A Plan Comes Together-kinda

[Buffalobob]

Each winter in late December I start making my plans for the next Falls hunting and which permits to apply for. Then once I know which applications were successful, I finalize my plans.

Shooting animals at and beyond 1000 yards with a rifle has become somewhat boring so I thought that perhaps shooting one or more with a bow at or beyond 100 yards would be interesting. I ordered me a new bow with 340fps speed, 8.5 inch brace height and 80% letoff and equipped it with all the latest, most expensive bells and whistles available. I have been practicing and am probably good to go to about 60 yards but not 100. I still love my guns too much to forsake them and concentrate solely on the bow. I might not actually succeed for a few years but the lure of the challenge make life interesting.

So here is the schedule this Fall

Leave home about August 15 and go to Utah to the same place I hunted elk and deer last year-Manti La Sal. Bow hunt deer and elk in Utah from August 21 to September 17.

Leave Utah and drive to Casper Wyoming and hunt antelope. Try to kill one antelope with the 460 S&W, try to kill another one with the Remington XP-100R in 260 Remington beyond 500 yards. Try once more to kill an antelope beyond 1500 yards and preferably beyond 2K with my long range rifle.

Depart Wyoming around October 1 and drive to southeast New Mexico and hunt Barbary Sheep until October 7.

Drive back to Utah and hunt cow elk with a rifle until either me or the elk expires on October 21.

Drive home unpack and start chasing deer and turkeys in Maryland.

[Green Light]

Sounds like a heck of an adventure. How long have you been bow hunting? I've found that bow hunters are a breed apart. My stalking skills were never good enough to get that close.

My heart is in the west. The scenery out there is unmatched anywhere. Now that my leg and back are getting to a place where I can get out, I may do something like that. I know my in-laws would enjoy the family visit.

I hadn't heard of New Mexico being a good hunting spot. Anything else besides sheep out there?

I've gotta say that 1000+ yards hunting is pretty impressive. When I was a kid in Alaska, shots of 300 to 400 yards were the standard with .270 winchester and .300 weatherby, depending on the game. Moose hunts were much closer.

[Buffalobob]

New Mexico manages its elk herd for trophy bulls and it is hard to draw a tag. Utah does the same and that is why I am limited to spike or cow elk. I was unsuccessful for a number of species such as desert bighorn.

I have been away from archery for quite a few years but it is a peaceful type of hunting and the weather is very nice during archery season. Most of my hearing is gone so I am at a big disadvantage and wear hearing enhancement.

The effective killing range of a 308 (for animals) is about 800 yards. Very few hunters ever advance beyond that range. Getting to 800 yards is fairly cheap and fairly simple in terms of gear and skill. Getting beyond 800 yards requires extreme dedication and equipment and not surprisingly most of us who succeed beyond that range succeed beyond 1K.

[craigepo]

I have been putting off buying a bow for a couple of years. However, with only a 10 day rifle season in Missouri, finding and taking an actual trophy whitetail almost necessitates bow-hunting.

A bugling elk is an exciting moment in the wild. Whacking one with a bow would be very cool.

My next hunting goals are bugling an elk with a bow, and hunting a trophy mule deer. And killing one of the stud whitetail on my farm.

If you ever need an accomplice for a trophy elk, mule deer, or whitetail hunt, I would love to go.

[Buffalobob]

I have three or four points for trophy elk in Utah but will need three or four more before I can expect to draw. I seldom hunt for trophies but when my kids went with me I found them very respectable antelope. We were after a real B&C buck we had seen twice but he survived us.

If you are inclined to cross bows you should look at the PSE Tac 15. Blazing speed and real cams not just round wheels. Shoots a 26 inch arrow not a bolt so it carries a lot of energy down range. Capable of one inch groups at 100 yards.

http://www.pse-archery.com/prod.php?k=55444&u=1142


About the best I can do with a vertical bow even using a support is about a 6 inch group at 80 yards. I use a collapsible shooting stick to brace the bow right at the riser stabilizer junction and it helps keep the vertical dispersion down. Freehand, with no support I was getting 12 inch groups at 100 yards for eight arrows yesterday.

[JoeyB]

Sounds like a hell of a hunting season you have planned. All the time I hunted CO I never got a shot at an elk with my bow, I gotta get back there some day. 100 yards with a bow is a hell of a stretch, though your practice groups are very good, Id never consider a shot that far with a bow. Too much can go wrong and you end up with a wounded animal. Good luck though