BowCast Blog

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

Day 5

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.

Hey Guys....

   I am still burning the boot leather scouting out new areas for Coues deer.  I have been hanging cameras in different types of areas like creek bottoms and areas where I have seen scrapes in the past.  Unfortunately, my success has been pretty limited as far as trail cam pictures have gone but I feel good about my effort because at least I know where the deer aren't. :)  Last year I hung camera's at water sources at I was able to find deer but once the rut kicked everything changes and I was left chasing scrapes.  This year my goal was to stay off the water sources and learn new areas.  As far as my physical scouting goes it has been pretty good.  I have found several really nice sheds and I have glassed up or jumped several Coues deer does.  I have found a pocket of deer that I am going to key in on.  The big challege now is to wait until a few weeks before the hunt and cover some country looking for scrapes.  Once I find a scrape I need to hang a trail cam on it and see what happens.

Talk about RAIN!!! It has been a long time since I have seen this much rain this late in the year. In fact, we had TORNADO warnings for the first two days of our Antelope season. I was praying that the area that I was hunting was relatively dry and that I might be able to sit a tank until I was forced to do a little spot and stalk.

Because of birthdays and family visiting I wasn't able to make the first two days of the hunt, usually two days isn't that big of a deal but our Antelope season is only 7 days long so you have to take advantage of everyday. So I rolled out of Silver City Monday morning around 5:00 am trying to make it to my hunting spot before noon. I was able to get to my camping spot around 10:00 am. So I quickly setup camp and headed to the mountain. I say mountain but in reality the area I was hunting was pretty flat. The good thing about this area is that I could see and glass a long way but the problem was that the antelope would see me coming.

Hey Everybody...

Last week I was getting big time cabin fever, so Stella and I went out to hang a trail camera. I found a tank on one map that wasn't listed on the more recent maps so I loaded the coordinates on my GPS and we went for a little hike. At the time I was just hoping that the tank would still be around and it might be a little honey hole. I was hoping to find a pocket of Coues Deer but I found something better. I found a place to hopefully stick a bear. I am going to hang some some scaffolding for a treestand later in the year. Yes scaffolding, I am a big boy and I don't like little tree steps. :) Okay, maybe not scaffolding but I am definately going to use a treestand with a ladder.  This is one of the videos that I got of the bear. He isn't huge but he will do just fine.

Redefine your goals...Redefine you!