I've been keeping busy with the duck dog in the nearly duckless West.
I'm on my first solo road trip in a long while. Beaver and I headed West a month ago and we have been scouting and hunting in preparation for the archery elk opener.
They call Montana big sky country, but I say - pfffft, Wyoming has some skies too.
Beaver has been a machine. He is the oddest, most loving, lovable, curious and somehow begrudgingly tractable dog. He is in the running for best dog ever award.
Needs lot of fetching.
He is even featured at Cabela's
Napping in the wilds on a break.
Had some hot weather.
Lots of nice views.
We spent the last weeks of August scouting for elk. We found sign.
Warm and steamy, we found the elk that made the deposit about 5 minutes later.
Warm and steamy donor. Interacting with this elk, I knew Beav and I could get it done. This was the proof I needed that I could kill an archery elk with a dog at my side.
Found several wallows. Nice for a dog to cool off in if you want your dog (and your bed, eventually) to smell like anaerobic mud and elk piss.
I'd like to know what his nose is telling him.
More rubs.
Earlier in August when the bulls were loosing their velvet, we found a lot of it. Beaver was particularly interested in it, like jerky maybe.
Elk on the hoof, bumped from their bed.
Season opened September 1 and the temps were hot and the action was slow, but there was action. I heard bugles most days and saw elk and lots of fresh sign and interacted with some bulls.
We sat water holes several mornings and afternoons when it was so hot. There was a bull using a wallow that we sat and had several close encounters. These moose visited several times. We also saw a radio collared mule deer and fawn.
With the change in temps (much cooler) and with the entrance of an early how cow, the mountainside I was on came alive. The bull I was on was displaying to a bedded cow that had been pushed all over the mountainside by multiple bulls (could hear them screaming). I pushed them until she bedded down and wouldn't move. In our given setup, I tried to thread the needle through a perfect vital sized gap made of 4 trunks (2 horizontal and 2 vertical) and came up short. 20 minutes later I was able to get it right through the same window.
First blood. It took 50 yards to start, but once it did, there was no question how it would end.
Archery success. This was a pretty good unit that took quite a few points, but I decided that the first 6x6 in range would not get passed on. I got to experience what I was looking for, far beyond what I was hoping. I had multiple days of bugling bulls and worked several over the days, with this one screaming more than I could have imagined.
As found.
Progress by midnight.
Meat stacked to chill in the freezing temps. It was glorious, the frost appeared by 9 pm, but it did not get much below freezing, so the meat chilled quickly, but didn't freeze.
Celebratory bourbon at 1 am!
Reward lunch after missing dinner the day before packing meat.
Trip is going well is the report. I'm cutting meat for the freezer for the next couple days.
I'm on my first solo road trip in a long while. Beaver and I headed West a month ago and we have been scouting and hunting in preparation for the archery elk opener.
They call Montana big sky country, but I say - pfffft, Wyoming has some skies too.
Beaver has been a machine. He is the oddest, most loving, lovable, curious and somehow begrudgingly tractable dog. He is in the running for best dog ever award.
Needs lot of fetching.
He is even featured at Cabela's
Napping in the wilds on a break.
Had some hot weather.
Lots of nice views.
We spent the last weeks of August scouting for elk. We found sign.
Warm and steamy, we found the elk that made the deposit about 5 minutes later.
Warm and steamy donor. Interacting with this elk, I knew Beav and I could get it done. This was the proof I needed that I could kill an archery elk with a dog at my side.
Found several wallows. Nice for a dog to cool off in if you want your dog (and your bed, eventually) to smell like anaerobic mud and elk piss.
I'd like to know what his nose is telling him.
More rubs.
Earlier in August when the bulls were loosing their velvet, we found a lot of it. Beaver was particularly interested in it, like jerky maybe.
Elk on the hoof, bumped from their bed.
Season opened September 1 and the temps were hot and the action was slow, but there was action. I heard bugles most days and saw elk and lots of fresh sign and interacted with some bulls.
We sat water holes several mornings and afternoons when it was so hot. There was a bull using a wallow that we sat and had several close encounters. These moose visited several times. We also saw a radio collared mule deer and fawn.
With the change in temps (much cooler) and with the entrance of an early how cow, the mountainside I was on came alive. The bull I was on was displaying to a bedded cow that had been pushed all over the mountainside by multiple bulls (could hear them screaming). I pushed them until she bedded down and wouldn't move. In our given setup, I tried to thread the needle through a perfect vital sized gap made of 4 trunks (2 horizontal and 2 vertical) and came up short. 20 minutes later I was able to get it right through the same window.
First blood. It took 50 yards to start, but once it did, there was no question how it would end.
Archery success. This was a pretty good unit that took quite a few points, but I decided that the first 6x6 in range would not get passed on. I got to experience what I was looking for, far beyond what I was hoping. I had multiple days of bugling bulls and worked several over the days, with this one screaming more than I could have imagined.
As found.
Progress by midnight.
Meat stacked to chill in the freezing temps. It was glorious, the frost appeared by 9 pm, but it did not get much below freezing, so the meat chilled quickly, but didn't freeze.
Celebratory bourbon at 1 am!
Reward lunch after missing dinner the day before packing meat.
Trip is going well is the report. I'm cutting meat for the freezer for the next couple days.
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