Absaroka wanderings

[slickrockpack]

would it be of any interest to hear about our days here?

I don't want to tick anyone off.

my wife generally runs the roads and lines with me when I head out, the last two hounds we have ride along, too beat up and busted up to hunt anymore, they usually add to the diversion.

each day my wife writes in her book what we saw, big game and birds she likes, nothing we see around the house, we normally have a dozen rabbits around at one time, 50 or so chukars and small herds of muleys and she won't write that down because they are always there, but , well...I'll put down what she did today, you see if its of any interest?

44 degrees F, cloudy 3 mph wind WSW, heading into the forest0600 for bear hunt, lots of holiday traffic heading into the park

3 Bison have moved down to the house, hope this doesn't mean early winter, they are early. first at blackwater, last at pahaska, billy bob bobbob and bob

5 whitetails by the mailbox, maybe fires have moved them across the river, they don't come over here much ever.

3 pronghorn bucks out on the long range range, again, fires?

bald eagle eating trout by big pull off

coyote in summer coat lakeside at rock beach

tons of trumper swans in elkcreek (she likes swans, why I don't know, never writes down the geese or ducks) herons, etc.

elk by horse corrals, again early winter? and again by lake

60 or so bison on the park boundary, second esterus, lots of burbling.

medium black bear on top of pass eating high bush, 200 tops, less than 1/4 mile from truck, too small RJ passed.

golden eagle in moose draw spotted while hitting berries for bears, heading home. Neighbor asked if he could give us a camera to put in the front of our house so he can get grizz pics. RJ said, yep, but don't be a pest about  it/

long day, not seeing much bears

 

Edited September 4, 2016 by slickrockpack
good lord i need spell check!

[Zem18]

It reads like an episode of Mountain Men from TV. Awesome!!! 

[slickrockpack]

hunting in the house today, heavy rain, 0.08" over night, drives the crawlers into the house. dark, gloomy day so we are hunting in the house with the uv lights.

[slickrockpack]

in response to private messages of what the heck is that? it is a scorpion, the rain drives them in the house, they glow in the dark when under UV light.

today was a rough one, made me look forward to the end of the season, gusty winds snow and ice, got up to 33F Degrees but didn't feel it.

went from the fall foliage line around 7,500 feet to the it's winter line at 8,900 and found only one bear again, another 200 tops, lots of bison heading for the valleys...wish I had a tag for them this year, one muley buck and down in the river bottom a pronghorn buck in the 90s in the closed zone. figures.

long hard day made easier with the hiking poles, wish I had used them years ago they really are a treat especially on the ice and rocks.

pretty day and smelled like fall, but took a toll on my hands which are still cold.

[slickrockpack]

[slickrockpack]

Looking for Grouse, chickens and badgers today, while on my way to the store.

Coyotes and elk and pronghorn was all I saw...

[slickrockpack]

weds, trailed a couple bears, caught one of them, wasn't worth shooting, was mature but not big enough to make me take a whack.

thurs  trailed similar sized black but had flinter and it was just too far.

fri sat just poked around cleaning up trap sites,  then today went looking for elk in my type 9 tag unit, nothing, some real nice bighorn rams, a moose bull, a few bison,  then went into town and watched a dozen and a half pronghorn across the river from the rodeo stands in town.

 then went home and listened to the elk bugling across the driveway...no tag for home, complete mix up there, usually buy 4 or 5 tags for around the house and same for wife, but we each thought the other bought them...and they were gone...ugh. oh well.

typical week really, nothing fun to report on.  Oh, killed three rattlers today within a mile , really moving now.

[turkeyfeathers]

Always enjoy reading your sightings. Friends dad shot an elk in CO on state land the other day I know nothing of elk but guess this is a good one 

[slickrockpack]

Thanks feathers, all elk are good ones! :-)

That's what we call a satellite, he's not a raghorn anymore but he isn't a herd bull yet, satellites hang around the herd of cows that the big bulls have rounded up, making revolutions going to duck in there when the bull is distracted or chasing off/fighting with challengers.

 

[slickrockpack]

[slickrockpack]

In town at the airport last evening shooting starlings, the pronghorn were getting annoyed

[turkeyfeathers]

On ‎09‎/‎19‎/‎2016 at 9:20 AM, slickrockpack said:

Thanks feathers, all elk are good ones! :-)

That's what we call a satellite, he's not a raghorn anymore but he isn't a herd bull yet, satellites hang around the herd of cows that the big bulls have rounded up, making revolutions going to duck in there when the bull is distracted or chasing off/fighting with challengers.

 

Hey, that elk or whatever it was pooped out a sweet Swiss Army knife and keys  I need to move out west

[slickrockpack]

that's black bear droppings.

100% cherries.

I made sure it was a male, the season closes when we kill 12 sows in this unit, then followed him backwards to the cherries he was feeding in the morning of that day.

found his bed, right nearby which was typical for a feeding black, I've found them asleep in a "bear nest" in beechnuts back home, sleeping right in the branches, all the nut bearing branches pulled into where they sit.

and then I took the freshest tracks and followed him for an hour and a half til I caught sight of him.

why?  I don't know.

 I knew he wasn't much over 250 live weight but I have always enjoyed trailing critters since I was a little tyke plus you never know what you'll find or run into on the trailing...

 like more knives!!

[turkeyfeathers]

Like

[slickrockpack]

today I was way up the hill well before 5am, elk all in the driveway bugling woke me up, may as well get going....

lotsa grizz, jerk sheep, moose, pronghorn, deer, marten, beaver, wolverine, weasel, pika, ravens, goldens, bunnies, chukars, grounse both ruffed  and blue, one that would not leave me alone

but not a damn elk in my unit close to the road.

I could here them back in the jungle, but I'm not shooting one that far off the road, I'd have to go back get help, get the horses, take me all damn day. no thanks. 

the jungle  this time of year is not where I want to be gutless dressing an elk alone...nope.

back home early, been playing on this machine, heading to cody where they passed some fascist law saying the driver of a vehicle can't be drinking alcohol while driving the rig in town, lets see if they want to back that up.

tomorrow is another day, big floods coming so that might be it for a bit

[turkeyfeathers]

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[slickrockpack]

don't annoy things bigger than you, or they may eat you is worth remembering...

[adkhunter71]

I really enjoy your updates and pictures.  Thanks for sharing.  Looks like an awesome place!

 

[slickrockpack]

[slickrockpack]

feeding griz, sleeping sheep who woke up before I got really close, ( I like taking close photos of the critters while asleep, don't you?), sleeping elk, feeding moose, and another typical day in absorka country

[slickrockpack]

sleeping red fox in sagebrush

[turkeyfeathers]

Great pics as always. Gorgeous country  Thanks for sharing    Crazy on all the sleeping critters you saw

[Moho81]

Man I can't believe I'm just seeing this post now. I was up through grand Tetons,Yellowstone,Cody exactly a year ago today. In fact if memory serves me right a year ago tonight I was staying at the lodge at Old faithful.

As we where driving around most everyone I was with commented that they couldn't /wouldn't ever live that far out but all I could think of was man I wish I lived out here! In fact we passed one small ranch house that was probably an hours ride to anywhere and all I could think of was I wonder how much it costs to live there and if I could afford it.

Such a beautiful part of this country. I'm a bit jealous of you tonight.


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[Otto]

Beautiful pictures and story!  Keep 'em coming please!

[slickrockpack]

a year has passed almost tot he day, I must black out, where did it go what did I do?

well, what passed was a pretty crappy year, I outlived all my children now, my parents, uncles aunts, brothers and sisters, was a year of crappy days really.

at the peak of trapping season we got  snowstorm that took some lives, record snow that has never been seen in over 100 years. back in northern NY it would have been a not bad winter but here where they don't own snowplows, shovels or snowblowers it was a damn wreck.

waaaayyyyy back in the Shoshone drainage where the river is born there are talus slopes the grizzlies feed on, army cutworm moths I think they are called, little balls of fat for the bears, there were 15 grizzlies feeding on the slope and I was just sitting there next to a moose feeding watching the bears and wham I was sick to my stomach.

15 miles in by foot and I have food poisoning....but it wasn't it was a blood clot hitting my heart,

heart attack.

perfect.

I made it out in agony I have never felt before and I've been shot and stabbed a lot, this topped them all.

and then, 4 more followed over the year, lotta surgeries and limited mobility.

I'm looking for photos from this past summer and I don't have much I don't think you've seen before