!  My wife gets on the sticks and puts the smack down.  The new 7mm-08 barked and 50 yards later we had a deer on the ground.  Couldn't be more please.

We had the kids with us so it was truly a family affair.   Hands down one of the funnest hunts I have been on in a quite a while.  I have been waiting for the family to share a moment like this for a long time. 

Sorry for the long winded hunt...enjoy the pics. 

[sled]

Awsome story.

[Timberstalker]

Good all the way around!  Looking forward to see the other two she takes!

[Mark251]

Great picture of your wife and kids 

[clearwater]

Way to go!


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[huntnphool]

 

[C-Money]

Nice! Sounds like a great hunt. Good luck on the other tags.

[724wd]

With the kids!  Gotta love it!!!

[Machias]

   Awesome

[NOCK NOCK]

Congrats JR. Time to get that cooler up and runnin

[Watimberghost]

Thats great! Congrats to your wife 

[jrebel]

Congrats JR. Time to get that cooler up and runnin

Cooler is up and running.....3 deer in it so far, one of which will see the taxidermist tomorrow.  Sneak preview of another members hunt!!!!    

[lokidog]

Very nice, all the way around!!

[hunting4sanity]

Judging by all the smiles that has to be one of the best hunts in the history of hunting, congratulations!

[nanserbe]

Nice, way to go Molly!

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[HUNTINCOUPLE]

Awesome! I'm diging that cooler!

[de0827]

That is awesome - congrats to your wife!

[jrebel]

2/3 down this morning.    I will update tonight with pics and story.  One more to go.....come on cow elk!!

Well today was another success.  We arrived at our hunting camp (Wifes Parent's House) on Friday night.  The plan was to hunt Saturday looking for a buck and if no buck presented itself we would then shoot a nice fat doe Sunday morning.  Well the legal bucks eluded on Saturday so this morning my wife made a great shot on a nice fat doe.  She was gutted, hung, skinned and cleaned in time for breakfast.      This doe has sage breakfast sausage in here very near future. 

My wife has done a great job this year and I couldn't be prouder. 

Now we have a week and a half off and off before she attempts killing her first elk ever.  Hope the Clockum isn't the zoo I think it is going to be. 

[jrebel]

Updated with pics

[jackelope]

Awesome Johnny.  Nothing better than those family memories. Thanks for sharing. Good luck with the elk.

[HardCorpsHuntr]

Congrats!  Great hunter and teacher (taught all three of my kids)   And that boy of yours didn't fall too far from your tree.

[lokidog]

Nice, good luck on the elk hunt.

[KFhunter]

That's what it's about right there, love it 

[jrebel]

Well my wife completed her trifecta last night.  I got off work at 0800 and came home to pack the jeep.  We had 4 days to get it done and after hearing all the stories about the Colockum, I was a little worried to say the least.  Now keep in mind, we have never hunted the colockum so we were going in blind.  The couple summer scouting trips were really to get to know that roads.  I figured when the camps, trucks, people and shooting started the animals would leave any summer habit they had. 

Left the house at 0930 and were in the gmu in about an hour.  Man there were a lot of camps and road hunters.....matter of fact, We didn't see any hunters outside of there truck.      We even saw a few trucks sitting under the powerlines glassing for animals from the warmth of their cab. 

We finally make it a ridge we want to hike.  Pack on and boots laced tight we take to the hills.  We do about a mile and half loop with very sparatic sign and no animals spotted.  We decide to relocate so headed for the jeep.  Make it the jeep in a hail storm and warmed up while eating lunch.  Make a 45 minute drive dodging all the road hunters and countless camps. 

As we approach our final destination we realize we must be in a good area.  We had 2 rigs in front of us and passed 5 side by sides and 6-7 other rigs.    .   The two thoughts I had were....  1.  all the elk are dead or we just hit the mother load.....surely there can't be this many people in one are without any elk residing there.      2.  This sucks complete BUTT!!!!  I hate being around this many people.     

Well with two hours of light left we decided to check the gps, point our nose in the direction we wanted to go and start hiking.  We left the jeep and made tracks....the plan was to cover ground to get away from the road.  About a half mile into the hike we spotted 5 deer...all does with no bruisers sniffing.  We press on.  As we reach a timberline we decide to slow our pace.  We are seeing more sign here that we have seen anywhere.  I literally could have filled a 5 gallon buck of elk droppings in about 2 minutes.  There was fresh elk poop everywhere. 

Now this is where the fun begins.  As we enter the timber we immediately here elk hoofs.  My wife sits down scanning under the trees and notices two elk about 40 yards in front of us.  It is to thick to get a shot and all we can see is legs so we maneuver slowly for a shooting lane.  We were so close we could here them chewing as they grazed.  We sit for about 2 minutes when we see them moving toward the shooting lane.  My wife is sitting with gun shoulderd......I am shaking like a leaf in excitement.  Well the elk stop just short of the shooting lane..   A minute for two passes when they must of winded or heard us and the hastily exited.  I hit the cow and calf calls imediately and the woods went quite....I figured we had stopped them.  We wait a few minutes with nothing coming in so we decide to start a slow stalk inthe direction they left.

About 50 yards further down the ridge we spot two elk feeding.  They are about 100 yards our.  Neither a huge, but heck....who cares, they are elk and I have always been taught to never look a gift horse in the mouth.  My wife gets set on the sticks and waits for a broad side shot.  Finally the shot presents and BOOOOOM!!!!  I am watching through my bino's and.......nothing.  The elk is still standing there.  No flinch...No nothing, clean miss.  Wife jacks another round in and the elk decide to leave town.  I hit the cow calls and stop them.  We have a huge slash pile in between us now so we have to maneuver.  Multiple times over the next 5 minutes I have to all these elk back with cow and calf calls.  For whatever reason they did not want to just run....probably because they have been trained that running will get you killed by one of the other 500 hunters.      As the maneuvering continues, I finally get the bigger of the two stopped at about 70 yards.  It is a very hard quarting away shot which I know is not a good shot for my wife to take. I put her on the sticks and we wait.  The thing just stands there.  I finally give her the instruction to put the crosshairs on the base of the neck and shoot. 

BOOOOMMMM!!!!!!  ELK DOWN!!!!!  She absolutely flattened it with a wonderfully placed neck shot.  No meat wasted on this little bugger.      Now the work begins.  We were .83 miles the way the crow flys from the jeep.  I checked out the gps and found a road below us.  I hiked the road out....2 miles and sure enough it was drivable green dot.  That hike sucked, but it was better than the alternative.       Drove the jeep in and got the elk out whole. 

It is not a monster, but we don't care.  It is my wifes first elk ever and it was BULL!!!  That's right, it had a dingus and nubs under the hide.  Her antlerless tag was filled with her first bull ever.      I couldn't be more proud.

Sorry for the long winded story, but it was a great hunt.  We got close, we heard them moving/eating, we got to call and hear them talk a little too and my wife got to kill her first elk.  All this in an area I have never hunted with heavy pressure.  OH YEAH....and the pack out was incredibly lucky and easy. All in all a good day in the woods. 

My wife harvest three animals in 3 1/2 days of hunting.  She is a natural. 

[bracer40]

Great outcome, story and pic! And not too long. I love reading/hearing people's stories! Thanks for sharing.

[Sitka_Blacktail]

Great job!

[X-Force]

 

Busy season

[Mark251]

Great job!  Loved the story and the pics.  Congratulations to you and to your wife 

[NOCK NOCK]

Woohoo, congrats to Mrs. JR, Your freezer/s should be getting awfully full by now. 

[C-Money]

Congrats!!

[HUNTINCOUPLE]

Great job!!! I want to see pics of the whole elk strapped across the spare tire of the Jeepster.

[Widgeondeke]

Congrats!   

[gunnarnewt]

 

[jrebel]

Great job!!! I want to see pics of the whole elk strapped across the spare tire of the Jeepster.

We acordian folded it into the back.....hoofs were running between the front seats.  Here is a bad picture as it was taken in the dark. 

[lamrith]

Great job!!! I want to see pics of the whole elk strapped across the spare tire of the Jeepster.

We acordian folded it into the back.....hoofs were running between the front seats.  Here is a bad picture as it was taken in the dark.

That's priceless!!  GIT ER DONE!

Nice job, you guys had a great year.

[kellama2001]

Congrats!! What an awesome year for you guys! She definitely is a natural hunter going 3 for 3!  Thanks for the pics and great write ups 

[NOCK NOCK]

Dang that pic makes me miss the old days. I was a FJ 40 guy (want to buy another one) Nothing like stuffin an animal in the back of a two seater. 

[TheSkyBuster]

Thanks for sharing,  I enjoyed reading your stories. I'm trying to put the wife on a colockum cow as well. This give me some hope and inspiration.   

[gasman]

That's awesome, great year for her and a full freezer to boot 

[Turner89]

Great job jrebel family 

[BOWHUNTER45]

Nice ...congrats to her ..  I have had more fun hunting with my wife in the last couple years .. it sure is satisfying !

[M_ray]

Wow nice season, congrats! 

[rasbo]

wow,congrats on some great outtings with your family and great harvests ..nuttin better

[herdbull33]

nice work

[jstone]

Great year, great job

[crowinghen]

Nice Job filling the freezer!!