Mule Deer Myths

I recently visited a friend who shared an opinion that seems quite popular. There are quite a few of these misconceptions floating around. The ones I'm referring to regard mule deer. It seems they believe that mule deer are dumb. Every animal has its own plan of escape. They are all praised for their own abilities. The whitetail has got to be the most alert, the slightest move and their gone. Elk have this amazing ability to appear and disappear like a ghost. No animal, in my opinion, has a plan of escape like a mule deer. Their tactic is to sit on the highest mountain around and peer all the way down. They spot danger while it climbs miles below. Then they use their prepared route and escape. The point is you never catch a glimpse of them before they're gone. Most of the myths are formed from people that have only watched small mule deer bucks. The same idea could be drawn from some one who has only watched small whitetail bucks.

Fall Reminiscence

Hi fellow blogger, I decided to do this post mostly on what has been happening lately.

Hunting season ran from September 05 to November 29. That has consumed most of my time. I'll put some pictures of our hunts on this post. The elk is the grand prize, the one dreamed about all year. Around here harvesting an elk any elk is a huge feat. Its taken a huge amount of dedication. Of the last six years I've hunted here my family has harvested two elk. The only way I can describe it is extremely physically challenging. Too stand any chance at all you must hike dawn too dusk up the steepest, thickest most unforgiving terrain Montana has to offer. Not just once or twice but every day of the 80 day hunting season. Some times you have to literaly run up the mountains to keep up with the elk. At the same time you have to keep constant watch for the competition whom also is in a constant pursuit of the elk namely Grizzly bears,Mountain lions and the top elk predator wolves. At times I've been almost to the elk only to find the wolves got to them first as evident by the chase and then the half eaten elk I found. This year we over came and have a freezer full of meat to show for it. After the hunt I returned to find a beautiful grizzly bear had claimed ownership of the left over elk carcass that lay on the mountain.

More shed hunting pictures

I have been busy shed hunting again. That is why I have not made a post in a while. Here is some pics from today's hike. The top picture is of a female blue grouse. The one under that is a male trying to scare off the competition. Then a pictures of K3 and K1. Finally a picture of some mountains.

My Shed Hunting Adventure

The snow has been melting like crazy the last few days. Because of that, the shed hunters have been in all my favorite spots. To add to the discouragement I had been looking for sheds the past several days and not found a single one. This day would be different though. I gassed up my motorcycle and went up a mountain road. I hid my motorcycle in the bushes and started climbing up the mountain. As soon as I started, I felt God telling me to go on the far side of the mountain. I was having a hard time with this because I was intending on going on the other side of the mountain. After a while, I finally listened and right away I found a huge six point elk antler. I looked for the other side and found a set of white tail antlers. Then I went to the edge of a cliff and started praising God and thanking Him. There are not very many elk in our area so finding an elk antler is a rare privilege. Then God told me there was an elk antler down on the cliff. He told me if I did exactly what He said I would be going home with two elk antlers. I didn't take him seriously at first and decided to go look for the other side of the big elk antlers (I'm holding in the top picture). Mean while, He said "Aren't you going to go get it?". I told Him " How could there be an antler off the cliff ?". "I'm looking for elk antlers not mountain goats". Finally, I gave up and said " OK, OK an elk fell off the cliff ". I did not want to climb down in the steep rocks. I decided to listen. God led me to a chute in the cliff and I went through it. Then He led me through some brakes in the cliffs I kept going and walked right up to a seven point elk antler.
Every big antler I've ever found was because He told me where to find it. If there is any thing I've learned in the past seventeen years of my life it is this. If God tells you to do some thing, do it.

Pictures from Today's Hike

Here is some pictures we took today on our walk. We stumbled upon a unique opportunity. Some cat chasers were out after a lion. We heard the dogs down in the valley so we investigated. We actually beat one of the chasers to the treed lion. This gave us an opportunity to get some good pictures. The reason I call them cat chasers is because hunting season for lions is over. The cat chase season is going on right now. The cat chase season is a very important form of managing mountain lions. It allows us to know information about the lions in the area. It makes lions have a fear of man and reduces attacks. In California this season has been banned and as a result California has a lot of lion attacks. Lions are not hurt in any way during this chase. Once the lion is treed the cat chaser takes pictures and then brings his dogs away so the lion can be on its way.

Just Another Day on the Mountain

Just Another Day on the Mountain.

I bet you were wondering if I would ever make another post again. Well the reason for the delay is that I have been doing more exciting things then blogging. I have been snow shoeing out in the mountains with my brother. Here are some pictures from today's hike. The top picture is of blood that a deer was spilling out of its wounds as it was running away from the wolves. My brother and I followed the the trail for a while. The second from the top is one of the sets of lion tracks we saw. The third from the top is a picture of my brother hiking through the snow. The bottom is a picture of me in front of a nameless mountain.

We had a lot of fun out in the mountains today. We saw three different sets of lion tracks, a lot of wolf tracks, two sets of coyote tracks, and one set of bobcat tracks. Notice we are both carrying 30-06 bolt actions. This day and age I won't travel on the mountain with out a firearm of some kind. I have had a scary experience with every kind of big predator that walks these mountains. You just never know what a lion might do if it is hungry enough and you show up.

Gun Free Zones

In this day and age the news is always talking about some school shooting. Recently there was even a shooting in Glasgow, Montana. All the shootings have one thing in common. They all happened in "Gun Free Zones". Do you honestly think a criminal cares if there is a sign that says "No Guns". When he is about to go in and murder people? Actually all it means is that the people in side are all defenseless. It means that the murderer can walk right in and murder people until the swat team shows up. The most dangerous places in America are "Gun Free Zones". If the pilots flying on 9/11 had guns the twin towers might still be standing. If the Virgina Tech. teachers had guns 32 students might not have died. Shootings could be stopped, hundreds of lives could be saved. The criminals will always have guns. The only thing that "Gun Control" does is make it easier for the criminals.