Hunting last weekend

eelgrass · Sep 24, 2015

Our blacktail season opened last weekend. We had some huge fires this summer where I usually hunt so I avoided most of it this year.

Anyhow, driving home, it was convenient to drive through the fire area and it was unreal. I pulled off at one particular spot that I've hunted over the years. It's a huge area of super steep ground covered in prairies and oak. It's really only for the fittest of hunters because there is no way out except back up the way you went down into it.

All the oaks and prairies are black. There's not a living thing down in there. It looks like a moon scape where a nuclear bomb went off.

I was about to leave when I saw something out of place waaaay down the mountain. I put the glass on it and it appeared to be a guy and a kid. I got the spotting scope out and it was some dude in street clothes and a young blond girl about 7 or 8. He was packing a rifle and she had a pink coat on. It was about 90 degrees and getting hotter by the minute.

My first instinct was to hike down there, beat the crap out of that guy, and carry that poor girl out of there.

I decided to stick around and watch. They slowly made their way up the hill. She was actually doing better than he was, which made me smile. When they only had about 100 yards to go, I decided to mind my own business and let it go, and left.

I don't know why, but it still disturbs me to think about it. How can a guy (father?) be so stupid to put a child through that? Way to introduce a child to hunting, douche bag!

Eel

Guns are like parachutes. If you need one and don't have one you probably will never need one again.

Homer · Sep 24, 2015

yeah....wearing a pink jacket and hiking with your dad should be a crime....the nerve of some rednecks....

eelgrass · Sep 24, 2015

it wouldn't have been so bad, but he made her drag the buck up that steep mountain.

Guns are like parachutes. If you need one and don't have one you probably will never need one again.

Homer · Sep 24, 2015

....not a thing alive down there huh???

RELH · Sep 24, 2015

Eel that was one of those novice Kali hunters who heard that burn areas are some of the best deer hunting areas. He just did not hear the part about having to give it a couple years after the burn for the deer to be back in there eating that new young brush.

RELH

eelgrass · Sep 25, 2015

I made up the part about the buck, homer.

"Daddy, it's hot. Can I take off my pink coat?" "NO! you might get shot." Dickweed.

Eel

Guns are like parachutes. If you need one and don't have one you probably will never need one again.

Homer · Sep 25, 2015

......who was talking about the buck?

Zeke · Sep 25, 2015

While I don't think we need to make everything easy for our kids, there is a limit to what kids will tolerate and 90 degrees with a coat on is over the top! (I remember freezing my azz off as a child but I already had the fire in the belly for hunting and would never quit)

Making it too hard is a sure way to push the kids back to the computer games and out of the hills!

We NEED that next generation or the antis will eliminate our lifestyle!

Zeke

PS: I was just at the convenience store and the school kids were on a break. It was filled with kids and it make me wonder if any of them would carry the torch for hunting. 90% of them looked like they couldn't make it up the first hill. Oh well, I'm showing my age now! (I'm too judgmental I suppose)

sageadvice · Sep 25, 2015

What's that old saying about a bad days hunting? At least you got out and after them.

Good luck in getting your deer this year Eel. Now retired, you might find time to experiment, sausages, or some for the smoker maybe...

Joey

"It's all about knowing what your firearms practical limitations are and combining that with your own personal limitations!"

NVBighorn · Sep 25, 2015

>Now retired,
>you might find time to
>experiment, sausages,

>
>Joey

Wha??? Eel experimenting with sausages??? As if the kayak fishing wasn't enough.

[font color="blue"]I don't make the soup,I just stir it.[/font]

eelgrass · Sep 25, 2015

Thanks Joey and Zeke! and NVB (I think

),

Joey, did you get out? Haven't heard from you in awhile. I had visions of you going to your favorite spot and scoring like you did last year.

It's been kind of a challenge to find a good place to camp since the fires. Last Friday I came upon a spot that was vacant. Well, it had a paper plate nailed to a tree with some initials on it, and some ribbon. Didn't mean anything to me, so I took it. About dark, a couple guys drove up and started saying stuff like F&*%, S^@%, Mo%$@# F&@%!! They either got over it or stayed mad, but they didn't camp there.

Here is one of my old camping spots. It's (was) very well hidden and I've never seen anybody use the spot but me. RIP

sageman · Sep 25, 2015

1. Kids are more susceptible to hyperthermia and heat stroke than adults!

2. I left a burn that was still smoking on private ranch in Napa co years ago because I thought all the deer were gone....I came back to the same ranch 5 days later and the other hunters who stayed had killed 8 bucks while I was gone. All 8 right in the burned area! we killed 4 more in the next week.

sageadvice · Sep 25, 2015

Eel, no, i didn't draw my first or even my second choice C tag this year. I did pick up a B zone tag and may go later in the season but i don't have high hopes of getting a buck this year and that's ok.

I picked up a good job today, a weeks worth of work anyway and the reason i mention it is that the owners asked if i liked Halibut? Why yes i do and thank you very much! I'm stuffed and typing this listening to the game with a big smile on my face! lol

If i were looking for a place to hunt in the b zones, i wouldn't overlook a old favorite that had just burned. It could be good!

Joey

"It's all about knowing what your firearms practical limitations are and combining that with your own personal limitations!"

eelgrass · Sep 26, 2015

I have no problem hunting a fresh burn, but when you can see every square foot of it, it seems pointless to hike down into it with a kid in 90 degree heat, no shade.

There are some fresh burns I'm dying to check out, unfortunately they are on the Shasta-Trinity Forest side and those areas are closed as of now. That won't stop a lot of people, I know...

One decent rain is all we need.

Eel

Guns are like parachutes. If you need one and don't have one you probably will never need one again.