Shrek's big adventure

[unm1136]

Enjoy yourself Dave!

I'll be living vicariously...

pat

 

[Shrek]

I need coffee to think but on the road I need to think to find good coffee ! Just drove all through Bozeman .Lol

 

[littlebuf]

Florida guy, first elk trip, no snow driving experience. On a completely unrelated topic, anybody think we should put together a Rokslide search and rescue group?....

 

[HOT ROD]

Lol littlebuf. I think Shrek will be fine. But its not a bad idea. Good luck Shrek. We just got back from Wyoming. I under stand the drive. We drive from Pa. But Florida is a drive....

 

[Matt Cashell]

Have fun Dave,

Let me know if you get into my neck of the woods!

I need coffee to think but on the road I need to think to find good coffee ! Just drove all through Bozeman .Lol

This is too little too late I am sure, but the Leaf and Bean downtown or Rocky Mountain Roasting in Bozangelas are solid choices for the coffee drinker.

Good luck!

 

[Shrek]

Mat , Bozangles is a great description of the place ! Lol. I'm not that picky about coffee but I can't drink McNasty or convenience store stuff. It tastes like they filtered the water through cardboard and added some bitter acid and black die and called it coffee. Starbucks is fine by me these days. Gone are the days of buying coffees roasted in custom 10lb batches. The custom stuff was amazing. I would get big fat oily Indonesian beans roated to the dark side of french but lighter than Italian roast. Buttery with bold roast but light acid. I just couldn't justify buying ten pounds at a time when I could only drink 5 pounds before it started to loose its flavor. It was also $15 a pound !
Back to the adventure. I made it to the area and got a room to get cleaned up before I head out and start looking around. I met one of the crew and hope to meet the rest tomorrow. I didn't put this under live hunt because I don't expect to have signal where I'm going so updates will come when I come back to town to get cleaned up and wash cloths...or get some real food !
I must tell you that it was a real loss to drive through the heart of Wyoming and Montana in the dark. This morning I got to see some beautiful country and spotted a few animals as I drove through. Five mulie does and a herd of speed goats. For those of you who haven't seen the west all I can say is that you are really missing out ! The scale and beauty is hard to capture in words. Coming from the east coasta having only seen the Appalachian mountains I can only describe the scale and vistas as stunning. If you came out here and never even saw an elk or mule deer you would still have gotten all the enjoyment you could wish for.

 

[Shrek]

I don't know if anyone here hunts ducks in Western Montana but I witnessed a couple hundred pile into a swampy area in a bend of the river that runs next to I 90. About a mile and a quarter east of exit 187 for anyone interested. Didn't see but a couple dozen anywhere else along the river.

 

[Ironman8]

I must tell you that it was a real loss to drive through the heart of Wyoming and Montana in the dark. This morning I got to see some beautiful country and spotted a few animals as I drove through. Five mulie does and a herd of speed goats. For those of you who haven't seen the west all I can say is that you are really missing out ! The scale and beauty is hard to capture in words. Coming from the east coasta having only seen the Appalachian mountains I can only describe the scale and vistas as stunning. If you came out here and never even saw an elk or mule deer you would still have gotten all the enjoyment you could wish for.

I know completely what you mean. Drove from Denver to Jackson, WY in July (on the way to visit Yellowstone) and couldn't get enough of the landscape and wildlife. Even the high desert areas are awesome!

Here's to a successful hunt!

 

[Mtnboy]

Very cool!

Best of luck!

 

[HellsCanyon]

Good luck and don't bruise them tender feet of yours! :chuckle: :chuckle:

Mike

 

[Manosteel]

Good luck and safe hunting.

 

[tstowater]

Good luck and don't bruise them tender feet of yours! :chuckle: :chuckle:

Mike

Hoping Shrek found some boots to work. Thinking there might be more up and down than in Florida. Hell, Iowa is bad enough. Good luck with the hunt.


Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using Tapatalk

 

[Shrek]

Tstowater , I'm in my original boot the Hanwag Yukons. They are a little bit sloppy on my feet but they don't hurt me. They have only given me one blister and that was with thin cotton socks soaked with sweat and after miles of that condition. They will work but not give the support I want.
I'm chasing down things in town and having a bite to eat while friends sort through their business. I had to unload everything I put in my pack to be sure I didn't leave it at home and repack with the actual hunting load. I'm way too heavy for the ounce counters but after this trip I'm sure I'll redo some of it. Can't wait to dump the ss box stove for a ti oval. Heading out of town in a couple hours and I'll be out of touch for a while.

 

[HellsCanyon]

Good luck! And you never know, you may become an ounce counter after this hunt...

 

[littlebuf]

Good luck! And you never know, you may become an ounce counter after this hunt...

Drop an elk and you bet you will. Start to realize real fast what's necessary weight and what isn't on that last pack out with camp/meat. Good luck

 

[crumy]

Drop an elk and you bet you will. Start to realize real fast what's necessary weight and what isn't on that last pack out with camp/meat. Good luck

Agree 100%

 

[Shrek]

In town for gas and odds and ends . Ti goat onmi raven bivy is too small to use with a lw ul 9 synmat. Marmot Flathead 20 sleeping bag nearly froze me to death last night. I'm hoping it was the bivy compressing the bag and tonight it does better. If not I'm going to have to go to a bigger town and go bag shopping.
Things that are great are the kifaru sawtooth and medium stove , DT1 , platypus big zip and sawyer line , Primus eta stove , vargo ti long spoon . I'll think of more things but I am rushing to get back out to scout more.
I heard some elk after dark. Cow warning bark right near camp and a bull grunt across the the draw on the next ridge . A little later cow with three quick chirps on the north side of camp. I'm staying on roads and listening and looking. Trying to locate some for opening day without busting them out of the county.
Truth is I couldn't sleep a wink last night . I was sure, every rustle and bump was a grizzly about to get me ! Lol ! You can talk all the smack you want but when you are there it is in the back of your mind. I'll get used to it but the first night was rough. At this point I'm basically car camping and if I'm successful early thats all I'll do. It's National forest and there's lots of open roads. I'm going to look at an area I may hike into to camp and hunt back towards the road. See if I can get some that are being pushed by road hunters. Man ! Are these some steep mountains ! I'm in way NW Montana , like you could almost see our neighbors from the top , and it's not as open and rolling as the stuff I drove through in Wyoming and southern Montana. I'm heading back out so that's it for now.
Another note , don't wait to burn your new stove until black dark on the first night ! I had a used one earlier and the pipe had already been set and went together easily...not so much with the new unburned one. It had to wait until thise morning to get put together.
Having a blast and loving every minute of it. I'm glad I pushed through and arrived early. It is letting me shake out the bugs and get my bearings.

 

[muleman]

Ti goat onmi raven bivy is too small to use with a lw ul 9 synmat.

Good luck on the hunt.

Look at a Katabatic Gear Bristlecone Bivy. My long wide bristlecone fits my long wide Synmat UL9 with ease.

 

[Shrek]

Oh , and one complete fail. I have a 25º primaloft quilt from enlightened equipment. When my Marmot bag wasn't getting it done I went to the truck and got the quilt. Ten minutes later my feet were frozen ! Lasted thirty minutes before I gave up and got the marmot back.

 

[Darren Best]

Florida guy, first elk trip, no snow driving experience. On a completely unrelated topic, anybody think we should put together a Rokslide search and rescue group?....

LOL

I will be driving across MT and back again next week. Hope the good weather holds.

Stay warm out there Shrek, MT isn't a joke when it comes to cold.