getting ready for FHL 444 cow hunt OCT 20-28

[Live2hunt]

From Nacimiento Ferguson Rd., take the 12B and 12A boundary road up that valley. The 12A side was burned. 12B side not burned. Check the small draws and fingers on those hills.

Good luck.

 

[Mel Carter]

Man good luck guys. Sounds like training is really screwing things up.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[jls456]

Don't give up...Keep at it. Good Luck.

 

[meatwad]

Thanks everyone for all the input. We are not giving up hope yet. We started off in 12b this morn and saw very little sign, then at about 8:00 some idiot was honking his horn through the zone. After that we moved over to 13a and 13w. I got out my bow and went through 13a and found the herd but they were really skidish. They moved all over the zone then after about an hour of following tracks I had caught back up to them. I positioned my wife on 13w where I thought they would come out. I then belly crawled over 600 yds and closed to within 175 yds them the herd just walked off not spooked just heading for a new area. Also that belly crawl took about an hour, not very comfortable in the hot sun and Sharp pointy plants. It was good to see them but we have not closed the deal yet. We are sitting around our camp fire thinking of all the stupid mistakes we have made. Hopefully we have zero errors tomorrow.
On another note the stoney herd walked through 12b late in the afternoon 4 shots were fired and 2 elk fell. My buddy got one that weighed in at 315 lb field dressed.

Tomorrow we r going to start off in 13 then later nice to 29 and if all the stars are aligned then maybe we can pull it off and fill at least one tag.

 

[Mel Carter]

You know, the lack of TA may be typical for the 444 hunt. Success rate last year showed 57% maybe the same problem then. More training going on late October?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[spectr17]

You know, the lack of TA may be typical for the 444 hunt. Success rate last year showed 57% maybe the same problem then. More training going on late October?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

From what I've seen over the years it's more that some hunters don't want to get out and look, they expected to drive around and shoot one the first day from the road. After that doesn't pan out they go into panic mode and wonder what to do at 2pm on the first day of their hunt. One guy, no matter what good advise he was given, ignored it and went off on his own to not see any elk for several days. He finally quit being a knucklehead his last day and let someone take him to the elk. Some hunters leave early when they have several days left in their hunt and they just give up early, I just don't understand that but it's their tag and they can hunt it any way they want.

 

[Mel Carter]

Yeah I can see that happening to, can't understand that one though.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Mel Carter]

Weekend is almost over, any new reports? Also, for those of you that may have stayed on the Hacienda, whats it like? Man, I need to see some deak elk :JHO rocks:

 

[Live2hunt]

for those of you that may have stayed on the Hacienda, whats it like? Man, I need to see some deak elk :JHO rocks:

Mel, I would rather stay at the Billeting than the Hacienda.

At Hacienda, you have to park at the front and carry your stuff around to where ever your room is. Everybody at the Hacienda share one restroom. If you want to use the restroom (brush teeth, wash face, shower, #1 and #2) you have to get out of your room and walk over to the restroom.

At Billeting, if you get a room on the first floor, you park right outside your room door and just toss your stuff from your truck into your room. All rooms have individual full restroom, stove, frig, microwave, and kitchen sink. For only $8 more than Hacienda per night. You still have access to the complimentary breakfast served in the Hacienda cafe.

On where to find the elk, I was able to help Sickguy find his muzzleloader bull over the phone while I and my wife were sitting in the hospital comforting my wife's sister before surgery. If you ran out of ideas where to look, give me a ring. You have my number.

 

[Mel Carter]

My plans changed on when I'm doing my scouting. I'll be down there on November 4th to snoop around. Any update on meatwads hunt?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[meatwad]

We are back in Monterey now, unfortunately we are empty handed. The last two days were tougher because they closed a couple more zones on us due to training. On Sunday morning I found the herd again in 13a and closed to within 100 yards with my bow but that is not close enough. I then reuse to push the herd up to my wife in 13w but the elk ran through the live fire ranges and stayed in the off limit area. Later we decided to drive and hope to find a herd somewhere. That was the first time we went driving through the zones just scouting for a shot. We tried all week to go by foot or on bike so we would not spook as many. We drove all through 12b and saw a lot of deer and no elk. So we got on the phone with the warden and pleaded for some help. He made some calls and 3 zones were opened for Sunday afternoon only, 15, 22 and 24 they were for muzzleloader only. And because of this call one of the bull hunters was able to get a bull in 22...your welcome,lol. We decided to walk into 15 and set up near the reservoir. We figured since 15 had not been open at all the elk in there would not have felt as pressured, but we only saw deer moving that last afternoon.

There were 2 cows taken Saturday evening in 12b. The herd was spotted near the road and once they were within about 400 yds the bullets were flying. From what my buddy told me 4 shots were fired 3 elk were hit but only 2 dropped and the third was not found. My buddy was one if the lucky ones. He dropped a cow that weighed 313.5lb field dressed.

Well the hunt was a real ass kicker for my wife and I. We gave it our all but came up empty handed in the end. Funny story I actually recorded all my movements on my phone and the results are in. In total I hiked 72 miles (32 of which were with my 14 month old son on my back) and I biked 24 miles. We covered a lot if ground and saw a lot of elk but most were in the zones that were not opened to us. It was irritating that the zones were closing all the time, but with the new base leadership that may become the norm. The old co was an avid hunter and would go out if his way to support the elk hunters.

Well thanks for all the help. We did use a lot of it but there were so many factors working against us. The final count came out to be 6 elk taken out of 20 hunters( I will have to double check but this was my count) pretty depressing and draining hunt but a day out hunting is better than a day at work. It just sucks that we have not just one but two unfilled tags.

Thanks again,

Thomas O'Bryant
Aka Meatwad

P.S. we may go back down later for turkey and quail if it is still open. I have to check dates.

 

[mdn6464]

Oh man, sorry to hear that you didn't go home with some meat. Nonetheless, it sounded like you gave it your all and had fun doing it. Thank you for sharing your adventure with the rest of us.

 

[ltdann]

Thomas, man do I know the feeling. Last year I did a AZ bull hunt that took me 9 months of prep and scouting. Ended up, all told, costing me around $8k (blew an engine). I came home empty handed on that one as well. It hurts but in the long run, I know I gave it my best shot. Sometimes, you can do all the right things and still come up empty. There's always next time.

 

[jerryt]

I heard from a couple of the junior hunters parents and they were not happy at all with the hunts. I guess that is part of dealing with a military base, but you would think with most of this hunt being a deprediation hunt to decrease the heard they would at least give the Juniors a chance to kill some cows. Hopefully the other guys with the later hunts can get into the zones with some Elk.

 

[Mel Carter]

Sounds like you really busted your butt on this hunt. Sorry it didn't payoff.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[dayealker]

I had the chance to do the 444 hunt and I got my cow on the night of the 7th day. She dressed out to 265lbs and I just got done with all the meat and its all in the freezer now. I will say anyone going on one of the elk hunts on FHL do not think it is going to be a easy hunt. Yes some people will be just driving down the road and see a elk then shoot it but a lot of people go home with nothing in there cooler. My buddy and I both had tags and we put in a ton of miles looking for the elk. It did not help that we only had one rifle area, 6 muzzle loader areas and 3 archery areas open, keep in mind this was the first "Modern" rifle hunt of the year. We put in around 15 miles a day looking for some elk, we decided to hit the muzzle loader areas to try are luck there. We put on a few stalks on a few herds one was about 40 and the other was over 60. We both crawled long distances with no luck, then when we decided to call it a night and on the drive back we saw a few lone cows, he jumped out and did a little stock and he got his elk (302 lbs dressed). My elk came a few days latter in the deepest darkest hole far away from the main road, it took me over two hours to get to where I was but it payed off. The nice thing it that with the elk there are people that will drive out to you and help you get it out so that saved me from dragging it almost 5 miles.

So some little tips:

Be prepared for a potential hard hunt
Bring what ever kind of weapon you have (Rifle, Bow, MUZZLE LOADER)
Get yourself into shape before you go
Don't get discouraged, there are lots of elk on base you just need to get out of your truck
Get out of your Truck

 

[tgthethird]

The cow elk hunts are very tough, i helped a friend with his Archery hunt in Sept. we hunted all nine days hard and finished with a 900 yard belly crawl whivh took 3 hours, in 105 degree weather. when we finally got to 35 yards he got to his knees pulled back and i whispered, "take your time and pick a spot"...... Well he missed, we looked at the trail we crawled and you coul see where we first ditched our boots then our packs then our binos. We worked our butts off like you and your wife and came home empty handed but hsve great memories of a very tough hunt.

 

[Live2hunt]

One thing to keep in mind. The terrains in FHL is pretty much open. You can see for miles from a road or high points. The majority of the people that filled their tags are either road hunting or they drive to a high point and put the bino and spotting scope to work. If you walk, you are burning up time and not covering enough ground. Some people may not like road hunting, but at FHL it is the method with the most chance of success. The only time to be walking is when you are on a stalk or go to an area where driving in is prohibited. Keep in mind that the better elk TAs can be open and close anytime during the elk season especially towards the end of the hunt. Make notes of the better elk TAs. You should check-in with the registration window 2-3 times a day to see if new areas are open. When one of the best areas open up, you want to hit it right away.

Jerry, we could have filled the junior's cow tag had they came back for some more days to hunt. We were there the first Sat and Sun and were onto some bulls. The herd of cows may not be too far away but before we can find them, the base had an immediate closure on the area we were in and they booted us out of there. All the other areas opened for rifle and muzzleloader were not the better elk areas. I had in mind to take the junior to downtown elk city as soon as the area opens, but the junior was only there for the first two days and couldn't make it back to FHL the rest of the season. I had our JHOer "sickguy" and his dad put the bino into downtown elk city on Sunday noon when area was opened and immediately they spotted elk. The next thing I got was a pic message on my phone. Had the junior been there on Sunday, she would have been the first to get the opportunity in downtown elk city.

 

[ltdann]

Jerry, we could have filled the junior's cow tag had they came back for some more days to hunt. We were there the first Sat and Sun and were onto some bulls. The herd of cows may not be too far away but before we can find them, the base had an immediate closure on the area we were in and they booted us out of there. All the other areas opened for rifle and muzzleloader were not the better elk areas. I had in mind to take the junior to downtown elk city as soon as the area opens, but the junior was only there for the first two days and couldn't make it back to FHL the rest of the season. I had our JHOer "sickguy" and his dad put the bino into downtown elk city on Sunday noon when area was opened and immediately they spotted elk. The next thing I got was a pic message on my phone. Had the junior been there on Sunday, she would have been the first to get the opportunity in downtown elk city.

Downtown elk city? Where's that?

I'm helping a first time FHL hunter on the Nov cow hunt. What TA's would you consider the better elk TA's. He'll have rifle and muzzleloader.

 

[jerryt]

Jerry, we could have filled the junior's cow tag had they came back for some more days to hunt. We were there the first Sat and Sun and were onto some bulls. The herd of cows may not be too far away but before we can find them, the base had an immediate closure on the area we were in and they booted us out of there. All the other areas opened for rifle and muzzleloader were not the better elk areas. I had in mind to take the junior to downtown elk city as soon as the area opens, but the junior was only there for the first two days and couldn't make it back to FHL the rest of the season. I had our JHOer "sickguy" and his dad put the bino into downtown elk city on Sunday noon when area was opened and immediately they spotted elk. The next thing I got was a pic message on my phone. Had the junior been there on Sunday, she would have been the first to get the opportunity in downtown elk city.

It's tough for kids because they have to worry about going to school and keeping their head on straight for their future. I hear yah though that if you put the time in your odds are real good especially at a base full of elk. Hunting is hunting not necessarily killing, but the kids are the future and we have to keep there heads up high. Luckily the ones I know that were on the hunt have been successful in the past for pigs or deer but and elk is just such a wow factor when you walk up on these giants guys laying on the ground and think wow I just did that. Good luck to the next hunters.