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.
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.
posted by geotracker12 at 5:42 PM
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