2nd Season Doe Deer Hunt 2008, or, Turning in Circles ‘til you See the Deer

Doe Deer Hunt - Contrary to chatter in coffee shops, shooting a doe doesn’t make you less of a hunter, Kreil said. Instead, it demonstrates that you are an informed and conscientious hunter who understands that hunting is about wildlife management and not just about trophies.

The plan was to arrive at our hunting unit Thursday evening and bag two deer, and have a leisurely drive home Friday morning. It didn’t, however, quite go as planned.

Thursday morning, at about 1:00 AM, Mike Finch left his home in Evergreen, CO, to drive up to Craig for the morning hunt. He arrived early and caught some Z’s until sun up. After seeing virtually nothing, he went through some parcels of public hunting lands trying to find the doe. However, going was difficult. Last winter, we heard reports that there was a 50 – 70% Winter Kill on the deer population in our hunting unit. This was evidenced by the clear lack of deer where we typically hunt. We’ve had it in years past where we were practically tripping over them. Not so this year.

Mike continued to be on the lookout, scouting various areas, and sure enough, I got a call on my cell phone at about 11:00 stating that he had a doe down with his 7mm Mag. When Kaoru and I heard the message, we looked forward in anticipation to the evening hunt. We drove from Denver and arrived in Craig at about 5:00. We picked Mike up from the Hotel parking lot in Craig and drove to our hunting unit near Maybell. But the signs were not good. Typically, unfortunately, we can judge the amount of deer in an area by the amount of road kill we come across. On the way to our unit, we saw none. And sure enough, on the evening hunt, neither of us saw any deer in an area where we normally see plenty. But we weren’t discouraged – we were hopeful for the next morning.

Friday morning, after spending the night in a snug motel room (3 of us crammed with all our gear into a room barely large enough to fit a queen-sized bed, and just enough room at the base to fit a cot), we drove again to our hunting area. Kaoru and I part ways and we go to designated points – he’s taking the high ground on a hillside, I am further east overlooking some coolies to the east and west, and a large expanse of sagebrush and junipers to the north. It’s the same area that I got my doe 2nd season last year. Mike stays in his truck, heater on, and keeps us updated on a herd of deer that might cross the highway and come towards our position.

Around 9:30, after waiting what seemed an eternity (we’d been out since 7:00) and not seeing anything, I have to pee. I select a large juniper which I judge needed watering, and, as I’m going, I’m looking around with my binoculars. Sure enough, I see a herd of deer (just the heads, actually), crossing in a gully about 300 yards away. Being that I’m otherwise occupied at the moment, I hurry as fast as I can, scrambling to finish and get everything put away, get my backpack on, and radio that I’m going to intercept the herd. I see the direction they’re going and see a hill in the distance that I can probably sneak up and pop up over the top.

I sneak up over the ridge of the hill and spot the herd. I drop to my knees and pick out the only antlerless deer on which I have a shot (the others were all standing with one in front, one behind, etc.). One squeeze of the trigger from my 30.06, from 150 yards, and it drops. The rest of the herd run a short distance. I radio Kaoru and tell him to hurry over so that he can get one as well. However, by the time he gets to my position, they are 800 yards away and still going.

After quartering the deer, Mike and Kaoru help me pack it back to the truck. We put it in the cooler and drive into Maybell for some ice. We then head off to where Mike got his deer the day before to see whether we can find more. No such luck. At this point (about 11:30), Mike bids us farewell, and heads back to Evergreen. Kaoru and I drive to our old camp site (near the base of what we call “the fingers”) and we sight in Kaoru’s .22. He had remounted the scope previously and wanted to make sure it was sighted in for the late-season Hasenpfeffer hunt.

Now, about 1:00, Kaoru, still suffering from Jet Lag (having just arrived from Japan a few day previous), wanted a siesta. He crashed in the truck while I scanned the valley for deer. At about 2:00, I spot the outline of a deer, at about 550 yards away. All I see are the head and neck, in the shade of a juniper tree, and I’m unsure whether I am looking at a sagebrush, log, or a profile. Sure enough, after 5 minutes, it moves. I tell Kaoru to look through his binoculars and find the spot. We then come up with a plan to make a stalk. We are going to walk along the fence line, then cut a diagonal path towards the last known spot where the deer were seen.

We get all our gear on, and take off, quickly, but not noisily. We arrive at the spot where the deer were last seen. They’re not there, but after we go over a small ridge, we spot them again. They are flitting amongst the junipers, and Kaoru cannot get a clear shot. Again, they go over the next ridge, so we follow after (we give them time to settle down and scan for any additional deer in the area). After we go over the next ridge, they are gone, nowhere to be seen. So, our plan is to go over the next ridge, then if we don’t see them, we will climb up a nearby hill. Sure enough, no deer, so we walk up the backside of the hill and take a look. There are 4 deer, downhill, less than 200 feet away from us…

But we don’t see them! They are behind a clump of junipers, and perfectly camouflaged. After scanning for a few minutes, Kaoru decides to take off his jacket. It’s 65 degrees out, and he’s getting pretty warm from all the stalking. At the sound of the zipper, the deer start running out from behind the juniper. Kaoru scrambles to get his rifle, get in a kneeling position, and wait for the deer to come into view. At 150 yards away, all the deer stop and turn to look at us. But, they are all lined up one behind the other. No shot is possible. Then, one steps forward – here’s Kaoru’s opportunity!

But, he squeezed off a round on the out-breath, and the shot went low. Then the deer scrambled and disappeared. We gave chase, but, with as thick as the juniper trees were, we did not spot them again. So, we head back to the truck and devise another game plan. We go to some different areas and hunt, but see nothing. We stop and talk with some other hunters. They had been hunting for 7 days straight before they got their deer – and they were doe hunting as well!

That evening, just before sundown, we go to an area where there is a petroleum pipeline and a dry river bed where we’ve seen deer before. As I drive, just before I enter the river bed, I spot a doe on the side of the hill. I stop the truck and grab my binoculars, and the deer has disappeared. I point the general direction where we saw the deer, and we drive down into the river channel and head that direction. Sure enough, we come across the deer. Kaoru hops out of the truck and gives chase. Typically, when the deer are spooked, they run about 20 yards, turn around, and look at what spooked them. It’s a perfect opportunity for hunters, as they turn broadside to look at you, and you can then take your shot. But, this doe was smart, and it kept running. We saw nothing else until sundown.

The next morning we go back to the same spot we were the previous morning. Kaoru goes to the spot where I shot my deer, and I go to the juniper where I had initially seen the deer. When we arrive, we spot some deer walking down a ditch, a quarter of a mile away, towards the highway, where they were sure to cross. I run the quarter mile diagonal to try to intercept them, so that they turn and head back in the direction towards Kaoru. But, I was too slow. Kaoru was watching in the binoculars, and said that if I had arrived about 10 seconds previous, I would have intercepted them. So, I then hurry back up the slope towards the juniper, and Kaoru heads off in the direction of where I was the previous day.

Again, we waited about 2 hours. I have a Garmin Rino 530 GPS, and Kaoru and I had talked the previous day about resetting the compass. To do that, you go to the compass menu and select Calibrate Compass. Then you turn in a circle twice, slowly, while the satellite signal resets your compass to your position. Being that the only deer I had seen since the initial three were two that had come up a draw between Kaoru and I, and they were too far for Kaoru to intercept, I was figuring that I could take some time to play around. I walked up the slope from the juniper, and, facing towards it, I selected Calibrate Compass and turned slowly in a circle. Once. By the time I got back around to face the juniper again, I saw two deer walking beyond it, by about 75 yards. So much for calibrating my compass!

I could see that Kaoru, too, could see the deer. They were walking towards him, and as he reached the crest of the hill, they disappeared from his sight (because of the geographic features of the land). However, they emerged, and as I was watching both him and the deer, I saw a doe jump, then heard the shot, and the deer went down. Of course, the speed of light is faster than the speed of sound, so I saw the deer get hit before I heard the shot.

I walk the quarter-mile to Kaoru’s position, and he’s happy to have gotten a deer, and that it’s his 1st animal for his new rifle (300 Win Mag). I help him quarter the animal and we pack it out, put it in the cooler, and, with both tags now filled, we head back to Denver.

I spent Saturday evening and Sunday processing my deer. The meat is currently all ground up, with Cajun Jerky seasoning and cure mixed in, sitting in my refrigerator. I will be using Kaoru’s dehydrator to make jerky. I have 18 pounds of meat, so, I will probably end up with 3-4 pounds of jerky. Should be a good batch.

Late Season Doe 2008

See this link for photos (note: pictures are clean - not gory) – Click HERE – and then click View Now

We left for our 1-day Doe hunt at 2:00 AM Sunday morning, December 7th. Although it was both Deer and Elk season, and we each had licenses for a cow elk and doe deer, we had no illusions that there would actually be any elk in the hunting unit. This year, the weather has been unseasonably warm, and we didn’t think that any elk had moved into the migration/wintering grounds where we hunt them.

Matt Cosley and Kaoru Uno arrived at 2:00 AM. I had gone to bed at 11:30 and woke up at 1:00. Kaoru had about 6 hours of sleep, but Matt had about the same sleep schedule I had. But, we were off and running, with Kaoru driving, up to unit 211, between Meeker and Craig in northwest Colorado.

We arrived in the hunting unit about 6:30 after an uneventful crossing over Rabbit Ears pass. The weather was about 35 degrees, and we drove to several select areas in the unit where we had been successful before. The roads were frozen, but there wasn’t very much snow in the area. There were also almost no deer.

We continued to look around the unit, exploring every nook and cranny. Other hunters were also in the area, but not many (compared to other years). We assumed that the lack of elk in the area had most of them driving home on Saturday.

About 10:00, we were driving from one lookout to another when we spotted three deer running about 70 yards from the road. We pulled off to the side and hopped out. Matt and I ran to 50 feet away from the centerline of the road and I took aim and fired. I dropped one, but, the deer ran over a hill and onto private land before Matt could get a decent shot.

Kaoru, who was driving, found out the hard way of some features of the Ford F-150 that are not conducive to that type of hunting. When you drive the F-150, after the speed gets to about 5 mph, the doors auto-lock. You have to click the unlock button to open the other doors from outside the truck. His rifle was in the back seat. When he pulled off to the side of the road, he jumped out, closed the driver door, and tried to open the back door. It was locked. He then opened the driver door, clicked the unlock button, closed it, opened the back door, got his rifle from the case, closed the door, and ran over to where Matt and I were. By that time, the shooting was over, and the other deer were gone.

We loaded the deer onto the tailgate and drove to an area that was further away from the main road, where I quartered it (with their assistance). We then realized that we had forgotten to get ice when we filled up with gas. So we drove to Meeker and bought about 100 lbs of ice, and set the quarters to cool.

That afternoon the temperature rose to a high of 57 degrees. I’m sure there were a lot of people who enjoyed the nice weather, but we weren’t one of them. The roads melted and became slick with mud, and I slipped and slid and added more than a few pounds of mud to my undercarriage. We went to a few more lookout points, then drove back to a known evening deer area. After getting ready, we hiked up a hill that overlooked a large expansive valley, and nearby was some private land that deer often traverse. Matt was on the hill farthest north, Kaoru was on a hill about 500 yards south, and I was on a hill about 500 yards south of Kaoru. Although I had my doe tag filled, I figured that there might be a possibility of an elk crossing, regardless of how remote.

Just before sundown, Kaoru spotted a buck and two doe. However, they were on a piece of private land. The deer were about 180 yards away, but, when it comes to private land, they might as well have been a few miles away. We didn’t have permission to access, so they watched and waited until a half-hour after sundown.

From my position, I was scanning with binoculars, and spotted a snow-shoe hare (which was also in season). It was about 170 yards away on a hillside. Not wanting to disturb their doe hunt, and spook their deer, I held off on my shot. Then, with the very last visible light, I texted Kaoru with my Garmin Rino to ask if he could talk. He texted ‘no’ – so I held my shot, and the snowshoe hare lived to see another day. Granted, unless my shot was spot-on, there would be nothing left of the snow-shoe hare after I hit it…

The deer that Kaoru and Matt were watching on the private land never moved closer to the public land, and no other deer showed up. So those deer, also, lived to see another sunrise.

We drove home, arriving at about 11:00 PM. A long day, but we were happy that at least one of us was successful. I think I will turn this deer either into savory breakfast sausage, or Cajun jerky.

Pronghorn Hunt - Sept 2008

http://www2.snapfish.com/share/p=723161239905875455/l=672544014/g=88767098/cobrandOid=1000131/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB

For our 2008 doe Pronghorn antelope hunt, we chose to do the “Ranching for Wildlife” program offered through the Colorado Division of Wildlife. In this program, private ranches offer tags to the public for hunting in exchange for extra tags for their land that they can sell in “hunt packages” etc. We chose to apply at the Blue Gravel Ranch north of Craig, CO., for the season that runs from September 6th – 10th. Matt Cosley, Mike Finch, and I were in the hunting party.

We left Friday afternoon to get to Craig. Although only a 4-hour drive, we had to go through Hot Sulphur Springs (between Winter Park and Kremling) and stop at the DOW office to pick up a reissue tag for Mike. He had put his antelope tag in a really safe place. So safe that he couldn’t find it before we left. Then, after an otherwise uneventful drive to Craig (the trees, though, in Grand County and across a large swath of land are being affected by Pine Beetle kill) we arrive at the dingy Super 8. I suspect that the owners are extracting as much money from the hotel as they can, deferring maintenance, and when the condition of the hotel impacts their ability to fill it on a regular basis, they will just turn it back over to the corporate office and go buy another hotel and do the same. However, they did have all varieties of HBO, so we sat back and watched Office Space before we went to dinner. Oh yeah, we were roughing it. It was so bad that we couldn't even shower. There was, what appeared to be, black mold on the ceiling in the bathroom above the shower. We go have dinner and fill the coolers with ice in preparation. Before we turn in, we watch 300. Nothing like that to get your blood pumping.

The next morning, we were supposed to check in at 7:00 AM at the Elkhorn outfitters (Blue Gravel) office. We decided to get there a little early so we could get a jump on the other hunters. At 6:45, they opened the doors, and Matt, Mike, and I checked in, signed the waivers (so that we wouldn't hold them accountable if I cut my leg open), etc. Then we were off - north on Highway 13 out of Craig to a left turn on County Road 103, then a right on 89. As soon as we pulled in I recognized that this was the area where Kaoru and I had gotten an elk a few years previous.

After we drove onto the property, we saw that some of the guest hunters had camped on the property, were already out, and dragging antelope back to the road. But, we weren't worried - there's always enough antelope to be had.

An interesting thing about these antelope hunts is that some hunters like to do some close-in hunting - i.e., they'll see a herd of antelope close to the road, get out and walk the legal distance from the road, and shoot one. However, if the herd requires considerable walking, they'll just continue driving until they see a closer herd. It's convenient to do it this way, but, it's more 'shooting' than 'hunting'.

What we do is more of a spot and stalk. Although an antelope hunt is typically an 'easy' hunt, we don't necessarily need to make it that easy. So, we drive along, and we spot a herd about 700 yards from the road, in plain view. There are other hunters on the road looking at that same herd. However, none of them are getting out of their trucks. Of course not - they want something within 100 yards of the road. So we get out, get our gear, and start to go after them. However, there's no approach vector to remain hidden - they can see us coming as plain as day. They are on a hillside opposite us. We walk down the hill towards them, and they start running up the hill they're on. Not surprising. Often, we can typically spot a herd, start after them, and they'll go over the next ridge, where we can sneak up the ridge and pop over the top, and usually they're in range. So, we get to the bottom of the hill, and there's a fence we need to hop to get closer to them. We lay our rifles on the wire to get a solid rest, and Mike ranges them at over 400 yards. I know that the bullet drop for a 30.06 at 400 yards with my bullets is between 20 and 26 inches. I'm not going to take an unethical shot at an antelope when I know there's going to be more opportunities later. The bullet has enough power to put it down, but I don't have built-in crosshairs at given distances in my scope. But, Mike, with his 7mm mag, doesn't have as much bullet drop at that (400 to 450 yards) distance, and takes a shot. He hits it, and the other antelope run away. It's probably about 7:10.

Matt and I decide to go after the herd, and Mike starts walking to start taking care of his downed antelope. Matt and I go down the road a little ways and get out where we think they might be. We haven't spotted them, but we take off on a brisk walk. We decide that if we don't see them right away, we'll go back and help Mike haul his antelope out.

We go about 600 yards (during which we hear the coup-de-gras shot for Mike's antelope) and we see the antelope from the herd we are chasing go up and over the hill out of the hunting property. We pause for a bit, and, just before we decide to turn back (near a pond), we spot another herd over the next ridge. We sneak up a little valley and start climbing a hill, when I spot an antelope on the far ridge. The antelope can see us, but, it's not alarmed, so we continue up to the top. We then knee-crawl to the edge and get a closer look. The antelope is still looking our direction, and, with it's ears, I'm thinking it might be a buck. It's standing in the shadow of a hill, without the sun shining directly on it, and the ears look like they might be horns at that distance. So we pause and wait while looking through binoculars. Finally, it turns its head, and we see ears, not horns. My concern was that it was standing alone, or, at least we couldn't see other antelope near it, which I've typically seen with antelope buck behavior. Again, ethically speaking, I want to be sure of my (or Matt's) shot. So, we eventually come to agreement that it's a doe, and Matt, with his 30.06 resting on some shooting sticks, takes a shot. The bullet hits high-shoulder, and the animal drops dead. We stand up and start walking towards it, when the rest of the herd runs up the same hill. We drop to our knees, I grab Matt's shooting stick, and pick out the largest doe. I gently squeeze the trigger and the animal drops. It's a shoulder/spine/lung shot, and it drops in its tracks. Matt asks me the time. It's 8:09 AM.

We then go and find my antelope, and spend about a half-hour looking for Matt's. I was sure it was on the hill opposite where mine dropped and we go looking about in some high sage. Not finding it, we start walking back towards mine to re-judge where we think it dropped, and come across his 20 feet above mine on the same hill.

So, Matt goes back to the truck and I start working on quartering the antelope. Mike radios me and asks our status. I tell him we have two antelope down. He responds that his antelope is already bagged and packed and on the road ready to be picked up. Matt gets back to the truck, picks Mike up and his antelope, and come back to where I'm quartering. In the picture, you'll see that the antelope I'm holding only has legs on that side. The other legs are already off and in plastic bags, ready to be packed out.

After they're hauled out (white 13-gallon kitchen bags) we drive into Craig, wash off the antelope quarters in the local car wash (which, in Craig Colorado, is not an uncommon sight and the locals accept it as part of the millions of dollars that hunters pour into their local economy every year), and head home.

The next day I debone my antelope and make it almost entirely into breakfast sausage. I save the backstraps / loins separately to grill up (bacon wrapped, on the grill, with a light teriyaki marinade, is the best). All said and done, I have about 22 lbs of breakfast sausage and 4 lbs of backstrap.

In this link view you can see the road, the line at the bottom of the hill where the fence is, and the field/hill to the south. This is where Mike shot his antelope.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=craig,+CO&ie=UTF8&t=h&layer=c&ll=40.688127,-107.540655&spn=0.002681,0.004715&z=18

In this link view, you can see the pond, and from there, a valley going southwest towards a couple of hills in the center of the view. That's where Matt and I took our shots towards the east (where you start seeing the sagebrush).
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=craig,+CO&ie=UTF8&t=h&layer=c&ll=40.684462,-107.530135&spn=0.005361,0.009431&z=17&iwloc=addr

Elk Hunt Late Season 2008: Turning Triumph into Tragedy

Originally from January 2009

Here’s the summary of our last elk hunt for 2008, taking place December 28-31st.

We (Kaoru, Matt, and I) left for our late season elk hunt at 2:00 AM on Sunday, December 28th, 2008. Kaoru had to pick Matt up on the way to my house, as Matt's truck battery had spilled acid all over his engine after he played Duke's of Hazzard trying to go hunting the previous weekend. Flying through the air after spinning off the road (due to ice) just doesn't help anything, unless you are looking for quick ways to land yourself in a farmer's field after ripping through his barbed-wire fence.

Kaoru's wife's birthday was on Saturday the 27th, thus, even as caveman-esque hunter types, we understand the importance of keeping our wives happy so that we can ensure future hunts. So when Kaoru arrived with Matt at my house, he was going to be quick to get to sleep in the back seat.

On the way up to the hunting unit, we ran into some inclement weather, but, not wanting to repeat Matt's past performance, I took it easy and a 4 1/2 hour trip turned into 6 hours. But, we arrived safely at our hunting unit around 8:30.

I'm pulling an ATV (Mike's ATV and my Dad's trailer), and we stop to drop off the trailer in an area located just off the road where a rancher has stored hay bales. There is a group of hunters in the area already, and there's a herd of elk about 800 yards away. The other hunters give chase while we unhook the trailer. Then, we pull out our binoculars to watch their stalk. While looking for the elk, they happen to pop their heads up over a ridge 100 yards away from us. We spot them at the same time they spot us, and they turn tail and run. By the time we run to the edge of the ridge, they are 900 yards away and still running. We get back to the truck and give chase, but, the roads don't go where the elk are running. We pull in on a side road and get out to see where we can intercept, and decide to put on the tire chains before we go any farther. In the mean time, the other hunters head up the main road and head in on an intercepting road. We follow, but the lead truck gets stuck. The road is snow-covered, with deep snow, and unlike us, the lead truck doesn't have chains. We back down the road, and glass the area, but the elk are gone.

We continue hunting throughout the day. Both Kaoru and Matt have deer licenses to fill, so we're looking for some doe as well. We see another herd of elk that day, but they disappear before we can get close enough, and the snow is such that any stalk cross-country will need to be when the elk aren't spooked. But the herd we saw was on a full-tilt run and there's no way we could have caught up to them.

Around 4:30, (sundown is at 5:00, last light is 5:30) we spot a herd of deer about 400 yards away. Matt and Kaoru make a stalk, but are spotted, and the deer take off. Around 5:00, we spot another herd. As Kaoru and Matt set up for a shot, another truck pulls up on the road near where Karou and Matt have safely gotten off the road, pops off a round at the herd, and takes off when the herd moves. Welcome to public-land hunting. The herd takes off and moves off to the other side of the road, into safety.

Then we saw the deer.

On our way back to pick up the trailer, Matt spots two deer. Quickly Kaoru and Matt set up for a shot, and both deer drop, one after the other, as shots fill the air. Kaoru shot his in the neck, Matt made a high-shoulder shot. It is 4 minutes to last-shooting-light. They drag the deer back towards the road, and I angle the truck's headlights so that they light up the area where Matt and Kaoru are quartering their deer. See the associated pictures in the album. In the mean time, I call my dad, who is on his way to meet us back at the Holiday Inn in Craig. We tell him we'll meet him at the bar when we get back to town. We meet up with my dad afterwards, discuss the plan for the next day, and after a quick bite at a local restaurant, we hit the hay.

The next morning, after a quick bite at McDonalds, we take both vehicles (my F-150, dad's Isuzu Trooper), and drive to the same area we dropped the trailer the day before. Again, there's elk in the area, about 1000 yards from the drop-off area. Some other hunters give chase while we're putting on chains, unhooking the trailer, etc. The day before, we put on my Auto-Trac chains, which are a light, low impact chain. But I heard nothing but complaints from someone in my party, who referred to them as something similar to 'wimpy' - but the word was more akin to how Johnny Carson might refer to a 'cat.' He was not down with OTC (Other Types of Chains). So, we put on my heavy-duty chains, and spent awhile adjusting them as we rolled in the direction of the herd.

Then we saw the elk.

After about a mile, I stopped to look over a vast expansive plateau area, and spotted a herd of elk. They were about a mile and a half away. After everyone found them in their binoculars (a herd of 22 can blend into the landscape pretty well), we decided on a plan of action to intercept them. We drove in on a snow-covered road only previously accessed by ATVs, and drove in about a quarter-mile towards them. We were then forced to get out and make a stalk. Luckily they were coming our direction - we just had to cut them off. Unfortunately, as we tried to intercept, they walked on the opposite side of a herd of cows from us, and disappeared into the hills. We got within 800 yards, but not wanting to disrupt the cows and their hay eating, we decided to turn around and try to get to them another way.

We turned back and drove up another side road until we could go no more - although the chains were performing admirably, sometimes the snow is just too deep. Such was the case as we came to a stop just before the crest of the hill. I backed up, just to make sure that I could hopefully, possibly, get out when we returned to the truck, we grabbed our rifles and headed the rest of the way up the hill.

Then we saw the elk, again.

We started making our way over towards the elk, using the topography to disguise our movements. But, sometimes it doesn't work to our advantage, and the elk must have spotted one of us and they started moving away. So, we watched them to see where they were going, and realized they were headed towards the place we call our 'lookout.' Then we heard the sounds of snowmobiles and gunshots, and a separate herd of elk, about 60 in count, started running across the valley towards the same lookout.

After racing back to the truck, and thankfully getting it back down the hill (sometimes gravity works to your advantage), we drove completely around the hunting unit to the other side to get on the access road to the lookout. I had already made the road over to the lookout - it was previously covered in 6-14 inches of snow, but I got through it the day before with my wimpy chains. Now, with the hefty chains, it was absolutely no problem.

But, as we approached (Kaoru had confirmed the elk were just below the lookout as we stopped along the way to get out and see where the elk were), we saw that someone else had beat us to the elk. A guy and two of his kids were on top of the lookout, looking down at the elk. We stopped my truck where they stopped theirs, and walked through the same gate. However, not wanting to crowd them, we cut down a gulley to their right, to see if we could get a different angle on the elk. Additionally, the elk were laying down at the base of the 'lookout hill' and there were cattle nearby. We would have to make sure that when we were shooting at the elk, there weren't any cattle behind them. We snuck our way down the gully, belly crawling so that we weren't detected. Then Matt accidently stuck the end of his rifle in the snow. He ejected the shell and Kaoru wrapped his mouth around the end of Matt's barrel, and blew hard. The white stuff came flying out by the magazine, and we were on our way. I later asked how Kaoru enjoyed having his mouth on Matt’s gun. He indicated that it was a “Number 1” experience, with his fingers, but he used his middle finger instead of his index finger to show me.

Then we shot the elk.

As we cut down the gulley, crawling through the snow, we heard the shots from the other hunters. Kaoru, Matt, and I jumped up to start running so we would be within range as the elk herd started running left to right in front of us. We got into position and took aim. In the mean time, my dad grabbed the camera and started taking pictures.

In the pictures, I underlined our position (small orange blurs), and put a line above each elk as we shot them. We knocked down an elk each. Matt fired first, and made an excellent neck shot. Kaoru hit his second, and again, like his deer, shot his in the neck. I seemed to be having a problem connecting, as Kaoru had first taken a range at the resting elk and said that we could just aim and shoot. He then said, "Leif, aim a little high, they are farther away than you think." So, I raised the rifle, squeezed off a round, and the elk dropped - another neck shot. I was classified as "expert" in the Marine Corps with a rifle, so my shot finally met with my expectations.


Then my dad came down and shot an elk that had wandered close (in a group of 4 elk). In the pictures I have noted the herd of four elk that were wandering our way after we knocked three down. We now had 4 elk down. Sweet! It was 1:30 in the afternoon - we had 4 hours before it would start to get dark. No problem. Or so we thought.



We went from elk to elk inspecting each one, and as we were walking, the guy who was on top of the lookout yelled over and asked if we had a cell phone. I went to talk to him (Scott) and he needed a cell phone with service to call his buddy that had snowmobiles. Scott’s two sons had just shot their first elk. He also needed a saw and a knife sharpener. We had everything he needed. I asked if he could hook us up with the snow mobile to help drag out the elk. I told him to tell his buddy that we had cash. Sure enough, his buddy, Mickey, could help us out. It turns out that his buddy was the one who we heard earlier on the snowmobiles that scared the herd across to the lookout. They had 3 elk down, but would be over to come help us out in about an hour and a half. Now we had work to do.

We all worked on the elk together. Or, should I say, Kaoru, Matt, and I worked on gutting the elk. They would be easier to drag that way instead of dragging a bunch of quarters. My dad supervised, and sharpened any knife that needed it. Although he 'can' gut elk, we prefer him to stay upwind - he easily pukes at the first scent of anything unpleasant. I recently found out he used to puke while changing my/my brother's diapers!









Just as we finished the last elk, Justin (Mickey's son) arrived with the snowmobile. He was dragging a line of 'mule tape' towards us from the edge of the field. Although we had permission to hunt on this land, we weren't allowed to operate motor vehicles on the land - it was a wheat field. This meant we had to drag the elk across the field with this mule tape. Also, one of the elk that the kids shot was quite a distance away - and Matt had to help drag to elk through a bog towards the other kid's downed elk. By this time, the cows had started walking back towards us, so Justin had to attach the elk to the mule tape (he had a quarter-mile of the stuff on a reel) and drag it through the cows to get it to the edge of the field. Apparently 'mule tape' is used to pull fiber optic wires through long distances of conduit. It's 2000 lb test - and didn't have any problems dragging elk. But, he couldn't drag the elk straight up the hill. Fortunately, there was a gate towards one side of the wheat field that he could drag all 6 towards, and then up to the truck.

But, with the process of going back and forth, again and again, (mule tape gets caught in sagebrush, etc.) I heard the suggestion several times that I should go get the ATV. I could assist in getting the elk off the land, and hopefully before dark. So, my dad and I drove to the ATV drop-off area, picked up the trailer, and drove back towards the downed elk. A quick call to Kaoru indicated that in the time it took to go get the ATV and drive back with it, it was no longer needed. I'm glad I could have a nice, leisurely drive while they did all the work. In the mean time, Matt sacrificed his $300 knife to the elk gods. He made sure to lose it in the field where we got the elk.

The next task came with how we were going to get 4 elk in the bed of my truck, with 3 150-quart coolers, and all of my other gear. We ended up stacking the elk like cordwood in the bed, then stacking the coolers and other gear on top. It took some maneuvering, a lot of heavy lifting, and a few swear words, but eventually everything was loaded into the back of my truck. All we had to do was pick up my dad's trooper and head into Craig for a victory dinner. So we drove to the trooper, my dad and Kaoru hopped in, and we were off.

Then the chain snapped and cut my brake lines.

My truck came to a lurching halt after we powered through the ditch full of snow, leaving the parking area. We heard on the radio "Don't slow down!" as my dad and Kaoru powered through the same ditch. But I had no choice. I couldn't go anywhere. My dad pulled behind us as I got out to see what had happened. The rear driver's-side chain was halfway across the diameter of the wheel; the other side was wrapped around my axle. And it was wrapped tight.

Kaoru immediately got to work trying to figure out how he could get the chain off, bless him. He found one loose link and I grabbed my Gerber multi-tool, and his, and he started loosening it. Then Scott happened to come by and stopped, thankfully, and he had a crowbar and a real pair of pliers. Kaoru was able to get the chain off, and we took some baling wire to try and tighten the cut brake line. But, I could still push my brake pedal all the way to the floor, with no resistance. It was time to call the wrecker.

After talking to USAA roadside assistance (I'm glad I had cell service out in the middle of nowhere) I talked to the tow truck driver. He was driving up from Silt - off of I-70. It was going to be at least an hour and a half, if not two hours, for him to get to where we were, between Meeker and Craig, CO. I told him to find "nowhere" on the map, and stick his finger right in the middle of it. I began to think that we weren't going to have our victory dinner (baby-back ribs at J.W. Snacks in Craig). So, Matt and I sent my dad and Kaoru to go get some burgers and come back.

Then they hit an elk.

Apparently all the fast food places were closed in Craig (it was after 10:00 P.M. by the time they got into town) and decided to get some sandwiches at the local Kum and Go (no, it's not a drive-through sperm-bank) gas station. On the way back towards where Matt and I were, they came around a corner on the highway and my dad had a choice of which elk he was going to hit. He couldn't slow down in time, but at least he had a little time to swerve. He chose the smallest elk, hit it, and the hood flew up. They drove blind until the car came to a halt. Kaoru and my dad got out, drug the elk to the side of the road, tied down the hood to the smashed grill and radiator, and turned around. There was a leak in the radiator and they were going to try to get back to the hotel before all the fluid completely drained. I called them just after they hit the elk, and I sat mournfully as my dreams of a juicy burger were smashed like an elk in a radiator.

The tow truck driver eventually arrived. He parked beside us with the platform tow truck, we discussed what he was going to do, then he needed to turn the tow truck around and face the same way we were facing. He headed into the parking area we previously left.

Then the tow truck driver got stuck.

The aforementioned snow-filled ditch stymied the driver in his quest to turn his truck around. He then got out of his truck and used his own "dually-chains" to get himself unstuck. He then loaded my truck on to the back of his truck and took me into Craig and dropped it off at the Ford dealership. But, as there was no other place to put the truck, we dropped it off right in front of the front door. Plus, as he tilted my truck backwards to lower it off the bed, all of the bloody melted snow, previously inside the elk cavities, drained out the back of my truck and onto the snow right by the front door. Yeah - the employees were going to get a shock arriving at work the next morning. But, being 12:30 AM, I couldn't forewarn them, and the number on the front door didn't have an associated answering machine.

The tow truck driver was able to drop us off at Holiday Inn on his way back out of town. We ate our cold sandwiches and went to bed. The next morning I called the dealership to let them know that the truck with 16 legs pointing out of the back of it was mine, and that I needed a new brake line. He told me that he could have a brake line for me first thing - the next day - unless I could find one myself. No problem, I thought - so I got on the phone and started calling all the shops I could find on the internet from the Holiday Inn. There were absolutely no brake lines for F150s on the Western Slope.

So, we extended our stay at Holiday Inn for 1 day and drove the trooper noisily down to the trooper repair shop, got a rental car, and drove to the Ford dealership. I told the service manager that we intended to quarter the elk, he just needed to let us know where we could do it. He gave me a look usually reserved for the mental ward, and told me that we could process the elk in the parking lot across the street, and use the dealership dumpster to dump the carcasses.

We unload the back of my truck and drag the elk into the parking lot, surrounded by all of the other cars and trucks waiting to be worked on. We are right on main street, Craig, CO. A few locals came by to check out what we were doing, including the employees of a drive-through Mexican restaurant.






Then the cops came.

The patrol car pulled into the lot and said he was investigating a report of 'suspicious activity.' I approached him with my bloody hands and said that we weren't participating in anything suspicious. Kaoru put his bloody knife down and said that we didn't know what he was talking about. Matt put down his new gristle-filled bone-saw and said that although were being active, there was nothing suspicious about it. My dad put down the pliers he was using to extract the 'buglers' (the ivory elk teeth) from the mouth of the elk and told the cop that we had licenses for all the elk, that we had permission from the service manager to quarter the elk in the parking lot. Satisfied with that explanation, he left to go close the police report. We finished quartering the elk and loaded them into the coolers. The parking lot where we were processing the elk looked like the floor of a meat shop - there were large swaths of red - but we figured they would get covered by the next snowstorm.





That night, we were able to finally have our victory dinner at J.W. Snacks, enjoying the tangy ribs (except Matt had to have the burger). The next day, after the truck was finished, we dropped off the rental car, picked up the truck and drove home (stopping to see where Matt went through the fence when he was playing Bo Duke - and if the Dukes of Hazzard were French, would they be Beau and Luc Duque?) We also dropped the ATV back at Mike's house. We would be home just in time to enjoy New Year's Eve with our wives.

Something that I had promised Audrey - that I would be home New Year's Eve, so we could leave New Year's Day to leave for Sedona. That left me approximately 12 hours to unpack, do laundry, process the elk quarters and backstrap/tender loins/heart, and, oh yeah, sleep. After I went to my house everyone helped me unload the truck and put all of the gear that wasn't mine into Kaoru's Rodeo (to which we also attached my dad's trailer). To give me more time, Kaoru drove my dad and Matt home before returning to his house in north Denver. But just before Kaoru left, I managed to slam my left index fingernail in the truck door. Ouch! That really helped when I was trying to grab the pieces of meat for processing and I kept putting pressure on the end of my finger! I was reminded that I slammed my finger about a dozen times per elk-quarter. Yowza!

Audrey and I ended up leaving a few hours later than expected on January 1st to go to Sedona, but, I wrote the majority of this summary from our laptop in lovely Sedona, AZ. Since the 1st, Kaoru took 3 1/2 days to process his deer and elk, and Matt currently has his deer and elk aging in his garage. My dad and mom spent about a week cutting and trimming and grinding his elk.

Happy New Year, everyone, and may your year be accident free.

Buffalo Harvest 2009 Recap

Hi everyone –

(note – pictures and videos are somewhat graphic)

http://www2.snapfish.com/share/p=602181234948727571/l=471113240/g=88767098/cobrandOid=1000131/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=lkhanson&view=videos

Thanks again for all those who participated in the 2009 Spring Buffalo Harvest, and for all those who have participated in the past.

Following is a synopsis of the harvest this year –

I drove to Pryor, Montana, on Tuesday the 3rd of February, and, through a series of mishaps (wife being sick and needing vitamins – Vitamin Cottage not opening until 9:00 AM, trying to pick up the trailer and realizing that my buddy had my hitch pin and needing to go buy a new one, trying to use my credit card and finding out that it expired and I needed to go back home and retrieve/activate my new one), I didn’t get out of town until 12:30 PM. For a 9-10 hour drive, I really wanted to leave at 4:00 AM. But, 8 hours later, there I was, just passing 6th Avenue and I-25 close to downtown Denver.

Otherwise, the drive was uneventful. I arrived at Tana’s around 9:30, I passed Joe and Tana their ceremonial tobacco, and we discussed a little bit about the next day, and went to sleep.

The next morning, 5:00 AM, we set the equipment out to be smudged, and proceeded to perform Pipe Ceremony. We then waited for Tana’s friend Jerry, who is a plant specialist, and has made many improvements to Tana’s land by planting native grasses and shrubs. He was assisting in the harvest and representing a client who wanted a buffalo mount. With him came the nationally-recognized Don Keever, a local taxidermist, and his father, Charlie, as an assistant. Don runs the Anglers and Antlers taxidermy shop. I would include their website, but they’re going through ISP issues right now…

So, they arrive, Tana smudges us and the equipment, and we head out onto the land.

Joe originally thought that we were going to have to go way over to a section of land called “The Moccasin” – as that was where the buffalo were hanging out. It’s an area on the far-south of Tana’s house, and we would have to cross neighbor’s fields to get there. However, the day I drove up, the buffalo moved over to the pasture just over the hill from the house, in the area close to “Turtle Pond.” They were waiting at the gate, wanting to get in. Joe let them in and they were waiting there the morning of the harvest. At the end of this summary, Joe has a further adventure at Turtle Pond that I included for your enjoyment.

We drove up and the buffalo immediately came over and surrounded the vehicle. Joe talked to Jerry and Don/Charlie about what the procedure was, and I get my rifle ready. I was waiting for one to separate itself out from the herd, which can be tricky. It has to be a bull, 2 ½ years or older, and making itself available so that there are no buffalo behind it. Then, when I take aim, I have to wait for it to turn its body, head sideways, so I can put the shot behind the ear. I then wait to make sure that it’s sure that it really wants to be the one harvested. I’ve taken aim on some, and, at the last second, they bolt back into the herd. The rifle immediately comes up, and we wait for another one. I also make sure that Joe is ready as my backup.

One of the buffalo eventually sorts itself out of the herd, I confirm with Don/Jerry that it would be a good one for the mount (all of Tana’s bulls are trophy quality – due to the genetics of the original herd bull, Rainbow, who was over 7-foot high at the haunches at 6-years-old). I take aim, squeeze the trigger, and it goes down. We immediately surround the buffalo with the vehicles, and I get out to put tobacco on the buffalo and say a prayer (blessing the meat, the sustenance it provides, the beauty of the hide, the skull, all the uses that will be made, etc.).

Jerry (the guy with dark and grey hair with glasses in the pictures) and I pose for pictures for his client, and then Don gets to work skinning and prepping the hide for the mount. We then finish up with that one, when another bull walks across an opening. I make a mortal shot, but, it doesn’t immediately drop. Joe is right there with the follow-up shot, and it drops. I felt horrible about it not being a 1-shot kill, even though there was an immediate follow-up shot. It’s the 1st time that has happened. You essentially have a 2-inch circle where you are trying to put the bullet, right behind the ear and a little lower. If you are off by a fraction of an inch, it won’t drop right away, due to how tough these animals are. But, we say prayers, do tobacco, process it, and get it all taken care of, get it loaded in the trailer, and head into town to drop it off at the butcher shop. I make the specifications for the cuts of meat, and we head back to the ranch.

The next morning we have a ‘hunter’ coming to the ranch to shoot his own buffalo for the butcher shop. He seems a little hesitant about having to do the smudging, as his wife asked if it was a Christian ceremony. Tana explained it as something along these lines (here). We then went up to the land, and have a discussion about what will happen after the buffalo goes down. I explained that I was going to be the backup shot, in case it was needed. After it was all said and done, it was needed. The guy was shooting a .243, with a 140 grain bullet. For those who don’t know about bullet sizes, it’s has even less mass than what I use in a 30.06 (I use 180 Grain). When he shoots, it runs about 50 feet. I make the follow-up shot, and it immediately drops. I have a sense of exculpation, based on the previous day’s events.

The hunter then tells us that he needs to bring his animal into his butcher already skinned. We weren’t planning on skinning that day, as we had two more to process. In the videos listed above, videos 1-8 are all of us processing his buffalo. So, we skin it out there in the field and get it loaded into the guy’s truck. We shake hands and he leaves.

The next two bulls we harvest that day were one-shot kills. In fact, the 2nd bull walked out into a clearing, right in front of us, laid down, looked at us, put his head on the ground, then looked at us again. I don’t think that buffalo could have given us any clearer of a message. One shot behind the ear with my 30.06 (with Barnes bullets) and it was over with. I use Barnes all-copper bullets because they are dependable, reliable, and, you don’t have to worry about lead poisoning in the meat. Not that I’m worried about that – but, I want it to be absolutely safe for anyone who consumes the meat. Again, another trip into town to drop off the buffalo, and we then head back to the ranch. I brought some elk green chili with me, and we all (Tana, Joe, Jerry, Patrick, and me) enjoyed it around the dinner table.

The next day Don and his father come back to assist with the last two we are harvesting. Since the meat on these two are going towards the ranch, Joe makes the shots. I am backup, but it was not needed. One of the videos is Joe shooting the bull, with me as backup. The 1st bull Don is using as a shoulder mount, to repair some work a different taxidermist did – (the other taxidermist let the cape sit too long and it rotted before he sent it to Don). So, Don got to work on making the special cuts needed for a head mount, then, we loaded it up and Joe shot the 2nd Buffalo. All went according to plan. As Joe was the one to shoot, he did the tobacco and prayers. I used his stag-horned-handled knife (blade is a Forschner-Victorinox) to slice the throat. Joe then went about removing the head while I cut the sternum and slit open the belly. We then hoisted it in the air by the back legs and removed the kidneys, liver, and heart (first we remove the Pryor-mountain oysters). We then remove the tongue from the head.

Later, after we returned from the butcher, Tana said she heard a gunshot out south of her ranch house. Joe and I grabbed our rifles and hopped in the truck to go investigate. We drove out to where the herd was waiting at the gate to be let out of the pasture, and head back to the Moccasin. Not surprising – their work was done – we had done the harvesting and they were ready to go. But, Joe was expecting a few more people to come out a week later to harvest a few more, so, he kept them in that pasture. I walked along the fence to make sure that every buffalo that was lying down had its head up, watching as I walked, to ensure there were none shot. None showed signs of distress, so, we figured that the gunshot must have been further east, and not on her property.

On the ‘rez’ it can really be like the ‘wild west’ in many respects. The natives (the Mountain Crow) have little regard for fences, boundaries, etc., when hunting on the reservation. So, at any given time, you may hear gunshots on the mountain, prairie, etc., surrounding her house. Tana gets concerned that they would try to shoot her buffalo and make off with it. Interestingly enough, the 1st batch of buffalo meat I received from Tana about 5 years ago – one of the rib steaks had a perfectly-formed bullet in it. I found it when I was cleaning the meat (I always trim game meat from any fat, sliver-skin, cartilage, etc. – just my preference) and I found a little pencil-sized hole. I opened it up and out came a bullet. It hadn’t expanded, which meant it had probably been shot from 800 or more yards away (it didn’t have enough foot-pounds of energy upon impact to expand, let alone go through the animal). It must have been like having a splinter in the back for the animal. The point being that she never knows who might be sneaking onto her land and taking pot-shots at her herd. She does, however, allow the tribe to come onto her land every year and harvest an animal, to ‘keep peace’ as it were. The Crow, generally speaking, have little regard for non-Crow, especially other tribes. Tana is not Crow, but part Lakota, part Caucasian. However, as times are changing, with further acceptance, the Crow Nation adopted now-President Obama as part of their tribe, and members of the Crow Nation took part in the Inaugural parade.

That evening, we did a closing pipe ceremony (to close out the harvest, honor the 7 directions, the buffalo, etc.), and Tana took the opportunity to instruct me on the proper usage of the pipe. There are two types of pipe – a ‘passing pipe’ and a ‘medicine pipe.’ I was recently passed a medicine pipe, from my friend Clara, and needed instruction on how to use it so I would not dishonor the meaning and tradition behind it.

I left the next morning at 4:00 to be back in the early afternoon to spend some time with my wife that weekend. Two weeks later, over the weekend, I went with my buddy Matt A to pick up the meat. Tana has a refrigeration truck (both freezer and refrigerator) as she had picked up the meat on Wednesday. Matt, Joe, and I headed up to feed the buffalo, and then came back to the ranch house to load up all the coolers with meat (I own four 150-quart coolers, two 130-quart coolers, and I borrowed some coolers for the trip.) . After getting that done, and all strapped in to head back the next day, we ate dinner and went to bed. We left at 3:30 the next morning (Matt was not pleased with this), and we made it back to Denver by 12:30. Kaoru came over to help sort all the meat into the bags, and spent the next week distributing.

I hope you enjoyed the overview, and, if you ordered, I hope you enjoy the meat. We plan on another harvest this fall/winter. Stay tuned!

Following the harvest, they had more snow on the ranch, and had some additional harvests. Joe had an adventure with the buffalo, as he recounts here following - Leif

It started out a beautiful February morning. I had a gentleman and 3 of his friends coming up to harvest a 2 1/2 year old bull buffalo to be used for his dinner table. He also was going to have the robe tanned and the head turned into a European Mount So I had a friend of mine that is an award winning taxidermist come up to skin the animal.

Everything went great with the harvest as it always does and after we were all back at the ranch house and everyone had left I went to my house for a morning cup of coffee. As I sat there contemplating how well things were going I was still amazed at how well I have become connected to this large family of animals and how they have accepted me into their family as one of them.

When we do a harvest here, all of the Buffalo know that we are there to help them move on to be able to complete their circle of life. One of the Bulls will present itself to us by standing off to one side or moving right up close to us and it is as if He is saying " Yes, I am the one that wishes to leave today."

On this particular day the herd was split apart and in the first group there wasn't one bull that presented itself so I drove to the other group and asked them to come join the rest and then I drove back up to join the rest of our guests and all of the Buffalo followed me. As they approached there was one bull leading the way and He walked right up to us and separated himself so that he could be harvested with nobody else close.

When He was harvested we all drove our vehicles to surround it. I placed some tobacco on his head and over his heart and said a prayer of thanks for the nourishment that he will provide and the warmth of the robe and the beauty that the mount will provide.

As I always do after a harvest, I loaded up a bale of hay to go feed the herd and sit and spend some time with them. As I drove to the pasture they were in, I saw Junior our largest bull. Third, his son and another bull which is also a son of Junior but a year younger, standing by the gate waiting for Me. I at first thought that they had been waiting for me to bring the food and spend time in the middle of the herd but when I got to the gate I saw that a cow buffalo had fallen through the ice on a pond inside the gate...

I had never been in a situation like this before and had no idea how to get her out or was quite sure how the other Buffalo Bulls would react to me trying to get her out. They all protect each other from any danger they sense. They all know that whatever I do is good for them so I was pretty sure I would be O.K. But with animals that can be over 2000 # it is better to be safe than sorry. As I got on the ice with the cow I could see that she had broken through the ice on one edge and had been trying to get out by going forward instead of backing up. I walked up right in front of her and told her that I was there to save her and meant no harm. She looked at me and I could feel that she knew that all would be O.K. now. I had a rope on the back of the truck and I put it around her horns in the hopes of by turning her head she might be able to turn around and walk out. I kept talking to her and letting her know that I was there to help. After trying to turn her both directions it became apparent that it wouldn't work, she was too far in!

I knew that she was too far in and that at weighing close to 1000# I couldn't pull her out by her neck without harming her... I told her that I would be back and asked the bulls to stay with her and comfort her until I returned.

I went back to the shop and gathered an Axe, a pick, shovel and a large spud bar and a tow rope. I wasn't sure what I was going to do but I knew I was going to save her.

I went back to them and the bulls were still there as they weren't going to leave one of their family in danger. I still had the rope around her horns and started to break the ice away from her side so she had a big enough hole to turn around in but all she wanted to do was go forward. At that point I decided that if that is what she wanted I would help her out that way. I had been wondering how I would ever get that rope off of her when she got out so I took it off. As I started breaking ice that was close to 1 foot thick on the side of her and then in front of her I kept talking to her to keep her calm. I could feel how she was feeling being in that situation. Trapped, but help was there.

As I kept breaking ice she was moving forward and finally she could get her knees on the ice but not out. Finally I had broken out enough that she was able to get both front legs out and then her back legs also. She was Free!

As she stood there still on the ice she turned and looked at me and I am sure she smiled and said Thank You.

She walked up to the 3 bulls that had stayed there and waited for her and they slowly started to walk up to join the rest of the herd. She was wet and looked tired but was still in good shape. I followed behind them and rolled out the hay for the herd and sat on the back of the truck and drank that cup of coffee and said some prayers of thanks that I was able to be there to save one of my family.

It is so fitting that the name of this ranch is HAPPY HEART RANCH because there sure were a lot of them here that day.

That is just one many exciting days I have on this great place on our Mother Earth that I have been put in charge of taking care of.

MAN WHO CARES FOR THE LAND
Joseph V Larson

Commotion Causing Container

Originally from May, 2008.

We recently acquired a new dog - a 1-year-old female White German Shepherd named Ilse. We figured she would be a good companion for our current dog, Sage, a Siberian Husky mix.

The first thing we noticed about Ilse is that she consumed a great deal of food. With Sage, we could just leave the food out all day, in his bowl, and he would graze whenever he felt the need. Ilse, however, ate like she had been starved for a fortnight, and would never eat again. She attacked her bowl of food like Godzilla attacked Tokyo. I'm surprised we didn't see flames and an overturned Tonka truck.

Ilse came to us about 10 pounds underweight, so one of our first priorities was to get her filled out. We increased her intake to 6 - 7 cups a day of food. Of course, it had one undesirable side-affect. The amount of poop in our back yard quadrupled.

Sage, not a voracious eater, left maybe 1 pile a day in the backyard, as he preferred to wait until I got home from work and go on a walk, so he could do his business somewhere else other than his play area. Ilse, however, has no compunction about going where she pleased, as much as she wanted. Another thing about how she did her business was also a curiosity. She couldn't stand (squat) still and do her thing all in one pile. She would drop a line, walk forward a little bit, drop another, walk forward, etc. So, to pick up after her, it was like ET following a trail of Reese's Pieces. Well, maybe a trail of fun-sized Snicker bars.

With Sage, I would go through maybe a single grocery sack in a week's time, and put it in the trash Monday morning. But, if I forgot, I could keep the same bag on the pickup device and use it for another week. I found, however, with Sage, plus Ilse, that I would use about a bag a day. And, I had to be extra vigilant. For awhile Ilse was her own best clean-up crew. This meant that as it passed through her system again, and out the other side, that it seemed to be even more noxious smelling. So I would be out at night, with a Mag-Light, making sure that I missed nary a pile (and got her on a product called "Deter").

My requirements for disposal changed as well. I couldn't continue keeping the bag on for a few days, let alone an entire week, so I started tossing the bag into a trash-can I had on the back porch. It had a 55-gallon lawn and leaf bag inside, held in with a giant rubber band around the top. It was quick, convenient, and I could swap-out grocery bags each day.

Well, after 1 week, I figured I hadn't really filled up that much of the 55 gallon bag, and it would be a waste to throw away a mostly-unused heavy duty garbage sack, so I left it for another week. I like to be environmentally-conscious. Well, it rained a little that week, and I'm pretty sure that although I have a covered porch, the sides are not walled in, and some rain water got into the bag. Week 2 came and went, and although you didn't want to get too close to the garbage can if you didn't have to, the neighbors hadn't started complaining, so I figured it was good for another week. Week 3 was hot, and rainy, and the grocery bags really started piling up. I thought, "I better get that out to the curb come Monday morning."

Well, Monday trash day came and went, and it wasn't until I walked out Monday after work (for cleanup) that the smell really hit me, and I realized that I forgot again. I looked around for what I could do about the overpowering smell, and I saw I had a trashcan lid that I used to cover another trash-can I have on my back porch. In the other trash-can I keep my lawn fertilizers. Well, the lid didn't exactly fit. They were two different trash-can manufacturers, and the circumference of the trash-can lid was slightly smaller than what I needed. But, I could kind of wedge it on there and call it good.

By Wednesday, after a few more days worth of grocery bags added to the ever-growing pile, my  wife really started to talk to me about options for getting rid of it. But, I didn't want to take the bag out of the trash-can and haul it away myself, as mentioned previously, it had rained. I could only imagine rain water sloshing around in the bottom of the bag, and it leaking all over me as I tried to get it in the back of my truck. Not only that, but then imagine it leaking all over the bed of my truck itself. Plus, it had really gotten warm for springtime, and the now-composting dog poop had reached an all time compost-smell high.

By Saturday I made sure to avoid eye-contact with my neighbors, as I'm sure the look of reproach would have been unbearable. Sunday we were having guests over. I agreed to move the trash-can over into the side garden so that the aroma would only reach their noses of they came within 40 feet of it, unless the wind was particularly strong. If they smelled it coming into or out of our house (thankfully it didn't smell inside the house), they were either too polite to mention it, or too horrified that something like that could exist in Highlands Ranch.

Highlands Ranch is a covenant-controlled community, where you get nasty little notes from the covenant control office if you have a weed in your yard. Or, they will give you a note if they think your house should be painted, and, if you want to change your house color from "khaki" to "slightly darker khaki" you have to get it approved by the architectural board. Most likely, they will not approve your color-request change, but instead, suggest the color "a slightly lighter khaki color, but you can have a slightly darker khaki accent color, and maybe a beige-tan on the fake shutters."

Sunday evening, I hauled my regular garbage can out to the curb, and, wedging the lid on as tight as I could, I hauled the dog-poop-can out to the curb as well. Woe be to the neighbor that walked by my curb that night. But, I could only think of the poor kids the next morning as they walked down the sidewalk on their way to school, and run screaming, with tears in their eyes (because they were burning from dog-poop-fumes), past my house.

Imagine my surprise the next morning while outside in the back yard (getting in one last bagful of poop for the garbage) and Ilse starts going nuts, barking her head off. I then hear sirens coming closer and closer to the house. I run inside to calm Ilse down, and I see a fire truck pull up beside the house. I live on a corner, so, they didn't park directly in front, but on the side street. Firefighters hop out and start looking around. I figure maybe one of my neighbors had a medical emergency, and the ambulance couldn't get there quick enough. I go back to picking up the remainder of the dog poop in the back yard (I'm on bag two - the 1st bag ripped from all the weight).

As I bring the second bag to the curb, the firemen are walking slowly across the street towards me. I deposited the bag in the garbage, and figured they didn't need anything from me. I then remembered that I needed to bring my recycling bin out to the curb. As I'm leaving my garage, 3 firemen are walking up my driveway.

"Hello, sir, what can I do for you?" I'm trying to look and sound official as I stand there with my recycling bin full of beer cans and milk containers.

"Have you noticed anything that really smells around here? Something noxious?" He looked dead serious.

"Um, just my garbage can," I said, smiling, playing it off as a joke, trying to act normal, as if a month's worth of two-dogs poop was normal to have on the curb.

"Well, this was the address that was given in the 911 call. They reported that maybe it was ammonia or something."

I turn around to look at my house number, just to make sure it hadn't changed overnight; that my house numbers didn't rebel against me and leave to go find a better-painted, better smelling house. "9841?"

"Yes."

"Well, sir, I didn't make any 911 call. I'm not sure what you are looking for," I said, super-conscious of my long-hair (out of place for Highlands Ranch) my tub of beer cans (might cast judgments about my character, even though I mostly use beer for marinating deer and elk, and making fish tacos), and the knowledge that ammonia is used for making Meth.

"Are you sure you're not aware of anything suspicious happening around here," he asked, coming a step closer.

My mind raced, wondering whether or not to tell him about the contents of the second, slightly-smaller, black, reeking container at the bottom of my driveway. Noticing that there was quite a storm of flies now circling it, I decided that it didn't warrant any mention. "Um, no sir, I'm not aware of anything going on in the slightest."

"Okay, well, have a good day." They turned and left, and I saw one of the other firemen examining the storm-drain on the corner, to see if the smell referenced in the 911 call was coming from there. I closed the garage door and watched from my window as they looked around more, talked with other neighbors, and left the scene.

I will now make sure that I get a smaller aluminum trash-can, with a tight-lid, that fits a standard 30-gallon trash bag, and make sure I take it out to the curb every Monday morning, lest I get another visit from the friendly-neighborhood Littleton fire department. Or worse, a police car. Or worse yet, an ambulance, because someone passed-out in front of my house after catching a whiff of a month's worth of dog poop.

I'm thinking of the poor garbage man who has to empty that garbage can into the back of the garbage truck. I should have probably left a six-pack for him next to it, with a note of apology.

7mm RUM

Bought a new rifle:

These are the specs of the Remington Model 700 Sendero SF (Stainless Fluted barrel) 7mm Ultra Mag – 26 inch barrel. Weighs 10.8 lbs without a scope, and has a mercury recoil system (tube filled with mercury in the stock – when recoil goes back, mercury goes forward to counter the recoil) and Pachmayr White Line recoil pad. The overall length is 47 inches. The guy who sold it to me said there were about 60 rounds fired through it. I understand the barrel life on these is about 1500 rounds.

SCOPE
This is the scope I’m putting on it: http://www.huskemaw.com/lrh_home3.php
See it in action here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHWH5GWNt5g – Huskemaw 5x20 scope 7mm Mag Sendero 725 yard mule deer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuEcZazhWYE – Huskemaw 5x20 scope 7mm Mag shooting 900 yard target in 10 mph crosswind.

I actually sent my rifle to the Huskemaw store in Wyoming for them to mount it and work up the bullet data on it, so that I can dial it in to 1000 yards and shoot accurately. I am having them send me the “recipe” for the bullets so that I can reload.

RATE OF TWIST
The rate of twist is 1:9.5. This means that the bullet will make a full revolution every 9 ½ inches. This is a limiting factor on the type of bullet you can use. For example, Berger Bullets recommends a 1:9 twist for their 180 grain. However, for their 168 grain, the recommended is 1:10. So, because my barrel twist is faster, I can shoot the 168 Grain accurately without the bullet “keyholing.”

RELOADING
I also got the reloading dyes (RCBS) (It’s the FL Die Set), 200 rounds of never-fired empty Remington brass, and 100 rounds of fired brass. Guess it’s time for me to get a gun vice and look into bullets, powders, reloading manuals, etc. I also received 60 rounds of the 140 grain Core-Lokt ammunition with my purchase.

AMMO
There’s not a lot of ammo readily available, thus I might as well look into reloading:
http://www.midwayusa.com/BROWSE/BrowseProducts.aspx?pageNum=1&tabId=3&categoryId=9367&categoryString=653***690***

BRASS
I was looking at the 200 brass cartridges, and wondered why each one wasn’t all shiny and new-looking. On this page it has the reason why the brass is discolored:
http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct/?productNumber=1601132599


BERGER BULLETS
See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voyw1H-0CBI

On the Berger site - http://bergerbullets.com/Products/Hunting%20Bullets.html

It has the 168 Grain Match Hunting VLD with a BC rating of .617 (recommended twist between 10 and 9). I wouldn’t want to do the 180 grain with the higher BC as you would need a twist of 9 or less, otherwise it produces bullet wobble (from what I understand).

I haven’t, however, found any reload data on their website, other than what they say about the VLD on http://bergerbullets.com/Information/Tech%20Info.html

Not even the Hodgdon site has Berger loads http://data.hodgdon.com/main_menu.asp - but, it looks like theHodgdon Retumbo powder is the best for reloading the 7mm RUM.

So, to reload Berger bullets, guess I’ll need to find a Berger manual. I understand that they are finicky loads, but once you get the right load for your rifle, you can get a really long range flat shooter that won’t be affected as much with wind drift, because of the higher B.C.

BARNES BULLETS
See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6uo0E6nuJ0

I was looking at the Barnes page for reloading: http://www.barnesbullets.com/images/7mmRemingtonUltraMagWeb.pdf

It looks like you get the highest Ballistic Coefficient (the higher the better) from the 140 Grain Banded Spitzer Solid (BC .464) – but I’m not hunting Cape Buffalo!

Tipped TSX has BC of .450.

Next highest after the TSX is the 160 grain MRX BT (BC .439)

On the .pdf file, it lists the twist rate for loads as 1:9.5 with a barrel length of 24”. I’m not sure how that translates to a 26” Barrel with a 1:9.5. Probably the same.

One good thing is that Barnes sells their own ammunition for the 7mm RUM (in case I don’t have time to reload) – the Cor-Bon DPX Rifle 7mm RUM 160-gr TSX listed in the ammo link above has .392 BC. But, they list it at $80 for a box of 20!

MUZZLE BREAKS
I think I’m going to get this Muzzle Break.

Hopefully I will have it all set up in time for this next hunting season.