Here's some pics from our family trip from a week ago.
My daughter Jesse's first grouse.
Jesse's second grouse. Both shot with her great grandfather's 22.
Enjoying some time around the fire.
Scenery around camp.
Taking time out to enjoy nature's bounty.
Family time above timberline.
Cody looking for elusive ptarmigan.
Some of the highcountry residents.
Begining to think maybe next year we'll try hunting these guys.
Some locals at the fishing hole.
The goal of this hunt was to get Jesse her first deer. The area we were hunting has youth antlerless whitetail and youth antlerless muley seasons, as well as GOS for bucks of both species. So, a kid can shoot any deer. The warm weather had the whiteys pretty much holding to a noctural pattern. We saw an average of about 4 a day. They weren't too keen on standing around too long. We did see a few that were just a tad too far, as I was wanting her shots to be 50 yards or less. I made Cody sit on his hands the entire week and it almost killed him. The hunt was for Jesse and it was a good lesson for him to learn that hunting is a team effort.
I was able to get Jesse on a 4x3 muley at about 40 yards. She was using the shooting sticks. It took her a while to get comfortable but she finally squeezed one off. At the shot the buck dropped but then he got his feet back under him and he bailed. The blood was good color and I expected we would find him within a 100 yards. No such luck. The blood trail was real good at first, but the buck zigged and zagged making it painstakingly difficult to follow his dirrection. We had our leopard cur pup, Cruiser, with us, so I decided to give her a try on lead. Took her a while to figure out what we were up too, but then her instinct took over. It was amazing to see that dog work like that. We encountered the first bed about 300 metres from the start. That is when I made the decision to head back to the truck, grab a bite to eat and give it an hour. That also gave me the opportunity to grab my pack, GPS and more flagging ribbon. An hour later we got back on the track with only spotty blood to follow. I had the kids marking the blood we found with ribbon so if the dog lost the trail, we could go back and start at the last spot of blood. There were times the dog would lose it and start circling and then she would start pulling and I would be way in front of the kids and thinking this dog is taking me on a wild goose chase but then I'd see a speck of blood and I'd call back to the kids to come on up to this new spot. At one point we jumped a deer that went up. The dog followed and then circled back and got on the right track and pulled me across slope. She was smart enough to figure out which way to go with another deer polluting the track. That time she took me across a cut with not a speck of blood the entire way and I was doubting her judgement, but as we entered the timber, there was a spot of blood where the buck jumped a log. Another 200 metres in the timber and 4 hours after the shot, we jumped the buck. He was still alive and he bailed hard with no shot opportunity. I took a GPS point and decided to pull off the track to give him yet more time to die. We hiked approximately 3 kms back to the truck, drove back to town for lunch and then came back 2 1/2 hours later, accessing the area from another road system. With the Goto button, we were able to find our last speck of blood and were back on the trail again, this time with no more blood to follow. It was only blind trust in the pup that her breeding would shine through, and that it did. She lead us down a very steep deer trail that lead to the river. As we approached the river I thought we'd find the buck dead on a sand bank. Nope! We jumped the buck out of his bed and he ran hard away, again with no shot opportunity. I left the dog with the kids and I took off after it hoping I could get a shot a him. I followed the ripped up duff for a good 200 metres without a single speck of blood and he was long gone. 7 hours after he was shot, this buck still had the piss and vinegar to bail hard. I walked back to the kids and we discussed the situation and came to the conclusion this buck was not going to die today and if we stayed on his tracks with nothing but the dog leading us, we would continue to play cat and mouse with him, so we decided that was the end of the pursuit.
Here's some pics of Cruiser, can't wait to turn her out on some lion tracks this winter.
My daughter Jesse's first grouse.
Jesse's second grouse. Both shot with her great grandfather's 22.
Enjoying some time around the fire.
Scenery around camp.
Taking time out to enjoy nature's bounty.
Family time above timberline.
Cody looking for elusive ptarmigan.
Some of the highcountry residents.
Begining to think maybe next year we'll try hunting these guys.
Some locals at the fishing hole.
The goal of this hunt was to get Jesse her first deer. The area we were hunting has youth antlerless whitetail and youth antlerless muley seasons, as well as GOS for bucks of both species. So, a kid can shoot any deer. The warm weather had the whiteys pretty much holding to a noctural pattern. We saw an average of about 4 a day. They weren't too keen on standing around too long. We did see a few that were just a tad too far, as I was wanting her shots to be 50 yards or less. I made Cody sit on his hands the entire week and it almost killed him. The hunt was for Jesse and it was a good lesson for him to learn that hunting is a team effort.
I was able to get Jesse on a 4x3 muley at about 40 yards. She was using the shooting sticks. It took her a while to get comfortable but she finally squeezed one off. At the shot the buck dropped but then he got his feet back under him and he bailed. The blood was good color and I expected we would find him within a 100 yards. No such luck. The blood trail was real good at first, but the buck zigged and zagged making it painstakingly difficult to follow his dirrection. We had our leopard cur pup, Cruiser, with us, so I decided to give her a try on lead. Took her a while to figure out what we were up too, but then her instinct took over. It was amazing to see that dog work like that. We encountered the first bed about 300 metres from the start. That is when I made the decision to head back to the truck, grab a bite to eat and give it an hour. That also gave me the opportunity to grab my pack, GPS and more flagging ribbon. An hour later we got back on the track with only spotty blood to follow. I had the kids marking the blood we found with ribbon so if the dog lost the trail, we could go back and start at the last spot of blood. There were times the dog would lose it and start circling and then she would start pulling and I would be way in front of the kids and thinking this dog is taking me on a wild goose chase but then I'd see a speck of blood and I'd call back to the kids to come on up to this new spot. At one point we jumped a deer that went up. The dog followed and then circled back and got on the right track and pulled me across slope. She was smart enough to figure out which way to go with another deer polluting the track. That time she took me across a cut with not a speck of blood the entire way and I was doubting her judgement, but as we entered the timber, there was a spot of blood where the buck jumped a log. Another 200 metres in the timber and 4 hours after the shot, we jumped the buck. He was still alive and he bailed hard with no shot opportunity. I took a GPS point and decided to pull off the track to give him yet more time to die. We hiked approximately 3 kms back to the truck, drove back to town for lunch and then came back 2 1/2 hours later, accessing the area from another road system. With the Goto button, we were able to find our last speck of blood and were back on the trail again, this time with no more blood to follow. It was only blind trust in the pup that her breeding would shine through, and that it did. She lead us down a very steep deer trail that lead to the river. As we approached the river I thought we'd find the buck dead on a sand bank. Nope! We jumped the buck out of his bed and he ran hard away, again with no shot opportunity. I left the dog with the kids and I took off after it hoping I could get a shot a him. I followed the ripped up duff for a good 200 metres without a single speck of blood and he was long gone. 7 hours after he was shot, this buck still had the piss and vinegar to bail hard. I walked back to the kids and we discussed the situation and came to the conclusion this buck was not going to die today and if we stayed on his tracks with nothing but the dog leading us, we would continue to play cat and mouse with him, so we decided that was the end of the pursuit.
Here's some pics of Cruiser, can't wait to turn her out on some lion tracks this winter.
