End of Elk Season

Last Tuesday I got a call from Butch. He was headed back into our elk hunting area and was going to hunt it solo until the end of the season. His quote was, "If you have any FS friends in the area, could you have them swing in and see if I'm still alive?" Shoot. That's when I decided I was going to go and meet up with him on Friday afternoon and come out Sunday.

I DID have a fella drive through his camp on Thursday and he came back in with this report, "Well Tom, it looks like he JUST left camp at about 11:00, so he's still alive. I chunked up his fire, felt the coffeepot and then went through his coolers. Looks like he only has a half case of beer, a couple hotdogs, and some leftover potato salad. You need to go to the store. Oh, and it looks like he only has enough wood for another day, take your saw."

Alright.

Well, I got everything loaded up by 12:00 on Friday and was on my way. On the two hour trip up there, I started to notice a lot of ice in the mud puddles. Hmmm, gonna be cold. And sure enough, it was frigid...upper 20s to lower 30s at night and getting up to maybe into the lower 50s in the afternoon. It was supposed to rain Friday night, so we set up a tarp and unfortunately broke the glass on the lantern in the process.

Saturday we were planning on hunting, but Butch's knee was still bugging him and I wasn't very motivated. SO, we went and checked out some new country by driving. Back at camp, bummed around, and called it a night.

Sunday we leisurely packed up camp and both left at 12:00 on the dot. Butch headed down the paved route, and I took the dirt roads. At about two miles from camp a fella came RACING around a corner, coming at me. I didn't have time to even flip him off before I had to put the truck in the ditch...and I saw the sharp rock coming. Nothing I could do about it, and sure enough, about 40 yards down the road there was a loud rattling noise coming from the bed. I moved some stuff around and happened to glance at the passenger side rear tire...flatter than flat! DAMMIT! For the second time this year I was changing a flat tire with 45 miles of dirt road in front of me. Let's just say I was super-cautious coming out so as not to blow another one. I had a FS radio with me, so I had a backup plan, but I really didn't want to make THAT call. Oh, and on the entire way out, I only saw ONE OTHER RIG. Would have been a cold night. But then it started raining after about an hour...so it would've been a cold WET night. And with snow lingering on Leiberg Peak, I figured it was going to snow. All told it took me about 3.5 hours to make a 2 hour trip...but that included going really slow and changing the tire. By the time I got home my quads were sore from just being tensed up for that long.

And I'm not sure I mentioned it last time, but I wanted to get another spare to mount in the bed. Well, I never did that, but it looks like it'll happen now. The only problem is having to go get a flat fixed and buy a new tire and rim...all before the first predicted snow of the year (that's supposed to hit the valleys Thursday.) *sigh* It's going to be BUSY in there and likely take a lot of waiting.

Today is the last day of elk season, so now it's time to switch gears to deer. But I'm pretty excited about that, especially with the snow starting to move in. Ooh, and the regulations changed this year...I have a month to try and shoot either a doe or a buck. I'm pretty confident we'll have some venison this year.

Old Man Camp - 2011

Well, that's what I dubbed it this year instead of the typical "elk camp." This fall really did sneak up on me, and the hunting bug really hadn't taken a hold of me. The weekend prior to the season opener, Sarah said, "Oh, you're going to go hunting all next week aren't you?" SUNUVA!!
I hadn't really gotten anything together, really hadn't planned anything with Butch, and was basically was caught with my pants down. Therefore, I dubbed this year as my "old man camp" with the goal of doing whatever the heck I wanted. If I wanted to get up late and go fishing, I would. If I wanted to go on a hell-hike, I would. And, if I really didn't want to do anything more than pick berries, that would be the plan.

So after a pretty stressful week trying to get myself ready, I was finally packed Saturday morning...headed near Magee to meet up with Butch and his son Matt.

I took the back roads up, so I couldn't use Butch's directions of "1.8 miles past the end of the pavement." Well, I was on the road for about 2 hours before I was close to where I needed to be. AN HOUR LATER, I finally found camp. Turns out I drove by in multiple times, but just couldn't see far enough in the trees to tell if there was a camp there. I guess what they kept saying as I was driving back and forth was, "That's not Tom, that's a white Ford."

With two days before the season opened, our only agenda was to get camp in order and put up some firewood.


Camp


Look at the marvels of unorganized clutter


It was actually a really comfortable camp



See? You basically need to be in the camp to see it.




Wow

There WAS a dead lodgepole right in camp that I decided needed to come down for safety reasons....plus, it was ready-made firewood IN camp. We shuffled some rigs around and I was able to not crush the trailer. Getting it out of the regen and dealing with it was a pain in the butt, but we made it work. That wood was just a little too wet (the tree had red needles on it, but hadn't checked yet) so we had Matt cut down his first tree and we drug that back to camp with the truck.

The first day of hunting season we all hit the woods. I managed to get into the only elk I saw the whole trip within a couple hours. I was sitting there in this ridgy little Hemlock stand when I heard a big stick break, and close to me! The first thing I saw was a huge paddle, so calmed right down and thought I was going to have another moose encounter. That's when the paddle turned into a cow elk, who looked like she was looking for me. I had her dead to rights, but cow season didn't open for another five days! The raspy bull over the hill kept calling at her, and she either winded me or just went back to the bull, because she disappeared just as soon as she showed up.

The weather was basically just low clouds and fog, drizzly rain, and cold for the rest of the week. The hikes were all pretty productive, but it sure was a relief to be done at the end of the day. We had been crossing the creek and going up a less-pressured hill, on the return, rather than sidehill to my waders...I just started crossing the creek. The brand new waterproof boots I had bought were pretty good, as long as I didn't get into water over the tops of them. We all ran into deer, we all got close to that bull, and we all walked our butts off.

I came in early one day and started my mission of getting elderberries to try and make elderberry wine. I felt pretty sheepish picking berries though, so it was always a hustle to get the bunches of berries off the bush and into my bucket before anyone would drive by. Overall, I got three gallons by the end of the trip!


Processed elderberries



Kinda look like huckleberries...



Tom trying to be creative with the camera

Wow, I thought it was going to be a lot easier to write this post. We had all sorts of funny little quotes and whatnot going, but now, trying to incorporate them into a story....they don't seem that funny. The "white ford" was standard and we actually heard on my FS radio that there was a white ford, out of gas, with a flat. That got a good chuckle at the time. Now? meh
There was a fella on the radio whose last name sounded like "chowder" so that became pretty funny. *sigh* this isn't working is it?

Let's just move on. So there I was one day, humping up the hill. When I stopped to listen, I still had my rifle on my shoulder and was doing my GQ lean on a tree....that's when a doe stepped out from around a bush at 10 yards! I totally caught her off guard, and she stopped and just eyeballed me. I couldn't do anything, so I tried to scare her away by blinking. That didn't work, and she was bobbing her head around, so I bobbed my head back at her. Nada. Finally, I decided to wave at her, and when I did THAT she was gone in a second. Pretty neat little encounter.

Speaking of deer, we were all sitting in camp one night when Butch looked down the road and said, "Huh. Look. A doe." We watched this doe walk past our camp at about 40 yards with two yearlings...then another doe followed the three of them. That's when we mentioned that Matt might want to go get his rifle, never know if there's a buck following them. Alas, that was the last deer we saw walk through camp. The next morning Matt was checking the regs when he said, "Am I reading this wrong?" We all took a look and found out that whitetail doe was legal in that unit! After spending a chunk of change on an out-of-state deer tag, Matt could have filled his tag in camp! Lesson learned. However, the next morning someone shot one of those does down the road from our camp. We know this because Butch saw them drive it down to near our camp, pull it down to the creek and wash it, load it up, and leave. Bizarre.

Well, come Thursday I got even sicker than I had been already. Just like last year, I had been fighting a sinus infection for a couple weeks. The strenuous walking and rain probably didn't help as I just felt like poo. I think Matt was the only one who didn't come down with any ailments or injuries...because the first day out, Butch had taken a fall. It wasn't an ordinary fall, as his foot got pinned on one side of a tree and his body tried to go the other. It basically almost broke his knee sideways!

But we kept hitting it as best we could. I hiked down the old 407 trail one day and just HAD to stop and take a photo of this spot. Very indicative of what the country was like.


Like hunting on the coast!




My pack and rifle for a little perspective.

So there we are on the last day of the camp. Matt and I decided on a game plan and decided to hit it hard. I went a mile up the bottom of Plant creek looking for a supposed cave (thanks a lot Matt) that turned out to be just a shelf of rock. Well, at that point, I didn't think I was TOO far from the 407 trail which was on top of the ridge. So, I just started humping up the hill. This is what I walked through for two hours before reaching the top! Sorry they're blurry, I was having a heck of a time with exposure.


Yep, visibility is a good....oh...30 yards?



Yep



Believe it or not, there was a LOT of sign in there. Elk are crazy.

Well, after I finally topped the ridge, I started booking it down the hill. I was DONE IN and had 3 more miles to go. So I bopped along until I heard a bull bugle at me and he was CLOSE! I tried cow calling to get him to come in, and even took the safety off the rifle. I thought for sure I was going to succeed! And just like that, the wind did a 180 and he blew off down the hill. It was a neat experience, but then I figured all the elk were out of the country, so I just took off again. About 60 yards down the hill, there was another bout of loud crashing. I had spooked the cows! DANGIT! I half-assed tried to follow them, but again, I was beat and it was getting late. But, I started sneaking, thinking there might be another critter in there. After a while of that, I stopped sneaking, and just like that something else blew off the hill!

At that point, I just started beelining toward the creek. After another HOUR, I came out about 1/2 mile above camp. Rather than going back to get my waders, I just ran across the creek.

Then I walked back down to where the waders were, crossed the creek and got WET. Got the waders and brought them back across. I figured Matt was in camp already, so I grabbed the other pair.

Oh, I almost forgot about this photo! I had left Butch a note a couple days prior when I had decided to come down the 407. I came out a mile and half from camp and didn't want those guys to come looking for me. So I wrote in a mud puddle next to where we parked the ATVs.


Worked like a charm



Hard to miss!

Well, by the time I got back into camp, I found Matt was still on the hill. An hour later...about 1700...we got a radio call from him. He couldn't find the waders that I promised him would be across the creek! Whoops. Luckily he had some trash bags and just improvised some waders using them.

Thus ended our trip. The next day we packed up and I hauled the ATVs back to town on the dirt roads. Matt was in the lead with a radio so he could tell me when traffic was coming. Butch took the camper down the interstate way home. Two hours later, we all met up back at Butch's and said our goodbyes.

So overall, I think I accomplished my task of having a lazy Old Man camp! I hiked around, I was in game, I fished, and I picked berries. Plus, I now have a good idea of that country and I'm confident that I can get into elk next year.

Oh, and after fighting a sinus infection for yet another month, I went in and got antibiotics yesterday.

I know, not much of a post, but, it's pretty much as disjointed as camp was this year!

Retirement

I have recently experienced one of the toughest retirement parties I’ve ever been to. There were people crying and laughing, serious moments and lighthearted moments, and then there was the internal dialogue you could see written on everyone’s face. It was easy to pick out the more sensitive folks in the bunch, as their eyes darted between the man of the hour and the floor. Red eyes were not uncommon, nor the shiny glint from excess moisture…and they exuded a look of stunned realization.

The man in question is Bob Rehnborg, someone I had the privilege of working with for the past five (of my six) years at the Coeur d’Alene River Ranger District. He started me out working with him as the person responsible for maintaining the tally sheet when cruising timber. That rapidly grew into increasing responsibility by me attending timber cruising school and then getting the opportunity to have a professional mentor at my disposal. I learned more useful, practical knowledge of forestry by being around Bob in the woods than I remember learning in college. His mind was never still and with his retirement date rapidly approaching, you could tell he was trying to cram as much teaching into each day as he could. It was mind-boggling to say the least, and at one point, I couldn’t even think straight because I was trying to process everything he was sharing with me and apply it at the same time.

Bob had an interesting teaching style that he utilized doing everything from managing the creation of maps, to driving to or from the worksite, to actually performing the job at hand. He was gentle and helpful when you were first learning…never raising his voice, never being derogatory, and always asking your opinion. Or, if he didn’t necessarily agree with what you were doing, he’d simply ask you WHY you did it that way. If you could convey your intentions so that it was logical and practical, he might let you go with it. “Forestry is as much an art as a science” is so very, very true and Bob was excellent at fostering that idea. However, if he felt like he’d coached you enough and you continued to get it wrong, he wasn’t bashful pointing out to you that you need to get it, and get it soon. Stern is the word that best describes it, and the interesting thing was that no one wanted to let him down, so when he became stern…people listened. I’m still not sure how he was able to mold everyone’s attitude like that, but it was a lot like the command presence many of our law enforcement and soldiers possess.

He led by example, and never wilted in the face of hot temperatures, thick brush, steep hillsides, or bees. It seemed to simply not bother him. There was work to be done, we were there, let’s do the work…that’s all there was to it. Bob was definitely not a fair weather forester as I’ve worked with him from 100 degree temperatures to sleet-snow-rain-fog, and sometimes even pushing the envelope of daylight. And again, nobody ever wanted to let Bob down, so there we all were, learning how to just get it done. Luckily I managed to not indulge in a pastime of his, working for free….on nights and weekends. But it almost made a guy feel guilty, knowing Bob was still at it, while all I wanted to do was go home and rest…and he’s almost twice my age!

In our last couple of years working together, he and I developed a certain knowledge of each other that only comes from spending a lot of time together. It started light enough, both of us figuring out the boundaries (or lack thereof) of one another. We found that we were cut from similar molds and had similar ideas about a variety of subjects. But we also had enough difference so that we could share experiences and have some pretty darn good conversations. From there, our morning drives to the woods could be about anything from work, to life and death, to marriage, and other pretty existential subjects. For example, we had a discussion about if a head could live after being decapitated…all on our way to check out a potential harvest unit. And Bob even picked up on MY sensitive side, and actually told me he wasn’t going to share some experiences he had, just so I wouldn’t dwell on it and stress out.

So it disturbed me that I was feeling sad at his retirement party. Wasn’t I supposed to be happy for the guy? Why was I being so selfish all of a sudden? Shoot, I had a mind full of happy things to talk to him about, but when I finally got to where I could shake his hand and basically say goodbye, all I could manage was, “This sucks. Stay in touch.” I had to quickly turn my back on this man who led a full career in the Forest Service so I wouldn’t break into tears. So, per my routine, I went on a drive to try and figure out what was going on in my head. I thought about it and alternated between being sad and being happy for about 30 minutes when it finally occurred to me!

Who in your life was a calm and understanding teacher who gave you knowledge that you still use to this day? Who had small habits that now you find yourself doing? Who took you out and showed you their world, let you into their mind, and tried to instill a little education on you? Who was happy, but stern, who you didn’t ever want to let down? Who led by example and demonstrated things that made you want to be just like them…but in your own way? Then, who was there to see you off…after doing their part in training you, as you embarked on the next aspect of your life without their constant guidance? If you aren’t thinking of your Mom or Dad, or a very close mentor…I’m not sure if any of this makes sense. But it became crystal clear to me. Over the course of five years, Bob had become my mentor and my friend. It was hard to see him leave because I think I was scared, much like shaking my Dad’s hand and hugging my Mom when my folks dropped me off at college. After some more thinking, I realized I started thinking about this at the retirement party. I desperately wanted to stand up and thank all the people that trained Bob to be who he was, because he passed the torch to many of us as well. Unfortunately I couldn’t, as I was having trouble composing myself, but I’m better at writing my thoughts anyways.

Overall, it’s life without them. It’s like starting a new chapter in your life using all the wisdom they tried to pound into your head, and passing that on to others. So of course it’s hard, of course it’s emotional, and of course the emotions vary from ecstatic to sorrowful. It’s exciting to be on your own and plan your new future, but letting go is always a tough thing to do. Much like Bob, I need things to make sense in my head…good or bad. I just need the comfort it provides. Once I had that thought in my head, I became much more comfortable and calmed down quite a bit. This is simply the next step in my journey, I’ve done it before, and I can do it again.

And to this day, I still don’t want to let any of them down, and I can easily promise that I won’t.

With that, farewell Bob, enjoy your retirement. See what else life has to offer and be sure to drop us a line once in awhile to fill us in. We all love you and wish you the very best.

What happened?

September is gone already!? What in the WORLD is going on with this year? Shoot, just the other day Sarah had to remind me that I'm leaving THIS WEEKEND for hunting camp!!

First, let's look at some photos.


Lucca kisses


Spread the love!



Awwww


Sweetiepies



The wedding party



Huh...a happy photo of Tom?



Flippin' gorgeous


Be cool Tom, be cool

Well, that's just a random smattering of the photos we got back. We're still in the process of going through them all to figure out which to put in an album...harder than one would think!

As I can't remember really where September went, I guess I'll just sum it up. Busy. I spent some weekends getting firewood and finally have that split and stacked...AND covered, just in time for the rain.

Rod showed me how to fish for bass so I've been a fixture on the Spokane river in my canoe...paddling around trying to catch fish. I'm usually successful, but obviously certain days are better than others. AND, I got spoiled by his fish finder, so last weekend I picked up a "Fishin' Buddy" which is basically a fish finder you can mount to anything...docks, boats, ice, float tubes, etc. Pretty awesome. So I had to go out test it out this weekend. I caught fish both days but got incredibly frustrated with people. It's hard enough keeping the canoe at a good fishing spot in the wind and current...but add wakes from all the boats and it's almost impossible.

*sigh*

I've got more going on outside of work than in it. Hard to stay motivated.

This is a crappy post. I'll try harder in the future.