2012 archery season is underway

It been a long wait but season is once again open here in Montana. Antelope opened Aug 15th and I have been trying to find a good antelope but haven’t had any luck yet. Opening weekend my cousin (Jason Zemlicka)and I went to a Block Management area. (block management is a program where the state pays landowners to allow access for public hunting to their private land)After hunting a few hours we found a water tank that the antelope were using to water from. We decided to setup a treestand on the windmill over the tank.

The following morning Jason got in the stand before daylight. At about 8am a buck came to water and he missed him at under 30 yards. Jason sat in the stand for the next 9 hours in the sun and 90 degree heat. At about 5pm that evening the same buck and a doe returned to water. This time he didn’t miss.

We hunted the remainder of the day and part of the next and I was never able to get an antelope. I have been out several times since and have yet to even come to full draw. It’s fun nonetheless and there’s a lot of season left.

Here are a few miscellaneous photos

Reading North American Whitetail in my blind as I pass the time waiting on an antelope

Ran across these guys early one morning while looking for antelope

The end of a good day of hunting

Very cool! looking forward to your future posts…man I love Montana

Great stuff Lucas, thanks for sharing!!

The tree stand looks down right funny to a whitetail guy who thinks you need back drop cover etc… Way to think outside the box. Tell Jason congrats on a nice goat!

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Great stuff Lucas, thanks for sharing!!

The tree stand looks down right funny to a whitetail guy who thinks you need back drop cover etc… Way to think outside the box. Tell Jason congrats on a nice goat!

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X2 great to see new ideas

Brings back memories from a couple weeks ago, congrats!

Kudos for being able to sit in a windmill stand in the hot sun. I tried it once and vowed to never do it again!

Thanks for sharing!

That was Jasons 3rd antelope from a treestand. His first was from a treestand that was actually located in a tree and his last two have been from windmills. He has never had a problem being spotted even thougth there is no cover. Antelope have exceptional eye sight but they don’t look up.

That 4×4 may be a shooter next year……..assuming he survives this year. Awesome pics and post. Thaks for sharing.

I got home last night from day number 6 of elk hunting. Still no blood on my arrow but I have been having a ball trying! It’s been hot and dry and only seeing a few elk here and there. The rut is finally picking up and I have been hearing a few bugles the last couple days. I have to work the rest of this week and then I have the next 16 days off to devote to elk. I have seen only one shooter bull so far and he was a real stud! I had him at 250 yards for 15 minutes but I could never close the gap before he melted into some thick timber. Due to some smaller bulls close by I was never able to get my camera out and take any pictures of him. I went back into that area the next 2 days and never seen him again. There were some other hunters in the area so I’m not sure if they bumped him or what.

Tonight I’ll try and post a few pictures from the season so far. I can’t wait to get back out there!

Here are a few photos from elk season so far.

Finding some smaller bulls

If only he was a few years older

Sat on a waterhole one evening and all I had come in was a few doves and these cows.

Ashley making sure we can find our way home after dark

Put 42 miles on the boots so far and a blister is all I have to show for it.

I’m headed out on Friday after work for 16 days! The rut should be in full swing and the bulls should be bugling. I’m going to be worthless at work this week with elk on my mind
Love this time of year!

You are one lucky man Lucas! Best of luck in the field, but even more so, I hope your work week passes fast!

Just got back from a 12 days of elk hunting. The weather was great the entire time and we hit the rut perfect. I did manage to get a bull on Wednesday morning. It was a tough hunt (as most all elk hunts are) but we got in to a few elk. Big bulls were hard to find but regardless it’s always fun. I’ll try and post some pictures as soon as I get a chance.

Congrats, can’t wait to see some photos!

Once again I’m convinced September is the shortest month of the year! Last time I looked at the calander it was September 1st, opening day of archery seson here in Montana. Already it’s September 30th and it seems like it’s only been a few days since season opened.

I returned last Wednesday after 12 long hard days of elk hunting. The bulls were bugling pretty good and the rut was in full swing. I found elk everyday but not the numbers I usually see. A majority of the bulls that I did locate were rag horns or small 6 points. The bigger bulls did a heck of a good job avoiding me. Big bulls or not it’s still fun to be out in elk country and listening to bugling elk. I did see a few good bull on some private land but without any private land access I was stuck to the public stuff.

I did manage to eventually kill a bull. I spotted him walking down a draw one morning and before I could get my spotting scope on him be was out of sight. He was 3/4 of a mile away so by the time I got to where I had last seen him over half an hour had passed. As I scanned the area where I had last seen him I was suprised to find him not 70 yards away bedded down. After getting a look at him I decided he was big enough and I planned a stalk so close the distance. He was laying in the bottom of the draw all alone. I made a circle to get the wind right and approached him from above. When I got to the edge of the draw I could see him straight below me at 18 yards. He was bedded broadside and kindly left me a perfect opening to slip an arrow into. I drew my bow as slow as I could and leaned over the edge and picked a spot tight behind the shoulder. The shot was perfect and he only went 60 yards before going down.

18 total days of hunting and 220+ miles on the boots and I was finally tagged out.

I took Ashley (girlfriend) along on the hunt and she was able to take her 2nd elk in two years. She make a perfect shot on him from 45 yards.

Temps were warmer than usual for this time of year. Most every day was in the 80’s so water is important when logging the miles we were.

I found the bull who made this wallow shortly after he left it. He was a shooter but I couldn’t close the distance on him before I ran out of daylight. I sat on it for the next 5 afternoons and not a single elk came in.

Home away from home

Couldn’t quite get an arrow to the moon

Moon through my spotting scope

With the elk tag full I have been focusing on deer and antelope the last few days. Been close to both but haven’t been able to knotch a tag yet. Ashley on the other hand killed her first antelope yesterday. We crawled to within 150 yards of a buck and 4 does. I threw up the decoy and…….well I don’t have time to tell the story right now but I’ll finish it and post some pictures when I get a chance.

Congrats again man! He’s a great bull! Also tell Ashley congrats on her first speed goat and the elk. Nothing better than elk meat!

Oh ya, is that the new lucky hat?

I was pretty nervous about losing the lucky Black Gold hat right before season so I had to do something. I know the guys at Black Gold pretty well so I called them up and asked if they had any of the old style green hats laying around. After some searching one of the employees had a brand new one stashed in his desk…the last one in existance! A 12 pack of cold ones and a freshly mowed lawn and it was mine!

So Ashley mows lawns too?

When I finally get to meet her, I’ll be sure to protect myself.

I can’t get enough exposure to this sort of hunting! Nothing better than public land DIY success! Nicely done!

Ashley and I spotted the antelope buck bedded with 4 does. The country was pretty flat and didn’t allow us to get within bow range of where they were bedded. So we crawled to the top of a small ridge 150 yards away from them. I set up the decoy and Ashley sat behind me. Now I have done this same thing a 100 times in the past and they never come in. It’s always the same thing…they get spooked and run a mile the other direction. So needless to say I didn’t have much hope but the decoy was our only option so I thought what the hell I’ll give it a try. Well the moment I stood up the decoy the buck got up and headed right for us! He wasn’t coming in on a run but he was not happy with the “new buck” and was making a bee line right for us! As the buck closed the distance at a pretty good pace Ashley drew her bow and I was tried to get the decoy in the ground so I could get a range on the buck. But the ground was so hard I couldn’t get the decoy to stand up and he was starting to circle down wind! I needed to do something quick and I was running out of options so I finally just picked the decoy up off the ground and slammed it into the ground. The buck didn’t like that! He stopped instantly. But I did get the decoy in the ground. In the whole debacle of trying to get the decoy in the ground I hadn’t noticed the buck had circled around us far enough that he was now on the same side of the decoy as Ashley and I and he could see us plain as day behind the decoy. She was at full draw the entire time but the buck was quartering toward us. We stayed motionless hoping he would turn and offer a better shot angle. After a while I could tell she was having a hard time holding her bow back and if she let down he would for sure spook. So the decoy that I had worked so hard to finally get into the ground, I now needed to pull it out and move it in between us and the buck so she could let her bow down. I pulled the decoy out of the ground and moved it between us and the buck but once again I couldn’t get it into the ground so I just held it up with one hand ,which believe me wasn’t easy in the 20mph wind! With the other hand I got a range on the buck…45 yards. She let her bow down and we waited a few minutes before he finally started coming again. Ashley drew her bow again and as the buck walked past the decoy I whistled to stop him. With him closer and now standing broadside she let the arrow loose. It found it’s mark and he went down in sight . Two years of trying and she finally connected on her first antelope. It wasn’t the most flawless setup you’d ever seen but it worked and its things like those that make bowhunting so exciting.

Great job Ashley! I love the pic.

That is another one of those hunts that you will both remember forever. Nothing like a few less than perfect situations stacked up to help seal the deal! Well played Lucas and Ashley, as usual .

Over the last couple weeks I have been trying to fill my Montana buck tag. I have sat nearly every evening for the past two weeks on two different pieces of property. One piece of property I am fairly familiar with the deer movements as I have been hunting it off and on for the past few years. The other property is completely new to me and it’s taking some time to get the deer figured out. It’s been a lot of fun learning a new piece of ground and I think I’m getting closer every day. One of these days the right buck is bound to walk by. At least that is what I keep telling myself to justify the time and money I’ve spent. The one piece of property is a 3.5 hour drive…one direction. The other is only 20 miles from my house. Archery season closes this Sunday and then the orange army will be in full force. I can still bow hunt during rifle season, but the difficulty level goes way up. But no matter what it’s always a lot of fun just being out and about with the bow in hand!

Here are a few pictures from the last couple weeks.

He came out right before dark

I see this buck about every other time I go out. He covers a lot of ground

We have been getting some snow in the high country.

I have to cross a pretty good sized river to get to one spot I like to hunt. In one spot the water gets up over my waist. I cross my fingers each time I cross, hoping I don’t fall

Might be kicking myself in a few weeks for not shooting him. Time will tell

Awesome pics

Living in Montana we have the option of shooting either a whitetail or a mule deer. We can shoot either species, but not both. What sucks is we only get one buck per year whether we use a bow, muzzleloader, rifle, shotgun, etc. I have always perused mule deer because I love the county they live in and of course their large antlers. I save my whitetail fix for when I go to South Dakota each fall to hunt on my family’s farm. Well this fall after I killed my elk in mid September I started to look for a deer to wrap my tag around. I had a couple trail cam pictures of a whitetail that really sparked my interest. He was a 4X4 with giant brow tines.(or as many of you say “8 point”) These brow tines were as big as any I had ever seen. The rest of his antlers weren’t super impressive, but his brows were unique enough that I decided I would shoot him if given the opportunity. This buck lived on public land so I felt my best chance was to kill him was before rifle season. I hunted him on 4 different occasions, but never laid eyes on him. In the mean time I was granted access to some new property much closer to my home than the 3.5 hours where the big brow tined deer lived. I began hunting this new property and it had a good number of whitetails on it. After a few days of hunting, I began to really enjoy the change of pace from mule deer. I decided I would spend the rest of the season trying to get a respectable whitetail buck on the ground. I never seen any really big deer on either property so holding out for a booner wasn’t going to happen because I don’t think they exist there, plus I don’t have that kind of will power.
This leads me up to last Saturday. I was hunting the property where the big brow tined buck lives. I was setup on the ground near a river where the deer like to cross. It requires me to wade across the river in chest waders to get to the other side where I built a blind along the bank. That evening I had 7 bucks walk by including a buck with a split G2 that really tempted me. I ended up only shooting him with my camera. The evening came to a close with no more bucks coming buy. At home that night I was looking at the photos I took of the split G2 buck and began to second guess my judgment. I knew he was no giant but he was one of the better bucks I had seen. I really had my heart set on the big brow tined buck, but I was yet to see him other than on trail cam photos. After some thought I decided I would kill the split G2 buck if given another opportunity. I only had until Friday to get it done before I was out of time and the rifle hunters would be in full force. Sunday I wasn’t able to hunt that property due to other commitments. Monday the wind was wrong. Tuesday the wind was good so I bailed out of work at 1:30 and made the 3 ½ hour drive to the property. I hiked in the ¾ of a mile and threw on the waders and crossed the river to the other side. I was setup and ready to hunt around 6. I had an hour and a half until dark. Shortly after getting settled in a few does and small bucks came out and crossed the river just as I had planned. My hopes were high, but nothing else crossed until right at last light. 3 bucks came out and started across the river. The last buck in the group was the split G2 buck. At 25 yards I stopped him with a quick whistle and send the arrow on the way. The hit was perfect and the buck headed out across the river toward the other side. Problem was he never made it to the other side before tipping over. The deer were crossing in a shallow part of the river where the water is only a couple feet deep, but the rest of the river is deeper and very swift. When the buck went down he got swept down stream heading rapidly towards the Gulf of Mexico! I was franticly putting on my hip waders to rescue the buck when thankfully he only went a little ways before getting hung up on some rocks and I was able to walk out there and pull him to shore. Shortly after getting him on shore my flashlight died and I had no replacement batteries. Everything had to be done using my cell phone as a light. By the time I got him packed out to the road and made the 3 ½ hour drive back home it was 1:00 in the morning. It was quite the adventure and I was exhausted, but it’s one of those hunts that I will never forget. I’ll be back for big brows next year.

Here is a picture of the big brow tined buck I was after