By: Bears Butt

NewspaperRockCloseUp

Have you ever had the desire to have your name in some sort of record book?  I’m certain that this rock wall of ancient drawings is just that.  Stories of what someone did that was so memorable they wanted to make sure others that followed would know just how great a feat they had accomplished.  Look at the number of people who are standing up, with their arms outstretched while riding on horses or other things.  The guy in the lower center looks like he is riding a turtle, at least that’s my interpretation.  How about the six toes guy!  A record for sure.

Anyway, I’ve been thinking about what kind of record someone could pull off that is NOT in the Guinness record book, YET!  This writing could just inspire someone to pull it off and get their name in there.

I looked up the Guinness site and queried “Eggs” and there are 21 total records involving eggs, only two records showed up in my query when I looked up “Eggs Cracked”:  “The most eggs cracked in one minute with one hand”  and “The most eggs cracked in one hour with one hand”.  Both records would be feats mostly obtained by short order cooks, like Dry Dog, Edjukateer and Brian Nichols, to name the three I know who have that on their resume’s.

Why did I want to look up “eggs cracked”, well here is my idea.  How many eggs can you crack, using ONE egg to do the cracking?  No one has attempted that record and so, if you were able to crack just one egg, using another egg to do it with, you would be the record holder.  And if you could crack two eggs, before the one you are using cracked, you would have doubled the previous record!

In order to understand what I’m saying, you must think about this the next time you are making yourself breakfast.  You take one egg in your left hand, and a second egg in your right hand.  You must say at this point which egg in which hand is going to be the one doing the cracking.  Once you commit to that, then the other egg becomes the one you want to crack when you smack the two together.  It is a very rare occurrence that both eggs crack at the same time, unless you’re a “Gorilla Fingers” sort of person.

So, in my mind, I see maybe 50 people all standing around a huge table or series of tables, all of them having at least a dozen eggs in front of them.  For simplicity, let’s call these people “Record Crackers”.  Since this is not a timed event, you would also have to have a judge or several judges in attendance, “Judges”,  who’s job it is to One: insure the one egg, “Crackie”, did in fact crack , while Two: insure the egg doing the cracking,  “Crackor”, did in fact NOT crack and to Three: record the number of “Crackies”!

As the number of  “Record Crackers” gets eliminated because their last “Crackor” cracked before the the “Crackie” cracked, they would step away from the tables and not be a part of the record for the book.  I suppose  a tie could be the end result, and not thoroughly studying the record book, I assume that all “Record Crackers” in a tie would get their names into the book.

The record book does make sure that you have to have all the rules clearly defined before the event.  So, rules like, “Record Crackers” can use the “Crackor” to hit the “Crackie” as many times as it takes to finally crack the shell of the “Crackie”.  (On a down side, each time you hit an egg against another egg the chance of cracking your Crackor increases as well as the chances of cracking the shell of the Crackie, just saying). But that after each hit of the Crackor against the Crackie, an inspection has to take place.  Judges will have to be given explicit instructions as to what to look for and what defines a “crack”.

So, this event could be a really fun one, with the end result not only ending with a record for the book, but also a great meal prepared for the Record Crackers and everyone else in attendance.  Or, the scrambled eggs could be sent to a homeless shelter or old folks home.

Sponsors from the local community could be easily obtained, as a video of the event would no doubt be a big part of it, as well as local television and radio personalities being on site to witness it and report on it.  If I was an egg producing company (Rogers), or a local store (Smiths) I sure would want my name out in front of everyone.

Great idea, huh?  Let’s get Crackin!

Bears Butt

November 30, 2013

Written on November 30th, 2013 , Uncategorized
By: Bears Butt

FirstNightFire

I’ve been busy all day with grinding elk meat and making burger out of it and my thoughts have been about “what if’s”….And then it dawned on my that last year at this very time we were standing around a campfire, much like the one I have posted here, only with No Grimace and Baby Boy in the Crawfords!  YES!  We were there to enjoy another in a series of Crawford hunts!  The one for the big bucks!

BabyBoysBigBuck3

But not so this year.

The year before last, we were there to assist Dry Dog in getting his big buck off the Crawford mountain!  And with a bit of luck and some expert shooting that did in fact happen!

DryDogsBigBuck

And the year before that!  The famous “Chosen Ones Hunt” of 2010!  5 for 5!

5for5

And so with this being like, year 4 of several way cool hunts, it’s no wonder I feel sort of lost right now.  After all, right now is when the chosen Crawford team of 13 or so hunters are there enjoying their hunt of a lifetime!

I can’t complain, what with getting a bull elk of a lifetime a week or so ago, and a cow elk hunt coming up in 3 days…what could be better?

What will next year bring?

Whatever it brings, remember folks, you don’t get the tag by not applying in the upcoming months.  Keep an eye on this site for the announcements! This year, 2014 is going to be a great one and I say that because some of my Grandkids are going to be hunting big game for the first time in their lives and I’m gonna be there to make sure they have the time of their lives!

Bears Butt

November 29, 2013

Written on November 29th, 2013 , Hunting/Fishing/Trapping Stories
By: Bears Butt

I just have to share with you this recipe I just made up.  This is only my second attempt at this and am sure there are a lot of things that could be done differently to make it even better, but this didn’t turn out too bad.

3 pounds of ground venison (I’m sure Elk, antelope or any other wild game would work as well)

3 pounds of ground pork (88/12%)

2 TBL Mortons Tenderquick Salt

3 TBL Liquid Smoke

1/2 cup Maple Flavored Pancake Syrup

1 1/2 cups water

Mix very well!  It turns into a very sticky mess of meat, but trust me it will be worth the effort.  When you think it’s mixed well enough…well…mix it some more.

Put the whole batch into a wax paper lined pan 13X9X2 and press it down good to get out the air bubbles, cover with a Saran Wrap plastic and put it in the fridge for 24 hours (this lets the nitrites in the salt kill all the bugs in the meat).

After the 24 hours, dump the mix out onto a smoker wire rack and put in the smoker at 140 degrees for 3 hours.  This will dry out the mix pretty good and get it ready for smoke.

Add a handful of wood chips to the smoke pan and smoke at 155 degrees for 2 hours.  Don’t add any more chips than the handful, a little smoke goes a long ways.

Increase the smoker temp to 180 and let go for 2 more hours or until the internal temp of the meat mix reaches 155 degrees.  Now take it out of the smoker and put it in the fridge to cool.

When cool, slice it up in bacon thick pieces for frying.  Fry like any other meat.  You are going to love this stuff!

Bears Butt

November 28, 2013 (Happy Thanksgiving)!!!!

I’m adding this message to help you make perhaps a better recipe.

The above recipe produced a very dry bacon, with very little flavor.  So for my next batch, I increased the amount of Maple Syrup to one full cup, everything else remained the same.  The outcome was a very dry bacon that was too sweet for this guys fancy.  I decided at that point I needed to add more fat to the mix.

After a couple of weeks, I went to the store and bought a two pound package of suite.  Suite is plain old ground up fat, either from beef or pork.  The butcher told me my suite was mostly pork, but he added a bit of beef fat to it and that it would not make any difference to my recipe…we will see.

So, I want a 80/20 mix of meat in my final mix to make my bacon from.

I have 3 pounds of 88/12 ground pork and am adding 3 pounds of 100% ground venison…no fat…I did a quick calculation and came up with 14 ounces of suite should be added to my mix to give me the 80/20 I desire…so, again in my mind, why not just make it an even 16 ounces and be done with it…so that is what I did.

Thinking back to the previous recipes (batches of bacon), batch one was a bit salty for both me and Sherry, and so I backed off from 3 TBL to 2 TBL of the Mortons Tender Quick salt.  Because I want this batch (number 4) to taste a bit more salty, I increased the amount of salt back to 3 TBL.  WHY?  Because of the suite I’m adding.  I think it will absorb some of the saltiness and will disperse when cooked…just my way of thinking.

I also took out all of the maple syrup.  For me, it makes sense to take it out as a half cup didn’t add anything to the final result (my taste buds could not taste it), while a full cup was over the top for both Sherry and me.  So, for now…take it out!

Of course it has sat in the cooler for 24 hours and is now in the drying stage of the smoker.  Two hours at 160 today, as it is cold outside and then I’ll add some apple chips for smoke and increase the temp to 170 for a couple of hours and then will probably have to increase it to 180 until the internal temp reaches the 160 degree mark.

I will add the results of this batch 4 tomorrow when I have had a chance to taste test it!  How close do you think I am to a good recipe for venison bacon?

Bears Butt

December 22, 2013

 

Written on November 28th, 2013 , Recipes
By: Bears Butt

OraBoreallisFire

So, is hunting at an end in Bears Butt’s life for the rest of this year?  Hardly!

Before getting the chance to “turn down” the San Juan elk tag, Weasel and I had put in for a cow elk tag for the Deseret Land and Livestock CWMU area and of course with Butt Luck on our side….we drew out!

You have read about how we had to qualify to be able to hunt on their ranch etc. and coming soon is our scheduled date to hunt for our cows.

December 3 is our first outing.

We have sent them all the necessary waivers, our qualification papers and have been in contact with the “man”, via email and are now waiting for the word on what time of day they want us there.  We look at it more as a “shoot” than a “hunt”…at least that is what I’m hoping for…drive in…take one shot each and come home with two big old cow elk.  That works for me!

If this comes to be, I will see my freezer full of more meat than I have ever seen it!

Muskrat…the Un-turkey shoot chili is on me next year!

Bears Butt

November 24, 2013

Written on November 24th, 2013 , Hunting/Fishing/Trapping Stories
By: Bears Butt

BrilliantSunsetOverCathedralButte

Thanksgiving is just around the corner, actually it’s going to happen this coming Thursday!  I love Thanksgiving and I especially love Oyster dressing!  I know it sounds terrible to mix a fishy little thing like an Oyster in with a turkey, but it’s the best!

So, how do you make it?

I’ll tell you this is the simplest dressing recipe in the world!  You need to mix it up the night before you are going to cook the turkey.

I like to buy the little bottles of Oysters and you usually only get 4 out of a bottle.  So, for me I like to put 4 bottles of oysters in my dressing.  When you open the bottles, save the liquid by pouring it into a cup.  Then finish dumping the oysters out.  Make sure you handle each one under running water, feeling to make sure the processor people didn’t leave some of the oyster shells attached to the oysters.  That will ruin your dressing for sure.

Now cut up the little buggers into small pieces.  I use a cutting board and try not to make a really big mess.

In a pretty good sized bowl, I will dump in two boxes of Mrs. Cubbisons seasoned and dried bread crumbs.  You don’t have to use the seasoned ones if you don’t have them.  But about 10 cups of the bread crumbs is what you are after.

Take a quarter pound stick of margarine or butter and heat it till it’s melted.

Pour the melted butter evenly over the bread crumbs.  Then get your hands into the mix and toss the crumbs around in the bowl to spread out the butter flavoring.  Try to keep most of the crumbs inside the bowl.

Now rinse your hands off and dice up a nice sized yellow onion.  Put that in with the buttery crumbs.

Then take 4 large celery sticks and dice them up pretty fine and add them to the crumbs and onions.

Now put in the oyster pieces, add the juice you saved when you opened the bottles and one cup of water.  Now get your hands into the mix again and make sure everything is mixed up really good.

OK!  Now cover the bowl with some plastic sheeting and put it in the fridge.  If your fridge doesn’t have room for a big old bowl of stuffing, then put the mix into smaller plastic bags and put them in the fridge.  There is always a way!

In the morning, you are going to stuff the turkey with this mix and put the bird in the oven to cook.

What happens is, over night the good flavors of all the stuff you just mixed up will gather and have a big old party in the fridge.  The party goes on all night long and the crumbs and other stuff gets all flavored up, the crumbs take on the onions and the onions take on the celery and everything takes on the oysters and butter.

Then after you stuff the bird crammed full and press as much into the birds’ cavity as you can (more can be put in the neck flap too) and the bird is beginning to cook.  The birds juices flow into the dressing and really adds to the already good flavors and moistens up the dressing even more than it was when you put it into the bird.  The turkey flavors and the oyster flavors trade places to some extent making the whole meal a taste bud treat that just can’t be beat!

I don’t like to add salt or pepper…and I don’t think you should either.  Let your guests do that to meet their individual tastes.

How much simpler can it get?  It can’t!

Enjoy and Happy Thanksgiving!

Bears Butt

November 2013

 

Written on November 23rd, 2013 , Recipes
By: Bears Butt

ButtWeaselTrackerWithBull

No story would be complete without the “complete” rest of the story!  Right?

So, the big boy is finally on the ground and safe to be around.  Well, as safe as the guys moving around it that is.  Think about the guy that almost died when he slipped and fell on his elk’s antlers earlier this season.  In our turn I think we each backed into this guys rack at least once.

With this guy down, we new we had to get him processed as quickly as we could in order to save the meat, after all that was why we were here.  We had discussed with Night Fisher how he and his dad and brothers processed their elk once they were down and he said that most often they would do it “the gutless method”.  That is, they would skin back the hide and take the meat off the bones without opening up the belly and removing the guts first.  So, that is how we were going to do this elk.

I had watched several videos over the last three months and saw exactly how it was done in them.  I was very confident to be able to do it for real right now.  I had also watched videos on how to cape a big bull while it was laying on the ground as well.  So, not only are we going to take off the hide, we are going to take all the meat too.  Including the tenderloins and the liver.

BigOldBull

Here is the big animal.  How much does it weigh?  Heaven only knows, but I’m guessing 800 pounds.  That is a lot of hide, meat and bones right there.  What are we going to need to get all the meat off the bones?

TarpAndThingsNeededForProcessingElk

I have brought four, very sharp knives for this project.  Tracker and Weasel both have knives as well.  Tracker has brought out a roll of paper towels and I have my hydration pack for drinks.  We also have several cloth bags in which we can put the meat for packing it out….or….in this case we can put the meat right into the cooler.  I mean, after all, how far do you usually shoot a big old bull elk from a road?

HowFarFromTheTruck

My first cut of the hide is from the mid point of his back, right behind the shoulder and down toward its belly.  And then from that same mid point on the back, down to its rear end.  Continuing that cut around his butt and down the inside of the up side rear leg.

Skinning the lower portion of the elk first will allow Weasel to begin taking off meat from the hind quarters, while I skin the cape.  My cape cuts will be from that same mid point on the back, up to the base of the skull and then an angle cut from a point at mid chest over to the back of the up side front leg and then down the backside of that leg to below the knee.

HalfTheHideSkinnedOff

I was too busy cutting meat to take a picture of the front half of the animal skinned back, but you get the idea.  In the picture above, Weasel can begin taking big chunks of meat off the bones.  Our goal here is to take all the meat we can and leave very little for the crows and coyotes.

WeaselCuttingOutBackstraps

Weasel is doing a great job of removing the back straps from this animal.  Next would be a “careful” cut just behind the last rib and down toward the rear of the animal, being very careful not to puncture the insides.  And then reaching in and cutting out the tenderloins.  When this is all done and everyone is happy about the removal of all the meat from this side, the animal is flipped over and the whole process is repeated on the other side.

When we were done this is what it looked like after we re-constructed where the parts used to belong.

LeftVeryLittleMeat

We ended up with a very large cooler full of meat and a smaller one full as well.

TwoFullCoolersAndaBucketOfLiver

The little red lid bucket holds the liver.  In order to get to the liver, we actually ended up opening up the gut cavity and pulling the skeleton away from them.  We managed to cleanly cut away the tenderloins this way as well.  Why?  Well, because by the time we got all the meat off the bones, the animals stomach had swollen so big, it was almost scary to think about the possibility of puncturing them.  Actually, I tried to carefully do that and got a face full of ugly stinky stuff, nuff said.

It took two of us to handle each of the coolers, with the larger of the two being quite a task.

TakingABreakFromPackingItOut

PackingItOut

AlmostPackedToTruck

It took the three of us to get that cooler lifted and put into the back of the truck.  I figure about 200 pounds of meat in that cooler.

The other cooler was much smaller and weighed in the neighborhood of 100 pounds.

I have to commend the men and women who like to hunt 5 miles away from any road and insist on backpacking their elk meat back to camp or the vehicle.  20 yards was enough for us old guys.  Besides, the beer was very cold in the back of the truck.

ButtAndCape

LoadedForTheRideBackToCamp

On the way back to camp, Tracker had to make sure he had some special effects video’s and we did not mind at all.  We had the rest of the day to goof off and didn’t have to go to town for re-supplies….YAAAAAAA!!!!

TrackerGettingSpecialEffects

But, Weasel and I were getting worried that maybe 42 beers would not be enough for this party that was going on!

Back at camp we unloaded all the meat and put it in the shade of a nice big cedar.  Opened up another drink and toasted “Bull Down”!!!!  And then I opened up the 30 pack of Keystone and what to my surprise…one of their special orange beer cans…the prize sought throughout the land!

KeystoneFindTheCanContest

That just added a little more party to the party!

Better clean off some of this dried blood.

WashingUpBackAtCamp

Then we had to get some more special effects going on.  So we loaded the head and hide onto Trackers pack frame and I hauled it around the camp.

GettingThePackWithHeadOn

PackingItOutOnMyBack

GoodThingI'mTall

What a fun ending to a perfect hunt!  But wait it’s not over…the sun is still up!

HeadAndCapeInEveningSun

BeaverSharnsAndAntlers

And for supper…what better than to clean out the fridge and have whatever is in there, along with some good old fresh elk steaks!

TrackerCookingElkSteaks

ElkSteaksHashbrownsGarlicBread

Elk steaks, hash browns and garlic toast!  I have to say, “IT JUST DOESN’T GET ANY BETTER THAN THAT”!!!!

Good job guys!  And THANKS AGAIN!

GoodJobGuys

Bears Butt

November 22, 2013

TrackerButtWeaselWithTheBigOne2

We came home Friday, Nov. 15, 2013, without incident.  Left camp at 7:30 a.m. and were home in Willard at 4 p.m.

The End of my Elk Dream Hunt!

 

Written on November 22nd, 2013 , DREAM HUNTS
By: Bears Butt

BearWithAntlersModified

As has happened every morning for a full week, the alarm clock goes off directly as it is set to do.  The coffee is tasting good, as usual, and I for one am getting anxious for a good hot shower.  Today we have to go to town and restock on supplies and none of us are looking forward to that.  Maybe while we are in town we should look for a truck stop that offers showers…sounds good to me.

I am sitting there drinking my coffee and thinking about the hunt as it has played out so far and wishing I could go back to last Saturday and refine my aim.  But that isn’t going to happen.  My mind races to all the preparation for this hunt and what one of my mentors said to me:  It’s a tough hunt, both physically and mentally so prepare yourself for both of those things (Thanks Blanding Boy).

Physically I’m in pretty good shape.  I worked hard at that for over three months.  Mentally?  Well, I thought I had prepared well for that and my attitude has been pretty positive so far.  Even right now I feel pretty UP, but with a trip to town on the horizon, I’m not ready for that, but if we are going to stay any longer, we have to go in for some beer at least.  I have a 12 pack left and Weasel has a 30 pack.  I suppose we could make it a couple more days with 42 beers, but no food.  Beer is the all food drink, but some food would be good.  Besides Tracker needs some Whiskey too.  We have to go to town, there are no two ways about it.

I remember in one of my stories leading up to this trip that I could hardly wait to get up into the San Juan Mountains and look up at the stars…200 billion and six, or something like that, is what I said.  And right now would be a good time to go out and see if my camera can take a picture of the early morning night sky.

OrionsBeltAndPartOfTaurus

It’s pretty hard to see what with the dust specs and all, but you can see Orions belt and that means Taurus is in there somewhere too.  Taurus is the Bull (elk in my case) and looking around I think I could count 200 billion and six stars.  The sky is clear and bright and visibility is way past as far as you can see.  It’s going to be a beautiful day.  No wind at all.

So, what is the plan?  Well, I want to be up near where we saw the two bulls yesterday morning.  They might be out in the clearing and working their way toward where we saw them climbing the mountain.  If we can catch them near the road I might have a chance.  You never know.  Then Tracker reminded me that where we saw them yesterday was Not Hammer Camp, but rather Sleigh Camp.  It was one road down from Hammer Camp, closer to our camp.

I don’t know how he keeps all of this straight as I had it in my head that we had gone all the way to the end of the mesa and then up to the end of a side road and that it was Hammer camp, the place I found a miners hammer.  But he said no, we went up a side road that ended with a stump of a tree that looked like something Santa Claus would ride and had me sit on it and pretend to be whipping the crap out of Rudolph.  He is exactly right.

Well, there is where I want to be this morning at first light and that means we have to leave camp about a half hour before light.

That being said, we all put a bit of a hustle on to get ready.  We managed to leave right on time and bounced up the road in the dark of an early morning day.  The sky getting brighter every second.

As we approached the Sleigh road that branched off the main one, Weasel went past it.  I had him stop and back up and pull over to the side so others could get by if anyone came along.  We had not seen nor heard another vehicle for two days, but you never know.

We got out of the truck and carefully closed the doors without slamming them.  I put a shell in the chamber (as a good muzzleloader man would say, I put a suppository up the rear of the gun) and slung the rifle over my shoulder.  It was a beautiful morning unfolding before us and with the sun going to be at our backs any elk that might be up on the hill above would have the sun it its face.  Tracker was ready with his equipment and Weasel with his binoculars.  We already knew we had to go slow, quiet, and glass everywhere. We didn’t want to get busted like we did yesterday or the day before or whenever it was that that happened.  We hadn’t gone even 100 yards up the dirt road when Weasel excitedly whispered “DAD…ELK OVER HERE”!!!!  I looked to my right and quickly saw three elk on the hillside about 500 yards or so out.  My binoculars verified all three were bulls.  How big?  Who cares!  They are bulls and now is my chance to drop one!  But not at that range.  We have to get closer.

We quickly backtracked and then angled their way and got in the cover of a finger of cedar and pinion trees that would afford us plenty of cover to close the distance by at least half.  We moved quickly and quietly.  My heart was pounding like it has never pounded in all my life.  I could feel the rush of adrenaline pumping through my veins and my breath became weak.  I had to stop once inside the trees and stand upright and take a deep breath.  I looked at the other two and the grins on their faces told me they were feeling the same way I was.  We moved closer to the end of the finger of trees.  The opening the bulls were in extended from the end of this line of trees up to the edge of the mesa.  Back from the end of the cedar line we were sneaking through about 50 yards or maybe even more, I could see an elk standing high up on the ridge, maybe 300 yards distance.  I stopped and glassed it.  I could not see all of its antlers but I could see it was a nice big mature bull for sure.  I bent down and picked up some dirt to check the wind.  There was little to no breeze but what there was went from our right to our left.  This is a good direction for it to be going as the elk are feeding from our right to our left.

As we continued to move slowly forward I kept thinking about all the things that go into a well placed shot using a scope.  The scope has to be level and not canted to one side or another.  The rifle has to be placed into the shoulder in such a way as to give the shooter a full field of view through the scope, no amount of “black” ring around the outside edges of the scope.  With my short arms, I know I have to really pull the rifle in and lean slightly forward in order to have a full field of view with this rifle and scope set up.  I’m thinking about breath control and squeezing my whole hand rather than just my trigger finger while holding the cross hairs on the exact spot I want the bullet to hit.

My heart is pounding uncontrollably and we are nearing the end of the finger of trees.  I see movement in front of and  slightly to our right through the tree branches and I know this is the end of the line for us.  I have to get set up and set up fast and now!  Right here and no closer to the open hillside.

I sit down and quarter myself so my rifle will be almost at a ninety degree angle to my body and pointing toward the opening between two cedar trees that are about 30 yards in front of us and are about 20 yards apart.  I hold the rifle up and go through all the same thought process’ about level scope, pull the rifle in, breath control etc. etc. etc. and then I realize my heart is pumping so hard the scope is jumping almost a full inch with each pump.  I look around and see a single cedar stick laying on the ground.  I whisper to Weasel to hand it to me, which he does.  I poke the small end into the ground hard without making any noise and then rest the gun barrel on top of the stick and the clinched fist of my left hand.  I consciously wrap my index finger up and over the barrel to make sure it’s going to stay in place.  Looking through the scope my heart is still causing the view through the scope to jump, but only a fraction of what it was without the stick.  It will have to do.

I look up from the scope and take another deep breath.  It’s almost show time and I want to be ready, but I sure could use a nap right now to get the nerves calmed down some.  Another deep breath and then I see movement through the cedar tree on the right.  From that cedar tree to the next one going left I have about a 70 yard opening in which to shoot.  If the bull is not running I might have a chance.  If it’s running I’ll have a “hope I can do it” shot.  My heart is pounding harder than ever now, and the bull is about to come into full view.

I settle down on the rifle stock and pull it in for a full field of view.  I’m holding my breath as the big animal comes into full view…feeding along without a care in the world.  I count the points…1,2,3,4,5…A nice 5X5 and it’s mine if I want it.  Without putting my finger on the trigger, I put the cross hairs on its shoulder and followed it through the entire 70 yard lane and watch it disappear behind the cedar on the left side of my lane.

I’m thinking to myself, “Wynn, What did you just do?!  You let a giant bull elk walk right in front of you and now it’s down wind!  What if it smells you and busts and takes the rest of the herd with it?!!!  You dummy”!!!

Just then I caught another animal’s movement behind the right side cedar.  I settle into the scope once more and the bull steps out feeding just like the first one.  Another 5X5, maybe slightly larger than the first.  My cross hairs are on the shoulder as it continues its trek across the opening between the cedars and then it’s gone just like the first one!  My thoughts return to the wind and the very real possibility of those two elk smelling us…two bulls crossed within shooting distance and I didn’t shoot.

Then more movement behind the cedar and out steps a smallish 4X4 bull.  It too takes the same path as its brothers before and I in turn follow with the scope and practice some control of shooting without actually shooting.  I’m getting pretty good at this.  But what about the breeze…now there are three of them down wind!

I came up off the scope and took a deep breath.  I looked towards Weasel who is now looking through his binoculars with them turned up on their side, his head cocked accordingly.  He is trying to view the animal between cedar trees as it fed calmly along.  I can see the animal coming and I can see part of its antlers.  I whisper to him, “Is this my bull”?  He does not respond.  I whisper a bit louder, “Is this my bull”?  No response again.  And then I can see the bull is about to come into view.  I’m back on the scope with all the thoughts as before, I want to hear Weasel tell me this is the “big one”, but he doesn’t and even though the bull has just about to come into full view I whisper once again… “Brandon!  Is this my bull”?  I have the scope on his shoulder when I hear Weasel whisper back, “I don’t know if it’s the biggest, but it is a nice bull and if you want to take it you better”!

With that, I took a short quick breath and concentrated on the cross hair placement and pulled the trigger!  BOOOOMMM!  And through the scope I saw it drop like a ton of bricks and didn’t kick a leg or try and get up or nothing.  It just fell and stayed down.

Weasel yelled “He’s down!  He’s Down!  Great job dad”!!!!

My body collapsed and I fell backwards onto my back with the rifle laying across my chest.  My head was reeling from the adrenaline rush and I had to lay there a second to catch my breath.  I took a very deep breath and thought to myself….It’s over…Thank God it’s over…What a RUSH!  And as I sat back up I could see more elk running through the opening farther out and could see they too were bulls.  Eight total in my count.  I was slow to stand and Tracker made me sit back down and re-enact the shot and falling backwards.  I think he does that sort of thing to make sure the hunter has all his faculties and at that moment I’m not sure I had all of mine.  Standing back up the second time, I looked out across the open sage and grass flat and could see the bull had not moved so much as an eye brow since I pulled the trigger.  Wherever that bullet hit was the perfect place to kill a big bull elk instantly and I’m certain it had nothing to do with how I was aiming.  I’ve never shot a bull elk before and where I was aiming was just plain and simply the biggest part of its chest.  My heart was pounding so hard at that time the bullet could have gone almost anywhere.  I’m just very happy it put him down for the count and he didn’t run off and down in some God forsaken deep hell hole where we would have had to try and get on him for a follow up shot and then have to pack him out.  THANK YOU GOD!

And so, with the big bull on the ground we started our slow walk up toward him.  I had chambered another round in the Ruger Number One that I was carrying, put the rifle on safe and was moving toward what was the biggest animal I have ever shot in all my 64 years of life.  As I got closer, it got bigger and bigger and bigger.  Ground shrinkage is something that just didn’t happen with this animal and when I put my foot against its rump and pushed and there was no push back, I knew then and there he was mine and that I could relax and say, “Cross that one off your bucket list Bears Butt!  He’s yours”!

My life long dream of shooting such a magnificent animal was over.  Sure, it’s not the biggest and baddest animal on the planet, nor was it the biggest in this bachelor group, but it is the one I shot and it’s the biggest and baddest one I will ever shoot.  I’m so very happy my grin goes from one side of my face to the other and then it wraps around a couple of times.  Everything that went into the preparation, planning, travel, extra work and effort paid off in spades.

A hearty THANK YOU TO WINEMAKER!  When I decided to accept the offer to take this tag, she said she would take on extra hours at work to help pay for it and she did thanks in part to her boss and the Smith and Edwards Company.

And a hearty THANK YOU TO TRACKER AND WEASEL for sticking it out with me and not giving up!  To go as long as we did and then plan on extending until the sun goes down on the last day is a very big commitment.

Not to forget the wives and loved ones of those few who actually got to go on this hunt.  The ones that stayed home to keep the home fires burning and tending to their jobs and families.  The support I had on this dream hunt has been phenomenal and I want you all to know I have not forgotten and will never forget the sacrifices that were made.  THANK YOU!

I wish EVERYONE; Winemaker,  Wapiti, Softball, Edjukateer, Night Fisher, Dennis and Uncle Bob could have been here at this finale!  I hope this story helps to bring you into it and to know just what it was to have been there.

I have enjoyed many a goose and duck hunt, where proper decoy placement and calling had them coming in with their wings cupped and their feet down.  I’ve shot several amazing deer.  But there will NEVER be a hunt with the drama that this one ended with.  Thanks again!

THANK YOU AGAIN GOD!

TrackerButtWeaselWithTheBigOne2

BullDownFor the record folks, I was wearing my blaze orange hat and vest during this hunt.

BullDown4And for the PETA folks, Only one animal was harmed in the taking of this fine bull elk.

Bears Butt

November 20, 2013

Written on November 22nd, 2013 , DREAM HUNTS
By: Bears Butt

RearSideWithCapote

BEEP!  BEEP!  BEEP!  BEEP!  GOOD MORNING VIETNAM!!!!!

Well, not quite, but we did discuss some of what occurred over there last night while sitting around the camp fire.  It’s Wednesday morning and the coffee is tasting very good again today.  What is the plan?  Well, to kill an elk is always the plan, but we only heard elk yesterday and the direction they were running makes you wonder if maybe they didn’t go back into the area where I got my shot the first evening of the hunt.  Maybe we should go over and look in their again today.  But then Weasel did stomp through there last night right after dark and he did say he heard something running.  I don’t know for sure what to do right now.

We know there are elk still around us and with the moon being almost full, we could have had more move in while we were sleeping.  Let’s go up the road and this time sneak in to look at that clearing where we spooked them yesterday morning.  Maybe we will see them this time.  If not, we will continue up the road to the last road branching off (Hammer camp), take a look in there and then work back down and go for a walk to the watering hole that Weasel saw last night while up on the side of the butte.  We have not seen that water hole up close yet.  Is today the day?

Our spirits are pretty high still and we have lots of days left to hunt.  The sign is still in the area and it’s pretty much all fresh.  We have even seen elk hoof prints in some of our own boot tracks.  This is good stuff.  There is no sense leaving camp until we can see our sights as the elk could be right around the corner.  After all we are camped next to a big watering hole but the only animals visiting it are domestic cows.  We have even dusted off the trails leading to it and only seeing domestic cow tracks when we check them.  Are these cattle keeping the “real animals” away?  We don’t know for sure, but we do know there are lots of watering holes around here and the elk don’t seem to mind the cattle.

At first light we are in the truck and putting up the road at a snails pace, hoping and wishing a big bull elk would show itself.  We make it all the way up to Hammer Camp road and don’t see anything except more tracks.  Tracker wants to video us coming out of there and so Weasel and I sit in the truck and wait for his signal.  Then too our right and up on the side of a butte, I see movement.  I bail out of the truck and put the glasses on it…a bull elk!  And there is another behind it!  Wholly crap, look at the size of that thing!  It almost dwarfed the first one.  Both of them are traversing the side of a very steep butte and going around the end of a finger of the hill and out of sight.  Dang nice bulls right there!  Well at least we saw some today!  No way for a shot as they were 6 or 700 yards out and up, but we saw them!

We radio Tracker who comes back to the truck hoping to get some footage of the beasts, but they were long gone by then.  So, down the road we went, stopping once to try and get another view of them from the other side of that finger…no luck.  From their angle they could be anywhere over on that side and a mile from our position.  Just like Night Fisher said, they like to find the deepest and nastiest stuff to hold up in during the day and those two brutes were headed right into the thick of it!  Not something for the faint of heart I assure you…did I tell you I was feeling faint?

Well, we slowly drove down to the place we spooked them yesterday and made a slow and quiet walk out to where we could glass the opening.  We used the trees for cover and did not just walk down the road like we did yesterday.  Nothing.  So, now is the time to walk down to the second water hole, the one Weasel saw while high on the side of the bluff last night.

Our hike didn’t take too long and we saw a ton of elk tracks along the way.  In the water laid a wheeled devise used to help a hunter get a critter out of the back country.  Apparently it developed a flat tire and the hunter decided he had had enough of it and pushed it into the pond.

SecondPond

Most of the tracks we saw around this pond were domestic cattle, in fact as we cautiously approached the pond a group of them got up quickly and stampeded off…Tracker said, “Hell we can’t even sneak up on tame cows”!  I think they smelled us…heck we haven’t had a bath since last Thursday!

Continuing to explorer the area around this pond, we went to the edge of the mesa and the view was spectacular, like always.

ViewSouthOfSecondMesa

DeepValleySouthSide

You know beyond all doubt the elk are down in there.  We glass a while but my heart wasn’t into going down into there to look around, what if we nailed one down in that hole?  Would it really be worth it?  I know that Night Fisher would go down in there in a heart beat!  We decided to look somewhere else and turned around and went toward the backside of Cathedral Butte.

The saddle that connects Cathedral Butte and the next one on the South (I’m going to call that one Night Fisher Butte, just because he was the one who spotted the first elk of the hunt on the side of it), was where we thought Whitey had taken his herd over last Sunday.  Now we are on the back side of it and I wanted to go and see just by chance if that herd of elk might be coming in this direction again.  It’s very possible if they were out in the clearing all night, they might be coming our way.

So we decided to take a little hike and see if we could find their trail.  It didn’t take us long at all to find the trail…four feet wide and tore all to heck with elk tracks.  Sure enough, Whitey had lead his entire herd up and over this saddle just like we thought he had.  We continued to follow the trail and all the while I was hoping we would see that big cuss coming our direction.  It didn’t happen.

We found a way cool wash that was quiet to walk down and that was a big part of the trail the elk had used.

UpTheWash

DownTheWash

We stayed on their trail, all the while keeping a close watch for movement and being as quiet as we possibly could.  At times we had to take off layers as the sun was getting up in the air and it was a pretty warm day.

TakingOffLayers

We are standing in the trail right here and with all the trees around us, we would have had to of been right on top of an elk to see it.  I’d call this “Thick”!

Well, our short jaunt to see the pond ended up with us hiking all the way around Cathedral Butte, past camp and eventually back to where we parked the pickup….6 miles.  None of us felt the worst for wear, but it did devour the day.  We went back into camp to cook up our hot dogs and decide what to do for the evening.

While at camp getting the hot dogs ready we talked about “tomorrow”.  Tomorrow is Thursday and we had planned our stay through today, Wednesday.  Our evening meal of burgers tonight will exhaust our provisions.  We needed to take an inventory of our supplies and plan a trip to town tomorrow to stock up.  Weasel got out his inventory computer and began to input our grocery list.  We made up a menu to include more steak, burgers, hot dogs, bread, whiskey and beer.  We had some left over chicken from the Rabbit Chicken night that would do us as a noon meal tomorrow on our way into town.  If we made it part of the plan to be on the road off Salt Creek Mesa by 10 a.m., we could make the 2 hour trip to Monticello, spend an hour shopping and the 2 hour trip back and be back for an evening hunt by 3 pm.  That’s the plan for tomorrow.  What about this evening?

The plan was made to go back up as far as Hammer Camp and then slowly come back down past camp and down to the lower road we had seen and been on briefly a couple of day ago.  This will take us past the clearing where I had gotten my shot last Saturday as well and in fact would completely cover the road through Salt Creek Mesa from end to end.  How could an evening drive be any better?

We went up to Hammer camp and turned around and started our slow drive back down the road.  Suddenly Tracker calls out ” STOP THE TRUCK”!!!!!!  He bails out and picks up a really nice drop horn!  Right off the side of the road!

TrackerFindsAdrop

How much better does it get?!!!  Good eye Tracker!  A fine drop horn if ever I have seen one!  A fine thing to find as the day is coming to a close.  You would expect to find something like that on a six mile hike, but never right next to a main dirt road.

We continue to travel down the road and take the last side road that took us out and across a flat and very close to the base of Bridger Jack Mesa, East of our camp.  There we decided the day was over.  The sunset behind Cathedral Butte was a show to be seen.

SunsetOverCathedralButte

CathedralButteSunset

And as the sun continued to set it just got prettier!

BrilliantSunsetOverCathedralButte

What a nice place to be on such a beautiful day!  Thank you God for sharing this with us.

And just like all the nights before, it got dark quickly and we found our way back at camp once more.  Tracker put his fine find under the beaver sharns and we went back to camp living!

TrackerPlacesDropUnderBeaverSharns

FindingsUnderSharns

Tonight’s meal is a simple one and basically the last of our food…burgers on buns, with a slice of onion and lots of chips and beer.  YUMMY!

And by the looks of this picture the troops were very hungry!

BurgerNight

After that 6 mile hike we  were all very much ready for bed by nine and so it was lights out!

Alarm set for 5:15 a.m.?  Check!

Bears Butt

Nov. 20, 2013

Written on November 21st, 2013 , DREAM HUNTS
By: Bears Butt

AntlersAgainsRedRocks

The alarm clock went off right on time and my first thought, after turning it off, was, what a very nice nights sleep I had had.  The best of the trip so far.  My mind then settled into the fact that we had just spent our first night up on the Salt Creek Mesa and even though there had been a bit of a breeze during the night it wasn’t a howling wind like it could have been being that high up on the ridge.

I remembered looking out the window from my bed sometime during the night, I’d guess 2 a.m.’ish and noticing how bright it was outside.  The moon was in its 3/4 ths full point and it was almost as bright as if it was full.  What would that do for the elk?  Would they feed all night and go to bed early, or would they feed for awhile, bed, and then get up during the day to feed and go to water?  I don’t know elk and their habits, but I’m convinced the moon is going to be playing a big role.

For some reason the coffee tasted extremely good this morning and I had three full cups while waiting for it to get light enough for our trip out of camp.  I told Weasel and Tracker that I was putting the muzzleloader away and going to resort to the 7mm (Pork gun) from this point on.  I felt I needed the extra range that the Pork gun would offer and that I wanted to kill a bull elk as soon as it presented itself.  Spike, branch antler, whatever, it didn’t matter.  They were ok with that decision.

We pulled out of camp when it was light enough to see my sights and headed up the road.  There is a narrow place in the road between Cathedral Butte and the edge of the mesa we are on and in that narrowing of the ground were several fresh elk tracks in the dusty road.  There were also a couple of nice buck deer that ran toward the butte.  Up the road about a half mile the mesa widened and there was a side road that led into another chained and partially cleared area.  We stopped to go take a look and see if we could see some elk out in there.

We must have had our heads up our behinds, because we were not very quiet as we walked down that dirt road, because as we neared the clearing you could hear the thunder of a thousands hoofs pounding the ground out in front and slightly to our left.  Soon the sounds were all coming from our left side and you could begin to see the dust rising above the brush as the stampede got farther and farther away from us…we saw nothing but the dust, but clearly it was a very large group of elk that had either seen us or smelled us coming their way.  DANG!  We learned something then.  No matter what…when you leave the vehicle and go off on a “lookeesee”, go slowly, go quietly, keep looking in every direction, keep your ears and eyes constantly on alert.  We were busted on that attempt, but maybe, if we don’t down an elk before, that they will be back in this chained area this evening.

We had made sort of a plan to go up and check out another area the Mr. Shumway had told us about, North Long Point.  He told us about some springs up in their and that perhaps it would be a good thing to go and check that area out.  So, today our plan is to go in that direction and take in all the sights we can find along the route.

That route took us past the point at which we had turned around on the first day of the season.  And from there on it was new country to us, and beautiful country it was.  Just like before, we were not seeing any sign of elk along the road and it seemed the higher we went we climbed up and away from the Cedar and Pinion Pine and into Yellow Pine and Quakies.  Very beautiful and I’m sure that earlier in the year the elk would be abound in this area.

We came to a branch in the road, one that if we took it would take us down into Beef Basin.

BeefBasinTurnOff

The sign says, from top to bottom, Gooseberry GS (Guard Station) 5, Kigalia GS 19, Beef Basin 12.

The view of what is called Horse Mountain from right here looks like this:

HorseMountain

I’d have to be eating peyote buttons for a while in order to make a horse out of that, but if that is what they want to call it, then that is what it is.  Continuing down (up) the road we passed Colt Mountain and again toss me some more of them buttons, but the view got prettier and prettier as we went.  More tall pines and loads of quakie pockets.

BeautifulViewPines

You would be hard pressed to find a prettier place.  Still, no elk sign.

And then here we came to our junction, the one down and out North Long Point.

NorthPointTurnOff

Hold on just a second here!  What does that sign say?  Let’s look closer!

Gooseberry GS 5 Miles

Do you see anything odd about this sign?  The last sign said Gooseberry GS 5 miles!  We just traveled 5 miles to this sign and still have 5 miles to go?  What gives?  Better than that, the sign before said Kigalia GS was 19 miles and now it’s 25 miles away!  If I was walking I would be mad as heck right now!  Hey Mr. Forest Guy, how about fixing one or both of these signs so we know which is right!

Well, that made for a good laugh, and we made the turn down North Long Point in search of some big old bull elk.  Or maybe just a place we could eat another long awaited hot dog.  We are beginning to look like hot dogs!

WeaselAndTracker

We traveled down North Long Ridge for several miles and during our drive we saw a very amazing little squirrel…I guess it’s a squirrel.  It never let us get a picture of it, but I’ll describe it as best as I can.  It stood about 10 inches tall, was quite bushy, its ears were pointed and tall for a squirrel and its tail was not only bushy but rather white or light grey in color.  You tell me what it’s called.  Post the name in comments below and I’ll make sure it becomes part of this story.

We continued down this road until we were supposed to come to a Big Spring.  We never saw any Spring, but we did see a big grove of quakies down off a cliff in the general area and figured it was here that the spring was….close enough…let’s eat!

WeaselIsOnTheDogStick

DoesLunchGetAnyBetter

I’m not sure I would ever get tired of having hot dogs, chips and beer for lunch while out in the woods.  There is just something very special about it!

Right where we chose to eat our lunch was a way cool old tree that has probably been growing since Shep was a pup and maybe longer than that.  The sad part was that people had pounded in some big old nails and spikes into it.  If anyone ever goes to cut it up, they will be in for a very rude awakening.  But until then it’s a cool tree.

CoolOldTree

So, after this lunch, we decided we had just enough time to work our way back past camp and maybe even have some time to explorer a bit more down the road from camp. On our way back to the main road we saw several deer.

SmallBuckSneakingOffThere are actually two small two points in this picture sneaking away from us.

3DeerOne of these does has a collar on it.

Going back we got another great view of the surrounding countryside.  This was a higher view of the Canyon Lands area with Boundary Butte in the picture as well.

PanoramaCanyonLandsAndBoundaryButte

The Salt Creek Mesa is the flat looking area just to the left and bottom of Boundary Butte and with a very close look you would be able to see the road.  Take my word for it.

Once we were off this mountain and back on the Salt Creek Mesa flat, we took a couple of side roads to see where they went and what the views looked like.  At the end of one, we saw a cool cedar tree that had been either hit by lightning a long time before or else the wind and snow had broken it, either way it looked pretty neat and at the base of it a little flower.

YellowFlowerGarden

LittleYellowFlowerGarden

A beautiful natural setting for a beautiful little flower, one has to love what God does.

Speaking of God, as we came down the road off the steeper portion of the mountain road, I saw where someone had almost gone off the edge.  Of course this happened when the road was very slippery and muddy.  The picture I took of the scene doesn’t show how crazy everything had to have been, but I’ll bet the driver of that vehicle had to wipe his behind when it was over.

PlaceWhereSomeoneAlmostWentOff

You could see where their left front tire actually went off the road and where they placed a line of rocks along between the edge of the road and their other tires to help hold the vehicle from going any farther in that direction.  I’m glad they didn’t go over, because it was at least 100 feet to the bottom with very little brush to keep them from going all the way down.

Before dark, Tracker and I carefully and quietly worked our way out to the edge of the clear cut where we had heard the elk run off this morning.  We took up a position where we could see pretty good in at least three directions and we waited until dark, hoping the elk would come out into the open and offer me a shot.  All we had that was exciting was a coyote howling about 20 yards behind us in the cedars.  That was pretty exciting.  Oh ya, and I found a bull whip some cowboy had lost years before.

While we were sneaking our way to our waiting position, Weasel drove the truck down to a little side road and took a hike up on the side of Cathedral Butte in order to glass up the clear cut in our direction.  We were in hopes that from his vantage point he would be able to see the elk and could radio to us where they were.  No elk were spotted.  And as Weasel continued to climb up the side of the butte, he got himself into such a precarious spot he had to continue to go all the way around the backside of the butte.  After dark, Tracker and I made our way down to the truck and drove around the other side to wait for him to come around, flashlight in hand!

Back at camp, Tracker felt it was his turn to cook up the steaks and they certainly were good eatin!  I must say, we eat well on our hunts, but if you are into vegetables, you are in the wrong camp.  Steak, hash browns and garlic bread!  It doesn’t get any better than that!

TrackerCookingSteaks

After supper we enjoyed another evening of the Apparatus and an Ora Boriallis fire.  Drank a few drinks and headed off to sleepy land in preparation for another day of hunting.

Alarm set for 5:15 a.m.?  Check!

Bears Butt

Nov. 20, 2013

Written on November 21st, 2013 , DREAM HUNTS
By: Bears Butt

FrontSideWithCapote

Monday morning, November 11, 2013…Happy Veterans Day to all Veterans out there!  In our camp we had a toast with hot coffee and a small sugar frosted roll.  And then as light became apparent, we said our goodbys to Wapiti, Softball, Edjukateer and Night Fisher and the three of us headed down the road to Uncle Bob’s place.

We got to the bottom of Uncle Bob’s at a perfect time to catch any game coming up out of the fields below.  We saw literally hundreds of deer!  Most of which were not too afraid of us and just walked or hopped out of sight when we got too close.  No sign of elk which was disappointing.  Our minds were made up quickly to get back and break camp.  With so many elk having been spotted up in the Salt Creek Mesa area, we just had to make the move.  So, we headed that way, gassing up in Monticello before proceeding up to camp.

We got to camp to find that the others had already pulled out for their drive home.  It was a bitter sweet moment for us to see them gone.  But things have to happen and that was one of them.  It was about 8 a.m.

CampAt8am

We had plenty to do in order to get packed up and over to Salt Creek Mesa and re-set up the camp.  We wanted to have an evening hunt over there as well and so the pressure was on to get things done.  We also talked about how we were going to pack up.  I suggested we just make sure something won’t fall and break while in transit, but that we would not be going really fast and so things didn’t have to be put back into its proper place nor stored as if it would be a year until it comes back out to be used again.  By 9 am camp looked like this:

CampAt9am

Let’s go guys!

And off we went.  I guessed it would take us a full 3 hours to reach the Salt Creek Mesa area and find a camp site worth the move.  Just after turning off on the Beef Basin road there is an abandoned mine which we have passed every time we went over to the Salt Creek area.  This time we stopped to look at what it was all about.

MineAtTurnOffToSaltCreekMesa

PowderHouseDoorway

It’s my guess that this is where they stored their powder and other supplies, but what do I know about mining?  Nothing!

InsidePowderHouse

There were a lot of evidence of critters big and small that live in there and I’m very glad we didn’t have to sleep in there tonight.  The packrats just might have taken the family jewels…so to speak.

The mine entrance has been blocked off by a large steel gate and with all the sign around it, there have been plenty of lookers visit the place and I’m certain many of them would have ventured down into the mine and may have been killed down in there.  So to have it blocked made perfect sense to me.

TrackerAndWeaselAtMineEntry

We also discussed the fact that in the evening we bet the bats coming out of there would have been quite the site to see…let’s go before they start coming out!  I don’t want any of them getting tangled in my curly locks!

It’s funny how the sun angle on the rocks makes things stand out or change during the day.  We have been past these rock cliffs several times and only this time did we see this:

DoYouSeeTheFace

Can you see it?  The face.  Not the face of the cliff, but rather the face IN the cliff.

Alien

The “Alien”!  It reminded me of one of the women in a van we saw on Saturday morning, just saying.

Well the road in was just as bumpy as it has always been, and even more so with the trailer.  A few spots where I wasn’t sure the black water holding tank was going to survive, but we did clear them and I made a couple of mental notes of areas I’d have to watch closely as we came out.  The drive in was slow to say the least.  At a point very close to our destination the road gets very narrow and only one vehicle can travel through there at a time.  Tracker decided it would be way cool to get a picture of the top of the rig as we went along….oh my.  I let him out and about 5 minutes later he radioed that he was ready.  What caught me by surprise was that he was standing on a piece of rock ledge that looked very UNSTABLE!

TrackerTakingChances

TakingChances

I’m sure the footage will be worth it when the editor gets through with it, but I can tell you at this moment my feet were hurting really bad (to tell you the truth, they hurt right now just looking at the picture)!

Our adventure was about to come to an end with this camp move and I was looking forward to a good old cold brew.  No brews until camp is set up boys! It was almost exactly noon when we arrived at this spot!  3 hour drive.

In the shadow of Cathedral Butte, we found a nice big watering hole and a very nice camp spot.  We looked it over really good and made the decision to plant ourselves right there!  Camp was set up and ready to go at 1:30!

CampIsSetUp

With Cathedral Butte in the background we all felt like this was a new beginning for this hunt.  And it was. There are lots of signs that tell you when things are where they need to be and I believe this was one of them.  Please do not touch the rock wall:

AncientHandPrint

 

Camped in a great spot, surrounded by fresh elk sign and the rest of the afternoon to goof off…where is that cold drink?

Exploring around the camp and doing a bit of sprucing up we discovered quite a few things of interest.  A couple of old bleached out elk shoulder blades, a small buck drop horn and this:

WhatsThis

A mylar balloon from someones graduation.  A sure sign that Edjukateer had wished this camp would be ours to enjoy!  Thank you Edjukateer!  Close by there were other camp occupants even though we didn’t see them.

BigPackRatHouse

A very big packrat home.  Keep track of your jewels guys!

And once we had explored around the camp and picked up what trash there was (and there wasn’t that much), we kicked back and enjoyed ourselves.  During our kick back time, Tracker wanted to show off the surrounding scenery for his video.  And that took a little bit of time, but what the heck!  We have plenty of time.  We are minutes away from the place where I shot at the big bull on Saturday and our total drive time from one end of the Salt Creek Mesa to the other is less than a half hour.  We have it made in the shade baby!  Made in the shade!

We made another command decision (we make lots of those), and that was to eat our supper before heading out for the evening hunt.  And what would that supper be?  None other than Wapiti’s own…”Rabbit Chicken”!

I pulled out the dutch oven and browned all the pieces really good.  Took the chicken out, turned down the heat, put in a trivet to keep the chicken off the bottom of the pan, put the chicken pieces back in and added a can of the best cooking beer in the world…Olympia!  Then back on went the lid and we let it simmer for about an hour on low heat!

Here we are in a new environment wishing the rest of the guys could be there with us and of course we made a toast to their safe trip home.  If I recall correctly, we made toasts to a lot of things that afternoon.

As the afternoon started to turn to evening we decided we should make a run down the Salt Creek Mesa road and try and find a bull elk.  We made the run, but didn’t see any elk.  The scenery was great though!

BeautifulView

ButteCliffs

CampedInTheShadowOfCathedralButte

And just like days gone by, when the sun decides to go down, you suddenly find yourself surrounded by darkness…and back to camp we went.

With supper already behind us, we had all night to talk about what was in our pasts and what was being held in our futures.  We employed the “apparatus”,

TheApparatusWorksGood

and built us a really nice “Ora Boriallis” flame!

OraBoreallisFire

A perfect ending to an almost perfect day!  Maybe tomorrow the Elk Gods will smile on us.

Alarm set for 5:15 a.m.?  Check!

Bears Butt

Nov. 20, 2013

 

Written on November 20th, 2013 , DREAM HUNTS

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BearsButt.com | Stories, Ramblings & Random Stuff From an Old Mountain Man

Just some of my old stories, new stories, and in general what is going on in my life.