diamond hitch
Well-known member
We are all players in an extremely diverse chess game. Some hunt the open junipers with binoculars and spotting scopes. Others drive the roads and let luck determine their success. My game is the northside thickets and wetlands. I don't bother getting up before daylight. I often meet those hunters coming out around 9:00 am going back to town for breakfast. I avoid the big parks and clearings and skirt the edges looking for the tracks where the elk have headed for their bedding grounds. I don't wear a pair of heavy binoculars with heavy magnification. Mine are small and light. I have a 4-12 leupold scope. Not for the magnification but for the option of a fine duplex. Usually the scope is set on 4 - now that my eyes are getting weaker 5 or 6. Instead of anticipating a holdover and worrying about wind deflection, I'm looking for a slight color change in a 3 inch gap in the trees at 20 - 30 yds or less. Instead of the latest camo I am usually wearing a pair of heavy wool malone pants and a buffalo plaid shirt. Something dark and soft to blend into to the dense lodgepole jungles or second growth fir thickets.
Instead of creeping along like the whitetail hunters I stroll through the trees at an even pace like a leisurely walk through a sporting goods store. I rarely stop except behind trees or when I when I find a good sitting site to be able to watch an elk trail while I cool down or rest my legs. I'm not sure whether I like the elk search the most or the exploration of the land and elk trails. Both are extremely satisfying.
When I was young, I heavily focused on big bulls and usually found a fully mature bull about every three years. Between those were eating elk. They were all hard and well earned. Over the years I encountered a few situations that I really grew to value. Given the challenge of killing an elk, I found that for me the greatest trophy was killing one asleep in their bed. I've only pulled that off three times in 57 years. Truely bragging rights among jungle hunters.
Instead of creeping along like the whitetail hunters I stroll through the trees at an even pace like a leisurely walk through a sporting goods store. I rarely stop except behind trees or when I when I find a good sitting site to be able to watch an elk trail while I cool down or rest my legs. I'm not sure whether I like the elk search the most or the exploration of the land and elk trails. Both are extremely satisfying.
When I was young, I heavily focused on big bulls and usually found a fully mature bull about every three years. Between those were eating elk. They were all hard and well earned. Over the years I encountered a few situations that I really grew to value. Given the challenge of killing an elk, I found that for me the greatest trophy was killing one asleep in their bed. I've only pulled that off three times in 57 years. Truely bragging rights among jungle hunters.
