Just talked to Linefinder. He'll be chasing goats tomorrow.

JerryBobCo

I talked to Mike a little while ago. He's getting ready to go chase antelope. I wished him luck, but it seems strange not to be going with him. This will be the first time in 8 or 9 years that either of us have gone antelope hunting without the other. Hopefully, it will be the last time for a long time to come. There's just something about hunting those wide open spaces that gets in your blood, and it's even better when you have a good friend accompanying you.

Mike, I just know that there's a couple still out there with your name on them. You just gotta go get 'em.

Good luck!

ken55

JerryBobCo wrote: »

I talked to Mike a little while ago. He's getting ready to go chase antelope. I wished him luck, but it seems strange not to be going with him. This will be the first time in 8 or 9 years that either of us have gone antelope hunting without the other. Hopefully, it will be the last time for a long time to come. There's just something about hunting those wide open spaces that gets in your blood, and it's even better when you have a good friend accompanying you.

Mike, I just know that there's a couple still out there with your name on them. You just gotta go get 'em.

Good luck!

Glad you're back safe, Mike - now go chase those goats!

Linefinder

JerryBobCo wrote: »

I talked to Mike a little while ago. He's getting ready to go chase antelope. I wished him luck, but it seems strange not to be going with him. This will be the first time in 8 or 9 years that either of us have gone antelope hunting without the other. Hopefully, it will be the last time for a long time to come. There's just something about hunting those wide open spaces that gets in your blood, and it's even better when you have a good friend accompanying you.

Mike, I just know that there's a couple still out there with your name on them. You just gotta go get 'em.

Good luck!

Thanks, amigo! It's sure enough feeling strange, and it's gonna be even stranger when I'm looking over a few thousand acres that are even emptier because you ain't there.

I'm looking forward to it, and I'll give it the full four days left of the season if need be. Since my truck's in the shop and I'm using Bruce's little Toyo 4-banger, I might be able to afford the gas to drive back and forth instead of truck-camping like I'd figured on doing. I like 25+ mpg a whole lot better than 12.9.

I'll keep you in the loop and let you know what's happening!

Gonna miss you, buddy.

Mike

Linefinder

ken55 wrote: »

Glad you're back safe, Mike - now go chase those goats!

Thanks, Ken. Knowing you were in the background if needed was sure some peace of mind while I was off in the jungle.

It was a good trip, and I think once the project actually kicks off (not sure when....the higher ups have to sort out the financing and all) I'll be down there quite a bit for a while.

So....I went in to work this morning and sort of formally summarized last weeks efforts, and darned if the scheduler there didn't try to tie me down with about 3 days worth of pad printing. I looked at her and laughed. It'll be there when I get back.

Mike

Linefinder

Thanks, Paul. Good to be home, and maybe there'll be a dumb one (or two....got two doe tags this year) wandering around still.

Mike

Six-Gun

I can't think of a singlething in the Dominican Republic that could trump a good goat hunt. Best of luck, Mike! Ya never know what can happen. I bagged two whitetails does within about 7 seconds of each other the day before the end of last firearm season. In the right situation, I'm sure you can do the same with your does.

bklysen

Mike, shoot straight. Come back here with a pic or two (maybe a dozen.)

Good luck, amigo. :up:

sakodude

Good luck Mike, I can already smell the roasting tenderloin:drool2:

Sako

orchidman

Good luck and stay safe. Look forward to the 'Range Report' Mike.

Linefinder

Well. I wish I had something good to report, but I don't. In fact, I'm going to go back to work tomorrow.

Saw six goats all day long, and they were in a group. I played tag with them all day long, from sunup to around 3:30 PM, and the closest I could get to them was ~900 yards. When 900 yards is starting to look like they're in range.....well, that tells you what kind of day it was. Once, I even had them break and run when I opened the truck door while they were 1500 yards or more away.

Funny thing is....those were all I saw. All day. Anywhere. I drove through fifty miles of prime goat country and saw nary a single other goat. I'm thinking the drought out here has finally pushed them somewhere else, though I've noticed it getting tougher and tougher to get within range of one for the past four years.

Anyway, while I don't mind going home empty handed during the normal course of events, I'm not willing to burn up half a year's vacation time with things looking no better than they are right now.

So, this year, I'm gonna cut my losses and call it a season. Besides, I have a huge fuel-pump bill coming due on my truck this coming week, and I figure I'd better conserve a few pennies while I can.

Thanks for the well wishes, guys. Wish it had worked out differently.

Mike

NN

Such is hunting, I guess.

beartracker

Yes, but you had fun trying and I love your statement when you said, "When 900 yards is starting to look like they're in range.....well, that tells you what kind of day it was." Yes, that shows how bad you wanted one. Glad you are back from the jungle and you had a good time chasing goats.

JerryBobCo

Mike and I talked about this late yesterday. I tried to talk him into going back, but he's probably right. Some years it's just not in the cards.

Now, I need some help from the rest of you. Paul (Mosseybuck) and I will be elk hunting later this month in an area that allows over the counter bull tags. I told Mike that I would glad if he could make that hunt, and he did say he would consider it. So, if you don't mind, please encourage Mike to take me up on this offer.

Thanks!

Linefinder

Quite a coincidence at work today, Jerry.

A lady that I work with hunts with her husband for antelope and deer out on the plains. I didn't know it, but they hunt just the other side of Haswell. She told me they hunted Saturday and Sunday and didn't see a single goat either day. She asked me if I knew a particular guy in that area, and I smiled at her and flipped open my cell phone, brought up my contact list, and bingo....there he was. I haven't shot his place in probably five years, but the longest unofficial shot I've made on a pdog happened in his south field. (The shot was "unofficial" because even though I could see it from my firing position, I never could, in three tries, drive to it and range back to my bench. Simply couldn't drive that far without having to take my eye off the mound, and once you do that, it's like finding a needle in a stack of needles. I figure it was ~900 or a tad more)....anyway.........

She told me that this guy and her husband are best buds....graduated HS together back in the stone ages. They pull their camper to his spread several time a year.....sort of having a ranch by proxy.

Anyway, she said that they haven't seen any goats in that area to speak of since early spring.

This lends some creedence to the drought theory.

Mike

JerryBobCo

I guess that's just the way it is this year.

I talked to a guy Sunday who guided 5 out of state hunters on a very large spread south of Lymon. I think they all filled their tags, but that must be where they are this year.

Maybe next year...

mosseybuck

I've just now caught up on this thread,sorry about your goat hunt Mike. Maybe we got spoiled from the last couple of years, LOL. It would be great if you can somehow make the Elk hunt with me and Jerry. You know he has been a pretty good guide for us, especially last year! We are going to have to get pretty lucky to duplicate that!

CHIRO1989

It would be very cool to meet yet another forum member this CO. elk season, please try to attend, the finer points of elk dragging should be explained in person:beer: