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Yeah that is fucking rough. For those without the stomach: Aggy hires a fucking quack professor who turns out to additionally be a sadistic bitch that tortures horses to death while also running bullshit quack treatments on hundreds of horses. Finally she was convicted on animal cruelty charges and had her license revoked, but only after footage was leaked showing her shock a slung horse with a cattle prod over 1000 times in the most vile and disturbing manner imaginable. Hopefully she spends eternity in hell being trampled and bitten by horses.

@hornmpa96 which broadheads were you using? Any pics of the first in his ribs?

Decently consistent moisture content from the spring fed creek, but we also water trees when needed. We setup a 300 gallon tote with a solenoid valve you can operate without getting out of the bobcat.

@hornmpa96 I’ve been in that situation and it is rough - really great that the buck lived and you got another opportunity. Those are both awesome deer! What county?

Yeah we have pretty great spring turkey hunting every year. I took the balance of the day today and dug about 40 yards of dirt out of a pond that’s been dry this fall. Another 40 yards will have it in better shape and we can use the top soil to dress some bare areas in the pastures. Dad cleared a bunch of cedar in this seasonal creek area that runs to this pond and we’re planning to plant some pecans (Caddo and Choctaw) and some Apples (Anna to go with some Ein Shemer I planted a few years ago); and maybe some pears as well. I thought this area would be a great little spring turkey spot and I was able to get one this spring in there. If we can get the fruit trees going, they will be great wildlife (and people) food sources.

Those two rifles my daughters are shooting are as follows: 1. In the foreground the 12 yr old is shooting a Ruger American Ranch in 300 BO topped with an Sig BDX in 3.5-10 with an aftermarket throw lever. Suppressor is an Sig QDX with a silicone cover. I cut the stock down for kid LOP and fabricated a soft little recoil pad. The buttstock shell holder has some foam in it to raise the cheek weld and provide some cushioning. Shoots subs and supers very well. Bogpod deathgrip infinite carbon tripod. 2. In the background the 14 yr old a Tikka T3 action that I swapped the factory .270 barrel down to a second hand factory Tikka 6.5CM threaded, fluted, and ceracoated barrel. Suppressor is my titanium AB Raptor that I run on my elk rifle, but in a short arrangement without the “reflex” mount. Scope is an older Nikon 4-12 x 50. Stock is a Boyd’s AtOne (nice because they adjust down to about 11.75” or so, and then quickly back out as needed). I added a Salmon River Solutions Arca rail to the foreend to allow more secure tripod mounting. Tripod is another Bogpod Deathgrip Infinite with the saddle removed to use the Arca mount. (Saves about a pound and is much more secure) With the suppressors, tripods, and ear pro on, the kids were shooting full factory loads in these gun like they were .22’s. They wanted me to shoot the rifles first and afterwords they said “oh it’s not loud!” And then they proceeded to empty the mags twice in about 90 seconds. This pattern occurs every fall. They must have heard me shoot an unsuppressed rifle years ago and immediately think shooting any rifle is going to be really loud. We literally don’t even talk about recoil, the sound is what they worry about. 14yr old has a bino harness on, which looks like suspenders. Suspenders are cool; so are coveralls. Here she is two years ago with her first doe wearing my dad’s coveralls from the 70’s:

Yeah a cold front would be much appreciated.

Turkeys and fog so far this morning.

A lot of that going around today

Had a peaceful sit after the horns finally put Arky away. Does and yearlings, no pigs or shooter bucks, but a nice sunset.

Some pics through the spotting scope from inside the house this AM. Mid-range year for us buck-wise. Decent numbers but the quality is down some from years past. Young 8 point with little splits on his G2s is kinda interesting:

Had a good day today.

It definitely looks like a domestic that broke loose, and like it would be good eating.

Got some time with the 14yr old in the blind today, looking for does or pigs but none showed. Did see a big flock of hen turkeys, including what I think is a bearded hen. New target showed up on the cell cam just a few minutes ago:

Haha I thought it was a dead rat initially

The Howa Mini Action and Super Lite are interesting little guns. Under 5 lbs, Stocky’s carbon fiber stocks, precision action with no superfluous length. IMO they would be perfect youth or women’s guns if the length of pull could be adjusted. As they are, probably the handiest little bolt guns I’ve fondled at a gun shop. There is a good video review from Randy Newberg on their site: https://www.howausa.com/howa-super-lite/

@huge was the scimitar from last year? How is the meat? On my bucket list, just haven’t made it happen.

@Ragde what range did you shoot the buck with the 357? I always thought a 357 lever gun would be really handy.

Three years ago, my elk hunting partner was shaking so bad when a shooter bull walked out (at 600 yards) that he couldn’t hold his phone still enough to read his dope chart. He could barely hold his phone. He hands the phone to me and asks what the holdover is, and I’m trying to calmly explain to him, “if you can’t hold still enough to read your phone there’s no way in hell you’re making a 600 yard shot..”; and he says “just give me the holdover”; ok.. and I watch through the binos as he airballs 4 shots at this bull. There was high grass between us and the bull, and all around the bull, so I can’t see any splash of his shots. He’s getting pissed at me because I’m not giving him the splash. He starts reloading and Im asking him “how far have you shot that rifle at paper?”, which he bristles at; Finally the bull wanders off, never having picked up his head from feeding during these shenanigans. The only thing additional we needed was some Benny Hill /Yakety Sax.

Great buck @hornmpa96 I would propose “Tumbleweed” if someone hasn’t already named him.

@ABZ I’m shooting a Ruger American in 7PRC this year; up to now I’ve shot 300 Weatherby’s. I also shoot suppressed with an AB Raptor. What range was the bull, what ammo were you shooting, and how was the bullet performance?

[mention=8793]ABZ[/mention] what is your rifle setup? Nice Bull!

Back from my elk hunt. Tough hunting this year with the warm days, and cool, clear nights with a big bright moon. We saw a really nice 6x6 two days before the season started, right by my buddy’s cabin. This split up our group, as two guys stayed to hunt this bull and two of us went with Plan A, which was hiking 5 miles into the wilderness to a big meadow at 10,800’. Here’s a photo of the bull through my phone scope at 800 yards. We had a pack service haul about 70lbs each of our gear and we hiked in with about 20lb packs. Gear photo and camp photo. We had a big herd of elk walk around our camp headed south out of the meadow the first night around midnight/1am. I woke up to loud hooves on the ground and a little bugle and cow calls. They were so close I thought they might trip in our tent lines. More hunters came into the meadow the next day. None of us saw any elk once the season opened. We did multiple hikes around/outside of the meadow. The beetle kill deadfall was thick and really hard to traverse when you got off the trail or outside the meadow. I did make some pretty great bacon and egg breakfast tacos on the hot tent stove. Since we had the horses, brought a 12pack and sunk it in the creek. Work Crocs functioned well as camp shoes. We bailed after 5 days in the meadow to head back to lower elevation spots we’ve hunted before to see if we could turn anything up, but the weather and moon were against us. It started snowing the last day of the season at high elevation and raining below about 10,000’. In addition to the herd coming around our camp, which I’ll never forget, we also saw an albino or piebald muley doe. It was beautiful, snow white. I wish I had my spotting scope setup to get a good photo of it, but I left it at camp that morning. Here’s a lowsy photo from 500 yards. Also some typical nice 1st rifle season scenery photos.

The four of us got to my buddy’s cabin this evening. Got our gear sorted and ready to go on horseback tomorrow AM. About 55 lbs per guy going on horseback (110 for each pack horse) and about 25 lbs on our backs. No cell service in the wilderness area, so I’ll be out of touch for awhile but will take pics and report back when we get back to town. Saw elk out grazing this afternoon in Chama when we were driving through, which gives me some hope that we’ll see animals out during hunting hours.

Heading to Colorado now. Looks like a little cold front might get there Tuesday, which would be great. Going to be a little bit warm before then.