Monticello weather:  Partly cloudy skies.  COLD!  High near 35 F.!!!!  BRRRRRRRR, with winds NW at 10 to 15 mph.  That is what is expected today and with a low tonight of 19 F,  there will be frost on the pumpkin!

Right now it is 25 F, with 54% humidity and a 12 mph wind, so it feels like it is 15 F.!!!!

I’m for sure taking my capote on this hunt!

Yesterday, like many days before, I was scouring the digital images of the hunting area  looking for water holes and I found quite a few around where I think Dennis is going to want us to camp.  One in particular is a water hole I saw in a You Tube video of a guy that frequents (or used to) a forum I like to look at…the Utah Wildlife Net…His name is Elk22 something and in his video he shows a water hole that he was watching and then the bull elk he finally put down.  I noticed some features about that water hole and when I found what I did yesterday, I had this feeling come over me that it was the same one I saw in his video!  Game on as far as I’m concerned.  But whether the elk are visiting that hole or not at this time of year is another thing.  He was bow hunting and it was August or September when they were all over that water hole.

There might be a time during the hunt that I’ll take a hike into that hole and see for myself if there are any fresh tracks around it.

Speaking of tracks, I will have my plaster of paris stuff with me to make casts of any good bear tracks we may come across!  I got a good one of a cougar track on a past hunt up near Kamas once, so since there are supposed to be so many bears down in this neck of the woods there is bound to be an old track left in a hardened mud place to be found.  Time will tell and speaking of time……………

2 days!

Don’t forget to vote today!

Bears Butt

Nov. 5, 2013

BRRRRRRR!  34 degrees outside right here, but what is it like in Monticello?

26 degrees! with 62% humidity!

Today will see a mix of clouds and sun followed by mostly cloudy this afternoon and a few showers possible.  High expected to be mid 40’s and winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph…It always seem to have winds 5 to 10 mph….and a chance of rain at 40%  Lows tonight around 30!

Looking down the road at their long range forecast I see a warming trend with highs above normal, around 50 with lows around 30.  I think us hunters are in for a very nice hunt!  With this mild of temperatures we may even see ourselves a bear or two!  Wouldn’t that be fun!!!?!!!  I have never seen a bear outside of Yellowstone!  And as long as any bear we saw was far away from the downed elk, I would be just fine with that!

Who is excited is ME!!!

3 days!

Bears Butt

Nov. 4, 2013

Woke up to snow on the ground and more flying around!  BRRRRRR!  Bundle up in that there capote!

Monticello woke up to a mix of clouds and sun, with a high expected in the low 50’s and lows in the upper 20’s!  Winds today will begin out of the SW and shift during the day to out of the NNW!  That will mean a change is coming their way in the form of colder temps and maybe even that snow that was talked about yesterday.  The storm watch has been lifted!

I’m glad I got done what I got done yesterday as far as packing some of my personal stuff in the camp trailer.  Today I would be tracking in wet snow and that would have meant another cleaning of the floor before heading out.

This afternoon Tracker is coming down and we will make sure the trailer will hook up to his truck properly…level and lights….His truck sits a little higher than Weasels.

Do you know about Weasels truck?  We were going to use it to go hunting with, but suddenly what turned out to be a bad fuel injector that cost him over $900 to get fixed, another problem caused his radiator fluid to dump into the crank case.  Then after fixing that problem and changing out the fluids in the crank case and having the engine purring like a kitten, his transmission went out!  What a streak of bad luck!

What all of us are glad about with that situation is that it broke down before we left town.  It could have been much worse to have been part way to the hunting area or worse, up on the mountain hunting.  That is something everyone needs to think about even with new vehicles.  Be prepared!

4 days!

Bears Butt

Nov. 3, 2013

All shot on the “Blue Mountains of Utah”! If these are not already killed, we just might run into one!

Hold everything!  Monticello weather has a change coming that wasn’t in the forecast yesterday!  Remember when I reported yesterday about it going to be mid 40’s through the rest of this week and all of next?  Well, it ain’t so now!  Listen to this!

Special Weather Statement for Monticello and surrounding areas:

Potentially significant winter storm to bring colder temperatures and snowfall to the region Sunday night through Wednesday morning!

A strong cold front ahead of a trough of low pressure will move through Northeast Utah and Northwest Colorado Sunday afternoon and night with snow starting in the mountains of NE Utah and NW Colorado!  This cold front will stall just north of the Book Cliffs Monday morning, with the trough of low pressure deepening over the Great basin Monday afternoon.  Precipitation will increase across the area in the SW flow with snow levels initially around 8,000 feet.  The cold front will push across the remainder of eastern Utah and western Colorado Monday night into Tuesday morning with snow levels lowering to all valley floors!  Snowfall will continue through Wednesday morning as the low lifts out of the region!  Snowfall amounts are uncertain at this time, but the potential exists for significant snowfall in most mountains as well as some valleys and temperatures turn much colder!!!!!!

YIKES!  That is a major change!  So, folks bring your capotes to the hunt!

With a change in our local weather coming tonight through tomorrow, my day is going to be filled with Fall activities, especially picking up leaves, but also getting some of my things packed into the trailer for the hunt!

Another thing that has occurred recently is the addition of Night Fisher to our gang of hunters!  I called him yesterday and talked to him about joining us!  He said he would love to!  He brings with him the expertise we need in finding an elk.  He has killed many in his young age and knows their habits and such and although he has never been down in the Abajo Mountains, I don’t think it will take him long to figure out where the elk like to hide.  He is also bringing a couple of back packs used to haul out elk on ones back!  So, with his two and Trackers one, there will be three of us available to haul out boned meat, while the others will be free to carry the head, antlers and cape.  I figure the meat alone will weigh about 600 pounds, while the head, antlers and cape will be close to 300!

Additionally, the antlers alone will be about 80 inches long, which are too long for someone to put on their back and carry out, so I picture a man on each side carrying them, still attached to the head of course, and a third man carrying the bundled up cape.

It really doesn’t get much better than this!  IT DON’T!!!

5 days!

Bears Butt

Nov. 2, 2013

Monticello Weather:

Sunny, high 48, low 27 light breezes NW changing to NNE by this evening.

It looks like the long range forecast for Monticello is going to be just about like this.  The hunt will be held in perfect conditions!

Continuing to study elk habits, more videos, and reading about the 10 best ways to get close enough to a bull elk for a shot, has taken me all over the map.  Well, the map of my area of hunting that is.  I have tried to locate a detailed enough map on-line that we could use it to know where we are during the hunt, but so far no real success.  I’ll probably have to rely on my GPS to let us know where we are and how to get to where we might want to be and then back again.  We will get it all figured out.

I have often wondered about the daily habits of deer to mostly show up just before dark or be out in the open at first light.  The morning time sightings are while they are working their way back to a sleeping hideout somewhere, while the evening ones are when they are coming out to eat and party all night.

This same activity applies to elk.  Oh, and bears…we will be hunting in bear country you know.

So, some smarty gave this type of behavior a name…”Crepuscular”….From Wikipedia:

The word crepuscular is derived from the Latin crepusculum, meaning “twilight”.^[1] Its sense accordingly differs from diurnal and nocturnal behavior, which respectively peak during hours of daylight and dark. The distinction is not absolute however, because crepuscular animals may also be active on a bright moonlit night or on a dull day. The use of the terms often is vague; for example, some animals that are casually described as nocturnal are in fact crepuscular.^[2]

———–

I suppose single people over the age of 21 could be classified as crepuscular, heck maybe even some not single people could be classified as that too.  And when the spouse finds out about it, they begin to name call!  “You Creep!”  “You Scumbag”!!  “You Liar”!!!!  Can you see the connection here?  Crep…uscu…lar!  Correlations are everywhere if you look for them!

6 days!

Bears Butt

NOV! 1, 2013

Monticello Weather:

A beautiful sunshiny day ahead!  High 44, low 27 with light winds beginning WNW (you know what that means) at 10 to 15 mph, shifting to NNW by this evening!

Now that sounds like a great day!

Yesterday, among all the other things that went on, I spent some time on “field judging bull elk” web sites and downloaded some very interesting stuff.  One of the websites is called “Bowsite.com”, they have an interactive deal, where they show a picture of a bull elk and you guess what the Boone and Crockett score is of the antlers.  It was a fun thing to get into, although I think they messed up on a couple of them.  One is clearly a 6X6 bull, and they called it a 5X6…oh well.  Then I downloaded some pictures where they tell you the “average” sizes of various parts of the elks body are.  For instance the length of the bulls chest from the hump on the back to its belly measures 36 to 40 inches and the length of its face from nose to bottom of the antlers is 15 to 16 inches.  You can use these to guesstimate tine length etc.

It also tells you the “rules” of the book and how to get into it.  The antlers have to have at least 5 points on each side plus a bunch of other criteria to get into the book.

Not that any of that will mean anything to me once I’m on the hunt, but who knows.  I’m sure that when I see a big bull standing or walking around, I’ll know if its a shooter or not.  The 4th point on a side is called “the sword” and if that is a big old long thing….BANG!!!!!

There was another web site that said to start with 200 points, which is pretty much an average young 6X6 bull’s antler measurements.  Then start adding up points such as length of each of the tines, width beyond 30 inches between the antlers and guessing the circumference of the antlers between the “G” points up to G-4.  You would have to have a lot of time to study an animal to do this, but I suppose a bull could stick around long enough for you to do that.  Probably it would be better if you were glassing it from a long distance away.

As for now….7 days and counting!

Bears Butt

Oct. 31, 2013

Happy Halloween!

BRRRR!  Cold this morning!

Weather for Monticello:

Rain and snow this morning, becoming mostly cloudy this afternoon.  High around 40, Low 26, winds NNW around 10 mph, chance of rain 60%.

Looking at the long range forecast it is calling for a warming trend and the next chance of rain/snow will be Monday of next week.  We can live with that!

Do you know what NNW means?  Let me give you a little lesson.

On a compass there is a “N” that stands for “North”, and that is where the little arrow inside the compass points.  That tells you which direction North is.  There is also an “E” for East, “S” for South and a “W” for West.  So, if the winds are going to come from the South, the weather forecast will say “S Winds”, if they are coming from the West the forecast will say “W”.  But what about winds that aren’t coming from a straight on direction like South or West, or East or North?  Well then they must be coming from some direction between those points.  Like North West…NW, or South East…SE.  And if the winds are coming at you from closer to North it would be marked as North North West, “NNW” (North of North West) or if it’s coming from closer to the West than North, West North West, “WNW” (West of NorthWest).

Now for your test.  The weather forecast is calling for temperature of 20 degrees with winds ESE at 10 mph, and you are facing directly North with nothing on but a wet sheet, what part of your body will get coldest first?

Today’s schedule will be involved with making sure everything is in the camp trailer…stuff like coffee, sugar, toilet paper and the like.

I packed the game bags yesterday in a duffle bag and those will be tossed in the truck when we leave camp to head out looking for an elk.  You never know where the elk will finally hit the dirt and if we have to pack it out, those bags will come in real handy.

I also got my “warm stuff” bag sorted out and took out the kinds of things I will never need.  Loaded up the hand warmers and made an emergency kit of sorts.  One for fire starting, with fresh “strike anywhere” matches, a small candle and a charcoal stick hand warmer.  The rest of the bag contains gloves, face masks and a pull over rain jacket.

In my “take it with me” fanny pack I cleaned out the 3 year old Tootsie rolls, made sure the Kipper Snacks were in there, as well as three hunting knives, my pelvis cutting tomahawk, a liver and heart bag, small piece of rope and knife sharpener.

This “getting ready” is kind of fun and with only a few days left before we head out I know I’m over killing everything.  But when we get up on the mountain there should be plenty for everyone.

My workout this morning was a grueling one with lots of sweat.  My legs have gotten used to the 10% inclines and so the calves are not paining me like they were a week ago, or throbbing like two weeks ago.  This working out is sort of a good thing.  You should try it!  Just Saying!

8 days!

Bears Butt

Oct. 30, 2013

Monticello weather:

Still under that winter storm warning.  Snow accumulations 5 to 10 inches, beginning at 9,000 ft and above and then dropping to 6500 feet later in the day.  Winds 20 to 35 mph, reducing visibility to less than 1/4 mile and drifting the snow.  Snow and ice packed roads can be expected at higher elevations.

Other than that a pretty good day can be expected.  High near 46, low of 31, with 30% chance of showers!

That actually sounds like a good day to make some ground soup and some home made biscuits.

Now I’ll get off subject of the dream elk hunt, but I just have to tell you this.

Yesterday I had the pleasure to cut up a friends deer she killed out near Elwood.  She said it came out of a patch of corn and she dropped it in its tracks.  During processing it was plain to see the entry and exit holes and she really had made a great shot!  Only lost about 1/4 of one of the front quarters to shock.

Anyway, I have cut up a lot of deer in my time and this one has them all beat as far as fat goes.  It had at least 1/2 inch on its butt, which isn’t such a big deal, but what was a big deal was the fat that was layered between the muscles.  I’ve never seen this before.  It made for some extra work to get it all cut out but I’ll just bet this deer will be wonderful table fare!

Congratulations Shelly on one nice little buck!

9 days!

Bears Butt

Oct. 29, 2013

I missed out posting up yesterday because of the “Un-turkey Shoot” held at the Logan DWR Shooting range.  Our friend Muskrat held his 16th annual shoot yesterday to raise some funds to help Homeless Veterans.  He uses the money raised to purchase  clothing and other essentials that homeless vets can use.  It was a very fun event, as usual, lots of good folks, a great shoot and some excellent Octopork sandwiches and Buffalo Chili!  I doesn’t get any better than that!

OK, back to why I’m writing!

Monticello Weather for today:

Partly cloudy and windy!  High 58, low 40.  Winds out of the South at 25 to 35 mph….With gusts as high as 50 or more!  WOW!  Then tonight showers will develop after midnight and an increasing chance of precipitation to 30%.

Now folks that isn’t all there is to it!  They have been issued a “WINTER STORM WARNING”!

A warning means it’s gonna happen and you best get ready for it!

This warning is in effect from midnight tonight through 6 p.m. Tuesday evening.

Snow and blowing snow.  Snow will start falling early Tuesday morning with the heaviest snow expected before midday Tuesday.  Snow accumulations…5 to 10 inches!  Snow level from 9,000 and higher will drop to 6500 feet!  Winds out of the South at 15 to 20 mph with gusts over 35 mph expected!

Blowing snow and drifts with near white out conditions, snow and ice packed roads making for hazardous driving!

That really sound like it could be winter!

Will it be enough to drive the big boy elk down from the higher elevations?  I doubt it, but it should make them begin to think about heading for their winter ranges.  A dusting of snow would make finding them a bit easier, what with tracks and just plain visibility against the white background.  This time in two weeks we will have been hunting for three days!

10 days until we head South!

Bears Butt

Oct. 28, 2013