Post-Hunt Hike. Kind of like hunting, but different.

[Ugly Sauce]

When season closes here I get the State Land all to myself again for hiking playing bush-craft. Since it's not polite to fire up a camp fire out in the woods when others are trying to hunt I just wait to do that later, and so I did that yesterday.

First I walked up on this big boy, like five minutes after the wife dropped me off, and his friend, actually got a picture. You can see he's just lost his antlers, and he's not happy to see me, look at how he's got his neck and hump-hair raised. And ears back. But, he went right, and I went left around behind them. I was so focused on this guy, that I didn't see the other one until I started to circle around behind.

But I felt safe, I had the .54 Pistol, And the TC with my "new" (to me) "trapper" barrel on it, in .58" smoothbore. Both loaded with ball and plenty of Pixie Dust. Enough Pixie Dust to choke a Moose.

Some of the land looks like this, some has denser trees, some is rocky with basalt rock formations. Some woods so dense you can hardly get through it. First blue sky after a week of rain.

Here's a pond down in a hole, dries up about mid-summer, fills up in the spring. Another of my favorite spots.

I have a favorite spot where I have a fire ring. So I had me a fire of course.

And cooked brats and slices of summer sausage on a stick.

But of course, a cigar. It was a good one, good to the last puff.



Now I saw this on YouTube, where the "Woodland Escape" guy roasted some coffee beans, put them in a bag, smashed them up with a stick, and threw the whole mess in a pot. So I tried it, skeptical, thinking it would not be good. Dang. It was GREAT. Made a fine pot of coffee. So, I'll probably be packing beans instead of instant from now on. Well, it was a nice day for it, after lunch I hiked around, ran into those same moose two more times. Them moose say: "Thanks for listening". !!!

 

[Ugly Sauce]

Almost forgot...the .54 Hand Cannon says: "go ahead...make my day!"

 

[Armored farmer]

That ol' T/C is looking pretty tacky! I like it.
Great idea for the coffee.
I enjoyed your outing....thanks for the great pics....where the heck are you?

 

[Corpral_Agarn]

Nice man! I missed my opportunity for that kind of thing out my way. Glad you got out there and thanks for the pics

 

[Ugly Sauce]

That ol' T/C is looking pretty tacky! I like it.
Great idea for the coffee.
I enjoyed your outing....thanks for the great pics....where the heck are you?

Eastern Washington State. (NOT Spokane!)

 

[Ugly Sauce]

That ol' T/C is looking pretty tacky! I like it.

Ha ha! Yeah...I patterned it after yours!!!!

 

[H&Hhunter]

Nice way to spend the day for sure!

If I’d have smoked that whole cigar you would’ve had to drag my carcass out of there on a travois!

I love the smell of a good cigar but I’m not a smoker. When I was a kid we stole a couple of cigars from the old man and snuck out into the woods to smoke them. I puked my guts out and haven’t touched one since.

 

[BreechFace]

Thank you for sharing! Love my time in the woods as well!

I’m with @H&Hhunter on the cigar, like the smell of pipe and cigars but I’m no smoker.

 

[jmr40]

Deer season is winding down now. I could technically hunt until Jan 1, but I'm done. Small game is still legal until the last day of February and I spend a lot of time in the woods doing basically the same thing. I carry either a 22 or a shotgun but I'm not serious about hunting. Just getting exercise and walking in the woods. There are several large tracts of public land where I can do this and I never see another person.

Turkey season starts near the end of March until mid-May. I'm getting in some scouting for that and will see other hunters at least early in turkey season.

 

[Ugly Sauce]

I’m with @H&Hhunter on the cigar, like the smell of pipe and cigars but I’m no smoker.

Like H&H, my first and last experience smoking cigarettes was in JR.High/Middle School when two friends and I snuck behind a building and smoked some cigarettes, inhaling deeply. I got so sick I was puking and seeing flashes (little ones like stars) and never smoked a cigarette again. I remember puking in a trash can, right outside a classroom with the door open, and everyone staring at me. !!! (inhaling a cigar would really be harsh) Not sure when I picked up the cigar habit, it's an acquired taste for sure, but I don't really think of myself as a "smoker". I think of cigarette smokers as "smokers". Also, I have no cravings or compulsions to smoke, unlike cigarette smokers who have to smoke, or quit. Or get really buggy nervous and grouchy. Or kill someone. I usually go many weeks or a month or so between cigars. When I most enjoy one is in the outdoors, hiking/trekking or around one of my backyard fire rings/places.

It does take a while to smoke a cigar, so I often just carry a pipe and some tobacco mixed with mullien when woods wandering. And of course, when anyone sees my pipes they think I'm a stoner. !!!! One looks like a mini-peace pipe, the other a 1700's type clay pipe, but with a long bamboo stem.

 

[Ugly Sauce]

Deer season is winding down now. I could technically hunt until Jan 1, but I'm done. Small game is still legal until the last day of February and I spend a lot of time in the woods doing basically the same thing. I carry either a 22 or a shotgun but I'm not serious about hunting. Just getting exercise and walking in the woods. There are several large tracts of public land where I can do this and I never see another person.

Turkey season starts near the end of March until mid-May. I'm getting in some scouting for that and will see other hunters at least early in turkey season.

Big game seasons are over here. But no small game that I hunt, grouse is closed, not really into rabbits. The good news is that Cougar is open up North, and stays open all the way to March, I think. So I may try for another cat, if I could/can call in an especially nice big one. But, I may be too lazy to drive up there on icy roads, and trudge around on the snowshoes. I love snow-shoeing, but it's a work-out in deep snow. Not like shoeing on groomed trails.

Yep, now that I'm just hiking and wandering the woods I'll change up my weapons, a .22 rifle and heavy revolver is a favorite, or modern rifle and .22 pistol, or a shotgun and Grandfather's Luger, whatever! Try to take them all out for some sunshine, a walk and some "quality time".

It's funny, here too, on the state lands other than hunting, people just don't use them. I have them to myself. Strange, but I like it.

I'm just living for Turkey season for sure, here it's April 15th to mid or late May. This year I didn't see many others hunting the state land during early Turk season. I heard that it wasn't a very good season for anyone this year, no one really did "great". I didn't get one either. No shortage of them, but something about the weather they didn't like, I'm guessing.

 

[22250Rem]

Thanks for the good story and pix. Come spring I'm planning on doing some hikes in one of the areas I frequented during deer season. One section is on state land that is closed to hiking during hunting season.