I think the goal is at least 60 days. It hangs in my buddy’s office at the meat processor. So he is keeping an eye on it and will make the final call
The Season of Stupid (& elk)
- Thread starter MtnElk
- Start date
PorterHouse
Well-known member
The darker it gets, the more intrigued I’m becoming…
RyGuy
Well-known member
That’s looking a little suspicious 
for me already
for me already
We have initial weights
MtnElk
Well-known member
Let it snow! let it snow! Just what I want to see right before I show up on the 26th. Let’s pump those numbers up and bring the elk in
Last edited:
Maybe you should have asked @Khunter to be your mentor to avoid these levels of stupid. I know the way I do things is usually the hard way but I didn’t think you would fully embrace the same level of stupid I have come to enjoy!
BackofBeyond
Well-known member
MtnElk
Well-known member
Merry Christmas Stupid People!
The MtnElk family celebrated yesterday, as the little one goes to her bio dad's house today. There are only two times a year when I really feel that step dad sting... Father's day and around Christmas. So while Jenny is dropping the little one off, I can finally start packing for this hunt.
I purposely didn't start packing ahead of time as I knew the weather was a bit of a coin toss. I watched the forecast intently for the last week and it swung wildly from 7" of snow through Christmas Eve to a mere dusting. So it was a good thing I didn't pack for an all out snow adventure. The one bit of good news is that the overnight lows have been brutal the last few days and the needle sits around 5 degrees up there right now. If the snow didn't show up to help me out, the cold at night might push them down into the gulleys for me.
Now that the weather is set, it pushes me to finally decide on what kind of hunt this is going to be. I've received a lot of advice and offers to help for this adventure of stupid. They have ranged from basecamp to camp on my back to stay home
I've mapped out potential new southern spots and even tried giving the warden a ring, but was unable to connect with him.
Ultimately, I have decided to bring two sets of camp with me. A basecamp setup and a super light bivy setup. I am going to start by establishing camp next to the truck and hiking my brains out super light (rifle, binos, water, and food). Nothing more, nothing less. Once I have found the elk, I will decide whether to come back the next day super light for a shot and extraction, or come back in with the super light camp that might be quite cold, but keep me amongst the elk to get a shot, camp overnight and then pack out. one method keeps me light and nimble, but ups the mileage; the other weighs me down, but reduces mileage. I’m sure there are going to be strong opinions on both of these plans lol
The most common form of advice was to glass until I am sure there are no elk and then get moving. The second most common piece of advice was that if I see them on private, watch them all day to see which direction they are moving - so that if they are trending further into private, it might be a lost cause. This last piece of advice came from two seasoned people who were just in WY and watched as elk just sat on private and moved further back onto it. I likely would have sat on that herd, hoping for a miracle. Maybe I’ll get lucky like in first season though and the private hunters will actually drive the elk on public.
Despite knowing this is a ridiculous and borderline stupid endeavor (straight from the King of Stupid @Dsnow9's mouth), I am actually really excited to get out there. For one, I never got a chance to hunt my tags there and that just seems silly to eat them with only one elk in the freezer. But also, I just kind of want to put what I have learned to the test in a place that lends itself to working hard and reaping the rewards. I am sure I will cuss myself out at some point for coming out here, but I view this as a good learning experience in a beautiful place that holds lot of different animals - the Pronghorn viewing last time was a lot of fun!
So here’s to what is hopefully a grand finale to the inaugural Season of Stupid (and elk)
The MtnElk family celebrated yesterday, as the little one goes to her bio dad's house today. There are only two times a year when I really feel that step dad sting... Father's day and around Christmas. So while Jenny is dropping the little one off, I can finally start packing for this hunt.
I purposely didn't start packing ahead of time as I knew the weather was a bit of a coin toss. I watched the forecast intently for the last week and it swung wildly from 7" of snow through Christmas Eve to a mere dusting. So it was a good thing I didn't pack for an all out snow adventure. The one bit of good news is that the overnight lows have been brutal the last few days and the needle sits around 5 degrees up there right now. If the snow didn't show up to help me out, the cold at night might push them down into the gulleys for me.
Now that the weather is set, it pushes me to finally decide on what kind of hunt this is going to be. I've received a lot of advice and offers to help for this adventure of stupid. They have ranged from basecamp to camp on my back to stay home
I've mapped out potential new southern spots and even tried giving the warden a ring, but was unable to connect with him.Ultimately, I have decided to bring two sets of camp with me. A basecamp setup and a super light bivy setup. I am going to start by establishing camp next to the truck and hiking my brains out super light (rifle, binos, water, and food). Nothing more, nothing less. Once I have found the elk, I will decide whether to come back the next day super light for a shot and extraction, or come back in with the super light camp that might be quite cold, but keep me amongst the elk to get a shot, camp overnight and then pack out. one method keeps me light and nimble, but ups the mileage; the other weighs me down, but reduces mileage. I’m sure there are going to be strong opinions on both of these plans lol
The most common form of advice was to glass until I am sure there are no elk and then get moving. The second most common piece of advice was that if I see them on private, watch them all day to see which direction they are moving - so that if they are trending further into private, it might be a lost cause. This last piece of advice came from two seasoned people who were just in WY and watched as elk just sat on private and moved further back onto it. I likely would have sat on that herd, hoping for a miracle. Maybe I’ll get lucky like in first season though and the private hunters will actually drive the elk on public.
Despite knowing this is a ridiculous and borderline stupid endeavor (straight from the King of Stupid @Dsnow9's mouth), I am actually really excited to get out there. For one, I never got a chance to hunt my tags there and that just seems silly to eat them with only one elk in the freezer. But also, I just kind of want to put what I have learned to the test in a place that lends itself to working hard and reaping the rewards. I am sure I will cuss myself out at some point for coming out here, but I view this as a good learning experience in a beautiful place that holds lot of different animals - the Pronghorn viewing last time was a lot of fun!
So here’s to what is hopefully a grand finale to the inaugural Season of Stupid (and elk)
Pahoundsman
Well-known member
Good luck, you got the right attitude.
BackofBeyond
Well-known member
Go get it!Merry Christmas Stupid People!
The MtnElk family celebrated yesterday, as the little one goes to her bio dad's house today. There are only two times a year when I really feel that step dad sting... Father's day and around Christmas. So while Jenny is dropping the little one off, I can finally start packing for this hunt.
I purposely didn't start packing ahead of time as I knew the weather was a bit of a coin toss. I watched the forecast intently for the last week and it swung wildly from 7" of snow through Christmas Eve to a mere dusting. So it was a good thing I didn't pack for an all out snow adventure. The one bit of good news is that the overnight lows have been brutal the last few days and the needle sits around 5 degrees up there right now. If the snow didn't show up to help me out, the cold at night might push them down into the gulleys for me.
Now that the weather is set, it pushes me to finally decide on what kind of hunt this is going to be. I've received a lot of advice and offers to help for this adventure of stupid. They have ranged from basecamp to camp on my back to stay home
Ultimately, I have decided to bring two sets of camp with me. A basecamp setup and a super light bivy setup. I am going to start by establishing camp next to the truck and hiking my brains out super light (rifle, binos, water, and food). Nothing more, nothing less. Once I have found the elk, I will decide whether to come back the next day super light for a shot and extraction, or come back in with the super light camp that might be quite cold, but keep me amongst the elk to get a shot, camp overnight and then pack out. one method keeps me light and nimble, but ups the mileage; the other weighs me down, but reduces mileage. I’m sure there are going to be strong opinions on both of these plans lol
The most common form of advice was to glass until I am sure there are no elk and then get moving. The second most common piece of advice was that if I see them on private, watch them all day to see which direction they are moving - so that if they are trending further into private, it might be a lost cause. This last piece of advice came from two seasoned people who were just in WY and watched as elk just sat on private and moved further back onto it. I likely would have sat on that herd, hoping for a miracle. Maybe I’ll get lucky like in first season though and the private hunters will actually drive the elk on public.
Despite knowing this is a ridiculous and borderline stupid endeavor (straight from the King of Stupid @Dsnow9's mouth), I am actually really excited to get out there. For one, I never got a chance to hunt my tags there and that just seems silly to eat them with only one elk in the freezer. But also, I just kind of want to put what I have learned to the test in a place that lends itself to working hard and reaping the rewards. I am sure I will cuss myself out at some point for coming out here, but I view this as a good learning experience in a beautiful place that holds lot of different animals - the Pronghorn viewing last time was a lot of fun!
So here’s to what is hopefully a grand finale to the inaugural Season of Stupid (and elk)
For whatever reason, and I know I shouldn’t be, but I’m surprised every year with how long an elk doesn’t last in the freezer for us. Having two would be nice.
Enjoy the stupid!
I’ll be watching my phone over the next few days like a Hawk! Get some man!Merry Christmas Stupid People!
The MtnElk family celebrated yesterday, as the little one goes to her bio dad's house today. There are only two times a year when I really feel that step dad sting... Father's day and around Christmas. So while Jenny is dropping the little one off, I can finally start packing for this hunt.
I purposely didn't start packing ahead of time as I knew the weather was a bit of a coin toss. I watched the forecast intently for the last week and it swung wildly from 7" of snow through Christmas Eve to a mere dusting. So it was a good thing I didn't pack for an all out snow adventure. The one bit of good news is that the overnight lows have been brutal the last few days and the needle sits around 5 degrees up there right now. If the snow didn't show up to help me out, the cold at night might push them down into the gulleys for me.
Now that the weather is set, it pushes me to finally decide on what kind of hunt this is going to be. I've received a lot of advice and offers to help for this adventure of stupid. They have ranged from basecamp to camp on my back to stay home
Ultimately, I have decided to bring two sets of camp with me. A basecamp setup and a super light bivy setup. I am going to start by establishing camp next to the truck and hiking my brains out super light (rifle, binos, water, and food). Nothing more, nothing less. Once I have found the elk, I will decide whether to come back the next day super light for a shot and extraction, or come back in with the super light camp that might be quite cold, but keep me amongst the elk to get a shot, camp overnight and then pack out. one method keeps me light and nimble, but ups the mileage; the other weighs me down, but reduces mileage. I’m sure there are going to be strong opinions on both of these plans lol
The most common form of advice was to glass until I am sure there are no elk and then get moving. The second most common piece of advice was that if I see them on private, watch them all day to see which direction they are moving - so that if they are trending further into private, it might be a lost cause. This last piece of advice came from two seasoned people who were just in WY and watched as elk just sat on private and moved further back onto it. I likely would have sat on that herd, hoping for a miracle. Maybe I’ll get lucky like in first season though and the private hunters will actually drive the elk on public.
Despite knowing this is a ridiculous and borderline stupid endeavor (straight from the King of Stupid @Dsnow9's mouth), I am actually really excited to get out there. For one, I never got a chance to hunt my tags there and that just seems silly to eat them with only one elk in the freezer. But also, I just kind of want to put what I have learned to the test in a place that lends itself to working hard and reaping the rewards. I am sure I will cuss myself out at some point for coming out here, but I view this as a good learning experience in a beautiful place that holds lot of different animals - the Pronghorn viewing last time was a lot of fun!
So here’s to what is hopefully a grand finale to the inaugural Season of Stupid (and elk)
MtnElk
Well-known member
Yeah, that’s a big part of the motivation. My meat picky wife and daughter love it, and always clear their plates. They are burning through it
MtnElk
Well-known member
Stopped by deacons to get the cart in case I want to make this an even bigger adventure…. When I realized I forgot my rifle. Definitely off to a stupid start 
perma
Well-known member
Careful coming up. The wind is very ripe today.
MtnElk
Well-known member
Stupid Beats Effort: A RiGht iN THa FuGGiN HeAd Story
Gather rounds kids...
I woke up at 6 am, took a quick shower and loaded the car. Took care of the last few honey do list items, kissed my wife good bye and headed down to @Dsnow9's house to pick up the fabled cart from an earlier hunt. I arrived in about an hour, as traffic was slow as it had snowed unexpectedly across the Denver area. Cars were spinning out like crazy and it was a bit of a shit show. I arrived to his house around 745, grabbed the card and was treated to a first edition of his leather work. For all the shit he gives me, he owed me at least a sheathe for my knife IN all seriousness, a super kind gesture from one of the nicest people I've met in a long time.
After loading the cart into the bed of the truck, I think opened my back seat to put the knife in my pack when I noticed that the space my rifle always goes was empty. #*^@#*. You have got to be kidding me, I did not forget my rifle. I turn around, drive another hour home and grab the rifle. Then I get suckered into helping a neighbor pull something out of his yard with the truck and am back on the road like 3 hours after when I was originally supposed to leave. The drive up 25 through Colorado was a breeze - literally. A little windy, but nothing crazy.
Arriving in Wyoming however, the wind was having a $*)Q!#@$ day. Whipping like crazy, all trailered vehicles enclosed and under 4000lbs were pulled off the road. Flatbeds and loaded beds were all that was allowed. Needless to say, it made for some empty roads. The wind itself wasnt terrible, but the blowing snow led to some shitty visibility and some icy spots on the road. I backed way off on the peddle and it made a 5 hour drive about 545. The picture below doesn't do it justice. From the border to Casper was a bit of a hot mess... like me on this 26th day of December
I was texting with Deacon and we agreed the best plan was to park the truck and haul ass up to a glassing point that would allow me to look at a huge swath of land, to see if I saw any movement. I parked the truck, grabbed my stuff and hauled ass. The first was a "bridge crossing". One that creaked under my weight haha
I was actually quite impressed with the time I made to the glassing point, considering I stopped twice to takes pics of a small herd of deer that I spooked
I get up top with about 30 mins to spare... and the sunset starts playing its part... illuminating the far hillsides
I saw no elk, but I did see a ton of pronghorn. Like a group to my right of 30, a group to my center of about 20 and then from the left I saw a herd of about 125 come in. They were all converging on the same spot. It was really awesome. I have no photos or video of this, because for all the talk of ease of use, the Magview continues to fluster the hell out of me for getting that camera on the binos or spotter just right. Its maddening. Maybe one for sale on here soon haha. But I did snap this photo of myself for the wife, because I remember feeling really happy to be there and just vibing with the sunset and the pronghorn meetup that I got to watch
I snapped one more photo of the sunset... got back on the glass and watched till I could barely see anything anymore
I traversed down the scree field in the dark, managed to find my way down in the gulley and back up the other side, hopped the fence and was back at the truck at 6 pm. Making great time, feeling really good about the trip so far and excited to get after it for the next 48 hours.
as mentioned early, I had two tent setups with me - a basecamp (my kodiak flex bow) and a bivy (stone glacier minimalist setup). The plan was to set up the flex bow next to the truck and operate out of there until such time that I could locate the elk. I have set this tent up no less than 15 times. I have done it during the day, at night, stone cold sober and even twice after one too many old fashioned. Never an issue, always a fast setup (sub 15 mins mostly, sub 10 mins at time). I got it laid out, I staked the corners and went to assemble the cross bar that goes across the top. It's a set of two T bars, one with a coupler on it. You assemble the wings on the t bar at each end, then the ends of each t bar go together - under tension - and then the coupler slides over.
Now for the life of me, I cannot understand what follows, but the best is my guess. In my haste, or tiredness, or whatever, I get the two ends together, under tension and flat on the canvas and I think I must have let up on my right hand as I was reaching to slide the coupler over. But that slight change in pressure released all that tension and THWAP.
RiGht iN THa FuGGiN HeAd!!!!
I took this photo immediately after it happened - more as a funny photo... but this was literally a few seconds after it happened and the blood just did not want to stop. It was probably a good thing I didn't take the photo 10 seconds later as it was gruesome. the right side of my face was covered in blood. As if all this luck wasn't bad enough... two things conspired to really #*^@#* me up. one, my wife happened to call me right after this happened and I - in my state of shock - told her what happened. Big mistake, but more on that later. Second, in 2007 I had surgery to reconnect the 5th facial nerve that connects and controls the right side of your face. This steel pole whacked me right above that surgical scar on my temple and I felt the right side of my face get tingly (still is) and I will admit that made me nervous. As that surgery was brutal and the recovery not fun.
So I tell the wife I am ok, just bleeding and working on getting it cleaned out and steri stripped. I also text Deacon, who goes into dad / boy scout mode and gives me all the advice I would give someone in my situation. I sit down in the front seat of my car and all but pass out. I wake up about 3 hours later with 4 missed calls from my wife and a few texts from Deacon. I groggily call my wife back and the short version is that I was "voluntold" (or whatever the expression is when your wife gives you a choice but essentially tells you what to do) to get home. I tried talking her out of it, but I think the fact that I was alone and in the middle of an area where I was unlikely to encounter people scared her too much. Combine that with my face feeling numbish and my history of concussions (7 and counting) and there was no talking her out of it.
My hunt was over. As I told Deacon, 50/50 on whether it was the right call. My eye was pretty swollen when I got home at 4 am and even after icing it, the right side of my face is puffy and tingly.
It's a shitty ending to a hunting season and leaves me feeling pretty dumb. @rtraverdavis had some more Tundra stuff going wrong on this hunt, but did anyone have "Bryce splits head open with his tent" on their bingo card?
It helps to laugh about it, but genuinely don't remember the last time in my life in which I had such a string of weird / bad luck. Hopefully it's all out of my system, as I have really big goals for 2024 and would like the chance to just execute on the hunting part. There is plenty of mistakes to be made just in the hunting department, so a little break on the stupid injury / truck department would be nice.
Either way, a crazy and weird ending to a long and fun hunting season.
Once @Dsnow9 is done hunting, I'm sure he'll be deleted to share the incredibly funny (read: stupid) bet in place for 2024.
Gather rounds kids...
I woke up at 6 am, took a quick shower and loaded the car. Took care of the last few honey do list items, kissed my wife good bye and headed down to @Dsnow9's house to pick up the fabled cart from an earlier hunt. I arrived in about an hour, as traffic was slow as it had snowed unexpectedly across the Denver area. Cars were spinning out like crazy and it was a bit of a shit show. I arrived to his house around 745, grabbed the card and was treated to a first edition of his leather work. For all the shit he gives me, he owed me at least a sheathe for my knife
IN all seriousness, a super kind gesture from one of the nicest people I've met in a long time. After loading the cart into the bed of the truck, I think opened my back seat to put the knife in my pack when I noticed that the space my rifle always goes was empty. #*^@#*. You have got to be kidding me, I did not forget my rifle. I turn around, drive another hour home and grab the rifle. Then I get suckered into helping a neighbor pull something out of his yard with the truck and am back on the road like 3 hours after when I was originally supposed to leave. The drive up 25 through Colorado was a breeze - literally. A little windy, but nothing crazy.
Arriving in Wyoming however, the wind was having a $*)Q!#@$ day. Whipping like crazy, all trailered vehicles enclosed and under 4000lbs were pulled off the road. Flatbeds and loaded beds were all that was allowed. Needless to say, it made for some empty roads. The wind itself wasnt terrible, but the blowing snow led to some shitty visibility and some icy spots on the road. I backed way off on the peddle and it made a 5 hour drive about 545. The picture below doesn't do it justice. From the border to Casper was a bit of a hot mess... like me on this 26th day of December
I was texting with Deacon and we agreed the best plan was to park the truck and haul ass up to a glassing point that would allow me to look at a huge swath of land, to see if I saw any movement. I parked the truck, grabbed my stuff and hauled ass. The first was a "bridge crossing". One that creaked under my weight haha
I was actually quite impressed with the time I made to the glassing point, considering I stopped twice to takes pics of a small herd of deer that I spooked
I get up top with about 30 mins to spare... and the sunset starts playing its part... illuminating the far hillsides
I saw no elk, but I did see a ton of pronghorn. Like a group to my right of 30, a group to my center of about 20 and then from the left I saw a herd of about 125 come in. They were all converging on the same spot. It was really awesome. I have no photos or video of this, because for all the talk of ease of use, the Magview continues to fluster the hell out of me for getting that camera on the binos or spotter just right. Its maddening. Maybe one for sale on here soon haha. But I did snap this photo of myself for the wife, because I remember feeling really happy to be there and just vibing with the sunset and the pronghorn meetup that I got to watch
I snapped one more photo of the sunset... got back on the glass and watched till I could barely see anything anymore
I traversed down the scree field in the dark, managed to find my way down in the gulley and back up the other side, hopped the fence and was back at the truck at 6 pm. Making great time, feeling really good about the trip so far and excited to get after it for the next 48 hours.
as mentioned early, I had two tent setups with me - a basecamp (my kodiak flex bow) and a bivy (stone glacier minimalist setup). The plan was to set up the flex bow next to the truck and operate out of there until such time that I could locate the elk. I have set this tent up no less than 15 times. I have done it during the day, at night, stone cold sober and even twice after one too many old fashioned. Never an issue, always a fast setup (sub 15 mins mostly, sub 10 mins at time). I got it laid out, I staked the corners and went to assemble the cross bar that goes across the top. It's a set of two T bars, one with a coupler on it. You assemble the wings on the t bar at each end, then the ends of each t bar go together - under tension - and then the coupler slides over.
Now for the life of me, I cannot understand what follows, but the best is my guess. In my haste, or tiredness, or whatever, I get the two ends together, under tension and flat on the canvas and I think I must have let up on my right hand as I was reaching to slide the coupler over. But that slight change in pressure released all that tension and THWAP.
RiGht iN THa FuGGiN HeAd!!!!
I took this photo immediately after it happened - more as a funny photo... but this was literally a few seconds after it happened and the blood just did not want to stop. It was probably a good thing I didn't take the photo 10 seconds later as it was gruesome. the right side of my face was covered in blood. As if all this luck wasn't bad enough... two things conspired to really #*^@#* me up. one, my wife happened to call me right after this happened and I - in my state of shock - told her what happened. Big mistake, but more on that later. Second, in 2007 I had surgery to reconnect the 5th facial nerve that connects and controls the right side of your face. This steel pole whacked me right above that surgical scar on my temple and I felt the right side of my face get tingly (still is) and I will admit that made me nervous. As that surgery was brutal and the recovery not fun.
So I tell the wife I am ok, just bleeding and working on getting it cleaned out and steri stripped. I also text Deacon, who goes into dad / boy scout mode and gives me all the advice I would give someone in my situation. I sit down in the front seat of my car and all but pass out. I wake up about 3 hours later with 4 missed calls from my wife and a few texts from Deacon. I groggily call my wife back and the short version is that I was "voluntold" (or whatever the expression is when your wife gives you a choice but essentially tells you what to do) to get home. I tried talking her out of it, but I think the fact that I was alone and in the middle of an area where I was unlikely to encounter people scared her too much. Combine that with my face feeling numbish and my history of concussions (7 and counting) and there was no talking her out of it.
My hunt was over. As I told Deacon, 50/50 on whether it was the right call. My eye was pretty swollen when I got home at 4 am and even after icing it, the right side of my face is puffy and tingly.
It's a shitty ending to a hunting season and leaves me feeling pretty dumb. @rtraverdavis had some more Tundra stuff going wrong on this hunt, but did anyone have "Bryce splits head open with his tent" on their bingo card?
It helps to laugh about it, but genuinely don't remember the last time in my life in which I had such a string of weird / bad luck. Hopefully it's all out of my system, as I have really big goals for 2024 and would like the chance to just execute on the hunting part. There is plenty of mistakes to be made just in the hunting department, so a little break on the stupid injury / truck department would be nice.
Either way, a crazy and weird ending to a long and fun hunting season.
Once @Dsnow9 is done hunting, I'm sure he'll be deleted to share the incredibly funny (read: stupid) bet in place for 2024.
BAKPAKR
Well-known member
I am glad it missed your eye.Stupid Beats Effort: A RiGht iN THa FuGGiN HeAd Story
Gather rounds kids...
I woke up at 6 am, took a quick shower and loaded the car. Took care of the last few honey do list items, kissed my wife good bye and headed down to @Dsnow9's house to pick up the fabled cart from an earlier hunt. I arrived in about an hour, as traffic was slow as it had snowed unexpectedly across the Denver area. Cars were spinning out like crazy and it was a bit of a shit show. I arrived to his house around 745, grabbed the card and was treated to a first edition of his leather work. For all the shit he gives me, he owed me at least a sheathe for my knife
View attachment 308017
After loading the cart into the bed of the truck, I think opened my back seat to put the knife in my pack when I noticed that the space my rifle always goes was empty. #*^@#*. You have got to be kidding me, I did not forget my rifle. I turn around, drive another hour home and grab the rifle. Then I get suckered into helping a neighbor pull something out of his yard with the truck and am back on the road like 3 hours after when I was originally supposed to leave. The drive up 25 through Colorado was a breeze - literally. A little windy, but nothing crazy.
Arriving in Wyoming however, the wind was having a $*)Q!#@$ day. Whipping like crazy, all trailered vehicles enclosed and under 4000lbs were pulled off the road. Flatbeds and loaded beds were all that was allowed. Needless to say, it made for some empty roads. The wind itself wasnt terrible, but the blowing snow led to some shitty visibility and some icy spots on the road. I backed way off on the peddle and it made a 5 hour drive about 545. The picture below doesn't do it justice. From the border to Casper was a bit of a hot mess... like me on this 26th day of December
View attachment 308009
I was texting with Deacon and we agreed the best plan was to park the truck and haul ass up to a glassing point that would allow me to look at a huge swath of land, to see if I saw any movement. I parked the truck, grabbed my stuff and hauled ass. The first was a "bridge crossing". One that creaked under my weight haha
View attachment 308010
I was actually quite impressed with the time I made to the glassing point, considering I stopped twice to takes pics of a small herd of deer that I spooked
View attachment 308018
I get up top with about 30 mins to spare... and the sunset starts playing its part... illuminating the far hillsides
View attachment 308012
View attachment 308013
View attachment 308014
I saw no elk, but I did see a ton of pronghorn. Like a group to my right of 30, a group to my center of about 20 and then from the left I saw a herd of about 125 come in. They were all converging on the same spot. It was really awesome. I have no photos or video of this, because for all the talk of ease of use, the Magview continues to fluster the hell out of me for getting that camera on the binos or spotter just right. Its maddening. Maybe one for sale on here soon haha. But I did snap this photo of myself for the wife, because I remember feeling really happy to be there and just vibing with the sunset and the pronghorn meetup that I got to watch
View attachment 308016
I snapped one more photo of the sunset... got back on the glass and watched till I could barely see anything anymore
View attachment 308015
I traversed down the scree field in the dark, managed to find my way down in the gulley and back up the other side, hopped the fence and was back at the truck at 6 pm. Making great time, feeling really good about the trip so far and excited to get after it for the next 48 hours.
as mentioned early, I had two tent setups with me - a basecamp (my kodiak flex bow) and a bivy (stone glacier minimalist setup). The plan was to set up the flex bow next to the truck and operate out of there until such time that I could locate the elk. I have set this tent up no less than 15 times. I have done it during the day, at night, stone cold sober and even twice after one too many old fashioned. Never an issue, always a fast setup (sub 15 mins mostly, sub 10 mins at time). I got it laid out, I staked the corners and went to assemble the cross bar that goes across the top. It's a set of two T bars, one with a coupler on it. You assemble the wings on the t bar at each end, then the ends of each t bar go together - under tension - and then the coupler slides over.
Now for the life of me, I cannot understand what follows, but the best is my guess. In my haste, or tiredness, or whatever, I get the two ends together, under tension and flat on the canvas and I think I must have let up on my right hand as I was reaching to slide the coupler over. But that slight change in pressure released all that tension and THWAP.
RiGht iN THa FuGGiN HeAd!!!!
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I took this photo immediately after it happened - more as a funny photo... but this was literally a few seconds after it happened and the blood just did not want to stop. It was probably a good thing I didn't take the photo 10 seconds later as it was gruesome. the right side of my face was covered in blood. As if all this luck wasn't bad enough... two things conspired to really #*^@#* me up. one, my wife happened to call me right after this happened and I - in my state of shock - told her what happened. Big mistake, but more on that later. Second, in 2007 I had surgery to reconnect the 5th facial nerve that connects and controls the right side of your face. This steel pole whacked me right above that surgical scar on my temple and I felt the right side of my face get tingly (still is) and I will admit that made me nervous. As that surgery was brutal and the recovery not fun.
So I tell the wife I am ok, just bleeding and working on getting it cleaned out and steri stripped. I also text Deacon, who goes into dad / boy scout mode and gives me all the advice I would give someone in my situation. I sit down in the front seat of my car and all but pass out. I wake up about 3 hours later with 4 missed calls from my wife and a few texts from Deacon. I groggily call my wife back and the short version is that I was "voluntold" (or whatever the expression is when your wife gives you a choice but essentially tells you what to do) to get home. I tried talking her out of it, but I think the fact that I was alone and in the middle of an area where I was unlikely to encounter people scared her too much. Combine that with my face feeling numbish and my history of concussions (7 and counting) and there was no talking her out of it.
My hunt was over. As I told Deacon, 50/50 on whether it was the right call. My eye was pretty swollen when I got home at 4 am and even after icing it, the right side of my face is puffy and tingly.
It's a shitty ending to a hunting season and leaves me feeling pretty dumb. @rtraverdavis had some more Tundra stuff going wrong on this hunt, but did anyone have "Bryce splits head open with his tent" on their bingo card?
It helps to laugh about it, but genuinely don't remember the last time in my life in which I had such a string of weird / bad luck. Hopefully it's all out of my system, as I have really big goals for 2024 and would like the chance to just execute on the hunting part. There is plenty of mistakes to be made just in the hunting department, so a little break on the stupid injury / truck department would be nice.
Either way, a crazy and weird ending to a long and fun hunting season.
Once @Dsnow9 is done hunting, I'm sure he'll be deleted to share the incredibly funny (read: stupid) bet in place for 2024.
MtnElk
Well-known member
same, that thought went through my head right afterwards as well
I mean, I was a pirate once for halloween in college, and I couldn't pull of an eye patch then... so I'd be screwed now as a middle aged real life pirate
