NC4X4 Hunting and Fishing

I made a 14x70 ground blind today in 10 mins.........
20191224_151056.jpg
20191224_153535.jpg
 
This doe gets a pass for another year. Made a deal with my parents I wouldn’t shoot her unless she didn’t have fawns and the last 4 years she has raised twins. Which I’m calling a big win since we didn’t have deer there growing up and didn’t start seeing them often until about 7-8 years ago.
220a794b9914fa89d12a46b78aa81c3e.jpg


Also I got tired of good trail cameras dying so tried some CHEAP ones. that’s with the second cheapest trail camera I could find on amazon 35-40 bucks depending on if amazon has a coupon for it. 5000 pictures in and haven’t used any battery life yet with lithium ion batteries. That’s 4mp but it will shoot 16mp and video.

LETSCOM Trail Game Camera 0.4S Trigger Speed, 16MP 1080P Scouting Hunting Cams with Night Vision for Outdoor Wildlife Monitoring and Home Surveillance https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07RTY34W7/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_vZbbEbZV8W34A


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Took the savages out today for a "anything that walks out" hunt, and didnt even see a dang squirrel. Oh well.


20191228_085058.jpg
 
Finally got a chance to go set in the tree stand behind the house on Friday evening for the first time this year. Was getting ready to get out of the stand around 5:50pm when out of the shadows this little guy came strolling through. Since we are a buck on county, took what I could get. Saved the loins, have 8 lbs of meat sliced for jerky and ground the rest into hamburger yesterday.
deer.jpg
 
Had a bunch of relation come to town during the Thanksgiving holiday. While the women went black Friday shopping, I took the guys to Santee to do some cat fishing Friday and Saturday. Weather was great both days and ended up with 208 total lbs of fish. Everyone from Indiana caught their personal best as far as fish size was concerned. Largest was 28 lbs with others in the 22 lb range.
santee3.jpg

santee4.jpg

santee5.jpg
 
Ol savage put a little grub on the table for tomorrow. Maybe it's a sign for the new year...

80 yard shots.

20200101_115612.jpg


Got a few more

20200101_165531.jpg
 
Last edited:
Had a great last evening of the season. Got to take my daughter (my hunting buddy) one last time before she heads back to Missouri for the rest of her Army National Guard training. She is a hunting junky, Lol. She got to see this buck fighting another in the woods on the other end of the property but couldn’t get a shot.
4E8F8108-E649-46E4-BF6C-DE3D53A0DE64.jpeg
7AAFB90E-702B-47EC-A084-8E1336D99860.jpeg
16720C18-ED81-4A7D-9443-5580172F949A.jpeg
 
Anyone else putting in for Maine Moose this year?

It'll be my 3rd year in a row. I think I read non-resident chances are 1 in 72.

That’s not bad for an out of state lottery.

There is some stuff out west that I’d like to hunt at some point but I could never draw a tag for.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Best thing about the Maine Moose is that you can get in for about $10, and only have to pay for the stamp IF you are drawn. (And it's $575 I think).

Out West, you have to apply and pay for the stamp before the end of Jan, then wait six months to be drawn. And if you aren't drawn, they send your money back. So your cash is tied up for half a year and it's a lot more expensive.

My old man and I have been talking about trying to do a Colorado Elk hunt using muzzle loaders, that'd get us in earlier in the season before bad weather and they get too skittish. Plus the tags are easier to get.

Downside is I need to get a muzzle loader and learn how to use one.
Upside is also that I need to get a muzzle loader. :)
 
Best thing about the Maine Moose is that you can get in for about $10, and only have to pay for the stamp IF you are drawn. (And it's $575 I think).

Out West, you have to apply and pay for the stamp before the end of Jan, then wait six months to be drawn. And if you aren't drawn, they send your money back. So your cash is tied up for half a year and it's a lot more expensive.

My old man and I have been talking about trying to do a Colorado Elk hunt using muzzle loaders, that'd get us in earlier in the season before bad weather and they get too skittish. Plus the tags are easier to get.

Downside is I need to get a muzzle loader and learn how to use one.
Upside is also that I need to get a muzzle loader. :)

Colorado you may be able to get over the counter tags.

Most of what we looked at were over the counter or left over lottery tags for a lot of the big game species.

But I’d also be happy with a cow elk tag. Even in units that don’t have a lot of public land you have way more than the east coast.

We’ve looked at pronghorn, mule deer, whitetail, elk.
Ya you may not draw out for the big bull or buck units but I’ve never killed one so any would be a prize to me.

If you want to get in before bad weather look up the regs on crossbows or get a compound. Elk hunting you’d have a lot better chance of getting a bull while they are rutting.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Colorado you may be able to get over the counter tags.

Most of what we looked at were over the counter or left over lottery tags for a lot of the big game species.

But I’d also be happy with a cow elk tag. Even in units that don’t have a lot of public land you have way more than the east coast.

We’ve looked at pronghorn, mule deer, whitetail, elk.
Ya you may not draw out for the big bull or buck units but I’ve never killed one so any would be a prize to me.

If you want to get in before bad weather look up the regs on crossbows or get a compound. Elk hunting you’d have a lot better chance of getting a bull while they are rutting.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

CO has a lot of OTC units. Those tags typically go on sale in August. We are using unit 161 during 2nd Rifle as a fall back this year if we don’t draw in Wyoming. It’s on the CO/WY line so as long as the weather isn’t too crazy, it’s easy to border hop the forest roads and camp with our friends that live and hunt that area of WY. Use stuff like OnX and google maps and find trailheads off the beaten path. CO has a metric fuck ton of out of staters like ya but most are lazy and dont venture far from the roads. We have a pretty good 9 mile hike route mapped out so far and might spike camp a night or two depending on how things go.

I’m in for 3 tags in Wyoming right now. Antelope, Cow Elk and Bull Elk all in units along the CO state line in the Medicine Bow/Routt NF. Draw odds are decent but still not guaranteed. Like @Atla said, it sucks to pay up front but a lot of western states got away from the pay later draws because people would draw, then back out and the leftover tag lotteries got pretty crazy.
 
Last edited:
Got home bout 530pm saw a small buck walkin away from our backyard.Looked closer and saw 3 more young bucks at the edge of the woods of my neighbors.Then 2 and then 3 of them started sparring and pushing each other around.I got my binos and watched them while the sun went down, it was pretty cool. I messed w them w mouth bleats and grunts.
 
Last edited:
Lots of bucks are sparring right now. Have a group of 5 at one property and nearly every time they’re in front of the camera they’re locked up. Don’t think any in this group are more than 2yrs old.
 
Reminds me, I need to check my cameras..
 
Found some stripers on the tar river today. Was my first time catching them. I had a blast going back in a week or two.

8a09b5c529b605d13458fc3c3e67e78b.jpg


242604362fc5ba40ea20b2eefb4bc1d1.jpg
 
211bbe04da14d223730805be84b6dd20.jpg


Out in blunts creek, they are running smaller 13-17” but I need to restock the freezer Bc the ex took all my deer meat and fish.
 
bd1dc51765c174b43045ae99f84d780b.jpg


Well yesterday we went back out there. Putting more meat in the freezer. In the last 2 days we probably boated 200 or so specs. Granted most were smaller 12-14. But I literally caught 5 in a row cast after cast. Bait was blown up in the creek and they just fed all day long. Funniest thing was being surrounded by boats and they couldn’t catch Jack crap. Meanwhile my Eagle Scout buddy gave me a lesson in bait presentation and man we just slayed them. Hopefully we will go striper fishing again next week if the rain holds off so the water doesn’t get to muddy in the tar.
 
Out in blunts creek, they are running smaller 13-17” but I need to restock the freezer Bc the ex took all my deer meat and fish.

I have to say, if you're ex thought the wild game meat in the freezer was an important item to grab during the breakup, you have good taste in women....
 
I have to say, if you're ex thought the wild game meat in the freezer was an important item to grab during the breakup, you have good taste in women....

she just got her pettiness from her mom. It was mainly because I fished a lot with her dad and brother.
 
Good day today. My buddy got his first critter.

20200201_152810.jpg
 
Back
Top