Seth

We had some off the tenderloins from mine for dinner this evening. Dad browned the meat in flour and then throws it in a casserole dish with cream of chicken, potatoes, mushrooms and a few other things and bakes it till the potatoes are done. It was heavenly!

We roughed it and stayed at the Elkrun Inn in Craig. The rough part was we had to walk up the stairs to our room. 😁 This was essentially a long, glorified grocery trip for some elk meat. There had been about 60 head hanging around right before we arrived, but they headed west and it took a few days before some new waves came through so we could tag out. I’ve been saving up points since right after I graduated college and I have 12 now. One of these days i will cash them in for a good unit, but I need to save up my pennies for that one.

I drew a cow elk tag along with my dad, brother in law and his dad for a late season cow elk hunt. We head out from MO last Friday around 6:30pm and arrived in Craig, CO about 19 hours later. This was my first long drive across country. The two things I learned quickly is that driving through Kansas is less exciting than watching paint dry and those few hours before day light seem to be the roughest for staying alert while driving. Our hunt started Sunday and dad struck first that evening with a 325 yard heart/lung shot on a cow. Monday didn't produce anything, but we watched a herd of several hundred heading our way from the north from about 1.5 miles. On Tuesday morning, we arrived and as the land owner had expected, the herd was in the hay fields to the south and were crossing over to his ground. As they crossed over, my brother in laws dad was able to knock down a huge cow. My brother in law and I tried to get circled around and get another shot at the herd, but we got too far ahead and they passed behind us and got away. Nothing came back to the property that evening, but we did see another 40-50 head working there way towards us from the north again. This morning we got out at day light and glassed around for a bit and then eased our way back to the east side of the property. Right as we got to the eastern fence line, a herd of roughly 15 elk were coming up out of the bottoms and on to our side of the fence. They were 200-225 yards away and we both took shots at different cows. I hit mine and she ran off over the hill to the north and he missed on his first shot, but made a good lung shot on his follow up shot. His elk as still standing after he hit her so I followed up with a shoulder shot and put her down for the count. We waited about 30 minutes and then went to gut his and then went after mine. It had went about 70 yards and was laying in the brush with her head up so I had to put another shot in her head (actually two because I missed the first shot at 10 yards.....) and she was out. Dad has killed plenty of elk, but this was the first elk hunt and elk for me, my brother in law and his dad. They have done western hunts for antelope, but this was my first time out west. I love it and will definitely be looking forward to coming back again! The country is beautiful out here, especially when the snow is on. I definitely need to do a better job of getting pictures of the country side when I am here. We're staying one more night at our hotel and then heading out early between 3-4am and making the trek back to MO with . If all goes well, we should be back home around midnight tomorrow. I'm not looking forward to the drive. We are in for a lot of work getting all of this meat trimmed up and ready for the freezer this weekend!

That doesn’t look very appetizing, but I guess you can make anything edible with some egg, flour, lemon pepper and hot grease.

I’ve caught and released a bunch if fish, but I’ve never had much luck with the shoot and release deer hunting. What is the secret to making them recover from a broadhead or buklet through heart/lungs?

I wouldn’t call it a pissing match, just more of a discussion. It’s an awesome deer as I have already stated. You have much more will power at laying off him that imd have and I hope it pays off huge for you in the future.

Holy cow! You aint a kidding on the BIG part!

Hopefully your reels didn't get soaked by a big wave and freeze up right off the bat this morning like during the CAM tourney. Tear em up boys!

Thinking you can control the genetics of a wild deer herd is laughable. If you do some research on high fence deer breeding, you will find out that the genetic make up of the doe is very important as well and we have zero idea what kind of genetics a wild doe is carrying. Providing nutrition via good quality food plots helps, but the biggest factor is age. Letting bucks get to at least 4.5 is the only way to really see the potential that a deer has.

This is just a cow hunt so essentially it's a long, glorified trip for some groceries. As long as there is enough snow to push down to where we will be hunting, it shouldn't be too difficult to get on some cows and fill a tag. I'm still sending in and saving points for a good bull hunt one of these years. Right now I have around a dozen points for Colorado for elk and mule deer.

MAN! I am so wishing I wasn't going to Colorado on that elk hunt this weekend now. I'm dying to go fishing and put the new Ultrex to use and I'm always down for hitting up Taneycomo and meeting other forum members.

Even after comparing those images, I don't see where anything really stands out from the buck in your video that says 3.5 and not 4.5 year old. I'll say that he doesn't look like he's 5.5 as there isn't any belly sag yet. I passed the first nice buck I saw this year during MO's rifle season. He was came out about 300 yards away and walked along the fence line. His rack looked really nice, but I wasn't convinced that he was a 4.5 year old deer based on the body. If he is a 3.5 year old and made it through till next year, he will be a dandy. He could have been a 4.5 year old though. The buck I ended up shooting looked more filled out and I believe he was a 4.5 year old and shot him. I'm pretty sure the buck I passed would outscore him though as he had much taller tines and was slightly outside of his ears. Here's a couple deer that we had several years worth of pictures on. It's fun to see how they grow through the years. This one was my favorite, but we never were able to kill him. He's the largest deer we've ever been able to follow on our cameras across the years. This farm sold last year and we lost access to hunt it. I'm not sure if the new land owners ever saw or killed him this year. I'm sure we would have heard something if they had. 2014 - 4.5 years old 2015 - 5.5 years old 2016 - 6.5 years old (his best year) 2017 - 7.5 years old (his rack is really starting to show some character now)

I have a hard time judging their age once they reach 3.5+ unless I have game cam history with a deer. Most 3.5 year olds I've seen are between 110-120" around here with a few breaking in to the 120 class, but rarely over 130". If that deer truly is 3.5, he is a very rare deer and I hope you get a chance at him in the future because he will be a world class 8 pointer.

That deer has to be pushing 140" as a 8 pointer, which is a dandy. I'd have a hard time believing he is a 3.5 year old! Is it due to the lack of mass that his rack carries? If you are correct, then that deer is a freak and will blow up to something special.

I have made two orders from Frank. The baits are good quality and you won’t find a better value, but it takes FOREVER to get your items.

Well of course you don't need electronics to fish for shallow bass! Bass are one of the few species that I don't usually mess with bringing the electronics for. Those electronics are gold when it comes to non-spawning crappie and paddlefish though. I've caught plenty of both before having decent electronics, but I catch a whole lot more now with electronics. 😉 When you are a local and fish the same water all the time, you don't need electronics. I've always told people that when they start asking questions about whether they need fancy electronics or not. Maybe you do, maybe you don't. I know they have made fishing a lot easier in new waters for me simply because they make finding what I am looking for that much quicker and easier.

As long as the boat floats and the motor runs, a good set of electronics and a I-pilot features would help put just as many fish in the boat as they would on a shiny new boat. Plus you can always move them to another boat if you upgrade.

I've been wanting one for several years, but I'm cheap. I'm beyond excited to put this thing to work on some trout and crappie!

I saved $400 on a 24v-80# Minn Kota Ultrex.

My intentions when I bought my last two were to go purchase a St Croix Premier. I had the St Croix in hand and then noticed the Air Streams were on sale. Back went the St Croix and I grabbed a pair of Air Streams and saved $30. Hard to beat for the $$$, espeically when you catch them on sale.

I have used the 6.5 footer for several years and love it. Based on the recommendations of others on here, I bought a 6 footer to try this summer when they were on sale. After using both, I think I still prefer the feel of the 6.5 footer. It just seems like I miss more fish with the 6 footer. I'm guessing it's due to how I pop the jig and that little bit of extra tip that the 6.5 footer has lets me get away with delayed reaction hook sets since it flexes when a fish has it and doesn't stick them quite as hard as when I have the stiffer 6 footer. I'd try the 6 and 6.5 footers before the 7 as they are quite a bit lighter and I just liked the feel of them over the 7'. That's for straight line jig fishing for trout. I'd be all about using the 7' for a jig and float rod, but then again I would just assume have a 9-10' crappie rod for that as well.

Crappie would definitely be in trouble. I bet it would be awesome for finding roaming schools of trout on Taneycomo and for pinpointing schools of paddlefish as well IMO.

Man, I can think of so many good uses for that! I'm still working on saving for the Ultrex though. If didn't have an elk hunt to pay for this December, I'd have the Ultrex already bought.

For float fishing, I would down size. If you're just straight lining or vertical jigging, I always start out with a 3" BG Slab Slayer and then down size if needed. A 3" bait is nothing to a 10"+ crappie.

John Hewkin and whoever he fished with. Only reason I remember is because he is a Cowtown guy.