My son and I were able to take a nice cow with my muzzle loader in TA 15 today on the second day of the hunt. I'll post some pics and more details after I get home. As of Thursday, 6 of the 12 hunters have taken cows. As always FHL was a great place to hunt.
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thewolfman
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Nice.....wanna see some pictures.... congrats
I'm finally getting around to getting some pictures and details up.
After the drive up from San Diego last Tue, my son and I got the the campground, paid for a couple nights, did a quick set-up of the tent and headed to the orientation. We got the first bad news of the trip and saw the number of areas open was relatively thin for most days of hunt, especially general weapons, but some decent elk areas were available. The second bad news was that the camp ground was closed due to some unexploded ordinance work planned for the next week and we were told we would need to move to the temporary camp ground in the staging area near the tank at the Jolon Road gate. There were no signs up at the campground explaining this and pay envelopes and occupancy cards were still available by the iron ranger. Still, the MWR folks insisted we had to leave so after the meeting we packed up and moved. I love hunting FHL, but this is yet another strike against the MWR organization and their management of the outdoor rec program.
Day 1
I was having a hard time deciding whether to hunt 25 or 12B, but ultimately decided to start off hunting the first morning in TA 29 based on some feedback from Jim, the FHL biologist, that he had been seeing elk there near the corrals along Interlake Rd earlier in the week. We didn't see anything near the road as we parked and waited until it was light enough to see before heading into the area. Right from the get go, there were tons of elk tracks pretty much all over 29. Unfortunately, five miles of hiking (per GPS) through the area did not produce any animals. We saw tons of deer and flock of about 20 turkeys but no elk.
I got a call mid-morning notifying us that new areas had been opened for the next day, to included TA 15 and 9 for muzzle loaders. We decided to call it a morning, see what had been brought in so far, get lunch and figure out plans for the afternoon and evening. The first morning two elk had come out of 12B, and two had come out of 25. According to the guys who had taken the elk, the herd in 12B moved to 9 (not open yet) and one of the two herds in 25 had moved toward 29 and the other toward the river. After lunch we decided to walk the river then drive around 25 to see if we could spot one of the herds and if not then set up in 29 for the evening to try and catch them coming to the water tank. Short story - no elk seen.
Day 2
I had high hopes as TA 15 is one of my favorite areas to hunt. We set up at first light to look over the resevoir and the border of 12B - nothing was moving or seen as the sun came up. We decided to move in to the south part of 15 and check out the flats near the old LZ. We stopped to talk to a couple of other hunters who were glassing near the eastern intersection of San Miguelito Loop and the main road. They hadn't seen anything either. We headed down, San Miguelito and turned into 15 on one of the roads near the 8J compound. We were less than 5 mins off the Loop and we spotted a lone cow a couple hundred yards ahead of us. I stopped the truck, took my muzzle-loader out of the case and capped it. My son ranged the cow at 188yds and I moved as close as I could before she started getting ansy and took a shot at about 150yds with no reaction by the cow other than to continue to slowly walk away at a slight angle. I reloaded as quickly as I could and took another shot with no reaction other than to amble along a little quicker and across the dirt road. There was no blood where she crossed, but she slowed and stopped at the base of a ridge line in some small oaks. We got back in the truck and followed the road through the valley and to the other side of the ridgeline she was at the base of. We climbed the backside of the ridge hoping to cut her off. When we got towards the top of the ridge, I peeked over and saw she was still standing in the same spot. I ducked back down and we moved along the backside of the ridge until even with her 75 down hill from me. I got a nice rest, caught my breath and took the shot. This time she visibily reacted, walked about 15 yds, stopped, wobbled a little and was down.
When field dressing, I was able to figure out all three shots. None were very impressive, but ultimately got the job done. The first (or second) one just clipped the front part of a hind leg just under her belly. The second (or first) was through the ribs but about 10 inches too far back and ended up in the stomach. The final shot was also a little far back, but turned her liver into jelly. The first two shots I obviously underestimated how much to lead a walking elk and the last one was adreneline pulling the shot I'm sure. I'm certainly not proud of the shooting, but she didn't get away and the freezer is full. Thanks go out to Nepo and Lonnie (the gentlemen we talked to earlier) who helped us get the cow loaded in the truck. My elk was an older cow that ended up being 303 lbs field dressed.
By the time I left on Friday morning 7 of the 12 tags had been filled. Two came from 12B, two from 15 (Nepo took one later on Thur) and three came from 25. Hopefully the rest of the hunters have had success since then.
Thanks go out to Jim and Clayton the biologists for the base who were very helpful with information as well helping a couple of hunters get their elk loaded out in the field.
After the drive up from San Diego last Tue, my son and I got the the campground, paid for a couple nights, did a quick set-up of the tent and headed to the orientation. We got the first bad news of the trip and saw the number of areas open was relatively thin for most days of hunt, especially general weapons, but some decent elk areas were available. The second bad news was that the camp ground was closed due to some unexploded ordinance work planned for the next week and we were told we would need to move to the temporary camp ground in the staging area near the tank at the Jolon Road gate. There were no signs up at the campground explaining this and pay envelopes and occupancy cards were still available by the iron ranger. Still, the MWR folks insisted we had to leave so after the meeting we packed up and moved. I love hunting FHL, but this is yet another strike against the MWR organization and their management of the outdoor rec program.
Day 1
I was having a hard time deciding whether to hunt 25 or 12B, but ultimately decided to start off hunting the first morning in TA 29 based on some feedback from Jim, the FHL biologist, that he had been seeing elk there near the corrals along Interlake Rd earlier in the week. We didn't see anything near the road as we parked and waited until it was light enough to see before heading into the area. Right from the get go, there were tons of elk tracks pretty much all over 29. Unfortunately, five miles of hiking (per GPS) through the area did not produce any animals. We saw tons of deer and flock of about 20 turkeys but no elk.
I got a call mid-morning notifying us that new areas had been opened for the next day, to included TA 15 and 9 for muzzle loaders. We decided to call it a morning, see what had been brought in so far, get lunch and figure out plans for the afternoon and evening. The first morning two elk had come out of 12B, and two had come out of 25. According to the guys who had taken the elk, the herd in 12B moved to 9 (not open yet) and one of the two herds in 25 had moved toward 29 and the other toward the river. After lunch we decided to walk the river then drive around 25 to see if we could spot one of the herds and if not then set up in 29 for the evening to try and catch them coming to the water tank. Short story - no elk seen.
Day 2
I had high hopes as TA 15 is one of my favorite areas to hunt. We set up at first light to look over the resevoir and the border of 12B - nothing was moving or seen as the sun came up. We decided to move in to the south part of 15 and check out the flats near the old LZ. We stopped to talk to a couple of other hunters who were glassing near the eastern intersection of San Miguelito Loop and the main road. They hadn't seen anything either. We headed down, San Miguelito and turned into 15 on one of the roads near the 8J compound. We were less than 5 mins off the Loop and we spotted a lone cow a couple hundred yards ahead of us. I stopped the truck, took my muzzle-loader out of the case and capped it. My son ranged the cow at 188yds and I moved as close as I could before she started getting ansy and took a shot at about 150yds with no reaction by the cow other than to continue to slowly walk away at a slight angle. I reloaded as quickly as I could and took another shot with no reaction other than to amble along a little quicker and across the dirt road. There was no blood where she crossed, but she slowed and stopped at the base of a ridge line in some small oaks. We got back in the truck and followed the road through the valley and to the other side of the ridgeline she was at the base of. We climbed the backside of the ridge hoping to cut her off. When we got towards the top of the ridge, I peeked over and saw she was still standing in the same spot. I ducked back down and we moved along the backside of the ridge until even with her 75 down hill from me. I got a nice rest, caught my breath and took the shot. This time she visibily reacted, walked about 15 yds, stopped, wobbled a little and was down.
When field dressing, I was able to figure out all three shots. None were very impressive, but ultimately got the job done. The first (or second) one just clipped the front part of a hind leg just under her belly. The second (or first) was through the ribs but about 10 inches too far back and ended up in the stomach. The final shot was also a little far back, but turned her liver into jelly. The first two shots I obviously underestimated how much to lead a walking elk and the last one was adreneline pulling the shot I'm sure. I'm certainly not proud of the shooting, but she didn't get away and the freezer is full. Thanks go out to Nepo and Lonnie (the gentlemen we talked to earlier) who helped us get the cow loaded in the truck. My elk was an older cow that ended up being 303 lbs field dressed.
By the time I left on Friday morning 7 of the 12 tags had been filled. Two came from 12B, two from 15 (Nepo took one later on Thur) and three came from 25. Hopefully the rest of the hunters have had success since then.
Thanks go out to Jim and Clayton the biologists for the base who were very helpful with information as well helping a couple of hunters get their elk loaded out in the field.
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slanttop357
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Thats a lot of good eating congrats.
Bowhunter_619
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nice job, congrats
