OFFICIAL 2013 SOLANA RANCH HUNT THREAD

Bowhunter4life · January 17, 2013, 12:25:00 AM

I remember back in the day, none of the guides shot traditional bows... Now all do... Robert won't admit it, but I've seen picture proof that he has!

And, yes they are all good shots! Probably better then they think they are... Slowly I think we are infecting them with the trad bug...

Terry Green · January 17, 2013, 09:25:00 AM

Yes Jeff.....Robert said he's not ready to convert yet....hasn't killed enough with his wheel bow yet...but get this...

His 1st trad kill....what a shot at a running hog!!!!

I need to hear a few more stories!!!

oldskool · January 17, 2013, 09:56:00 AM

Izzy · January 17, 2013, 01:24:00 PM

Heres my pal Carlton and his first trad deer. You keep stepping it up year after year, next year I spect we'll be seeing a big old boss buck laid out in front of ya.

Bowhunter4life · January 17, 2013, 01:43:00 PM

Izzy, I was maybe 5 feet away to his right when that picture was taken. It was the same stand you shot that "Doe" that turned into an 8 Point a couple of years back... Carlton's shot couldn't have been better placed.

Congrats again Carlton!

Izzy · January 17, 2013, 02:05:00 PM

Ohhhhh, thats a good stand. Saw a mess of bucks from it including one bigger than my 8 that he ran off as well as 3 yotes. Last year Skylar missed a hog or two from it as well. A prolific stand for sure.

Jack Guard · January 17, 2013, 02:18:00 PM

Way to go Carlton >>>>--vv------->>

coaster500 · January 17, 2013, 02:36:00 PM

Wow just got a chance to catch up, great stuff!!!

Wonderful tribute, wonderful............

http://tradgang.com/youtube/page1.html

bornagainbowhunter · January 17, 2013, 06:40:00 PM

Yup, Carlton brought in the first doe in the camp. I didn't know it was his first trad deer, that makes it even more special!!

January 17, 2013, 08:25:00 PM

I was not aware that that was his first trad deer either!

Congrats again, Carlton!

Bisch

Shinken · January 17, 2013, 09:34:00 PM

A most-excellent tribute!

Shoot straight, Shinken

bornagainbowhunter · January 18, 2013, 07:18:00 AM

QuoteOriginally posted by BDann:
Here is Nathan, Katman, Bisch and Gary (guide) looking for a hog that Katman had dispatched earlier. I must say that I have never seen anyone find blood like Katman.

[/url] [/IMG]

I think Brian just posted some evidence of northbound chert...

Izzy · January 18, 2013, 08:19:00 AM

Hey Nathan, I found some worked pieces of chert. If I could have I would lay the bow down for half a day of area head huntin. I've heard the entire area is loaded with artifacts.

BDann · January 18, 2013, 09:24:00 AM

I just now saw the rocks in your hand. You have been caught red handed!

It's no wonder you didn't find any blood....you were looking for chert the whole time!

Terry Green · January 18, 2013, 12:09:00 PM

No Brian....he was just picking up the bloody rocks!!! :D

Danny Rowan · January 18, 2013, 01:03:00 PM

I think there are still a couple of stories with some pics missing, lets hear about them.

katman · January 18, 2013, 07:23:00 PM

T your british?

Actually Nathan was picking up some unusual specimens with fossilized imprints to take home to his children if I remember that hike correctly.

BDann · January 18, 2013, 08:11:00 PM

I believe it Katman. He wasn't even helping look for blood!

bornagainbowhunter · January 18, 2013, 09:11:00 PM

It was actually both. There were some cool rocks with fossils I picked up for my kids because they collect them and there were some very nice pieces of chert that I collect...

Sharptop · January 18, 2013, 09:11:00 PM

Well back to my doe hunt. Robert drove up after dark and I was the first picked up. We looked at the shot site and found the first half of the arrow covered in good blood. About 10 yards away Robert found the other half, similarly covered. But we didn't see any other blood which surprised me. Robert said lets get the other guys and make a search which made sense as he is color blind and no longer has Taz, his deer finding and deer biting dog.

Picked up Bob and turned out he had shot a doe but was not completely sure about the hit or the direction the doe evacuated. The stands we hunt out of are well camouflaged but you tend to lose sight of an animal very quickly.

We went to pick up the other guys to start looking and found Jeff wondering about an arrow he had loosed at a late hog. We looked around a bit and found it virgin so we headed back to look for Bob's doe.

Bob was confouded as he expected to see the arrow somewhere. We looked all around for an hour or so and did not find the arrow or one drop of blood. Decided to leave and look for in in the A.M.

Went back to my stand and spread out to look for sign. It was very spotty and we only picked up blood where a small streak had landed on the numerous white rocks which covered my area. We looked for a long time, moving slowly as Bob was gifted in finding small splats as I was lighting the foreground expecting to see the doe any second. This went on for quite a while and I finally found the doe piled up against the fence as Robert had predicted estimated 400 yards away. As I moved up to get a nice picture in my excitement I failed to realize that the doe had piled up against the fence at a big prickly pear protuberance.

I was excited and dropped down for the bad I-Phone pic and was greeted by a bunch of prickly pear thorns which worked on me for the rest of the week. Sorry no pics as photobucket has lost me.

Thanks to all the guys on the trip and for making it another really memorable hunting experience. We didn't kill many animals this year but we probably had more opportunities/near opportunities than in any of my 4 trips to Solana. These are really tricky deer.