Woe is me....

[Hoss 350]

How bad would it suck if I drove by the MIL's house and blew an elk call................



Tbar

Badly enough that you'd risk getting shot at...

 

[Hoss 350]

what date?

November 4th

i would say if its a doable day we texans should be able to at least stop by and laugh as you pack

Sure appreciate it...

never thought elk was a big deal

That would be simply because you don't have them. Elk are the best eating, most difficult to hunt, and are the ones that you may go 5-6 years between getting one. DEER are the ones that aren't a very big deal 'round these parts. They're a dime a dozen, and you can shoot one on the way to work off the interstate if you want to...

i geuss the elk get off easy this year

I don't know about that... I still have ONE weekend to lay seige...

mil close by, yep you need to work on making some babies,
there is nothing finer than grandkids
wish we had them first

Not you too...

i feel your pain mine lived with us for a year
but we managed

As will I.

 

[powerboatr]

November 4th

Sure appreciate it...



yep sounds like you need to put together a MOD party at the MIL house, call it a pizza packing party .

think grandkids it will be all better

 

[Hoss 350]

Hoss-

you are doing the the right thing! think of all the wife/MIL cred you will get for this. btw: i dont have this disease, yet. MIL closer will hopefully get you more help arournd the house to go hunting.

And no whining about me leaving, either, 'cause all I have to do is remind them....

elk hunting: sounds like WA is doing some heavy duty management.

Yeah, Washington has the problem of having WAAAAAYYY too many people in the field every year, so they have restricted takes via shortening seasons, putting antler restrictions on deer and elk (you can only shoot a 3-point or bigger deer [thats a 6-point to you boys down south and back east], and where I hunt elk, it is SPIKE bull only. That is why getting an elk is so difficult. How many spikes do you think make it past opening day??? Imagine, for a minute, having to COUNT antler points on a muley at 300 yards with a set of binoculars when you are breathing hard from working your way in and out of the deepest breaks in the state. Imagine the fear and trepidation pulling the trigger even when you are SURE, because at 300 yards, how sure can you really be? I put a deer down two years ago, walked up on it and IT WAS A 2-POINT!!! I almost puked, untl I rolled him over and saw that he had a third point on the other side, making him a legal buck...

The worst part is that because of the short season, EVERYBODY hits the field at the same time, so if you don't pick your spot carefully, (ie, you go hunt PUBLIC LAND) you're standing shoulder to shoulder with ten other hunting parties. That is why I spend so much time running around my hunting areas, networking with farmers, giving them fresh and smoked salmon, jerky, sausage from last year's harvest. Sucking up to get that coveted written permission slip so i can go where no other man can and have a decent, quiet hunt.

The other thing is that my family owns about 10,000 acres on the snake river breaks near Clarkston, and we have direct, written permission access to all the neighbor's land in the same area. They keep the numbers of hunters down to pretty much locals.

any chance of a lottery for unclaimed/unfilled tags.

They have lottery drawings for doe and cow permits, and also lottery drawings for "Big Bull" permits, so you can shoot a big bull instead of a spike only. However, they issue 8 big bull permits a year in my GMU (Game Maangement Unit) and there are ususally 3 thousand plus applicants. So basically, if you draw this permit, you'd better LIVE AND BREATHE big bull, or you have wasted a once in a lifetime chance.

what about idahoe? the boys up there should be some help.

That they are, and I use them often, but out-of-state permits for deer costs $350, and for elk costs $450, so it is not cheap...

in general, welcome to my world- come fall, i am trying to find way to get more time off to go and play. right now, the salmon run is winding down. duck season just started and pheasants are a couple of weeks away.

Ahhh, a man of my own heart....

put that GSP to work- eastern WA and oregon have good bird- pheasant hunting. respectable at lease.

Respectable my aching arse! More like WORLD CLASS!!! Last year, Dutchess and I single handedly brought down 27 pheasants, 3 geese, and god only knows how many ducks, quail, chukar, hun, and grouse she brought to me. All within an hours drive from home... THAT season lasts plenty long. October 14th through January 16th. (That was her first season, she was 8 months old. I trained her myself. Talk about proud papa!!!)

if all else fails, throw up your arms and scream! head west to ND/SD for some fun. disappear for a couple of weeks.

dennis

I was thinking about maybe heading Montana way this year. Have a friend up around Havre with 20,000 acres. Big Bulls, Bucks, and birds galore...

 

[Hoss 350]

November 4th

Sure appreciate it...



yep sounds like you need to put together a MOD party at the MIL house, call it a pizza packing party .

think grandkids it will be all better

What MODS do you think we can throw on the U-Haul truck at the last minute to make the trip more fun??? I figure with my luck I'll get one with a big block gasser and have to stop every three miles to put 150 gallons of fuel in it. But MAYBE I'll luck out and get one with a 6.9 diesel. Can we "turn up" the pump on it real quick before I leave? I'm thinking 300 horsepower ought to git-r-done!

 

[acjjkamp]

good luck getting a diesel u-haul.
when we moved here from Seattle we used a Penske truck that was a gasser, talk about not being able to pass a gas station...
Spokane Valley Hospital is nice place, for a hospital...been there a few times.
you'll earn that elk after all this.
good luck on that last hunting week.

 

[W4RLR]

SImple solution.

Bring MIL with you on the hunt, and tell her that her job is to clean and dress the carcass! Tell her about all the money you save by harvesting your own meat...tell her anything, but get out there and hunt!

 

[95_stroker]

Bummer Hoss, but all in all you are probably doing the right thing (reads; will keep the peace in the family for years to come) by doing this for the MIL.


I've been away from here for a few days but while Iwas out I took care of some elk for you.

First and second pics are two bulls that were hanging around camp the night before the opener, the third pic as a bull we dumped at sunrise opening morning about 100 yards out of camp and fourth pic is the cow I took and she is about halfway through the quartering process. All told, we had 5 elk (two bulls and three cows) on the ground by noon opening day, all had to be quartered and packed out on back.

 

[DaveBen]

Nice kill, Mike!!

Dave

 

[Hoss 350]

Well, we made it

The truck was a penske 26 footer with an Internation VT 466E in it. Nice truck. probably 2005 MY. It sure was a pleasure to drive, and got about 10 MPG at 70 MPH top speed.

Made it to Denver the first night, 16 hours driving that day.

Made it to Billings MT the second night after 10 hours.

Made it home Monday after 8 hours.

I drove the whole way because both the gals were terrified of the truck.

The wind in wyoming had me thinking I was going to get horizontal for a little while.

No snow, though, so life is good.

MIL is all moved in and happy. She made us stew for dinner last night. It was pretty darn good. Maybe there are some advantages to all this after all!

I spent a total of 8 hours in Dallas. 6 of them I was asleep. Sorry I didn't have time to meet some of you guys. Maybe some other time.

Anyway, the rigid steel tube bench seat in the truck has my back screaming for mercy this morning, so I think I'll go take some more ibuprofen and get abck to work. Later!