2009 WHAT A YEAR!

[POk3s]

First was spring turkey hunting. My dad asked me what I wanted for my 18th birthday and I decided what better then hunting right. Missed on the very first trip into the woods and figured there would be a ton more opportunities after having a shot attempt at a turkey 10 mins after we arrived at the hotel (first time I've ever stayed in a hotel and hunted). It definitely didn't end up being that way. Missed one more time on spot and stalk and couldn't get the gobblers to commit to my nubie calling. Me and my dad both tagged out on the third day within 10 minutes of eachother.







After that was spring bear hunting. Had never been bear hunting before and when I got invited to go, I was of course up for it. I missed a big bear my very first afternoon, just really going hiking to see what I could see before my buddy showed up...had nothin else to do. Well that fuled the fire. I was angry at myself and wanted another shot at a bear. Well two weekends after the snow line had moved up to about 9,000 feet instead of 8,000 feet (or maybe even lower) making the bears much more spread out. I decided I was going to hike into an area that I'd seen bear in while rifle hunting deer. The road was closed so it was about a 5 mile hike in. Got in there and saw some sign and ended up running right into a bear walking through a meadow I know very well. I side stepped a couple times to get the clearest shot I could and more or less forced a shot. It ended up being a gut shot and as he ran away I ran to where I last saw him. I then heard him climbing up a tree and spotted him about 10 feet up. I had no problem with that!!! He got onto a limb and I shot 2 more times to finally end him. My first bear! on my first ever year hunting them! Ended up being about a 12 mile day I figured.

Wolf tracks right by camp



Bear in the tree




( hands a tad dirty after having to climb the tree to knock him out...hahaha)



Next was antelope hunting on August 15th, after battling the pouring rain and sleet all day, I got excited on a little one and whacked him at 40 yards. He ran probably 200 yards and piled up. Got one more doe with my bow with a 62 yards shot (she ran 182 yards exact...watched her fall) and got another one with the boom stick.







rifle doe


Went bowhunting for elk, had never shot an elk before with my bow or even flung an arrow. First morning out, September 5th, busted an elk in the trees and instinctively cow called. Heard it stop, so i sat down and cow called again. Looked up to see an elk walking from left to right in the trees about 150 yards out and it had HORNS! I turned my head and cow called a couple times straight behind me. I hear thundering hooves and look up to see him RUNNING straight at me. He went behind a cluster of pines and i drew my bow. I was sitting on an old logging road behind one little sappling and right as he was about to cross the road he stopped and looked right at me. Too late buddy. I judged him for 20 yards and later ranged where he was at at 17 yards. He ended up running over 400 yards and I lost the blood. He was sidehilling more and more as the blood trail became weaker and weaker so i didn't think he had the strength to make it up over the top of the ridge, and I didn't think he would make an appearance in old clear cut. After a couple trips through this "funnel" I found him about 120 yards from where the blood stopped and in a tangled mess of blowdowns about 10 hours after I shot him. Got a whole elk out of the woods in about 2 hours. Was determined not to lose the meat. I thought it was a perfect shot but it ended up being a tad lower then i wanted.First elk with a bow! Just sucked to be done elk hunting so early LOL. Also my third bull in a row.




My elk rodeo lol



Next was deer hunting. Since i didn't come through on my goal of shooting a P&Y antelope I made it my mission to get a 4 point mule deer. Went to a place I love where some really big bucks have been seen. Ended up finding this boy in a stand of quakies with a little 3 point. I had seen a 5 point bull elk in there and was just trying to get a better look at him when I ran into those 2 bucks at about 50 yards.  Saw he was a 4-point and that's all I needed. Not as big as I thought he was but I was still pumped. Only 22" wide. My second 4-point and biggest deer to date.

[drobertsinMaryland]

Congrats on a fine 09 season so far. I remember your bear hunt story from a few month ago. Nice mulie buck too. Thanks for sharing.

[POk3s]

ya i knew i posted that but i couldn't help but throw it in during my 09 recap...I'm still going to go up fall turkey hunting and maybe buy a whitetail doe tag...Never shot a whitetail before so we'll see.

[Raquettedacker]

What no squirrels , rabbits, chipmunks, wood chucks or field mice..


 Very nice. Now that's something to be proud of..........

[POk3s]

haha well I've got some of those too, along with the piles of Prarie Dogs but there's not much of a story to go along with any of those, except for the squirrel i shot last year with my bow, through the stomach, that tried to bite my foot off as I was trying to end him...My friends had a good belly laugh at that.

[minnowguy]

Good huntin POK

[synergyboy10]

Nice work.

[er-e-is]

Congrats Trent, Now its time to catch one of those BIG BOYS out of the Gorge.

[MountainMan]

Good season Trent. A BIG congrats on recovering that elk! Way to stay after him. I wish more hunters were so persistent. Nice job.

[halfrack33]

what a year is right! nice job on some amazing hunts

[bbkyle35]

Thats about the most mixed bag you can get! Way to go slayer!

[Bigfish57]

Hell of a year congrats!

[BottomDweller]

right on , trent , and nice bow bull, man

[POk3s]

Thanks everybody... and yes MM he was definitely well earned. Started gutting at about 6:30 and had him back to camp and skinned out at about mid night.

er-e-is you're right...it is definitely time. Felt like winter when I was up elk hunting/guiding lol. Just went up to hang out and put my cousin on a 3x4 and my buddy missed a 5 or 6 point. Tracked them down and caught them running through the trees. Cousin put a great shot on him.

Also, I was looking at the leftover list for buying a whitetail doe tag...it says it has to be on private land? why? and do walk-in-areas count as being on private lands. I mean technically somebody owns it....or should i just call g&f??? thanks guys if anybody knows, and thanks for the kind words

[zimmer2]

Way to go, "You the man"!!!!!!!!!!