The wow factor!

 I had the opportunity to do something that has been a bucket list item for... ever?

I booked a buffalo hunt with Prairie Ridge Buffalo Ranch. Here is their website:

https://www.prairieridgebuffalo.com/

I was able to keep in touch with Shawn since I booked this in FEB (i think) and have passed his name and contact info to everyone that has asked about Buffalo hunting.

Alright so let's get the details out of the way before I start dropping pictures. I had the idea in my head that I would show up, hop out of my truck, be pointed at a buffalo, and told to shoot. Man oh man was I wrong BIG TIME!. First off we had to find this guy, and being out in the prairies you would think it would be easy.

Once we were able to find this guy, we had to get close. Fun fact here! Are you aware a Buffalo can run close to 40 mph!? Well sure as shit I was not! I have never seen an animal that big, run that fast. OH!! another thing!!! A Buffalo can prance like a Deer. I really wish I had the hind sight to video it, but for as big as a Buffalo is, it is graceful as hell! It prance's like a damn Deer, wild!

Once we were able to get close I was able to take a shot. My hell are these critters TOUGH! First shot was a lung shot around 50 or so yards and this animal did not move an inch! Moved around for a second shot and believe I hit it near the heart, and finally a twitch, but still not dead. Moved again and took a third shot which I believe was another lung shot and FINALLY a twitch. We waited a few minutes and decided to walk towards this beast and it tried to run, but stumbled and I knew the deed was done. He finally fell over and was about to be done for good. 

Initially I thought to myself, "man this is a small bull," but once we got it up and in position I saw the size and second guessed whether or not I shot one too big.

I was fortunate enough to harvest this bull with a good western gun, the old fashioned 45/70

Thank goodness Shawn was able to bring a tractor out because skinning this thing on the ground would have been a nightmare

After all of that was done I was able to get the carcass to my butcher. He came out at 596.92 pounds hanging. I am thinking between 425 and 450 pounds of finished meat. I was also able to get the head to my taxidermist. Shawn was also generous enough to allow me to keep the dead heads I found to have a friend of mine paint them up.

If you want the chance to harvest a great animal, and put meat in the freezer, call these guys! 

Last few hunts and fishing

 Last few months have been.... busy. Started off with deer. Went to do some fishing, an elk hunt, another deer hunt, and ended with something unique.

Started out with taking some buddies of mine fishing. We had a blast. I have never had such a great meal in my life (thanks Juan) and although the river was basically a cow pasture with weeds some fish were caught!

The boat ran great!

Nick got the biggest, but I think Juan got the most.

Next was a new purchase, where I had the big guy watching over me at all times 

I took that beast Elk hunting, though I did not hunt I was there to help. Our group was able to get a few shots off this year, but no one was able to close the deal. But that's how hunting is.

Next on the list was a couple more Deer hunts. I had a buddy come up that just got into hunting and he was able to down his first big game animal. You can't really call Deer hunting up here "hunting" since it is basically walking down the driveway and killing a deer, but I am glad for that because it is a some what controlled environment. 

Right before he was able to kill that Doe we saw a handsome man.

Sucks I couldn't shoot him because I had already filled my buck tag with this little fella, but I really don't care because I got meat, which is what I was after due to what was happening later in the season.

Again, and I must stress, it's not hunting up here. Dad came up to knock down his Deer of the year and it only took a quick phone call to do so.

Finally, one of our awesome neighbors that allows us access nailed a beauty buck. I am not adding his pictures because he values his privacy so the pics you see of me, are of HIS BUCK!

Next post is something unique

It's not goodbye, it's see you again

 I am going to keep this one very short. I said goodbye to my best friend at 1345 on 8 NOV 2022. Moose had a great life. He ran, swam, hunted, and lived well. He had gotten to the point where he could barely walk. It was his time to move on. I will admit, I was not ready to let him go, but keeping him around only made every day even more painful than the last. I was with him until the end, and I have him here with me right now as tears are in my eyes while I type this out. I have been for-going posting this for some time because i knew it would hurt but writing things out seems to help. I miss him dearly and I feel like I have lost part of myself, but this is not good bye. This is, I will see you again. I know he is upstairs playing on the shore of the lake waiting for me. I am not going to put a ton of pictures up because, those are for me.

The season is finally here!

 Well the season finally started. I was able to get a jump on it by getting a small doe, I have been out of deer meat for some time now so this thing was great to get.

I was able to run the river for a couple of days with some friends as well. They said they had a blast and the boat did great!

As you can tell above, we had a blast!

We were able to get everyone on fish, except me as I was rowing.

To finish this off, I went Antelope hunting as well. I froze to death!! I was in no way prepared for the temp drop!

That temp drop got me very impatient, so I shot the first legal buck I saw. No more then 4 minutes after I shot this little guy a brute buck walked by. Oh well, I am happy with the little guy. Got 50 something pounds off of him and to the butcher. That number came as a surprise because i did not think I could get that much off of the little fella!

I ended the week by checking out a new area I might Elk hunt next year

Speaking of Elk, I will be out this coming weekend for my Sand Dunes Elk hunt. Not too terribly keen on getting one since I have something lined up in the middle of December that would fill the freezer for a year. More to come on that later.