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Author
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Topic: Cimarron Nat'l Grassland, and sunny Mattagascar!!!
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Cdog911
"There are some ideas so absurd only an intellectual could believe them."--George Orwell.
Member # 7
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posted November 15, 2007 06:15 PM
Well, chalk another hunt up for yet another year. This past weekend was my annual Get the Hell Out of Dodge (G-HOD) hunt and this year, where better to go than, well, to Dodge.
City, that is.
Southwestern Kansas. Oil fields, No movie stars. Rough country.
This year, I was joined by Q, Randy Shaw of Missouri, and my gunner, Matt Kohman of Abilene. This was Matt's first trip off his normal range, and Q and Randy made it a "memorable" one for him.
On the way down, I'd warned Matt that Q and Randy were lying in wait for him and that there would be loads of shit to be handed out. I was right. We got to town and met our local contacts by 9 a.m. Sunday morning. At the first ranch, we split up and I sent Matt out with the visiting team.
In the spirit of starting things on the right foot, Q was cordial enough to make Matt call the first stand overlooking the bone dry sandy ArKansas River channel, complete with ATV riders all over the place. Liker a champion, Matt gave it his all. When the stand was finished, he looked to his new mentor, Q, who looked him straight in the eye and asked, "What the hell was all that?!?"
That evening, after a fine dinner in what was actually a damned good Motel restaurant, Matt followed Q and Randy back to their Motel room to hang out while I wrote up a few notes of the day on my laptop. Just after getting to the room, Q proudly announced that he had to use the restroom was that he was going to honor Matt by naming it after him. Somewhere along the way, before I got on the scene, they'd collectively decided to call it a "sunny Mattagascar". The name stuck.
We hunted pivots and crop circles around the area, bordering corn flake dry sagebrush and shortgrass prairie. The first day was hot and oppressively still. Surprisingly, we managed to kill five coyotes between the two teams.
Day two found me teamed with Q and Matt hunting a nearby ranch where we had access to nearly 20 square miles of pivots and sagebrush pasture. going past the ranch headquarters and their feedlot, we bumped a coyote off their dead pile and Q made a heroic hail Mary shot that stumbled the coyote enough to allow him to get closer and kill him even deader with 3 or 4 additional pokes.
After burying my truck the the axles in blow sand, we made the decision to spend the rest of the day using ATV's. And we covered a lot of country leap frogging from one hill to the next.
Except, one problem.
That morning, we'd spilt up and Randy went out with one of our hosts. Then, later in the day, we started seeing a lot of this...
The footprints of the not-so-elusive Shaw. Everywhere we walked, Shaw had been there. On tops of hills. In the valleys. Everywhere you looked, Shaw! AT one point, I growled out loud, looked at Q and remarked that prior to that moment, the only thing that had ever been where we were standing was sunshine, sage brush, and SHAW!!! We finally gave up and went looking for him. When we found him, he'd killed three coyotes - likely all of them taken in our zone. We acted like we were happy for him, then headed out again. And, again, we found more Shaw tracks where told us he'd never been. That was bullshaw! He lied to us. We left him on the prairie and, at sunset, loaded our trucks and headed for the motel. When Shaw came back, damned if he didn't have 3 more coyote! It just wasn't fair.
The next day, we got up early and took a road trip to the Cimmaron National Grassland, supposed mecca for coyote hunting. I hope so, because that place is so desolate, I cannot imagine another use for the place.
Here are a few pics of CNG...
The river bottoms looked like this, cottonwoods and grass, bordered by thick, waist deep sage brush.
Back from the river bottoms, up in the sandhills, we contended with poor visibility through tall sage brush and very little elevation in some places.
But, other areas presented with sparse vegetation with good places to hide overlooking open areas where we hoped to see coyotes approaching.
(to be continued)
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I am only one. But still, I am one. I cannot do everything, but still, I can do something; and, because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do.
Posts: 5440 | From: The gun-lovin', gun-friendly wild, wild west | Registered: Jan 2003
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Tim Behle
Administrator MacNeal Sector
Member # 209
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posted November 16, 2007 03:42 AM
Sounds like you had a great trip!
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Personally, I carry a gun because I'm too young to die and too old to take
an ass kickin'.
Posts: 3160 | From: Five Miles East of Vic, AZ | Registered: Jun 2003
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Paul Melching
Radical Operator Forum "You won't get past the front gate"
Member # 885
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posted November 16, 2007 03:00 PM
Now I;ve been so hungry I could eat the ass off a horse,but not quite hungry enough to eat a cactus fruit smotthie outta a coyotes ass.
Sill laughing at that one Lance ![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
Great post and thanks for all the pics.
PM
[ November 16, 2007, 03:01 PM: Message edited by: Paul Melching ]
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Those who value security over liberty soon will have neither !
Posts: 4188 | From: The forest ! north of the dez. | Registered: Jul 2006
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TREE MY DOG
PAKMAN
Member # 731
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posted November 18, 2007 06:11 PM
I have never seen so many foot prints from one little shaw in my life!!!!!
In his defense it was obvious he spent so much on his rogain he couldn't afford a compass!!!!
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matt
Posts: 7 | From: kansas | Registered: Nov 2005
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Cdog911
"There are some ideas so absurd only an intellectual could believe them."--George Orwell.
Member # 7
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posted November 19, 2007 04:15 AM
An the boy wonders why he catches hell...
We can talk hunting, or we can talk hairlines.
Randy,
Let me know when you're passing through here. I'll show you where he lives. ![[Wink]](wink.gif)
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I am only one. But still, I am one. I cannot do everything, but still, I can do something; and, because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do.
Posts: 5440 | From: The gun-lovin', gun-friendly wild, wild west | Registered: Jan 2003
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Tim Behle
Administrator MacNeal Sector
Member # 209
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posted November 19, 2007 04:50 AM
You've still got enough hair to form a noticeable hairline? ![[Confused]](confused.gif)
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Personally, I carry a gun because I'm too young to die and too old to take
an ass kickin'.
Posts: 3160 | From: Five Miles East of Vic, AZ | Registered: Jun 2003
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Cdog911
"There are some ideas so absurd only an intellectual could believe them."--George Orwell.
Member # 7
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posted November 19, 2007 03:48 PM
Yeah, if I let it grow out a bit. Given, it's no where near the front of my head, but that's pretty much how I like it. Low maintenance. The wife really likes it when I cut it to the nubbin'. Gives it that brislty feel when she rubs it, and then.....
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I am only one. But still, I am one. I cannot do everything, but still, I can do something; and, because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do.
Posts: 5440 | From: The gun-lovin', gun-friendly wild, wild west | Registered: Jan 2003
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