A More Relaxed Fall

[MTGomer]

This year was going to be a little more laid back. A little less travel.
Somehow, that didn’t quite happen. What else didn’t happen was a bunch of shooting and killing.

In April we were about to sit down for lunch in Billings when my phone lit up with a Cedar City, Utah number. It was a lady that works for The Huntin’ Fool calling to let me know that time was running out to get in on their latest raffles. As I often do, I bought some.

In May, I was in Maysville Kentucky for some Carlson software training for some software I purchased for my land surveying business. Again, my phone lit up with a Cedar City, Utah number. Must be more raffle ticket sales I figured. When I answered it, it was the voice of Austin, one of the guys in charge over there, and I knew right away he wasn’t calling to sell me anything. I had won the southeast Alaska, boat based, November mountain goat hunt, that I had previously purchased tickets for.

 

[MTGomer]

In June, the Arizona deer/sheep Draw results came out. Expectations were low, having zero points for deer from being successful last year. However, I had a charge on my credit card for a late December muzzleloader hunt for deer. Soon after, I learned that the outfitter that I guide for had a potential client draw for sheep in the unit of the state that I am most familiar with and asked if I would guide it, if the individual chose to book.
I said yes.

 

[MTGomer]

In July, another phone call came in. It was a friend calling to tell me a cancellation dall sheep hunt in the Tonsina walk-in area, of the eastern Chugach mountain range in Alaska just came available. He had previously hunted there, and was calling to let me know that the outfitter, whom he is friends with, just called him to let him know there was a last minute cancellation and that he could have the hunt for 50% of its usual cost. Having just been on a brown bear hunt a month or two prior he deferred to marital harmony but decided to help his outfitter friend find a person to fill it.



That person became me.

 

[MTGomer]

I went into the sheep hunt in the Chugach knowing the sheep numbers were low and the controlled use area I would be hunting is a very challenging hunt and that success was anything but guaranteed.

The outfitter was upfront and transparent about this, but he would be putting me with a very experience guide and we would do our best.


We hunted hard for 10 days. I passed legal, but young ram on day three.

We saw some sub legal rams, and a few distant ewes. We also saw about 10 bears and a wolverine.

 

[MTGomer]

We had eight days of fantastic weather, with the final two days being some of the wettest I have ever seen. I have little photos from the last two, due to my phone being in a Ziploc, inside a dry bag, inside my backpack. It was so wet and so windy that the wind drove the rain right through the zippers of our rain gear. My guide was soaked while wearing HellyHansen rubber gear. So you can imagine how my breathable gear faired.

 

[MTGomer]

The wind is blowing so hard in the last photo it is hard to stand up. It’s the last pic I took before putting my phone safely away.

 

[MTGomer]

Home from Alaska, it is time to do what the year was originally planned for. Some hunting closer to home. I headed out for an archery elk hunt where I had seen some bulls in prior years. This three day trip turned up exactly 0 elk, a couple MD does, and some bears.

 

[MTGomer]

This was going to be a pic heavy thread but it took 19 minutes to upload those last two, as opposed to about 45 seconds for all of the Alaska ones.

 

[MTGomer]

Well that’s all for now I guess.

Whether on WiFi or 5G with full bars, photos won’t upload so it isn’t on my end.

 

[WyoCoalMiner]

This thread has it all! Sheep, elk, grizz, AK and a Carlson reference. Hell of a way to start the year

 

[MTGomer]

 

[MTGomer]

We are back in business. An amazing sunset from that archery hunt.

 

[MTGomer]

And then itbecame time to help out a friend in the Google bot mined area (iykyk) if south central Montana.

We spent some time looking for a ram but no shots were fired.

 

[MTGomer]

I was able to mix in a little more archery elk hunting but the elk just weren’t in the spots I usually find them.


I had one day while checking out a new spot, I did get on a 300ish six point with a hand full of cows but no shots fired.

 

[MTGomer]

The hunting highlight of the whole year was an October phone call to come help one of my good friends son’s pack his ram out. Not my story to tell or kill pictures to post, but it was a very good, slightly sketchy and slippery day.

 

[MTGomer]

The private land elk herd near my house provides the opportunity to see what elk look like and sound like. A needed reminder at that point in the season

 

[MTGomer]

I could not hunt the opening weekend of the general deer elk season in Montana, but made it out on Monday of the first week. The forecast had been for a couple inches of snow but when I got to my parking area, I found it to be about halfway up to my knees. At 7800 feet it was mid thigh in spots, and I realized my plan for a very large loop I was going to do was probably not going to work out due to the pace I was able to go.

I got into a howling pack of wolves on the way in, but was unable to connect on one just before dark in the thick lodgepole.

I was in the middle of a large burn and with the forecasted storm, whose winds never really came, but were in the forecast, I did not want to camp around dead trees.
After a while of staggering around in the dark, I put my tent up in the greenest patch I could find.

This night was not exactly comfortable and warm

 

[MTGomer]

I got up to next morning and fought my way through the blow down and the snow that kept getting deep the higher I went to my target glassing knob. The storm that was forecasted to break seemed to not be doing so. Instead of camping on the exposed knob, I made camp below it in some timber.
I spent a couple days on that knob and while I did not glass up any distant large bulls to put a play on, like I dreamed about, I did return to my tent to find a nervous rag horn, who could clearly smell it, but did not know where it was coming from, standing within 40 yards of my tent. He was small and I was tired, cold, and a long way from the vehicle, so he got a pass.

 

[MTGomer]

These few days left me excited for how the rest of rifle elk was going to be. Obviously, the snow would just get deeper and it would get colder and the bulls would be very vulnerable when I got back from the mountain goat hunt.

WRONG

 

[Dave N]

That actually looks pretty miserable.