AT Hiker
Well-Known Member
Just been busy living it up out here. Spent yesterday taking care of the meat, got the skull in water hoping maceration starts taking place before I fly out so I can get those sheaths off and in borax.
Little back story. Got here last week and went into the unit. Immediately I could tell numbers were way down. Which we all knew but to see it first hand gives you a different take. Also, what bucks I found just didn't look super impressive. Especially having the genetics to produce world class bucks.
One thing for certain, the views from this desert area are superb.
I knew this year wasn't "the year" but I needed to burn these points. Why? Because we (family) were planning to make a move to WY sometime in the near future. Having a dozen points as a resident does you no good, it's all random draw for them. At the time of application season my September was wide open…so after a lengthy talk with the biologist I was in. Figured I'd spend a solid week picking out "the buck". Things changed a bit and my September became full, really full.
After a couple days of scouting I quickly realized I found 90% of the critters. Couple of them were pretty good but nothing stood out. Honestly I've killed bigger ones on 2nd choice units with limited public land. Not because I'm a good antelope hunter, but because I was persistent and shot the first one I could find on public…ie lucky.
But this unit was anything like I've hunted before. A metric crap ton of accessible public land. Here is a view of a glassing point I found. Probably 5 miles to those buttes in the top left corner and only one two track between me and them. Unbelievable, plus it had elk and antelope in it.
Little back story. Got here last week and went into the unit. Immediately I could tell numbers were way down. Which we all knew but to see it first hand gives you a different take. Also, what bucks I found just didn't look super impressive. Especially having the genetics to produce world class bucks.
One thing for certain, the views from this desert area are superb.
I knew this year wasn't "the year" but I needed to burn these points. Why? Because we (family) were planning to make a move to WY sometime in the near future. Having a dozen points as a resident does you no good, it's all random draw for them. At the time of application season my September was wide open…so after a lengthy talk with the biologist I was in. Figured I'd spend a solid week picking out "the buck". Things changed a bit and my September became full, really full.
After a couple days of scouting I quickly realized I found 90% of the critters. Couple of them were pretty good but nothing stood out. Honestly I've killed bigger ones on 2nd choice units with limited public land. Not because I'm a good antelope hunter, but because I was persistent and shot the first one I could find on public…ie lucky.
But this unit was anything like I've hunted before. A metric crap ton of accessible public land. Here is a view of a glassing point I found. Probably 5 miles to those buttes in the top left corner and only one two track between me and them. Unbelievable, plus it had elk and antelope in it.
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