bluealtered
Silver $$ Contributor
Curiosity is a terrible thing at this age. I went back up to where i had the deer fly up the hill in front of me on Saturday and started at the head of that little valley to see where i wanted to put my stand. What i found as i was walking down the middle of it was big game trails and at least six places the elk have been bedding down within a 100yds of the road.
I also found that the grass in that little valley is waist to chest high making getting a shot at a coyote this time of year impossible unless he was climbing a tree to get to the call! Another thing i have found since i started walking out that area was lots of places bears have been ripping out stumps to feed on the bugs in them, this valley had two fresh looking places where this had been done.
So i am walking along trying not to trip on the tree limbs and small trees that are hiding in the grass and just taking it all in since i hadn't been there in years and thinking about where to put the blind for next spring before the grass gets up to high to shoot. There are patches of open spots and heavy patches of thickets of lodgepole pine so thick you can't crawl through it and I'm just enjoying the hike and taking it all in.
The walking is slow because of the stuff on the ground and the tall grass and I'm not in a hurry anyway, besides that there are little spring run off dried up creek beds under that grass as well, just deep enough to twist or break your ankle and make you crawl out of there.
I was just getting past a heavy thicket of little pines when i heard three very close HUFF, HUFF, and a third HUFF! I was only maybe ten yards from those pines and the bear was behind those pines and it was telling me that i was in the wrong place and I better get the hell out now! On the first huff i had my .45 out and was slowly backing up trying not to fall on the stuff in the grass and moving away as fast as i slowly could. When i had backed up ten or fifteen yards it went quiet, and i kept backing up slowly until i was almost up to the road. I don't know if it had a kill behind those trees or perhaps a cub, since i had made one small cub size track about a quarter mile from there when hiking the week before.
The bottom line however was very simple, that encounter was two out of two, I'm not real interested in trying for three out of three at this time. You know when i was younger that was no big deal, I worked in the woods almost every day. Now i wish i had had a shotgun with slugs with me. Just another sure sign of getting old i guess. Anyway I think i will wait until spring to go back when the grass is still low, but all in all still a great walk Saturday.
I also found that the grass in that little valley is waist to chest high making getting a shot at a coyote this time of year impossible unless he was climbing a tree to get to the call! Another thing i have found since i started walking out that area was lots of places bears have been ripping out stumps to feed on the bugs in them, this valley had two fresh looking places where this had been done.
So i am walking along trying not to trip on the tree limbs and small trees that are hiding in the grass and just taking it all in since i hadn't been there in years and thinking about where to put the blind for next spring before the grass gets up to high to shoot. There are patches of open spots and heavy patches of thickets of lodgepole pine so thick you can't crawl through it and I'm just enjoying the hike and taking it all in.
The walking is slow because of the stuff on the ground and the tall grass and I'm not in a hurry anyway, besides that there are little spring run off dried up creek beds under that grass as well, just deep enough to twist or break your ankle and make you crawl out of there.
I was just getting past a heavy thicket of little pines when i heard three very close HUFF, HUFF, and a third HUFF! I was only maybe ten yards from those pines and the bear was behind those pines and it was telling me that i was in the wrong place and I better get the hell out now! On the first huff i had my .45 out and was slowly backing up trying not to fall on the stuff in the grass and moving away as fast as i slowly could. When i had backed up ten or fifteen yards it went quiet, and i kept backing up slowly until i was almost up to the road. I don't know if it had a kill behind those trees or perhaps a cub, since i had made one small cub size track about a quarter mile from there when hiking the week before.
The bottom line however was very simple, that encounter was two out of two, I'm not real interested in trying for three out of three at this time. You know when i was younger that was no big deal, I worked in the woods almost every day. Now i wish i had had a shotgun with slugs with me. Just another sure sign of getting old i guess. Anyway I think i will wait until spring to go back when the grass is still low, but all in all still a great walk Saturday.
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