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!