January 26

Western Big Game Hunting-Part 2

After our unsuccessful first trip to Wyoming, we wanted to stack the odds better in our favor for our 2012 trip.  We carefully studied the Wyoming Game and Fish website to learn about the draw process and draw odds.  We made numerous calls to private land owners to see if they were accepting of hunters.  We found a landowner that had room for us for a very reasonable trespass fee. Paying a trespass fee is very common in Wyoming to hunt on private land and we decided to go that route since we still didn't have any preference points accumulated that would allow us to draw some of the better public land units.  When we arrived at the ranch we quickly realized we had hit the jackpot.  The number of pronghorn roaming the open range was astounding.  We had a successful hunt and met some great people who have since become life-long friends.

There were plenty of tags available in the unit that we hunted in 2012.  We decided to take our chances and apply for a harder to draw unit in order to accumulate some preference points if we were unsuccessful in the draw and then just purchase left-over tags later.  Unfortunately, Wyoming Game and Fish drastically decreased the number of available tags.  We were unable to hunt the ranch that we had made such great connections with the previous year.  It was back to square one, this time last minute, calling landowners to see if they had hunting availability.  We found another landowner that had availability for private land access.  Our hunt was successful, with all hunters tagging out in less than a half-day of hunting.  My pronghorn was just short of making minimum score for the Boone and Crockett record book, but the hunting experience was not near as fulfilling as the prior year. (We were a little rushed and pressed for time as a major winter storm was tracking right for our hunting area).


While hunting pronghorn, another iconic species of the west started to catch our eye. Mule deer.  Those long ears and wide,tall, forked-racks became very intriguing to a bunch of Midwest whitetail fanatics.  It was determined that our next hunt would be for Muleys.

January 19

Western Big Game Hunting-Part 1

The aura of the American West is something that has always intrigued me, so naturally I have also wanted to hunt big game in some of the most scenic areas our country has to offer.  I started to seriously consider planning a hunting trip out west after I won a .243 rifle at a local NWTF banquet.  I was excited that I had won a gun, but I really didn't know what I would use it for.  After doing a little research, I discovered that a .243 would be a very nice caliber for hunting pronghorn.  My friends Jason and Andy had also expressed interest in hunting western big game so it was an easy sell to them. 

With the question of "what am I going to hunt?" answered, next came the question of "where are we going to hunt pronghorn?"  Naturally we were drawn to Wyoming, where pronghorn out-number people and the state boasts the most entries into the the Boone & Crockett record book.  The Boone & Crockett record book not only recognizes trophy harvests, but it is also a good measure of quality habitat and management practices.  We had our game picked-Pronghorn, we had our location-Wyoming, so we jumped in head first and applied for the top pronghorn units the state had to offer.  This seemed like a reasonable plan for a few greenhorns who knew nothing about the western hunting tag process.  We quickly got an education on the draw process, preference points, and land access.  

We did not get drawn for any of our first three choice units but we still wanted to go hunting. Wyoming sells any remaining tags first come first serve online/over-the-counter.  We found a unit that appeared on the map to have a good chunk of public land in the Thunder Basin National Grassland.  At the time we did not realize that much of this public land proved difficult to access.  We saw some nice bucks, unfortunately all on private land. Having quality maps and a GPS are essential out west, and we learned a very valuable lesson that has since paid dividends on other trips to Wyoming. 

Our first trip ended with both of our tags unfilled but we gained invaluable experience and had a ton of fun.  We were bitten hard by the western hunting bug.

January 12

Iowa Late Season Pheasant Hunting

I was able to find one last rooster for the season in North Central Iowa. I was anxious to try a new recipe from Cabelas that I modified slightly.

After

Before

Jalapeno Pheasant Poppers

Ingredients

• 6 jalapeño peppers cut in half and seeded
  
• 1 8 ounce tub of onion and chive cream cheese
  
• 6 slices of bacon cut in half
  
• 12 thin cut filets of pheasant breast (cut just slightly larger than the pepper)
  
• Toothpicks
  

Directions

1. Cut peppers in half length-wise and remove seeds.
2. Fill the cavity of the pepper with cream cheese.
3. Place a pheasant filet on top of the cream cheese.
4. Wrap with a piece of bacon.
5. Secure bacon with a toothpick.
6. Grill at 350 degrees until the bacon and pheasant are cooked through.
7. Enjoy!

Prep TIme 30 min. Cook time ~15 min.

January 5

Minnesota Archery Season-Final Hunt

Hunt 22 December 31

Temp 26F Wind W 15mph Barometric Pressure 29.69 (Steady) Moon Waxing Crescent

The final day of the Minnesota archery season.  I decided to sit on the Big-N-Beasty food plot at the Oak Flat stand.  There was a tremendous amount of sign and tracks and the brassicas had been hit hard.  I was very hopeful for my final sit.  There was constant action with over 30 turkeys feeding around my stand most of the afternoon.  With 30 minutes of shooting time remaining I saw my first deer across the big ditch heading for my other food plot at the Oak Ridge stand.  Every 5 minutes for the next half hour there was constant deer movement as a total of 9 antlerless deer made their way to my other stand.  I chose the wrong stand this time, but it was satisfying to see the deer using my food plots.  A great final hunt to an exciting season!-KK