BRRRRRRR!  34 degrees outside right here, but what is it like in Monticello?

26 degrees! with 62% humidity!

Today will see a mix of clouds and sun followed by mostly cloudy this afternoon and a few showers possible.  High expected to be mid 40’s and winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph…It always seem to have winds 5 to 10 mph….and a chance of rain at 40%  Lows tonight around 30!

Looking down the road at their long range forecast I see a warming trend with highs above normal, around 50 with lows around 30.  I think us hunters are in for a very nice hunt!  With this mild of temperatures we may even see ourselves a bear or two!  Wouldn’t that be fun!!!?!!!  I have never seen a bear outside of Yellowstone!  And as long as any bear we saw was far away from the downed elk, I would be just fine with that!

Who is excited is ME!!!

3 days!

Bears Butt

Nov. 4, 2013

Woke up to snow on the ground and more flying around!  BRRRRRR!  Bundle up in that there capote!

Monticello woke up to a mix of clouds and sun, with a high expected in the low 50’s and lows in the upper 20’s!  Winds today will begin out of the SW and shift during the day to out of the NNW!  That will mean a change is coming their way in the form of colder temps and maybe even that snow that was talked about yesterday.  The storm watch has been lifted!

I’m glad I got done what I got done yesterday as far as packing some of my personal stuff in the camp trailer.  Today I would be tracking in wet snow and that would have meant another cleaning of the floor before heading out.

This afternoon Tracker is coming down and we will make sure the trailer will hook up to his truck properly…level and lights….His truck sits a little higher than Weasels.

Do you know about Weasels truck?  We were going to use it to go hunting with, but suddenly what turned out to be a bad fuel injector that cost him over $900 to get fixed, another problem caused his radiator fluid to dump into the crank case.  Then after fixing that problem and changing out the fluids in the crank case and having the engine purring like a kitten, his transmission went out!  What a streak of bad luck!

What all of us are glad about with that situation is that it broke down before we left town.  It could have been much worse to have been part way to the hunting area or worse, up on the mountain hunting.  That is something everyone needs to think about even with new vehicles.  Be prepared!

4 days!

Bears Butt

Nov. 3, 2013

All shot on the “Blue Mountains of Utah”! If these are not already killed, we just might run into one!

Hold everything!  Monticello weather has a change coming that wasn’t in the forecast yesterday!  Remember when I reported yesterday about it going to be mid 40’s through the rest of this week and all of next?  Well, it ain’t so now!  Listen to this!

Special Weather Statement for Monticello and surrounding areas:

Potentially significant winter storm to bring colder temperatures and snowfall to the region Sunday night through Wednesday morning!

A strong cold front ahead of a trough of low pressure will move through Northeast Utah and Northwest Colorado Sunday afternoon and night with snow starting in the mountains of NE Utah and NW Colorado!  This cold front will stall just north of the Book Cliffs Monday morning, with the trough of low pressure deepening over the Great basin Monday afternoon.  Precipitation will increase across the area in the SW flow with snow levels initially around 8,000 feet.  The cold front will push across the remainder of eastern Utah and western Colorado Monday night into Tuesday morning with snow levels lowering to all valley floors!  Snowfall will continue through Wednesday morning as the low lifts out of the region!  Snowfall amounts are uncertain at this time, but the potential exists for significant snowfall in most mountains as well as some valleys and temperatures turn much colder!!!!!!

YIKES!  That is a major change!  So, folks bring your capotes to the hunt!

With a change in our local weather coming tonight through tomorrow, my day is going to be filled with Fall activities, especially picking up leaves, but also getting some of my things packed into the trailer for the hunt!

Another thing that has occurred recently is the addition of Night Fisher to our gang of hunters!  I called him yesterday and talked to him about joining us!  He said he would love to!  He brings with him the expertise we need in finding an elk.  He has killed many in his young age and knows their habits and such and although he has never been down in the Abajo Mountains, I don’t think it will take him long to figure out where the elk like to hide.  He is also bringing a couple of back packs used to haul out elk on ones back!  So, with his two and Trackers one, there will be three of us available to haul out boned meat, while the others will be free to carry the head, antlers and cape.  I figure the meat alone will weigh about 600 pounds, while the head, antlers and cape will be close to 300!

Additionally, the antlers alone will be about 80 inches long, which are too long for someone to put on their back and carry out, so I picture a man on each side carrying them, still attached to the head of course, and a third man carrying the bundled up cape.

It really doesn’t get much better than this!  IT DON’T!!!

5 days!

Bears Butt

Nov. 2, 2013

Monticello Weather:

Sunny, high 48, low 27 light breezes NW changing to NNE by this evening.

It looks like the long range forecast for Monticello is going to be just about like this.  The hunt will be held in perfect conditions!

Continuing to study elk habits, more videos, and reading about the 10 best ways to get close enough to a bull elk for a shot, has taken me all over the map.  Well, the map of my area of hunting that is.  I have tried to locate a detailed enough map on-line that we could use it to know where we are during the hunt, but so far no real success.  I’ll probably have to rely on my GPS to let us know where we are and how to get to where we might want to be and then back again.  We will get it all figured out.

I have often wondered about the daily habits of deer to mostly show up just before dark or be out in the open at first light.  The morning time sightings are while they are working their way back to a sleeping hideout somewhere, while the evening ones are when they are coming out to eat and party all night.

This same activity applies to elk.  Oh, and bears…we will be hunting in bear country you know.

So, some smarty gave this type of behavior a name…”Crepuscular”….From Wikipedia:

The word crepuscular is derived from the Latin crepusculum, meaning “twilight”.^[1] Its sense accordingly differs from diurnal and nocturnal behavior, which respectively peak during hours of daylight and dark. The distinction is not absolute however, because crepuscular animals may also be active on a bright moonlit night or on a dull day. The use of the terms often is vague; for example, some animals that are casually described as nocturnal are in fact crepuscular.^[2]

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I suppose single people over the age of 21 could be classified as crepuscular, heck maybe even some not single people could be classified as that too.  And when the spouse finds out about it, they begin to name call!  “You Creep!”  “You Scumbag”!!  “You Liar”!!!!  Can you see the connection here?  Crep…uscu…lar!  Correlations are everywhere if you look for them!

6 days!

Bears Butt

NOV! 1, 2013