Well, I wouldn't want to mess up the head though. I desperately want to add my 4th Euro to my office room and end this 4 year curse brought on by lots of fires and bad luck there for a bit here in SoCal in terms of Ahole Newscum et al just willie nillie ordering closures there for a bit.
It was upsetting me greatly not long ago because a fire broke out very near to where I'd be concentrating my efforts in this (new to me) D14 Zone of San Bernardino Mtns.
But on my last visit out there trying to scope out some new territory for a backup plan, since didn't see any activity in the few days I could go up there for bow. My fear was the fire being nearby shoo'd em all away in one direction or another.
So then, when coming back down outta this new spot.... I'd seen 3 Jack Rabbits running across the dirt road in response to my headlights, as they often do when it's dark before dawn... so decide to try Predator Calling and score a nice female yote!
While I was processing her on the tailgate of my truck, some dude who worked for some outfit nearby there I believe roles up in his truck, and we got to chatting while I'm field dressing her... and he tells me he saw two 4x4's cross that road not all the far up from where I was. And I could totally see them using that area as a pathway to attempting to cross the nearby Hwy. Cause it kinda flattens out, but has a nice amount of timber and low-lying rabbit brush type of stuff.
So I figure if my first area I plan to ambush sit on ends up sucking, first I'll travel to a spot where I finally glassed-up one feeding in a bunch of burnt timber about 600yds up an unholy monster of a buckthorn covered nightmare of a hill last year.
If that doesn't pan out, I'm likely gonna try to walk up that closed road I think he was talking about, see if I can see some sign, and then pull another ambush sit, maybe try some mild grunting if I end up waiting long. And see what happens. You never know. And if the Universe elects to have pity on me before my lowerback stuff gets worse, I'll be so damn happy you'd probably hear me whoopin' and hollerin' all the way from Hawaii to NYC, you know what I mean? I've been trying to mentally prepare myself to be ok mentally ok, if I have to try again next year. But with all the time I've been putting in to learn this new (to me) zone, which is kinda tough to get around in. I'm determined that I must make it happen in this new zone. I gotta prove to myself I'm not just some 1-trick pony that got lucky for just employing brute patience on that prior zone on an ambush sit for multiple days in a row. If possible I'd like to have an opportunity to maybe attempt a spot and stalk again. LAst year I ended with that buck somehow giving me the slip since that mount with so steep and thick covered in buckthorn I had to look down A LOT at my feet and try to go slow hoping to make least amount of sound possible. I realize my mistake was not stopping profusely on the way up to re-acquire him in the binos. So.. ya know.. I'm choosing to look at each season as a move in a loooong chess game, if I have to.
But at least in D11 (Angeles NF) I found a location I think is likely to have a bear pass by me. So if deer tag fizzles I'll ride that out every weekend left after that and hope for the best. Then if things are still a nogo, I now have two good places to try for more yotes at. So want to put the FoxPro a work again. This last time on Sunday it was the tiny lil PocketPrey mini eCaller that did the trick. I brought that and some mouth calls for backup just in case it failed. It's interesting and ya gotta be on your toes when you're using that little one because you have to hold it in your hand, and I was changing the direction it was pointing in constantly to give it more realism, to the sound they would hear. When I got lucky and saw her bounding in at a little bit of a distance, I was able to set the lil eCaller down on my lap still playing and raise the rifle and was totally ready for when she reappeared on the other side of the pine tree that blocked her view of me raising the rifle to bear. That was the right kind of excitement and ego boost I needed to help me get my head back in the game and stay positive about possible success, rather than just committing myself to going thru the motions, ya know?
