Home Again...

Definitely wonderful to be back in Chicago.  Well, outside of my cab ride from the airport, that is.  But, nearly running another car off the road, and stopping in the middle of one highway and then again in a four lane road due to missed turns is to be expected.  

Sat on the couch and watched some TV and chatted with my dad last night.  Was really nice.  Hook up with some old friends later in the week, and then up to Madison on Saturday.

I did write a recap of the hunting last week on the plane, or at least a good portion of it, but I'm having trouble connecting my computer at my parent's condo, so I'm going to have to find WiFi somewhere, so it'll be updated more then.

A Much Needed Break

After three straight months of fishing and hunting (yes, I know, very lucky), we're all some tired folks here and are ready for a much needed break between Archery season and Rifle season. It's been a tough week especially this past week with a group that's never been out to Idaho before. In addition, Sid's mom suffered a slight stroke and has been battling pneumonia, and of course our thoughts and prayers have been with her all week. We're all hoping Grams makes a full and speedy recovery.

I'm really excited to be going home. With all of the excitement and run of emotions of the summer, as well as looking forward to the upcoming adventure this winter, one of the hardest things is not getting to see my parents and sisters as often as I'd like. I'm very fortunate to have been adopted into a number of surrogate families in my life, and I'm extremely grateful for all of their love and support, but there's still nothing like the love of your immediate family. I'm really looking forward to getting to Chicago to spend some time with them.

I know Little Ricky is especially looking forward to the catch up on the last couple of nights of archery season, and I'll definitely do some writing on the plane tomorrow. But now, it's time to get my dirty clothes into a bag so I get get home and do some laundry tomorrow. Hopefully I'll get the downloading problem with my camera squared away as well and share some more images soon. Maybe even a shot of the bull moose walking right up the hill behind the lodge tonight.

Talk to you all from sweet home Chicago tomorrow.

Two Very Cool Nights

Two great nights for different reasons. Friday, just because because sometimes you're reminded how cool nature is, and tonight, well, because sometimes nature is just phenomenally unreal. The bugling we heard tonight, a close encounter with some elk, just way too spectacular.

Of course, I slipped in a minor case of the dumb ass along the way. But, I get a reprieve because it only turned out to be minor.

I'm going to expound, I promise, but long day today, and up early for an airport run tomorrow, and then I head out myself to Chicago on Monday to see my parents. I'm really excited for that. I was kind of excited for the Wisconsin-Ohio State football game next Saturday night, but that's dissipated a bit, I'm afraid. Still looking forward to spending some time with Ryan and Megan in Madison, though.

Hope every one is well.

A Blog Post I Can Be Proud Of

I slowly wandered out of the woods just before sunset on Tuesday. It had rained most of the previous day. The ground was still wet. I was sitting near water, but it wasn’t that warm, no real reason for an animal to come drink, and I wasn’t really hearing anything. My brain just wasn’t there, either.

It was a pretty sunset, though. It’s a shame I think my camera might have crapped out on me and I can’t share it.

I’d been thinking a lot about Wednesday for the previous two days. It had been kind of a “drop dead” date for me. The absolute last date that I should have been back east. A celebration, so to speak, that it turns out I was uninvited to.

But Wednesday morning came, and I headed into town to the Chevy dealership.

WE INTERRUPT THIS BLOG FOR A PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT:

If you own a 2008 Chevy Suburban, if you intend to leave the keys in the ignition, do not remove the key slightly to stop the dinging that indicates the driver’s side door is open. If you do that, and then close all the doors, the car may lock itself automatically, and subsequently lock the keys inside.

Should you happen to do this with a rental car, after a 15 minutes on the phone with them, advising that no, you have neither the rental agreement number or your driver’s license number because both are locked in the car with the keys, they’ll politely tell you there’s not much you can do. “Maybe the Sheriff’s Department can help you out.”

Ah, but before you call the Sheriff’s Department, or a lock smith, call your local Chevrolet dealership with the VIN number. There’s a chance they’ll cut you a key to open the door.

BACK TO YOUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED BLOG:

So, I got the key for Sid, got back to the lodge, and the guys in hunting this week decided they wanted to go fishing for a couple of hours between hunts. I put on my quick dry nylon pants, my long sleeve t-shirt and sweatshirt, threw on my polarized glasses, and boy, I was like a new man.

Got licenses for everyone, headed out to the stream, laced up my wading boots, grabbed my fly rod, and we headed out. It was a bit of a cluster----, as only one of the five had fly fished before. Everyone went straight to a different spot. Fished downstream. Just cruised the bank looking for fish. Basically, buggered a whole stretch out of excitement.

A couple of fish were caught, though. As for me, I realized that I’m certainly more comfortable as an angler than a hunter. I think I’ll still carry a bow out a few times, as sticking an Elk or a Deer with a traditional archery rig still seems like it would be quite an accomplishment, and the process is fascinating to me. I also realize that I don’t share the passion for it that Sid or others I’ve met harbor. I’m definitely more comfortable with a fly rod or a camera in my hands.

But, that didn’t stop me from getting back in the woods last night after dropping everyone else off where they needed to be. I had to go back to the lodge and change, and probably missed out on some of the excitement because of it. Sid and Joe, who by the way is the first cow inseminator that I’ve ever met, got out of the car, and found themselves right in the thick of elk less than 200 yds from where I dropped them off. They spooked one big bull that ran right past where I was to be sitting when I got back in 45 minutes.

The rest of the time, Sid basically just sat and talked with the elk, from all reports. He’d cow call, a “meeewwwww” type sound, and then they’d “meeewwwww” back. He’d even rustle some branches to try to get some of the cows to move out who were making some warning type sounds, but to no avail. They just wanted to stay and talk to Sid.

About 45 minutes after I got back, unknowingly about 500 yds from Sid and Joe, if that. I heard a few cow calls, and then a big “AOOOOOOFFFFFFFF.” I proceeded to hear that same sound, in different levels of volume and force at the rate of about 1 every 30 seconds for the next 15-18 minutes. I had thought it might be a big bull, and when the sound suddenly stopped, I was hoping it might have been because Joe shot it.

About 15 minutes later, just before dark, Sid called on the radio to tell me they were heading back to the car. I was concerned that I may not have been hearing what I thought. Maybe it was just a big sheep dog somewhere, so I decided I’d try to feel out where they were and what they’d seen before I relayed my experience for the evening.

As I got down to the car, they were both there already which surprised me. They each stood with their hands in their pockets and sheepish grins. I looked in back of the truck to see if an Elk was loaded, or just their gear. Just gear.

“You guys see anything?”

“Bunch of Elk.”

“No shots?” I asked.

“Nope. Saw a big bull, though, and some cows.”

“Was it making a big AOOOOOOFFFFFFFF type sound?”

They both bursted out laughing. Apparently, it was a big cow who was basically barking out warning, because she couldn’t figure out what Sid was as she couldn’t see him, but all the other cows in the area were basically having a conversation with him. They even had a small calf come up to them so close that when she went “mew” they could see her lips moving.

Pretty neat. I only wish that I’d been standing beside them with a video camera. But it was a great evening of stories and recounting the experiences and sounds we had surrounding us.

And as I reflected on my day, it turned out to be great. Just as the last three months have been. There’s still some ache and disappointment in the way things turned out, and wondering what I’m missing, but at the same token, you realize that everyone comes into your life for a different purpose. Some might take you all the way to your final destination. Others might just help guide you onto the right path.

In this case, what I thought the original purpose ended up not being the case. But as it turned out, it was an important contributing factor in my having the courage to leave the life that I knew, and take the leap to get where I needed to be. I wake up each morning, and step into my shoes more confident and comfortable with myself and where I’m headed than I have been in a long time.

I don’t know if you still read the blog anymore, but I thank you for the tremendous role you’ve played in my life. I hope your day turned out to be a special one. No hard feelings.

Hope everyone else is doing well, too.

Elk Hunting Catch Up

The better part of the my last week has been a bit of a feeling out session with the woods. There's a lot to learn, and it seems that there's a little something different each day. Picking up on this different aspects can make everything a bit easier, from simple navigating to hunting.

Visual cues are clearly important. Taking stock of fallen trees, game paths, or other unique brush will definitely help in navigation. Tracks, dung, and bark rubbed off trees can indicate who or what else may have been moving through as well. As you see those things over and over, you can pretty quickly begin to distinguish and learn what you're looking at.

Audible cues, however, definitely are important, as you can't always see through the brush and forest. Without paying close attention to what you hear around you, you often won't be prepared, especially as it relates to hunting.

That said, most of last week I got to the point where I was convinced that there weren't Elk or Deer around, but rather that there were actually 50 pound flying horned squirrels hopping from branch to branch and banging their horns against the trees.

Fortunately, as Jeff proved in the picture in the previous blog, that's not really the case, but I'm still fine tuning my ears each day to get a better understanding of my surroundings.

Last week was fun, though, especially to see the excitement of the pursuit, as well as the accomplishment of taking the animal down. Wednesday afternoon I walked Sid and Jeff up to the water that I'd stumbled on the afternoon prior. When Sid got there, he just stopped and stared. It was like an 11-year-old boy finding free porn on the internet for the first time.

He was literally giddy four hours later, and all day Thursday and Friday morning he was confident that something had to happen in that water hole, as it was the most beaten up water he'd seen by elk all summer.

Fortunately he was correct, and as a reward for helping find the water hole, I got to carry the right rear quarter, weighing roughly 75 pounds out of the woods about 1/2 mile, and then got to assist in carrying out a severed Elk head with antlers. Nope, never thought I'd write that about myself in a million years, either.

A Nice Elk with a Compound Bow and Arrow

Congratulations to Jeff Bowles, pictured below, who shot this nice 5 x 5 Elk on Friday with a compound bow and arrow.



We spent Friday afternoon hauling this beast out of the woods, Friday night celebrating the feat, and Saturday recovering from the celebration, which turned out to be perfect to accommodate the rainy conditions that rolled in. Most of today was consumed with the airport runs to Jackson Hole to take Jeff out and bring a group of new people in to the lodge.

Hopefully I'll get caught up with details about Jeff's accomplishment, and more of my own nature walks in the next couple of days.

Hope every one's doing well.

Bow Hunting--Day 2--morning

Tuesday started out a bit earlier for our long hike in to an old favorite spot of the lodge. It was probably only in the high 30s when we left the vehicle, and no matter how much hiking I'd done for fishing this summer, the cold air seemed like a 20 pound weight against my chest.

Fortunately the hike wasn't as steep as it was long, so it turned out not to be too bad once my body adjusted to the air. We spotted a doe on the way up, but it was looking straight at us by the time we saw it, and off it went.

It was a very quiet morning for me. I didn't see or hear anything. Jeff saw a few deer and an elk bull, but wasn't in shooting range. Sid turned out to be the closest to having a shot. He was sitting between Jeff and I, and was watching Jeff's bull when he felt some eyes on him. He turned and saw a spike elk that had nearly walked right up on him, straight up the trail that we'd used to get in.

He wasn't holding his bow, and when he shifted just slightly to turn to pick it up, the elk turned and walked out the same way it had entered.

Sid recalled the story as we were all walking out, and seemed generally perplexed that of all the routes the spike could have followed to get to where he was intending to go bed for the day, he walked right up the same path we'd just walked over. Jeff was in moderate disbelief as we were walking when Sid said, "Well, look, these are his tracks."

"How can you know that for sure?" Jeff asked.

"Well, there's an elk print right on top of that boot print. And that's your boot print, so that means it came in right behind us."

"Shit, that is my boot print. How can you know that?" Jeff responded.

"I know what my and Jeffrey's boots look like, which means that has to be yours, and since the elk print it inside it, that means it came after us."

And there you have it. Sid notices everything that's going on. It's really amazing to behold.

Sid sent Jeff and I on a "shortcut" back to the lodge while he went back to where he left the car. Jeff and I were cursing him most of the way. If that was a shortcut, he must have been going through some heavy shit. When we got back to the lodge, of course well after Sid, we told him that in the future, shortcuts shouldn't involve anywhere that us mere mortals might break an ankle.

After some breakfast and relaxation, I decided to head into the woods at about 1pm to see if I could find the GPS radio that I'd lost the day before. I had a decent idea where it might be, and one of the other GPS radios that hopefully I could use to track where the one I lost might be. I figured I could get in and out and be back by about 3 so that I could rest an hour before we went back out for the evening.

I decided that I'd carry my bow with me just in case I could scare a grouse or something up, and hopefully avoid any more encounters with bees. I worked my way up past where I'd thought that I'd lost the radio while running from the bees, but no luck.

As I got a bit further up, I followed the path that we'd taken down to the best of my ability, and of course, not exactly on track, ended up walking right into the water hole that we thought we were looking for the day before. We must have been within 30 yds of it, but just never saw it through all the thick timber.

Even to my novice eye, I could tell that the water hole had been trampled by all sorts of deer and elk. There were fresh muddy prints all around, and 4 or 5 well defined paths in and out towards all directions.

The last point on the GPS radio that I was carrying that showed the radio I'd lost was further up the mountain, so I continued on. I climbed about 20 more minutes, but when I arrived, realized it was essentially the spot where my last transmission was to Sid the day before, so it had locked on that point, and not the actual current location of that GPS radio. No luck.

I headed back down, made sure I came across the water hole one more time so I'd have a decent bearing on it, and then went back and reported the good and bad news. Oh, I did manage to scare up a grouse, but when I did, it actually scared me more than I scared it I think, and never had a chance at a shot.

When I got back, I told Sid the good and bad news, and his eyes lit up at the report of the water hole. He'd had a different spot picked out for that afternoon, but we'd definitely head back that direction the following afternoon, since I'd already trekked through there and had made a bunch of noise looking for the radio.

to be continued.....