Guns, Bows, Shooting Sports, and Hunting Another Decent trip

[BIGNASTY]

Had another good trip but ya cant make people get up at 3am if they are pay-in and dont want to.

 

[BIGNASTY]

Got a day or two of BRISK WEATEHER I like it but most DO NOT!!!!



Sure would be nice to be young again wouldnt it????? Hunt High and sleep low at least its warmer

 

[BIGNASTY]

Some nice low-land go-in on's

 

[jgillott]

I would absolutely love to go on one of those trips sometime. Beautiful country you are in.

 

[BIGNASTY]

Mr jgillott



Im fortunate in that I get to go and spend all the time I want in the mountains. AND EVERYTIME I GO I THINK THE SAME THING





... ... ... ... ... ..... BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY... ... ... ... ... ... ...

 

[jgillott]

Well, I've been planning a trip out west for the last 2 years and life seems to somehow get in the way. Maybe in the next couple of years I can make it out that direction.

 

[GCroyle]

I gotta look up a replacment word for WOW! I've used that one too many times on your sneak peeks into your world.

 

[JR]

Welcome back, BIG. Was just thinkin how quiet its been the last few days around here.

Hey BIG, has your area been infected by the beetle at all? I cant remember what species off the top of my head, but Ive heard theyve been pretty rampant in certain parts of the west. Reason Im asking in the first picture I noticed all the dead trees in the background. last time I was out that was all you could see was dead forest all around from them dang critters. Hard to believe an insect could do as much damage as they have.

 

[BIGNASTY]

I gotta look up a replacment word for WOW! I've used that one too many times on your sneak peeks into your world.

Heres one for ya Gary OH!!!!!! HOT SHOWERS 20 MILES INTO THE MOUNTAINS :-laf:-laf

This is the best thing that has come our way in MANY MANY years of hunt camp. YES THAT IS SNOW AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PIC so you have to get dressed FAST!!!!!!

 

[BIGNASTY]

Welcome back, BIG. Was just thinkin how quiet its been the last few days around here.

Hey BIG, has your area been infected by the beetle at all? I cant remember what species off the top of my head, but Ive heard theyve been pretty rampant in certain parts of the west. Reason Im asking in the first picture I noticed all the dead trees in the background. last time I was out that was all you could see was dead forest all around from them dang critters. Hard to believe an insect could do as much damage as they have.

D4L

Yes we do have the bark beetle and its a devastating bug. But no the first picture (I had to go back and look) looks like a fire went thru and its growing back. The trees down are because they burnt and the wind blows so bad up here at times that no branch trees fall. They are dead falls and (aka) widow makers dont camp next to them they fall without warning. Fire up here is nothing we had a good fire by the house in July set by campers but the lightnings starts many fires and nobody thinks much about them. Its a natural part of things if it didnt happen the trees would be to thick ,part of the reason for the bark beetles from what the Forest Serv. says.



I try to find a pic of the beetle trees so you can see the difference. The trees that have all the branches on but dead are from the beetle if it were fire the branches would be gone and just the trunk would be all thats left.



CA has been plagued really bad with the beetle we were in the mountains one time and the Ranger said it was because of the lack of snow and cold. I CANT LEAVE WHAT WAS SAID ALONE and said that is BULL I TRIED TO BY-PASS THE CUSSING FILTER. He got a up about it and said to prove your thinking. We have the same problem in MT and CO and if thats not COLD ENOUGH FOR YA THEN WE WILL HAVE TO WAIT UNTILL THE NEXT ICE AGE. He didnt say anything more. Its a natural occurrence and like all GREEN PEACE A HOLES they have to make some kind of POLITICAL problem out of it. It P***ES ME OFF I hope you cant tell.

 

[BIGNASTY]

Well, I've been planning a trip out west for the last 2 years and life seems to somehow get in the way. Maybe in the next couple of years I can make it out that direction.

Do yourself a big favor do it while you can still hike and walk its fun to ride the animals in but its so nice to just get off and walk to a point and look over the edge and see how small we really are in this world. If you look there is a very small guy looking out. Its just hard to understand the SIZE of the place with a picture I like to get to a place like this with a hot cup of coffee or a cold beer in the AM OR PM and see the sun come or go.

 

[JR]

From what I understand there are parts of Wyoming that the forests have been all but cleaned out. I was last there in summer 2010 theres a nice lookout about a mile from moms cabin. Its kind of like you posted in your last pic but solid forest at the lower elevation. But instead of looking down at the sea of green it was all brown all the pines still had the needles on them but they were dead every one of em for as far as I could see. Supposedly it has gotten worse in the last 2 years its gone from localized infestation to now widespread everywhere. it really is a sad sight it will take a long time to rebound from that.

 

[BIGNASTY]

D4L



I have read that some of the scientists think its because of the lack of cold weather (global warming A HOLES) I really dont know how that could be in MT ID CO WY it gets PLENTY-0-COLD. Others say that its because of lack of tree cutting and fires. We dont cut like we use to because of a bunch of environmentalist that think that because they have some kind of degree in an unrelated field that they are the all knowing, The lack of tree cutting and the stopping of naturally caused fires COULD NEVER BE THE CAUSE. I dont know, but if you have gone in the field as much as some of us and just use a LITTLE COMMON SENSE it kind of stands to reason that the lack of tree destruction weather it be cutting or fires may be the cause. The heaviest deforestation of trees caused by the beetle is in VERY DENCE stands of forest and not in the more sparsely areas. My FIL is in his late 80's and said that this is not the first time that this has happened around our place his father told him of the same thing so it seems to me its a cycle or something that we have stopped doing or in another case stopped mother nature from doing or controlling. Man steps in and ALWAYS seems to " F " things up because we have gone to school and have a piece of paper to prove it WE ARE SO SMART.



If you want to look at another Man made UP fiasco look at the Glaciers receding in Glacier National Park. Thats like going to the political forum and speaking your mind. It lands on a bunch of pathetically ignorant individuals that believe because that your thinking is different than theirs YOUR A COMMIE/A HOLE, AND WHAT EVER ELSE their one track no life minds can think up.

 

[jgillott]

Do yourself a big favor do it while you can still hike and walk its fun to ride the animals in but its so nice to just get off and walk to a point and look over the edge and see how small we really are in this world. If you look there is a very small guy looking out. Its just hard to understand the SIZE of the place with a picture I like to get to a place like this with a hot cup of coffee or a cold beer in the AM OR PM and see the sun come or go.

Where exactly in MT are these pictures taken?

 

[NIsaacs]

I don't have clue, but I was always told the lack of moisture is one reason for the beetle kill. That the trees cant fight them off with pitch when it is dry. Southern Utah and northern Arizona is about half dead.

Nick

 

[BIGNASTY]

Where exactly in MT are these pictures taken?

The one were the guy is at the edge is at the SunRiver animal refuge on the East side of the Bob Marshall wilderness. The one with the slot canyon waterfall is in Glacier National Park. The others are the Western side of the Bob Marshall Wilderness. (aka my backyard ) If you want Topo map locations I can get them off my maps both 7. 5 and 15 minute topo's. I dont use GPS, dont like batteries. Can also get the Sextant readings if your into celestial navigation.



Have a second uncle (I think that is what uncle Bob is ) that works for the USGS now retired but he taught me how to work with Topo maps part of his job was to make sure they were up to date. He and I have played a game for many years that we have fun with. He finds a USGS marker in my area and then gives me the map quadrangle and I find the marker. Using Map and compass I have NEVER BEEN MORE THAN 30 yards off the marker when my map and compass said I was at the spot of the marker. Orienteering is something that I really like to do competitively have never won a contest but came in 2ond plenty of times. GPS is to iffy there is a spot in the Bob Marshall that will make a compass go nuts and the GPS wont work because the screen goes blank so the compass will come back but the BIL's GPS never will come back to the accuracy it did before the canyon kind of weird. If Map and compass isnt working then the Sextant will get you in the general area and then the Topo and compass will get you even closer.

 

[BIGNASTY]

I don't have clue, but I was always told the lack of moisture is one reason for the beetle kill. That the trees cant fight them off with pitch when it is dry. Southern Utah and northern Arizona is about half dead.



Nick

Thats another possibility Nick I haven't heard that one. Grand Lake Co is about the worse hit place I have seen for the beetle miles and miles of trees gone. Seems they only go after Pines our Tamarack trees and Cottonwood,Aspens are doing fine.

 

[JR]

Ive got a good story about a gps getting me lost. Every year we go to West Virginia to go fourwheeling. Ive been there enough now I dont need any directions but the first few years once we got down into the hills it was pretty easy to get turned around as the place we go is pretty well off the main roads. So the 2nd yr we went down we had the coordinates set in the gps that was the only way it could recognize the place if you typed in the physical address it would try to tell you the place didnt exist. So we get down to the last 30 miles or so of the trip where the roads start getting real interesting and at one point we crossed over a pretty good river where there was a fork in the road. Now I didnt remember crossing the river the first year I swore we stayed on the same side but the same gps got us there the previous year so I went against my better judgement and listened to the machine. Big mistake. Almost immediately after crossing the river, the road turned to one lane at best and right up against a sheer rock wall. The road was actually winding around some of the big boulders hangin off the side of the wall it was that tight. And you couldnt get over because the river we just crossed we were now running alongside it. I hocked a lugi out the window at one point and it landed in the water, the road was that tight. So now we know weve gone the wrong way but with a quad cab long bed and 30 feet of trailer and quads there was no turning around. Pretty soon the road starts making some tight and steep switchbacks and now were climbin up the mountain. This continued for about 2 miles (felt like eternity) until we got to the top, where we literally dead ended into somebodys driveway. There was an old shack at the top of this mountain with about a dozen ol beat up cars n trucks sittin in the driveway. Needless to say, the rattle of my truck brought a slew of people out of the house. These were some rough lookin boys let me tell you and my stomache turned sour real quick. me and my buddy looked at each other and I could tell he was thinkin the same thing. Ive been around kentucky and W. Virginia enough to know that those folks value their property more than a strangers life and alot of em dont take kindly to strangers, especially us "yankees" as they call us. These boys did not look real impressed with the fact that we were on their property. I shut my truck off and got out and Im thinkin boy we could be in a real mess right now. Before I could even say hello the real big guy pipes up and says in a drawl "ol tom tom brought you boys down here now didnt he?" Me and my friends all looked at each other and busted out laughin. I think more from the relief that they werent all bent outta shape than anything. He knew without us telling him where we were going. He said "yep youns wanna be right up over that ther mountain right there" as he was pointing his finger to the south. They helped us get turned around which was a real feat with all the cars and lack of realestate, we were literally sitting on a mountain top about 150 feet square. We laughed our tails off the whole way down the mountain.

 

[jgillott]

The one were the guy is at the edge is at the SunRiver animal refuge on the East side of the Bob Marshall wilderness. The one with the slot canyon waterfall is in Glacier National Park. The others are the Western side of the Bob Marshall Wilderness. (aka my backyard ) If you want Topo map locations I can get them off my maps both 7. 5 and 15 minute topo's. I dont use GPS, dont like batteries. Can also get the Sextant readings if your into celestial navigation.

Have a second uncle (I think that is what uncle Bob is ) that works for the USGS now retired but he taught me how to work with Topo maps part of his job was to make sure they were up to date. He and I have played a game for many years that we have fun with. He finds a USGS marker in my area and then gives me the map quadrangle and I find the marker. Using Map and compass I have NEVER BEEN MORE THAN 30 yards off the marker when my map and compass said I was at the spot of the marker. Orienteering is something that I really like to do competitively have never won a contest but came in 2ond plenty of times. GPS is to iffy there is a spot in the Bob Marshall that will make a compass go nuts and the GPS wont work because the screen goes blank so the compass will come back but the BIL's GPS never will come back to the accuracy it did before the canyon kind of weird. If Map and compass isnt working then the Sextant will get you in the general area and then the Topo and compass will get you even closer.

Well, if I ever get out that way, I'm going to look up a good guide to show me around.

 

[GHarman]

Ive got a good story about a gps getting me lost. Every year we go to West Virginia to go fourwheeling. Ive been there enough now I dont need any directions but the first few years once we got down into the hills it was pretty easy to get turned around as the place we go is pretty well off the main roads. So the 2nd yr we went down we had the coordinates set in the gps that was the only way it could recognize the place if you typed in the physical address it would try to tell you the place didnt exist. So we get down to the last 30 miles or so of the trip where the roads start getting real interesting and at one point we crossed over a pretty good river where there was a fork in the road. Now I didnt remember crossing the river the first year I swore we stayed on the same side but the same gps got us there the previous year so I went against my better judgement and listened to the machine. Big mistake. Almost immediately after crossing the river, the road turned to one lane at best and right up against a sheer rock wall. The road was actually winding around some of the big boulders hangin off the side of the wall it was that tight. And you couldnt get over because the river we just crossed we were now running alongside it. I hocked a lugi out the window at one point and it landed in the water, the road was that tight. So now we know weve gone the wrong way but with a quad cab long bed and 30 feet of trailer and quads there was no turning around. Pretty soon the road starts making some tight and steep switchbacks and now were climbin up the mountain. This continued for about 2 miles (felt like eternity) until we got to the top, where we literally dead ended into somebodys driveway. There was an old shack at the top of this mountain with about a dozen ol beat up cars n trucks sittin in the driveway. Needless to say, the rattle of my truck brought a slew of people out of the house. These were some rough lookin boys let me tell you and my stomache turned sour real quick. me and my buddy looked at each other and I could tell he was thinkin the same thing. Ive been around kentucky and W. Virginia enough to know that those folks value their property more than a strangers life and alot of em dont take kindly to strangers, especially us "yankees" as they call us. These boys did not look real impressed with the fact that we were on their property. I shut my truck off and got out and Im thinkin boy we could be in a real mess right now. Before I could even say hello the real big guy pipes up and says in a drawl "ol tom tom brought you boys down here now didnt he?" Me and my friends all looked at each other and busted out laughin. I think more from the relief that they werent all bent outta shape than anything. He knew without us telling him where we were going. He said "yep youns wanna be right up over that ther mountain right there" as he was pointing his finger to the south. They helped us get turned around which was a real feat with all the cars and lack of realestate, we were literally sitting on a mountain top about 150 feet square. We laughed our tails off the whole way down the mountain.

diesel4life,

Yep, I grew up in the Eastern part of West Virginia! Yer fortunate that ya dint get a rifle ball bounced offn yer brain housing group. And I dont mean that disrespectfully to either party! Most Mountain Folk are very reasonable. It just depends on how much "corn" has been passed around! Most shoot first and ask questions later incidences involve whiskey stills or drinkin'!

GregH