The last day of the 2012 muzzleloader deer season found Winemaker, Weasel, MAPA’s and myself bouncing along the dusty mountain roads of Unit 2.  Lots of animals abounded as we tripped our way through the day.  There really wasn’t a time where we thought the deer were all bedded down, as we saw deer pretty much all day long.

Some were us as high as the roads we traveled went, while others were midway and still others down low.  We saw many deer very low when we ventured into the local small town for more fuel.  You see, it takes a lot of fuel to road hunt.

The local establishment must love the hunting season and they must truly love the road hunters and if I owned that store I would offer free snacks to the road hunters and encourage as much road hunting as possible…just sayin.

We saw a small moose and even though I took a picture of it that turned out fuzzy, I think my camera had too much dust inside the body to be able to focus.  And so I can’t post a picture of it, but there didn’t appear to be a momma moose around it.  We also saw a weasel in it’s coat of brown cross the road in front of us.  No picture there either as they can move quite fast.

MaPa’s too had a fun time with squirrels and chipmunks at our numerous stops to stretch and grab a snack out of our snack bag.

It was a very fun day.  A bit breezy all day and colder than what has been the norm of late.  A cold front has come in and if I was to have been camping and didn’t know the weather forecast I would have predicted a drastic change in the weather coming very soon, like today.  Perhaps it was the wind and the change that had the animals out and about.  They did seem to be everywhere, but alas only one buck all day long and he did not afford us an opportunity to take a shot.

We did see groups of deer like these:

To be able to get out and visit the nature that houses in these mountains around Northern Utah is really a blessing.  We saw a total of 115 deer in our venture and that is not counting the one that crossed the highway in front of us as we made our way to the hunting area.  THAT is a LOT of deer and to only have one buck among them was another thing that makes you scratch your head.  Maybe Option 2 (for those of you who know what I’m talking about) will change that, but I have my doubts.

We looked across the skyline last evening as we drove our way off the mountain and with the high winds blowing across the ridge we rode along and this is what we saw:

Not just one, but two forest fires burning in the distance.  Our discussion lead to why one would not be more careful with their camp fires, when suddenly it dawned on us that these fires were no doubt the cause of disgruntled hunters opposed to Option 2.  And with the close of the muzzleloader deer season we deduced the fact that the SFW probably had a hand in it too.  With camps showing up for the rifle elk hunt that begins tomorrow, we also decided that those elk hunters were probably sighting in their rifles using steel jacketed bullets and that combined with Option 2 and the SFW it’s no wonder there were two forest fires burning.  I hope they get them put out before next muzzleloader deer season.

It was a fun season, but now another 365 days to wait….It’s going to be a very long year.  Thank you all for being a part of it for me and my family!

Bears Butt

Oct. 5, 2012