2018 in Montana

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Hobbes
Posts: 157
Joined: December 24th, 2018, 2:46 pm
Location: Montana

2018 in Montana

Post by Hobbes »

While it likely went mostly unnoticed, I departed forums and Facebook back in the spring of 2018 for personal reasons. Most forums require a request be sent to the site administrator to cancel your account, so I did that on multiple forums. Some of them didn’t shut my account down, so it was never anything against GN. I kept an Instagram account going during the last year and posted a few times on Rokslide (Western backcountry hunting) since the account never turned off. I also posted some upland reports on Upland Talk this fall after noticing that account had not shut down either. In addition, I kept up with Dave's Pinhoti Project and commented on YouTube. I did check in here occasionally, but just recently re-registered.

If you recall, I became a grandfather sooner than expected in March and everyone lives here in our house. Without going into detail about surrounding circumstances that I won't share online, it's been a stressful year. While cancelled hunting trips should be the least of my worries, I did cancel two out of state hunts over the course of the year. I also spent one late night in the ER with chest pains followed by a stress test a week later. Circumstances have improved and the stress level has declined over the last 3 months.

With that out of the way, I'll share some of 2018 minus the stress. Some of this is copied from a couple posts on Rokslide and Upland Talk since copy and paste makes this easier, so remember that the initial audience may not have been hard core turkey hunters. Should be a lot of photos for those less inclined to read. :)
Hobbes
Posts: 157
Joined: December 24th, 2018, 2:46 pm
Location: Montana

Re: 2018 in Montana

Post by Hobbes »

The Best of 2018

9 month old granddaughter and her first attempt at using a duck call :)

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Last edited by Hobbes on December 31st, 2018, 4:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Hobbes
Posts: 157
Joined: December 24th, 2018, 2:46 pm
Location: Montana

Re: 2018 in Montana

Post by Hobbes »

Spring 2018

I've stepped away from forums and Facebook for the last month or so to allow more time for things (people) that are more important. I've deleted a few accounts, intended to delete them all, but this one hasn't went away. I've worked quite a bit this weekend around the house but have kicked back for today, so I've got some time this evening to post up my 2018 MT turkey season.

While it's clear that this site is for the most part a big game hunting site (that's why I joined), if you've not hunted (really hunted) gobbling, strutting, drumming, spring turkeys..............you don't know what you are missing. If you are making assumptions about hunting turkeys because you've watched local yard birds wander through yards chasing cars, or you've watched some of the latest methods for "hunting" turkeys on YouTube.............again...........you don't know what you are missing. I've ambushed and put the sneak on a few birds (and I'm not beyond doing it again), but if you really want to experience spring turkeys........learn to call birds in gobbling, strutting, and drumming. If you want to make it an even better experience, learn to call in public land toms that have been pressured. It's not September by any means, nothing compares to slobbering, bugling, chuckling, mud caked 700 lb bulls, but it's a heck of a lot of fun. I've done it every spring since 1990 and I have no plans to quit anytime soon.

The opening day was spent with my teenage kids in the snow without much success.

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I got out one morning during the week with a friend who had one day to hunt before he had to go out of town for a couple weeks. I had a tom roosted that gave us the slip after gobbling and drumming from above us for 30 minutes, but we found a jake that strutted into the call on our way out to the truck that my friend was all too happy to kill.

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The following week I had to make a work trip to the eastern part of the state, so I drove my personal rig and stayed a couple extra days to hunt. The riverbottom country wasn't going to be much of an option, so I tried out some new country in two locations that resulted in nothing more than an early morning collision with a deer. I had a moose try to run over me back in September, the moose survived just fine............the deer wasn't so lucky.

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I took a buddy that is new to turkeys on the following weekend for a two day hunt. We found a few birds, but all the toms were on neighboring private land and I couldn't pull them onto public land.

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I had to spend the next week and a half or so either working or on family/fatherly/grandfatherly duties, so I had to cancel on a Colorado buddy that was meeting me in the South Dakota Black Hills. I thought for a little while there that I may need to abandon the rest of the season.

Work slowed down and family duties were under control, so I took some comp time to chase turkeys. On May 7 I found a tom on the opposite side of a canyon at 10 AM. I got wet to my knees trying to cross the swollen creek, but had the bird strutting, gobbling, drumming, and flopping on his back at 27 yards by 11 AM.
Antelope bucks preparing to cross the road.
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My youngest son and I got on a tom the following day, but after 3 hours of moving on him multiple times I could not get him to close. We left him with plans to find him on the next weekend.

On May 10, I called in 5 young birds that I believe had a 2 year old in the mix, but they all had short beards and I wasn't planning to fill a tag with a jake. I roosted a bird that evening and was on him the next morning, May 11, but he pitched down off the mountain with 5 hens to a field well below us. I kept tabs on them from the treeline while trying to stay dry during the occasional rain shower and moved on them three times before he finally started losing his 5 hens. He followed a curious hen into 32 yards at 10 AM.

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My son and I were supposed to hunt on Saturday, but teenagers don't always have the same priorities as we do. Since he wasn't going, I took my buddy that was new to turkeys. We hiked in and found the bird that my son and I had tried to kill on the 8th. The bird pulled the same maneuvers on us from the same locations. However, at about 8:30 AM a hen that he'd apparently been following decided that she didn't appreciate my smart mouth. I moved back and kept pouring it on and he strutted right in behind her. But...............my buddy being new to the game didn't capitalize on the opportunity and moved at just the wrong time and the game ended quickly with the hen spooking and the tom racing off behind her not really knowing why.

I didn't know if they'd play the next morning, but knew they probably wouldn't go far since the hen likely had a nest close by. The next day started pretty slow with him gobbling two times from the roost then going quiet for an hour. We were about to hike out to the truck to drive to another bird that we had heard when he just gobbled on his own. I positioned my buddy and moved behind him again. He didn't let the second opportunity go by. He let the hen walk past at 35 yards and when the tom's fan appeared he was waiting for his head to appear.

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I hunted a new location on the following Tuesday and Wednesday of the last week with a friend (same friend that killed the jake). We stayed in an old hunting cabin of someone he knew and hunted adjoining state land. The plan was for my buddy to get first shot since I had two toms and he only had a jake, but the one bird that came in showed up from a direction that I hadn't expected. Luckily he gobbled just over the rise giving me time to shift my gun in his direction before he showed up on top of me. If I didn't kill him, no one was going to, so I bit the bullet and killed my third tom of 2018 late in the evening of May 15th.

Montana traffic jam:
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I did get my son out mid day on the last Saturday of the season, but we could not find a bird. We should have hunted the last day early morning before church and then that evening, but..............teenagers and their priorities.

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I had a good season even though it started slow and my out of state travel was down to none (although filling multiple MT licenses requires its fair share of travel).
Hobbes
Posts: 157
Joined: December 24th, 2018, 2:46 pm
Location: Montana

Re: 2018 in Montana

Post by Hobbes »

2018 Elk, Deer, Pheasant

I intended to spot and stalk high country Colorado mule deer the last week of August, but in July I returned an archery mule deer tag for a refund. I burned through a lot of comp and vacation time in September, but didn't really hunt elk much (other circumstances seemed to always get in the way). I got on a bull or two, but archery elk didn't work out. I hunted with Boyd on the opening weekend of the General season out of a nice wall tent camp, but all we did is help a couple other guys drag elk back to camp.

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Hobbes
Posts: 157
Joined: December 24th, 2018, 2:46 pm
Location: Montana

Re: 2018 in Montana

Post by Hobbes »

Pheasant Opener with Olivia

I don't get to hunt with my kids as often as I used to, mostly because they all have too many "important" things to do. I was pleasantly surprised when my daughter, Olivia, said she would hunt the opener with me.

Livi has killed one whitetail buck with me and one springtime Merriam's tom, but had not shot at a rooster pheasant before this morning.

We had a good morning with me killing a limit and Livi killing her first rooster. Livi missed on her first chance, but connected on a rooster that I had just missed. I didn't even know that she had gotten the gun to her shoulder, so was quite surprised when the rooster folded before I could shoot a second time. I suppose I'll have to buy her a lefty so she doesn't have so much trouble reaching the safety.

The old dog, Cash, had a good day also, but he was even more wore out than Livi.

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Hobbes
Posts: 157
Joined: December 24th, 2018, 2:46 pm
Location: Montana

Re: 2018 in Montana

Post by Hobbes »

More Pheasant Hunting

The next group of photos come from a two day hunt with Finn, and a short rainy afternoon hunt with Kassie. I had another day with Finn mixed in that resulted in an emergency trip to the vet after a run in with a porcupine.

Sunset after an afternoon hunt that resulted in a couple of Huns.
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Finn, the bur magnet.
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A couple of morning roosters
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Skinned for a buddy's fly tying bench
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Late afternoon to finish off a limit
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The next morning resulted in one rooster in the vest and one that should have been.
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One tired bird dog
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Kassie's afternoon in the rain

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More fly tying material
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Hobbes
Posts: 157
Joined: December 24th, 2018, 2:46 pm
Location: Montana

Re: 2018 in Montana

Post by Hobbes »

November Mule Deer Hunt
This was my buddy's first mule deer hunt. We found this buck in the afternoon on the 10th and got within range by about 3:30. Luckily it was a relatively short hike. My buddy made a good shot at 210 yards. He's had a tough year, health wise and losing his dad, so just getting out was a big deal for him.

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I hunted three and a half more days but could not close the deal. I let one good buck slip through my fingers that I should have killed, lost track of a couple good bucks, and watched several smaller bucks chase does. I did see some great sunrises and sunsets.

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Sunset
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Sunset
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Hobbes
Posts: 157
Joined: December 24th, 2018, 2:46 pm
Location: Montana

Re: 2018 in Montana

Post by Hobbes »

Boyd’s First Mule Deer
Finally getting my son out for a layed back hunt made for a great day today. Boyd and I left the house at 5 AM for 2 hour drive to hunt on some block management, but there were two other trucks already there covering two access points. We made the best of it and hunted a small coulee opposite of where the other guys went, but only saw a few does on the neighboring property.
Afterwards we drove back through the nearby town and refilled on coffee before driving to another BMA. Boyd slept while I drove and glassed rolling country that I've seen a few deer in while hunting sharpies, but I couldn't locate any deer.
We took a lunch break in another small town before heading back out to glass a couple more areas with plans to hike over a ridge or two on some state land. We stopped to peak at some block management bordered by BLM that we've never hunted at around 1:30. We almost immediately found a bedded doe then a couple does avoiding what I was sure was a buck a hair over a mile away.

We planned a route to the deer that would keep us hid behind a ridge. By 2:00 we we're crawling towards a bedded buck before belly crawling the last 50 yards to a shooting position. Luckily this buck and all the does fed into view before Boyd shot the fork horn. At 2:20 Boyd dropped this guy in his tracks at 257 yards. We had him sledded 1.1 miles to the truck by 4:45.

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Hobbes
Posts: 157
Joined: December 24th, 2018, 2:46 pm
Location: Montana

Re: 2018 in Montana

Post by Hobbes »

A couple days with Cash

I took a buddy on his first pheasant hunt today, same buddy from one of my November mule deer threads. We brought one dog, Cash, to hunt some new country that I've been planning to try for a couple years.

It took until about 12:30, but I scratched out 3 roosters. I really tried to put my buddy in position for shooting, but being inexperienced he stood looking somewhat dumbfounded when the first rooster came up trying to ensure that it was a rooster. I'll admit that I was a little jumpy on the first and shot him nearly at the same time I yelled rooster.

First rooster came from an unlikely looking spot.
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I had my buddy set up to walk in on a great point on the second rooster, but when the bird came up he made a hard right and yours truly was on the right. I held off before realizing it was now or never and I and a load of #6s was all that stood between the rooster and him flying off to terrorize some other unlucky upland hunter. I dropped him on the second shot and was thankful that my buddy was smart enough to not take my left ear off with a load of 6s.

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The third rooster came from a drainage full of cattails after Cash had pointed twice in the last 100 yards or so on a bird that was apparently running ahead (we could see tracks in the snow).

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When we approached a gap in the cattails I told my buddy that if we were lucky the bird would hold there, so he should be ready. However, I didn't heed my own advice when Cash moved past the end. While Cash was trying to work out the scent, I turned around to look to see where we could have missed the bird and the rooster came out of the cattails behind me. The bird went straight up, nearly over my head, and put my body between himself and my buddy's gun. I dropped him on my second shot again before apologizing for being a rooster hog.

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My buddy was a good sport about it, but we did get in a few laughs about his luck. Although, he did kill a muley on our November trip and I did not. We also got in an hour and a half hunt in the evening and had birds running ahead that we never got pinned down. We'll be after them again in the morning exploring more new country.

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Covered a lot of ground on Saturday. We saw very few tracks, one rooster in the middle of a wheat field under a pivot running for a safe zone, one hen that flushed ahead, and one dead rooster that I suppose someone had lost. We did see a little hope, while traveling, for upcoming hatches on private land we didn't have access to, but I'd say Saturday was a good indicator of just how tough the birds had it last summer and winter.

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Last edited by Hobbes on December 31st, 2018, 4:33 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Hobbes
Posts: 157
Joined: December 24th, 2018, 2:46 pm
Location: Montana

Re: 2018 in Montana

Post by Hobbes »

Late Season Cow Hunt

A buddy from my Colorado days that now lives in Southern California came in with his son for about five days of hunting cow elk. We’ve actually not had a lot of snow, so the elk were not as low as normal and we needed them to be on the lower Block Management (private land open to the public) since these are private land only tags. The pressure was a lot more than I expected and we did not kill an elk. I actually have until February, so maybe I’ll get out again.

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Hobbes
Posts: 157
Joined: December 24th, 2018, 2:46 pm
Location: Montana

Re: 2018 in Montana

Post by Hobbes »

Last Pheasant hunt of 2018
I’ve had too many responsibilities and too little time to get out as much as I'd have liked this season, but I got out Thursday and Friday. Season ends on the 1st, so this is likely it for me.

I was fortunate to hunt private land, but the bird numbers are really low. My buddy has hunted here 33 years and says this is the lowest he's seen numbers across the state during that time, and he's not a pessimist. Numbers are definitely the lowest that I've seen during my time here. With low numbers and late season running games perfected by our quarry, we felt one bird apiece each of the two days was a successful hunt.

Our 2.5 year old dogs are brother's. They growl and posture at each other every chance they get, but pair them up and they are fools. We typically hunt apart from one another to avoid the shenanigans and competition. They both got on a running bird near the end of our hunt. As soon as they realized they were both trailing the same bird, the race was on. You can imagine how successful that was.

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Finn has longer hair and more fluff in his coat, so the snow/ice built up on him quite a bit on day one.

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He insisted on rolling on the ground to try to remove it.

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RapscallionVermilion
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Re: 2018 in Montana

Post by RapscallionVermilion »

Awesome. Always enjoy your posts. Glad to see you back.
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Hognutz
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Re: 2018 in Montana

Post by Hognutz »

That’s the Hobbes that we know and love!!
Welcome back, Brother!!
May I assume you're not here to inquire about the alcohol or the tobacco?
I am the man from Nantucket.
“Leave the gun, take the cannoli” -Clemensa
When attacked by a group of clowns...Go for the Juggler!!
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Grumpy
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Re: 2018 in Montana

Post by Grumpy »

Good pictures and good stories Hobbes, I hope you stick around so my friend Camodude can actually see what a dead turkey looks like........ :LMAO:
I was not his father but he was my son,,MAK IV, 10-15-1993 - 4-22-2007
"Rest in Peace my Little Buddy"
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guesswho
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Re: 2018 in Montana

Post by guesswho »

Enjoyed the pictures. Good to see your name again.
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ICDEDTURKES
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Re: 2018 in Montana

Post by ICDEDTURKES »

Bud glad to see your post, I think I pulled you off the social media ledge a few years back and brought ya back

Alot of times I threaten to leave social media, my Facebook is all hunting folks some of these folks are such pompetus a holes I'd love to punch them. I've mellowd out, my toungue has a million bite marks.

I've always enjoyed your posts from NWTF to here
I will read this later it looks like one of your good ones. Just know this place is like a family, I feel upset about someone's post I can pm them.

Glad have you around
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Hoobilly
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Re: 2018 in Montana

Post by Hoobilly »

So glad to see your back and posting them awesome stories and pictures. Glad things are easing up on you.

When you requested to leave, I was heart broke. I had hoped it wasn't because someone done something to you. Readying what has happened I can see and understand how difficult life can get.

thanks for coming back ! HappyNewYear!
Don't start none, won't be none!

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soiltester
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Re: 2018 in Montana

Post by soiltester »

Again .. more super great pics and great stories of a fantastic huntin' year :thumbup:
You've been blessed in more ways than 1 … and your Livi let you off easy .. with waitin' fer' you to shoot 1 time before she kilt' the rooster :stir: :LMAO: :thumbup: :thumbup:
ever wonder where the white goes when the snow melts??
timbrhuntr
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Re: 2018 in Montana

Post by timbrhuntr »

Good stuff I knew you'd be back when things settled a bit.
Plus I saw your posts on rokslide.
Hobbes
Posts: 157
Joined: December 24th, 2018, 2:46 pm
Location: Montana

Re: 2018 in Montana

Post by Hobbes »

Thanks for the welcome back folks.

Hoobilly, my apologies, I should have reiterated that no one had done anything here to make me leave. I just needed to back away from everything for awhile. That probably didn't help my stress one bit. All I did was focus on the stress.

Tom, I'm really sorry to learn of your mom's passing. My prayers are with you and your family.
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Re: 2018 in Montana

Post by 2Shooter »

Welcome back Hobbes! Always glad to see you post with the awesome pictures, and great stories!!! :thumbup:
HennedUp
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Re: 2018 in Montana

Post by HennedUp »

That's awesome all the way around. Congrats on the time spent outdoors with family and friends and thanks for sharing the stories and pictures. I'm glad to hear that things are smoothing out for you.
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Re: 2018 in Montana

Post by MAK »

Enjoy reading your posts, life comes at all of us pretty hard sometimes- congrats on your year
MAK
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joey46
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Re: 2018 in Montana

Post by joey46 »

Yes you were missed. Good luck to you in the future.
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ncturkey
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Re: 2018 in Montana

Post by ncturkey »

Glad you came back. Great story and photos of your 2018 year.
Mike
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