Our friend Visitor gave me this link:

http://www.grindtv.com/outdoor/excursions/post/hunters-spark-outrage-by-killing-white-spirit-moose/

Interesting article and it would make me think twice before dropping the hammer on an albino animal.

Bears Butt

Oct. 10, 2013

I thought this would be appropriate as a picture since it’s October and all!

Well, you have read all the events of our muzz deer hunt and now I need to tell you the rest of the story.  I’ll embellish it some because it needs it!

For many years we have had the Boobin Baby Board in our camp:

It’s a symbol of shots taken and the bucks didn’t make it back to camp…many excuses befall the shooters who miss and we hear them all.  Just like this sign says, the shots go high, the shots go low, the shots go behind, the shots go in front of the animal…all of us who have taken the shots have seen that ill fated bullet hit somewhere other than the animal.  It’s a sad thing actually.

You all know my bullet of choice is the Hornady Great Plains conical with the hollow base and hollow point.  In my caliber of rifle, .54, that bullet weighs 425 grains and I push it out the barrel with 90 grains of good old ffg blackpowder.  My rifle doesn’t print the bullet holes one on top of the other, but they are usually within a basketball size group.  Well maybe closer to a soccer ball group…hmmm…that doesn’t seem right either, maybe a grapefruit size group and these are at 100 yards.  In my eye, that’s close enough.  I don’t have one of those fancy “lead sleds” to strap my rifle into and shoot without my interference, but my confidence leads me to believe that if I did have one of those machines, the rifle would print bullet holes one on top of the other.

So, there is my “go to” bullet and load and my rifle likes it.

What is your “go to” load?  Only you know, but I have a couple of friends who like something different.  Both Crock and Dry Dog like the Thompson Center Maxi ball bullet and both of them push them out the barrel with loose powder.  Crock might use P-P-P-Pyrodex (I always studder when I say that word) I’m not sure, but Dry Dog uses good old honest and true blackpowder.

Now both of these gentlemen are good shots, don’t get me wrong.  They usually bring home the venison on the deer hunt and for sure they have plenty of opportunities each year.  A quick glance at most of the Boobin Baby Boards of years gone by shows their names are pretty regular names on it.  Right boys?

It’s an awfully bad year of deer hunting if these two don’t get at least one shot during the 9 days the hunt is open…one shot each that is.  Their untold moto is “If it’s brown it’s down” and all you have to do is verify there are antlers on the animal and the shots are going to be fired…10 yards to 3,000 yards, it really doesn’t matter.

OK, so to my point.  These two really should go to the range with a variety of bullets to choose from and they both should shoot something other than their preferred choice of today.  I say this because their choice of bullets, the TC Maxi ball is a “Misser”!  I call it “The Missing Bullet”!  And had I told you that upfront on this writing you would not have understood and would have probably thought I was writing about looking in the box of bullets and not finding what I was looking for.

“The Missing Bullet” is one that has a mind of its own.  Once it leaves the muzzle of the rifle it goes where it wants to go, not where the shooter wants it to go.

Take this year for example.  Now I was not there with these two hunters to know exactly where the missing bullets hit once they were fired, but I did hear the stories about shooting at deer and the deer not coming back into camp…thus another dollar in the biggest buck contest and a sad story to be heard throughout the camp.

In Dry Dogs case, he shot 3 missing bullets before finally taking down a nice buck on his 4th attempt.  AND I might add, that 4th shot almost missed.  I think the buck had a premonition the bullet was going to miss and moved its neck up so the bullet would hit it.

In Crocks stories, he too had several shots this season, and just like Dry Dog, all of his shots missed.  He was not so lucky as to have a suicidal buck to shoot at and so he is eating tag soup at this moment, just like me.

As for me;  The day we got our camp set up and ready for the hunt, almost all of us decided to load up our rifles while things were still in control and the weather was still dry.  I made the worst mistake of my entire life on that day.  I let Dry Dog talk me into loading my rifle with a missing bullet!  I have NEVER shot a missing bullet out of my rifle!  It likes the Great Plains and it shoots them very well.  I must have had just enough bubbly in my system to allow Dry Dogs sweet talking influence me into thinking my rifle would shoot a TC Maxi ball as straight as the Great Plains bullets go….what a mistake on my part!  (put a sad face smiley here)

So, when that big buck finally presented me with my shot (the only one for this season) I took careful aim like you know I am capable of, and when the cap set off the powder charge and the bullet went flying down range, the mind of that missing bullet took over and purposely flew where it knew it would not hit the deer….my case of “The Missing Bullet”!  Never again!

If more people would read and take to heart this story, there would be a marked increase in TC Maxi ball bullets at garage sales throughout the land and Crock and Dry Dog would have a field day picking them up for little to nothing.  Some traditions just have to continue and I’m certain these two will continue to use “the missing bullets” until they die.  Maybe they just like to see their names on the Boobin Baby Board.

Bears Butt

Oct. 9, 2013

Well, just because we broke our camp and everyone went home does not mean the hunt is over!  Come on folks get with the program!

After six days in the mountains a guy just has to have a day or two to recover from all that fun!  A long hot shower is always in order as is a sleep in day to try and catch up.  It’s funny how the body reacts and should you stay in the mountains you probably wouldn’t even notice how fatigued you really are, but once you get home the clock begins to wind down quickly and there you are, a big pile of jello, in need of a shower and some sleep.

After the sleep in, I had Edjukateers deer to cut up and get into the freezer.  He just wanted a few steaks from it and he gave me the rest.  And so I spent a few hours in the garage taking care of that.  Thanks for all the meat Edjukateer, it will not go to waste!

Toward the end of the day, Weasel called and asked if I wanted to go hunting in the morning (Tuesday)…sure I said!  What time?  Well if we go back to where we were camped we would have to leave about 4:30 a.m.  Let’s do it!

Then it wasn’t very long after that my phone rings and it’s Tracker, asking if we were going to go hunting in the morning and could he and Bones tag along (neither of them have a tag, they just wanted to get out and see some animals).  Of course!  And so the plan was made to pick them up and the four of us would head into the hills for the day!

The next morning we headed up over Monte Cristo mountain toward New Canyon and points beyond!  On our drive up and over we saw numerous animals in and near the road.  It was actually a very white knuckle type of trip for me, the driver, trying to watch the road and the sides of the road for animals.  Deer seemed to be everywhere!  We didn’t count them but I’m guessing over 20 deer were scattered along the road.  We also saw two elk running along the roadside as well and a couple of raccoons and something that was small and black!

Reaching our destination at a perfect time of morning to begin our drive around, we immediately began seeing deer.  Why so many deer were out is a mystery to me, but before the day was over we counted 114 deer!

The day was a beauty, partly cloudy, wind still and just the right temperature.

In our travels it was quite obvious that the area had been witness to some very strong winds since we had broken our camp on Sunday.  There were downed trees all over the place and some had even gone down across the roadways.  Of course other hunters had pulled them out of the road but left a bunch of the smaller branches as evidence.  I’m rather glad we broke our camp when we did.

Well, as usual on a road day we have to eat and so we found ourselves up at the spring on the backside of Long Ridge, time for hot dogs!

Bones had to start the fire and she insisted on a flint and steel one and she got it going really quick!

I was in charge of the condiments this day and sure enough, they were left sitting on the upper shelf of my fridge, back at home!  So we decided we were celebrating Dry Dog’s naming and since we were using the little wire devises he had given me to cook the dogs, what more of a celebration could it have been.  Actually, the hot dogs were provided by Weasel and company, and they were “all beef” ones made by Kirkland (Cosco) and even without mustard and ketchup they were very good!  I’ll have to look for them next time I’m in the market for hot dogs.

Tracker had to take a moment for a photo-op while we were stopped and so pictures were taken.

Back on the road we immediately began seeing more deer.  The count for the day was adding up quickly.

We did manage to see three bucks running together but we just could not get close enough for a shot.  Our hopes were high, however, for them to be closer to the main road when it got later in the day.  We made sure we were in that area before dark.

On our way down from near the top of the main road, we came around a bend and there were two bucks feeding just off the side.  Weasel and I bailed out and prepared to shoot (of course making sure we were off the road and not shooting across it…legal like).  Since I was driving I had to make sure the vehicle was in park and everything was good before I baled out.  By the time I got my cap on the nipple, I looked up just in time to see Weasels well placed shot, go right over the top of one of the bucks!  Miss!

I aimed at the one on the right and tightened up on the trigger, SNAP!  The hammer fell on the cap and drove it hard onto the nipple without going off!  Damn!  Now I had to fumble for my pocket knife in order to pry it off the nipple.  Meanwhile the two bucks ran about 40 yards and stopped.  I was flustered by now and finally when the old cap came off I was able to re-cap and ready for another shot.

As in all my muzzleload kills of the past, I can tell you exactly what my sight picture looked like, this time I can not!  And so, when the gun fired, the two bucks ran off without a scratch!  A clean miss.  I figure I must have just pointed the gun in the general direction and pulled the trigger.  I am getting too old for this!

I have my excuses, but still a miss is a miss and more will be told about this in a future posting…stand by!

Well, there we had our chances at a two buck day and we had been talking about doing just that all day long.  Find two bucks and put them both on top of the rig for the ride home, with blood dripping down the windows…but NOOO!  We both had to miss and they were easy shots too.

That was the excitement for this day and so when it got dark we were well on our way for home.  Discussions were had about hunting the next day as well, but this old body of mine knew I could not get it out of bed, not when it was going to get into bed after 10:30 and would have to get out of bed by 3:30…no way.  So I opted out of going that next day.

Not to be discouraged, Weasel, Tracker and Bones, tried their best to get me to go, they even didn’t leave until about 6:30 to head to the hills.  They even went up past Hardware Ranch to get into the hunting area…still I did not go.  Thanks for trying guys, but I need my beauty rest. (We have seen that picture already)

Well, they went on their way and the sighting of deer was not even close to what it was “yesterday” (114), I think they said they only saw about 30 deer all day and all but one were does and fawns.

It was around 4 p.m. and they had been talking to Crock and his gang about the deer they had been seeing and Crock told them that as they proceeded up the road about a quarter mile, they might see a nice two point.  He told them that they had seen it a couple of times and it was running with a doe and a fawn.  So be on the look out.  They said their goodbyes and left them cleaning up their camp for their trip home…their hunt was over…no deer, but lots of chances (more on this story coming in another post).

Just as Crock had said, about a quarter mile up the road, there stood a nice two point!  Weasel didn’t even hesitate, baled out, put the bead on the buck and let the lead fly!  BLAM!  Deer Down!!!!!

Congratulations Weasel!  That is a fine young buck and will make for some mighty good eat’in!

None of the guys went out on the last day of the season and Weasel and I spent most of the day taking care of his buck.  So, there you have the full story of the Willow Creek Free Trappers 2013 deer hunt!  A successful hunt in all respects!  Everyone was safe!  Everyone had a great time!  Four bucks were taken off the mountain and there were a lot of bucks seen.  Most of them small, but we did see a couple of really big ones as well.

Good luck to those of you hunting the Utah General Season deer hunt and I hope your hunt is safe and successful like ours was!

Bears Butt

Oct. 8, 2013

It’s now Sunday morning of the 2013 muzz deer hunt.  Traditionally we go out in the morning and then try and make it back around noon to break the camp and head for home.  Also, tradition usually lends itself a blow to some of the younger folks in camp on Saturday night.  The camp fire glow is not going to be had the next night (Sunday) and so for some reason there is a party atmosphere that calls for “one more drink” before retiring for the night.  This year was no exception.

The call to order for who is riding with who showed that the Rack would have Weasel, Gunner, Ian “Evening Scotch”, Conner, McKenzie and I going out in pursuit of the wiley bucks.  The ride would take us over to the old cabin and then up past the trailer house.  Those are places we didn’t get to yesterday and Weasel thinks the kids need to see them so that stories of old would make some sense to them.  Load it up and let’s get out’a here!

The morning was crisp and cold but not nearly as cold as yesterday morning.  No frost like yesterday either, but plenty cold to have us bundled up pretty good.  However, Conner and Kenzie insisted they ride in the back of the truck right from the start.

There weren’t as many deer out and about this morning as we traversed the rough road to the cabin, but the morning sun was just hitting when we arrived.  It was a beautiful day to be in the field hunting.

That old cabin has seen better days and whoever built and lived in it must have had a pretty rough go of it.  About the only thing I can see that would have been appealing to live there is the fresh spring water that flows year round just outside the door.  The area around it is sagebrush and rough roads and having never been there in the heat of the summer, I would just bet it gets down right HOT!

From here the plan is to go up past where Gunner killed his deer several years back, which is also the place Conner and I tried to push that big buck into Weasel yesterday.  Maybe we will see it again.  Then over the top and down past the old trailer.  From there it will be anyone’s guess as to where the Rack will travel.

It’s always nice to take a break from the bumping and grinding to get a snack while road hunting and this was a very welcome break.  A snack of pepperoni and crackers or jerky or some small treat like a Snickers bar, any of which are very good for the soul!  Plus the stretch is good.  Next year there will be some modifications made to the Rack.  Some kind of cushion on the rails of the Rack to soften the blows riders get when they are leaning against them and a way to stabilize the rifles during travel so the hunters don’t have to hold onto them all the time.  These will be very welcome additions and any ideas you have as to how to accomplish these things is very much needed.  Please leave comments below this posting!  Thank you!

We made it to the top of a very high hill and the scenery was magnificent.  As far as you could see were the changing colors of the leaves of the aspens, oak and buck brush, contrasted with the dark black/green of the pines.  Gunner wanted a picture of he and Evening Scotch with that scene in the background and I was sure not against taking just such a shot.

Well, the morning hunt came to an end, just like this entire hunt did and we came off the mountain in time to see the camp in a hustle with people going all over the place picking up their items and putting things away.  It is like this every year and it’s the day I really don’t like about the hunt.  It means “it’s over” for another year….but, what do you do?

I made my way to my trailer and opened up the fridge and pulled out the two packages of Sweet Breads I had brought to heat up and let these folks give them a try.  Most of us have had them before, but you never know if there is someone in camp that has never heard of them or tried them.  The eating utensils for this meal is nothing more than a toothpick!  When the call went out that the Sweet Breads were ready, here came the folks like a hive of yellow jackets to a bowl of Posole!

And when the clunking sounds of empty toothpicks hitting against the bottom of a cast iron pan was done, the pan went in for a cleaning!  Next year I need to remember to bring three bags of Sweet Breads!

Soon we had the camp all cleaned up and ready for the road, but not before we finished with the “unfinished business”.  We still had two things to do…make that “Three” things to do!

The breaking of the Beaver Sharn stand!  And as a reminder to you who forgot yours this year….Don’t forget them next year!

Who won the biggest buck contest?  And did that person take a horn off the kill jug?  We know that he consumed the mini bottle that was presented by Half Cock ED, but I think he forgot about the big bottle!  Yes!  Dry Dog won the biggest buck contest with his fine 3 point buck!  Bottoms up Dry Dog!

What a nasty thing to face at noon!  Makes me shiver just seeing this picture! (I must have been shivering when I took it because it’s not in focus).

Now for you non-alcohol drinking folks out there, YOU don’t have to drink from this bottle should you make a kill while in our camp.  We have alternate non-alcoholic drinks for you!  I just hope you like Spice V-8!

And then comes the best part of winning the biggest buck contest…the money!

There was well over $100 in that pile of cash and Dry Dog and Magpie had already decided to present it all to Black Arrows Widow, Shy Mouse as a little aid to her financial dilemma.  That is a very nice thing that you decided to do with that money Dry Dog!  Thank You!

AND that is not all!  No Grimace took the winning antlers from last years biggest buck contest and put them on one of his chain saw carved bears and that too is a prize for shooting such a fine animal!  In addition to that, Muskrat had brought a Mule Deer Foundation hat to be given to the winner as well.  Notice Dry Dog has a double hat on!

Does the fun ever stop?

NOPE!  Not yet!  We still have to hear from “TWINKIE MAN”!  Yes folks every year for as long as Twinkies are being made!

And with such a large crowd at hand, Twinkie Man needed some help handing out those delicious little Twinkie treats!  Thanks guys!

Those Twinkies may not be made by the original company, but they sure did taste good.  I don’t know about how Dry Dogs tasted after a big gulp off that nasty whiskey jug, but mine sure was tasty!  Thanks Wapiti!

And there you have it.  From Tuesday through half the day on Sunday…the life in the Willow Creek Free Trappers muzz hunt camp.  Lots of laughter and a whole lot of fun!  Now we have to wait that looooonnnngggg year until we get to do it again.

Bears Butt

Oct. 7, 2013

Edited Oct. 8, 2013

Suddenly it’s Saturday morning of the hunt…man o man time sure flies fast.  It’s like I said in earlier posts, it takes 365 days to get here but it’s over in what seems like a day.  Well, we will make the most of it.

The three kids and Hot Spark are in for a real good time today.  They have only heard the stories of past hunts and they are all very excited to live it.  The alarm clock in my trailer went off at 5 a.m. and I think I should have set it for 4:30 just to be able to get some things done before they came knocking!  I didn’t anticipate what happened, but it was alright that they came over to Grandpa’s trailer to make sure I was ready to go.

Dry Dog, 3 Guns, Magpie and I had just about finished our first cup of coffee, when a light knock, knock, knock came on the door…I yelled…you don’t have to knock, just come on in…and in they came…all three of them!  Eyes big and bright and ready for the days activities.

I told them as they were coming through the door, “This is a mans trailer and we treat it like a mans trailer, so if the smells don’t suit you, you don’t have to stay.  It should smell like Blackpowder, because that is what we are shooting”!  The only one who made any comment to that was McKenzie and she said “It sure DOES smell like blackpowder in here, and I like it”!!!!

Well, they stayed a short while and because of the way they were all bundled up, decided it was too hot and left to go out by the fire with the other hunters.

The sky had cleared of any clouds and the temperature dropped into the low 20’s during the night, which gave everything a coating of frost about a quarter inch thick.  To say it was cold was an understatement and so I bundled up with all the clothes I had brought to the hunt.  If I was to get cold today, it was my own fault, the only thing left I could do was crack open some of those hand warmer things and I would wait until I just couldn’t stand it any more to do that.

Because of the cold and the fact that the young’uns were not used to it, they were forced into the back seat of the truck until things warmed up.  That put Grandpa in the back of the rack, all by himself.  Everyone else in camp wanted to have seats in warm vehicles for this mornings hunt, and they were smart to be thinking that way.  Grandpa needed to be where the grandkids were and to sacrifice a warm seat is what I had to do.  It wasn’t that bad.

When the light was right to be able to see our sights, we left camp and proceeded to see deer right away.  I think the deer were anxious to come out and play after so many days of wet conditions.

This doe and fawn could care less that we were so close, they continued to feed while we stopped and looked at them.  Others were more skittish and ran off quickly.  We had high hopes of seeing a buck we could shoot and even though we did see bucks during the day, none of them were close enough for a shot.  So for that part of the hunt the kids didn’t get to see how good a shot Dad or Grandpa are, maybe they will get to see that tomorrow.

The trip was to cover ground that Weasel had told them all about for as long as they have been alive.  Places like Crushed Canteen Crossing, Monument Peak, Otter Creek, the old cabin and the trailer.  To do this will take more than just today.

Conner had told me to keep a close eye out for grouse as well as deer while we were driving around and old Grandpas eye was peeled for more than just grouse and deer; he was looking for rabbits too.

As is usual in the Rack, when an animal is spotted, the riders tap on the side or top of the cab in order to signal a reason to stop is in order.  The driver then makes as gentle a stop as the tap indicates the need….in other words, a light tap or two signals a slow down and stop soon…a series of hard and rapid pounds means, go ahead and slam on the brakes, cuz there is a deer really close!

Going down the road a Snowshoe hare ran out from under a bush and around the backside of a pine.  I pounded hard on the side of the truck and the Weasel hit the skids and baled out expecting to see a big old buck standing somewhere close by.  I whispered it was a rabbit and for Conner to get the shotgun and go find it.

It took awhile for the kids to get out of the back of the truck and the shotgun loaded, but it finally did happen and I directed him to where the rabbit ran.  Soon, I saw the young hunter raise the shotgun and take the shot!  A yell of “I GOT HIM”!!!!  echoed through the land!  A prouder hunter could not have been found.

I think Dad, Mom, Sister, Brother and Grandpa were pretty proud as well!  Everyone wanted to get into the act and congratulate him on such a big rabbit!  It will eat well!  Maybe next year he will tag his first buck!?!

Well, the day went on and warmed up enough for the three youngsters to come out and join Grandpa in the back of the rack.  They were very excited and the two older ones maintained the bouncing and jostling, but after a couple of hours, young Cody was getting “bobble head” pretty bad and I asked if he would rather ride in the front of the truck where it was more comfy…he jumped at the idea and was soon fast asleep!  Preparing for his long night around the camp fire I’m sure.  I think mom was in that same state of mind.

When one is not a hunter, or maybe when one is just beginning to learn how we hunt, it gets boring rather quickly and the eye lids get REALLY heavy, causing your state of consciousness to drift into dreamland…we all have had it from time to time.  The one that has to exempt from such a thing is the driver!

We traveled up a road and made a stop to glass into the brush.  I immediately saw three deer and one was a very big buck.  Had things not played out exactly as they did we would not have seen it lay down.  Once it did it was impossible to see it.  We made a plan and Conner and I would go up a road parallel to where it was laying and about a mile up the hill.  Weasel will drive the rig up the road and onto the same hill as the buck was laying.  Conner and I would then come across country, skirting the tree line and come into the bucks bed area and hopefully scare it out and up into Weasels waiting gun!

This took us a couple of hours to do, and we chased out over 20 head of deer and one coyote, but no buck.  He must have let us just walk on past in that thick brush.  It was a good refreshing hike and I think Conner learned a thing or two about what “real” hunting is all about.  The sneaking along trying to be as quiet as you can.  The listening as deer bound out and then stop close by without you being able to see them and then suddenly there they are less than 20 feet from you sneaking along to get out of there.  And then the finale when all the deer have made their quiet move away from you and then they are faced with going somewhere fast because they have gone to the edge of the brush line and you are still pushing them from behind!  It was a really fun push that we made but that big buck didn’t get that big by being stupid.

And so, there you have the end of that day’s hunt for the Rack.  No shots fired!

And for supper it was a welcome Steak that treated our pallets!

Tomorrow is Sunday and traditionally we do a drive around in the morning and come back to camp around noon to clean up and caravan out of the mountains and back to our homes.  Maybe Bears Butt should use a different weapon in the morning.  It seems his traditional rifle isn’t bringing him much luck!

Bears Butt

Oct. 6, 2013

I did not get a picture of him and his buck, but Wapiti shot a buck on this day.  No, it wasn’t a big buck, but it was legal and that is all that counts!  Any buck shot with a muzzleloader is a trophy, in my mind and his was a good one!  Congratulations Wapiti!  That will make for some mighty fine eating!

If someone has a picture of Wapiti and his buck please send it to me and I’ll include it here!  Thanks!

Oct. 8, 2013

Suddenly we awake and it’s Friday!  How quickly time flies when you are having fun!

It was cold during the night and we awoke to a trace of snow on the ground.  The clouds were hanging low, but no moisture falling out of them.  The air was calm, but the threat was there for more precipitation.  Well, we will make the best of what we have.

The plan for Bears Butt was to go back into the Crawfords and try to find my powder horn, it won’t be easy.  Softball had to go home last night and so we replaced him with Muskrat for the ride.  Muskrat said he would cap up and probably even shoot if he saw a Crawford 2 point close by.  We will need his rifle as our anticipated sighting of big deer is high!

Driving down the highway toward our turn off I snapped a picture of what the Crawfords looked like that morning…snow!

The weather forecast for the day is “clearing and warming during the day and then the temperature drops significantly during the night”.  Well at least we will have a decent rest of the weekend.

Once inside the bowels of the Crawfords I realized this hunt for my powder horn will not be an easy one.  There is over an inch of snow on the ground and we are very much near the bottom of the mountain.  What will it be like up near the top of Hidden Valley?

Our search took us to exactly every place we stopped and got out of the vehicle yesterday.  Our minds collectively recalling just about every detail of our trip in and back out.  We did not travel on any of the roads where we did not stop to get out, because the likelihood of the powder horn hanging out the bottom of the door was not considered.

Stopping and looking, moving the snow with our feet, we looked and looked.  Once satisfied we had covered each of the stops we went on.

At the “sneak on the deer” spot I just knew we were going to find the horn.  Edjukateer and I readdressed every move “we” “I” took.  Going down to look over the edge of the drainage where the two bucks were spotted.  Backing to the truck, gathering up our gear for the sneak.  The possible paths each of us took while we did our sneak.  Again moving the snow and trying our best to locate the powder horn.  Our first pass from the truck to the shooting spot proved nothing.  We backtracked again, thinking and talking out loud about the possibilities of taking this trail over that trail, constantly looking for any hint of the horn laying in the bush or on the ground…back to the truck…nothing.

Let’s do it again.  And so we did, retracing our possible trails again.  I was on Edjukateers right side during the sneak.  Then I was behind him in a narrowing of the trail, then to his right again.  Then Softball radioed the deer were on the move and Edjukateer and I left caution to the wind as we ran up and over the top to take our shots.  He knelt there, I readied by cross sticks here.

Nothing…no sign of the powder horn.

And so it went, up to the over look of Hidden Valley….down to another pee break by the deep mud puddle…over to another over look and then down toward the main road on the other side of Rocky Dugway.  Nothing.

I said aloud as we left our last stop, “Well Grandpa, at least it’s lost in the Crawfords”.

If someone, someday finds this horn, they will have a chance to get it back to me.  First off I have carved “A. Zundel” on the main body of the horn and secondly, White Trapper had scrimshawed on a piece of malachite my Squiggly and name.  A healthy reward to the finder.

Thanks Wapiti, Edjukateer and Muskrat for taking a day out of your hunt to help me try and find my powder horn.

Now back to the hunt!

When we left the over look at Hidden Valley, Edjukateer spotted a small group of deer down in a hollow.  A quick look with the binoculars showed a very nice buck in the group.  Our problem with that was they were 500 yards away and moving farther away.  There would not be any chance to get on the buck.  Had there been other Willow Creek Free Trapper vehicles in the area we might have been able to radio them and get them into a position to ambush the buck as he crested a far off ridge…oh well.  And that was the only group of deer we saw this day in the Crawfords.

Coming out we decided it was time for a hot dog and so we pulled into one of the many gravel pits and gathered up some of the wet sticks we found there.  We built up the paper quite high under the wet sticks and it was enough to get them dry and lighted.

I have to back up a little right here.  The day we got into camp, Dry Dog was excited to give us each a little present he had picked up somewhere during the year.  Each package contained two wire hot dog cooking ends, designed for you to find a stick and twist it on the end.  Put your hot dog on it and cook away.  Of course the length of your stick would determine how hot or burnt your gloves would get…how about that Edjukateer?

Even though Wapiti is showing a double dog dare you on his grill unit, I do not recommend more than one dog at a time.  We had a bad experience this day and lost a dog to the coyotes.  I would have eaten it anyway, but it fell in some cow pie of days ago.  We also modified our wires by bending the ends out just a bit more than they were when new.

There is just something special about a hot dog cooked over a small fire and eaten with some chips and drowned in a cold beer!  How about it Muskrat, how did you like that?

And after our lunch break we headed back toward the camp across the valley.  Leaving behind us another storm cell moving in to take over the Crawford Range.

It was time for the evening hunt by the time we got back into New Canyon and so we continued on up toward the top.  Deer seemed to be everywhere what with the break in the weather.  I don’t recall how many we saw, but it was over 30 and maybe even 50 before it got too dark to see.  But for sure one of them was a buck and Edjukateer made a super shot on it to bring it back to camp.  Good job Edjukateer!!!  First buck on the meat pole!  He is the camp king!!!!  Long Live the King!!!!

Sure it’s not a big buck, but this size of deer makes for some mighty fine eating!

And as more rigs pulled into camp out of the darkness, one of them was the “Blue Goose”, loaded with a bunch of loaded guys and they had reason for celebration as Dry Dog had finally scored a hit on one of his many attempts this season.  A very nice 3 point buck!  Congratulations Dry Dog and a fine shot I might add…right in the neck!

And so, Edjukateers “Kingdom” falls to the Dry Dog…The new reigning King of the camp!  Long live the new King!   Good job both of you!

Well it’s Friday evening and into camp came Hot Spark and her kids…Conner, McKenzie and Cody!  This is the first deer hunt for each of the four of them and it’s going to be a good one.  They are all very much excited to be there and to experience what goes on.  Of course every one of us has to be careful what we are saying and to whom, but that’s ok…it takes youngsters in camp to replace us old buggers who someday won’t be able to be there.  Welcome to camp!

Of course the kids need to get their sleep and mom (Hot Spark) hustles them off to bed about 8:30 or so.  They don’t mind because they know 5 a.m. will be coming soon!

And the rest of the camp enjoys one last laugh before retiring as well.

It has been a great day!  With more expected tomorrow!  Our “last” full day of hunting for this muzz season!  At least the last full day while we are all still camping…there are more days to the hunt and we all know that.

Good night everyone, this old fart needs his beauty sleep!

Boy, I’ll say!!!!

Bears Butt

Oct. 5, 2013

Day two of this years muzz deer hunt found us waking to some snow on the ground.  Not an unwelcome sight, but colder than some expected and for sure wetter than some would have liked.  One thing it did do was force some of us (me) into a warmer rig than yesterdays.  I just could not see an empty seat in a warm outfit going out of camp empty.  Gattlin had a chance at it, as well as the others in The Rack, but all declined.  A decision I’m sure some of them had wished they could “re-do”.

So, here I am in the company of Wapiti (driving), Edjukateer (shotgun) and Softball.

Wapiti was driving his Yukon and he didn’t want to scratch it up any more than possible and so we pretty much stayed on the main traveled roads.  The sighting of deer from these roads was not what it was the day before.  Perhaps the weather had them held up in their beds, or maybe just back into the trees farther than we could see.

Our morning ride didn’t produce much more than good conversation and a lot of laughs.  We decided we should go across the valley and see what the Crawford range had to offer.  I have always been convinced there are deer in that area all year long, especially in an area we call “Hidden Valley”!  The valley where Bo shot his big buck several years ago during his dream hunt.  So, this was our goal, get over to Hidden Valley and scope things out.

I didn’t take a lot of pictures on this outing as we were pretty concerned about the roads being slippery and rocky in a few places, but we covered the area around the face pretty good.  And of course there was a trace of snow.

Going up Rocky Dugway, which is always a treat, especially for the driver, we decided it was time for a short break.  We all piled out and suddenly spotted some deer a ways away.  The binoculars suddenly showed that at least 4 of the 5 deer were bucks and so, back into the truck with zippers still down and off we go in pursuit!

Needless to say, those bucks are still up there somewhere, but our zippers are zipped! (insert smiley face)

We continued up and around and over and down when suddenly two more deer appeared in the valley below.  Binoculars again showed that both of them were bucks!  They were as skittish as the 5 we had seen earlier and so off they went across the valley and up and over the next ridge.  At least they were heading toward our goal of Hidden Valley.  Perhaps we will see them again.

As we went down into this draw, all the water from the rain and melting snow had created quite a large puddle of deep water which made for an interesting “go through” to get on the other side…a bit slippery I might add.  But Wapiti maintained and kept the foot print of the rig pretty much in the existing roadway.  Good job Wapiti!  I’m sure he thought about the return trip all the while we were on this side of the puddle.

As we climbed up the ridge, which is one ridge North of our goal, we stopped to glass a deep draw filled with cedar trees.  Edjukateer spotted the two bucks that had headed in that direction!  They were nearly 300 yards up the draw and would require a very good plan to get close enough for a shot.  We made a plan for Softball and Wapiti to stay where they could keep tabs on the two bucks and to keep Edjukateer and I informed through radio contact on the bucks activities, while we hiked around the hill and make an approach above and closer to the two bucks.

We traveled as fast and quietly as we could and as we approached a lone cedar (our goal) Softball radioed the bucks were moving away and up the draw.  I guess we weren’t as quiet as we should have been.  We put the hustle on and crested the hill and could see the bucks standing down near the bottom about 150 yards out.  Edjukateer took the time to range them and then sat down for a shot.  I placed my cross sticks out in front of me and prepared for my shot.  It’s way out of my range, but with the type of conical bullets we were shooting, still a very do-able shot and a solid hit would put the buck down for the count.  Edjukateers shot went high, a clean miss and the two bucks broke into a fast exit.  No chance for a shot from me.  They continued to travel until they crested the ridge some 500 yards away from us.  Dang!  Another dollar in the big buck bag and a name on the Boobin Baby Board for Edjukateer.

Soon we found ourselves up on the ridge looking over the Hidden Valley, but no deer could be found through our spotting efforts.  Let’s get out of here and see if we can find more bucks!

Again we had the slippery roads and rocky dugway to traverse in order to get down and out of the Crawford Range and at the last stop before leaving I realized I had lost my Great Grandfathers powder horn.  I was sick!

The crew wanted to reverse our course and backtrack to try and find it, but since it was as late as it was in the day, I decided that perhaps we could come back in the morning and look for it.  They agreed.

We talked about where I could have lost it and decided the best and most likely place would be where Edjukateer and I made our sneak to get closer to those two bucks.  That night I dreamed about finding it in that area.

Meanwhile, back at camp, the others had made their road trips here and there and some had seen bucks…some even got shots at bucks…ALL missed, and so, names were placed on the Boobin Baby Board and more dollars were put into the pot for the biggest buck.

I’m not sure why it works this way, but Dry Dog seems to always get several shots each year.  And I think he needs to work on finding a bullet that will fly where he wants it to fly instead of flying where “it” wants to fly.  I’m calling his choice of bullets “Missing bullets”.

Dry Dog is putting his name on the board as the first one of us to miss his shot this year.

And so ends the second day of the 2013 muzz deer season in our camp!  Good night everyone, I have to get up early and head over to the Crawfords and find my lost powder horn.

Bears Butt

Oct. 4, 2013