a little running and a littlel hunting

I did get to run last monday, 4 miles a little slower than on saturday. other than that exercising is pretty minimial. i also got nearly 3 dozen duck decoys strung, i have one dozen left and have to put anchors on the all as well. zeke and i have gotten most of the boat blind put on. we had to order a few things so when that comes in we should be able to finish in no time.

i did get off on saturday because one of the vets needed to switch so i hunted instead of running in the 1/2 marathon. should have ran in the 1/2. it was very warm and windy and deer were not moving very well. that is really all i have for now.

lesson of the day: you don't always need a lesson of the day.

Busy Weekend, Back on Track (somewhat)

i did get back on track a little this weekend, even though it was pretty busy. i was off this weekend, the first weekend since the first weekend in october. however, we did have a partner's meeting at 6:30am saturday. so, on my day off i had to get up for that. it was probably good since i did get up and going. saturday was the youth hunt, otherwise i would have skipped the meeting to be in the woods. after the meeting i came home and ran 4 miles. it was a little harder this time as compared to 6 weeks ago when i was running regular. my time was 37:28, so not too bad, but my body felt it a little more than usual.

after that emily, my uncle and i left for knoxville. it was the first time i had seen the vols play in 2 years! it was exciting though, black jerseys, stomping spurrier, what could be better! i did miss taking my nephew on the youth hunt though. i would have taken him this afternoon but i had to teach a class at church, none of the kids showed up for the class.

we got in today from knoxville and i took a short nap and got up and rode my new bike for about 40 minutes, decent workout, but i was picking up cans to recycle too and there were more cans today than i had seen in a long time.

i did get my hunting stuff together tonight to prepare for muzzle loader season. i will not be able to run the clarksville 1/2 marathon this weekend because i have to work (not that i am in real good shape to run it). i thought about switching my weekends so i could run in the 1/2 but figured if i was going to have this coming weekend off i would rather be hunting than running, since it is the opening of muzzle loader season.

tomorrow, bow season opens back up after the youth hunt but i don't think i will get to hunt then either. in the morning i have to get some supplies to help my cousin build a duck blind for his boat, then i am going with my uncle to pick up his dog from the trainer in grand junction (2.5 hours away), then my cousin and i are going to work on building the blind tomorrow night. i think hunting with my cousin out of boat blinds we have killed a total of 1 duck. but, it never hurts to be prepared for that one day that the ducks come pouring in! i just know one of these days we are going to get lucky.

i will keep everyone updated on my running so you all will know where to come watch me when i do get ready to run a marathon. hopefully i will get up in time to run in the morning.

lessons of the day: know when the youth hunt is to plan your fall college football schedule. every hurdle in life can be looked at like it is a hurdle of it can be viewed as something to make us stronger. everyone who is against us can be viewed as our enemy or as people who make life more challenging/interesting. be thankful for all of these hurdles and people, don't let them break you, they will make you a better person, they have made you who you are today.

Need to quit work!

Well, the last week has been so busy! sorry i haven't been able to blog very much. i thought this might happen, i was afraid that when hunting season came around the running and blogging might get a little less regular. i am trying, i promise. i did shoot a decent buck the other day, not what i was hoping for, but he had an arrow sticking out of his neck. so i shot him and got the other arrow out and the entire wound (from one side of his neck to the other) was badly infected and pus was just pouring out. he is probably the biggest deer i have ever gotten with a bow, so i can't complain too much. i did get to watch one huge 10 point. when i first saw him he was 20 yards from my stand, through some very thick brush, and i thought he was a 10 point that my uncle passed a few days before. however, when he walked out where i could see his antlers i knew no one would have passed him. he had mass, was wide and tall. i got to watch him through my binoculars (because it was getting dark) at 80 yards for a good while. i also saw another big 10 point at the other end of the field, out in the open, during the entire last hour of daylight. i saw another 10 point about 70 yards away. he has good G2s and pretty good width, but not much of anything else. it has been an extremely eventful and fun year so far, and we are still in bow season and haven't even hit the rut yet! other than that i have only been able to hunt a few days since i have had to work every saturday since i got back from montana, and teach the youth on sunday morning and evening. if anyone is hiring for a job where i could have the next 2 months off (plus march, april and may) and still earn a good salary, please call me asap!

i got a new bike, more of a road bike than my other bike, hopefully it will stop raining soon so i can get back to running and riding my new bike!

lesson of the day: while growing up they tell you, you should get a good job that makes good money, that's false, get a job that allows you to hunt as much as possible and that pays you enough to be able to hunt as much as possible. period.

Trying to get back on schedule

i must apologize for not posting like i said i would. this week has been busy, i was on call tues, had a birthday dinner wed, and on call again tonight. however, i think one of the vets is going to cover my night on call next week since i covered his call tonight. i should not be on call at all next week. hopefully that will help me to get back on track running and blogging. i know everyone has missed my blog so much. i really think only shannan reads it. at least she is the only one who comments. so maybe all this is for you shannan. even so, as long as i have at least one regular follower (or at least think i do) i will continue to post. this past tuesday i did run 4 miles over lunch, nearly killed me. to think a month ago i could have done that without thinking twice about it, a breeze. i will get back, look out marathons, here i come!

thought of the day: when around camels, wear a raincoat, they can spit a pretty good distance, even sideways.

Montana Hunting: Day 8 (The Real Hunt)

Walker and i got to the spot around 9 or 9:30 in the morning. we got back to the last blood i had found and started looking for more blood. after 30-45 minutes of not finding any blood we decided to crosshatch the hill we were on. we started at the top and would walk from the point of last blood to the first big gully we came to, about 100-150 yards. then we would move down the hill 20 yards and go back. we finished that hill around lunch time. we stopped to get a little drank and a little snack and discuss which hill was next. there were really 3 hillsides to choose from. we had the hill side on the back side of the one we just walked, the next hill in the direction the elk appeared to be running and the hillside on the back of that hill (which we thought was the least likely). i thought since the elk was so close to the top of the hill that maybe he crossed over the ridge and got back into his sanctuary. i had walked the next hill in the direction he ran, to get back to the truck the other day (just one trail about the level that i had found the last blood) and we had walked it coming back in today (a trail a little lower down the hill). we decided to crosshatch the hill on the backside of the hill we had just done. we walked down to the bottom of that hill (i knew there was a creek there) and worked our way up. we did find 4 or 5 nasty big wallows at the bottom of the hill but never found any sign of the elk. we had to get back into town that night so we quit when we got back to the top of the hill and walked out the top of the next hill.

Now it was the 3rd day looking for my elk and walker could not go with me this day. i decided i would walk the next hill in the direction that the elk had run. i started at the top and worked my way down, looking in every nook and cranny. i was starting to feel like someone looking for a lost person, the longer i looked the worse it felt like my odds were getting. the longer i looked the more disappointed i was getting with myself. i had worked so hard to prepare for this trip, running, shooting, etc and i had screwed it up. i would rather not get a shot at an elk than wound one and not find it. but here i was in montana, with a few more days left, i was not going to hunt anymore unless i found my elk then i would do some mule deer hunting. so i had all kinds of time to look for the elk. i saw several magpies flying to the northeast so i got on the ridge and headed that way. i got the point of the ridge and sat and listened for a long time but the magpies were gone. crosshatching a hill by yourself takes a lot of time and gets lonely. i had to do it, i owed it to the elk. day 3 no elk.

on the 4th day i went looking for the elk, it was actually the day before i flew back to tn. i decided to go back to the mountains and look a little more. i had to drive back to billings for the night and fly out the next morning and the mountains were on my way. i was going to check the hill on the backside of the last hill i checked. i thought i would walk the hill about the same level of the last blood i found. i was going to look for ravens and magpies or try to get a whiff of the dead body. if i hadn't found anything by noon i was going to climb over the ridge and head back to the truck and back to billings. i had walked about 1/2 a mile in and looked at the gps and realized i was about 400 foot in elevation above the last blood i found and decided i should get down the mountain a little. i had moved down the mountains a little and came to a gully. i thought i saw an antler sticking up on the other side and was trying to look at whatever it was through my binoculars. when i did, a raven flew right by me and landed in a tree a little ways away. i looked again and realized it was not an antler, but a limb. i decided i would stay there for a little while to see what the raven was doing. after waiting about 10 minutes the raven did switch trees but that was it. the wind was blowing in my face pretty steady. i decided it was time for me to head out. just as i was taking my first step to leave the wind stopped. all of a sudden i could smell something odd. my first thought was, that can't be it, i'm not sure i really smelled anything. i started walking up the hill towards the raven and i smelled it again and knew it had to be my elk. i saw something about 40 yards uphill but couldn't tell if it was the elk of not. i walked up to it and there he was! it was the elk i had shot, there was no mistaking his rack. he was laying on his right side so i could easily tell where i had shot him. the shot was about 5 inches behind the front leg and mid chest. i do not think i could have made a better shot. however, there was very little blood on his body below the wound. it could have been because he had been there so long or maybe he just bled internally, i don't know, but i still think it was a great shot. i immediately got out my gps to see how far he had ran from where i shot him- 3/4 of a mile, and gained 400 ft in elevation. so much for wounded elk, especially ones shot in the lungs, running downhill and towards water. well, i found him, and he was rancid. there was a bubbling gas coming out of the wound...rancid. getting him out, the wind was blowing the smell from my back to my face. and i don't know how much an elk head weighs but i can tell you 2 things: 1)i packed it wrong, with the antlers hanging back behind me and 2) i thought i was going to break an ankle or tear an acl getting him off the mountain. it was ankle busting and knee knuckling!

lesson of the days: never, never give up. know how to pack your elk to get him off the mountain. hunting elk is a hard roller coaster ride of mental thoughts.

Montana Hunting: Day 7

when i woke up i had to eat, i was trying not to, but after skipping supper i was pretty hungry. i ate a chocolate covered caramel granola bar. i tried to get all my stuff together as quiet as possible since i had not heard any elk and wasn't really sure where they were. when i got everything packed up and ready to go i still hadn't heard anything so i bugled....no response. i headed to the area where the elk was the day before that i had called in, thinking he might be in that area this morning. still no bugling so i tried something a little different, i did a few cow calls followed by a few low chuckles. not 2 minutes later the 2 bulls started bugling. they were in the opposite direction. i was not sure if they would come across the mountain like they did yesterday or just go up the mountain, i was in a bad situation. if they came across the mountain, like i thought they would, and i was up the mountain the thermals would be blowing my scent to them. if they went up the mountain and i waited on them to come across the mountain, i would not be able to get to them because the thermals would be going up to them by that time. i had to make a choice, and quick, and hope the wind and thermals would work with me a little. i decided to go up the mountain. at least i would be above them and it was getting a little later in the morning so i was hoping the thermals would soon be warming up and going up the mountain to keep my scent from the elk. i started up the mountain and the elk were still bugling pretty regular, to the south. as i got up the mountain i checked the wind and the thermals had started going up and the wind was blowing to the east, which was perfect because now one of the elk was coming across the mountain below me. i came into a spot in the woods and it was like i was guided there by some strange force. there were elk rubs everywhere (trees just torn to shreds), elk beds galore, and a stench of elk urine soaked dirt filling my nostrils. i wasn't sure if i had just died and was in heaven or if i had just accidentally found one great spot. after looking around for a few minutes i tried to guess which way the elk would be coming from. with the wind and the way the elk had came up the mountain yesterday, i set up to where i thought the elk would come from my right, into the wind, up a long ridge. i set my pack against a tree and sat on it. i had waited for just a few minutes when i heard an elk bugle from the spot i had chuckled from. hearing that made me think he was on his way around the mountain to come up the ridge into the wind. a few minutes later i heard a twig snap just over the hill directly in front of me. i was about 10 yards from the top of the hill. i looked in the direction of the twig that snapped and saw antlers coming over the hill. as he started walking up the hill i drew my bow. it felt lke someone had cranked the poundage to 100lbs. it took everything i had to draw it back. i did it so slow that when i got it to full draw the string made a little squeak with the elk now at 20 yards. of course he stopped in his tracks and stared at me at full draw. i don't know how long he stood there, but it seemed like 20 minutes. my arm tried to let down 3 times but i was able to catch it each time, with the elk looking directly at me. fortunately there was a small tree between us. then i noticed i was shaking so bad that the bow in my left hand kept tilting back and forth. i thought there was no way i was going to get a shot, i knew he could see the bow moving. finally, i decided i was going to have to let down. i decided to close my eyes and just concentrate on holding the bow at full draw. if he had turned when i opened my eyes, i would shoot him, if he hadn't turned i was going to have to let the bow down. when i opened my eyes, he was starting to turn to his right. when he got fully broadside i released the arrow. it appeared to be a really good shot. he turned and ran back down the hill. i waited for a few minutes, called emily and another friend and told them what happened. after 30 minutes i went to just see if i could tell the direction he went. finally, i found his hoof prints going straight away from where i had shot, down the hill. it had been about an hour now so i decided to see if i could find any blood. i followed his tracks down the hill and found the back 17 inches of my arrow, it had blood all the way up to the nock. i thought this would be pretty easy. great shot placement, good penetration, what more could you want. a good blood trail, that is what more i could want. there was a little blood where the arrow was laying but not much. i followed the tracks and finally found a little blood. i was able to follow blood for a short while until it starting becoming very scarce. i was down on my knees finding one or two occasional tiny blood spots. when i couldn't find blood for 5 to 10 yards i would follow tracks, if i didn't find blood with those tracks for 20 yards i would go back to the last blood drop and find another set of tracks to follow out for 20 yards. i finally got to about 150 yards from where i had made the shot and the blood just stopped. i looked for several more hours (taking a short lunch break), followed lots more tracks and found nothing. i had shot the bull at about 8am and finally stopped looking for blood at 6pm. i was severely depressed. i was going to have to leave my elk up on the mountain overnight. i went back to walker's house that night to get some rest and hot food. walker and i decided we would both come back the next day and look. i still felt pretty good we would find the elk but i was really worried about the meat spoiling.

tomorrow i will tell the story about finally finding the elk, don't miss this! (really it may not be as exciting but still it was a very important part of this story).

lessons of the day: it is better to get on your hands and knees to look for blood and leave no stone unturned. i had wasted a little time following a couple of sets of tracks that i was almost positive were his (when the blood would get scarce) just to come back and find another speck of blood going the other way. i thought he was going straight down the hill but he had actually turned and ran along the side of the hill for a long while. lesson 2 is elk do not always go downhill or towards water when they are hit, even if they are hit good. when you are tracking an animal be meticulous and if you need to take a break occasionally, take one, regroup and get back at it. elk hunting can go from an extreme high to an extreme low in a matter of minutes. looking for an elk on a mountain can be exhausting, it ain't no whitetail tracking.

Montana Hunting: Day 6 (9/23/2009)

i got up this morning and nothing was bugling, not a sound. i climbed up to a little higher viewing area to take a look and get a better listen. still nothing. i let out one bugle and one bull started up. i wasn't 100% sure i could get to him, i thought there might be private land i would have to get around. i thought to myself, the only way i'll know is if i go to them. if i get to private land, i will have to stop or try to call him over, if i didn't run into private land....yowzah...i'm in. so i headed that way, luckily there was a ridge that led me pretty close. i got between 150-200 yards from the bull. however, he was going up the hill and he was ahead of me, no way for me to get ahead of him when i didn't really know the terrain. but he was bugling a lot, i had to do something. i thought that if i bugled over top of one of his bugles he might get a little upset and come to run me off. slim chance but it was all i could think of. so, on his next bugle, i bugled. to my surprise there was a bugle about 100 yards on the same level i was one, a different bull. i snuck up another 40 yards and called some more, a few very excited cow calls followed by a short, screaming bugle. both bulls started bugling back constantly. when i decided the second bull was not going to come in, i decided to try and sneak a little closer. i made it another 20 yards and came to a spot with a tree i could not get around without making too much noise (rocky ground on one side and brush on the other). where i was i did have a pretty good view. if he came around the tree i would see him in enough time to draw, if he came the other way i should be able to see him in plenty of time too. can you guess what happened? neither of those. when got in position (kneeling) the bulls were still bugling but not any closer. so i let out a few, very excited, almost painful cow calls followed by a short, bugling scream. when i did that i could hear the closer bull pawing and panting, then he let out 5 very short bugles right in a row, better than a triple gobble from a spring tom. i wasn't sure if he would come in, but it didn't matter, this was good enough for me. all of a sudden he took off running down the hill to my left. when he stopped i knew i was in trouble. if he came up the hill from where he was he would have to go to his left (my right) to come into my shooting lane. if he went to his right he would walk behind lots of thick brush. if he walked in one spot i would have one small spot for a shot. when i raised my bow to make sure i could take a shot i realized the lower limb of my bow was going to hit a branch. as i tried to move a little i saw him coming up through the woods, about 40 yards away. i raised my bow and it still hit the limb so i tried to move a little more and twist just a little to be able to shoot through the small opening. when i did, a branch caught my pack and made a little scraping sound. the next thing i saw was the bull trotting back down the hill. i was so excited, just to have even been that close. i had never been that close to an elk before, let alone a bull, let alone a mad bugling, snotting bull that was coming in looking for me. i knew my hunt was over for the morning, one bull trotting away and one, still bugling frequently, but now far up the hill with the thermals now going uphill. i did not have enough supplies for the night so i was going to head back into town. on the way back to the truck i ran back so i could call emily and tell her what happened. she sounded pretty excited for me. i went back into town, got my food, etc. and headed back to the mountains. i thought i might be able to catch at least one of the bulls coming back down the mountain. i got to a spot about 1/2 way up the mountain on a very good trail. unfortunately, there was no action that afternoon. as it was getting close to dark i decided i had better get up the mountain and get a spot to sleep before it was too dark. i did not want to be walking around the mountain in the dark, for obvious reasons and to try and not scare any animals. so i got up the mountain and found a pretty good, level spot. i decided not to eat supper and not to get my bivy sack/sleeping bag out. i did not want to create any extra scent or noise, being in the elk's territory. i was worried with the thermals going downhill in the evening, any weird or strong smells might make it to the elk. unfortunately, i was not able to sleep all night without the sleeping bag. i got a little cold around 10pm and had to get it out. anyway, around dark the bulls were bugling, coming down the mountain, 2 of them. where i had set up, was right in the middle of them. one of them had to walk across the path i had used to get up the mountain that afternoon. the bulls came down the mountain, one to the south and one to the north and met up in the bottoms (private land) well after dark and bugled for a long time that night.

come back tomorrow (as long as i do not have too many late night calls) for day 7, it only gets more exciting.

lessons of the day: if you have a chance, even though it seems like a long shot, at least it is a shot, give it a try. you can still call elk in, despite what lots of people say (if i can do it anyone can, for sure). elk hunting can go from extreme lows to extreme highs in a very short period. elk hunting is crazy fun!