2012 Spring Turkey

I made the most of my one day to chase spring turkeys and ended up harvesting this great tom at 30 yards spot and stalk.  The Merino Wool Hoodie worked great when zipped up completely and offered amazing face concealment!

It was great sharing the experience with my dad

Bear baits are set and now the waiting game begins!  Hopefully the bears will start moving and big boars will start hitting the sites!

Brody my 3 year old joined in the fun of setting bear baits!

Bait #1

Bait #2

I will update when they are getting hit and we start hunting!

Ross

Follow the link to the review:

http://bowhuntingetc.blogspot.com/2012/02/core4element-clothing-review.html

Hunting wolves in the lower 48 is a relatively  new sport.  So just like everyone else that lives in Idaho I decided I was going to give it a try and see if I could  make it happen.  After a wonderful Thanksgiving with the family I headed to the mountains that Saturday to see if I could find a wolf.  With some fresh snow on the ground we drove some back roads looking for tracks.  12 miles up the road we found where 2 wolves had crossed the road, the tracks looked fresh so we wasted no time hitting the trail.  The plan was to follow the tracks as far as we could or until we could see a little more ground and try calling one into our calls.

They don't like to pick their paws up any higher than they have to

To make a long story short we ended up following these wolves for 7.5 hours of straight walking and 18  miles.  The next day we were supposed to head home but we decided that Sunday afternoon we were going to stay up one more day so we head back up to where we left the tracks and go for round two.  We followed the tracks for another 3-4 miles and saw where they ended chasing elk and also joined up with two more wolves one of which had a huge paw.  We followed the tracks till it got dark and headed back to the truck empty handed.  The whole experience was a great time and I look forward to hitting the mountains again and chasing the big bad wolf.

This is the huge wolf track we found on Sunday!

Wolf Country

This last weekend a buddy of mine asked me to help him out with his mule deer hunt in Southern Idaho.  I knew we would be hunting in cold/snowy conditions, so I went through my gear the night before deciding what items I was going to wear for the hunt.  I knew the plan for the hunt was to drive some 4 wheel drive roads and hike to high vantage points to glass, so layering was going to be key.

1st Layer:

Like every good layering system a good base layer is a must, for this hunt I started with C4E’s Merino Wool Top and Bottom.  If you’ve never had the chance to wear Merino Wool give it a chance, I have never hunted in a baselayer that was more comfortable.

2nd Layer:  

Bottom - Element Pant – this was the last layer I wore while walking but when we would stop to glass or drive on the ATV I would throw on a pair of inuslated gore-tex pants for added warmth!

Top – Assault Shirt – A great layer for added insulation.

3rd Layer:

Top – Element Vest – I am a vest guy all the way when it come to hunting, I love the added insulation for my core.

4th Layer:

Top – Element Jacket – The icing on the cake, the Element Jacket is not a heavy weight garment but when you layer underneath it works great for cold weather.  But just like the Element Pant when we would stop or drive I would throw on an extra insulated gore-tex jacket.

Everybody’s body is different so you may need to tweek this system a little but it worked for me this last weekend.  I did get a little cold while driving the ATV because snow kept flying onto my face, but for the most part I stayed warm all day.

THE HUNT:

We ended up spotting over 30 bucks but never found the ONE, We did however have a great time and saw some new country.

This buck was one of the better bucks we spotted during the day!

I spotted this buck at 1200 yards, he was a giant 2X2 with a radio collar around his neck!

Deer Country

I jump at all opportunities to help others with their hunts, I will also take any excuse to head to the mountains.  This past weekend I had the opportunity to hunt with one of my dads good friends Karl in the Salmon River Breaks in Idaho for mule deer.

My dad and I left after work on Friday and headed to Karl’s cabin, a long drive had us pulling in to the cabin just in time to make a plan for the next morning and crawl into bed.  The next morning we were up before daylight driving few miles to the bottom of the large canyon were we were going to be hunting that morning.  To get to the vantage point we wanted to glass from it required a steep uphill hike to a knob in the center of the canyon were we could look in all directions.

With open steep hillsides quality optics are a must!

Right off the bat we spotted a good looking framed buck but a closer look through the spotting scope showed he was just a massive two point, after spotting the two point we settled in and started picking apart the hillsides.  After a while deer started emerging from every brush pocket.  We saw a number of different bucks but nothing that caught our interest.  After an hour or two of glassing we decided to move farther up the draw and try to spot some deer that may have been out of sight.  From our new vantage point I spotted a nice buck bedded with some does.  A closer look through the spotting scope again showed he was just a decent 3×4…we decided to call him Thursday because Thursday was the last day of the hunt and if we couldn’t find what we were looking for he would work for the last day.

Here is the buck we called Thursday!

More glassing produced a number of different bucks that were all about the same size as Thursday…so we decided to head back to the truck and comeback to this canyon later if we couldn’t find a better buck.

Thursday#2

Thursday#3

The evening after glassing all the Thursday bucks found us looking at new country with much of the same results..lots of deer but nothing that needed a closer look.  We decided that evening that if we spotted a deer that we wanted to take we were going to name him Seymour.  The next morning we planned to go to the head of the canyon we glassed the day prior and try to spot Seymour.  We spotted a couple of decent bucks on the drive to our vantage point  but nothing of great size.  Once at the vantage point we started spotting deer.  I spotted what looked to be a good buck but with the rising sun I couldnt get a good look at him through the spotting scope before he went out of sight.  As I was waiting for this buck to come back into sight Karl says “I’ve got a buck!”  The buck he was looking at was over a 1,300 yards away and we could see antlers through our binoculars so we decided he needed a closer look.  We cut the distance down to 800 yards but the buck was nowhere to be found.  We figured he had bedded for the day so I started picking apart the brush pockets hoping to find him bedded.  I finally spotted him bedded below a mahogany bush and we got a little closer look but decided he needed even a closer look.  The plan was for Karl and I to stalk to the point above where he was bedded while my Dad and Patrick stayed and watched him as we stalked.

After a steep rocky stalk we found ourselves on the last point where we would hopefully find him still bedded below.  We started glassing the brush and spotted him still bedded down.  We had to move down the ridge a little way to get where we could watch him and wait for him to stand.  We got settled in and Karl ranged him at 379 yards.  I got the spotting scope on him and we determined he was going to be our Seymour!

Seymour!

After waiting for three hours for Seymour to stand we decided to give a cow call to see if we could get some movement.  At the sound of the call he just looked up the hill and then turn back around and continued to sleep.  Getting a little more drastic we grabbed a predator call and I blew on that thing as loud as I could hoping he would stand.  Once again he just looked up the hill and then would go back to sleeping.  With the sun at a different angle Karl positioned himself so he could see more of Seymour and take the shot while he was still bedded.  With secure rest we waited for a break in the wind for Karl to shoot.  As the wind died down I readied myself to watch the action through the spotting scope.  At the sound of the shot Seymour started rolling down the hill.  Karl made a great shot and Seymour was ours!

After a few handshakes we called my dad and Patrick to let them know to get the horses so we could get Seymour off the mountain.  Karl and I made our way to Seymour and started on the photo shoot.

Karl and Seymour

Karl, Seymour, and I

After taking some pictures and taking care of Seymour all we had to do was wait for the pack out crew and we would be home free!

Loaded and ready to go!

Headed Home!

A big thanks to Karl for letting me tag along on his hunt, It was a great time with family and friends!  By the way if you have not had a chance hunt in our C4E Merino Baselayers you are missing out….hands down the best baselayers I have ever hunted in!

“No Guts, No Story!”

Ross

Lance put this lucky hunter on a great bull!

This email came from Lance Roylance!  Here’s what Lance has to say about Core4Element:

I have been an avid hunter my entire life.  I love the cool crisp mornings and the bright colors along with extreme changes in the weather.  What I don’t like is not having the right gear to hold up to my harsh addictions.  I have been guiding hunters for a few years now and finally decided to retire my trusty old coat and pants and replace them with the CORE4ELEMENT Jacket and Pant.

I can honestly say at this point, I’m very happy with the outcome

After a three day hunt my hunter (Tom) and I harvested this amazing bull. 

 I just wanted to say thanks for a great product at an affordable price!

Lance

We love getting emails from succesful hunters that are wearing C4E gear!

This email came from Jeremy Cotton and he allowed us to share his story.  Great looking bull Jeremy and it sounds like it was a great hunt!

Jeremy and his great Montana bull!

Ross,

Yes, you can use the photos.  I have attached a story that I wrote up just to write it down.   It is an account of the evening that I shot my bull.  If that is good, please edit it however you see fit, and post away.  It is probably way too long.  Again, I really like the gear.  It was functional, but above all, comfortable.  And that means I could focus on hunting, and not on being wet, cold, hot, or miserable.

Here is the short version.  Or sort of short version.  I have a hard time condensing a story.

I am from Great Falls, MT, but due to work no longer live there.  I now live in Indiana.  Each year, I try to pay Montana for an elk tag, and more often than not, they take my money.  For the last three years, I have drawn, and a buddy of mine here in Indiana has also drawn. 

We left work at 3 pm on Friday September 9^th and pulled an all nighter to get to Butte, MT as soon as possible on Saturday.  My parents meet us there with their travel trailer, and we borrow it for the duration of the hunt.  This is a sweet arrangement, and they have no idea how much I appreciate it.  We hunt in a few different areas of the Beaverhead/Deerlodge national forest based on what friends of mine that still live in the area tell me about the elk.

After lunch with my folks, we headed into the mountains to make camp and do some glassing.  The elk were scarce this year in the lower country.  The summer was too dry and it pushed the majority of them up high.  However, we did find a couple of small groups that were traveling about 4 miles to a hay field on private ground. 

On the morning of day 5 our first hunt bombed, and we pulled out to glass.  We spotted one of the hay field raiding groups in a saddle and figured that we could make a move on them.  After trying an approach, the wind switched, and we pulled out again.  But, I knew this area, and figured that they would be there that evening. 

I dropped my partner off at another location, and started my hunt at 4pm on September 15^th.  I made the saddle by about 6pm and the wind was terrible.  It wasn’t going to spook any elk, but it didn’t allow me to move into the next gulch either.  I figured that the elk had bedded on the side of the mountain that the saddle connected too, but the best approach was now busted by the wind.  So, I sat down to glass and see if any animals come out. 

At 6:30pm, the elk started to move.  Across the gulch  small raghorn, a 5X5 raghorn, a cow, a calf, and two spikes appeared.  Elk do that.  They just appear, as if they popped out of holes in the ground.  Other animals do it to, but elk amaze me because they are big animals.  The wind was still really bad, so my game plan was to watch the elk, and come up with a play for the following morning. 

As the evening wore on, the sun dipped below the peaks to the west, and the cows started to drift down the gulch toward the hay fields.  Much to their surprise the 5X5 had other ideas, and pushed them up the gulch.  About the same time, nature smiled on me, and the wind switched to the south.  This gave me a cross wind, and a fighting chance.  I should note that this group had been hunted probably every day since the season began, and had heard every elk call manufactured to date.  So they were quiet, and I was quiet.  If this was going to happen, I would have to stalk in for the shot. 

The bull pushed the cows up the gulch and they disappeared from sight.  I took this opportunity to start my stalk.  I would move forward until I could see an elk, then wait for the to disappear again.  This went on for about 30 minutes.  I thought that they would go up the gulch and over the saddle to the north, but that didn’t happen.  At some point, they started up to the saddle that I was on.  And I walked right into the cow. 

She came around a juniper at the same time I came around one about 40 yards away.  We both froze.  Only moving my eyeballs, and knowing that I was busted, I searched for one of the bulls.  In this area, a legal bull has to have a brow tine, and both bulls met that criteria.  Since I have limited time to hunt, I wasn’t going to pass up a shot on either one. 

I finally saw the 5X5 below me behind a juniper.  Then I started figuring the distance.  It came out to 70 yards according to my brains limited range finding capability.  That is a good poke, but not impossible, so I drew as he cleared the juniper.  He took two steps, stopped and looked up to the cow.  I settled my 50 yard pin behind the shoulder, raised it a foot over his back, and let it go.  I lost track of the arrow about 40 yards into its arcing trajectory, but I did hear the impact.  The elk took about 20 steps and stopped behind a tree.  After a few seconds, he wheezed, blew blood out of his nose and bolted.  30 more yards was a far as he made it.  The arrow made a complete pass through just behind the shoulder.  A perfect hit. 

We spent Friday packing out my elk.  Then picked up camp and moved to a different area up higher where I thought we would find more elk.  And we did find more elk.  A lot more, but as it sometimes goes, my partner was not able to connect. 

After a solid 14 day hunt, we had one elk, 4 grouse, a bunch of photos, and a lot of good memories to show for it. 

Jeremy Cotton

Having fulfilled my #1 goal of harvesting a high country mule deer I decided it was time to head to the desert of Idaho and try my luck on harvesting a pronghorn antelope with archery equipment.

I have harvested couple of decent bucks with my rifle but have yet to send a razor sharp broadhead towards a speedgoat buck!  With the short amount of time I had for hunting and the way the weather had been I figured spot and stalking and decoying were going to be my best at harvesting a rut crazed buck.

I headed out with high hopes but knew my chances were less then good.  To make a long story short I saw a ton of antelope, got within 60 yards of a good buck that would’nt give me a shot, had a couple of does at 50 yards, and saw two bucks tear into each other while fighting over a doe.

I am a firm believer that decoying is the way to go if you are going to be hunting the rut with archery equipment.  I was able to walk up on several different groups of antelope that normally wouldnt have let you get within 500 yards!

The Switchback Pant and Pivot Shirt were and are hard to beat while hunting in warm weather, both days I hunted it was over 90 degrees and I was able to stay comfortable and light on my feet!  The removable knee pads in the Switchback Pant were a life saver when it came to crawling and kneeling through the sage and rocks.

Next on the list is hunting bull elk in the backcountry, till then hunt hard and remember… No Guts, No Story!

Great buck Jay and thanks for letting us post your pictures!

Jay Woolstenhulme took Core4Element to the test in the whitetail woods and harvested this great Ohio Whitetail buck!