There is a light at the end of the tunnel, so they say. Sometimes I wonder if it is a train coming at me.
Things have been up and down as of late. AZBushman and I had a pretty good summer coyote hunting season, bagging something just about everytime we went out. With the weather cooling, I began to shift my focus towards harvesting fox and bobcat fur. I got off to a pretty good start, including bagging a bobcat with Mark on opening day, and a good outing with a graduate of mine, but since, things have been a little rough. My FoxPro Scorpion took a tumble, and had to be sent back for repairs. Then I crashed my motorcycle on a hunt with Smooth and broke a toe, which has sidelined me for a couple of weeks. Not being able to do much, I was going a little stir crazy, so Friday I decided two weeks was enough, and went out for a little calling. Unfortunately the area I chose, seemed to be everyone's choice, as every spot we picked had some sort of people hiking, talking, or what have you. LAME.
Today, I decided we were going to go for the hail mary. 4th down, 4 seconds left, go big or go home. Mark and I made a 100 mile journey up to the high country north of Phoenix. The weather was much cooler up north, and the calling was hit or miss. Again, the areas were great, but we had people all around us. Second stand of the day, 9 minutes in, and I managed to call in a fox. I whistled to Mark that the fox was coming, but before he could get a sight picture on it, the fox spotted us, so I had to take a long shot with my shotgun. The shot went low, and simply scattered rocks onto the surprised fox. We were half way to getting the calling dry spell monkey off our backs, we had managed to call something, now we just had to close the deal. Second to the last stand of the day found Mark and I spying a nice canyon that was sure to hold a fox or bobcat. Yet when we stalked to the edge of the canyon, we found that it wasn't going to be possible to get into the canyon, it was a sheer drop into the brushy canyon, we weren't going to be able to do it quietly. So we set up on the edge of the canyon, with Mark out ahead of me, the call facing into the canyon behind Mark. Me, I was going to anchor the backdoor, it was Mark's turn to take a shot at something. I had Mark watching down into the brush to see if I could draw something through the canyon, I was the high overwatch.
60 seconds in, and a fox pops up, right across from Mark, but behind a tree. I could see that Mark had no line of sight to the fox, and with the thick, nasty brush, I took the shot. The SD 17rem, sent a 25gr HP across the 60 or so yards, and the fox disappeared behind a rock. It looked like a good hit, but we didn't know for about 10 minutes while Mark worked his way across the canyon. The 17 worked it's magic again, dropping the fox, without fur damage.
We also got a chance to use the "Furse" carry strap that was made for me by Jeff, fw707, here on the forum. Jeff made my call lanyard that is a part of my regular loadout. When I had to "re-engineer" it to help carry ot an early season bobcat, Jeff offered to make me a special purpose carry-all. As you can see, it works as advertised. Jeff made it a little long for me, but it works great. Made it unbelievably easy to carry the fox, and the rest of my gear. Now I know what you are saying, it's just a little fox, suck it up buttercup. But we all know that luggin around even a little dead weight, along with the rest of our gear, is a royal pain, and Jeff's Furse strap is an elegant solution to a welcome problem. So if you are one of those guys who has to carry a lot of fur, and you want an easier way to do it, drop Jeff a line, and have him spin you one up, trust me, it is worth it, I won't leave home without mine.
I am confident that the worm has turned and that bigger and better things are on the horizon, and that this is going to be a good season. Good luck to the rest of you.
Things have been up and down as of late. AZBushman and I had a pretty good summer coyote hunting season, bagging something just about everytime we went out. With the weather cooling, I began to shift my focus towards harvesting fox and bobcat fur. I got off to a pretty good start, including bagging a bobcat with Mark on opening day, and a good outing with a graduate of mine, but since, things have been a little rough. My FoxPro Scorpion took a tumble, and had to be sent back for repairs. Then I crashed my motorcycle on a hunt with Smooth and broke a toe, which has sidelined me for a couple of weeks. Not being able to do much, I was going a little stir crazy, so Friday I decided two weeks was enough, and went out for a little calling. Unfortunately the area I chose, seemed to be everyone's choice, as every spot we picked had some sort of people hiking, talking, or what have you. LAME.
Today, I decided we were going to go for the hail mary. 4th down, 4 seconds left, go big or go home. Mark and I made a 100 mile journey up to the high country north of Phoenix. The weather was much cooler up north, and the calling was hit or miss. Again, the areas were great, but we had people all around us. Second stand of the day, 9 minutes in, and I managed to call in a fox. I whistled to Mark that the fox was coming, but before he could get a sight picture on it, the fox spotted us, so I had to take a long shot with my shotgun. The shot went low, and simply scattered rocks onto the surprised fox. We were half way to getting the calling dry spell monkey off our backs, we had managed to call something, now we just had to close the deal. Second to the last stand of the day found Mark and I spying a nice canyon that was sure to hold a fox or bobcat. Yet when we stalked to the edge of the canyon, we found that it wasn't going to be possible to get into the canyon, it was a sheer drop into the brushy canyon, we weren't going to be able to do it quietly. So we set up on the edge of the canyon, with Mark out ahead of me, the call facing into the canyon behind Mark. Me, I was going to anchor the backdoor, it was Mark's turn to take a shot at something. I had Mark watching down into the brush to see if I could draw something through the canyon, I was the high overwatch.
60 seconds in, and a fox pops up, right across from Mark, but behind a tree. I could see that Mark had no line of sight to the fox, and with the thick, nasty brush, I took the shot. The SD 17rem, sent a 25gr HP across the 60 or so yards, and the fox disappeared behind a rock. It looked like a good hit, but we didn't know for about 10 minutes while Mark worked his way across the canyon. The 17 worked it's magic again, dropping the fox, without fur damage.
We also got a chance to use the "Furse" carry strap that was made for me by Jeff, fw707, here on the forum. Jeff made my call lanyard that is a part of my regular loadout. When I had to "re-engineer" it to help carry ot an early season bobcat, Jeff offered to make me a special purpose carry-all. As you can see, it works as advertised. Jeff made it a little long for me, but it works great. Made it unbelievably easy to carry the fox, and the rest of my gear. Now I know what you are saying, it's just a little fox, suck it up buttercup. But we all know that luggin around even a little dead weight, along with the rest of our gear, is a royal pain, and Jeff's Furse strap is an elegant solution to a welcome problem. So if you are one of those guys who has to carry a lot of fur, and you want an easier way to do it, drop Jeff a line, and have him spin you one up, trust me, it is worth it, I won't leave home without mine.
I am confident that the worm has turned and that bigger and better things are on the horizon, and that this is going to be a good season. Good luck to the rest of you.
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