Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Tagging out the first morning of a hunt

Is not a problem with me when the right opportunity presents itself......

My hunt last fall lasted 35 minutes from the time I left the truck till the deer was on the ground, fastest hunt ever in 42 years of hunting. I look forward to retirement when I can spend the whole season afield as opposed to one or two days. At that point I will forego my current mantra of if it's legal I'll take it. Till then I'll take what I can get.

If anybody is on a guided hunt and you don't want to kill opening day PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE let your guide know. I have no problem with whatever a client wants to do as it's their hunt but what might be your first day might be my 10th day or 15th day. I've hadn't guys pass giant deer due to it being "first day" and I had been busting my ass for weeks trying to turn that animal up for others.

Personally I am a trophy hunter and not many animals meet the requirements of what I want to kill so I'll gladly take a shot opening day. This year I killed my mule deer in Mexico 20 minutes into the hunt and never saw a better deer the rest of the week. It's just how it goes

I can understand where you're coming from too. I would never do that to a guide.

I've only been on 4 guided hunts in the USA

All 4 were first day tag outs.

I attribute those one day hunts to guides being on animals the days and weeks before I got to camp.

After waiting 16 years to draw a Colorado moose tag in 2015, my hunt last about 20 minutes tops the first day. I had a less than 1% chance of drawing that RFW tag according the draw statistic.

I am not a trophy hunter, so I am glad when I can tag out quickly. Gives me more time to get my traps together and fish. Our deer season is really long so I never worry about those, if I see a buck I harvest.

Tag out early? Oh hell ya! No pressure and you can either help or heckle your fellow campers the rest of the season. Just be sure you have enough whiskey to last you the rest of your time in camp.
P.S. You don't have to tell your wife when you fill your tag early.

A couple years ago my deer season lasted less than 10 min. I hadn't been out of sight of the pickup for more than a couple minutes. I was strictly meat hunting and got a BIG yearling 2x2. Body wise, it was huge for it's age. 4 of us got 3 deer that morning. The deer were home that day.

Agreed. If I get the opportunity day one I'll take it. Always more tags to fill,small game to hunt,camp chores to do, etc,etc.

I still stay the entire week, I just become a designated meat hauler.

Passed up a nice mule deer buck on opening morning of a week long hunt thinking I would see something better. It was the only legal deer I saw all week. Never again.

THIS

I used to try to hold out for big. Nah. Anymore, I won't shoot a buck on the last day that I wouldn't have shot the first day. There are a ton of other things to do out there that I won't get to do 'til I tag out, especially late fall fly fishing. Fall, here, is just an incredible time to be alive.

Tom

Any more I don't just want any mule deer buck, I want a monster. So, if he shows up the first day I'm happy, otherwise I keep looking. I've not killed a buck for several years now, but I have passed on many good four year old 4x4's. Maybe next year.

On our elk hunts tagging the first morning means probably hauling out your elk alone and then pitching in to help haul everyone else's. That's fine. Everyone's happy to do that.

If I spent big money one a guided trip I would be happy to tag a whopper the first morning, but I'd probably be second guessing it if I tagged an average animal and spent the next 5 days just lurking around camp.

The key is, you can't lurk after tagging out. You've got to saunter.

I have never had a problem with tagging out on the first morning, but it has been a long time since I have done it. The only time that it bit me in the ass was one year when I shot a decent 6x6 opening morning, and spent the next two days looking at interesting places that I might want to hunt.

While sitting on an abandoned logging road on a hillside above a little spring seep, to see if anything would show up, I heard a series of bellowing bugles getting closer and closer. After a five or ten minutes, a herd of cows, calves with several bulls wandered into sight on the old road bed that I was sitting on. The lead cow was taking her time and looking at the spring down below and up a small canyon that led up to a mesa above me.

The herd bull was by far the best elk that I have ever seen in the wild, in or out of hunting season. While the old cow made up her mind, he stood there and screamed and hollered for a good five minutes, standing 63 yards away from me. I know that because I had plenty of time to dig my rangefinder out of the day pack at my feet and confirm the distance several times while he stood there. The group finally meandered up the canyon, filtering out of sight.

Since then, I have only tagged out once on the first morning, taking a decent 6x6 that was the largest-bodied bull that I or anyone in our hunting camp had ever seen. But I do tend to be more choosey about what I shoot these days, and where I shoot it. It also leaves me free to help others who do get their elk, something that gives me almost as much satisfaction as getting a good one for myself.

One time I had a ewe tag for the Sangre de Cristos.
Rain was predicted so opening morning I prepared for weather instead of hunting right away. I brought a bunch of extra stuff for weather at altitude. I ferried a tent, tarp, raingear to the highest timber cover. Dug drainage around the tent (something I never do). Made lots of elaborate preparations.

Finally I can begin to climb. I go 500 yards up the trail. BOOM! Drag the ewe back down. Spend a couple hours tearing down the camp I had just got done putting up.

I've tagged out on The Opener several times over the years, and I really could not have been happier. In fact in 1991 and 1992 I nailed the biggest bucks I'd had taken to date from the same tree on the same day. These remain my #1 and #2 bow kills.

1996, I was in with my buck before 0900

2003, I was tagged out within 10 minutes of the start of season with my largest buck to date

2007, Ditto. This was my #1 buck of all time as well as the camp's record.

2014, my son and I both tagged our bucks before 9 AM on the Opener. We shot our bucks 300 yards apart, but they fell less than 50 yards apart. It made it really easy to get them out in the truck-- only took 1 trip.

2016, We had three bucks on the pole before sundown on Sunday, including the #2 and #4 all-time bucks at our camp. I got the biggest, my buddy nailed one with a bigger rack. My son nailed his #2 all-time.

Truth is, in the Trans-Bluegrass, the Rifle Opener in Mid-November is the absolute best time to get a shot at the big bucks in the woods. If you go too far into the first week, the Rut has usually calmed down and the deer are off acorns and feeding in the field. If it's going to rain monsters, it's going to happen Opening Weekend.