Day Three

Our third day started out a little nasty. Our routine is to have breakfast at 5:45, and then head out to the gun-house to get geared up and review the plan for the morning. As we stepped out to the gun-house, we were greeted by a cold, wind-blown rain. After gathering our gear, we reviewed our plan to hunt the area where Dad and Tyler had missed one the day before. We jumped in the trucks, and headed out.

We are at 6500 foot elevation at the Lodge. Upon arriving at our hunting spot, we realized that we were higher than 6500 feet, as what had been rain at the Lodge was now a wet, driving snow, and was sticking to the ground. Weather not fit for man nor beast!

The land we are hunting is a valley cut between two mountain ranges that parallel one another. The valley floor is rich pasture land, and home to vast beef cattle ranches that spread for miles. At the point where the valley floor starts its steep incline up to the mountain peaks is where the ranch land stops, and national forest land starts. The national forest land is heavily timbered, with mixed lodge-pole pine, juniper, and spruce. In Montana, they call it "black timber." The idea on the morning hunts is to position yourself to catch the elk moving from their valley floor feeding grounds, up to their black timber bedding grounds.

On this particular morning, I am quite certain that every right-minded elk in the valley was already up in the black timber. Wind gusts were 40mph, and although it did stop snowing, it was cold. Thus, no game seen during the first few hours of the hunt. Late morning, we did catch a small herd of 15 heading up toward the timber, but they crossed onto private land that we cannot hunt.

The evening hunt was spent with PJ, the third of our three guides this week. He took Dad and I back into some of the most beautiful country...the kind you imagine when you think Montana mountains. We drove then hiked through deep cut ridges lined with various pine, aspen, and large rock outcroppings. JP put Dad on a stand site, and then he and I hiked down into a postcard perfect clearing where we hoped a few elk would emerge. No luck, however, as Dad saw 12 mule deer does, and JP and I saw nothing.

Perhaps Day Four will be better.