Post by: ICEMAN on January 01, 2012, 08:39:59 PM
Here is another poor me story, sort of... Between getting hit by a car at age 14, working in construction field for many years including a 12 foot fall onto my azz thru a building where I broke my back..... (back is better now...) but my hips have suffered over the years. Being heavy has not helped I am sure. I have not been nice to my body over the years. My doctor cringed at my xrays five months back, was shocked enough to write a referral for immediate replacement of both my hips to start immediately. I told him it was going to have to wait until I finished my house...and hunting season of course.... Advanced osteoarthritis of both hip joints, bone on bone contact in both hips. Nice.
Long story short. Drug my wife and kids along today to the winston. Started off in state land. ROAD HUNTED 7:25am to 9am. Hiked into a clearing at 9 and bumped a herd into some guys who have no problem firing at a moving herd at over 450 yards. Never understood how guys do this, especially since if an animal does not drop, and you rechamber, which do you shoot at next? ANYWAY, I passed on moving animals. Finally a spike stopped at 300. I admired him from my bipod and the soggy snowy ditch I was laying in.... No quality shots for me, I move on. (So did the elk) Steep stuff, too steep for me this year or I would have pursued...
More ROAD HUNTING into Weyerhauser lands..., usually gated lands. Finally spied a single 2yr old cow all by her lonesome in the middle of a clearing above me. Walked down the road to close distance. Very windy. Got to 150 yards and could not find any firm tree for support. Flipped out the bipod and extended high cause the shot was steep uphill. I slogged my legs and hips off the grassy skid road and positioned for a shot. Bad juju. Took forever to get into a sane position to shoot by, too steep up, crippled fat guy on ground and in ditch. Finally it worked, one shot thru the lungs at 175 yards. The cow spun around but did not run. Placed a second rib shot in and she flipped belly up, legs sticking straight up and not moving.
Here is the cool part; my 15 year old went up to survey the area. He blazed a reasonable trail up and my 13 year old daughter drug a rope up to the elk. My wife and I traded off repositioning the rig and pulling the elk downhill. Radios helped a ton, and the kids worked miracles yanking the cow around stumps and other probs..... Not adviseable pulling stuff down hill, I know, I know...but "these legs AREN'T made for walking" lately.
Drug the elk to the roadside, rolled out a tarp, gutted, skinned in T-shirt weather. We had to carry the quarters 15 feet to the truck. Could not have asked for better weather, or a better crew to help this crippled hunter out. Very proud dad and husband.
In picture (1) I circled my daughter carrying the rope up to my son above with the elk. My kids are awesome.
Post by: ANDERWAGON on January 01, 2012, 08:42:16 PM
Nice work Iceman and fam! :tup: :tup:
Post by: EDT on January 01, 2012, 08:46:09 PM
Post by: Widgeondeke on January 01, 2012, 08:47:58 PM
Post by: frostman on January 01, 2012, 08:49:06 PM
Post by: big wood on January 01, 2012, 08:49:17 PM
Post by: Bob33 on January 01, 2012, 08:50:33 PM
Post by: Wenatcheejay on January 01, 2012, 08:52:07 PM
Post by: buglebuster on January 01, 2012, 08:53:27 PM
Post by: SniperDanWA on January 01, 2012, 08:59:58 PM
Post by: bobcat on January 01, 2012, 09:04:08 PM
ROAD HUNTED 7:25am to 9am.
More ROAD HUNTING into Weyerhauser lands...,
:yike:
I like how you emphasized that. :chuckle:
Good job, it's nice that you got it done on the first day. Did you see a lot of other hunters?
Post by: Skyvalhunter on January 01, 2012, 09:08:14 PM
Post by: BOWHUNTER45 on January 01, 2012, 09:13:19 PM
Post by: PolarBear on January 01, 2012, 09:14:52 PM
Post by: ICEMAN on January 01, 2012, 09:18:14 PM
Way to go Kevin!!! :tup:
Thanks.
Bobcat, I did not see a ton of other hunters amazingly. We decided to hunt a few areas in state land and down low at first, thought the open gated lands would be crawling with permit holders so we waited..... First Weyerhauser gated road we explored we found the lone elk on... Alot of guys get back to camp by 10am IMHO.... We intended to glass till our heads ached. Did not need to, got lucky I guess.
Post by: Hunterman on January 01, 2012, 09:19:55 PM
Hunterman(Tony)
Post by: igotbigbulls on January 01, 2012, 09:29:08 PM
Post by: jackelope on January 01, 2012, 09:31:34 PM
Post by: HairTrigger on January 02, 2012, 07:04:58 AM
Good job awesome that the family was there too an helpin out I can't wait till my boys are old enough to tell them get up there an get it to.the truck lol another big :tup: nice got the liver on the grill already lol heart too or was it to damaged from the shot here's to a good year of eating elk :IBCOOL:
Post by: ICEMAN on January 02, 2012, 07:27:08 AM
:tup:
Good job awesome that the family was there too an helpin out I can't wait till my boys are old enough to tell them get up there an get it to.the truck lol another big :tup: nice got the liver on the grill already lol heart too or was it to damaged from the shot here's to a good year of eating elk :IBCOOL:
Yeah, heart was in great shape, I will stuff and bake it tonight. Nothing better than fresh heart or liver and my family loves it. I did shoot up one half of the liver on one of my shots, so not as much for the family, but no meat loss on this animal. Lucky day for sure.
Post by: C-Money on January 02, 2012, 07:49:26 AM
Post by: Camp David on January 02, 2012, 08:05:00 AM
Post by: TommyH on January 02, 2012, 08:27:12 AM
Post by: bearpaw on January 02, 2012, 08:59:01 AM
Post by: Huntbear on January 02, 2012, 10:04:36 AM
Congratulations on getting some meat in the freezer. Those cows make for some good eating. :tup: :tup: :tup:
Post by: Angus on January 02, 2012, 10:55:47 AM
Post by: actionshooter on January 02, 2012, 11:21:37 AM
Post by: Whitpirate on January 02, 2012, 11:46:44 AM
Post by: christopheri on January 02, 2012, 11:52:46 AM
Post by: ICEMAN on January 02, 2012, 11:55:55 AM
Great day with the family and provisions for a mild winter!
Mild winter is right. Look at that dry grass on the road there in the pic. The ditches are wet, but the road was basically dry and warm. Weren't we supposed to get above average rain this fall/winter? :dunno:
Post by: Whitpirate on January 02, 2012, 12:12:05 PM
Post by: bobcat on January 02, 2012, 12:51:38 PM
Great day with the family and provisions for a mild winter!
Mild winter is right. Look at that dry grass on the road there in the pic. The ditches are wet, but the road was basically dry and warm. Weren't we supposed to get above average rain this fall/winter? :dunno:
Well, winter's only been here for a week and a half so there's plenty of time for cold and snow/rain. The latest article I read in the newspaper said that although we did have a dry December, they still expect above average snow and colder than average temperatures this winter.
Didn't we get a ton of snow last year in March/April?
Post by: buckhorn2 on January 02, 2012, 01:23:54 PM
Post by: Huntboy on January 02, 2012, 01:31:47 PM
Post by: Yelm hunter on January 03, 2012, 09:10:25 PM
Way to go Kevin!!! :tup:
Thanks.
Bobcat, I did not see a ton of other hunters amazingly. We decided to hunt a few areas in state land and down low at first, thought the open gated lands would be crawling with permit holders so we waited..... First Weyerhauser gated road we explored we found the lone elk on... Alot of guys get back to camp by 10am IMHO.... We intended to glass till our heads ached. Did not need to, got lucky I guess.
Ya with only 200 tags to be filled and some of those getting bulls it was a great hunt... Not to many people at all. I think all I seen were probably 15 trucks total in 3 days. Wow there wasn't any pressure at all. I seen elk all 3 days I was there and got my elk at 8am this morning!! Check my pics and story out!!
Post by: ICEMAN on January 04, 2012, 05:40:09 AM
Post by: rasbo on January 04, 2012, 06:06:50 AM
Post by: GoldTip on January 04, 2012, 06:32:51 AM
Post by: Yelm hunter on January 04, 2012, 10:34:14 AM
Post by: elkboy on January 04, 2012, 10:38:33 AM
Post by: sharpshooter1000 on January 04, 2012, 11:22:03 AM
Post by: doyourtime89 on January 04, 2012, 12:54:40 PM
Post by: HUNTINCOUPLE on January 04, 2012, 01:17:15 PM
Post by: PlateauNDN on January 04, 2012, 03:13:39 PM
wat to getter done Ice,those times right there with the whole family make the best trophies in my mind..great team work Ice family
:yeah: Good story Ice and the setup on the back of your SUV is the type of setup I've been looking into. I thought about maybe a powerchair type setup I've seen being used but thought it might drag or catch on something but seeing yours has given me some ideas to use. :tup: Hope there's no patent pending or anything. :chuckle:
Post by: ICEMAN on January 04, 2012, 07:23:37 PM
Huntingcouple, we must have sounded funny on the radio.... :chuckle:
Plateau, no patent.... This rack is really neat. I designed it to simply push into each end of the open tube of the tow package, then we bolt the rack onto the arms. Strong as heck!
Post by: Big Horn on January 04, 2012, 08:26:20 PM
Post by: sharpshooter1000 on January 05, 2012, 10:12:56 AM
Post by: ICEMAN on January 05, 2012, 05:54:51 PM
Yeah, I know the area pretty well, but got lucky, on one herd and then the single by 10am.... I will take it. Need all the luck I can get! :chuckle: