Posts Tagged wyoming

Black Hills 2011 1st weekend

Nov 6

Posted by Erik & Michelle in hunting | No Comments

We went to the Hills on opening weekend. We often have good luck early in the season and the weather tends to be a bit more stable. This was the change from daylight savings, which always makes one nervous to wake up too late or too early to beat the light. As always in the Black Hills for whitetails, Erik and Michelle went opposite directions from the truck. Each has a great spot that always has deer moving through to cross to other feeding and bedding grounds. About a half hour after light, Michelle saw movement straight ahead about 90 yards. Instantly it was obvious it couldn’t be a deer or even a canine. The way the animal moved it was almost like it was gliding across the ridge. It was a mature (probably female) mountain lion out for an early morning hunt or heading to bed for the day. Not 5 minutes after the lioness floated by, a decent buck followed almost in her tracks- if he only knew…. The deer refused to stop in an opening when Michelle blew the grunt tube and he continued on unaware.
Within a few minutes of telling Erik about the incounter it was time for Erik to have some action. A nice buck walked into range and gave a good shot. After squeezing off a shot the buck jumped and then started walking stiff leggedly. From the trees below the buck another buck walked out and the two bucks started sizing each other up. Another shot opportunity came and another shot was taken. After the two bucks ran out of the clearing Erik made his way over to look for the buck. Nothing was found after coursing through the area for over an hour! The rest of the day was fairly uneventful for both hunters with only one other buck seen just before dark but not giving a shot opportunity. Sunday morning Erik hiked into his area and had another shot at a good buck just after daylight. After looking for sighn of a hit in the fresh snow Erik determined another miss!!!

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Tags: black hills, deer, hunting, mountain lion, rifle, whitetail deer, wyoming

Gordon’s Elk

Oct 29

Posted by Erik & Michelle in hunting | 1 Comment

Once again Gordon shows us determination and the love of the outdoors superceded age. We were unable to find accessable elk in the snow covered hills on opening day and decided to let them cool off for the next weekend before giving it another try. So, on the third weekend of the season we headed to an area where Gordon and Erik have bagged several elk in hopes of finding a nice bull. The moring was calm and cool and we were fortunate to be in an area with no competiion to hasten our progress. We took our time working to a bowled out canyon and spent the last moments of twilight listening. Of course the rut is mostly over and bulls aren’t very vocal this time of year and we heard nothing but morning song birds, so we started still hunting down the ridge in order to work towards a nice place to have Gordon sit and watch for elk to feed out of the woods. However, before we could drop in all the way Erik spotted two bachelor bulls feeding on a ridge that had burned a few years earlier. We were unnoticed by the elk, so we had plenty of time to set up and get Gordon sighted in on the bulls. He made a great 270 yard shot and mortally wounded the larger of the two. Not knowing the exent of the damage, Gordon put one more shot in the elk that sent him to the ground. It was a hunt guided by God; we were able to get in, find the elk, take one swiftly and pack him out without straining the hunter.

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Tags: elk, hunting, rifle, wapiti, wyoming

Antelope, twice

Oct 20

Posted by Erik & Michelle in hunting | No Comments

Mike and Kate both picked up tags for antelope to hunt just east of town. It took us a few weeks to get a date where we all could meet and Thursday was the one! Our good friend Jeff met us at the house and we all headed out after a filling breakfast and fancy coffee. The area is at the base of the mountain and close enough to town to make an easy day hunt and we took full advantage of the leisure. We were in no rush to get a goat on the ground, so we took our time glassing the area before making a plan of attack. Our first venture brought us right up on an old buck that we hadn’t seen earlier. Mike hurried to get in a good position, however, this wiley goat was not interested in sticking around to see just exactly what we were up to. He headed over a hill and we tried to get on him one more time, but again he out manuevered us. We then turned our attention to a small herd just over the next ridge. They were working their way right to left in front of us toward the mountain. Jeff was spying a nice buck and double checked with

Mike about his confidence at 300 yards. Mike set up on the antelope and got on him just as the herd decided they didn’t like what was going on. He squeezed off on the buck at 330 yards and nailed him behind the shoulder. The buck ran a few yards along with the herd and just as he went out of site around the ridge, dropped. The camera man unfortunately was focused on the wrong buck, so the action was not recorded
After taking care of the carcass and having a quick snack it was time to look for a suitable (in-range) antelope for Kate. We jumped in the Ranger and headed toward where we had seen antelope when we were first glassing and stopped in a ravine to stay out of sight. Jeff found a wandering buck right away to our east and we started sneeking to a spot where Kate could set up behind some brush to take aim. She got set up lying down and found the buck in her sights. Her first couple of shots missed, but the antelope didn’t seem to know anything was amiss and continued feeding toward us. She hit him two shots in a row and stopped him in his tracks! He would have likely laid down soon after, but Erik had her put another in him that sent him down hard.

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Tags: antelope, casper mountain, goat, hunting, rifle, wyoming

Green Mountain Elk

Oct 1

Posted by Erik & Michelle in hunting | No Comments

The hardest part of getting a good elk is drawing a good permit. It is not a guarantee that a hunter will bag a big bull in a limited quota area, but it sure makes the chances a heck of a lot greater. We went to Green mountain with our good friends Chuck and Vicki on Saturday morning long before light. Chuck drew a bull tag and we have been excited about this trip since July. We have hunted this mountain several times before and had a pretty good idea where we wanted to be opening morning. Of course a hunt also depends on the other people who draw the permit and we were not surprised to see two other groups near the drop off point where we planned on hunting. One group in particular was parked a hundred yards to our right, but after we pulled up they walked all the way over toward us and made it clear they were going where we thought of going. No matter, as they settled in to wait for a little light a bull bugled back toward their 4 wheeler- so, we went the way they came . If you watch the time stamp on the video you will see that we were blessed with a not-too-difficult morning of stalk and shoot. It was an amazing morning and one we will never forget!

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Tags: elk, green mountain, hunting, mountain, rifle, wyoming

Timberline with a toddler

Sep 11

Posted by Erik & Michelle in fly fishing | No Comments

Actually, Max is 5 years old, but the title sounded good We have known for quite some time that Max is a different kind of kid. He has been doing and saying things that amaze us since he started moving around on his own. So, it was an easy descision to decide to take him on a backpacking trip into the wilderness. We left Casper late on Friday night after the first week of school (for teachers). We took a Ranger ride from the truck to the wilderness trail head and started off on our adventure. It was late in the evening when we began the hike, so we made camp quite a bit lower than normal. The next morning we hiked for a couple hours and made a base camp and then headed for Angeline which is a lake that sits just above timberline. Max did an amazing job carrying his pack and keeping up (for the most part). He was able to catch a fish for our breakfast, drink straight from a mountain stream and start our campfire. GOOD JOB, MAX!!

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Tags: backpacking, campfire, cutthroat trout, fishing, hiking, kids, outdoors, wildlife, wyoming

Pathfinder with Kassidy and Tristy

Jul 26

Posted by Erik & Michelle in From the boat | No Comments

We may start sounding redundant when we talk about taking kids out fishing and hunting and the importance of doing so.

“Passion does not arrive on videotape or on a CD; passion is personal. Passion is lifted from the earth itself by the muddy hands of the young, it travels along grass- stained sleeves to the heart. If we are going to save environmentalism and the environment, we must also save an endangered indicator species: the child in nature.— Richard Louv, Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature Deficit Disorder, 2005

It was awesome to see Kassidy and Tristy light up as they reeled in fish after fish and contemplate touching the slimy things. By the end of the day they were measuring, weighing and discussing fish. Tristy even picked one up that had been gutted!!

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Tags: crank bait, fishing, pathfinder, rainbow trout, trolling, trout, wyoming

Popo Agie

Jul 23

Posted by Erik & Michelle in fly fishing | No Comments

Snow, snow and more snow. Much more snow than we have ever seen before. The mosquitos were pretty numerous too, but good ol’ deet does the trick. If anyone ever tries to sell you some other product to keep mosquitos away, DON’T FALL FOR IT. We decided to try three different alternatives to deet this trip; 1. citronella bracelette, 2. skin patch, 3. buzz off bandanas. None of them even came close to keeping the bugs away. We even had all three going at the same time and still the only thing that worked was the deet.

We stayed the first night at Tomohawk lake and caught severl brook trout for breakfast before heading for Thumb Lake a several hundred feet above.
As far as the fishing, it was more like being in the mountains in June, the fishing was somewhat slow. On the upside, Michelle hooked her first ever golden trout; although it got off just before landing it

It is still always good to get the backpacks on and live in the wilderness for a few days! On the way back to the trail head, we ran into some friends of ours from Casper, Ken and Amber Christianson.

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Tags: backpacking, cutthroat trout, golden trout, island lake, national forest, popo agie, silas, tomohawk, wilderness, wyoming

Fish Lake…and other mountain camps

Jul 19

Posted by Erik & Michelle in fly fishing, Wonderful Wyoming | No Comments

Top 10 reasons to spend your days off in the mountains!
1. Cooler temperatures. In our 90+ degree mid summer pattern life gets to dragging by, lethargy takes over drive and everyone gets cranky.
2. Have the area to yourself. You don’t have to go to the same place as everyone else. There hundreds of square miles in the State of Wyoming and only 600,000 people; who all seem to congregate in the same 10 places.

3. Quiet. As the day passes the most peaceful sounds surround you when you are in the mountains; birds, lapping water, breeze through the trees… And at night- silence.
4. Great fishing. Often the less pressure a fishery has the easier it is to catch fish. Throw out a fly or even power bait and catch yourself a tasty breakfast.
5. No services. Are we really better off with Internet and TV everywhere we go? We lived without these for most of our lives and what a nice time to live without during our down time.
6. Cooking over a fire. It takes time to get good at making sure you have just the right amount of hot coals under your meal, but if you spend all your off time around the fire you will get good fast!
7. Wild flowers. With the exception of the drive to Pathfinder, you will be hard pressed to find as much color around the well used areas for weekend goers. In the mountains, however, the flowers abound and the varieties are endless.
8. Milky Way. No, not the candy bar. When we spend our evenings around city lights or campground lights we miss the endless stars our sky shines down on us. In the mountains you can see satelites, planets, the space station and even galaxies!!
9. Hiking. Exploration is one of the more enjoyable ‘do nothing’ activities. Climb a hill and look back; you may be amazed at what you see and where your mind takes you.
10. Mosquitoes. Ok, not the best part but look back at this list. Pretty good trade off, eh? And if you bring the deet you will have no problems

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Tags: camping, fish, fishing, kids, outdoors, wild, wyoming

Middle Fork

Jul 15

Posted by Erik & Michelle in fly fishing | No Comments

It was about a month later then usual but the fishing was fantastic. With all the above average snowpack and late spring the river was running like it usually does in late June not late July. Fishing was a bit slow from 8:30 till 10:00 on this morning, but once the sun warmed the water the fish got more active and started hitting big dryflys. It was one fish after another from 10:00 until 3:00 when arms were sore and a rough hour and a half hike back down the river and up the canyon trail to get back to the 4 Wheeler was still needed to make it back to civilization.