ANOTHER GREAT YEAR IN MONTANA (pic heavy)

[LittleJohn]

Season came to an end here in Montana yesterday and it was great year full of excitement.
Thought i'd share some of the fun and pics with you guys

Started out with my friend from Wa coming out for archery elk season. It was a real struggle this year with most of our hunting area closed for fire danger. The fires caused me to work a ton of OT and that put a big damper on my scouting.

We had a great time and Jason managed to kill a small 6 point. We had very little bugling in the areas we were hunting, so we were happy to get a bull.

[LittleJohn]

rough county 

[LittleJohn]

Nice back county bull
We were spiking out and hunting on our backs
managed to get this guy only couple miles in

[LittleJohn]

I missed a couple days of hunting do to truck issues
Anyone ever had a ball joint go completely out?
NOT GOOD

We were a long way from no where with no cell service.
Nearest phone was 12+ miles of walking
Luckily I had my work radio with me (usually don't)
Managed to get dispatch on radio and they sent up a ride for us 

[LittleJohn]

I had some close calls with some great bulls, but was unable to seal the deal with my bow

My dad was making his first hunting trip to Montana. He's an "old" Logger from west Wa and has never been too much into hunting. If any of you recognize him don't tell hi I posted his pics on the web. He wouldn't be impressed 

[LittleJohn]

We managed to get his first mule deer on the ground. Praise the Lord. He was super happy to be taking home a deer.
I had a great time with the old man, havnt got to hunt much with him sense the Move to Montana.
He is already talking about next year 

[Jason]

Congrats on the animals harvested and the memories made with your old man and your buddy!!

[LittleJohn]

One of the Highlights of the year was packing out my hunting partners archery bull. He is a hell of a hunter and works as hard as anyone i know. He has put in a ton of time in the backcountry and earner every inch of this bull. This was his 20th elk and he made it a GOOD one
He just had it scored for the book last week, 375" gross.

[LittleJohn]

This was a general tag, DIY, on some of the toughest public ground Montana has to offer

[LittleJohn]

The same day my dad got his deer I got a text from my wife with a pic of her and her buck attached. She said I had some more work to do when I got home
She had been watching this deer on our properly all summer. I told her it was up to her if she wanted to kill it or not. Well she did 

[LittleJohn]

She managed to fill her turkey tag a couple days later 

[whacker1]

thanks for the update John.

good work.

[LittleJohn]

The Highest Highlight of the year was a trip to South Central Montana with my 9 year old son. I was a bit nervous about it. This would be his first time really hunting with me other than small day hunts. My hunting partner has a Cow tag in the area and I had 2 antelope tags as well. The area was open for either sex elk and I still had my general elk tag in my pocket.
I am usually all about killing a bull, but I told myself that if a cow presented a shot and Morgan was there to see it happen I would shoot a cow.
Well it was 10 degrees the first morning out and that made me even more nervous to have a 9 year old along.

Well Morgan did awesome!!! We covered some major ground and he stayed right with me the whole time. I didn't hear a word of complaint till day 3 when I had us both worn out pretty good.

[LittleJohn]

We would elk hunt in the morning and then go look for goats mid day. Then return to glass for elk in the evening and try put some to bed for the next morning. It worked out perfectly all around.
I managed to kill my first antelope ever with Morgan right by my side. It was awesome!!!
We put a 1000 yds stock on and managed to get to 350 yds
Dropped the buck in his tracks. Got lucky and hit a doe on the run at 400 yds 
Two shots two goats
Now time to go elk hunting again 

[LittleJohn]

We only had 3 days to hunt due to work schedules and Morgan needing to be in school according to his mother :}
The last day to hunt we planned to hunt till 2pm and then hit the Highway.
Morgan and I managed to get on some fresh elk tacks in the snow right after day light. While tracking the small group of elk a solo bull cut the herds tracks. Morgan really wanted to track it, so I let him take the lead.
It was one of those Father moments that was surreal to me. I had thought about how great it was going to be to teach my son how to hunt ever sense I held him as a baby, and all of the sudden we were there doing it. 
We jumped the bull out of his bed at 30 yds and I couldn't get a shot. Morgan's eyes were as big as could be. It was awesome. He was upset that I didn't shoot it. 

We got back on the herds tracks and began to trail them. All the sudden 4 cows came running down the ridge we were on. I managed to get them stopped with a few cow calls. I looked over at Morgan and he was crouched down on one knee with his fingers in his ears.
I shot the lead cow at 40 yds broadside
She ran out of sight after i shot her.
I have NEVER seen him that excited. He was shaking uncontrollably and couldn't talk.
We waited 15 minutes or so and Morgan got to follow the short blood trail in the snow
A truly amazing experience that I have been dreaming about for 9 years