Montana Results
OK this is bit long.
We got back from Montana yesterday and it was a great trip. We were hunting the Snowcrest Range on the Ruby river Side. Hunted the Gravely's a bit also. Fantastic country and a ton on animals. Also a lot of hunters, I have never hunted an area that had so many people in it. Lucky for us we don't mind hiking and could get above the Majority of the hunters.
We rented a cabin right right next to the Cottonwood campground. Was a great way to go, walk out of the front door and start hunting up the hill. The accommodations left a bit to be desired but we had a roof over our heads and a hot shower. After a long day of hiking it was nice to be able to cook dinner and head to bed. We rolled in the day before season opened. unpacked and went up the hill to do a bit of scouting and for me to get a look at the area since I had never been there. Jumped a Cow and a calf figured that was a good sign.
Opening morning we are in the spots we picked to watch a couple open areas about a half hour before shooting light. I was a mile and half up the hill out of camp and TJ and Greg were about the same in the locations they picked. First light comes and goes and nothing going on, I sit for another half hour and then start for the timber to do what I love best is still hunt. Once into the timber it is Tracks everywhere, Deer and Elk but it is so dry you can't stay on any of them. We hunt along and hear a bit of shooting now and then but not finding any animals. TJ calls me on the radio about mid morning and lets me know he had a bit of a run in with a Grizzly sow and her cub and just to let me know they were in the area we were hunting. He had jumped a few cows in the spot he was but no bulls and a few deer. The unit we were in is closed to Muley hunting and those are what we see the most of over the week. About 11 am I see something orange under a tree above me so I start working up that way, as I get closer I see that it is a body but doesn't appear to be moving. So I slowly start walking over to see if something is wrong when TJ calls me on the radio again, while I am talking to him the guy under the tree wakes up. So I tell him good morning and he says I caught him taking his guides nap. Says he has four clients above me. SO I tell him about the Griz and he says he better get closer to the clients since he didn't have a gun with him. Spent the rest of the day hiking and not seeing anything but deer. Ended up seeing about 15 that day. Was really warm, ended up hunting in a T-shirt and still being to warm.
Second day goes about the same, except jumped even more deer, hopefully my pictures turn out as I was able to get within abut 15 yards of a big forked horn and took a half dozen pictures. We ended up walking between 10-15 miles that day. Took a little getting used to Camp was at 6500 and we did the majority of our hunting at 8000+. we get back to camp a little after dark and discover that the Fridge in the cabin isn't working anymore. Not that it was great to begin with since it ran on electricity and that came from the generator we brought. So onto the so called porch, A wafer board deck goes the fridge. We figure it is cool enough at night that between our coolers and the fridge things should be fine. He get a report that the snow is supposed to come in on wed afternoon. So we are excited about that news a little tracking snow would be great. Decide that we will go to town on tues to get a few more supplies.
Tues morning we hunt the Gravely range on the way to town. We are hunting this great timber patch, TJ and I are out about 3 hours and I cal him on the radio and he says he is about a 1/4 mile from the road. So I start heading to the road myslef. I end up on a big rock slide and working my way down it and He calls and asks where I am at I tell him a big rock slide and he says he is on one also, turns out that he is above me about 100 yards. So he decides to kind of work to the south and go around. About the time I hit the road I hear him shoot. Then another Buck jumps the road into the unit we can't shoot muleys in, his lucky day(we were in another area that muleys we legal in). TJ ended up getting a small forked horn, but at least we had a tag filled. All that hiking and we get our first animal 50 feet from the road. Oh well that is how it goes. We had backstrap and heart for dinner that night :smile:
Wed morning we wake up to snow on the ground, all right this is going to be a good day. I head up the hill for an area I want to hunt, Greg is going to work up one of the creek draws and we will hook up somewhere on top. TJ was going to hunt a little north of us but calls on the radio ands says he s going to a new area with one of the locals that is staying with the owner of the cabins. We say all right and good luck. I end up going all the way to 8300 feet before I cut an elk track. So I get on this set of tracks, that appear to be a pretty good bull. I end up following him for a good 3 hours. He ends up with three more elk a couple cows and whats looks to be a smaller bull. Just by the way they are dragging dew claws. Then TJ comes on the radio and says we got packing to do, he had shot a 5 point in the area he went with Hugh the local. He asks how far out I am, I tell him at least an hour and a half but that I will start down right now, so I get Greg on the Radio who is also on a decnet set of tracks and tell him lets go get TJ's elk out. So I start down the Mt. and sure enough, moving at a quicker pace I jump my elk just after I get going. never got a look at the bull but could hear him going through the trees. Kind of bummed but excited that we have a bull to go pack. Greg and I hook up in one of the creek drainage's and head down the hill. Takes us a bit over an hour to get to camp. Hugh had drawn us a map of where they were so we grab the rest of the pack boards and jump in the pickup and head that way. Now it is really snowing and the wind is a pretty steady 30+ mph where we park. We can't raise TJ and Hugh on the radio so we start tracking them in About a half mile in we loose the tracks because the wind is blowing to hard. It is an open ridge we are on now and we can see the truck. Finally TJ and Hugh come over the ridge with the Elk head on a pack board and heading out. We say lets at least go get one load of meat out since we are half way there. Hugh says no we need ot get out now since it was borderline white out. We argue with him for a bit but finally see it is a lost cause and head out. Plans is to go get it the next day, TJ is tagged out and figures he will just work on getting the meat out. We get back to camp and the weather breaks and the sun even comes out. Temp is in the mid teens.
Thurs morning it is right around 0 degrees and we head up to where TJ killed his bull, Oh yeah it was a raghorn 5 point. But had a big body on him. So the plan is that Greg and I are going to hunt a bit and Tj will start on packing. On the way up the road we cut a set of tracks, after a bit of discussion we think they might be Moose tracks but I will go check to make sure. So I follow them for a couple hours and it is a Cow and calf moose, which was pretty cool to see. They led me to within 1/4 of the spot where the elk was down so I headed over the ridge to the kill site. Right in the middle of a big open grassy face tha is now covered in snow. So after Carefully getting down the hill I grab one of the packs TJ has already loaded and put it on and hang my day pack off it and start out. This was a bit of a mistake but it worked, made the pack extra heavy an off balance. Now the weather has turned even worse than it was the day before, and we are headed right into a 30-40 mph wind that has a wind chill of at least -20 but we were loving it. It is about a mile and a half to the truck from the kill site. There ends up being 6 pack loads of meat and we lost some because it was frozen solid and couldn't get it cut off. We decided that we should have gotten at least some of it out the first day.
Greg and I hunt hard Fri and see nothing and Sat is go home day, we decide to hunt till noon and then get back and load up and head for home. We head back to an area where we can shoot Muleys if we see one. SO we have more options it is any whitetail, Muley bucks or a brow tine bull. So we figure the odds are with us. We hunt for about 5 hours, I had been on a pretty good track for a while when it headed into a drainage and I was running short on time. So started heading for the road. About 11:45 I finally raise TJ on the radio and he says he is on the way up to get me. Picks me up ans says Greg is down below on some Whitetail's. So we head back down there, Catch up with Greg and there are a couple whitetail spikes in this little timber patch about 200 yards up the hill. SO TJ says he will go across the hill and see if he can't get them to bump out of there. Sure enough they do Since Greg had never killed a deer I tell him to take the first shot. He ends up dumping his and I shoot the other one. They weren't big but it is now noon an we have two more deer to take home.
Overall it was a great trip, we shoot 3 deer and one elk. Saw antelope, Bighorn sheep(in the gorge on the drive out), Buffalo, Black bears, Grizzly Bears, Probably over 1000 deer counting the ones we say driving out and going to town. Elk, a bunch of grouse. A total of 6 moose. I know there were more things we say and parts of the story I left out. Once I get the pictures developed I will post a few of them.
__________________
FOCUS
Don't argue with an idiot. They will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.
|
Linear Mode
