Came into the world to drop off game and people and load up feed for both human??? and animal and head back out until the 25th maybe the 26th depending on the game taken. I came in today on Sunday because we don't take game on Sunday. Daughter is getting married the 28th somehow I don't think missing that because of hunting is going to be an excuse for me NOT to walk her down the isle. We have done well, the people that I took up for a transmission/drop camp pack-in barter, I found to be a little disturbing, they don't hunt like we do, NOT that they did anything wrong but they shoot at anything legal. There are better heads of game but they don't seen to think that take the old or hurt to cull the herd they don't understand that its kind of a crop like thing leave the next crop coming up for the next few years, besides they lost at least a 100 of meat by not taking the bigger game, each to their own I guess they are out of the mountains now so its just us in our camp. Family that came for the wedding came early to see if they could put some meat in the freezer before the wedding, also picking up some of FIL's friends from when he was a young man.
FIL is into bow hunting, I had noticed every AM when I went to tend to the animals that there was ELK dumplings around the highline. Yesterday went out to the line and noticed that one of our animals had changed, it had ANTLERS!!! Went to the weapon tent got FIL'S bow and took him away from the breakfast table and around the back side of the highline. Sat him in a good spot and got out my mouth cow call and gave it a whine like come here BIG BOY be damned if he didn't
FIL was at full draw and gave another little whine it stopped and FIL's arrow disappeared in its chest, wasn't hard to follow the blood trail, we sat for at least 10 min before we got up to track with every breath the spray of blood was thick. I left the FIL do his thing is was fun to watch a man of 80+ Years bound from blood pool to blood pool he was at least 20 years old again, He found the Elk some 50yards away it looked as thou it just laid down and was trying to figure out what had happen when it gave its life to FIL. He paid his homage of the life that he had taken in order to give life to his family. It was a pretty moving moment for Penny his daughter and I to watch her fathers dream of just one last Elk taken with his Bow instead of a rifle, Pretty tuff to not have a tear in an eye, just being a part of it.
Pastor Bob got his Elk when he went to answer the call of nature, with so many bears around I went with him never want to get caught with your pants down :-laf He was doing his job when he spotted and Elk at 250 yards he asked what do I do now???? Don't rightly know Bob have NEVER even dreamed of this type of scenario before. He said hand me my rifle!!!! so I gave him his 30/06 with 180 grs in it and he waddled out from behind the bushes pants around his ankles and drew a bead on it and dropped it like it was all part of the plan. He said BIG you EVER tell of this your going to wish you hadn't. :-laf
Had a Post on this tread earlier that asked about my Mules. HOW MUCH TIME DO YOU HAVE :-laf my mules were laughed at when I brought them to hunting camp the first time. Native Americans didn't use mules thought to be stupid and stubborn but tasted good on the table. See how smart they are they had people fooled for a long time. My Riding mule is a Registered 1/4 horse cross not a violent bone in her body she rides like a Caddie smooth and not even a sway back and forth. The Boys are Draft Mules, small ones but not to be outdone with hart. They will work as hard as the big boys in the fields but aren't so big that they cant go to the mountains, have to take the other 4 that are a Morgan Horse Cross, low center of gravity and built like a weight lifter but in a midget class into the dead falls to retrieve game that the boys would have a hard time navigating, swap the load to them and that is where they shine, they can haul the mail compared to the others. The wife does most of the field dressing of game and I have taught the boys to help her out, moving an Elk around is hard work so with the aid of Jacob and Earl we can move them around to make the task so must better for us and faster with as many bears around this year time from shot to on the back of the mules has got be as short as possible. Bears know the shot is dinner waiting and come running.
My Ex Boss and friend got his very first animal of any kind the first day riding in to camp, we were loading up the rifles and he said BIG take a look, I said quit looking and take a shot!!! he did with his 7MM mag and dropped it at 375 yards very good for shaking as bad as he was, I told him I sure was glad to be standing behind you or I may have got shot the way the end of the barrel was moving around. :-laf
Lots of game Lots of time left in the season, time to pick up the food new guest's and take my soon to be Son in law on his bachelor party BIG style. Leave all the gals at home to do the gal things for the wedding and let us guys do our thing in the mountains.
BIG
Attention: TDR Forum Junkies 
My family is scattered to the wind... . so we adopt the strays!! Lots of military loners running around, blowing crap up... . Kinda fun most of the time. I get tired every once in a while, with all the work and then coming in to a party going on in my shop... . But, they are mostly damn well mannered, and there aren't any that can choke me out... ... ... yet!! Hopefully, I'll be too old and well respected when they catch up!! We all love to hunt, and the time together is often best when no words are spoken... . just a quick noise or gesture to point something out, then the glance and smile at each other. My greatest hope is to teach that to my kids... ... I've sure enjoyed it... . They're my excuse to get back to it!!!
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