Montana Spring 2014 photos

[hobbes]

Season has came and went faster for me than usual.  It doesn't seem like I've hunted near as much and I'm not hunting on Memorial Day weekend in NE or WA like I've been doing.  Without too many details here are some photos from this spring.

These photos were taken just before season started as I drove to Western Montana. 

A few whitetails:






The Bob Marshall Wilderness.





These turkeys are in a special draw unit that only issues 5 tags, so I won't be hunting them anytime soon, but was still excited to see them just before season opened.
Two Toms, two Jakes, and a bunch of hens in the first flock:





The second flock had a bunch of hens tucked under some cottonwoods with one strutter and a couple jakes chasing another tom around:






I had to stop to check out these swans when I spotted these three white butts sticking up on a roadside water hole.




I don't see woodies too often here in the West.


And of course.......elk.

[DirtNap647]

nice pics

[hobbes]

Boyd has now passed hunter safety, so he was hoping to kill a bird this year.  He practiced with the 20 gauge before season and did a little fishing on the same evening.





Boyd's biggest fish.....a spawning Rainbow:

[hobbes]

I skipped the first weekend due to the weather and a minimum 3 hour drive.  I hunted the second weekend with my pastor and a pastor friend of his in Western Montana.  This was a new area and we only had three days to hunt.  The first two days we only heard one tom as it rained most of the time.  There was plenty of other wildlife to get photos of.


Can you spot the critters?


Two Bighorn ewes:


Bighorn ram:


More elk:


Can you spot the turkeys?  Too bad this tom was on private ground that we could not hunt.


One foggy rainy morning:


Day three was sunshine and we worked a few turkeys.
There were two toms in this area that wanted to hang out with the lady friends instead of get shot.




We found two more toms that I pushed my two hunting companions ahead of me to wait for.  The toms were hot and I had them coming in fast and I just knew at least one of them was about to pull the trigger.  However, the toms shut down as fast as they came in and headed away from us.  I'm not sure which of "my hunters" blew it and spooked them, but they were both convinced the other one had done it.  Overall it was a great time but no birds were killed.

[hobbes]

Isaac and Boyd and I  headed to central Montana to hunt another new location a day after I returned from Western Montana.  We had one day to hunt, and Isaac was prepared to shoot any male bird he had a chance at since baseball was going to limit him to this one hunt in Montana. 

The drive there found both boys sleeping:




Sunrise:


Where are the turkeys:


We got a response soon after that photo.  Isaac didn't waiver from his decision and blasted one of three jakes that came charging in about 30 minutes after sunrise.  I elected to pass. 









We found a couple more toms that afternoon, but couldn't do anything with them, so I kept them in mind for a later hunt.

[hobbes]

On the last day to apply for a leftover tag in the last IL season (5th season), we decided to go to IL.  It wasn't very well planned out and really interfered with hunting in MT and halted a Memorial day trip to WA or NE, but we had a good time visiting with family and friends. 

On the first day of hunting while trying to work a field strutter with a hen into range, a flock that hadn't said a word slipped in to our right (Isaac's side).  There were two toms in the bunch.  I didn't have a gun with me on this day and they were too far to the right for Boyd, so Isaac had no problem killing one of the toms.  The tom quickly flopped into a big mud hole and looked terrible.  I bet he weighed 30 lbs water logged the way he was.


  I spent some time, once I got home, washing and drying him for some photos.  He was 22 lbs, 9 1/2" beard, and had 1 1/16" spurs.






I spent the next six days working birds in close, several within range, but they never presented a shot.  Boyd hunted four of those days with me.  I know one day I had three separate toms come in, two within 40 yards that I just did not have a shot at.  On the last day, Boyd and I circled a tom that I had watched the day before work his way from one field to the next through the corner of two woodlots.  After 1/2 hour of waiting, Boyd was convinced he wasn't coming and I could not keep him awake even when I threatened to kill the tom myself if he fell asleep.  One moment I was looking at nothing and the next there was a tom standing in front of me at 25 yards.  Unlike I had threatened to do, I quietly woke Boyd and tried to get him on the bird.  The rush of waking to a tom, trying to shoot his first bird, and me insisting that he shoot as the bird had figured out all wasn't right was more than Boyd could endure and he missed the tom.  He took it hard, but it was a lesson he won't soon forget.  I, on the other hand, have learned this lesson before and prefer to not do it again.

It was a good hunt, with lots of gobbling, but in the end I couldn't beat those late season Easterns.

[hobbes]

Last weekend was the last weekend here in MT, so I worked four tens and took Friday off.  I left the house at 2 AM on Friday for the three hour drive to the same area that Isaac had killed his MT bird.  It had rained overnight, so the roads were a mess.  The morning sunrise in the east was a cool scene as the clouds from the west overtook it.


One turkey gobbled as I got out of the truck, but I could not tell where he was and he would not make another peep.  The skies lightened as the sun rose and the weather appeared to be improving.



I drove down the road to another location to look for a gobbling bird and could hear a bird down this two track.


It sounded like two toms, but they were on private land that I could not access and I could not convince them to come my way.  I spent the rest of the day hiking and calling.  I spooked two other turkeys that were coming to the call silent and worked one other tom that went down the opposite side of a ravine and gobbled as he went on by.





I tried to roost a bird that evening, and thought I heard one bird a long way off.  The next morning proved that I was correct when I heard two toms at about a mile away.  I hustled to them, but they flew down in the opposite direction.  I circled and spent the next hour and a half working this tom into range.  In all, I got to watch him strut with a hen and jake at 80 yards for 45 minutes until sweet talking the him and the hen finally brought him strutting into 30 yards.













16 lbs, 8 1/2" beard, 3/4" spurs

[tomstopper]

Great photos. Congrats to your boys and you. Some pure father & son bonding time that you and them will cherish for many years to come.....

[WiLL B]

Congrats on the gobblers!! I enjoyed the pictures and stories!!

[n2deer]

Enjoyed it, great pictures. Hope you guys enjoyed your time together.

[stone road turkey calls]

your a good dad, enjoyed the pics.

[captin_hook]

Great pics... Looks like a blast

[noggin buster]

Great photos!!

[Gooserbat]

Super Nice

[mikejd]

Great pics. Looks like you have a wonderful family.
congrats to you all.