Snapshot

Nice looking pup. What do you think aboout "Hiedi"

TJ, you are a good man, my friend, and I wish you a speedy recovery. Best wishes to you and your family!

Very nice looking fireplace setup!

To me, the trophy is in the hunt. I hunt for a good time and to enjoy the spirit of the wild. If I take an 80" buck, fine, if I take a 120" buck, then a little braggin rights don't hurt either

I met some guys that had set up a big camp at Strayhorse for the rifle hunt. He just emailed me some pictures of a big 7 x 8 bull that they took opening day. Scored 352" the other they took looked liked 340" plus. It looks like they got some snow after I left on the 27th.

Well......, not really the wilderness. spent a couple days in the primitive area most of the hunting was on the west side of Highway 191. I hunted hard for 9 days (Archery Bull)but came up short on arrowing a bull. I got within 80 yards of a nice 5 x 5, but the wind decided to change direction and it was all over on that stalk. The wind was a curse for most of the trip. All and all it was a good trip, even though I did not score, I glassed up 18 bulls with the largest going 360" plus. All the bulls were in wickedly steep country and on the move, always one step ahead of me. The 2 miles of Raspberry trai lthat I went on was a nice area but I could not find any bulls in there, except for one small one way up high. I did not want to hunt on top, but chose to hunt the canyon country which totally wore me out, it is indeed no country for old men. The day before Thankgiving, I decided I was going to abuse myself one final time before the hunt was over. I took the highline trail over to Crabtree, and then proceeded 4 miles down the canyon to Eagle creek. About half way down I had a rock roll out from under my foot and I did the splits and pulled some muscles in my groin and calf , I was hobbling along and starting to stiffen up. Not good! When I got to the bottom of Crabtree where it joins East Eagle Creek, I saw the trail sign that said Highway 191, 5 1/2 miles. Man was I in trouble. I was hurting and had 5.5 miles of rough trail to go before dark. I did not make it out of Eagle Creek until an hour after dark. I hit the highway and still had 2.5 miles to go to get to my camp at Strayhorse. I stopped at the camp of DC outfitters where a friend of Brian Payne was there and I asked him if he could give me a ride, and he graciously agreed. He is my hero I was hurting bad, and was about ready to fall over from exhaustion. The 11.5 miles of hiking that day took its toll on me. Sometimes my exploratory nature gets in the way of common sense Anyway, Crabtree was loaded with whitetail. All females, but there were alot. I did not see any elk in that canyon except up higher where I found 5 cows that day, but no bulls. They are in thre but it is thick. All in all I probably hiked 40 miles or better, saw lots of elk and deer, but could not seal the deal. I learned alot about that country and enjoyed my time up there, it was much needed. The second night that I was there, I was in bed and had just started to doze off, when a comotion outside woke me up. I figured a racoon was getting into the garbage. I had a 3 foot tall rubbermaid garbage can right out side the door(no lid), and I opened the door I looked down and saw the grandaddy of all garbage raiding skunks inside the trash can , he had climbed up the folding table and jumped in the trash can. I looked at him, and he looked at me, and I shut my camper door faster than the speed of light. I was inside thinking, " allright you little turdball, spray my trailer, and you will die a thousand horrible deaths". I had a broom in the camper, and I opened the door slightly and used the broom handle to tip over the garbage can o he could get out. The garbage can tipped over and he would not come out for 5 minutes, and when he did he would still not leave. I had a half a loaf of stale bread I was saving for the squirrels, but decided a peace offering was in order. I threw the bag of bread at him and hit him in the head. He ran in a circle and came right back to the garbage can. Great, "a retarded skunk". I left him alone, because he was so comical, I could not bring myself to cause him harm. I was hoping he would get a belly ache and go away. at 5:00 a.m the next morning he was still there! Here are some pics. The portable man cave at Strayhorse Raspberry peak. Still a little snow in places around Strayhorse From Raspberry trail, looking down into the "Blue". Maple peak is on the horizon Overlooking the Strayhorse camground I saw a nice 150" plus 4 x4 mule deer buck in this little side canyon of oakbrush There are 10 cow elk on this hill, bedded up by the top below the bare tree's. I was hoping one of them would grow antlers while I was watching them. Looking down into Salthouse, from the highline trail From this spot I glassed up 10 bulls and over 20 cows. Looking up into Salthouse canyon from Highline trail This tank was a 4.5 mile hike from camp. 5 whitetail does came in for a drink between 12:00 and 1:00. Crabtree trail in the bottom of the canyon Red Mountain

Congratulations!

Pretty awesome buck, especially nice getting it done on the last day!

Super nice bucks!

God bless!

I hunted the November archery bull hunt(2nd choice) for 9 hard days and did not score. I would rather hunt elk on a low success rate hunt than have to wait every ten tears for a tag. It would be a sad thing for G$F to take away tags from the rut hunts and add more for a November archery hunt to create opportunity. The September hunts are the best there is, and I hope these hunts are not reduced, unless declining elk herds dictate it. I am just as selfish as anyone when it comes to wanting a tag to go hunting, and I like the little bit of extra opportunity of the November Archery hunts as the draw odds are a little more favorable, and the hunting pressure is very low. I would hate to see the September hunts get reduced in the name of opportunity. Even if guys like us quit putting in for these tags, someone else will gladly take our place. Congratulations to those of you who where successfull.

Congratulations Brock!

The sardines in mustard sauce help give extra "propulsion" when you are hiking up hill.

Excellent! Nicely done.

Way to go Courtney! very nice deer

Very nice!

Looks great Mike! Glad it all came together for you.

Thanks for the well wishes Phil. The muscle pull was not too serious, just enough to make hiking more difficult and slowed me down.

I still have them. Email sent.

I have a rectangular tupperware container with a snap on lid that fits in my large day pack. And I will pack the container with any combination of the following: a sandwhich or two, or maybe a bagel with cream cheese Burritos Chips/crackers Yogurts cookies candy bars apple Sardines in mustard vienna sausages Salted peanuts or cashews I usually pack enough food to last a couple days.

Great find! That dude has some long points.

At this moment Brent to post a topic of his Big Bull Then I will come up with one for CHRISTMAS. I posted the topic, but the only big bull involved is the one that got away

Peace, and good will.

If you are practicing scoring for my next big buck, you are about 20 points low

Right on Mike! "Whats Graybeard" Thats not a men's hairclub for old guys like us is it?