Scouting and trail clearing, and a good escape.

[Ugly Sauce]

The first Grizz that was "discovered" in North Eastern Washington State was shot by two guys who thought they had bagged the "record black bear". They came back into town, Spokane I think, half drunk and whooping and hollering and celebrating, took it to the taxidermist, high-fives and hugs and hollers, DANG! WE GOT THE RECORD BLACK BEAR!!! Taxidermists takes one look at it and says: "boys, you shot a grizzly". Game Department made mince-meat out of them, fined them thousands of dollars, took away their hunting licenses for something like ten years. We still joke about the record black bear. Soon after that they started relocating grizzly's in the Harvey Creek area, (google it!) and also close to dry canyon. (google it) Now the Harvey creek area is the official Grizzly recovery area, but they range from the big river over to Idaho, and into Idaho and Montana now. Lots of record black bears. I've never seen one in my stomping grounds yet, but have seen Alaska size paw prints.

 

[gila_dog1]

That looks like a fine place and a good time. Thanks for taking us along.
I'll be heading down into a big canyon the 1st of Sept to help a friend with his bow elk hunt. We'll take our camp and everything down on our 4 wheelers about 5 miles, and set up a camp and stay there a week or so. I'll just hang out with him and try to call a bull in close. If he scores then very hard work will begin. This is pretty wild country but it gets a lot of people pressure wherever you can ride + a mile or so from the trails. So we will have to do some climbing to get where the elk are, and hope for some good luck. We try to locate a bull by hearing him bugle. That could be a mile away thru steep country. Or hopefully closer. We'll hustle to get within 100 yds or so and then he will go closer and I'll stay back 50 yds or so, downwind, and cow call. If I sound sexy enough the bull might come in close enough for a shot. It's pretty hard hunting. He's 82 but I'm only 73 and I can barely keep up with him. This is bear, wolf, and mountain lion country but I feel well armed with my model 19.

 

[Ugly Sauce]

Wow that's some rugged, but nice country. Different than mine. I'd love to hike around in New Mexico someday, just to experience it. Didn't know you had wolves in NM. They are really killing off the deer and elk here in Washington State, and North Idaho.

Bow hunting Elk is no cake walk, it's good that you can work as a team. I've got a couple deer with a bow, but never tried for an elk. I look for them with my flintlock, but I've never got one with anything, muzzle loader, modern rifle, pea-shooter or sling-shot. Came close a few times in the past when I was still hunting with new-fangled cartridge rifles. I try every year, but again, the wolves have really decimated the elk herds where I hunt. Near my house there is state land with Elk, but they all run for the wildlife preserve the second season opens.

Good luck on your hunt, and keep the 19 clean and oily!

 

[gila_dog1]

The wolves are having a big impact on elk here too. Any place that's open and fairly flat the wolves are killing a lot of elk. In the more rugged country the wolves aren't able to chase the elk as well. The main predators for elk there are bears and mountain lions. The bears get a lot of elk calves.The wolves have been reintroduced here after being almost extinct.

 

[BigBlue 94]

Didn't know you had wolves in NM

Another little known fact is they have Lynx in NM too. Saw one on the north side of the Sandias, not too far north of ABQ about 10 years ago.

How about black bears in Kansas?! Occasionally a male will wander in to the SE corner from the Ozarks. We have migrant mountain lion males too, 500 miles east of the Rockies. Ive actually seen one.

 

[Ugly Sauce]

Ive actually seen one.

Not an easy animal to see. Where I hunt the mountains are crawling with them. But the only one I've ever seen, is the one I called and shot! Otherwise, they seem to be invisible.

 

[BigBlue 94]

Not an easy animal to see. Where I hunt the mountains are crawling with them. But the only one I've ever seen, is the one I called and shot! Otherwise, they seem to be invisible.

Not at all. Especially with as few as there are here. Pretty hard to mistake that long body and huge tail! The one i saw ran across the road in front of me from our small pasture, then between two houses. Kind of a suburban area but its out of town with lots of prairie to hide in.

 

[Shanghai McCoy]

Not an easy animal to see. Where I hunt the mountains are crawling with them. But the only one I've ever seen, is the one I called and shot! Otherwise, they seem to be invisible.

You'd think so but our Vet has seen them twice between North Lawrence and Tonganoxie, Ks..
(And that was before the KDWP even admitted that they were here..)

 

[Ugly Sauce]

Not at all. Especially with as few as there are here. Pretty hard to mistake that long body and huge tail! The one i saw ran across the road in front of me from our small pasture, then between two houses. Kind of a suburban area but its out of town with lots of prairie to hide in.

Man, them must be tame ones! But, the forest is pretty thick here, not a lot of open space. But I ain't kidding, anytime there's a fresh snow up there, cougar tracks everywhere. And muddy trails, always find some cougar tracks. I just remembered, actually I've seen two, the one I shot, and another that came into the call, was ten feet off to my left for a while but I thought it was a squirrel rustling the brush. I gave up on calling, stood up to pee, and those bushes next to me EXPLODED with this BIG BIG Tom, and he goes rocketing up the hill, but I just couldn't get my sights on him long enough as he was zig-zagging away. Ten more minutes of patience and I would have got him. His fur/coat was grey too. Anyhow, yeah, only two I've ever seen, other than one in Southern California when I was 19 years old. How many have seen me? HUNDREDS I bet!

 

[BigBlue 94]

You'd think so but our Vet has seen them twice between North Lawrence and Tonganoxie, Ks..
(And that was before the KDWP even admitted that they were here..)

Mine was 2014 or so, about 5 miles NE of Topeka, not too far north of US-24.

Both of my parents have seen one, both on US-75 no more than 5 miles north of Topeka. I think they come through here due to the amount of creeks and rivers. Cats prefer moving water over stagnant water. West of Topeka, the land starts to dry up. I think they follow the S. Platte river from the mountains, through NE, and down the Republican and Delaware rivers. Steady supply of running water the whole way.

 

[BigBlue 94]

Man, them must be tame ones! But, the forest is pretty thick here, not a lot of open space. But I ain't kidding, anytime there's a fresh snow up there, cougar tracks everywhere. And muddy trails, always find some cougar tracks. I just remembered, actually I've seen two, the one I shot, and another that came into the call, was ten feet off to my left for a while but I thought it was a squirrel rustling the brush. I gave up on calling, stood up to pee, and those bushes next to me EXPLODED with this BIG BIG Tom, and he goes rocketing up the hill, but I just couldn't get my sights on him long enough as he was zig-zagging away. Ten more minutes of patience and I would have got him. His fur/coat was grey too. Anyhow, yeah, only two I've ever seen, other than one in Southern California when I was 19 years old. How many have seen me? HUNDREDS I bet!

Hah they are always on a full sprint when you see em here. Mine got across the road in a single bound and at a million miles an hour. But that tail... Its unmistakable. And ive grown up with 110 pound free running yellow labs so i know what they look like lol.

Did you have to change your drawers after that encounter? I would have! My 7 pound kitty's claws hurt bad enough

 

[Ugly Sauce]

Did you have to change your drawers after that encounter? I would have! My 7 pound kitty's claws hurt bad enough

Almost peed my pants I think. Actually, it happened so fast, and I was so intent on getting a shot, that I forgot to pee my pants, or anything else. The hill it ran up was somewhat recently logged, so I could see it the whole time, but the trail zig-zags, so every time I'd get a good lead, and was about to pull the trigger, he's zig if he was zagging, or he'd zag when he was zigging. Then he was over the top.

Those claws they have are really something else. They don't come off the paw like a bear claw will. They ain't no joke! Compared to a bear claw, them bear claws are like butter knives.

Bear claws compared to cougar claws.