“A lion’s work hours are only when he’s hungry; once he’s satisfied, the predator and prey live peacefully together.”

This lion hunt started with a coyote hunt in 2008.  I had setup in a  brush pile and started calling to see if I could get a dog to come in.  I had been calling for about 3o minutes and was starting to think that the stand was a bust.  I was about to give up when I noticed something moving in a little bush about 10 yards in front of me.  At first I thought it was a bird but after I looked at it a little more I was able to figure out that it was the black spot on the tip on the tail of a Mountain Lion.  To this day I have NO IDEA how he got so close without me spotting him.  How did that animal get so close without me seeing him?  The more I thought about it the more it freaked me out.  If that cat wanted me there is no doubt that he could have been on me in one jump.  I was amazed and impressed by this animals stealthiness.  When I got home that night I knew that I needed to learn more about lions and I knew that I needed to match wits with one.

For me a successful hunt is if I could have killed something with a rifle. J-

Day 5

It has been said that the love of the chase is an inherent delight in man-a relic of an instinctive passion. - Charles Darwin

Wow what a great quote…  I pulled it from my Runners World.  Hunters love the Chase.

Perspective -

• The ability to perceive things in their actual interrelations or comparative importance: tried to keep my perspective throughout the crisis.

If you guys have been tracking some of the events that have been going on in my life over on Facebook you will have noticed that I haven’t really had a chance to hunt like I would like to, but in the in grand scheme of life it is no big deal.  I am just glad my mom is doing better and that she is going in the right direction.

If you guys have been tracking my blog will have probably noticed that for me the best part of Coues deer hunting isn’t the killing of the deer but the  process of trying to get close to North America’s toughest animal to kill with a bow.  This year I spent over 60 days running around the mountains and my GPS tells me that I have covered over 300 miles on foot.  If you want to be a successful Coues deer hunter those miles are all part of the process.  I have often said that bow hunting has saved my life, it has given me a reason to be able to get off the couch, on my feet and out the door.  I know and old man that we call, “The White Rat”, that has probably killed more Elk in Northern New Mexico than anybody else.  I once asked him how he was always able to find animals, he would always laugh and say that the “They are where they are”.  As a young fly fishing guide I never really knew what he meant but as a get older it all starts to make since.  What he was trying to say is that when we scour maps, we spend hours climbing mountains and try to find the best habitat but when it comes right down to it animals don’t really care about that stuff.  As along as their needs are met they have no need to move.  If you want to be a successful hunter you need to figure out where the animals are during the season.  Last year I made  mistake by scouting like a mad man during the summer and the fall but once the “whitetail lull” and the rut kicked in I lost all of the big deer that I was tracking.  It was a real eye-opener, I was two steps behind the deer.  The last day of the hunt I picked up, headed into the high-country and I found deer.  I passed on 3 smaller deer.

This year I spent a lot of time learning new country but I knew that it was just fun and games because the real scouting would start a week before the hunt.   So what happened?  Well, I found a spot early in the summer that I was really looking forward to hunting but there is way too much snow back there, to get in there safely.  I might take the 4 wheeler in one of these days during the hunt just to see what is going on.  Who knows it just might be worth it.  To get to the area it is about a 45 min drive from the house, then a 45 4 wheeler drive and then a 30 min hike.  It is a lot of work to get in there but I am sure that there are a pocket of deer in there that die of old age.  So before the season a good buddy suggested that I look at a spot that he had seen deer before and that he felt might have a good pocket of deer.  Given the chance to learn a new spot I was all over it…  Like usual, I downloaded every map I could find and I started downloading waypoints to my GPS. The race was on.

As I type this we are gettign with a ton of snow…. They think we are going to get another 6 inches in the lower country.  To be honest, as long as I can get to my hunting spots I really don’t mind the snow….  I really try to refine my clothing selection so I can stay warm and dry during the hunt.  This year I wearing some stuff from Buckwear and StormKloth.  So far so good, for me the the key is not getting too hot while walking into the stand.  Some of my spots are pretty far in and you can really work up a sweat so I need to make sure that I don’t start the hike with too much clothing.  If case you are wondering Max-1 is the camo I usually wear…. I trust it.

So what have I been seeing out there???  Well, there is alot of snow and all the water sources are frozen.  The deer are also starting to scrape pretty heavily.  I found what looks like an old mining road that has about 8 scrapes in about a 200 yard line.  I think that is going to be my Number 1 spot.  It is on the top of a little knob….

Things are starting to pick-up!!!  I wanted to see if I could find some Coues Deer in some lower country so I strapped on my boots and went for a little hike… My GPS said I covered 4.2 miles but it was in pretty flat country so it wasn’t too bad.

The picture below is from a little area that gets very little sun, it is in a deep canyon.  I have seen deer in here before but for some reason there was very little sign.  Maybe a Mountain Lion moved in, I am not sure but those deer are GONE – GONE, not just gone..

Almost Show Time!!!

As many of you know I drew a late season Coues Deer tag in Unit 24.  It isn’t my favorite Unit but I will need to make due.  Some say that there are Coues Deer all over the Unit and to some extent that is very true, the hard part is finding nice pockets of deer so you can do a little shopping before you decide to let the arrow fly.  I won’t lie and I will say that I have had a hard time finding good pockets of deer. I have found a few deer here and there but nothing like I have seen in AZ or in other Units.  We have also had some pretty good storms that have left a lot snow in the high-country. One of my spots is under a foot of snow right now, I am not sure if the deer are going to move out or if I can even get to the country that I want to hunt.  Time will tell, I plan on heading out this weekend to do some serious scouting.

In the meantime how about a few pics?

Hey Everybody…

Well it is about a month until the archery season starts so things are going to start heating up…  Last year I scouted to early and I think I blew some of the deer out of the country.  This year I am going lay back a little longer and really hit the hills about a week before the season.   That being said, I have a few animals on camera that I thought you guys might be interested in seeing…

Hey everybody....

   Many of you are heading out this weekend for the start of your seasons... I still need to wait until January, I drew a late season Coues Deer Tag.  Last year I found that I my camera recon was a little off because I was tracking deer all year but once the rut started all bets were off.  While I am going to still hang cameras all year I am going to focus more and funnels and saddles instead of water or mineral sources.  I drew a tag in a unit that I usually don't so I really need to hit the hills and let my cameras do some scouting for me... SOOOO How about some pictures???

Well Everybody

It is that time of the year again. Time to unveil my choice in bows.  This year was different because I got a chance to shoot all the bows side-by-side at ATA.  I was able to shoot everything from Hoyts to Bears.  Personally, it was a great experience.  As many of you know I am always saying, "it is the Indian not the Arrow.".  I really believe that.  If you picked the top ten bows they are more accurate and consistent than any human can be.  If there is a difference it will be in quality control and ease of tuning.  Last year I shot and reviewed a single cam bow.  It was a nice little bow but I had some issues with the cams "biting" into the serving and the limbsaver kept flying off the limbs.  I know that is pretty rare to ever read anything negative about a bow but I have no  problem calling it like I see it.  So stay tuned for an honest review.

 

Hey Everybody....   Below are the results of a really cool shoot that is held in southern NM.  If you ever have a chance to make the shoot you should try to get out there...  This is what archery is all about.. Getting the Kids outdoors... Thanks Paul C. for sending me the story.....


Take Care
J
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Well another Turkey season has come and gone, and that only means one thing, the Kemp Youth hunt Club has had their annual shoot.  And like in years past the wind played a role in the scores of the shooters, but the good news was that it only blew on Saturday and not strong until the afternoon  As always the course was an easy walk and the targets were set nice with just enough challenge.  The adult volunteers of the hunt club do a lot of work at this shoot every year with ground blinds being dug and holes being dug for some targets to get a different shot angle on, they really make it fun and exciting to find out "what is the challenge of the next target".  This is how the format of the shoot is layed out, there are 2 courses of 15 targets.  One is of African animals and one is of North American animals.  The targets are double staked to make it 60 shots for the shoot, and makes it worth the entry fee.  There were several stakes that had multiple targets giving a little more realistic feel to it.  As anybody that likes shooting 3Ds knows that it is not real fun unless the course has some challenge to it, this course had some, but seemed a little less this year than in previous years.  The first target You walked up to in the African course was a little Impala looking animal that was 45 yards, and in my mind I was like "It is going to be a long arrow searching day" But that was one of the farthest shots of the course,(there was a buffalo and an Elk that were 40+ but they are HUGE) unless you want to discuss the bonus, a 85+ yard antelope.  The only thing that is missing in this shoot is that they cant get to radical with the ups and down angles, and that is always  good practice.  And to get the SUPER SPEED shooters to break their 11 streaks the club puts a Beaver at about 8 yards with an eleven ring the size of a dime, (HA take that you 350+ fps shooters). 

All in all it was a great shoot with the weather on Sunday being the ultimate get together weather and perfect for the trophy presentation.  And there is another place were the Hunt club did an excellent job, In the MSR class there was a three way tie, so they took the three to do their shoot off and Roger Di Camilla entertained the participants until the shoot off was complete.  That is when every PeeWee was called up and given a Trophy, now most of those kids are hooked for life. which is very important for the future of the sport.

The trophies that were given away to the "bigger kids" were of the metal art variety that were beautiful and I think were made by Powderhorn Metal Art, (at least I saw their truck at the shoot so if I am wrong they get undo publicity). 

I am going to post the results as they are on the web page at kempyouthhuntclub.com where you can go to see more pics of the shoot and the clubs hunts and other activities.  Now for those people that like shooting 3Ds or if there are you guys that want to try some 3Ds this shoot will held again next year probably during turkey season, for some unknown reason, come on out and shoot one of the best hosted shoots in the area, just bring a few arrows some might just get wet. This year there were 205 shooters and the crowds were not too bad at any of the targets.  So come on out and lets make next years even bigger, all the money raised goes directly to helping kids hunt.  Check out the web site and you will see the glee on  all the kids faces in the pics.  And that is what this is all about putting more smiles on kids faces.  As the saying goes :hunt with your kids so you don't have to hunt for them" .  I would like to thank Chase Kemp, the Wagners Scott and HB, Roger Di Camilla and any of the hunt clubs full time volunteers and the parents of the kids that help with the shoot every year.

Hey Everybody...

  How about some trail cam pictures???  This is that little spot I found where a rancher tossed a salt block for his cattle.  He pulled the cattle out of the area but my deer are still around.  I suspect that the deer are going to really start hitting the area once our summer rains start.  This spot is on the edge feeding and bedding area.  It is about a 1/3 of a mile for a pretty significant water source so I think the deer are going to stay in the area.  The only issue I have is that I KNOW that there are much bigger deer in the general area but I can't figure out where they are bedding or where they are watering.  During the rut this area was TORE up with scrapes but I didn't get a chance to hunt it.  The crummy part is that I might not even get to hunt this unit because it is a tough draw.  So this weekend I planing on scouting my 2nd draw choice.

 One think you might notice is that  my Coues Deer are holding onto there antlers well into April.  For deer in the Southwest that is pretty common. 

 Again I am using Covert Trail Cams that I picked up from Amanda at www.coueswhitetail.com

How about this Buck?  He has nice mass and a great frame but he need longer and more points...

 

This is just amazing to me....  I have never really been a fan but doesn't he know who his base is???  I wonder if people are going to go after him like they have gone after Carrie Underwood... 

http://www.hsus.org/press_and_publications/press_releases/rush_limbaugh_records_audio_041409.html

Hey Guys..

 I hope everybody is still scouting hard... This is the time of year where we see what animals made it thru the hunts...  In NM, the deer started dropping their antlers about two weeks ago...  BUT alot of them are still packing, last week I saw several 1/2 rack mulies. 

BUT I did find some older sheds.  

Hey Guys...

   Here is a quick little reciepe that  I got from Shawn Monsen's wife Melissa...   They are a great little pick me up when you need one on the mountain. They don't require any special storage.  It doesn't matter if they get mashed.  The are not that bad for you and best of all they taste great and are less filling...  

But it is approximately:

• 3 cups powdered milk
• 1/2 cup ground flax seed
• 1/2 cup ground wheat germ
• 1 cup old fashioned oats
• 1-1 1/2 cups peanut butter
• 1-1 1/2 cups honey

Hey Guys...

  If you have been reading my blog long you might remember that I found a place that doesn't get hunted very hard but that I always find scrapes in the area.  So once our season finished I hung a Covert Camera in the area to see if I could pick up any deer in the area.  The good news is that I found a ton of deer.  The bad news is that most of them are Mulies.  I also found a nice herd of Javelina's.  

Hey Guys....

   The other day someone was asking me if I knew of any resources to help the traveling archer.  They were basically looking for  a list of archery shops, clubs, 3-D Ranges, etc...    Well there is, it is called..

As many of you know my cousin Carla killed a great Elk this year.  It was her first season hunting and she did great.  If you don't remeber you can see her bowkill by clicking HERE .

She did it again.  This year she killed a nice Mulie buck.  It was a Spot and Stalk hunt and she made a great 30 yard shot after stalking the buck for 3 hours.