47* this Morning - Headed out...
 

The big moon all night is not helping, but the temp was cool enough thought I would jump into the woods this morning.
I have been out to the State property this year so figured it might be a good pace to take a morning walk in the woods. It is suppose to reach the mid 80's today so I am pretty much limited to early morning. If I have not pulled the trigger by 8 in the morning I am headed out.

Another thing that really concerns me is 'FIRE' after fighting wildland fires for so many years I really am not in the mood to start one. It is extremely dry here and there are and have been several fires in the area. I would hate to see one get started in this area. The State has logged it a couple of time but they leave a lot slash on the ground. If this area ever gets started in this dry fall it will be an impressive burn.

Each time I go into the woods on these early morning falll hunts the first thing I am looking for 'humidity recovery', if I am not getting wet toes on my boots as I walk in - it worrys me much - so I just turn around and come right back out. This morning there was decent recovery, not as good as I hoped but good enough to protect me until the sun can dry it out.

Anyway this chunk of State borders cultivated private property all the way around and hopefully and normally you might catch the elk crossing back from the farm field to the 'Thermal Cover' of the tick stand of timber remaining in the souteast corner of the State property...

This picture shows the perviously logged area and the ridge I hope to catch them crossing...



This one shows the edge of the 'Thermal Cover'



Sadly nothing but whitetail this morning - quite a few of them but no elk...

Gotta wait for another day and another trip - guess that is why they call it 'hunting' instead of shooting!!!

Well fire is a real concern to people that work and live in the woods. One reason why, when I was a smoker I never smoked in the woods. No matter the season. When out cutting, I would chew. Copenhagen don't start fires other then in your belly sometimes when you swallow too much. :biggrin:

Did you see any sign of elk? I mean like scat or tracks? That sure looks like a large area to walk around. Do elk follow trails like deer do in the woods?

My elk hunting experience was really limited. The one time I went, the guide and I sat on top of a hill with binoculars and glassed most of the day. Then we'd walk to the next hill and do the same all over again. When we'd see a "shooter" as he called it, we'd put a sneak on it. And it ended up the one I did shoot was standing in a field minding its own business eating grass.

Fire in these conditions and a muzzleloader really does make me pause and think about it a moment. I told Terry last night I was considering switching to the Tikka 300 win mag but I have not shot that in years, so this morning I stayed with the Knight 52 cal.

Really it was pretty sparse, nothing that would indicate a large group of animals. But as much vegetation there is on the ground it can be hard to tell. Scat was scarce also, but I did not make it into the Thermal Cover. I was hoping to catch them on the way in.

Most of the time they are creatures of habit, they establish a route and do not vary of the course very fall at all. They do like moving along a ridge or in somewhat straight line crossing the terrain to a destination.

That is a pretty tyipical experiance... Elk usually do not work the grasses very much they are browsers and will work the brushes for buds or the broadlleaf plants on the ground. They will go to grass and hay in the winter if they are hungary enough.

One thing that kinda bothered me this morning, as early as I was there - I did not hear any cow-calf talk nor any bull blurts. It was pretty quiet other than the squirrles throwing cones out of the trees, and the whitetail moving through the dry forest floor. I had two whitetail burdt out of the brush below me and run right at me - couldn't figure what promted this as I was not moving at the time - but they ran up to about 20 yards from me - stopped looked back at where they came from and then turned and ran back where they did come from... made zero sense to me... I didn't even scope em cuz I knew I wasn't going to shoot them... But, then again they probably knew that also and were just teasing me!

About time to head out again isn't it? :biggrin:

I really wanted to get out today and this weekend, but I have to go to Connell to haul pigs and steers back to Kennewick. My 2 older grandaughters are in 4h and showing animals at a live stock fair up there.




So as it stands - I am hoping for Sunday then Thurs-Fri-Sat. We are at the tail end of the moon and and that will help... but I sure wish we would get some moisture.

Hoping to have this opportunity again...