The Hunting thread!

[Pipe_Dream]

Originally Posted by scook

Been off the site for quite a while - password problems. It's good to be back and see that things are still percolating along with you all.

Went to eastern Oregon for a guided cow elk hunt and between my son, a friend and I, we got two nice cows. Would have had three, but my son's rifle wasn't shooting accurately, so he declined to take a 300+ yd shot - he made a 200 yd head shot to put one down that our friend had a round in. His rifle is going off to get a good stock fitted - hopefully that will fix the problem.

I haven't hunted big game for ages and was surprised at how different field shooting is from the range. I got down with my new bipod and found the grass completely blocking my shot - I've got some work to do to get prepared for the next trip.

Another surprise was how tender the meat is. Beef round steak is usually pretty tough, but the elk has been really tender. Not a lot of flavor, but a little garlic powder and other stuff takes care of that.

Great to hear from you. Yes, many of us are still alive and kickin' around here!

[scook]

Thanks for the welcome back Pipe - any good duck hunting this year?

[Blue_Runner]

Hey Scook glad you are back. The hunting trip sounds awesome congrats on getting some good meat for the freezer. I take a white tail or two every year but never been elk hunting. Had it once, it was really good!

[scook]

We saw some beautiful white tails. They just hoofed their noses at us, knowing they were out of season and went back to grazing.

[Pipe_Dream]

Originally Posted by scook

Thanks for the welcome back Pipe - any good duck hunting this year?

I got to hunt three times last season. The first hunt the woodies were really flying, the second and third times out not so much. Oh, and my shooting was sub-par. I was trying out new ammo (couldn't find my favorites). Yeah, that's it! It was the ammo!

[scook]

My last duck hunt, which didn’t involve any duck hunting was back in the 1960’s in college. Did quite a bit of sub par trap shooting and went out one day with a buddy and my soon to be wife - I was in the lead, dropped down into a dry stream bed and was looking a skunk straight in the eye. No duck and probably no jet launched off of a carrier ever took off as fast as I did getting back up that bank.

There are so many people, unfortunately way too many of them are idiots, hunting out here now that finding a decent and reasonably safe place to hunt is a challenge.

Glad you got some in this season.

[Pipe_Dream]

Originally Posted by scook

My last duck hunt, which didn***8217;t involve any duck hunting was back in the 1960***8217;s in college. Did quite a bit of sub par trap shooting and went out one day with a buddy and my soon to be wife - I was in the lead, dropped down into a dry stream bed and was looking a skunk straight in the eye. No duck and probably no jet launched off of a carrier ever took off as fast as I did getting back up that bank.

There are so many people, unfortunately way too many of them are idiots, hunting out here now that finding a decent and reasonably safe place to hunt is a challenge.

Glad you got some in this season.

I don't hunt any public land. There are too many people, and some of them will sabotage your hunt, your boat, your truck... I am fortunate enough to get to hunt a private impoundment a few times a season with a great group of guys. If that weren't the case I wouldn't be hunting.

[scook]

Private land is definitely the way to go. Our elk trip was a guided hunt - a young guy has a hunting lease on 21,000 acres of ranch land in central Oregon. It made the meat a little expensive, but it was an enjoyable time, plenty of hard work and cold toes, but still worth it.

I need to check in with an old friend who has had arrangements with some ranchers in the past and see if he’s still good with some of that.

[oteps]

Archery season starts saturday. Headed down to my palce in West Virginia.

[oteps]

Ready for hunting season?! Gonna be here before we know it.