With Thanksgiving around the corner, the hunting season is coming to a close. With bull elk hunts mostly done and deer hunts wrapping up it’s time to reflect on how our hunting season went.
This year was a slow year to say the least for my hunt in Unit 13, but I did experience a bit of Heaven.
Days and days of hunting did not produce a shootable buck. It was really a tough hunt!!
How it all started.
I repaired and tuned up my Titan Pro4x with Max Gallegos at the Safety Lane, he always maintained my hunting truck before the hunt and as an accomplished hunter himself I like to talk hunting with Max, sort of a “pre-game” pep talk. With the “pre-game” wrapped up and the truck ready to roll–it was time to hunt!
Oh wait—more gear this year— I was ready with new ammo for my Winchester 25.06, I went with a Hornady Custom 117gr. factory load –I decided to go with a faster bullet and different caliber this year over my traditional 7mm Winchester Mag. shooting a 140gr. bullet. New this year was also my Garmin GPSMap 65s after my aging Garmin ETrex GPS gave out after over 20 plus years of service–unfortunately I didn’t save any of the waypoints–that’s a big loss.
It was warm most days by 10am so I ended up using my Keen summer hiking boots over my traditional Fall/Winter boots—it made for easier sweat-free hiking.
Ok enough about gear and prepping— back to hunt…
If this hunt was a stock on the DOW Jones Industrial average it would be SELL, SELL and DON’T BUY!!
Hiking over cactus, malpais and deeply eroded arroyos produced NADA–glassing for hours also produced nothing BTW. Only on day 4 were we able to come up on deer in an arroyo and sneak in close enough for a shot only for them to be all does—no bueno. Eye fatigue and general fatigue were abundant.
But there is a silver lining in this hunt as I spent time with my brother, Adrian, and my dad Gerson. Also, I texted and messaged a new hunting buddy from Texas, Derek P. who needed a bit of guidance hunting Unit 13 as it is such a large unit. The hunting stories and comradeship which seem to repeat every hunting season never get old.
On the 4th day of our hunt a spectacular sunset filled the skies and reminded us of why you are really out there-–the breathtaking scenery and panoramic views are telling in the Land of Enchantment. The pastel pink sunset, against the high desert landscape coupled with unique cloud formations with miles of dirt roads right in front of me, seemed surreal— like a dream—-just then the Country and Western song “Outskirts of Heaven” by Craig Campbell played over the Sirius XM radio.
I stopped the truck, took in the scenery. It was a realization of why we were out there–not to harvest a deer every hunt or break in new gear—-it’s to appreciate good times with fellow hunters, take in the outdoors and take in what nature has to offer us.
The songs lyrics go something like this, “Lord when I die… I wanna live on the outskirts of heaven...Where there’s dirt roads for miles…etc.” Truly a one of a kind match up of song and scenery.
I hope you get to experience the “Outskirts of Heaven” someday, if you haven’t already—have a Happy Thanksgiving