preditors

These are the stories that intrigue me.

Got this one form a friend of mine up north..

Hope you enjoy it..




With elk season ending this weekend Gary and I figured on last try
> during the week. The third musketeer, Don, was to join us, but he had
> the misfortune to get a good deal on tires and rims at Wal-Mart and
> what should have been a 10 minute job ended up taking all morning, so
> on his insistence we left without him.
>
> The wet snow had turned the dirt road to loon shit, so we left the
> truck and doubled up on Gary's quad where the track entered the bush.
>
> Driving up the line past the hunt camp I saw large dog prints in the
> snow and wondered if Joe had brought his dog, Lucy, out. As we got
> closer to a little high grass meadow at the next fence line large
> numbers of ravens and magpies took off. "There's something dead on the
> left," I say to Gary while straining to see over his shoulder, "Can you see
> anything?"
>
> I couldn't see anything showing from where the ravens were leaving, but
> looking over Gary's shoulder I saw two black Angus calves huddled
> together near the fence. We drove into the meadow and stopped. The
> area had been well trampled and bits of blood spotted the snow. We
> found the gutted calf. It didn't look as if the wolves had really
> managed to eat that much of it, just parts of the left hind quarter.
> The birds had been having a fine time.
>
> We inspected the site and then Gary took the quad down the trail 150
> yds or so to the gate in the fence so he could get on the south side.
> I walked up to the fence, set down my rifle and fanny pack and then rolled
> under. I had just started to think that it was strange we hadn't heard any
> wolves howling on our previous trips out when a wolf howled, to be answered
> by two or three further west. They sounded rather close.
>
> I had put on my fanny pack and was starting to feed my 7mm when, some
> 200 yds away, a large grey wolf walked across the cut-line we'd just
> come up. I brought the rifle up to cover the spot in case there were
> any friends following. Nothing more. All I got was a picture of his track.
>
> Gary saw me with my rifle up, so waited down the trail until I
> signaled him. He drove up and we discussed what had happened. He hadn't
> been able to hear the wolves howling while riding on that damn machine. As
> we chatted I notice something moving beyond the two calves. It was behind
> the brush that grew along the fence line, but I could seen well enough to
> tell it wasn't moving like any cattle. I pointed and whispered to Gary,
> "Black! Not beef!!" He looked and nodded.
>
> A second later a medium sized black bear with a glistening winter coat
> ran across the east-west cut-line less than 75 yds from us. Neither
> Gary nor I were interested in bear, but our absent friend, Don, had so
> wanted a good black bear hide. I hope that Wal-Mart deal was a
> wonderful one.
>
> With the appearance of the wolves we lost a bit of our optimism with
> regards to getting an elk. We decided to do a quick scout to see if
> we could locate any sign in the fresh snow. I headed down the
> north-south line past a water hole with the idea that I would also
> check out some of the east-west trails for sign. Gary would make a
> wide circle to the west until he hit the cutline I was walking and
> head north to meet up with me.
>
> I covered a reasonable distance south and did a good check of the area
> to the east, but not an elk track to be seen. They'd gathered up their
> calves and left the wolves with nothing but beef to eat.
>
> After some two hours of scouting and sneaking I heard Gary's quad coming up
> the line so I turned and headed back to the east-west trail I'd
> just checked out. It was a reasonably open area suitable for a
> campfire.
>
> Gary arrived and after a brief discussion we agreed our elk hunt was
> dead. Lunch was long overdue, so we gathered dead alder branches for
> the fire. I pulled out a bit of "Firestick" to start things. It was
> tougher than expected to get the small branches burning. The bark had
> absorbed a lot of moisture in the wet snow. I whittled some branches
> down to dry wood while Gary got his chainsaw and cut some of the
> larger pieces into splittable lengths so we could expose the dry
> interior. It took a while and some use of the old Aussie drover hat
> to produce a breeze, but eventually we got enough heat and flames.
> Some old conifers would have been a good help, but none in the
> immediate area.
>
> Gary has lived in this country for a long time and spent a lot of it
> with the old time trappers and their tales of difficult trips and near
> starvation. In tribute to these men Gary makes sure he is always well
> stocked and a trail meal with Gary is always a pleasure. Gary's first
> project was to melt some snow and get it boiling. While this pot was
> working he pulled out the fry pan and got the bannock mixed and ready
> to cook.
>
> As the tea water came to a boil the bannock was adjusted to cook from the
> top.
>
> The elk chili went on after the second cup of tea. Man, that was the best
> chili I'd ever eaten. The elk meat was in small, tender chunks.
> The chili was piquant, but not overly spiced so the flavour of the elk
> meat wasn't overpowered. Mopped up with a chunk of bannock that was
> also surprisingly good. Gary was true to his plan; we'd either get an
> elk or have a darn fine time trying.
>
> On our way out I tippy-toed up to the wolf kill, but there was nothing
> but ravens and magpies in the area. I worked my way down the cut-line
> until I found the spot where the wolf had crossed and took a picture
> of the track. We reported the kill and the situation to a neighbour
> who would pass it on to the rancher who owned the cattle.
>
> Knowing we'd found their kill the wolves would probably not return.
>
> Kyle
>
>

Back from the wild blue yonder folks ... I was fortune enough to see an unbelievable amount of animals.
There were an abundance of deer and plenty of bears as well.

We had just finished our breakfast and a large cinimon sow walked out of the trees only 50 yds away from our fire.. She was a large bear. She left her cubs in the trees and recovered them and move on..
We caught lots of fish. Some not much bigger than the lure we were using. But that's ok it was fun none the less. No large fish at all but lots of them.
Looking forward to going back in Sept to do some more fishing , maybe a little hunting and repairing our friends roof..

Later..

Gone fishing

In a short time I will be leaving our home in the care of our son and his lady friend. They are great kids and will do a great job.
I am going fishing /camping.

Mostly camping with some friends . Hopefully the weather will co-operate more than it has so far this weekend. The rain and myself just don't mix well.
Started my day with a great breakfast at Yummers. Then proceeded to fuel up the truck and camper. That wasn't a pleasant experience. The gas prices are getting set in place for the summer as usual . Strange how that always seems to happen.. Guess it's call making an extreme profit on the back of the consumers. Oh well enough about that . Nothing we can do about it this morning.
If the rain subsides the camping will be great. If it don't it will be great anyway.

Wish you all a great day

Hello again

Haven't been fishing for some time now. But maybe this weekend . We are going to Moorehead Lake with some friends . I'm told the fishing is fun because there are so many fish .

Giving a lot of thought to the stuff we have to take camping. If it was just me it would be a simple uncomplicated task.
However that is not the case. So I will have to load a lot more stuff in the camper.. But that's ok as I've said a weekend of fishing is a good thing. Not necessarily for the fish but nothing is perfect.

I will have to take some worms with me this time . Just so I cover all the bases. I won't bother looking for bears on this trip. For one thing there are toooo many bugs. And they make the work of dressing out an animal very uncomfortable.
Anyway that is it for today..

Later

A day of poor fishing far out weighs a good day at work

What can be better than making love to a senuous affectionate woman ???? Nothing.

However catching a bunch of fish ,where there are no other boats on the lake and the fishing is absolutely unbeatable is right up there.
I have been fortunate enough in the past while to hit a couple of lakes where that actually took place. The fishing I mean.
We were using a gradual sinking fly line with 9 ft of no. 5 leader trolling with a electric motor.
We manage to get the fishing done before the lake turned..
Although the water was higher than usual the fishing was great..