Time off?

I'll tell you what, obviously other things than hunting have been happening. Well, actually, not that much is going on...just not much hunting getting done. I did go out and get wood last weekend on Saturday, perhaps the cold weather, snow, and rain we're getting is making me paranoid enough that hunting is secondary. Or maybe it's gas prices keeping me closer to home and just hunting the riverbottom.

Who knows. I now have a clean house and truck, one cord of unsplit wood, the yard is taken care of for the winter, and things are kind of clinking in place. I'm sure once I feel like I've got all that straightened out I'll be back to thinking about how to best deer and elk. Shoot, pretty quick it's going to be rifle season...it makes me wonder if I'll instantly pick up a rifle or will I keep trying with the bow? I've got a hunch that if on opening day I can get back to where those elk were early enough, I might have a chance at a bull. It's a crowded place during rifle season though, not sure how much I want to battle all that.

Just a quick update for ya all. I'm not gone for good, just taking some time off.

GREAT night on FWP land

Yesterday afternoon was windy and nasty. The clouds were moving in and there were no deer in the field by my house like there usually is...and the barometer had been falling all day. I thought about not going hunting, but then thought, "What ELSE are you going to do?" Plus, I wanted to see where the deer had been hiding down there. They don't like walking around in wind that swirls around like that, it messes up their senses...smell, sight, and sound.

I ended up down on FWP land again and decided to do some stillhunting rather than sit on the stand all evening. (Stillhunting to me means moving really slowly through the woods and sitting a lot.) I got to within 20 yards of a young cow moose right off the bat...boy did SHE make a lot of noise crashing off through the tall grass and brush. But, I still did a good job at moving slowly and waiting for things to calm down, rather than just figure she moved everything in a one-mile radius out of there. I poked around one side of the section of land and found absolutely nothing...and this is where that stand is...so I decided to go to the OTHER side of this square mile and check out some of the thickets over there. It was a good thing I did.

There are a lot of funnels over there, created by bands of 20-foot brush cutting fields in a north/south direction. Interesting, because each one of those funnels has a trail or two in it that leads directly to an adjacent private field. You'd think you'd see more people hunting out there, but in all honesty it's kinda hard. No good trees for treestands I suppose ruins it for some folks. Well, I snuck in there and found a patch of trees right in the middle of one of these corridors. I sat down and waited for the wind to die down...and to take a break to see if I could hear anything moving in front of me...in the thick stuff I was planning on going next. I even got up and went to the bathroom...that's how unconcerned I was about any deer being close to me. Well then the wind died down and blew slow and steady to the south...

I was absentmindedly looking through the brush about 50 yards in front of me...and saw a deer's tail wag! "What the..." I thought. So I watched this deer move off to the north, behind some brush, under a fence, and then off toward the private land. Then I saw another deer following her. I made up my mind that I had to get closer to where they were crossing under the fence if I was going to have a chance at a shot. The only problem was that there was about 30 yards of open field (low 12" grass) between me and any other cover...a small group of aspens. So I crawled. Slowly through this field. I got to within 15 yards of where I wanted to end up when I looked to the west and saw this doe staring at me from 20 yards away! Crap! So I froze...in an uncomfortable position...and started to shake. The camo must have done alright because she went back to feeding. Okay, now my attention was turned toward her. There was some bitterbrush or something that stood about 18 inches tall a couple yards from me...in the direction of this deer. That's the best I could do for cover and started crawling that way. That's when ANOTHER deer stood up! In all there ended up being THREE deer bedded about 40 yards from where I was poking around and went to the bathroom. Why hadn't they heard me or ran? Hmmm, a mystery.

I was able to flip my bow over so I could nock an arrow, then slowly remove an arrow...then get situated...all done about 16 inches from the ground. I moved into a modified sitting position...where I was kind of sitting on one of my feet and "one cheek." Hunkered behind 18 inch sparse brush I watched these deer feed around the small hollow they were in. One started moving toward an opening pretty quickly, so when her head was behind a large bush, I came to full draw. The first time I've done that since the season started! Of course, then she stopped and didn't continue out into the open. I started to shake pretty bad by that time (not long) and had to slooowwwlllyy let it down. Then the other deer started to move the way of the first and I started to draw again, I got to half-draw (not good with a compound because you're essentially holding 60 lbs) and had to let that down when they stared at me. That spooked two of them and they took off. The first deer was kind of confused and stood there a little longer...so I again came to full draw, but she saw that and bolted.

Talk about shaking like a leaf! I had so much adrenaline going that I just laid there for awhile. Then I got up and started sneaking around to where they were going to come out in the open. While doing that I got caught (by them) twice in a low crouch...and had to try and stand there in this field, half-lunge position, and not move. My leg muscles are sore this morning, I'll tell ya! Well, they finally had enough of me and took off with large leaps into the private field...I saw them about 200 yards away still running..entering the woods on another side of that field. They're done.

I then decided to go into the thick stuff where I was originally headed. In moving over there I spooked yet another deer that must have still been bedded down...I had no idea she was there. No big deal. I got back to where I was playing with those three deer and paced off how far they were. It came out to 18 - 20 yards, but when they were standing there, it felt more like 15 or so. Funny how much a difference it seemed when they were standing there.

I went into the thick stuff and found where the deer were hanging out. I found two more does in there and one got jumpy and headed back towards where I came. I decided since it was getting dark, I'd try to head her off on one of those corridors. I picked the wrong one and could hear her still crashing through the next one over huffing the whole way. I was spent, so headed home.

Overall, a very productive night. I think by entering from the OTHER side of the section via the slough off the river...I could sneak into that thick stuff fairly well and then just wait. It'd be better if I could use the canoe to get down there, but then it's either a long float to the next take-out...in which case I'd have to find someone to give me a lift back to the truck...or I would have to use a rope and pull the boat back upstream. Doesn't sound like much fun, so I'll probably just hike along the river and try not to get TOO wet doing it. I need to get a treestand to put up in there. It's thick with dry grass, leaves, and sticks...the walking is very loud. Plus you can't see anything...it'd be nice to have a view at least.

Heavy snow warning

Just wanted to share this. It is for this evening:

...HEAVY SNOW WARNING NOW IN EFFECT UNTIL 12 PM MDT SATURDAY
ABOVE 6000 FEET..

...SNOW ADVISORY HAS BEEN ISSUED FOR FRIDAY 6 PM MDT THROUGH 6 AM
MDT SATURDAY FOR THE BUTTE/BLACKFOOT REGION BETWEEN 5000 AND
6000 FEET..

A PACIFIC STORM SYSTEM HAS BEGUN TO COMBINE WITH A COLD CANADIAN
AIRMASS MOVING SOUTHWARD OVER NORTHWESTERN MONTANA. SNOW LEVELS WILL
CONTINUE TO DROP TO AROUND 5000 FEET TODAY. AREAS BETWEEN 5000
AND 6000 FEET COULD SEE 2 TO 4 INCHES BEGINNING THIS EVENING.
AREAS ABOVE 6000 FEET COULD SEE 6 TO 10 INCHES OF NEW SNOW. LOCAL
AREAS IN THE HIGHER MOUNTAINS COULD SEE AMOUNTS IN EXCESS OF ONE
FOOT. SNOWFALL IS EXPECTED TO BE HEAVY AND WET.

A HEAVY SNOW WARNING MEANS SEVERE WINTER WEATHER CONDITIONS ARE
EXPECTED OR OCCURRING. SIGNIFICANT AMOUNTS OF SNOW ARE FORECAST
THAT WILL MAKE TRAVEL DANGEROUS. WINTER-LIKE CONDITIONS WITH THE
HEAVY SNOW WILL BE ESPECIALLY HAZARDOUS FOR BACKPACKERS AND
HUNTERS IN THE HIGHER ELEVATIONS.

A SNOW ADVISORY MEANS THAT PERIODS OF SNOW WILL CAUSE PRIMARILY
TRAVEL DIFFICULTIES. BE PREPARED FOR SNOW COVERED ROADS AND
LIMITED VISIBILITIES. USE CAUTION WHILE DRIVING.


You have GOT to love Montana!

A thrilling night on FWP land

Yesterday was a day just like any other. Except that it was simply GORGEOUS outside and I couldn't keep myself from milling around outside after work. It only took about 20 minutes of that until I started getting antsy to go hunting and enjoy a relaxing evening in the riverbottom. However, the cat had other plans...SHE was out hunting and figured I could wait. So I paced for a while and then caught up with her, she gave me a look like, "Oh, hey Tom. You going somewhere?" Real innocent-like. Cats.

Okay, so I decided to go to another public land hunting area down to the south...a little further drive, but I know the area well and it really does have a lot of deer in it. There are some large hay fields (alfalfa I figure...never really looked) on two sides of this section of land, which means a buffet for deer. This section of land has some of the thickest cover around, so it makes it ideal for deer to bed on the FWP land during the day, then move to those fields at night. The trick is that the FWP land is on an island, all that work drying my boots off went to waste as I waded through the river minutes after leaving the truck. Yes, I've got hipboots, but to change shoes that much just to walk across 30 yards of knee-high water just seemed a little excessive.

There is a treestand that has been set up for quite a while. The chain that holds it to the tree is slowly becoming engulfed in bark and wood. Obviously it has been there much longer than when I found it two years ago. The good news is that I have a decent stand if I ever feel like using it...no one else seems to. Shoot, they probably think it's mine. It's tucked along the edge of a really thick area with a lot of trails around it, there is a slough to the west about 70 yards away, and beyond that is a series of connected fields full of cheatgrass and whatnot that are intersected by thick brush that effectively make "corridors" that the deer use. The stand itself is on a little tree, I would guess about 18 inches in diameter (DBH) but it's a stunted Ponderosa so tapers pretty well...this makes it kinda fun in strong winds...you rock and sway...get vertigo, then hold on. Almost relaxing...but what a terrible place to fall asleep! It really is a touch-and-go stand, some days it is REALLY slow and others it is pretty busy; it all depends on the time of year and where the deer are headed. I was headed by there in the summer once to go fishing and saw the largest buck I have ever seen. I've talked to other fellas down there that have all caught glimpses of this deer because they all seem to talk about it. No one has ever got close enough..Intriguing. But, when I saw him, he had crossed the slough and walked directly under that stand. SO, it will produce if you sit there long enough.

Well, I tried to lay a scent trail on my way in using Mule Deer Estrus urine on the heels of my boots. I then freshened a mock scrape I had made earlier this summer with it and noticed nothing had been using it at all. I need to continue going down there to doctor it...hopefully I'll make it active by November or so. I think the licking branch is too high, a bummer because it'll take some serious work to try to get another branch down the the right height. Hmmm, might be time to find another tree I suppose. Anywho, then I climbed this tree, pulled the bow up by a rope (yep, I was safe) and settled in for a long wait. By this time it was about 1630.

I decided that since I hadn't practiced shooting my bow from an elevated position, that I'd use my one arrow with a judo point on it to test it out. The thought was to shoot this arrow, then leave it down there until I was leaving, while hoping that there wasn't enough scent on it to scare any deer away. It shot just right and I hit the pinecone I was aiming at. Funny, I hadn't realized how much I missed actually SHOOTING the bow; it's much more fun than just carrying it around. I may have to go out stump shooting sometime and just relax while walking through the woods. Of course, you know as soon as I do that, I'll stumble into deer. Sometimes that's just the way it seems to turn out. Okay, so I shot this arrow and was confident. Then this chipmunk with it's little cheeks just PACKED with seeds sat on a stump about 10 yards away and stared at me. He couldn't really holler at me because of all the seeds, so all that he could squeeze around them was this "cheeuump, cheeuump." Every time he'd make a noise (about every second) his tail would move back and forth like a metronome. It was kind of funny for a while, but by the half-hour mark it got extremely annoying. I was trying to throw sticks and whatever I could find to try and get him to leave. Finally, I thought, "If I still had that judo, I'd stick him." That slowly progressed into me seriously considering sacrificing one of my broadheads and nailing him. Well, as it turns out, I climbed down the tree, got the arrow with the judo point, then climbed back up the tree. This shut him up for a while, but after about 10 minutes, he was back in the same spot, doing the same thing. "Quit staring at me clown!" JUST as I was getting to the point of nailing this innocent little furball, he decided I wasn't a threat and moved on. If he could only know.

I watched a lot of squirrels and chipmunks and mice, (oh my!) while I was up there. Actually, that's all I did. They'd run around in some tall dead grass though and sometimes that would sound like deer walking; it made the time go by a little quicker with a shot of adrenaline every now and then. I would listen to the squirrels and imagine deer walking around further in the thick stuff. But once you've sat in one place so long, you start thinking that there are critters all around you and if you're just patient, one will step out. It's hard to leave...no matter how much your butt hurts from sitting on the tiny wooden seats those things have.

That's when it happened. I started noticing sounds like you would NOT believe. I watched a pine cone break off a branch and fall, now THAT was something I'd never seen before. A large branch fell out of a cottonwood about 40 yards from me and fell to the ground, which almost made me leave due to dirty shorts. (Don't worry, I controlled myself.) I swear I could hear a leaf "POP!" off the branch and then crash to the ground "crash rustle BOOM!" Seriously. A dragonfly sounded like a helicopter and I think I could hear flies or bees buzzing around at 20 yards. Just joking, all this was very normal and the sounds probably weren't THAT loud, but I was very in tune with them. I tend to do that, listen too small. Yep, listen too small. I've snuck up on grouse walking around in the underbrush in years past because I could hear them...and in my head, made it out to be some kind of deer walking around. It's funny though, after you do that for awhile, there is no denying when you actually DO hear a deer...sounds like a Sherman coming through the woods.

Well, this went on for about 3.5 hours, and come 2000 I decided I had enough. I snuck back to the river and across in the dark. I didn't see a single animal. But, when I talked to two fisherman at the parking area, they said they had seen about 12 does where they were fishing...right across the property line of the island...on private land. Hmmm, THAT'S where they were. No worries. I had a good time.

Saturday the 17th, Part 3 of the weekends hunt

On Saturday morning I woke up after a very fitful, restless night. Between the rain, the cold, a tree falling near camp, and something walking around outside, I didn’t get much sleep. Until the morning I guess, I slept until about 0700…it was already starting to get light out. I had planned on an earlier wake-up time, but didn’t set an alarm…I figured I’d be up. Oh well. I stood around for a bit and decided, “Well, nothing better to do except get going.” So I moved things around in the cab so I could squeeze in and drove down the road….saving myself some serious hiking. My plan was to get back to where I was last night when I saw all the elk and be in their road when they decided to come back to their bedding area. I got down to that end of the road and changed clothes in the rain. That is definitely NOT a pleasant experience. Try it sometime. Get out of a warm truck at 0715 in the morning when it’s raining. Strip down and stand there in your underwear. Then, put on damp clothes. Fun-freaking-bo!

I then went to grab my pack. Where’s the pack? Crud, the pack was STILL IN THE TENT! I figured, well, I don’t need the pack. But then thought, “but it’s got my bow-sling.” No worries, I can just carry the bow. Then I thought, “but it’s got my water.” No worries, I’m not going to be out long enough to need water.” Then I thought, “but it’s got my bugle attached to it.” CRAP! So I drove back to camp, then back to where I got changed. Annoying. I began the hike up this valley, running into the cows. I hate hunting around cows. Actually, I’m not so sure I like cows in the woods…they seem to change the whole atmosphere somehow. Am I hunting in a cow pasture?

I topped the hill and began trekking up and over all the finger ridges again…but got to where I wanted to be fairly quickly. Of course, by that time I was in a hurry so was sweating up a storm of my own…getting soaked from the inside out and the outside in. Fun! My cotton camo pants were very soaked from the rain-saturated grass in the open hill I had to walk across…and that all ran into my boots. Plus it was about 34 or 35 degrees…JUST above freezing…I could feel that when I stopped. Cold! Dangerous.

I bugled once and almost instantly got a distant reply! Now THAT is what I expected bow hunting for elk to be like. You bugle, you hear a bull, and you bust your butt to meet up with him. So that’s what I did, pretty much ran through the woods to the next likely spot to have a set-up. I chose a little patch of Christmas trees to hunker in…with good shooting lanes and in a place where I could see anything coming. I bugled again and the bull was a little above me on the next little ridge…obviously moving uphill. Shoot! I couldn’t let him get around me because that’s where the wind was blowing…so off I went…hoofing it up the hill to intercept. I got into a less-than-perfect spot and blew on the call again. Nothing. I waited a little bit and then gave him a bugle that said, “I’m pissed! I’m coming after you, you bastard!” Nothing. I figured he couldn’t hear me, maybe he was in the next hollow over a small hill; I took two steps and then looked up the hill. There he was, staring me down. He had located where I had bugled and was staring at the area as if thinking, “Well, here I am. Where’s the other bull?” Needless to say, he ambled off. I could never get a good luck at his antlers, they were dark and he was in some thick timber. But I knew it was that satellite from the night before…because he had no cows with him. He busted me twice…I don’t think I ever had a chance.

I did a half-ass reconnaissance of the next couple finger ridges further and got no response. By this time, every time I was still for a couple minutes I got cold. Funny, right before I heard that other bull, I was thinking about how cold and wet I was and how I should probably just turn around. I heard him and POOF! All those thoughts were gone! All of a sudden I was warm, toasty, full of energy and ready to go. After that went down the drain, I realized how much trouble I’d be in if I slipped on a stick or something. Can anyone say hypothermia?

I made a command decision and went back the way I came. I didn’t really want to hike an elk out of there anyways…riiiight. Just keep telling yourself that Tom. I chased the cows down the hill. (Stupid cows. That happened a couple days ago when I was in the truck. Ran these cows down about two miles of single lane dirt road before I got around them.) So the same thing happened here, the calves freaked out and chased the entire herd down the hill. THEN, I got the privilege of yet again changing clothes in the rain. Luckily, this time it was into DRY clothes…so much nicer. I took care of my tent and boogied out of there.

Things I learned? Get really good set-ups in good cover. Have the area where your scent is going really thick and nasty…something that might funnel an elk down to you rather than around you. That’s ideal, but probably impossible. Remember your rainpants…and put them on! Shoot, I HAD them in the truck, but figured it would be too hot walking around in them. Bad decision. I was sweating anyways. That’s another thing, leave yourself plenty of time to amble your way in. Even if you’re in a hurry, just slow down and enjoy yourself. Ummm, take an extra tarp if you plan on camping in the rain/snow to dry your clothes under. The truck cab simply isn’t big enough. Bugle your butt off, even if they aren’t answering and then WATCH and LISTEN very carefully. Hard when the rain is popping all around you and off your cover, but still vital to the situation. And most importantly, hunt an area you actually enjoy being in. I had an immensely better time hunting down there than on the ridge just because it was prettier and more interesting. And I still managed on getting into elk…I mean, I knew the area had elk in it because I have scouted it for the past two years…but still. And finally, don’t shoot any moo cows, no matter HOW tempting it is.

Friday the 16th, Part 2

Okay, no time to worry about the satellite, he’ll follow the herd anyway right? Sure. So off I went trying to get downwind and ahead of these lagging cows. They didn’t like my cow calls that were saying, “wait for me! I’m lost! Where are you guys?” Because one of these cows would do that bark-thing every time I tried. Was she saying, “We’re up here moron!” or “Hey, we know what you are buddy, back off!” Either way, they were only about 100 yards away and it was pretty open. I didn’t really have a chance…with the bow. Perfect for a rifle…but, that’s obviously not what I’m here to do. “Screw the cows. I can hear the bull off ahead in the distance. Maybe if I pester him enough, he’ll try and come up here and kick my butt” I thought. So I snuck around the cows as best I could, hit the NEXT small drainage and the wind (strong..it was thundering pretty good by now) was directly from me to them. “Well crap,” I thought, “I guess I’ll make my way back to camp.” But, maybe I’ll try one more time. I let out my ugliest, meanest bugle, and this thing answered from about 150 yards downwind. Well, he caught my scent because the last thing I saw was an elk ass running away…but couldn’t see his head. And I heard a whole lot of sticks breaking off into the next county for all I know.

Now, by this time, I’m QUITE a ways from camp, so I start hoofing it back. Up and over finger ridges and ravines. Let me tell you, THAT gets old quick. Along the way I found another foot…but couldn’t locate any other pieces. Strange. Must have been a coyote’s idea of a midnight snack he thought he’d take home from the party. I also found another skull; this one had the antlers sawed off. You’d think whoever found it would have taken the skull too, but nope.

I finally found a hill I knew and went and sat out in the open. I shed the coat and soaking gloves, opened my shirt, and sat there shivering while watching a nice thunderstorm hammer a distant ridge with lightning. After awhile I starting hearing some “mooing” coming from below me. So, I picked up the bugle and “mooed” right back. Wouldn’t you know it, from behind me these two cows came in! I sat there for awhile and called them into 20 yards. Great, Tom, you’re a certified cow caller. I stood up and they drifted off. But, instead of going down to the road and back to camp, I decided I’m rested enough to go BACK to the top of the ridge and BACK the way I came earlier. Again, off I went.

It didn’t take long for me to realize how tired I still was and that this was a bad decision. But, I’m stubborn, so kept going. Working up a whole new batch of sweat. Whoops, starting to rain good. Time to retire to the tent! There, now hopefully this will die off soon. I was enjoying myself out there.

Okay, so after struggling my way to the top that didn’t look nearly so steep or far at first, I headed down the ridge. I got back to where I had first topped out earlier today, and since it was only like 1930, I decided to throw some bugles out to see if anything would respond. It was dead calm, so when I bugled, it would echo across the many valleys…and my distant camp. What do you know! I got a response from a distant bull and then heard a very faint response from an even more distant bull. We did that for a while and I finally decided I HAD to go to camp if I wanted to get dinner together and a fire made before it was completely dark.

After changing and converting my pickup cab into a Laundromat, I opened up my food bag and WHOOFTA! What a stench! Yep, see, it’s all well and good to leave your pack packed, but remember to empty it of garbage moron! This half-eaten dehydrated meal was swelled up with noxious fumes and had leaked a foul-smelling liquid over the rest of my food. Good thing I had some MREs in the bottom and it’s a good thing they’re sealed for a nuclear explosion…otherwise, I think I would have gone hungry.

So I ate an MRE. Those things are extremely good when you’re starving for calories. However, whoever decided that white rice was a good idea should be slapped. Nasty. But, whoever got the great idea of Tabasco should be given a medal…somehow it made the rice not-so-nasty. I didn’t care, I was hungry.

And here I am in a tent in the rain. I suppose it’s time for bed.

Friday the 16th, Part 1

The following is Part 1 of 3 for this past weekend. Parts 1 and 2 were taken from notes written on Friday night, it was made into two posts because it was so long.

So, here it is, Friday night. I’m sitting next to a campfire in a small valley I can call my own. In rifle season, this place is crawling with people. Actually, the spot I’m camped in is usually occupied by two older guys with a wall tent. They establish their camp and either stay here all season or just come up on weekends. Funny, over the past two years I’ve gotten to know them and they even remember me; I try to stop in whenever I go by. They always have at least one cow elk hanging from a tree. These guys are nuts, the elk is always whole…they drag the entire thing out whole!

Anyways. I left work at 0930 and was up here at about 1200. I unrolled the tent and panicked. I didn’t bring the poles! I searched and double-searched, no poles. So, I conceded to my fate and began looking for a place to make a low tarp tent. I found a decent spot on some cow pies and figured it would have to do. But, before setting that up, I had to check one more time for those poles. I ALWAYS store them in the same place. What a fantastic idea that turned out to be! I found them hiding in my pack, in the same place they always are. I wonder how they hid so well, but didn’t dwell on it, I had a tent! No sleeping in cow poo for me! I think I smiled the entire time I was setting that thing up.

Hmm, I’m getting some very light rain now and I can hear thunder in the distance…probably won’t get to enjoy this fire for too much longer. I had initially thought if it was raining, I’d get into the truck, listen to some music and do this. Little did I know I’d have all my clothes drying in there. They’re pretty much completely saturated with remnants of the afternoon showers and sweat. I’m sure that’ll smell pleasant in the morning. So, I may have to escape to my tent here soon if the paper begins getting too wet.

After setting up the tent, I sat on the tailgate, listening to the creek, and ate a sandwich I had made for lunch. Then, rather than sit around, I figured I’d just head up into the woods. My thought was that perhaps the critters would be up and moving with the approaching cold front.

It didn’t take long before I was sweating pretty good. This whole “starting at the bottom instead of the ridge” thing has some disadvantages. As soon as I topped the ridge, I started feeling the area out with bugles. Nothing at all! So I hiked north along the ridge, bugling every five to ten minutes or so. I had a spot in mind that I wanted to check out, I remember each fall I’d see new rubs on the trees where some large animal had taken out his frustrations out. I made it there quicker than I thought, so figured I’d sit around for a while. There were very fresh rubs and I felt confident that if I waited and bugled while doing my own battle with some trees, something would answer or come investigate. No such luck, the only thing I summoned was the rain. Luckily I had packed my coat with me. It was almost pleasant to sit there in the rain, warm and mostly dry (I hadn’t remembered to pack my rain pants.) But, I didn’t like waiting.

I had read a quote the other day that said something like, “Why wait for something to happen? Make it happen.” So that’s what I did. Off I went, down this bull’s rub line, bugling my head off. I got distracted when I found a hoof in this game trail I was following. Yep, an elk hoof…with some hair still on it. So I did a little searching and found the rest of the critter. Not sure when it had died, but the bones were picked clean. There was s skull however, with two foot-long spike antlers on it. It must have died this summer…kinda odd. It was a neat skull though, and I almost strapped it to the pack, but then decided I didn’t need any more weight. I found a tree in the (relative) open and put the skull on a branch. Maybe someone will want to carry it out someday.

And, off I went again. I knew this area a little bit (but still ened up getting turned around in it a little) and knew it broke into many small finger ridges. Very park-like with the open grassy areas, ponderosa pine, and Douglas-fir. Very “elky.” I got to calling again and still wasn’t getting any response. So I started down a finger ridge of a finger ridge and did some cow calling.

I heard something that sounded like a cow, figured it was a bird, and moved down further to investigate. Then I heard a branch break! And it was CLOSE! So I backed up into these trees and drew an arrow. By the time I looked up, I could see a cow moving away from me. (Looking at her tracks later, she had been about 40 yards away and must have seen or smelled me.) She had been juuust over a rise…I’ll bet her head was sticking up over the edge and she saw me scurry into the trees. No amount of calling would get her back, and after about 30 minutes, I decided to parallel the direction she had been going. I got onto her side of the little ravine and spooked her and two other cows. Crap! I wondered, “Why isn’t there a bull with these ladies? Shouldn’t they be in some sort of harem by now?”

Hey, I’ll tell you what. Remind me to thank Petzel for including an extra bulb with their headlamps. Mine just burned out…I thought it was strange for batteries to just shut the lamp off like that. Cool, because I forgot the extra batteries. They’re in the same bag as my contact stuff…which is on the bathroom counter at home. My eyes will hate me in the morning.

Okay, good to go. So, I was looking over the edge of the hill in the NEXT ravine the elk had gone into and decided to sit and listen. A bugle! A bugle! A bull was close and he was calling to round up the strays! He wouldn’t answer my responses though; odd, maybe he couldn’t hear me. But a DIFFERENT elk did. This one was to the south of me and this other bull. I got into a “good” spot (how would I know?) and started playing with this other, closer bull. The last I heard was a large stick breaking from behind and downwind of me! Sneaky bastard had circled me silently and caught my scent.

Well crud, NOAA just has it in for me

SO. I did not go to my special little elk hunting area last weekend because of the rain and snow that was predicted (and that we got.) I piddled around closer to my house and played with bears instead...so it all worked out good.

Oh yea, then I read something about the pre-rut and found that oftentimes you won't hear other bulls bugling, but you should bugle about six times in half an hour. This book said at this time of year (around last week) the bulls WERE rutting, just none of them had set up a herd yet and weren't as spooky to calls. That they might come in comparatively more easily during this period. Well, I had figured that I would only bugle when I started hearing THEM bugling a lot. I may have just missed THAT chance, but shoot, I'm new right? I can still get away with that kind of thing. So, the plan is to head to the secret spot tonight, set up camp at the truck so I'm not sleeping where these animals seemed to want to be, and then bugle my butt off. All well and good right? Good plan right? Hmmm, so I checked the weather this morning and had yet ANOTHER special weather statement...it goes exactly like this:

A COOL AND MOIST WEATHER SYSTEM WILL MOVE INTO THE PACIFIC
NORTHWEST TODAY. THIS SYSTEM WILL START TO AFFECT NORTH
CENTRAL IDAHO AND WESTERN MONTANA THIS EVENING.

SCATTERED RAIN SHOWERS WILL DEVELOP OVER NORTH CENTRAL IDAHO AND
WESTERN MONTANA THIS AFTERNOON. WIDESPREAD RAIN IS EXPECTED TO
DEVELOP OVER ALL OF NORTH CENTRAL IDAHO AND WESTERN MONTANA BY
EARLY SATURDAY MORNING...BUT THE HEAVIEST AMOUNTS WILL BE ACROSS
THE CLEARWATER MOUNTAINS OF IDAHO AND WEST CENTRAL MONTANA. AS THE
RAIN MOVES INTO THE AREA...COLDER AIR ALOFT WILL BRING THE SNOW
LEVELS DOWN TO AROUND 6500 FEET BY SATURDAY MORNING. SOME SNOW
ACCUMULATIONS ARE POSSIBLE ACROSS THE HIGHER MOUNTAINS AND PASSES.
LOST TRAIL PASS IN SOUTHWEST MONTANA COULD RECEIVE ACCUMULATIONS
OF 2 TO 4 INCHES THROUGH SATURDAY.

IN ADDITION...TEMPERATURES WILL COOL ABOUT 10 DEGREES ON SATURDAY
FROM FRIDAYS READINGS.

THIS SYSTEM WILL MOVE OFF TO THE EAST ON SUNDAY...WITH RAIN
ENDING FROM WEST TO EAST AND TEMPERATURES GRADUALLY RISING.

ANYONE PLANNING OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES LATE FRIDAY INTO
EARLY SUNDAY...ESPECIALLY IN THE MOUNTAINS...SHOULD BE PREPARED
FOR WET AND COLD CONDITIONS.

Again. SO. The extremely GOOD news with this is that the Bitterroot National Forest has lifted it's fire restrictions...Actually, they lifted them at 12:01 a.m. (this morning.) So that's positive. But come on now!

What should I do, what should I do? I want to be all tough and stuff, but my boy scout side comes out when they predict hazardous weather. Not to mention I'll be on my own to pick my OWN butt up if I do something stupid. That's not always easy to do, try it sometime.

I shall kick this around some more in my head. Right now I'm thinking of just going ahead. I'll be camping at the truck and only plan on spending tonight out there. If I get all cold and wet on Saturday, then that's not too bad. I will just be leaving Saturday afternoon sometime. The trouble comes in with if I actually get anything or not. That'll be a long night of packing, but at least I'd be warm right? Hmmm, and it'd be GREAT for cooling down meat. All I have to do is be smart about all this and have my wits about me; I should be fine.

The bummer of it all is it's gorgeous this morning. Hmmm, ooh, I just had a thought that makes my feet get warm! I could go NOW. I could go TODAY. EARLY. This system isn't planned to be in the area until tonight. Perhaps I could go see how things are going up there before the weather moves in. I've heard that tactic is good for deer, they're supposed to be moving a little more at the head of a cold front. Yet another big day for thinking.

Another night at the refuge

I went down to the refuge last night at 1800 to try and get a quick hunt before it got dark; but mainly because I was bored. There was another guy down there, but, what else was I going to do? So I parked next to him and got ready. I thought I saw him off in the distance, walking down the road to another part of the riverbottom. So, being the good guy I am, I looped around to the far edge of where it looked like he was going so as not to mess up his hunt.

I waded through a slough at the shallowest place possible in that area, the water was juuuussttt deep enough to go over the tops of my boots. Nice. That's the good thing about hunting in warm weather I suppose, your feet might be wet, but they're not cold. I had wanted to explore my boundaries down there a little more, so I walked until I came to the refuge fence and started traversing along it...just to get a feel for the cover and country down there. Of course, this meant walking through thick, mosquito-infested, 8-foot high orchard grass. There was no being sneaky about it, but I did what I could to at least sound like a DEER walking through tall grass. My urge was to just plow through it and get out in the open, but I stuck to my guns. Boy there were a lot of little hidden sloughs in there, a lot of times I'd have to back track a ways because either the brush was too thick or the water too deep. Hey, I was exploring right? Good to know.

I started to break out into this more open area and it got a little more "deery" feeling. Just looked like a place that deer would like to walk through. How did I know? Well, I wanted to walk there and it was quiet going...so why wouldn't they? I started to hear the sounds of slow walking off to the west of me and in some more of that tall grass. It would take a couple steps and stop, then a couple more, and stop. A deer! I hunkered down real quick and listened some more. It was getting louder and closer! I moved a little more to put a small bush between me and this deer, put my face mask on, got an arrow ready and waited. About 10 minutes later this thing finally comes out of the grass...but it was really short for a deer. Plus it was black. Another bear!? Sure enough, it was a small black bear kinda ambling toward me. I let it get to about 15 yards and figured if I didn't stand up or something, he was going to step on me. (Again, the wind was perfect...he wouldn't have smelled me before he was brushing by me.) So I stood up. He kind of stopped, looked at me, THEN ran. But he only ran about 20 yards and stopped to look back. The unfortunate thing was that was the way I wanted to go...where he was running to. I followed him a little and he again ran off. When he stopped the next time, he was only about 30 yards away and stood up to try and get a better look at me. That's when I put the bow above my head so he could see how truly HUGE I was, and off he went, crashing through the brush. Interesting.

But then I'm thinking, "Okay, if that bear is over on that side, then I'll sidle around to the opposite side of this patch of trees and see if it scares something out." To do this I had to cross an opening this all had happened in. I got about halfway across and just looked back to see if I could see the bear again and lo and behold...there's the other bowhunter in a tree! CRAP! He must have watched the whole thing. So I gave him a wave that said, "sorry dude" and went slowly and quietly the way I had come in. I made a large circle and ended up in the area I was at the first night I went to the refuge...and not where I wanted to be at all. But by this time it was a little late to try to get to another "good" spot and I just concentrated on being quiet and sitting still. Just in case. Sure enough, I heard a splash come from the slough around a small bend. I knew there was a trail that led into the water there, so figured maybe a deer was crossing.

I very slowly worked my way across the slough, snuck along the brush beside it, and then peeeeeked over some grass. I had successfully snuck up to within about 15 yards of two mallards who made the splashes when they landed. Fantastic. I stood up and they flew off...ducks don't like big things anywhere near them. You wouldn't think they'd be THAT spooky...but then again, I suppose if trees had big guns and would shoot at me every time I went to a restaurant, or bed, or to take a bath...I might be a little spooky too.

After I took care of that, I crossed the slough again (well, you know, my boots were already soaked...what's the difference right?) and headed over to listen and look at a small opening. Nothing. So, by this time, it was getting close to being dark and I decided, "why?" and started to make my way back to the truck. Again, I crossed the slough and walked through the last little grove of trees in the middle of this marshy area. Sure enough, the sound of me walking through the grass spooked a deer! Of course. But, it didn't wind me, it just heard me...so it only took two bounds and stopped. I couldn't see it because of the grass and brush, but I knew it was just standing right there. I was able to get down and back into some heavy hawthornes where it was a little darker. I figured that'd be a good blind.

Well this is all well and good for awhile. I could hear this deer begin to move around a little and just as I thought it might make it's way out in the open...these ROBINS started flying into the hawthorns right above my head. They'd land, flap around, squawk at each other, and then fly off. Land, make noise, repeat. Son of a...! That was obviously enough for that deer...let's see, it heard something that sounded a lot like a man walking, then nothing. Then a lot of random noises that didn't sound pretty. Hmmm. It finally got entirely too dark to shoot and I got up and left...not a deer anywhere close.

I thought about leaving a note on that other guy's truck, but decided it was probably understood that I was sorry. Maybe he'll read this someday...wouldn't THAT be funny? All in all, I figured out that if you are out after elk, you'll get shots at deer. If you're out after deer, you'll get shots at bear. Perhaps next year I'll get a bear tag and see what the next one in the list is.

Didn't go camping

Yep, didn't go camping...and it turns out it was probably a really smart move. We had winds of about 30 mph, which alone would really suck. I was planning on camping at the truck in the middle of an old burned area...sounds like a good way to get a damaged truck, a blocked road, or even killed. Oh, and then it started raining, pretty hard...at about 1930. Imagine getting to your camping spot and have it rain an hour before dark. What do you do then? Sit in your small backpacking tent and read? AND, this morning, when the clouds broke, I could see fresh snow on the mountains around my house! It's September 10th! Wow! THAT would have been a good thing on the hill, but I still didn't like the idea of getting stalled up there. So, I may go tomorrow.

The real subject of this post should be "I'm going to buy a .45." Which I have decided I will. I've always wanted one, but never bought one. I would love a Kimber...a really nice 1911 right off the bat...but at the same time I kinda want a utilitarian 1911 that I can pack and not worry about too much. Here's the story why I finally decided.

Since I chose not to drive two hours and camp in 30 mph wind in a burned area, during a rain/snowstorm...I left the house at about 1500 and went into the area I killed my first deer. Wouldn't that be cool? Killing your first elk in the same drainage you killed your first deer? That's what I thought. Anywho, I was getting ready to head out and this truck pulls up. This guy in flannel leans out the window and says, "You going elk hunting up there?" I said yes, and he informed me that he was a logger and he saw some elk up there in the morning...around 0630. He even went as far as to tell me where he saw them and how to get there. Wow, people really surprise me sometimes. He actually had to drive by, turn around, talk to me, then turn around to go back the way he was originally going. I love loggers.

So I went up the drainage and found that it had been logged considerably since I was up there last. I noticed a lot of bear poo on the road on the way up and thought, "maybe I'll get to see that bear." But, I got to the head of the drainage and cut up the hill to get to the ridgetop. The wind was simply howling from all directions...didn't make sneaking around a real issue. But I was there to explore as well as hunt...so it didn't bother me too much. I did a lot of cow calling and bugled once...with absolutely no turn out. I then just cow called the rest of the time when I was crossing the heads of drainages...trying to get something to come in. I actually did really well with making a setup and then sticking with it...I was at each spot for a half hour each. Leaving time for something to sneak up on me. NOTHING. I saw one deer, and actually ended up following her around...not on purpose, but just happenstance. Blah blah blah. Great country, but I knew the elk wouldn't be down there if that's where they would be in the morning. I was trying to find an area they might into my area from...the direction their beds would be. But I couldn't find the typical "elk bedding area" anywhere around. I roamed around for a couple hours and then the wind died down...but then the rain started! Good though, I know rain kicks your scent down into the ground, so I was doing good.

I flushed some grouse and had been carrying around this thought that I would try and kill one for dinner. NOPE. Ruffed grouse are weird like that. These birds will flush when you are well out of sight...and land about half a mile away. Bastards. So, despite seeing a couple and actually knocking my one judo-pointed arrow once..got no shot and had to settle for bacon and eggs for dinner. On the way back, I thought I was on the ridge above the truck so bombed off the very steep edge and headed down to the bottom. When I got there, I found out it wasn't the drainage I came in on. So I walked up that drainage thinking it was just the next one over. I got near the top, then crossed in a small saddle to cross down into the next "hollow" to get to the road. While doing that, I found a huge trail many animals had made in the grass. Finally, I had found some sign of where those elk had been! But, it was getting dark and still raining, so I decided to not follow the trail in either direction. Very hard to do by the way...leave that trail and not explore it more. I was on a mission to get home. So I dropped down into the NEXT valley and found that one wasn't the right one either...I then had to hike BACK UP the next ridge and finally to the road I came in on. All this time I could've walked to the highway and made it to the truck, but I'm actually embarrassed to walk along the highway in all my bowhunting garb. Doesn't seem right for some reason.

So, I made it to the road I came in on and was hustling to get out before it was totally dark. I came to the spot where I saw all the bear shit and thought, "Shoot, I wonder where bears go in the day. Do they bed down somewhere too?" Almost as soon as that thought hit my mind, there was a large rustling up ahead combined with this growl/huffing noise. I saw the movement of this cinnamon-colored black bear at about 30 yards. He had been nosing around in a small meadowy area. He only ran up the opposite hill about 10 yards when he stopped. So here's what I wrote on a pad last night:

"I'm unusually calm in tense situations. I had a bear meet me on my way home, he ran up the hill with a lot of grunting and wheezing but stopped at about 40 yards, only 10 yards from where he started. I raised my bow above my head and shouted, "get outta here bear" but he just stood there and swayed. I moved down the road a little and then got a little pissed. "Why wasn't he more scared?" So I moved back up the road so I could see him better and hollered, waving my arms. This did nothing. I stood there for awhile and he started stepping down the hill, back towards where he came. I hollered some more, "get outta here bear." He stopped again and swayed. I then drew the bow...an easy shot with a rifle, a more difficult but very doable shot with a pistol, but a very nervous shot with a bow. It was his huffing and growling that got my hairs raising...every time he'd move, he'd roar and wheeze....only moving about 5 yards at a time. Absolutely no fear of me. I was very much downwind and surprised him, but he knew what I was. Gorgeous critter. It is time for the .45. If he rushed me, I'd have one arrow in him and another to defend myself by hand. [That would have been all I had time for.] He was a lot faster than I'd imagine. No bear spray, just a dead bear is my preference."

He was just too quick. And I started thinking about if I had something down....I would FOR SURE have a bear in there...and I'm not about to give up 600 lbs of meat just for a lazy bear. I will buy this handgun and wear it while I'm out.

It's funny, with the cold front moving in, the smell reminded me of many things in my past. I never fully realized all that I had done during that time of year before I smelled that distinct smell of fall once again. The memories that stuck out were this...I wrote it down last night:

"old, cold blood in a garage
smoking steelhead in Elk City
backpacking in Bozeman my first year in college
cutting wood to make a bed."

Isn't that weird? So many thoughts tied to the smell of cold air and pine trees.

I may go to that original hunting spot tomorrow and see if the snow is still up there. Nothing bugling yet, but the tracking should be a big plus. We'll see.

Unsure about the weekend

Boy, that seems similar to a topic that is coming up a lot lately. There are things you want to do, things you should do, things other people TELL you to do, and then that little voice whispering to you from shadows. I suppose I shall find out today what needs to be done and if it's worth it to head to the hills this afternoon. I'm planning on camping at the truck; hunting tonight and tomorrow, and since I'll be probably be wet by Saturday night...just come home after ONE night. I saw the weather this morning and found that today has a high likelihood of rain and similar temperatures as tomorrow. I will observe the weather and then make up my mind. That would mean camping in the rain, at the truck, just to hunt...when there ARE elk closer to home. Just seems like a lot of commotion over something that is supposed to be fun.

Hmmm, strange thinking there. My head is definitely somewhere else.

I went down to the Refuge again last night and poked around a different access site. I've got to say, it was the best I did without seeing anything during legal shooting light. I actually found a spot (turns out a poor spot) by the river where two trails came together. I situated myself so the wind blew out over the water and away from the trail....and I actually stayed there for a good two hours. Only when it started getting close to the end of shooting light did I move around. I still wanted to explore a little, and figured risking a little movement wasn't that big a deal. Good to explore, but I confirmed that there were no deer within quite a buffer around me. I did find one on the way out, but she was hidden out in the open in tall reeds and grass. Of course she was, you can't really hunt that. Makes sense. Later on, I was privileged with seeing the "day the geese came back." They are here again! I was walking out in the dark and could only see them in the air, while they were silhouetted against the purple shade above me...you could tell which ones were young because they seemed to break formation and flounce around, pestering each other while landing. Hundreds of geese coming in to the Refuge...all of them saying something. Probably the best time I had all night....standing in the waning light watching and listening to the geese.

I did learn that mesh face masks make a great mosquito barrier for your face and neck. I mean, the rest of your body is already covered up right? Why not your face if you're just sitting there? It worked really well, until they tried landing on your eyes...

Special weather report from NOAA and update

I found this early this morning on the NOAA weather site (link to right)

406 AM PDT WED SEP 7 2005 /506 AM MDT WED SEP 7 2005/

...A CHANGE IN THE WEATHER EXPECTED OVER THE WEEKEND..

A LARGE AREA OF LOW PRESSURE WILL MOVE INTO THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST
ON FRIDAY. AS THIS SYSTEM MOVES INTO NORTH CENTRAL IDAHO AND
WESTERN MONTANA ON SATURDAY...IT WILL BRING COOLER TEMPERATURES
AND WIDESPREAD RAIN...THAT SHOULD CONTINUE INTO MONDAY.

IN ADDITION...AS THE COLDER AIR MOVES INTO THE REGION...SNOW
LEVELS WILL DROP TO BETWEEN 5000 AND 6000 FEET BY SATURDAY NIGHT.
SOME SNOW ACCUMULATION IS LIKELY OVER THE HIGHER MOUNTAINS AND
PASSES...BUT IT IS TOO EARLY TO DETERMINE AMOUNTS AT THIS TIME.

ANYONE THAT HAS OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES PLANNED FOR THIS
WEEKEND...ESPECIALLY IN THE MOUNTAINS...SHOULD BE PREPARED FOR
RAPIDLY CHANGING CONDITIONS WITH POSSIBLE WINTER LIKE WEATHER.

Hmmm, and here I was thinking, "Man, I'd better start thinking about this weekend if I want to be ready for it." I didn't think I'd see THAT this morning. Now it becomes a whole new realm of planning....cold weather gear. The pass I cross is at 6941 feet and where I camped last weekend is at 7400 feet. SNOW? The good news is that I already decided to camp at the truck seeing how I was right in the middle of where the elk and deer cross the ridge. Shoot, that way I won't have to take two packs in and I have the potential to make myself very comfortable with all the things I could bring. The unfortunate part would be the 2 mile hike in the dark. Perhaps finding these critters won't be so hard this weekend...I'm guessing that we should be getting into the rut here pretty darn soon.

I was also thinking about how grossly overpacked I was last time. I mean, it was all good stuff for the "unknown" that could have happened. But one thing I noticed was how much LESS food I needed compared to what I took. Seriously, I had enough food to feed a couple people for a couple days...with me...on the hill. Plus much more in the truck. I definitely like the idea of MREs over dehydrated food though. They're easy, they're quick, and their loaded with calories. I really didn't like the idea of heating water then waiting another 15 minutes before I could eat. I had the time, I just didn't have the patience. Plus I think dehydrated meals make you more dehydrated...and they take a lot of your water just to cook!

I'm going to make my own energy bars here sometime. I had trail mix with milk chocolate pieces that melted in the heat of the day...this formed a kind of candy bar. So then I got to thinking. My Dad has this recipe he made for what he calls "Ranger cookies." These things are nuts...they have everything in them, and one is pretty much a meal. But I want to modify it so there is more chocolate and stuff. The part that I like is the oatmeal...talk about a breakfast! We'll see how that goes.

Other than that, I can't really think of anything to do differently that I haven't already thought of. The tactics and precautions are all the same, and hopefully their behavior will be more in tune with what I was planning. I can tell this trip up there combined with the camping will probably take it's toll on me. If I plan on doing that for the next two weekends I will probably be really tired of the whole thing. Makes me wonder...

But I'm intrigued by the bulls I saw and the lack of people. I'm intrigued by the elks' proximity to a drivable road. I just wish it was a "prettier" area to be in.

First evening hunting the refuge

Yep, so yesterday afternoon / evening was the first time I've hunted deer on the Refuge near my house. I've always wanted to, but you can only archery hunt for deer down there...they won't even allow access to walk in there unless you are physically hunting. Yea, even scouting is banned! That's what last night turned into for the most part. I left the house at about 1600 and was to the access point at around 1610...fantastic it's so close.

So I had an area I wanted to check out...a thicket of cottonwood and aspen trees tucked between two forks of the river. These thickets were adjacent to a levy that gave animals access to an alfalfa field on the other side of the highway...where I've seen them early in the morning. Anywho, it was pretty terrible trying to hike around down there...it's so darn dry I equate it to walking on cornflakes! Head-high grass with dead grass under that, covered in a layer of dry cottonwood leaves...there is no moving silently. I was trying to cross the slough without getting too wet, so was trying to move toward a shallow spot. Of course I had to contour around the bank of the slough because I didn't know a better way in...but the grass, brush, and trees made it a test of patience. Especially in 80-something degree heat. I just wanted to be able to move easily! Well, after crossing some logs and crossing this desert of a sandbar, then more logs, I made it close to the area I wanted to check out. There was no moving quietly to be done, so I walked slowly like a deer to a place where I could actually see a little bit. Thinking the deer might like the same thing. It was next to a small opening that was immediately adjacent to a THICK stand of aspen. Well, I sat down in the shade...pretty soon the earth moved enough where I was sitting in the sun. I put up with that for about 45 minutes until I was just entirely too uncomfortable to stay. I mean, I was sweating just sitting there! Bad deal and NOT very fun. Unfortunately, I had heard a lot of sticks breaking and whatnot in the aspen thicket (where I wanted to head because it had really thick shade). I figured that was something that slipped by and if I could just get in there, I might be able to wait for some more deer moving through. I walked over there and was just entering the thicket when two fawns jumped out to the east and probably their momma went west. I sat there in the cool, incredible shade and waited to see if they'd try to regroup. But, after a little more than an hour, that didn't seem to be the case.

I don't know, I was a little bored and tired. I didn't know where I wanted to be, having never seen that country before, so I just started cruising around and checking the place out. I walked along another part of the slough, trying to find where the deer cross and looking for high-traffic trails. Didn't see much, but found some spots that might be worth sitting near as well as some better places to cross the water. It's wild though, because I was only able to check out a very small corner of the Refuge. It'll probably take awhile to see a lot of it...good thing I've got lots of time! Let's just work on some early snow this year and I'll be good to go.

So, I was out at 1930. Not the best time to leave, I know, but I didn't really care. When you aren't into it and things just aren't working for you, why stay? Hunting is supposed to be fun, not something you feel obligated to do.

Day two of hunting season...not a transcript

Well, I really wanted to leave early this morning. I didn't have the energy to go poking around the woods blindly anymore. I knew I had to go out and get more water, so made the decision to do a morning hunt, then pack up and leave. I mean really, it's ridiculous to try to ambush elk that aren't on a pattern...and a pattern I don't know is even worse. I thought of a great analogy. Try hunting grouse. Now let's say you need to see them before they see you. What do you do? Set up near likely feeding areas? Try to just sneak around the woods and see them before they see and smell you? Ya, ridiculous. If I wanted to do this, I'd wait for rifle season and then start THAT whole game again. I did hear a bugle this morning, but for some reason, thought it sounded too melodic to be an elk....plus too far away. [Turns out I found the guy's truck later.]

So I poked around the ridge and made some setups with no avail. By then I was pretty much done, so headed back to camp and busied myself with taking care of everything and packing. Now comes the strange part. All of a sudden (still in full camo) this spike mule deer comes walking into camp! He must have heard the commotion and was curious...he couldn't have been more than two years old judging by his size. But he was right there about 20 yards away staring at me! I had half a thought of shooting him, but actually didn't want to "waste" (I know, terrible choice of words) shooting a very young, stupid, mule deer just because I could. So I let him watch me pack. And he stayed! I tried to scare him off by flapping my arms and yelling at him, and he'd run away, then come back. How could you shoot something like that? I mean really? So curious and naive. Okay, so then I heard some snapping branches and the like away from camp, grabbed the bow, and headed out to meet my elk. Turns out it was a really active squirrel who had no regard for peace and quiet. Funny, I found out when I got home that my house is QUIETER than the woods. Really peculiar to realize that.

Anyways, I took my first pack to the truck...on the way I ran into the spike and two of his young buck friends. One fork horn mule deer wanted to see what I was really bad and he moved to within 20 yards. Easy shots, perfect opportunities. Of course, I was to within 5 yards of the trail and needed him to cross it before it became legal. Again, this ethics/morals thing I keep talking about got in the way. Not to mention I didn't really want to shoot a small mule deer. Mule deer are heavy by nature, and to shoot one that would weigh as much as a whitetail...what's the point? I would like to kill a mule deer with a large body and even small antlers...just for that much more meat per animal. So these three had an interesting time of checking me out. The one curious fork-horn actually got comfortable to shake his whole body and head multiple times (at 20 yards) to remove flies or whatever. They moved to about 40 yards and I decided I was done being on show, and walked to the trail and toward the truck. They never moved. Almost strange. I had been praying for a shot, something to make this whole effort (this weekend) worthwhile, then was given multiple opportunities with these small deer. Hmmm.

So that was the hunt. I shall wait until they really start bugling fierce, then try again. I noticed the amazing LACK of hunters abroad this weekend. With all the gear on sale and the radio ads aimed at bowhunters, I figured there was a virtual silent, invisible army that roamed the woods. Not so. I'm glad I found this side of hunting. It felt a lot like rifle hunting on the weekdays. I found myself thinking, "Is this actually a workday?" It wasn't...it was the second day after the opening of bow season. Fantastic!

I guess now I know that when presented extra time to fulfill my quest, I will pursue what I have in my mind as a trophy. Funny that time will do that. I went for the bigger bulls and will wait for a good opportunity. I had a chance at many buck deer, but will wait for a better opportunity. When I went out I had said, "I'm going to kill the first thing that is within range." Did I just grow up a little? Perhaps the closeness just made me a little more tender. Who knows, who cares. All I know is that I have close to three and a half months of hunting to do, and am looking forward to every bit of it!

Not a transcript...but night one of hunting season

Well, I didn't write last night because it was too dark and I was too hungry by the time I got back to camp. I had headed out to the south of camp, down a ridge, and was planning on meeting up with the meadow at the bottom and follow THAT back up to the wallows. I was worked down the hill in a burned area, hotter than hell in all my gear, and jumped a mule deer buck! What in the world? Why was he out there in the heat? I looked at his bed and he had nestled into the shadow of a large burned log...he could see everywhere from there, but jeez, too hot for me! I continued down the drainage and where this sidehill swamp met the main "swamp" (wet meadow) I noticed that spike from the night before just as he noticed me. This fella was sleeping in one of the only shady, green tree islands, that was around. Exactly why I was moving in it. Well, we did a standoff for awhile and finally he moved up the hill. I backtracked until he couldn't see what I was exactly and moved on.

Obviously, trail creek is all full of meadows and nice lush areas. Too bad most of it is so far from a road. Very pretty and great elk country. I would have liked to see it prior to being burned.

I moved up the meadow and didn't see or hear anything at all. To make a long story short, I thought I got lost. Here it is, nearly dark, the sun a blood red in the sky due to the smoke, and me, not really sure where I was at. I DID end up finding a hill in the distance that I recognized. The only problem was that I realized that hill was about 4 miles from where I wanted to be! CRAP! I'm hot and sweaty already and now I have to hike at least 5 miles to get back to camp? Again, CRAP! So I changed course and walked through some more dead timber toward camp. Finally, I checked my GPS just to see how close I was to the wallow and if I was heading in the right direction at all. I thought I was, by looking at the map, but then again, I didn't think it would have taken me this long in the first place. Sure enough, I was within a half a mile from the wallows and headed in the right direction. I still have somewhat of an internal compass but I'm glad I have the GPS for confirmation. I had been thinking about how much it would suck to spend the night in moist clothes out in the woods. Doable, but sucky nonetheless. Fire restriction my ass! If I start a fire to survive, put my butt in jail! See if I care.

Anywho, I got to the wallows and nothing at ALL had been using them recently. Hmmm, kinda a downer. But I still had about 3 miles to go to camp, so I hoofed it up the hill and made it. Nothing on the ridge at all. I even set up a couple times and heard absolutely nothing.

Transcripts (day one of hunting season)

09/03 1314

I slept really well last night, it was surprising. See, I knew better, but didn't check my headlamp [batteries] until it was dark, and I was already undressed, and in the sleeping bag. Dumb. So I had to quit reading at about 2030. But I fell asleep quickly and actually slept most of the night...killed my plans to get up real early though, since I didn't know here the batteries were and didn't have light to find them. So I simply got up when I could barely see what I was doing, got dressed, and headed out. I did figure out on good thing in the dark though, and that was where my anti-stink spray was. I had my boots in there with me and every once in awhile I'd get a whiff. Woofta! But, this stuff works! I found it blindly and sprayed the boots, and viola! No stink!

So I started on the ridge close to camp this morning. I was making some setups and then realized I was subconsciously going for the bigger bull I saw last night. I decided that was dumb, because the wind had already started at 0630 blowing from the south, directly TO where I figured he was. So I gave up on doing that and was working on making a circle around camp and then over to where I could contour that north slope and see what I could see. On going to the south slope I hear a "thump thump" and hunkered down. About 30 yards away comes this cow and calf. Last night was morals, this morning it's ethics. I decided to not even try. One, I didn't have a shot and two, it was a calf with its momma. I think I'd feel bad.

..Man are you kidding? I have like 10 flies all around me, buzzing landing, buzzing landing. Driving me nuts! They like the way my stuff smells. Once my socks, boots, and stuff dries of sweat, we're doing the baking soda thing.

Okay, so I let the elk pass. I was just crossing the ridge trail when along comes this backpacker. He said he'd been hiking this trail for nine weeks from somewhere in Colorado and was going to be done in Butte, MT. Wow. He said he hadn't seen any elk, but he heard some, "bugling I guess you call it" at an "alpine" lake he was at the other night. Man, I'd wish they'd start here.

As it is, it's like hunting whitetails during rifle season and NOT during the rut. You have to sneak around and try to find THEM. They are moving entirely silent. And this is tougher since I need to be within about 20 yards. I used to think I was good because all my rifle or pistol shots on deer have been under about 100 yards...most between 25 and 70 yards.

Anyways, so I walked down on the north slope, then contoured to the east. I heard a lot of branches and beargrass stalks breaking over a little rise from me. It sounded like something was coming my way! So I found a tiny patch of Christmas trees, nocked an arrow, and hunkered down. Cow calls didn't bring this thing in. After awhile of being frustrated, I went and peaked over the hill. Nothing. So I continued contouring very slowly, maybe it could hear me and mosied out in front of me. Well, I did that for about an hour, then I hear MORE branches breaking...many...quickly. I just dropped where I was out in the open and watched that same cow and calf coming my way! I mean, these things were on a beeline to step on me!

Earlier they passed 30 yards away and directly downwind and didn't spook. Impressive. [Now I know, all my scent-control works if it's within 2 hours from being exposed to my stinky body at least.] Now their tongues were hanging out and they were panting. Something was behind them! Bull? The cow noticed my shape when she was about 10 yards away, but only stopped for a second and then angled to go around me at about 4 yards. Well, the wind was blowing downhill. She got to the 4 yards and just BOLTED down the mountain..the calf in hot pursuit. I had been presented a chance to draw and could have sent an arrow in her, but ethics plus the curiosity of what was behind her got the better of me. I'm glad I waited, because about 50 yards away was a confused 5 point and he was HUGE. Long tines on top and really long impressive eyeguards. If they had kept passing me on the upwind / uphill side, I would've had a bull. As it was, he tried to figure out what spooked the cow and calf by standing there and staring at me for about 15 minutes, then turned to follow them down the hill. [Just think if I would have shot her, I know she would have been in the bottom of that stupid valley before she died...think of THAT pack trip.]

Rather than pursuing them, I moved on and checked out a three-way saddle I had seen on the map. I didn't find anything there except a FAT spruce grouse (I wanted to kill it for dinner, but we can't have fires right now.) [What was I going to do, boil it?] So I let him cluck along his little log. Then something heard me walking and bounded 3 times before it stopped. I thought it was a darn elk it was so big! Nope, just one of the largest mule deer I've ever seen. His antlers stuck out past his EARS what looked like about 8-10 inches on each side [they have about what, 8-inch ears?] and were about 6-8 inches from the tops of his ears. More than all that? Probably. [He was out about 50 yards...length is "relatively relative" at that range.] But since I'm hunting the unit boundary, I could even think about trying, [he was on the wrong side]. Too far away anyways. Oh no, I don't have any problem shooting something on one side of the line, then having it die on the other. If I caught hell for that I would simply ask how to make something fall where I wanted it to...then I'd have the man in a curious conundrum. Again, morals. Crap.

Now it's hot and uncomfortable to be moving around. I'm at camp drying off and relaxing. I at part of an MRE at about 1000, but wanted more, so decided to come back here and have a big meal. So far I haven't blown one of these bulls totally away because none have actually seen or scented ME. They've smelled the camp and probably heard me walking...so I figure, why ruin that by blowing them out of their beds?

My plan is to lay around, eat, and read. I'm going to wait for it to get closer to dusk, then head down to those wallows and see if any thing has been using them. Then I might just sit there until it's dark, or close to it. I almost want to just stay on the ridge and wait. So I'm thinking they use this north slope in the day (it's not burned, much to my surprise) and then head to the meadows in the evening to feed. But if I was an elk, I would use a wallow when I was hot and getting annoyed by flies...like now!

Killing something on the ridge would be handy, but I really don't feel like sitting here all day. Looks like...tomorrow..I'll need to go get more water.

So the only way I've found animals so far is by hearing them walk, squirrels, or by just seeing them first. Not how I imagined elk hunting.

Transcripts (night one)

Yep, the FIRST hunt. Here is what I wrote in my notebook, word for word, no edits, the night prior to hunting season:

09/02 1745
"I left work at 1200 and went home, showered, and made my way to camp. I actually got to the trailhead earlier than I thought I would [explanation comes later]. Holy crap, an elk is right there. As I'm writing this, an elk is coming. Pretty quick I'm going to need to get the bow out for self-defense. This, if I ever actually see it, will be third bull I've seen in about 45 minutes. I was walking down the the trail, planning on watching those wallows tonight and almost spooked a spike about 60 yards away. He had heard me walking down the trail and was jumpy. He fast-walked toward the wallow side. I figure, "Screw this. I don't want to spook a bunch of critters the night before opening day." So I turned around and walked UP the trail and back towards camp. Not 50 yards away was a nice 4 or 5 point. He was staring toward my camp. He finally must have smelled it (amazing it took so long, he was directly downwind) and ambled to the side of the ridge AWAY from the wallows. I just heard [more] commotion down close to where I had circled around to get to camp (so as not to spook the 4 or 5 point). Haven't seen anything there yet, but KNOW it was not a squirrel!

The only thing I can think of is that they heard me trying to hang my food bag earlier. I was thumping and bumping, breaking limbs, trying to get a rope over a high branch. They came to that? Or, am I just in their road to the wallow? Of course, after I set up camp I started poking around and found many fresh rubs around me. Shoot, I HAVE to camp here for safeties sake...the rest of the woods are full of dead trees from that fire. I could get killed by a tree falling on my tent. No thank you. Crap. Two weeks ago I didn't see any fresh sign up here, what's the deal? Now I don' know if I really screwed up, learned something valuable about the pre-rut, or both. Man, there is STILL something over the hill there, the squirrels are going nuts. The sun is setting.

I'll tell you something about moral dilemmas. If I just could get a shot tonight, no one would know I didn't shoot it first thing opening day. Well, I would know. Heck, maybe tomorrow I'll get some chances. Dang morals! Whoops, I think my watch was on T2 instead of T1. I think it is now 1900...which would make sense since the sun is setting...

Now I'm curious as to where I'll start tomorrow. Heck, if I could make it work right here, that'd be perfect. Man that was a pretty bull. Bigger than I'd thought I'd see. Some call those satellites; I call them trophies.
Now I'm paranoid to do anything. To move, breath. I'm still in carharts and a grey t-shirt! I haven't even scent-treated these! And no bugling yet. My Dad thought it might be the case, but I thought I'd hear that tonight. Still time I suppose, but these two simply drifted in silently.
Do you think if a bear was making lotsa noise, they'd come check THAT out?

Good news: cell phone works at truck and at camp.
Bad news: I'm guessing I won't sleep tonight.
Good news: Neither (or none) saw me.
Bad news: I think they all might have got a whiff of me though.

I don't know what to do. Just crawl in the tent, read, and wait until morning? I tied my bow to a tree with a strap and a bungee cord. I don't want mice gnawing on it. The food is hung. And both my packs are hanging from trees as well. I learned a lot about what mice can do on a camping trip we went on over the 4th of July.

The wind was out of the west/south until about 1830. Now very calm. Seems like just up and downslope winds. Being on a ridge, it seems to be having problems deciding where it wants to go. I've seen two mule deer already on both trips in. One doe and one spike. The spike was straight downwind too, but his back was to me and he was looking pretty seriously (ears too) the direction he was facing.
Squirrels going nuts down there again. I don't think that 4 or 5 point went very far.

I don't know what emotion to feel. Excited? yes. Anxious? yes. Nervous? yes. Paranoid? yes. Happy, thrilled, or ecstatic? yes. This place is alive!

Morning before heading out

I was pretty excited this morning to get three comments on my last post. Opening them up, however, showed that blogs are yet another receptacle for spam. I like how these people put "I like your blog" or "good work on your blog, I'm bookmarking it" in their spam to make it seem like they read it. Fantastic. So I learned how to delete comments this morning.

You know, I thought I had more I'd want to say this morning. But after sitting here for a bit staring at my fingers, I can't really come up with anything that is new. Just me going over my plans in my head, trying to imagine where I'll be tonight and the following days, and what it will be like. I had a dream about elk hunting last night, the first in a while. It's strange, you'd think I'd dream about it more, but no. So, in the dream I saw a FANTASTIC bull in what looked like a logged opening with a lot of slash and whatnot still laying around. I moved down the hill through sparse cover too quickly and saw him rounding up his cows. Nothing I could do would stop him, I tried bugling, cow calling, whistling. Nothing doing. He moved out...and it was all because I blundered in there too fast after hearing him bugle. I was thinking about that last night, how it usually takes me a couple times out at the beginning of the season to get my pace right. I usually start off in darn near a sprint and towards the end of the season, I've cut it down to a really slow walk. A little bit of internal tortoise and hare thing going on...and like always, it's the tortoise who kills the deer. Isn't that how the story goes? Hmmm.

My Dad has gotten me pretty worried about yellow jackets. He's seen a lot of them while walking in the woods lately and you know how bees get when there is food to be had. So here I am thinking about how fast I'd be able to cut up an elk. Not a good thing to rush, so I figure I'll just have to deal with them. Long sleeve shirt, trousers, pepper, bug spray...and just try not to get stung. You know yellowjackets release a pheromone when they sting you that "calls" other bees to that area. Then they attack you. So, something to potentially look forward to. Now, if I can just avoid slapping my arm with a knife in my hands...hehe. That one was for you Mom. ;)

There you have it. Just got the cellphone and have decided to leave at 1200. I will return home and shower, get my stuff, double-check that the cat has everything she needs for a couple days, get all the water...and head out. Now, I want everyone to cross their fingers that there is no one already up there when I go because that would just burst my bubble. Biggest fear right now is that.

Oh yeah, so the other night it was 12 degrees in a town close to where I am going. Great, hopefully it's warmer on the hill. Last night was pretty warm in my valley, so it's all across the board and there's really no sense worrying about it. I also learned a neat idea to test wind direction...use your lighter! Something I think you should always have with you anyways...never know when you'll need a fire and/or a signal. It makes perfect sense though, what's lighter than flame? Of course, that could cause problems if the wind is swirly, but if it's swirly, then what are you doing hunting anyways? Trying to make more wary critters?

Last night to pack

So here it is, Thursday night, the night prior to me leaving for my three-day adventure with the elusive wapiti. I am now thinking that I have gone over all my plans and contingencies way too much. I made the dumbest move I have ever made in a couple years last night. I spent from about 1600 to 2030 making a list and checking all my gear, washing all my clothes, organizing...worrying, then shooting my bow one last time. By the time I was done shooting, it was getting dark and I really needed to eat. With all that going through my head, I did it. I LEFT MY BOW OUTSIDE ON THE CANOE. I didn't even realize it until I came home tonight at about 1600. I pulled up and there it was, my brand new bow, sitting in plain view of the road...on the canoe...in the glaring sun. WHAT A MORON. That would have grounded all my plans if someone had been inconsiderate enough to just wander up and take it. Luckily I live in a relatively rural neighborhood, but still.

I've gotten to the point where I've read and done everything I can possibly think of. I desperately just wanted to come home from work all day and pack my stuff. Rethink everything and make it work. Actually, I just want to go....and it's not just to hunt. I'd love to get up there earlier than I'm going to make it tomorrow, just so I have the daylight to get everything situated.

This afternoon has been the afternoon of packing. I managed to find that 5-gallon water cooler in Walmart...then headed to the grocery store to get more pepper, trail mix stuff, and oatmeal. I got home and treated my pack...then of course had to bring it inside to pack. Not sure that's how it should be done, but it was really unavoidable. Now it shall sit packed until tomorrow afternoon. There is only so far I can take all of this. I grabbed a pallet from my recently-departed neighbor's house and put that in the bed of the pickup. I have heard that the bed of your truck can heat up enough by driving to re-warm any meat you have in it. And since it's a two hour drive from here to there, I feel better by having a 4-inch buffer from the bed of the truck and the potential 100's of pounds of meat I may have coming home.

Ugh. The biggest blow to my entire plan came while packing. That Dwight Shuh (sp?) pack I bought is simply not meant for a three day and three night trip into the woods. I had an inclination that would be the case, but kept hoping. So what ended up happening tonight is that I packed my normal backpacking internal frame pack with all my camping gear and more water and will have to make two trips tomorrow evening. Suck. Just the clothes themselves took up much of the bowhunting pack...since I wanted to keep them all together in the baking soda laced trash bag they are in. I seriously don't know how else I could get this done. I have heard of one other person who stashed their camping gear at a predetermined camping spot prior to the season opening and think that might be the only other way. Just short of taking a buddy along. That would cut down on the two trips because you really only need singles of many camping items like tent, stove, pots, etc. Plus it would be much safer...but here I am, dealing with it the only way that is reasonable at this late hour.

The good thing is that I know I have more than enough to make it comfortably. If that's worth an extra 4 miles of hiking, so be it. I have put extra food and water in the truck, as well as additional game bags (heavy canvas-like bags), and other gear that will be easy to grab on a return trip if the need presents itself. I also know that I have everything without having to double check...I know it's all there because I took the time to lay it out last night and do an inventory. Today was simply spent packing the packs. I will have to regroup and repack at the campsite, so am slightly worried about daylight. I will hopefully get up to the trailhead around 1900, so will only have a limited time to make the trips and set up camp. I'm planning on eating on the way up there and have a headlamp...so I'll make the two trips early on, then set up camp probably close to dark with nothing left to do but repack...and that can easily be done in the dark. I mean really, what else am I going to do? I can hike about 3 miles an hour with a 45 pound pack and this trail is on an easy ridge and each pack weighs much less than 45 pounds...so I should be good. Not to mention work will likely be unbearable tomorrow given that I have a deadline I want to meet with the woods, so I most likely will convince myself to cut out a couple hours early.

I'm guessing this is going to be my only large adventure this season...since this is the only three-day weekend I will have...this just isn't feasible to do in two days. However, I suppose when I'm only planning on two nights, then I might have enough room in the smaller bowhunting pack to make it. Plus I will probably learn a lot from this trip about what I need and what I don't. I have learned how to backpack light, but that has taken a couple of trips of varying length, so I figure this too will come.

The important thing to remember here is that I have packed enough stuff in the truck, so in case more days and nights are needed (if I get something down) then I will have it readily available on the mountain. Plus I'm going to take a cellphone to call for assistance if I do get an elk. If that happens, these two folks will be able to pack in some extra water and whatnot if need be. BUT, as it looks now, I have plenty for all for many days. Again, ugh. Definitely a learning experience.

So I'm done thinking about this for tonight. I shall deal with everything tomorrow and give myself an evening to relax and KNOW that I'm well prepared and ready. I figure tonight will be primarily occupied with watching videos and dreaming.

Temperature ranges

I woke up this morning at about 0430 because I was freezing. My windows were all wide open because it was stuffy in there the night before...come to find out this morning when I got in the truck (where my only thermometer is at) that it was 36 degrees! I checked the Remote weather station near my house online and found that the temperature range was 34 degrees to 79 degrees. I then checked one closer to where I am going this weekend and found that it's not quite as drastic...but again, that one is in a valley and I'm going to be on top of a ridge camping. With the lapse rate at what...-3.5 degrees for every 1000 feet you gain in elevation, I can estimate that it'll still be around 33 to 39 degrees early in the morning. Yea, that whole thing about dusting myself early in the morning with baking soda now seems like it'll be a pretty serious undertaking. Shoot, I should just dump some in the sleeping bag and roll around. Wouldn't THAT be funny? Kinda strange too...borderline psycho...but it might be good for my sleeping bag to get deodorized. I'm glad I'm going to take the stove so at least after all that, and changing into cold clothes and boots, that I can eat and drink something hot.

I'm having trouble thinking of where to buy one of those five gallon water coolers...not sure where to get them except at Home Depot and I'm NOT going there this afternoon if I can help it. They have to be available somewhere else. I'm thinking WalMart. Now, if I'd been smart I would've saved gallon milk jugs and just filled a cooler with them. I have one frozen one...man, you know how nice it is to drink really cold water on a hot day? That have been perfect. The only problem comes when you're really thirsty and the ice isn't melting fast enough...frustrating.

I was also looking at predominant wind directions this morning. It's all over the board! Depending on the time of day it goes anywhere from the South to the North. Good thing I paid attention to that while scouting, it seemed (at least in the morning) the major wind direction was from the south. Now I just have to keep track of that and the diurnals and hopefully get in the right place. That's a trick, I have one wallow that has a PERFECT little clump of subalpine fir and whatnot about 20 yards from it. Here's the trick, the wallow is to the south of the clump...a good thing if the wind is blowing from the south. However, the clump is also UPHILL of the wallow, it's slight, but uphill nonetheless...so early in the morning, the downslope breeze might have some strange interactions and swirl. I'm planning on learning quite a bit and have added a small notebook and pen to my gear. I wanted to take notes the last time I was out and ended up jotting things on my map...this will help for developing thoughts and thinking through things.