TrickyTross 2020 Season, no elk, maybe mule deer

[TrickyTross]

Well, May 30th I broke my right arm (ulna) while moving a futon for my wifes aunt. That led to a trip to the Urgent Care, which led to a referral to an orthopedic specialist who would fix my arm. The appointment yielded another find- a swiss cheese pattern with a black background where the white of bone marrow was supposed to be. That led to a trip to an orthopedic oncologist who performed a biopsy and sent me to a medical oncologist. I was diagnosed with Osteosarcoma on June 18, 2020. High grade, but a lower stage, so I am currently going through a pretty agressive chemo cycle with a surgery to remove the osteosarcoma tumor in October. After the surgery, chemo will continue til hopefully the spring, or June at the latest. That threw a wrench in the gears for my September elk hunt. My buddies are still going and I am trying to figure out HAM radio so I can see about staying in touch while they are out of service (the Garmin takes a while to send, first world problems). I can still hunt whitetail and bear here. Gonna be going to a mouth tab. Read about a few folks using one and being successful, reached out to a couple of them and they have been over the top with information and a willingness to help. It is gonna be interesting for sure.
Id like to clarify that I am not sharing my diagnosis for pity or anything along those lines. I know who my Creator is and I know He is with me through this whole thing. I am good!
I honestly have enjoyed following along with so many of yalls threads about your seasons that I thought "Why not?" I ll have a god bit of time while receiving my treatments. Gonna journal by video also, doubt Ill do anything, but who knows?
Still have a valid tag for the unit in Az we hunted this past January. Really hoping that I can make that trip. It will be more for getting out and going west than trying to kill a good deer. But, might get lucky. I may be the glassing guy/coach while I guide a buddy in. Really looking forward to that this December.
I also may slide down to either the NC coast or SC swamps in November. Really wanna go after a big old black bear down there. If my tag doesne get notched up here in the mountains of NC, might head that way.
Got a little feist mix named Rosie. She doesnt know it yet, but she will be learning to go after squirrels.

Hopefully I will be margninally entertaining. What all yall got on the docket for this season?

 

[Irrelevant]

Well, May 30th I broke my right arm (ulna) while moving a futon for my wifes aunt. That led to a trip to the Urgent Care, which led to a referral to an orthopedic specialist who would fix my arm. The appointment yielded another find- a swiss cheese pattern with a black background where the white of bone marrow was supposed to be. That led to a trip to an orthopedic oncologist who performed a biopsy and sent me to a medical oncologist. I was diagnosed with Osteosarcoma on June 18, 2020. High grade, but a lower stage, so I am currently going through a pretty agressive chemo cycle with a surgery to remove the osteosarcoma tumor in October. After the surgery, chemo will continue til hopefully the spring, or June at the latest. That threw a wrench in the gears for my September elk hunt. My buddies are still going and I am trying to figure out HAM radio so I can see about staying in touch while they are out of service (the Garmin takes a while to send, first world problems). I can still hunt whitetail and bear here. Gonna be going to a mouth tab. Read about a few folks using one and being successful, reached out to a couple of them and they have been over the top with information and a willingness to help. It is gonna be interesting for sure.
Id like to clarify that I am not sharing my diagnosis for pity or anything along those lines. I know who my Creator is and I know He is with me through this whole thing. I am good!
I honestly have enjoyed following along with so many of yalls threads about your seasons that I thought "Why not?" I ll have a god bit of time while receiving my treatments. Gonna journal by video also, doubt Ill do anything, but who knows?
Still have a valid tag for the unit in Az we hunted this past January. Really hoping that I can make that trip. It will be more for getting out and going west than trying to kill a good deer. But, might get lucky. I may be the glassing guy/coach while I guide a buddy in. Really looking forward to that this December.
I also may slide down to either the NC coast or SC swamps in November. Really wanna go after a big old black bear down there. If my tag doesne get notched up here in the mountains of NC, might head that way.
Got a little feist mix named Rosie. She doesnt know it yet, but she will be learning to go after squirrels.

Hopefully I will be margninally entertaining. What all yall got on the docket for this season?

Dude wish you nothing but a speedy recovery all around.

Between Covid and some house projects my out-of-state tags were reduced to 0. I still hope to tag along on an ID elk hunt and try to pick up a leftover multi-season deer tag in WA. Otherwise it's chukars, chukars, and more chukars.

 

[Deleted member 20812]

Otherwise it's chukars, chukars, and more chukars.

The older I get, the more I think this all a guy really needs, with some steelhead thrown in for variety.

 

[Irrelevant]

The older I get, the more I think this all a guy really needs, with some steelhead thrown in for variety.

Steelhead? What are those? Must be some prehistoric fish that went extinct. We've had three seasons since 2007 on the Wenatchee and only one of those was any good.

 

[Deleted member 20812]

Steelhead? What are those? Must be some prehistoric fish that went extinct. We've had three seasons since 2007 on the Wenatchee and only one of those was any good.

I caught one years ago.

 

[LuketheDog]

I caught one years ago.

Me too, in the late 90's...

 

[LuketheDog]

I find your attitude to be inspiring and refreshing, wishing a speedy recovery to you man, and a great fall season!

Well, May 30th I broke my right arm (ulna) while moving a futon for my wifes aunt. That led to a trip to the Urgent Care, which led to a referral to an orthopedic specialist who would fix my arm. The appointment yielded another find- a swiss cheese pattern with a black background where the white of bone marrow was supposed to be. That led to a trip to an orthopedic oncologist who performed a biopsy and sent me to a medical oncologist. I was diagnosed with Osteosarcoma on June 18, 2020. High grade, but a lower stage, so I am currently going through a pretty agressive chemo cycle with a surgery to remove the osteosarcoma tumor in October. After the surgery, chemo will continue til hopefully the spring, or June at the latest. That threw a wrench in the gears for my September elk hunt. My buddies are still going and I am trying to figure out HAM radio so I can see about staying in touch while they are out of service (the Garmin takes a while to send, first world problems). I can still hunt whitetail and bear here. Gonna be going to a mouth tab. Read about a few folks using one and being successful, reached out to a couple of them and they have been over the top with information and a willingness to help. It is gonna be interesting for sure.
Id like to clarify that I am not sharing my diagnosis for pity or anything along those lines. I know who my Creator is and I know He is with me through this whole thing. I am good!
I honestly have enjoyed following along with so many of yalls threads about your seasons that I thought "Why not?" I ll have a god bit of time while receiving my treatments. Gonna journal by video also, doubt Ill do anything, but who knows?
Still have a valid tag for the unit in Az we hunted this past January. Really hoping that I can make that trip. It will be more for getting out and going west than trying to kill a good deer. But, might get lucky. I may be the glassing guy/coach while I guide a buddy in. Really looking forward to that this December.
I also may slide down to either the NC coast or SC swamps in November. Really wanna go after a big old black bear down there. If my tag doesne get notched up here in the mountains of NC, might head that way.
Got a little feist mix named Rosie. She doesnt know it yet, but she will be learning to go after squirrels.

Hopefully I will be margninally entertaining. What all yall got on the docket for this season?

 

[rtraverdavis]

@TrickyTross, your positivity and outlook are impressive. I wish you a speedy and full recovery, and that even through your trials, this season brings you some real unexpected joys.

My big hunt this fall will be for mule deer in Wyoming, assuming interstate travel is still legal. I’ve also got a cow elk tag here in Oregon in a tough access unit that I’ll hunt a bit. I’ve been seeing a few sooty grouse on the plot of BLM where I shoot near home, so I plan to try going after those as soon as the season opens. I’ve never hunted for birds before, so that’ll be a cool new experience. Other than that, we’ve got a bunch of family camping trips coming up this summer, and I’ll spend a few mornings swinging flies for steelhead on the Deschutes. Stories like yours are reminders to be grateful for all that I have—thank you for sharing it.

 

[geetar]

Prayers for a speedy recovery. Keep us updated no matter how this season turns out.

 

[get-n-birdy]

Thoughts and prayers.

Our youngest had a cist in his femur towards the top, right below the nuckle and growth plate by the hip socket. It broke when our oldest was at church with him, it was a complete non contact injury. Our oldest was 16 at the time and our youngest was 5. It was heart wrenching seeing his x-ray and hearing the dr say the T word. His bone was just shattered because it was egg shell thin. My uncle had just died after a long battle with a cancerous tumor in the same location a month before. My brother in law had just had a brain tumor diagnosis after a surprise terrible seizure. There is no relief in this world in that moment sitting in the er, other than faith, family and friends. The tears of fear and an uncertain future flowed. Fortunately it wasn't cancerous. After 6 surgeries over an 8 year period, our youngest is now almost 16 and just applied with my brother and I for the secondary draw in Colorado for elk tags. Pretty jacked about him just getting the opportunity to hunt out west. He has 2 plates and 5 screws in his leg, more than likely for life. But he's a tough kid, youngest of 5. He earned the nickname the Swedish Smacker after hitting a male nurse after a terrible surgery that didn't work. He was 5 and in an unbelievable amount of pain. He's been working for a construction company last summer and this summer. One surgery happened after the dr gave him the ok to ski, and his oldest brother ran into him. Yep, ski. His doctor has never shy'd away from wanting him to still live his life. That was our new years eve one year. Luckily our oldest, the one who ran into him, his wife is a nurse and his other brother and cousin were there and helped get him off the hill with ski patrol.

It's been a long journey and God has refined us as a family through fire. It hasn't always been fun or easy. The financial and emotional challenges are exhausting. But through it all, when we'd get to see and talk to families going through much, much worse with their kids, you start to take a step back and see things through a much different lens. Perspective changes. Especially when a good friend of mine died of cancer when I was younger. You become grateful for little things. Little moments that are absolute treasures. That many miss on the long road to achieve grandness. Little victories, become huge stepping stones.

Your attitude shines through. That is the best thing you have in the midst of the challenges you're facing. Hope and pray for healing for you! Didn't mean to ramble on or hijack the thread, forgive me for the long windedness. But never in my wildest dreams thought I'd be going on an elk hunt with our youngest, yet it could very well happen this fall. Hope, humor and humility. Amazing how things worked out from what seemed to be ashes, came a diamond,. And truly hope there's something special waiting at the end of this for you.

God bless

 

[diamond hitch]

I went through that last year with a diagnosis of lymphoma in September. I went through elk season with chemo, bald and scared that this would be my last season. Now I face each season not knowing if it will come back but determined to enjoy every season as they come nomatter how tough it is. A driving force of survival. It's a tough program to face and elven though you have friends and family, its yours to deal with. An inspiration I found during chemo was an 85 year old women, the wife of an old director of my former office. She was going through chemo for the 5th time and her carrot was panning gold this summer.

Look forward to the chemo curls when your hair comes back and the possibility it may come in red. I just got my first haircut this year. My wife is envious of the waves in my beard. I'm still waiting to see what color it will finally be and whether the hair on top will lay down or continue to stand straight up. Think of it as an adventure. A little like when your exwife shows up at your current anniversary. Memorable if nothing else. Know that the rest of us survivors are rooting for you and there are many more seasons to plan for.

 

[TrickyTross]

Dude wish you nothing but a speedy recovery all around.

Between Covid and some house projects my out-of-state tags were reduced to 0. I still hope to tag along on an ID elk hunt and try to pick up a leftover multi-season deer tag in WA. Otherwise it's chukars, chukars, and more chukars.

I hope you get to pick up that tag! I am gonna do my best to follow some friends dogs trying to find some grouse here at the house. Starting to see some, but daggum we need alot more timber cut and more ESH/Young Forest. Reckon we will see.

 

[TrickyTross]

F&*$ CANCER

Stole a lot for a whole lot from the people I care about, really impressed by grace of your comment.

I look forward to some NC bear stories, make sure you document it even if you don't get one. Personally the kill shot is the least important part of a HT narrative to me.

Assuming Covid doesn't up end things again, I'm hopefully going to go moose shelpping in AK, chase elk in CO with some llamas, hunt CO bucks with my FIL, try to find a bear or deer back east, and most important finally get some squirrels with Gus. We went 0 for 3 last year in CO, I'm hoping the east coast has a better showing.

Dude, AK sounds freaking awesome!!! CO should be awesome, I cant wait to hear the stories and see any pictures from all those hunts! Where you looking at back east for bear/deer? Squirrels also in the east? If you have any desire to come to NC, let me know!!!

 

[TrickyTross]

I find your attitude to be inspiring and refreshing, wishing a speedy recovery to you man, and a great fall season!

Thanks Luke!

 

[TrickyTross]

@TrickyTross, your positivity and outlook are impressive. I wish you a speedy and full recovery, and that even through your trials, this season brings you some real unexpected joys.

My big hunt this fall will be for mule deer in Wyoming, assuming interstate travel is still legal. I’ve also got a cow elk tag here in Oregon in a tough access unit that I’ll hunt a bit. I’ve been seeing a few sooty grouse on the plot of BLM where I shoot near home, so I plan to try going after those as soon as the season opens. I’ve never hunted for birds before, so that’ll be a cool new experience. Other than that, we’ve got a bunch of family camping trips coming up this summer, and I’ll spend a few mornings swinging flies for steelhead on the Deschutes. Stories like yours are reminders to be grateful for all that I have—thank you for sharing it.

Thanks boss! Speaking of Wyoming, I gotta buy my elk point. Been toying with buying a deer and antelope point as well! That deer hunt sounds awesome!!!! Rifle tag? That cow elk sounds pretty cool as well. Oregon is a state I really wanna come try for elk. My sister is in Vancouver and she talks about how beautiful the PNW whenever she goes through. Told me if I ever visited, I might just figure out a way to stay there! The grouse will be cool! When I was in Idaho, there were grouse who we almost stepped on a few times, but I believe they were Blue Grouse. Really cool! Here at the house, we have Ruffed Grouse and I have buddies who have dogs to chase them. Our numbers are low so we walk alot of miles for a few flushes. Is that how yall go after Sooty?

 

[TrickyTross]

Prayers for a speedy recovery. Keep us updated no matter how this season turns out.

THanks boss

 

[TrickyTross]

Thoughts and prayers.

Our youngest had a cist in his femur towards the top, right below the nuckle and growth plate by the hip socket. It broke when our oldest was at church with him, it was a complete non contact injury. Our oldest was 16 at the time and our youngest was 5. It was heart wrenching seeing his x-ray and hearing the dr say the T word. His bone was just shattered because it was egg shell thin. My uncle had just died after a long battle with a cancerous tumor in the same location a month before. My brother in law had just had a brain tumor diagnosis after a surprise terrible seizure. There is no relief in this world in that moment sitting in the er, other than faith, family and friends. The tears of fear and an uncertain future flowed. Fortunately it wasn't cancerous. After 6 surgeries over an 8 year period, our youngest is now almost 16 and just applied with my brother and I for the secondary draw in Colorado for elk tags. Pretty jacked about him just getting the opportunity to hunt out west. He has 2 plates and 5 screws in his leg, more than likely for life. But he's a tough kid, youngest of 5. He earned the nickname the Swedish Smacker after hitting a male nurse after a terrible surgery that didn't work. He was 5 and in an unbelievable amount of pain. He's been working for a construction company last summer and this summer. One surgery happened after the dr gave him the ok to ski, and his oldest brother ran into him. Yep, ski. His doctor has never shy'd away from wanting him to still live his life. That was our new years eve one year. Luckily our oldest, the one who ran into him, his wife is a nurse and his other brother and cousin were there and helped get him off the hill with ski patrol.

It's been a long journey and God has refined us as a family through fire. It hasn't always been fun or easy. The financial and emotional challenges are exhausting. But through it all, when we'd get to see and talk to families going through much, much worse with their kids, you start to take a step back and see things through a much different lens. Perspective changes. Especially when a good friend of mine died of cancer when I was younger. You become grateful for little things. Little moments that are absolute treasures. That many miss on the long road to achieve grandness. Little victories, become huge stepping stones.

Your attitude shines through. That is the best thing you have in the midst of the challenges you're facing. Hope and pray for healing for you! Didn't mean to ramble on or hijack the thread, forgive me for the long windedness. But never in my wildest dreams thought I'd be going on an elk hunt with our youngest, yet it could very well happen this fall. Hope, humor and humility. Amazing how things worked out from what seemed to be ashes, came a diamond,. And truly hope there's something special waiting at the end of this for you.

God bless

No need to apologize at all! Any time anyone wants to share what God has done for them and in their lives and the life of a loved one- share away! Aint no hijacking here!!

That is beyond cool that you guys might get to go chase elk together this fall! THAT is something Id love to hear about and see pictures of!! One of my biggest motivators is my two boys- they are 7 and 4. I look forward to the day I get to take them with me in September to go chase elk, or just go west in general!! Im hoping to take the 7 year old on a trip in about 3 years maybe? I was going to take him on a mini backpacking/fishing trip somewhere out that way.

I am also looking forward to seeing how God uses this!!!

 

[TrickyTross]

I went through that last year with a diagnosis of lymphoma in September. I went through elk season with chemo, bald and scared that this would be my last season. Now I face each season not knowing if it will come back but determined to enjoy every season as they come nomatter how tough it is. A driving force of survival. It's a tough program to face and elven though you have friends and family, its yours to deal with. An inspiration I found during chemo was an 85 year old women, the wife of an old director of my former office. She was going through chemo for the 5th time and her carrot was panning gold this summer.

Look forward to the chemo curls when your hair comes back and the possibility it may come in red. I just got my first haircut this year. My wife is envious of the waves in my beard. I'm still waiting to see what color it will finally be and whether the hair on top will lay down or continue to stand straight up. Think of it as an adventure. A little like when your exwife shows up at your current anniversary. Memorable if nothing else. Know that the rest of us survivors are rooting for you and there are many more seasons to plan for.

Thanks so much boss! I am already looking forward to seeing how my hair grows back! Before it was cool again, I had a sweet mullet in college. I kind of want to have one again! How did your beard grow back? Fuller? Or about the same?

 

[diamond hitch]

Fuller, thicker and wavey and three times as fast as the hair on the top of my head. It's kind of like it starts at your ankles and works its way up. On top of that it starts out baby-soft and fine. You didn't get to experience your hair growing as a baby but you will now. From fuzz to hair in about 6 months. The nurses at the chemo center said every one is different. Kind of like a box of chocolates.

The other part you need to watch for is that it takes about 6 months for your immune system to recover. Be careful!! For my treatment they gave me Neulasta Onpro to boost the immune system during treatment which is an experience all by itself. I can't say what you will get as every treatment appears to be different but it is amazing the success they are having with the treatments. Everyone seems to react differently to the chemo. I was fortunate and had very little effect except for my guts shutting down after each treatment For 1-3 days. Stay on top of it and lots of luck. It's just another adventure of life.

 

[rtraverdavis]

Thanks boss! Speaking of Wyoming, I gotta buy my elk point. Been toying with buying a deer and antelope point as well! That deer hunt sounds awesome!!!! Rifle tag? That cow elk sounds pretty cool as well. Oregon is a state I really wanna come try for elk. My sister is in Vancouver and she talks about how beautiful the PNW whenever she goes through. Told me if I ever visited, I might just figure out a way to stay there! The grouse will be cool! When I was in Idaho, there were grouse who we almost stepped on a few times, but I believe they were Blue Grouse. Really cool! Here at the house, we have Ruffed Grouse and I have buddies who have dogs to chase them. Our numbers are low so we walk alot of miles for a few flushes. Is that how yall go after Sooty?

Thanks man. I’ve never hunted grouse before, but I definitely won’t be bringing my dog (a sleepy pug who’s afraid of fireworks). The plan is to just walk the closed road and shoot them off of stumps, Newberg style. We’ll see what happens.
Keep us updated on your progress—I will be thinking about you.