For anyone reading this post about the Crawford Mountain hunt I’m going to lay it all out on the line for you.  Most of you think that hunting big game involves hiking around the mountain and sneaking here and there to get the big one and don’t get me wrong you can do that on this hunt and get a big one.  But this is more of a “Gentleman’s Hunt”.

You are going to need a four wheel drive vehicle of some sort and during some years you will need a snow mobile to get around (see story of 2010).  There are a lot of roads in the Crawford Mountains and they will take you everywhere you need to go to get a big muley buck.  You will need some very good tires on your vehicle should you choose to use a truck or SUV.  Some of the roads have large rocky areas, others are “tippy” to the down hill side and can be very slick when wet or ice covered.  Therefore you will need tire chains in the vehicle to put them on when needed.

With chains on all four tires you can pretty much go anywhere on this mountain as long as you are careful and don’t get high centered.  Which is another easy thing to do.  Keep your driver relatively sober and you should not have much of a problem.  Of course there are those cases where the driver has no control as to where the vehicle is going to “slip” sideways and end up in a pickle.  Be safe.

So, with chains on you just drive around and spot for the animals.  Believe me when I say, you will see hundreds of deer during a days hunt on this mountain.  And among the hundreds of deer you will see tens of bucks.  On this years hunt we counted 50 different bucks on one particular day.  Only the 50th one was considered a shooter by these hunters and the shots taken missed their mark.  It’s too bad for the hunters in this case as I will post a picture of that buck in another posting.

And so, we travel up hills and down hills and over dales and up ravines and down canyons and across hillsides looking for our big buck.  We only get out of the vehicle to take care of nature calls, have a snack and stretch our legs or put a sneak on a big buck that we want a better look at or take a shot.

You see, there just isn’t a nicer hunt anywhere.  You can stay warm inside the vehicle, or freeze your tail off out on an ATV…your choice.  You know my choice.

In the process of finding the right buck you are going to see a lot of interesting things besides animals, but it’s the animals that are the most interesting to me.  On this hunt we only saw two rabbits, which was a surprise.  Two years ago we saw rabbits everywhere we went.  Besides that I only saw one coyote which was another surprise…did Utahs bounty get them all killed off this mountain?  Whatever has their numbers down I am thankful for.

I suppose beauty is in the eye of the beholder and I thought this was a pretty cool shot of a gnarly old cedar tree.  If you venture into the Crawford Mountains you will see this majestic tree on top of a ridge, or at least you will see many that are similar.  I hope a wildfire doesn’t destroy these big old boys.

You will also find other treasures hidden away up there, like this cute little treasure.

And this came complete with all the items you will need, at least on this hunt, in the future you would be compelled to take some of your own materials just in case.

We tend to like to make sure the mountains we hunt in are clean of trash.  It’s just our nature and we carry trash bags to put that debris in.  At the place we found this outhouse there was a lot of garbage left behind by the users of the camp near by.  We picked up three small bags of garbage at this stop.  I hope in the future the users are more respectful.  BUT…in the process of picking up trash, we also found some lost treasures…..

We ended up calling her “A-AH-LA-A”, and she became our mascot for the duration of our stay on the mountain.  If you are reading this and this is yours, too bad…it belongs to us now.

We also found some other things of interest….

From left to right…Bears Butt…one cent….Baby Boy….a nickle  and No Grimace…26 cents!  Way to go fellas!  Nice finds!

So while you are traveling the mountains of the Crawfords keep your eyes open, you might just find something like this…

Had he found the frames for these glasses he would have had a really good find, but he only found the lenses.  Nice find Wapiti!

I don’t have pictures of the other items we found, but I can tell you I personally found a really high quality head lamp that still works and a speed loader for a 54 cal. muzzleloader, I will employ both of these in the near future.  Did you lose either of these items?  Make a comment on this posting and describe them and I’ll get them back to you.  I’m an honest kind of guy you know.

Well, don’t take your eyes off the ground while hunting up there.  Certainly you want to see some of the game that abounds there.

This is the view from inside a pin-hole camera looking out.  Well not exactly, but close.  If you were a sheet of film on the back of the camera this is pretty much what you would see as the exposure was being made.  I just thought I’d toss this one in to separate the story into another dimension.

Many years ago on this very same hunt, we stopped for a hot dog cooked over an open fire.  We did that at this exact spot and Tracker has saved the cooking sticks that Edjukateer is proudly displaying in this photo.  He went out and cut these sticks and we used them to cook our hot dogs that day.  He used the long one and I used the two point one.  In the process I burnt up a $17 pair of gloves….Edjukateer says “Just get over it”!!!!

And the scenes go on and on.  There is something on this mountain for everyone, even the hunters.  The hardest part is getting the tag.  It took since 1996 for No Grimace and Baby Boy to draw this tag.  Don’t give up on it, keep applying if this is what you want to experience and believe me, you won’t be disappointed.

Bears Butt

Dec. 2, 2012

As I said earlier, the hunt is more than the taking or attempting to take the animal one is in pursuit of.  It’s the whole ball of wax.  The people, the camp, the environment, the EVERYTHING, all rolled up into a perfect circle.

When things seem to be about to end it all, up steps everyone to help get things back on track.  Like going down a bumpy, rocky road, things can and do happen.

Ouch!  That one will slow us down a bit.

Well, it only took an hour or so and we were on our way, only this time back toward camp instead of away from it.  No sense taking any more chances without a spare of getting farther away.

Back at camp things are always on the happy side of everything.

If you can’t tell from the pictures, we are having quite a time telling stories, pointing fingers at who is to blame and in general, just having fun.

But it’s not all about laughing and cutting up.  Sometimes you have to eat.

Food takes on another dimension when camping and when it is cold outside it even tastes all that much better.  We ate well on this hunt.  Steak, Eggs, Burgers, Hot Dogs, Pork Chops, Hash Browns, Onions, Dry Dogs Pickled Eggs, Kipper Snacks, Vienna Sausages, Home Made Jerky, Pork Hocks, Bacon and a whole variety of sweet and tasty treats.

Tracker brought out some “famous” Hostess donuts one morning and the first thing said was he could sell them on ebay…the bidding started at $5!  But ended when he insisted anyone who wanted one of the prized “last of the little guys, never more to be seen on store shelves”, could have one until they were all gone.  The folks dug in!

And the box was passed around…..

Some getting more involved in the eating than others, but soon all the little donuts were gone.  And in celebration, the box the little donuts came in was sacrificed for all eternity.

The END of an ERA………..well maybe.

Well, in our camp it doesn’t end with food and good times.  We have our celebrations when it comes to someone bringing in a big old buck.  The ceremony is one that is earned by the hunter and is a cherished tradition…”The Kill Jug”!  (Mind you, only hunters over 21 are allowed the alcoholic versions of the kill jug.  Those not wishing to participate with alcohol can opt for non-alcohol drinks and under age people get mini spicy v-8 drinks).

A fine little drink only meant for the King of the camp!

OH YA BABY!  That even made me shake and made the picture blurry because of the grimace that followed the drink……

And the next day there were even more surprises in store for the camp king!  Thank you Tracker….ARE THOSE FOR ME??????

Fuzzy Navels every one.

So, you should be getting the idea that our camp is full of fun and exciting and sometimes really ridiculous things.  But it is all meant to be joyful for both the recipient of a good joke and to the one pulling the joke off.  We do sometimes get serious…..hmmm….I’m just not sure when.

Bears Butt

Dec. 1, 2012