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No problem at all tagging first day.

Plenty left to do.

In fact visiting AK in teh fall I WISH I could tag the moose the first day. So much more out there we can do...


We can keep Larry Root and all his idiotic blabber and user names on here, but we can't get Ralph back..... Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, over....
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I came back with tag soup this year. I passed up elk twice on opening day partly due to it being early on opening day and partly due to the work it would have taken to get them out (would have been a cow each time). Came close to a big bull that day in thick timber but couldn't get a good shot at it before it sneaked off. Didn't see another elk the rest of the trip, after opening day pressure the elk disappeared and there was little to no snow to help find them. I still had fun trying the rest of the trip but I would like to have that meat in the freezer!


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Originally Posted by noKnees
I can find things to do, but to me there is more satisfaction in having to hunt hard to fill the tag. Its a little different if I put in lots of time scouting setting stands before the season etc. But for the kind of hunt where there wasn't a lot of on the ground prep, stepping out of the truck and shooting big bull 5 minutes later is a bit of a let down.

Besides if you tell the wife you only hunted for 5 minutes, she will divide the cost by the time and then remind you what your hunting costs per minute.

Now if I have multiple tags, its nice to fill one early so you feel like the hunt was a "success" and then can hunt hard the rest of the week with no pressure.


Wife hunts with me. No biggy.

We put in time prior to the season opening, so there is that. We enjoy the hunting and typically its why we don't fill the last tag until the last weekend. But even if we shot them all out, we'd still drive to the lease, and have fun with everyone and go sit and watch. Plus have Tiger along for trailing as needed for the rest of the folks.

But with moose, there is one tag. Take it when it shows itself. If it ever does. Now when we move to AK like we hope to, then it could be all season for moose, and not worry about not having time to work on house maintenance, missing grayling fishing, missing taking hikes in new areas and so on...


We can keep Larry Root and all his idiotic blabber and user names on here, but we can't get Ralph back..... Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, over....
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Originally Posted by Rock Chuck
Mulie bucks aren't that easy to get with a bow. If you get the shot, you'd best take it when you can.

That was my first time hunting them.
The good that came out of it was that I learned a lot about the lay out of the land and hunting them. It payed off two years later with a fine 4x I stuck at 62 yards. I believe that if I had shot that one I would have lost respect of hunting them and probably never had gone back.


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This year the only reason I killed an elk on my third trip out was because the cow I seen at 7 am the first morning did not give me a clean shot. I would have been just as happy with that cow as the Bull I did kill.......

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First day, mid week,or last day of the season,I have killed elk on all of them. If I am by myself,I usually go home as soon as I get the meat packed out.

If I am hunting with a partner,I stay until he tags out or the season closes. If warm I will figure out some way to get the meat in a local cooler or drive all the way home with it,get it in a cooler and return to camp.

I never stay in camp while the other hunter is out.I go out every morning with him, help with mules, bird dog, help any way I can,or hang around the stock to just enjoy the solitude.


If God wanted you to walk and carry things on your back, He would not have invented stirrups and pack saddles
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Originally Posted by Joezone
I came back with tag soup this year. I passed up elk twice on opening day partly due to it being early on opening day and partly due to the work it would have taken to get them out (would have been a cow each time). Came close to a big bull that day in thick timber but couldn't get a good shot at it before it sneaked off. Didn't see another elk the rest of the trip, after opening day pressure the elk disappeared and there was little to no snow to help find them. I still had fun trying the rest of the trip but I would like to have that meat in the freezer!
If that was a bedding area, you spooked them out and they won't come back until someone else spooks them back your way. That's a big mistake many hunters make. Stay out of the bedding area if you plan to hunt it more than once.


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Yep. Same is true with guys that get to camp early and then go stomping around in the timber to scout for elk.If they find them, they won't be there opening day


If God wanted you to walk and carry things on your back, He would not have invented stirrups and pack saddles
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If I tag out early, I'll bear hunt the rest of the time while my hunting partner is out and about looking to fill his tag...


Originally Posted by raybass
I try to stick with the basics, they do so well. Nothing fancy mind you, just plain jane will get it done with style.
Originally Posted by Pharmseller
You want to see an animal drop right now? Shoot him in the ear hole.

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"Don't turn nothing down the first morning, you would die to have the last afternoon"

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In my experience passing up a shot on the first day is almost always a mistake. I've done it on an out of state elk hunt with a questionable shot at a herd bull, and never had another opportunity. I've done it on local deer hunts, bow and rifle. If you want to fill the tag, the animal has a bit of say on when that happens, and there's no guarantee that they will work with your time schedule.

I've passed on 18 does with 3 doe tags in my pocket opening day, waiting for a good buck to shoot first, and then the last weekend there ain't one to be found...

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My best opening day was on my bighorn sheep hunt. I watched 9 rams for 3 days from camp. Opening day was the Tuesday after Labor Day. We packed in on Saturday & saw the rams from camp that afternoon. I watched them for the following 2 days. Hiked up to that bowl on opening day and had a ram down by 9:30AM.

I shoot the 1st legal animal I see.

Last edited by colorado bob; 02/17/17.
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Originally Posted by colorado bob
I shoot the 1st legal animal I see.


I was that way up until about 2010

I now let all non mature bucks walk


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I passed up a little buck opening day this year, because I had two big boys I was after.

I passed up a medium buck second weekend, with the hope that another big one I had seen might come through.

I ate tag soup. My daughter ate tag soup. My son ate muzzleloader tag soup. Yet we all combined hunted more days this year than we have in a long time.

Last year, the kids put two monster bucks on the ground within the first 4 hours of the first day out. Now that was a lot more fun than tag soup!

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My theory has been, regardless of the day, if you don't shoot the antlers you see pretty much as soon as you see them, then you generally won't be happy with them anyway....

I almost let a buck that was close to 160 inches in the hill country walk 2 years ago, but when the rain finally quit and I could see him better, I whacked him as soon as I found the ammo in the backpack and could load the gun.

Others that I"ve seen over the years, let walk, then shot later... have never impressed me once they were dead...


We can keep Larry Root and all his idiotic blabber and user names on here, but we can't get Ralph back..... Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, over....
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RE shooting other than for the wall, IE on my meat hunts, those I tend to stretch as long as I can, because I just like sitting in the woods...as long as I know I can shoot a doe on the last day...


We can keep Larry Root and all his idiotic blabber and user names on here, but we can't get Ralph back..... Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, over....
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I guess a lot depends on how long your season is. I mainly hunt elk in Colorado's 1st rifle season. It's 5 days. I shoot the 1st legal elk I see. If there is a herd I'll usually pick out a dry cow over a bull. A dry Cow is much better eating. I go back to hunt deer with my brother in Ohio, it's a 1 week firearm season, again I shoot the 1st legal animal.

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Originally Posted by Rock Chuck
[/quote]If that was a bedding area, you spooked them out and they won't come back until someone else spooks them back your way. That's a big mistake many hunters make. Stay out of the bedding area if you plan to hunt it more than once.


May well be the case. But not likely for me to be able to catch him going to or from as far from the trail head as it was and not having horses. I could have spent the night up there if I really wanted to rough it but wouldn't have known he was in that patch of timber ahead of time anyway at this particular location. Was cool just to see him though, he was a big one:)


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Yes. Ruined a 9-day hunt once doing that.

Have taken an early dink once in a while and then bounced some monsters as I was trailing around with my buds.

Last edited by 1minute; 02/17/17.

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I would have to be a really good one. We get good buck and a cull, plus two does. Mess up rest of season!!!

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