Sounds like you're having more fun than some of us at work! Keep up the hard work. I know you know its hunting not shooting. Have a good sleep and good luck tomorrow.

Fri. Jan. 12

IT IS COLD!!! When I woke up this morning the thermometer read -3.5 F. I almost talked myself out of going out. I knew it wasn't supposed to warm up much and the snow would be super loud. There wasn't any wind to mask my noise. I hope you guys won't be too disappointed, but...I decided to take out the cowboy gun. I thought maybe I could get within 100 yds. in these conditions. Now the "cowboy gun" is my Marlin 30-30 with iron sights. I know what you're thinking- "a 30-30 is a little wimpy for elk isn't it". Well, I've taken a couple of elk with it and my daughter just shot her elk with it in Nov. Within a 100 yds. it'll pop both lungs and a bilateral hemo/pnumothorax is usually quite lethal (sorry, just threw in a little medical lingo there).
Anyway, I finally got out to the 80 acres at 9:30 and there they were- about 30 elk. I played cat and mouse with them as they jumped the fence onto where I could hunt and then back where I couldn't. After about an hour, they had enough and took off to parts unknown. I assumed they were all together, but I went back and checked tracks just to be sure. Well, if there weren't several tracks going just where I needed them to, back onto the 80 acres and then onto national forest land to the south. Here's some of the elk as I was trying to sneak in (I sounded like a herda elephants) on them this morning.

Cold is good for hunting but then you know that. No shame at all using rifle and a 30-30 isn't whimpy. A few years ago I was on a semi guided hunt and thats all the guide used for his meat hunting. I bet you're tired grndhntr! Dream about wacking a cow and do it tomorrow! Have fun tomorrow morning!

OK, so I follow tracks and see elk every so often through the trees ahead of me. They definitely knew I was there. I just needed them to make a mistake and pause too long looking back at me. I counted 5 elk and one was a spike. I'd have to be careful not to shoot him. Every time I would catch a glimpse of them there were too many branches in the way or they would be too far off and moving to risk a shot. Of course they went up the mountain in the very steepest place. I had to stop quite often to take my glasses off and let them defog. It was cold outside and I was overheating. My glasses were fogging up from my breath and heat coming off my face and my beard was freezing. The elk continued up and over a saddle and eventually went onto a big chunk of private land where I can't hunt. I decided to eat lunch up there and then try to finda place to make a blind near the saddle. There are 2 saddles on that ridge and both have pretty steep sides so it funnels game down into one saddle or the other. I wanted to see if there was a place in the middle where I could see both. I found a big rock outcroping that looked like it would work well. Here's the view to the north.

And to the south looking onto the private land where the elk went. To the right where the trees are is still national forest.

Awsome view!

Doug, I sure am enjoying your posts! Man, you bring back some old memories. Been there don't that,but with rifle. Rifle, CO. 1994. Don't forget, this is a FL boy that is use to Palm Trees and Sunshine.

I would post the picture of a frozen FL boy, but I have to get DNK's permission first!

Thanks again for your reports!

This rock outcropping had a great view to the west looking into one of the saddles. Looking to the east I could see some of the other saddle and some clearings in the trees. It looked like this would be the place for a ground...er rock blind. On the rock outcropping, I found a nice little nitch that was fairly protected and gave me a great backdrop to hide me. I decided to wait there to see if anything would come through this evening. After about 1/2 hr. I was getting very cold. I decided to improve my blind, not that it needed it, but more just to warm up. I worked on it for about an hour. It got me warmed up building it and the new wall blocked the wind some more.

Here's one with me hiding in it.

Fresh meat did not present itself so I headed down the hill. Neither did I see anything on the way down. It was a great day hunting, though. I got to chase some elk and I got another big dose of excercise. I'm going to take the next 2 days off to spend time with my family. Hope you guys miss me. I'll just have 2 more days to hunt- Mon. and Tues. Then it's back to work for some much needed rest :^).
I'll leave you today with another scenic picture of frost on a pine.