Archery Talk

When I first moved to Colorado, I thought hunting public land would be a piece of cake so long as I was willing to head 1 mile off trail in any direction. Then the side-by-sides came. Nothing more demoralizing than waking up at 3am to hike 3 miles of vertical feet, just to have someone on a side-by-side come crashing through the forest with a six pack in their cooler at sun up.

So I'm with ya. Now I lie to everyone about what I see

 

Yep. Had a good set up or so i thought, spotted a cow elk and i knew the area well, rode my atv parked, walked another 1/2 to 3/4 mile. Cow elk didnt know i was there. Waited on a bull or spike.. . Bout last 30 min shooting light some jack ass comes driving on skid road, the paper company had opened a gate or they knew the combo... of course the cow elk ran away taking any bull with her. Idiots in the ranger waiving like we were best friends..

 

something like this..



would have been appropriate

 

I didnt even wave, i was going to throw the middle finger...but i was so pissed, i wanted yell at them..not that it would do any good.

 

Access on anything is strange to us on national forest land in Texas. They have not allowed it in most since about 2007. We bitched about it at first, but we never rode them except to go back in after a kill and bring it out. We know how blessed we are now. Still, I'd like to ride an electric bike back in there. There are many square miles I have yet to explore. The ranger told me it was the same $450 fine as if I got caught on a side-by-side. You can't even ride SBS or ATV's on the national forest ROADS! I asked him if I had a medical waiver would that allow it on the electric device. He said no: find you some place else to hunt that allows it.

 

You can still ride a horse or mule

 

Yep, horse or mule. Thank God. Only one problem though for me: I am DEATHLY allergic to equine dander. I can't even walk down the horse trails in the woods without sneezing my head off! Big Texan I am!

I think horse riding during hunting season is confined to the horse trails provided. No free ranging.

 

Seems like they dont want you to have access so they make it near impossible to find a good way to use the land

 

Have you tried hunting army core land by accessing with a boat. Dam fine hunting from core water boundaries. Not many put the effort in to hunt these areas.

 

We have some islands on the Mississippi close by. 25-30 years ago they used to put crops on a couple of them, some of the biggest deer killed came of off those islands. They finally quit planting them because of the constant flooding.

 

Shhhhh

I was really debating and I still may drive up to your area and hunt the Missouri side of that core land. I want to get a whack at a buck down here first.

Headed in tonight again. The wind isn’t what I want but I think I might ha able to set up just barely off wind of where the deer have been moving. Scent would have to blow over a levee so I’m debating between sitting on the ground to try to keep the scent on this side of the levee or up in a tree so my scent blows over top of the deer if the wind swirls. Going to play it by ear I guess. Wind is horrible for the next 2-3 days so I’ll have to head to another area to try something new. I said I have to be more aggressive yesterday. Here’s to hoping the wind cooperates and I might be in luck.

 

Yes, hunted by boat since the seventh grade all up and down Corps lands on the Neches and Sabine rivers. We kids were out in the aluminum boat on the river three days a week in the winter, and as many as five the other three seasons. We grew up on the Neches river. Camped where ever we wanted. They have now made it illegal to camp on the banks of Corp land. To increase "recruitment" in the Corp-run and Corp-leased campgrounds on Corp impoundments. Not only no camping on lakes like Sam Rayburn, but Torpedo Bend as well. THat's 1200 miles of shoreline that you cant camp on anymore just on Torpedo Bend by itself. AND no camping on the banks of ALL of their headwaters AND all of their drainages. All the way to the Gulf of Mexico. Only and unless you get a permit ($) for a very few primitive camping spots THEY specify. I'm too old, too renegade for that shit.

Our freedoms are being eroded little by little. I refuse to pay $20/night for a camping spot next to a 32-foot motorhome. That ain't camping. George Carlin was right: If you have to make a reservation to sleep next to a tree, something is wrong. So I beat them at their own game:


I camp ON the impoundment, in the hammock in my boat. THAT they cannot stop! Right over my crappie brush piles. Nightly cost: $0.00.

Bacon and eggs, in the boat:


When I did hunt I stealth-camped in hammocks WAY back on public land. It was easier to stay in there and only go in and come out once a weekend rather than go in and out after every hunt. As I said, we were way back in there. A quick hammock setup after dark and tear down way before daylight and the authorities were none the wiser. A deer gurney will transport two men's complete weekend needs in, and transport a deer or two out too! Been stealth camping a long time. Do it right and nobody will ever know you were there. Except the cougars.

 

I have thought about backpacking into the forest to hunt under the radar. What did you do to park? Get dropped off or leave your vehicle?

I didn’t see anything tonight so off to a different spot unbeknownst to me yet tomorrow.

 

We had buddies or one of our wives drop us off and pick us up. This was before gps and cellphones! You had to have your plan worked out ahead of time. We bought 2' x2' USGS aerial photographs, had them cut smaller and laminated to keep us from getting lost. No car sitting in the forest overnight to be broken into. Hunting is fun, but being stealthy turns it into an adventure. It's not about the kill. It is about the adventure and making memories you can tell your grandkids about around the campfire. I made a lifetime of them going deeper and hunting harder than most of my buddies. Now I am telling them to my grandkids, and they are spellbound! It is worth the extra work! You guys make the extra effort now, because one day you will discover like I did that grandkids are more fun than hunting!

 

Yep, not for whitetail, but both elk hunting trips this was always my style. While I’m young and in decent shape I’m going to out hike most of the general public. I’ll get deeper than anyone else and camp out once I get on something. Colorado was the prime example.. I was hiking 5 miles in every day (we had a RV for base camp) and that was at least 2 miles beyond 90% of the other hunters so we had the spot to ourselves for the most part

 

Bino repair v2 is holding on so far. Planned on a lot of flashing today so I figured I should try to cobble them together again.

 

Its no surprise success rates are so low. I found it amusing on opening rifle for deer this year I'd hear quads going up and down the road above me. I was only off the road a quarter mile and got my first muley. Hoping to find some more remote areas to hunt next year but can't complain about killing my first elk and muley.

 

V2 is far better than the coke bottle cap