Last night we set the clock back an hour but that didn’t stop the youngest and his friend (who spent the night) from waking up. It’s now 5:30 am , not 6:30, and the 3 of us are downstairs.
As the misses said, the oldest and I went hunting yeterday. We arrived a bit before 7 after the almost 3 hour drive to the Wyoming border. We quickly donned our gear and headed out for the long climb. It wasn’t long before the oldest, moving like an elk himself, was swiftly onto a game trail and some fresh sign. We worked this and lots of other trails for the next few hours, up and down the mountain, but in the end only caught a glimpse of some animals running from us across the draw into the trees. Now I’m a pretty good shot (if I do say so myself) but there was no shot to be had. We had to have hiked 4 miles or more and easily went up 1500 vertical feet. Oh well, at least we know they are there and we have through the 11th before the season is over. So, we will be heading back up! After making our way back to the truck and changing out of our gear, unloading the weapons, etc. I let the oldest drive the truck out of the woods and over the sage to the road. He then turned it around and drove us up to the old homestead cabin where we messed around for a bit. Next up I drove us down the highway a couple of miles to the entrance to the other side of the ranch known as the”rocks”. He jumped out, unlocked the gate and swung her open while I drove through. We headed up a draw to where the spring is as I wanted to see how much water was running this late in the year. Happily we had a pretty good little creek that was frozen over but still had water underneath the ice. Upon seeing the ice, the oldest was compelled to break darn near every bit of it, the whole length of the creek, it’s a boy thing. I was in charge of finding him stout sticks of sage brush t0 use as his ice breakers. This took a good half hour before he was ready to go. I was determined to let him break all the ice he wanted to as he was having such a good time.
We drove into town for breakfast with a restaurant full of hunters, all also unsuccessful. You see if you were successful, you wouldn’t be there as you’d be out gutting your animal. That’s why it’s called hunting. After some hash browns and eggs for me and some vanilla dipped french toast coated in frosted flakes for the oldest (he also ate all my sausage!) we headed down the road. It wasn’t five minutes before something ahead in the road caught my eye. It was a herd of 50 elk jumping the fence and crossing the highway right in front of us! Another hunter coming the opposite way on the highway stopped right next to me headed in the other direction. We rolled down our windows (as if we knew each other for years as there’s a common bond between all hunters) and he looked at me and said, “it just isn’t fair”. I asked whose property they were on not knowing if I could pull off and take a shot and he said he thought it was the Anderson Ranch. Turns out when we arrived home and checked the regulations, I could have shot one on the left side of the road before they jumped the fence. When we came upon them, we did split the herd in two so some were still on BLM land. Oh well, at least we know they are down from the high country. Also in our favor was the direction they were heading. Once they hit the Never Summer Range , ( a range of mountains over 14000 feet high that they won’t cross) they’ll turn north which will put them straight on a path for Grandma’s place. Who knows if they end up there but at least they’re not headed south!
We continued towards Granby but stopped in another half hour or so to throw some more rocks at the thin sheet of ice in the river. This too went on for 30 minutes or so but the oldest was having the time of his life which to me meant time really didn’t matter. Finally we made it home around 2 in the afternoon with him finally falling asleep 10 minutes from home. When we pulled in he told me “dad, I wasn’t really sleeping, just resting my eyes”.
He was all set to go back up this morning but I decided to give the elk a few days to move north and to stick around today and help the misses take down the halloween decorations. I did promise him I’d take him back up this weekend. I made sure, despite repeated efforts by him, not to commit to going back up this morning, as kids never forget! When we arrived home he said he wanted to move to the ranch. His mom said, “but there’s no video games or time to watch tv up there as there would be lots of chores to always do” and he said he didn’t care about that stuff, he just liked being out there. He did have a great time which of course meant I had a great time. It was actually good we didn’t shoot anything yesterday as it would have taken me 8 hours or more to gut and process an elk alone. Next weekend we’ll take a buddy along to help.
I ran to the store with the oldest and picked up some groceries while mom tried to keep her head calm. Finally we all headed to bed around 9 for some much needed rest. The oldest, thankfully, is still sleeping as is the misses.
Cheer for the Bronco’s today, hope this isn’t a trap game! Have a great day and God Bless. Now, I encourage you to read on, no politics, I promise!
Below are a few pictures of what’s going on in New York,
Ok, How would you like to go from being in your home all safe and sound one day to dumpster diving for food the next or standing in a line hundreds, or thousands of people long for water? They say an earthquake in California or a massive snow storm in Colorado are much more likely than a hurricane hitting New York, I’m just saying…..
Now do you think you should prepare to be able to take care of yourself in times of disaster? Do you still think the government will be there for you? If so, take another look at the pictures above. These are just a sampling of the many stories of tragedy going on back there and it’ll be a long time before things are back to normal for all the family’s. Sure they’ll get the power back on and Saks 5th Avenue will be open but how long until each family gets a home and rebuilds their lives. Soon the news and all of us will forget about these people when the next thing comes along to grab the headlines, that just the way people are! So, wake up and realize, you’re on your own. If you don’t get this now, you never will. Just my last attempt at waking everyone up!
God Bless.