Absolutely. And, I had an IPA while I was rattling down the granite cobblestone road.
Finn from the Cascades, Season 5
- Thread starter JLS
- Start date
westbranch
Well-known member
Can't beat that scenery. That lake probably has some cutthroat that need to be caught.
Hunting Wife
Well-known member
Damn. What a beautiful place to get skunked. 
Hammsolo
Well-known member
- Joined
- May 16, 2020
- Messages
- 1,946
Gorgeous. Damn gorgeous.
I ate some jerky yesterday that was a little sus. Woke up to an unbelievably foul stench in the bedroom and a glare from my wife. Figured the best way to fix it was pancakes.
After coffee and a panicked trip to the loo, I asked myself WWHTMD? I poured more coffee and hit the road 180 degrees opposite where I went yesterday.
Grasshoppers
Water
Transition cover
And not One. Damned. Bird. I think grouse warrant an ESA listing around here this year.
Oh well. Every day in the mountains is leg day. Deer season opens soon. A cool down HAS to come sometime, and then we’ll switch to chukars and ditch parrots. Time to start getting out gear for next week
Stay thirsty.
After coffee and a panicked trip to the loo, I asked myself WWHTMD? I poured more coffee and hit the road 180 degrees opposite where I went yesterday.
Grasshoppers
Water
Transition cover
And not One. Damned. Bird. I think grouse warrant an ESA listing around here this year.
Oh well. Every day in the mountains is leg day. Deer season opens soon. A cool down HAS to come sometime, and then we’ll switch to chukars and ditch parrots. Time to start getting out gear for next week
Stay thirsty.
Last edited by a moderator:
Big game edition
Flora
Fauna. See all three? The grizzly blends in. Guess who didn’t have a bear tag?
More fauna. Mega bull got lost in the shitty photo.
Another grizzly.
Vistas
Influencer. Last night I had Finn in a down stay behind me while I was sitting on the edge of a clearing. There were three whitetails 50-60 yards in front of him. Not a whine, bark, or movement.
Roughing it.
No deer were harmed in the making of this documentary. I had the crosshairs on a legal buck at 400 yards yesterday, but there were too many things about the shot I didn’t like.
I had a nice buck in the open about an hour before shooting light ended tonight. Unfortunately, I couldn’t count a third point at 4.5x and when I zoomed in I had too much moisture on the lenses to see in the rain. I had to come off the gun to wipe the lenses, and that was enough time for the opportunity to pass.
Round two in a couple of days.
Flora
Fauna. See all three? The grizzly blends in. Guess who didn’t have a bear tag?
More fauna. Mega bull got lost in the shitty photo.
Another grizzly.
Vistas
Influencer. Last night I had Finn in a down stay behind me while I was sitting on the edge of a clearing. There were three whitetails 50-60 yards in front of him. Not a whine, bark, or movement.
Roughing it.
No deer were harmed in the making of this documentary. I had the crosshairs on a legal buck at 400 yards yesterday, but there were too many things about the shot I didn’t like.
I had a nice buck in the open about an hour before shooting light ended tonight. Unfortunately, I couldn’t count a third point at 4.5x and when I zoomed in I had too much moisture on the lenses to see in the rain. I had to come off the gun to wipe the lenses, and that was enough time for the opportunity to pass.
Round two in a couple of days.
Last edited by a moderator:
Hilljackoutlaw
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jan 15, 2019
- Messages
- 6,508
I see so many every single day and think of this thread everytime. You guys need to follow me around! 
Irrelevant
Well-known member
I'd definitely be ground pounding those sumab...
Hilljackoutlaw
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jan 15, 2019
- Messages
- 6,508
I want to. But it's $23 a day for non resident chukar permits in Nevada and $8 for every consecutive day after. Kind of a silly way to do it just charge me $100 once or something and let me hunt.
Irrelevant
Well-known member
Nailed it!
Congrats man on doing the impossible... again.
This is a really fun segment to write up, but not for the reasons you think.
We left Sunday evening after work. I discovered it takes my camper furnace a while to get it from 34 degrees to 70, and also discovered my batteries didn’t have enough juice to run the furnace at night.
The first day was wet.
I built my first warming fire of the year.
Proof deer don’t GAF about campfires.
I saw quite a few deer this day, but only one spike buck. I had numerous does and fawns at 50-100 yards in the timber and pockets of hawthorns.
Everything I had was soaked and fogged up. Binos, scope, wet to the core. The temperature increased a little in the afternoon which made the fogging worse.
I fell asleep with the generator on and woke up at 1 AM and an 80 degree camper.
Day two was drier and breezier.
I was working around another hunter who had a limited entry bull permit for this area. He had been putting in for 14 years to get this tag. I told him I’d do my best to not blow the elk out of the area and stay out of his way. However, morning of day two found me looking at 120 head of elk where I wanted to hunt.
I watched for a while, then looped way back downwind and hunted a ridge system. Two does and two fawns and no more. I got where I could glass and located the elk. I decided I could get way upwind of them on some far benches and hunt without disturbing them.
Afternoon found me where I killed my buck last year. I glassed for a while then decided I should be up still hunting. About 330 I saw some movement and glassed a deers face. After some very slow repositioning, I saw antlers moving in a hawthorn bush. Finally a 4x4 buck stood up, and then another.
I used my spotting scope as a rest and was all set for one to clear the brush. This guy stretched out, offering a shot and I sent one downrange out of the .300 winny.
He jumped up and did the stiff legged lurch that means his heart is gone.
As they lay.
I had him broken down and loaded in an hour.
I had the last load to the truck at
800 PM. But, that’s not the end.
When I got to camp I checked in with my neighbor as I heard him shoot twice in the afternoon. He told he he hit the bull at 120 yards, broadside with a .300 RUM. They gave the bull an hour, and then as they were walking up the bull got up and took off. They worked blood for a little bit but decided to back out as it was late in the day and the bull obviously had a bit of life left in him.
I told the guy I had a blood tracking dog if he wanted help. He said absolutely. A quick InReach message to both bosses and I had the day off to help out.
Blood tracking dogs were just legalized this year. It was something I and a couple of friends put significant effort into.
We took off at 545 and we’re overlooking the meadow at daybreak. Unfortunately, there are 120 head of elk in it. All over, including where we need to blood track. Plus, it rained during the night.
We started the blood track in and it was tough. Finn kept getting diverted onto fresh elk scent. I restarted him several times. It was ugly, but we were advancing.
Finn was working hard down a steep cut and pointed a hawthorn bush. I should have taken him above it right away. He worked out into a bench that was littered with fresh elk beds. Just as I was taking him back up to the bush to restart the hunter called out they had found him.
The bull was 40 yards upwind of the hawthorn Finn had pointed. All told he ran about 500 yards from his first bed. The shot was a little high and about 6 to 8 inches back of an ideal location.
The hunter was elated. It was the first bull he’d killed. I don’t have pictures yet as we took all of them on his phone. It was such a privilege to get to help these guys out, and it was a great learning experience. It was a bitch of a track. Far from the ones we lay out on test day.
I offered to help break it down and pack out a lot but they refused. Man, getting to take part in this recovery was better than killing a deer by far.
We left Sunday evening after work. I discovered it takes my camper furnace a while to get it from 34 degrees to 70, and also discovered my batteries didn’t have enough juice to run the furnace at night.
The first day was wet.
I built my first warming fire of the year.
Proof deer don’t GAF about campfires.
I saw quite a few deer this day, but only one spike buck. I had numerous does and fawns at 50-100 yards in the timber and pockets of hawthorns.
Everything I had was soaked and fogged up. Binos, scope, wet to the core. The temperature increased a little in the afternoon which made the fogging worse.
I fell asleep with the generator on and woke up at 1 AM and an 80 degree camper.
Day two was drier and breezier.
I was working around another hunter who had a limited entry bull permit for this area. He had been putting in for 14 years to get this tag. I told him I’d do my best to not blow the elk out of the area and stay out of his way. However, morning of day two found me looking at 120 head of elk where I wanted to hunt.
I watched for a while, then looped way back downwind and hunted a ridge system. Two does and two fawns and no more. I got where I could glass and located the elk. I decided I could get way upwind of them on some far benches and hunt without disturbing them.
Afternoon found me where I killed my buck last year. I glassed for a while then decided I should be up still hunting. About 330 I saw some movement and glassed a deers face. After some very slow repositioning, I saw antlers moving in a hawthorn bush. Finally a 4x4 buck stood up, and then another.
I used my spotting scope as a rest and was all set for one to clear the brush. This guy stretched out, offering a shot and I sent one downrange out of the .300 winny.
He jumped up and did the stiff legged lurch that means his heart is gone.
As they lay.
I had him broken down and loaded in an hour.
I had the last load to the truck at
800 PM. But, that’s not the end.
When I got to camp I checked in with my neighbor as I heard him shoot twice in the afternoon. He told he he hit the bull at 120 yards, broadside with a .300 RUM. They gave the bull an hour, and then as they were walking up the bull got up and took off. They worked blood for a little bit but decided to back out as it was late in the day and the bull obviously had a bit of life left in him.
I told the guy I had a blood tracking dog if he wanted help. He said absolutely. A quick InReach message to both bosses and I had the day off to help out.
Blood tracking dogs were just legalized this year. It was something I and a couple of friends put significant effort into.
We took off at 545 and we’re overlooking the meadow at daybreak. Unfortunately, there are 120 head of elk in it. All over, including where we need to blood track. Plus, it rained during the night.
We started the blood track in and it was tough. Finn kept getting diverted onto fresh elk scent. I restarted him several times. It was ugly, but we were advancing.
Finn was working hard down a steep cut and pointed a hawthorn bush. I should have taken him above it right away. He worked out into a bench that was littered with fresh elk beds. Just as I was taking him back up to the bush to restart the hunter called out they had found him.
The bull was 40 yards upwind of the hawthorn Finn had pointed. All told he ran about 500 yards from his first bed. The shot was a little high and about 6 to 8 inches back of an ideal location.
The hunter was elated. It was the first bull he’d killed. I don’t have pictures yet as we took all of them on his phone. It was such a privilege to get to help these guys out, and it was a great learning experience. It was a bitch of a track. Far from the ones we lay out on test day.
I offered to help break it down and pack out a lot but they refused. Man, getting to take part in this recovery was better than killing a deer by far.
Last edited by a moderator:
stillkickin
Well-known member
Great recovery, my congratulations to you, Finn and the crew.
Hunting Wife
Well-known member
Well trained dogs are pretty damn amazing. Wish I could have seen that.
Nice work all around on that trip.
Nice work all around on that trip.
westbranch
Well-known member
Great work Finn! I have to make sure my springer spaniel isn't looking when I open these threads, can't let him know that other dogs actually go hunting.
