Smoke started clearing out yesterday. Saw my first yellow sunrise in two weeks + and was such a nice change. Smoke was so bad I had a hard time doing more than a couple/few hundred feet elevation in a single hunt, but then again I'm a disabled (and therefore out of shape), 40 year old smoker.
Only heard one elk cow call Thursday morning and a cow moose crashing through just below my camp at 4-4:30 am. Some fresh elk scat and a few white tail doe moving Fri and Sat. Forest was pretty quiet aside from the chipmunk army. Moon phase and rise/set will be getting better this week and excellent in two weeks with some lower temps and slight rains the end of this week in the panhandle. I suspect the temps and sprinkles will be accentuating the lessening moonlight helping cause daytime movement. Rain forecasted Wed night through Fri at 20% chance on and off, so early this week (before the rains) and Friday/Saturday should be your best bets -- the animals can sense the pressure changes and forage more before and after the storms, but at only 20% there should be dry periods where they will want to move to warm up. Looking forward to another trip or two out this week and a long trip the week after.
