This time next week will the rack be back at camp with the first deer of the hunt?  Will the Magpie Express be back ahead of the rack?  Or will both rigs still be out looking for that monster muley in the woods?  Only time will tell.

The excitement is building every moment of this very long week.

From several conversations I have had with various folks who are going to be joining us on the hunt, it seems likely that we will be spending a whole lot more time glassing than driving.  It makes more sense to me after experiencing the Youth Guided Turkey Hunt last Spring.  Sitting high on a vantage point glassing slowly down into the forest for hours and hours taught me that what appears to be an empty bowl is actually full of animals of all varieties.

Looking specifically for turkeys, we saw moose, deer and elk, and of course the turkeys we were looking for.  On one such occasion I was glassing an open meadow and had been looking at it off and on for at least an hour when suddenly as I panned across it for the “umptinth” time, there stood an elk!  As big as big could be.  Why can’t that happen during this hunt?

Couple the driving with the high price of fuel and it makes a whole lot more sense to stop and kick back on a hill side and try to find an animal to put a stock onto, than to drive from hell to breakfast and not see anything but dusty roads.

Another thought is about hitting some of the hillsides and trails that we all know about and do a little still hunting.  A couple of years back, Brek joined us and he and I found a trail that was so tore up with tracks of every kind it was hard to sit next to it and wonder why we weren’t being trampled on.  I think a bit deeper on that trail down into the steep depths of the hole it headed into just might be the ticket to a big old buck.  A cool pine covered bowl of sorts and I’d bet there is water down in there somewhere.  It looks unforgiving and so I really doubt many people trek down into it.  Make sure you have your hydration pack filled as if a buck does happen to fall down in there, it will be a heck of a haul back out with it in pieces on your back.

The excitement is building more and more as I think about the hunt and the camp.  FUN FUN FUN!

Bears Butt

Sept. 19, 2012