filmjunkie4ever
Handloader
- May 4, 2011
- 1,656
- 532
As the end of elk season nears and I have yet an empty freezer, my Father in Law and I headed for Skyline Road in the Tex Creek area (66,69) to try to remedy that yesterday morning. I apologize in advance, this get's a little long winded.
On the way there we saw several snow plows as we got closer to Swan Valley. The snow was coming down all day and it was cold. The vehicles with Idaho, Montana, Colorado and Wyoming license plates were taking it low and slow. The Utah license plates were screaming past us like we were standing still.
Besides the typical rabbits and beavers, we saw lots of Mallard Ducks and one decent 2x3 buck with a solid 22" spread. He was rutting and with the typical swollen neck came the typical addle brain. "Where were you three weeks ago my friend?" I asked. That was the one and only deer we saw all day.
Cold as it was, we didn't stray too far from the truck yesterday. Later on we saw a bunch of grouse and between the two of us we got four of them. Having hunted where we could and having seen nothing we decided to head back for town. My old friend Jack had told me that they had been seeing about a dozen head on his family homestead but that too didn't pan out.
On the way back to town we met one lone pickup, and wouldn't you know it was Jack. As we stopped and rolled down the window he greeted me saying, "Just the man I wanted to see." It was about this point I noticed his black eye.
"Did Myrna get after you for coming home too late?" I chided.
"Nope," he replied, "got this from an old mother cow the other day that didn't want to load up on the truck. She got me in the face and my son Jay in the leg. I need some help. My truck lost reverse gear yesterday and I need to get up to the place to put down an old cow."
"Wow," I thought out loud, "a black eye and no reverse gear. Someone's having a great week."
"It's going to be $2500 to get the transmission fixed," he added. "Do you got your rifle? We need to get up there and put that cow down, I don't want her to suffer." Jack gathered up his gloves and reached into the passenger seat for his old .300 Savage looking back at me expectantly.
"Yeah I've got my rifle, why don't you hop in with us? I would hate for anyone to see me having to tow your Chevy with my Toyota," I quipped.
So without further adieu we loaded up and drove back up to his place. It was really coming down now. There was twice the snow up there that there had been two hours before. My Tacoma was really getting a lesson in 4x4 101.
It took us a while to find her. For a lame and sick cow, she was sure making tracks. Once we did find her, I could easily tell she was lame. It wasn't until after I dispatched her with a shot to the head with my .30-06 that I walked up to her and could smell the infection. After cutting off the ear tag, we drove back down the hill to where Jack had left his truck, in a place he didn't have to do any backwards motions to get anywhere.
On the way down the hill, I slipped down into the ruts and it sucked my truck sideways in the road. It was pretty hairy to get her back out of the ruts and on the road again. I got out to make sure I didn't have a flat or a puncture. The snow seemed to be blowing directly in my face no matter what direction I was looking. It was just not a nice day to be out and about. It still beat the hell out of being at work.
Helping my neighbor was the best experience we had yesterday in spite of the cold weather and inclement conditions. It was such that made me wonder, "what if we had chosen to hunt a different place that day?" I was glad to be in the right place at the right time, not only to help out an old friend but to help ease the old cow's suffering.
This isn't really a traditional hunting story by most measures but I did shoot something I had never shot before, we did get some tasty grouse to eat for dinner and as I said we got to help out a neighbor in need. It was as successful of hunting trip as they get by my standards.
Thanks for reading -
Dale
On the way there we saw several snow plows as we got closer to Swan Valley. The snow was coming down all day and it was cold. The vehicles with Idaho, Montana, Colorado and Wyoming license plates were taking it low and slow. The Utah license plates were screaming past us like we were standing still.
Besides the typical rabbits and beavers, we saw lots of Mallard Ducks and one decent 2x3 buck with a solid 22" spread. He was rutting and with the typical swollen neck came the typical addle brain. "Where were you three weeks ago my friend?" I asked. That was the one and only deer we saw all day.
Cold as it was, we didn't stray too far from the truck yesterday. Later on we saw a bunch of grouse and between the two of us we got four of them. Having hunted where we could and having seen nothing we decided to head back for town. My old friend Jack had told me that they had been seeing about a dozen head on his family homestead but that too didn't pan out.
On the way back to town we met one lone pickup, and wouldn't you know it was Jack. As we stopped and rolled down the window he greeted me saying, "Just the man I wanted to see." It was about this point I noticed his black eye.
"Did Myrna get after you for coming home too late?" I chided.
"Nope," he replied, "got this from an old mother cow the other day that didn't want to load up on the truck. She got me in the face and my son Jay in the leg. I need some help. My truck lost reverse gear yesterday and I need to get up to the place to put down an old cow."
"Wow," I thought out loud, "a black eye and no reverse gear. Someone's having a great week."
"It's going to be $2500 to get the transmission fixed," he added. "Do you got your rifle? We need to get up there and put that cow down, I don't want her to suffer." Jack gathered up his gloves and reached into the passenger seat for his old .300 Savage looking back at me expectantly.
"Yeah I've got my rifle, why don't you hop in with us? I would hate for anyone to see me having to tow your Chevy with my Toyota," I quipped.
So without further adieu we loaded up and drove back up to his place. It was really coming down now. There was twice the snow up there that there had been two hours before. My Tacoma was really getting a lesson in 4x4 101.
It took us a while to find her. For a lame and sick cow, she was sure making tracks. Once we did find her, I could easily tell she was lame. It wasn't until after I dispatched her with a shot to the head with my .30-06 that I walked up to her and could smell the infection. After cutting off the ear tag, we drove back down the hill to where Jack had left his truck, in a place he didn't have to do any backwards motions to get anywhere.
On the way down the hill, I slipped down into the ruts and it sucked my truck sideways in the road. It was pretty hairy to get her back out of the ruts and on the road again. I got out to make sure I didn't have a flat or a puncture. The snow seemed to be blowing directly in my face no matter what direction I was looking. It was just not a nice day to be out and about. It still beat the hell out of being at work.
Helping my neighbor was the best experience we had yesterday in spite of the cold weather and inclement conditions. It was such that made me wonder, "what if we had chosen to hunt a different place that day?" I was glad to be in the right place at the right time, not only to help out an old friend but to help ease the old cow's suffering.
This isn't really a traditional hunting story by most measures but I did shoot something I had never shot before, we did get some tasty grouse to eat for dinner and as I said we got to help out a neighbor in need. It was as successful of hunting trip as they get by my standards.
Thanks for reading -
Dale
