End of my hunting season

I had a great season, saw a lot of great areas and animals. Unfortunately, with the exception of two antelope, no deer or elk found their way into my freezer. I was deadly close to elk a number of times, but the stars never aligned. My legs (and knee) benefited from all the hiking, bringing me one step closer to being in shape for the upcoming ski season. There's still a week left in the season, but I'm done and heading for family time in a warmer clime.....Newport Beach



<< Wolf tracks that I followed, looks like I had some competition. The other pic is a nice herd of 20 cows that wouldn't have had such a nice day had it been 24 hours later.

Shelter from the Storm - a secret, illegal cabin in the backcountry of British Columbia

I stumbled across an excellent article on the Skiing Magazine website. Reading it gives you that warm feeling that only a backcountry skier knows. These guys have taken it to a whole new level. Pouring countless hours and passion into what looks like a one of a kind place (only its probably isn't).

Canadians seem to be able to call on on their "last frontiersmen" skills much better than we can down in the US. Or maybe it's the fact that they've got so much more undeveloped alpine ground to hide a place such as this.

At any rate, if you have 10 minutes, read this article and dream of the possiblities.

Shelter from the Storm

Florence man rescues dad from mountain lion

An interesting and hair raising story from the Missoulian. These guys and bears are really the only thing that makes the hair stand up on the back of my neck. Usually these thoughts cross my mind when I'm walking in the pre-dawn slog into a spot. But apparently I should be worried all day long, as this happened mid-day. Story from the Missoulian:

Duane Cole believed he was on the menu when a mountain lion confronted him during a hunting trip in the Elkhorn Mountains near Boulder last month.

"I'm 64 years old and hunted since I was a little kid behind my dad," he said. "I'm a trail runner, backpacker and I've hunted by myself. I always heard they were more scared of you. I was 100 times more scared than it was."

The incident left the Colstrip parks and recreation supervisor shaken. His son - Florence resident Shane Cole - shot the lion, but not before a game of cat and mouse, Cole being the mouse.

The encounter comes on the heels of another Montana hunter's run-in with a lion near Wise River on opening day of the general big-game season. That lion was also shot.

According to Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, there is no statewide accounting of such encounters and shootings of lions.

"We have a couple a year," said Sam Sheppard, FWP warden captain in Bozeman.

It was a series of unusual events that put Cole in a pickle. He was elk hunting with his 41-year-old son Shane.

The son had a bull tag, while dad could shoot a spike bull with his general tag. Since Duane was hoping his son could fill his bull tag, he decided to leave his rifle in the truck rather than shoot a spike and possibly ruin Shane's hunt.

Since the walk they planned wasn't far, Duane also left his CamelBak backpack, which contained pepper spray, in the car. He was going to leave his cell phone, too, since there was no service. But Shane suggested they take their phones along in case they got service farther up the mountain and couldn't find each other.

The father and son then split up, walking parallel ridges about 900 yards apart. Along the way uphill, Duane picked up a straight piece of dry cedar as a walking stick.

"I can't remember picking up a walking stick before in my life," he said.

After walking a ways up the ridge, Duane turned around for no reason and saw the mountain lion about 10 to 12 feet away, crouched down and staring intently.

"I could tell he was ready to launch."

Shouting and shaking the stick, Duane tried to scare the animal off. But it didn't move. Then Duane threw the stick like a spear, hitting the lion in the ribs. It ran behind a cedar tree but didn't retreat farther. Duane quickly stooped down and picked up rocks, throwing them at the lion and shouting.

"All the things we tell people with bears, it's the opposite with lions," FWP's Sheppard said. Those confronted by a lion should stand tall, talk confidently, don't turn your back - and fight if attacked.

Finally Duane remembered the cell phone, pulled it out and called his son. With directions from Duane, Shane came on the run to help his father. The cat remained staring at Duane, so he backed down the ridge. When Shane arrived, he was winded from the run. The two were standing just out of sight of the cat. When the two started walking, they spied the mountain lion sitting on a boulder about 35 feet away.

Duane asked his son to shoot the lion, but he wouldn't do it, thinking it might be a female with kittens, so they kept on walking.

"We'd gone about 50 to 100 yards. I was paranoid at that time," Duane said. "I looked back and saw it coming in fast and low, straight at us from behind."

Duane yelled at his son, who turned and shot, hitting the lion in its side as it turned. It ran about 50 feet and died. Shaken, the hunters called Fish, Wildlife and Parks and were told to remove the lion's head and give it to the warden. They covered the body with branches and left it. Hunters are not allowed to possess the remains of a mountain lion killed in self-defense.

Duane said the cat, identified by a FWP warden as a juvenile, was about 6 feet long from head to tail and weighed about 100 pounds.

Looking back on the incident, Duane said he was scared but calm. At the height of the encounter, though, he completely forgot he had a 6-inch knife in his vest.

Although the father and son kept hunting the next day, Duane's experience haunted him.

"Every time I'd go under an old-growth tree or boulder, I'd take my rifle off safety," he said.

And he remains shaken by the incident.

"I always thought they'd hear me coming and get out of the way," he said. "But some of them won't get out of the way. In fact, they think we're dinner."

Hunter missing for 2 weeks, found alive

If you've ever walked around in the woods alone, there is a pretty good chance you have at least pondered the thought of getting lost. I've only been lost once (in the San Gorgonio Wilderness) and the event only lasted less than 30 minutes. Nonetheless, fear struck a chord that day and I began to panic. Yet I had only cut a switchback (big backcountry no-no), I was quickly turned around. I eventually located the trail and a few miles later I finished up a 16 mile round trip.

But this guy took it to a whole new level. Casper hunter Travis McMahan spent 15 days wondering if they might be his last. The gist of it is he was scouting from his camp for a hunt, got distracted by an animal and turned around, found a sheepherder's cabin, and was eventually discovered by his father after the Natrona County, WY rescue team had ceased S & R efforts 2 days prior. In the end he was came out alive and that is ultimately what counts.

If you have a few minutes, the Billings Gazette article is well worth the read.

Santa, please! Snow car

Very impressive, but scary at the same time. Could you imagine these things roaming the mountains?

X-posted from backcountry.com

Start of elk season 2009

Great day in the field yesterday. The only thing that could have made it better was if I had the cow tag or if there had been a bull. But, I'm considering myself lucky to have sneaked w/in 40 yards of bedded elk. After I was busted by the herd, I took this picture with my little point and shoot through the binoculars from long ways away.
Quite a few friends have done very well in just a week into the season. Two of them took nice bulls this week. A couple of other buddies harvested a couple cows and a nice buck.