My WY mule deer

Originally Posted By: PrairieMuffinThanks guys that means a lot to me
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Extra Prayers are welcome! But I'm sure I'll be running wild before muzzle opens here, cause ya know that's when I get out my wolf and do some serious trick or treating...
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Tac.. are you getting that mounted????
looks like a wall keeper to me!
You should go back and trap.. so we can see all the cool pics!



get well muffin! great job tactical!
 
Yeah, I know the Barnetts, Fred and Wayne. They like people who hunt, trap, etc, any coyote around. They also let every wanna be(NOT you) predator hunter on their place which results in some extra-ordinarily smart and call shy coyotes. Fred is president of the Bighorn County Predator Board right now. They got cross wise with the forest service and lost their grazing permit on the mountain and sold all their cattle. Then, they started buying them back. They still own the ranch in Shell.

Have you ever wanted to be a government trapper? The pay sucks, the hours are horrible, and every producer out there thinks you should be a John Wayne of predator control. One of our coyote trappers(fed) retires the end of this month and WS will be looking to back fill him. Let me know if your interested as you ARE familiar with our area and thats half the battle. If so, I'll put you in touch with the regional WS supervisor. No guarantees on his response.
Your decision............................................
 
I am tempted, but still prefer the east side of the big hill! I would just as soon never talk to Lyman again! I called Acre's office this spring, they had no openings then, forgot to ask what it paid. What county and how much is the pay?
The gas job would pay about 48-50,000$ And a good amount of vacation time, 260hrs a yr, I think.
Too bad they let anyone call on their land. HA ha, he tried to get me to fall in love with this butt ugly single lady east or north of Shell, my wife was better looking than her, guck! I think he wanted that so I would move to his county and kill the coyotes for free!
Good luck on getting some meat, and antlers!
 
Take the gas job!!! Its a way better deal - if you can pull it off.

The county is Bighorn and the salary? Your guess is as good as mine; probably less than 40K a year, 5 day weeks, comp. time, hazardous duty pay for shooting from the plane/chopper, government truck, traps, snares, bait, gas; have to provide your own rifle, don't know about shells; you would need a decoy dog as well.. Health benefits and vacation included. Travel required.

Mark Lyman is part of our district. Have to interact with him as well.

Craig Acres(Mr. white hat) is not at the top of my want to know list. Jim Pehringer is the district manager and he is out of Cody. Acres boss, Rod Krische, is a good head as well. He is the director for WS in Wyoming and we/I get along with him and Pehringer real well...

Not surprised by Barnetts approach. I'll have to snoop on who he was trying to fix you up with. We have a board meeting this coming Monday night and that will be fun for sure. I'll see Pehringer then. They MAY be on a head count reduction plan themselves. I'll find out,.

This is, by law, my last year on the board, ending Dec. 31st, for one year, then, I can re-apply. I've accomplished all my goals and am looking forward to a little break!!!
 
I was just joking about the old guy, it just sorta annoyed me he kept saying stuff about her and me that way. I was so mad at Lyman, I still want nothing to do with him.
Takes a lot of time to be on the board?
I have a Dorn dog, but haven't had time to train her on decoying yet.
 
Not so much the 'time' as the 'politics'.

When I retired from the corporate world I was hoping to never again have to play politics for any reason.

Not the case..........................................
 
Yah, predators are supprisingly political! huh? O'Gorman knows it inside and out.
Had a good laugh, JW was talking to the 20yr old we hunted with, he ran into a bear, it stood there looking at him, scared the crap out of him. The bear was probably trying to decide what it saw, kid thought it might be trying to wonder if he was good to eat! We really had a good laugh over that one! When I was up there, he was sleeping in his tent with a loaded 12ga. 40yds, big bear.
 
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Hope the kid was loaded with buckshot, or, better yet slugs. 40 yards and a big bear could mean trouble with anything less. Of course a 20 year old with dirty shorts in the middle of the night with ANY kind of fire arm could be pretty dangerous to everything...
 
Not sure what he had in it, the 1100 was in my truck a couple days, but didn't look. He is bow hunting, saw the bear where they were baiting for a stand, (other hunters).
Yah, they will probably never let him forget that one!!
I am doing my best to get back out this fall for coyotes and a couple toms, been too long, 5yrs.
 
Tac - check your PM. Just got home from my Pred. Board Mtg.


BIG buck today. Was doing some scouting for deer season(Nov. 01 start in this area) and went to the 'secret place' my wife and I found two years ago; did some glassing, and, there, three quarters of the way up in this limestone ravine was the buck of a life time. He was in a washout cave kind of thing that was big enough to accomidate his body and a very unbelievable rack; looked like that booger on the deer hunting regulations from F&G.. A spot big enough that I could kneel in it and stick my hands up and not touch the over hang. He barely fit comfortably in there. We will save him for the 'last resort' kind of deal - like last year. Same place: That deer(5X5)(trophy) had a strange rack, 4 forward, 4 backward; didn't want him, let him go. NOT going to be benevolent this year!!!!
 
Sounds like a nice one. DO they hang in one spot if not bothered. JW said the bucks we spotted a couple weeks ago, are not there now.
I didn't see any big bucks, first 9 trapping trips to WY, then I saw 3 huge, dark, thick racked bucks from the highway, in 20-30 miles, blew my mind. It was snowing big heavy flakes, I went to town to get stuff, didn't want to sit on Rubicon and trap in that wet stuff!
 
This one SHOULD hang where he is at since he is the only one there AND not being disturbed by anyone. This spot has another 6 to 8 day beds and I'm betting his harem will be using them this fall. Every year(EXCEPT last and this) the field below this particular spot has sported as many as 6 bruisers. I think this one has 'claimed' that area and is keeping the other bucks out. MOST of the big bucks have gone underground since bow season has started, however, if the rut is timely? they will lose their collective minds and we will find them out in the open in the farm land courting the does(Nov. 1st).
Lots of 'ifs'.........................
As you know, the rut itself changes alll of the dynamics and here today and somewhere else tomorrow is the rule............... We will see. MAY get my buck when my wife and I go up beaver creek to cedar creek for her elk in October. She has a general deer tag, elk tag and I've got a mountain lion tag and a general deer tag(OCT 15th) - just in case we can get 'er all done at once!!
 
I see. Any archery after rifle season in WY? Good luck on your hunt, that is a great thing if your wife will hunt with you. Mine wouldn't even concider it. She has no interest, her eyes glaze over if I tell how a hunt went!lol!
 
As far as I know? archery only before rifle season. Can't wait to get into them this year.

Wife loves to hunt and periodically puts it on me to take her 'yote hunting - especially if I dumped one recently. More than glad to have her go because she IS one of the best shots I have ever seen!!! Took me about 6 years working with her on gun use to get her interested. Two things did it: a drive by male 'yote and her first buck mule deer.

Had my neighbor sheep rancher and Pred. Board member ask me to check out one of her ewes that had been killed yesterday morning. The ewe put up a pretty good struggle for about 100 feet and from the looks of it? was doomed from the beginning with one 'yote hanging on her throat and another on her left rear hock. This was a full grown ewe of about 175 pounds, so, the 'yote was probably desperate AND training pups. WS is in there now with traps, snares and a shooter, so, we are staying out of the way. I had to skin her out from the front shoulders to the nose to make positive ID on the killer(s). Not bad for an amatuer 'yote whacker. Interestingly they had just flown that area and gotten seven!! Could be the dog is left with the pups and is getting frantic. I've seen it before..................
 
Yah, they usually take the smaller sheep, don't they. The e-mail I sent to him was returned. Had deer chili tonight again, pretty good!
They are still killing for the pups, thought they would be on their own by now, maybe each year is different. Wasn't 2 pups? When I trapped in Bighorn co, a guy had goats killed, I trapped and shot 4 of them in that red valley.
 
No pup in his right mind would try to take down a full grown ewe; couldn't do it if he tried. They would have that sheep shredded like an old newspaper before they got her down; if she didn't just kick the crap out of them..

Check your PM. Gave you another approach and some info.

Ah yes. The goats... I remember some of that.

Not so much killing for the pups as killing to teach the pups how to do it. Training on sheep leads to more pre-trained sheep killers, etc. Best thing that could happen IF that was what was going on(and it may be since its that time of year)? is to get every blasted one of them in that family group to prevent future sheep killers.
 
My thoughts exactly on stopping it in the "bud". Bill Austin, in his instruction tape said they can only take them down if they are running, the big sheep, but if it is hamstrung, then it would be like a small deer, going down anyway.
See your deer lately? I sure hope that nice one is back next yr, in the same place, he was fairly accessable where he was, he just had luck on his side those 2 mornings! If they dissappear into the dark trees due to pattern change, how would a person find the big one? I suppose he could move a couple miles or more? JW went back up there to find a big elk, should have better hunting this time. Are they bugling much yet?
 
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