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A small tom turkey.

Got one that's good in that regard as well. Not only does she encourage me to get out there and do what I enjoy, she also acts as a brake when I try to do too much. Rare gal, this one.

I'm not going to any distant climes, but am fortunate to live very close to decent public land and have the time to go when I want to as opposed to trying to cram my hunting into a week or so of vacation and weekends. I spent a bunch of money on tags, not so I could kill mountains of deer, but rather so anytime between the end of September and the end of the year, I can pick up a rifle, crossbow, or muzzleloader and go deer hunting. I'm just about half-way through the season, have two down, and am very casual about taking more, but not about getting out there. I'm hoping that this year will bring a number of light snows as opposed to the occasional two-three footers we've been getting that shut down all the fun. Thought about getting some snowshoes, but when we get a big dump, I can't get to the WMA to use them.

Last Saturday opener saw 2 small bucks being rounded up by a mature 8 pointer, probably 4 1/2 years old. Had him cold at 20 yards in the crosshairs and put the rifle down to take some pics of his behaviour.

Nothing all week but squirrels until 3 does working their way through the forest 70 yards in front of me yesterday morning. Held off waiting for a buck to follow but nothing.

Fortunately, I still have ammo left for the next outing.

Deer season was a 12day lodgepole thicket search for a giant buck. I never saw him. Elk season was a 33% success. I had an Elk tag, Bear tag, Cougar tag. This is what I tagged. Well I would show what I tagged but file attachment is not available on 24hr

I got my copy of Gun Gack II, and then drove to Montana from San Diego for a mule deer hunt south of Miles City. We were hunting on the LO ranch, and it was way cool to see their brand represented on a wallboard collection of Montana brands. I passed on a nice 4X4 on the first day, and then shot an above average 4X4 the second day. My hunting buddy shot a nice 5X6 whitetail buck the following day.

My lesson learned was read one of John's books before hunting.

jim

well just got back from Montana we got our tags filled with average Mule deer bucks this year ,also got 42 Canadian geese ,had a few beers and I made a thanksgiving dinner for the 4 of us, that Thanksgiving day we got 10 honkers too . hope all had a great blessed thanksgiving week and did well if you hunted that week too as we did again ! Pete53

I picked up a couple new guns this year that I wanted to kill some stuff with. After it was all over, the locker is more than full; 3 deer, 2 turkeys, 2 elk, 1 antelope and rabbit season hasn't even started yet.

This is the new Creedmoor in 257 Roberts with a couple trophy whitetail fawns...





Then the new Shiloh 1887 Creedmoor in 45-70...





Even Rick Bin showed up for a few days of deer hunting in eastern Montana...



And of course the main meat in the pot 300 WBY and a couple elk...

shrapnel, wouldn't your last post and pics be better suited for the dinkathon thread? (kidding of course)

I do have the winning entry in the dink-a-thon with that tiny buck...

I didn't see any bucks that were worth shooting when I wasn't guiding my Son and his friend, so I punched 4 antlerless tags.

My Son got a nice 4x4 and a doe and his friend got an even nicer 7x6 with 8" brow tines and a doe.

Here's my final trophy of the 2018 Montana big game season--the biggest-bodied forkhorn mule deer I've ever taken. It weighed 135 pounds field-dressed after a week of aging, so weighed around 175 on the hoof.

It also topped off the freezer--well, except for the birds we'll kill now that big game season is over. Started that off right this evening (the first day after the Montana rifle season closed) by taking a rooster pheasant with Lena the Labrador, who worked the old bird perfectly on a little spot of public ground about 5 minutes from our house.

I think that's the first picture I have ever seen you post MD.

Good eating sized deer too! Nice work!

Thanks!

I've posted a few other photos fairly recently, due to Rick Bin making it far easier.

John,

What are the details of the rifle and load?

Canada Geese.

Took a little freezer filler upper with my 375 Ackley and the 250 TTSX...

Elk season resulted in tag soup. Did get a bull to within ~50yds screaming at me but couldn’t get a shot. Did have a great adventure with my bride. She’s quite the trooper.



Did get some meat for the freezer during deer season. It was a cool hunt as I hunted the mountains where I grew up.

This season was the most memorable season of my hunting career as I was able to watch my 10 year son harvest his first ever big game animal. He made an awesome 312 yard shot on a nice 22" 4 point....Best of all he loved every second of it and is absolutely hooked...His deer by the way was one of the larger body mule deer I have seen harvested- It hung at 143 pounds at the processors . It had almost as big as body as the 181" toad I killed last year.



I managed to draw a good antelope tag with 3 points in Wyoming and was able to take this nice heavy buck...Pics don't do it justice as it was 14 and 14.25 with heavy mass - grossed right at 79"




My wife seems to be a pretty consistent deer killer the last few years and continued the streak with a nice little 3 point this fall...



I chased around a nice 170 class buck up to the last day and was closing in on him when he was shot out from under me....So that afternoon on the last day, I notched my tag on a meat buck...



Elk never did cooperate...I jumped a 330 class six point walking out a ridgeline, but he was two steps and into the dark timber before I could get my rifle up for a shot....Watched two other sixpoints fight each other at about 900 yards, as I crested the last ridge of my stalk to settle in for an apporx 350 yard shot - they were gone...Just how elk hunting goes...lol

Killed another damn pig!

Well since we're posting pictures, I may as well join in.

Had a pretty good year myself, and while big game here is about done (only a late season extra cow elk tag left), I have an absurd amount of pheasants and chukar left to kill, which is the absolute best part.

I'll also be chasing lion hounds over Xmas and New Years, but will just be a dog handler. Then it's on to Spain in January for Mouflon sheep and Iberian Red Stag for myself to hunt, plus two bison hunts I'll be helping out with.

So, as far as big game: here goes

Alaskan elk


Wyoming mule deer


Wyoming antelope


Wyoming moose


Wyoming elk


Montana whitetail