The Weasel, Bones and I are heading back into the hunting area for a day trip, hoping to find one of the last of the bucks hiding in the trees.  Actually, hoping to find 2 bucks.

I am not so blessed as to have room inside the vehicle for more than one, if we are that lucky and so if there are two gotten they will both be tied to the top of the rig.  A rather redneck thing to see.

Wish us luck as we venture into the wilds of the Rocky Mountains!

Bears Butt

Oct. 2, 2012

Update on Yesterdays Trip

We left town at exactly the time we wanted.  All three of us very excited to get back into the mountains for more fun.

Safely arriving at the place we wanted to be just at first light.  It was a beautiful day ahead.

We were a little sleepy eyed as was the camera when I took this picture of a sky lined cow moose, but it showed us a preview of what was in store for us this day.

We continued on our journey up and over the great pass we were venturing on and into the area we really wanted to be hunting in.  Our travel lead us into an area we had never been before and on that trail we came across three Blue Grouse.  We named this new trail “Three Grouse Road”.  One can really see in this picture how the bird got that name.

As opposed to its cousin the Ruffed Grouse, which is much smaller, but just as tasty!

It’s a wonder any of these little birds are even in existence as they just don’t do things that are typical of animals that every wild predator likes to eat.  On a side note, this little guy is standing right out in the open and notice how it blends in quite well, it is this camouflage that prompted the owner of “Grouse Wing Camo” to develop his pattern.  I say he is on to something here.

Our continued travels had us seeing seven doe and fawn on our way up to the top of Rock Creek and on over into the Bug Lake area.  Once on top we started to see more and more deer.

It seems that most of the doe have two fawns but some even had more, at least that is what it appeared to be.

(sorry about the sharpness of the picture, my side kick took the picture)

Some of the doe have kicked out offspring very late and I’m not so sure some of them are going to make it.

This little guy doesn’t look to be more than a week or so old.  Why so late?  You tell me.

As the day progressed we found ourselves wishing for a hot dog and we decided that we would venture on to Crocodile Rileys camp and start a fire in his fire pit.  We found out from them that hunting had been quite good, especially this morning.  They had had 5 shots between three hunters, but did not tag any more bucks.  There is a possible naming for one of his crew from the happenings of their morning hunt.  Crock did show us the buck he downed last Sunday.

Congrats to you Mr Crocodile!

After a brief lunch we went on to our travels.  Up over and around we went until we found ourselves coming around Buck Mountain.  But no deer.  HMMMM where are they?

Onward toward Crocodile Monument and suddenly 5 deer are spotted on the ridge above us…doe, doe, doe, doe, BUCK!  Our spirits were lifted very high at this time.  How can we get on him?  No way, the area is way too open and they can go in any direction without any problems.  We watched as the spike ran off.  The unique thing about his antlers was they almost touched at the tips and they were about 12 inches long.  A trophy for sure.

We were on a road I had only been on once in my life and so we continued up that road and made another plan as to our direction of travel.  Suddenly Bones spots a deer nearly hidden in the brush….doe…another on the right….fawn.  Dang.

“There’s One”!  And the Weasel is pointing in the opposite direction of the two that Bones had just spotted.  “Let’s walk over the edge and see what it was, I didn’t get a look at its head”.

And over we walked, rifles in hand….BUCK!  And the deer was running hard away.  But like almost all muley deer, it stopped about 125 yards out and turned broadside to me.

I settled the open sights on its shoulder and touched the trigger…the rifle roared and the dust flew right in front of its brisket!  DANG!  Another missed shot.  The buck ran hard and fast up and over the top, a clean miss as attested by video from Bones camera.

Why didn’t you shoot Weasel?  I was about to, when you shot, but then, I realized I hadn’t cocked my rifle.   Another HMMMMMM….buck feaver?

At the close of the day we found ourselves at Hamburger Hill and Bones made us up a very good roast beef sandwich for the ride home.  Total count of deer seen today….91!  With only 2 bucks in the bunch!

Maybe tomorrow gang.

Bears Butt

Oct. 3, 2012