Gone huntin' UPDATE- with Pics

crs · Post by **crs** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 12:56 pm

86er and I leave for the NRA Whittington Center in a couple hours to try to bag a cow elk. With a lot of luck we will return next week with elk venison and some good stories and pictures.

Good news and bad news:
First, thank you to all of the well wishers - we hunted hard, but no cigar.

Now, the bad news - I did not get a shot at a cow elk, as they were mostly a mile and a half off the property and out on a big grassy flat- all 300 of them on our side of the ranch. None of the hunters fired a shot at an elk.

The good news is that we had a good hunt, good food, great scenery, met nice people. saw lots of game such as wild turkeys, mule deer and antelope which were everywhere. We also saw bear and Puma tracks near the cabins.
Here is a nice mule deer buck just 5 yards from Joe; he is small by comparison to the 5x5 and 5x6 bucks we saw.

Another buck chewing his cud on top of a range backstop berm.

Here are some antelope near the truck and just off the property. The herd of cow elk were mostly out by the line of brush on the distant horizon of this picture - way off.

The lodging facilities and shooting ranges are impressive and we even saw the white buffalo that some of the long range gunners like to plink at. I do plan to return to try out the shotgun and rifle ranges and maybe see if I can hit the buffalo.

Post by **Hobie** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 12:59 pm

Good luck!

jengel · Post by **jengel** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 1:32 pm

I love that place. Spent many hours down there when I went to college in Trinidad CO. It's only about 5 1/2 hours away from here. Good luck.

Post by **Ysabel Kid** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 11:11 pm

Charles -

Good luck and stay safe! Looking forward to the posts and pictures!!!

TedH · Post by **TedH** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 11:42 pm

Good luck! Look forward to a report about your success.

shawn_c992001 · Post by **shawn_c992001** » Sat Jan 05, 2008 10:58 am

Good luck!

Modoc ED · Post by **Modoc ED** » Sat Jan 05, 2008 11:53 am

What rifles will you be hunting with?

stretch · Post by **stretch** » Sat Jan 05, 2008 12:09 pm

Good Luck!

azoil · Post by **azoil** » Sat Jan 05, 2008 12:31 pm

Good Luck!

JReed · Post by **JReed** » Sat Jan 05, 2008 2:27 pm

Good luck. May the hunt gods smile apon you. Looking forward to lost of pic and a good story.

Griff · Post by **Griff** » Sat Jan 05, 2008 3:25 pm

May the "gods of the hunt" be with you; will be my sole pagan offering for your hunt's best wishes!

crs · Post by **crs** » Fri Jan 11, 2008 7:22 pm

See update in original post.

Marlin .35 · Post by **Marlin .35** » Fri Jan 11, 2008 9:09 pm

Thanks for the fine photos of the game in the area, especially the mule deer!!!!! Art

Griff · Post by **Griff** » Fri Jan 11, 2008 9:48 pm

Thanks crs. Love the Whittington Center. Lots to see around there, game and sights.

TedH · Post by **TedH** » Fri Jan 11, 2008 9:56 pm

Great pics, thanks.

gon2shoot · Post by **gon2shoot** » Fri Jan 11, 2008 10:00 pm

Ease on up to Turners place

bet you'll get a shot there.

crs · Post by **crs** » Sat Jan 12, 2008 6:00 pm

gon2shoot;
The only elk taken while we were there were taken by guided hunters on the Vermejo Park ranch just north of the WC. The outfitter buys tags and then uses the WC cabins, cafeteria, and game processing facilities for his clients.

Modoc ed - hunted with my 1886 , but only fired it twice at the sight in range.

NOTE: Two of my buddies at the DWWC have drawn bull elk permits for the WC for this fall and those are guided hunts, so they should be able to get some shots. I will keep trying for a bull permit there, but will also look elsewhere for 2008.

marlinman93 · Post by **marlinman93** » Sat Jan 12, 2008 8:42 pm

Sorry you didn't fill your tag, but it looks like you saw some great country, and lots of other game!

86er · Post by **86er** » Sat Jan 12, 2008 10:04 pm

We did have a great time! FWIW, if we wanted to use a scoped rifle we would have had one. We had an opportunity at 354 yards and another at 312 yards. CRS gets a lot of credit for not giving in to taking the easy way out and sticking with his 1886/45-90!