Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game 2019 Hunting Season

My boys did pretty well this year.


My younger son with his first archery deer. That's a vintage (60s) Bear Kodiak Magnum bow.

A more pressing situation curtailed the plans to my 2019 hunting season, but I was able to make it out for several hours opening morning of firearm deer season. Blessing to the doe who brought this buck within range.

Late to the party but with today being the last day of our deer season better late than never. 2019 was a great year for me, decided a couple of years ago to spend less dough and things and spend more time and money on experiences.

Season started with me being a Florida resident. I drew a Feb hog hunt tag for a local WMA. I invited a buddy from Pa down for my guest permit. It turned out to be kind of a road hunt with most successful hunters cruising old logging roads until happening upon one. We tried this and did some swamp bushwhacks but weren't feeling it. My buddy got in touch with a nearby private landowner he knew. Landowners was having issues with hogs...so we were in. First evening sit I smacked this boar with the trusty and exotic .270 w/150 Hot Cor, DRT. Very gracious for the opportunity to hunt a beutiful piece of property.


Fast forward to Spring, I was up in Pa working and had a weekend to kill. Got in touch with my pard for turkey hunting and trout fishing. Hit the Game lands friday night for scouting, found a few, but on on the way back spotted a 3-4 birds strutting their stuff in a field near my friends house. We secured permission and went after them the next morning. With only one day to hunt (cant hunt Sundays in PA), we werent going to be picky. I dont have the best hearing so am not the best turkey hunter to begin with. Anyway, we called in these two birds, I smacked one then my buddy dropped the other. Sunday was spent trout fishing with his kids.


Spring fun continued with another work-cation to Maine. With another weekend to kill I rented a canoe in Baxter State Park. The Ranger station keeps some canoes chained out on some remote lakes for rental. I backpacked some primitive camping and fishing gear about three miles in a spent the night. Didnt do well fishing but enjoyed the scenery. At least the mosquitoes ate well.


After the Maine trip I had a strange turn of events. I completed my second degree at age 39 and we sold our FL home and moved to the mountains of TN. I fulfilled a life long dream of owning some property of my own, We are very happy and smitten, but the move was a ball-buster as they all are. Shortly after moving in we had to fly to Poland for my Sister-in-laws wedding, which we purchased plane tickets for almost a year in advance. I had a great time eating (love their fresh food) and drinking local beer, but also wanted to work some outdoor activities in. We took a side trip planned by the in-laws to the mountain town of Zakopane I convinced my wife, her sister and now husband to hike the Giewont. It was a great all-day hike with beautiful scenery, though a bit crowded. My wife experienced vertigo near the top. It was very reminiscent of my sheep hunting days in AK. I kept looking for Tahr and there was lots of tracks and scat but never spotted any. I was very happy I made a pit stop at a local store for a pair of wool socks, otherwise I would have been blistered badly.

Giewont is the peak on the right.




Part 2 coming up...

Fast forward to fall. Me and a buddy made plans for an antelope hunt a couple years ago and so finally felt like we had some points to get'er done. We applied as a party and each drew buck tags and individual doe tags. I had only been to Wyoming once before, just driving through on my way to Alaska. I remembered being in awe of all the antelope and always wanted to come back and hunt, very happy I did. The area we had access to is hunted hard, so we opted to go in early October hoping there would be less pressure while being aware there would also be less animals. We were in it more for the hunting of wide open spaces vs seeking a trophy, so though this approach was best. We saw/stalked antelope every day and had a blast. My buddy got his buck first, then I finally patterned a group that kept crossing into our unit in the evening. I found a boulder to hide behind and the plan worked like a charm. Again the boring 270 this time with a 110 TTSX, again DRT...



We took one day off from Antelope and spent the day shooting praire dogs. Another first time, had a blast. Learned that shooting in 30-40 mph gust with a 222 is challenging to say the least.



Last couple days we were covered in snow. Saw a beautiful Mule Deer buck with his harem, also kicked around in the Medicine Bow for a while. Beautiful country.



With the big trip behind us, I started focusing on squirrels with my daughter and chasing whitetails close to home. I missed a nice buck with my bow at the tail end of archery and was pretty bummed. Nonetheless I killed him with my muzzleloader one week later in the same footprints he stood in when I put an arrow over his back.



After getting him processed and about 25 lbs of sausage done, I decided to head out again. I decided to only shoot If I encountered a big one. I was in my stand when a big body 8-pt came out limping. His main beam was also busted off after the brow tine. I thought to mself I would love to see who kicked his ass, the noticed a cedar tree shaking violently. I spotted another buck making some rubs so thought there he is, looks tall, bam...As it turned out he was pretty tall but not very wide, a good buck nonetheless, but pretty sure he wasn't the fighter.



Plan on heading out in a few to see if I can get one more doe in freezer to last us until next fall. Lots of fun and great memories with friends and family this year. Cant wait to see what this year brings.

Great pics guys!

That's some damn beautiful country. Those are both from Poland? I knew a guy who married a girl from Poland. Hunted boar when visiting his in-laws, said it was a great place.

Yes, my wife is Polish. We go about every other year though I’ve yet to do any hunting, just fishing and hiking. Someday I hope to do some boar hunting. We’ll see.

Sounds like a great year Tom,congrats

Well I ate my Montana deer tag...I found the right one, but he just wouldn't give me a responsible shot. That's alright.
Since I made this post in Oct, here's a small sampling of what did happen according to plan:






A fair number of pheasants were killed and I called in a wolf that a friend got, but I have no pictures loaded.

Whats the story on the headless yote?

Blood really isn't thicker than water...


I snared him and he got ripped to shreds. I am not sure if it was while he was alive or not. No other predator tracks around....nothing but other coyote tracks. I assume it was his pack mates, but can't really be sure.

Nature is ruthless at times.

My boy got his first buck, only a doe to report on my end so far. Very slow season but have 2 weeks left to go.

Man he looks happy...lol. Good job!

I had one of my best hunting seasons ever. Not measured by the success in animals even though that was above average for me but because I got to spend ALLOT of time in the field with my dad and my best hunting buddies. I ended up shooting six hogs, a good 8 point whitetail for the ground we hunt and a 33" Aoudad ram.









Pic with my dad in it.

My dad's buck

I also was fortunate to be invited on a south Texas quail hunt behind an incredible group of dogs. I just wish I had taken more pictures of the dogs working.



There were also a couple of nice whitetails taken on that trip by buddies I got to hunt with.



I'm blessed to be living in this great country where I can find work and enjoy the outdoors.

Mohawk, ultra cool.. Outstanding... Thanks..

I didn’t kill anything to write home about, but it was good.

+1

Very cool ya got to hang outside w/ yer dad that’s awesome. Great looking aoudad & whitetails; you grind that ram in w/ the hogs?

Congrats!

Thank you sir! I am truly blessed to have been able to spend so much time outdoors with my dad.

I have the Aoudad all boned out and ready to run through the grinder and make sausage. A little of the Feral pork will get mixed with it and also some domestic pork( more fat). We made jerky out of the backstraps of the Ram and it turned out really good. The Aoudad rams have good flavor but the meat is so tough it is really only good to run through the grinder. The Ewe's and the small ones are better eating. Most of my feral pork goes straight on the smoker for pulled pork or into a crockpot for Carnitas. We love the Feral hog meat and when we cook for guests we tell them we are serving "Organic Free Range Pork". Most folks tend to really like it!

That ram yielded allot of meat and will make a bunch of sausage.

Have you made sausage out of an Aoudad before??