NM Hunt Travel Challenge

I leave on a 7:00am flight for New Mexico.  It's elk hunting time.  Jim and I had a really good plan.  He was driving out with his wife, Terry, and they were hauling all my stuff.  Their truck had a transmission problem in Southern IL and they are now proceeding in a rental vehicle. Oh well.

Nice weekend at the farm - Fall is in the air. Archery season opened and I spent some time in a blind.  Saw 8 turkeys and 7 does.  One decent buck this morning.

Persimmons are ripe.

No time for a full post.  Here's a couple teasers.  I may post more of this week's pictures when I get back.

Or, I may have too many elk pictures - time will tell.

Trailcams - Lots of Traffic

Some bucks are out of velvet.

Starting to see some sparring - it's early for this.

 This one still had velvet on 9/8.

This little guy looks like he's just rubbed it off.  Something hanging across his eye.

The apples are a little bit like the salmon run in Alaska - it attracts all kinds of hungry critters.

This nice 10 point keeps showing up in the valley.

Still in spots.

The coyotes like apples and also other critters that like apples.

 Notice the doe in background.

Another canine.

The fox is a regular visitor.

And he likes apples.

I'm always amazed by these shots.

What are they doing?

The turkeys tend to flock up in the Fall.

Other critters attracted by apples.

These are the guys helping Van build the new deer stand.  I told them to help themselves.

Also Van's nephew.

Van showing how to cut grass.

The student graduates.

I think this is when the chiggers got me.



Harvest Time, Farm Cooking and Elk Hunt Prep

I harvested a few pumpkins a couple weeks ago but some of them didn't make it.

Stem rot is a problem this year and that makes some pumpkins more susceptible to turning to mush.

So, some of them just get recycled.

I'm not sure if these squash bugs are the cause of stem rot or if it is a completely separate disease.

In spite of the rot and the plundering by the wildlife, I still have a pretty good harvest.

We planted some unusual and interesting pumpkins this year.

I didn't plant any pie pumpkins this year so most pumpkins are larger.

And I'm still picking winter squash.

I made a batch of venison chili for the freezer.  I also made jerky and finished up last season's meat.

I decided to try smoking the breasts from the turkey that I shot this year.

I followed a recipe that had me soak it in a brine solution with brown sugar and vinegar.

It had a very nice flavor but it was dry and tough - almost like jerky.  I guess that I over did it in the smoker.

I got into chiggers again somehow.  I think it had to be when I first arrived and drove around to check cameras in my boat shoes.

I leave for New Mexico to hunt elk on 9/30 with Randy Slaughter  http://www.riobrazosoutfitters.com/
I spent the rainy Saturday morning sorting thru all my clothes and equipment.

I also did some shooting.  I'm sending my gear out with Jim who is driving to the hunt so this was my last chance.

First I shot off bags at 100 yards.  Once I got settled down, it shot a nice group.  I wanted to be 2" high at 100 yards.

Next I moved back to 200 yards off the bench.  My hold is not the greatest but I guess it's pretty well sighted in.

Next I shot from 190 yards sitting off of sticks.  This is closer to reality for hunting.  Not spectacular but should get the job done if I can get within 200 yards.  This group isn't much different than the bench.