Another years goes by

Come on Pops, get down and crawl a little faster.

 I had a great time Saturday playing Croquet, Secret Agent and making flower and grass pies with my grand kids.  That's right, old Pops crawling around the yard on his hands and knees and I still feel it today.  Everyone brought a little something to the table and we had a great Barbeque and memories of another passing year. 

Time for a little Flower and Grass Pie for Pop's Birthday

The venison stew is good Pops.

Well, today is the big day.  It is my Birthday  (that isn't so exciting anymore), but the real news is that today we leave for Colorado.  Deer season doesn't start until Saturday, but I can't get out of town soon enough.  The first stop will be the cabin to winterize and log oil the railings, that's right, work before pleasure.  Steve and I will leave early Wednesday morning and the first stop will be in Midway Utah for pizza and beer with Olivia, Jeff and Nikki  while we watch the Presidential Debate.  We should make it to Meeker by midday Thursday, with plenty of time to scout, sight in the guns and get use to the altitude.  I'm taking my laptop so I will keep everyone posted on the progress. 

 

The next post will be from Deer Camp.

Switching Gears

With a freezer full of venison I took the opportunity today to chase a trout down the Sacramento River.  Two days working around the house is all a retired guy can take, so Terry and I launched the boat and headed up river looking for a trout dinner.  Since the limit is only one hatchery trout it needed to be a big one.  The plans were to get an early start but the damn dog started barking about 1:30am and after investigating the perimeter of the compound in my skivvies with a spot light looking for the infamous local mountain lion and her kittens, I was wide awake until 4:00am.  At 4:30 Michele's alarm blasted be out of sound sleep (can't wait til she retires) and then again when she kissed me goodbye at 5:40am and needless to say I didn't get up to early.  At 8:00am I was about to head out the door and the phone rang,  and low and behold it was the Game Biologist from the fish and game returning my call from yesterday.  After 45 minutes of discussing the rights of mother mountain lion and her kitties eating our local goat, sheep and deer population I finally got out the door.  By 9:15 we were hot on the tracks ( do trout even make tracks, I must still be in hunting mode) of the trophy trout and steelhead of the Sacramento River.  It started off really slow, Terry caught the first squawfish ( I mean Sacramento Pike) and then I hooked a small 14" rainbow.  All that excitement called for lunch about 11:00am and we escaped into the shade of Inks Creek for a sandwich and coke.   The first drift after lunch produced dinner for a week when Terry set the hook and a beautiful 9 lb 1 oz. Steelhead.  I didn't realize how big the fish was and because I thought my line was way past Terry's I didn't reel in and the fish decided to launch for the stars making a jump that cleared the water by four feet and quickly crossed over my line.  Well, now we have tangled lines and the fish decides to head south for a while, racing towards the boat with lines going all directions.  I reeled up close and bit my line off, donating my lure to the cause.  Now the toad is right behind the boat rolling like a gator with a pig in his mouth and all the time I am thinking any second that flatfish is going to just pop out of his mouth and Terry will blame it all on me because I can see both lures hanging out of his mouth.  I reached for the net and the ol' net boy got him on the first pass.  Looking back it was quite the circus but that is what memories are make of.  Terry has fished the river for many years and he claims this steelhead is his largest ever. 

What a year, Tadd's buck of a lifetime, Terry's Steelhead of a lifetime and Pop's memories of a lifetime.

Tadd's Big Buck Story

Rifle season came quickly and ended quickly for Tadd and me.  That’s right, we both connected on forked horns in the first three days of the season.  But that is another story I will get to soon. The big story is Tadd’s big 6X4 he nailed during archery season.  

On the second Monday of the archery season we decided to travel to Swain Mountain, do a little mobile spot and stocking (road hunting), and try to put together a game plan for the rest of the season.  Upper B-line just wasn’t producing so we needed to change our attack and try to find a buck that would stand still long enough for us to launch an arrow.  We seemed to be the only hunters on the mountain that morning which turned out to be just the ticket.  We started working our way to the top on the east side of the mountain and we started seeing a few does here and there but as we neared the upper half of the mountain we noticed sighting to be few are far between.  We decided to move back down the mountain and check out a dead end road that wraps around the north side that had several spur roads and plenty of brush.  We had just turned down a spur road which was lined with lodgepole and I noticed movement at 1:00 at about 50 yards. ( mobile spot and stock language)   Immediately the radio barked out "buck" and without slowing Tadd peeled off the back of the truck and I continued down the road as if we didn’t see the buck making a quick exit.  I continued down to the end of the road, parked and then sneaked back angling up the hill back towards the action.  I found a good opening and quickly ranged the yardages to the trails leading into the clearing.  Then the waiting began, like many times before, but this time it seemed different.  The wind was blowing the right direction; Tadd had the perfect cover to exit the truck, the brush wasn’t too dense, so the buck was totally unaware we were on the chase.  Like many time before I sat there waiting for the call on the radio, hoping that this would be the time.  Well, this time was different and I will never forget the electricity in Tadd’s voice when he said:  “Dad, I’ve got blood”. 

 

After Tadd slipped off the back of the truck the hunt was on.  Slowly he angled up the hill noticing that the wind was blowing across the trail where he had last seen the buck.  Fifteen minutes went by and still no buck.  When Tadd reached to top of the hill he could look back and see the line of trees and brush that bordered the road.  By now he was 300 yards up the hill and figured the buck had angled back into a brush pile just behind the lodgepole that lined the road. Now he had a 10 mph wind directly in his face, not only covering his scent but also muffling his movements.  About a third of the way back down the hill Tadd peaked around a large patch of brush to see a three point bedded down, facing into the wind and watching the road.  The range finder quickly read 82 yards and Tadd had to take a few seconds to calm his nerves and stop the shaking.  Then he noticed movement about 5 yards to the right and holly s—t, there was another buck, a monster.  He was also bedded down but all he could see was the massive rack towering above the brush.  It was time to settle down again.  It’s great when a buck is totally unaware of your presence because it gives you time to rid the buck fever that always seems to alter your sense of judgment.  Step by step over the next twenty minutes Tadd closed the distance, 65 yards, 54 yards, 42 yards, 36 yards and then finally 28 yards.  The three point presented a slam dunk shot but the monster was hidden by the brush and it was time to make a decision.  After getting the shakes under control again, Tadd slipped back up the hill a few yards and started back down another trail that hopefully opened up a shooting lane to the big boy’s vitals.  Back again to 28 yards, Tadd could see the horns, head, neck and part of the buck’s right shoulder. Now another decision, wait until he stands up and then draw and shoot or just draw and wait for him to jump up.  Tadd has been there before and waiting for the buck to stand up before drawing the bow has never worked before.  When a buck is standing and he hears the arrow sliding through the rest he tends to take on the properties of a rocket ship.  Tadd knows.  Tadd went to full draw and the buck heard the noise and stood up.  With the 20 yard pin placed just a little high the arrow was released. At 28 yards, slightly down hill, the arrow should have entered right in the boiler room, but the buck heard the release and dropped a little spinning to the left and the arrow entered right between his should blades and exited just left of his wind pipe. 

 

Tadd was right; he had blood, lots of blood.  After years of missing and missing and missing the arrow finally found the mark on a buck of a lifetime.  When I got back to the truck I immediately got out the video camera and the excitement of the recovery is on video from beginning to end. I’m sure we will watch it many times over because the excitement is just down right addictive. Tadd will remember his first kill not only as the first buck but a buck of a lifetime.  I have bow hunted for 46 years and this was my hunt of a lifetime. 

 

Now back to reality.  The rifle hunt story will follow.  

Deer gone, Trout Galore

Yesterday was the last day of Archery season and it ended without a story to tell. Tadd and Mini came up to the cabin to join us for the Labor Day weekend and we ended the season cruising the roads of Swain Mountain searching for that last minute buck. Just as the sun was going down we spotted a nice buck but he exited the scene in a cloud of dust. It seemed like a long ride home, reflecting back and dreaming about the missed opportunities but the thrill of Tadd's buck overshadowed the disappointment of another unsuccessful season for old Pops. After a few days of rest I will post the complete story on Tadd's big buck.

Archery season may be over but the Trout are biting big time at the springs. This morning was very cold (37 degrees) so we slept in, had waffles for breakfast and finally got out the door about 10:00am. We drove over to Big Springs and walked down to the lake and I really didn't have much confidence in catching anything at the end of the three day weekend. Boy was I wrong! Tadd caught a nice fish on his second cast and the action continued until we left at 1:30pm. Mini hooked a nice fish and performed a perfect premature release. She later hooked a good fish and landed it on her own. Watch out Tadd, take her out a few more times and you can start playing second fiddle like I have been doing for the last decade. Most of the fish were in the 16 to 17 inch range with two going 19 inches. What a great way to end a holiday weekend.

Big Buck Down (really big)

Tadd finally connected with a big boy. He has been saving up all these years to make his first buck a big one. Now he is ruined for live, it is only down hill from here. To put his buck into perspective, probably less than 1% of the bucks killed in California have six points. He almost had seven on one side but the velvet covered the split point on one tine. The spread is only about 18 inches but any hunter would be proud to bag a 6x4 still in velvet. It has been an exhausting day so I will only post a few photos in this post but I promiss to tell the whole story when I have more time. Enjoy the photos and stay tuned for more photos and maybe a movie of the excitement after the shot. BBD.

A new link

Just to update everyone on my new granddaughter I have added a link to her webpage. It is titled "Olivia's Webpage" and is the first entry on the right side bar. Nikki's photography is amazing and does a great job posting new photos. Click on Olivia's link and check out my new beautiful grand daughter.

Back from Utah

We just got back today from Utah and boy what a blast. Olivia is the prettiest little girl in the world and really a pleasure to spoil. Olivia visited the doctor this week and everything is just perfect. She is eating really well and gaining weight right on schedule. It was fun feeding her in the car while Nikki and Michele were out shopping for a new reunion dress. Mom is really doing well and ready to get back to work on a part time basis. Jeff and Nikki have a really good deal going with work and able to juggle things around and cover all the bases. ( Jeff sold a house this week to start the month off in fashion) It was difficult leaving the little girl but all my chores were done (along with a little scouting for Elk). Enjoy the photos.