{"id":4292,"date":"2025-12-22T04:24:01","date_gmt":"2025-12-22T04:24:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/range\/2024-hunt-recap\/"},"modified":"2025-12-22T04:24:01","modified_gmt":"2025-12-22T04:24:01","slug":"2024-hunt-recap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/range\/2024-hunt-recap\/","title":{"rendered":"2024 Hunt Recap"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">2024 was a pretty memorable year.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Every hunting season has peaks and valleys, and this one was no exception, but it seemed to have many more peaks than other years.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">I typically look forward to the hunting season starting with turkey in the spring, but this year, I had a pretty special trip to start things off:<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Jason Matzinger and I went to Patagonia to hunt Red Stag.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>We had been following a friend of ours who guides in Patagonia and the quality of free-range stags they were taking.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>We had hunted with Joaquin in 2017 and stayed in touch through the years.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>When he told us about the beauty of the area, the low hunting pressure and the quality of the stags, we had to go.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">It\u2019s not often a hunt exceeds expectations, but this one did.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Everything about where we were in Patagonia was amazing:<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>The people, weather, landscape and quality of stags was second to none and Jason and I got to share it together.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>We both were able to take great, mature stags and Jason was able to also take a management stag.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-10283\" src=\"https:\/\/purehunting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/purehunting-tom-turkey-iowa-tom-petry-willi-schmidt.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1240\" height=\"500\" srcset=\"https:\/\/purehunting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/purehunting-tom-turkey-iowa-tom-petry-willi-schmidt.jpg 1240w, https:\/\/purehunting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/purehunting-tom-turkey-iowa-tom-petry-willi-schmidt-300x121.jpg 300w, https:\/\/purehunting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/purehunting-tom-turkey-iowa-tom-petry-willi-schmidt-1024x413.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/purehunting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/purehunting-tom-turkey-iowa-tom-petry-willi-schmidt-768x310.jpg 768w, https:\/\/purehunting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/purehunting-tom-turkey-iowa-tom-petry-willi-schmidt-100x40.jpg 100w, https:\/\/purehunting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/purehunting-tom-turkey-iowa-tom-petry-willi-schmidt-881x355.jpg 881w, https:\/\/purehunting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/purehunting-tom-turkey-iowa-tom-petry-willi-schmidt-1200x484.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1240px) 100vw, 1240px\"\/><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"s1\">My turkey season started a month after Patagonia with my first time hunting Iowa with Tom Petry.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>We hunted with our friends in Iowa and Tom and I were able to take toms, but so did our friend as well as his young daughter, who killed her first turkey with a .410.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">I decided this year that I wasn\u2019t going to travel to hunt in September and October, but elk and focus on my home state for elk and pronghorn.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>That focus paid off with my second-best bull and my first pronghorn archery buck.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>I was also able to fill a cow tag in September with my bow.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-10284\" src=\"https:\/\/purehunting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/purehunting-montana-elk-pronghorn-willi-schmidt.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1240\" height=\"500\" srcset=\"https:\/\/purehunting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/purehunting-montana-elk-pronghorn-willi-schmidt.jpg 1240w, https:\/\/purehunting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/purehunting-montana-elk-pronghorn-willi-schmidt-300x121.jpg 300w, https:\/\/purehunting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/purehunting-montana-elk-pronghorn-willi-schmidt-1024x413.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/purehunting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/purehunting-montana-elk-pronghorn-willi-schmidt-768x310.jpg 768w, https:\/\/purehunting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/purehunting-montana-elk-pronghorn-willi-schmidt-100x40.jpg 100w, https:\/\/purehunting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/purehunting-montana-elk-pronghorn-willi-schmidt-881x355.jpg 881w, https:\/\/purehunting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/purehunting-montana-elk-pronghorn-willi-schmidt-1200x484.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1240px) 100vw, 1240px\"\/><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-10287\" src=\"https:\/\/purehunting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/purehunting-montana-cow-elk-goose-willi-schmidt.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1240\" height=\"500\" srcset=\"https:\/\/purehunting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/purehunting-montana-cow-elk-goose-willi-schmidt.jpg 1240w, https:\/\/purehunting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/purehunting-montana-cow-elk-goose-willi-schmidt-300x121.jpg 300w, https:\/\/purehunting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/purehunting-montana-cow-elk-goose-willi-schmidt-1024x413.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/purehunting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/purehunting-montana-cow-elk-goose-willi-schmidt-768x310.jpg 768w, https:\/\/purehunting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/purehunting-montana-cow-elk-goose-willi-schmidt-100x40.jpg 100w, https:\/\/purehunting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/purehunting-montana-cow-elk-goose-willi-schmidt-881x355.jpg 881w, https:\/\/purehunting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/purehunting-montana-cow-elk-goose-willi-schmidt-1200x484.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1240px) 100vw, 1240px\"\/><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"s1\">Archery is my biggest passion but coming in second place is whitetail.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>I took two and a half weeks in November and made a road trip to Kansas and Oklahoma.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Nick Ventura, Rob Shaw and I subleased a couple of farms in Kansas from an outfitter and had a good hunt.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>We had some good, mature bucks on trail camera and hunted hard for 7 days, but didn\u2019t end up taking a buck.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>I did have a mature deer on my first sit, 5 minutes into the hunt, but he had a broken tine, and I figured I would have more opportunities.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>It was a good time with good friends, and we spent a week in Kansas during the rut.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-10285\" src=\"https:\/\/purehunting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/purehunting-kansas-whitetail-willi-schmidt.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1240\" height=\"500\" srcset=\"https:\/\/purehunting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/purehunting-kansas-whitetail-willi-schmidt.jpg 1240w, https:\/\/purehunting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/purehunting-kansas-whitetail-willi-schmidt-300x121.jpg 300w, https:\/\/purehunting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/purehunting-kansas-whitetail-willi-schmidt-1024x413.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/purehunting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/purehunting-kansas-whitetail-willi-schmidt-768x310.jpg 768w, https:\/\/purehunting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/purehunting-kansas-whitetail-willi-schmidt-100x40.jpg 100w, https:\/\/purehunting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/purehunting-kansas-whitetail-willi-schmidt-881x355.jpg 881w, https:\/\/purehunting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/purehunting-kansas-whitetail-willi-schmidt-1200x484.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1240px) 100vw, 1240px\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">I then drove to Oklahoma to hunt with Tom Petry on our mutual friend, Mike Stone\u2019s family property.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>I did kill a hog, a first with my bow and finally took a nice 8 point on the last evening of my hunt.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-10286\" src=\"https:\/\/purehunting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/purehunting-oklahoma-buck-hog-willi-schmidt.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1240\" height=\"500\" srcset=\"https:\/\/purehunting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/purehunting-oklahoma-buck-hog-willi-schmidt.jpg 1240w, https:\/\/purehunting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/purehunting-oklahoma-buck-hog-willi-schmidt-300x121.jpg 300w, https:\/\/purehunting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/purehunting-oklahoma-buck-hog-willi-schmidt-1024x413.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/purehunting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/purehunting-oklahoma-buck-hog-willi-schmidt-768x310.jpg 768w, https:\/\/purehunting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/purehunting-oklahoma-buck-hog-willi-schmidt-100x40.jpg 100w, https:\/\/purehunting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/purehunting-oklahoma-buck-hog-willi-schmidt-881x355.jpg 881w, https:\/\/purehunting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/purehunting-oklahoma-buck-hog-willi-schmidt-1200x484.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1240px) 100vw, 1240px\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Although it was 2025, I still consider it part of the 2024 hunting season, I returned to Oklahoma in mid-January to hunt with Mike again and help shoot some does.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Unfortunately, Mother Nature didn\u2019t play fair and dumped 12 inches of snow on us.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>I was able to shoot two does in one sit, but other than that we didn\u2019t do much to help manage the does for them.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Most of these hunts were filmed, with the exception of Montana.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Keep an eye out on the website for them, they will be out before the end of April 2025.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Read the full article <a href=\"https:\/\/purehunting.com\/2024-hunt-recap\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>2024 was a pretty memorable year.\u00a0 Every hunting season has peaks and valleys, and this one was no exception, but it seemed to have many more peaks than other years. I typically look forward to the hunting season starting with turkey in the spring, but this year, I had a pretty special trip to start<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4293,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/purehunting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/purehunting-red-stag-patagonia-jason-matzinger-willi-schmidt-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/range\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/range\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/range\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/range\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/range\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4292"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/range\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4292\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4294,"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/range\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4292\/revisions\/4294"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/range\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4293"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/range\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/range\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/range\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}