Montana 2021

[Winnie]

Nice little thread you have here! glad your son is okay (by the way, that post did have something to do with hunting, fishing, and camping as your son was involved!).

I will be coming out to MT the weekend of August 20 to scout for elk just south of you aways. Bringing my daughter and her boyfriend. They will both be with for the rifle opener. My daughter's first trip out west for elk should be really fun! She is pretty excited. I am really hoping to get them their first elk.

I love the landscape pictures.! especially of the mountains. Wait...I hate the landscape pictures, especially of the mountains as it gets me to wishing I was on my way out there right now!

 

[hobbes]

Lots of smoke this year so tough to get any landscape photos lately.

 

[hobbes]

Thursday evening was about as clear of smoke as it's been in several weeks but that's not saying a lot. It all settled right back in today.

Sunset Thursday:

 

[hobbes]

How to Prepare for Hunting Season 101:

I've not shot my bow as much as I need to but I've been working on a honey-do list for the last few weeks in preparation for the approaching hunting seasons. The house has been a wreck because I've been moving stuff and painting. The wood/stained vaulted ceiling was heck to paint. (I struggled with agreeing to this). Then of course the wall color and baseboards and window trim need a new color. (I have had some help) the walls are grey now, which is a surprisingly hard color to get right.



This is about the second coat. It's an ordeal to paint a wood ceiling.


One giant bay window was needing painted but I said the heck with painting a window that needs replaced. It's in pretty crappy shape and the cold air pours in around it. I did this today with a little help.










It's temporarily installed until I can do some shimming and square/level it up. It gives a better view of the Elkhorn Mountains.

I'm also replacing outlets, switches, covers, and some fixtures. It's a project that has snowballed.

We have been going to the gym daily and both shedding some pounds. I'm hoping to go into this elk season feeling better than the last couple. This getting old stuff sucks.

 

[hobbes]

Squared up the window so outside sliders work good, insulated everything, and added sheetrock. Mud tomorrow evening and probably casing. Paint the next and finish and paint exterior after that.

 

[hobbes]

I've not used game cameras before but picked up a three pack of cheap ones today from Sportsman's and a couple boxes of pheasant loads.



We'll be camping with our church's Family Campout next weekend. It's relatively close to where I bowhunt elk, so I'm hiking in and hanging at least one of these on a wallow that looked good last year. I probably won't make it to a second one but it's possible.

 

[hobbes]

Son of a ....... I did not draw antelope. How the heck could I be so unlucky this year. That is more disappointing than not drawing the cow, lion, and swan all combined.

 

[timbrhuntr]

Oh man I guess you really did use up all your luck this year during turkey season !

 

[hobbes]

Camping this weekend. Really nice this evening considering how hot and smoky it's been. Hopefully hanging a camera tomorrow.

Granddaughter wading the creek

 

[hobbes]

The granddaughter with us and trying to be somewhat social at a church campout (I'm not terribly social) resulted in not placing cameras. I'll try next Saturday. I think we may camp again.

The pastor at our church owns a litter mate to my Finn. I've hunted with him enough that he's willing to wander off with me, so I took him on a morning walk and let him "hunt" a small park. He was pretty happy with getting to go with me.

 

[RogerEVidrine]

Great achievement.

 

[hobbes]

I don't quite understand our new set up for surplus tags but I was sent a notice that I could purchase a surplus B cow tag. I bought it this morning.

 

[hobbes]

First six arrows of the evening. 1, 2, and 3 on right and 4,5, and 6 on left. I shot one right after the other. The lower left arrow was my youngest son and couldn't pull the arrow with my bare hands from the target that I made last year.

 

[timbrhuntr]

Nice shooting and a good example of why I never shoot two arrows at the same dot lol

 

[hobbes]

Nice shooting and a good example of why I never shoot two arrows at the same dot lo

Nice shooting and a good example of why I never shoot two arrows at the same dot lol

Yeah it was probably a bad idea, especially at the cost of arrows anymore. Definitely can't try that with broadheads.

 

[hobbes]

Everything seems to be working against me hanging cameras on that wallow. My wife and I were planning to hike a couple of miles in to spend the night and hang a couple cameras this morning. (She doesn't realize how much fun the hike up to the wallow is).

However..............my little nosy bitch of a griffon, Kassie, got a bottle of vitamin D off the counter yesterday and ate an undetermined amount of it after chewing the cap off. My wife wasn't sure how many pills were left but she may have eaten around 80 of them. We don't think the other dogs got into them but can't really be sure. The vet has kept her overnight because it's toxic/poisonous to dogs and can shut down their kidneys. It's gonna cost us and there is not a lot they can do besides watch her. Sounds like there is one medication to try and treat it if they see a problem with her blood.

 

[hobbes]

I bought a used MR Longbow and NICE frame from the classifieds here along with the load lifter extension. It showed up today as listed. It's a small belt that'll work for either of my sons or my wife. Surprisingly I can use it, but I already have a medium NICE frame and Metcalf. It'll give them something solid for carrying a load when necessary and there are always other MR bag options out there if needed.



This is the third pack that I've bought from the Rokslide Classifieds. I bought an MR Metcalf around 6 or 7 years ago, a Kifaru 14er last year, and now this MR Longbow.

 

[hobbes]

The cone of shame:

 

[hobbes]

We needed to visit a Western MT town yesterday and ended up in a neighborhood that had whitetails wandering around in yards. We saw a couple decent bucks, three or four does, and what appeared to be triplet fawns. We got a photo of one of the bucks. I saw two does that both were missing tails. One was missing a little more than half the other was missing all her tail. They must be doing something specific in the neighborhood to lose their tails.

 

[hobbes]

My wife and I hiked in and hung a camera.




The ground around the wallow was torn up but when I got closer, I could see that some of the tracks were cattle. Nothing has been in the wallow yet but there were fresh elk tracks around it.


These are a couple of last year's rubs, the larger within sight of the wallow.





Smokey:






I'll be flying to IL to visit my family the 25th to the 31st, so won't make it in to check the camera until a few days before the opener.