Three Moose Shot...

...And Left To Rot In Antelope Basin, Near West Yellowstone.

 

Sort leaves ya speechless, eh? Sort of scary too, I'd say knowing the woods these days seem to be overrun with despicable, low-life bastards such as the desparadoes who committed this heinous act. Whatever they are it sure ain't HUNTERS!!! What planet jerks like this are hatched is more than I know but sure seems unlikely they could be Earthlings. Like the whackos who shot up the Sauerbeiner/Ruby Dell Block Management sign, sign in box and sign in book now two years running, let's hope they get 'em, lock 'em up, fine the hell out of 'em and somehow lose the friggin' key. Montana, the world, the hunting world, nobody needs a-holes like these. But of course as most all of us realize all too well trot out a slick lawyer, toss in a clueless judge for good measure and... About the worst will happen is a slap on the proverbial wrist, a stern warning like don't ya dare show your face in this here court room again or else and...Well hell, whatever happened to vigilante justice and the 'ol hangin' tree.  

Montana Big Game Season Opens...

...and for me opening day was somewhat strange and more than a little disappointing. Strange in that all day in the Medicine Lodge area (I hold a mule deer buck tag and an elk B tag in Unit 302)I saw but a handful of hunters. This was after all opening day in a pretty popular area. What gives probably has a lot to do with my disappoint (has nothing to do with not punching a tag and I did see a fair number of elk just not on public that I could legally get to) in finding nearly all of the upper part of 302 and the part of 328 which borders it all but shut down to public access. This probably should not have come as a surprise since I read earlier Paul Hansen had dropped out of the Block Management program and leased hunting rights to a rich bastard (sorry the bastard's name is somehow gone)who now owns or leases tens of thousands of land in the Medicine Lodge and, worse, owns or controls most of the land along the road so... Bottom Line: Almost no public access to even more tens of thousands of acres public. And yes I realize if you own it you can do just about any damn thing you please just as I have every right to damn sure not like it. And yes I do realize this is nothing new just seems to be more rampant with each passing season. Almost gives one pause to consider joining the crowd--the ATV crowd that is--just kidding.... Anyway I had a long conversation with a local BLM Ranger and learned that BLM is considering punching a road or two to help alleviate things but "there really isn't all that many good spots which would give access to prime hunting territory."

Recent Cast 'n Blast...

ended up more castin' than blastin' but we did manage to bag a few keepers...like how many handfuls a feathers does a body need?

We caught several fat cutts, rainbows and browns in the same crick...how good is that?

Tramped and explored miles of awesome empty country...can't beat it.

Shot a couple moose...

And a few bighorns...

And visited an old friend's place who died a few years back in an horse accident...

Sage grouse live in some of the most remote, un-inhabited terrain left in the lower 48 states. Large intact sagebrush is key to the bird's welfare and survival. While warm season diets consist largely of green succulent plants such as dandelion leaves and even alfala, late fall over winter their diet is pretty much exclusively sagebrush leaves. Most studies put the winter diet at 100% sagebrush. Regardless of season sage grouse are never far from sagebrush; hens nest in sagebrush and for the first few weeks the young grouse feed almost exclusively on insects and plants associated with sagebrush. As summer deepens many birds return again and again to wet meadows, spring seeps and sometimes alfalfa fields though always sagebrush is nearby. Sage grouse have become a political lightning rod of late. With most states cowtowing to agricultural, mining and developers interests who fear severe restrictions should the big grouse be listed as endangered, seasons have been shortened severely, permits are often required and bag limits in some cases are but a single bird allowed. In Montana thanks to strong-willed biologists who refuse to buckle our season stands at 61 days, bag limit is 2 per day (some biologists tell me it would be 4 per day if not for the heavy handed political movement currently sweeping sage grouse country). The reason for the dichotomy is of course easy to figure out: Montana bases its management plan soley on science while all the rest are based pretty much on greed and emotional BS. So there you have it...

Sage Hens in the High Lonesome

Terry, Scooter, Smoke, Annie and I spent yesterday combing some of the highest, remotest sagebrush basins on the planet for sage hens. All day we found scattered singles and little bunches, some of which eluded both us and the dogs, most flushed wild although in early afternoon Scooter (6 mo. old German shorthair) and Smoke (3 yr. old pointer) combined on a small bunch and Terry did his part dropping a young cock with a single well-aimed shot. Scooter established point first (her first by the way) and Smoke backed, a pretty exciting deal for Terry and obviously a monumental moment in Scooter's fast developing career. The little rascal is really coming on, hunts all day, went from busting birds last week to what turned out yesterday to be a really fine performance for any bird dog let alone a young pup. Meanwhile Annie and I tramped miles of sage and when we finally decided to hang it up around five and head out had yet to see even one bird. But all of that was about to change. Driving out on a rough two-track we spotted a couple birds hunkered in the sage not far actually from where we had hunted earlier. We drove on a few hundred yards parked the truck, turned loose the hounds and... Soon we had points in every direction birds flying hither and yon and...when the melee finally ended we had three birds down and young Scooter's best performance about to unravel. Pointing staunchly Terry dropped the bird but only winged it scooted through heavy sagebrush with Scooter hot on the trail! Pointing and trailing like a veteran the pup finally ran it down but only after a 100 yards or more! Pretty damn nifty, eh? And yes Terry really is and deservedly so the Proud Papa...Go get'em Scooter... As for Annie and Smoke...well let's just say 'tweren't their best performances ever and leave it go at that...actually both dogs pretty much lost it somewhere between the first points and the 50 or so flushes followed...Still a pretty good way to end an awesome hunt in awesome country...sage hens,bird dogs, even the sometimes wayward sort ya gotta love 'em.

Montana Bird Season...One month old and counting...

 

 

If looks could kill, eh? Obviously Annie the Wirehair  takes sage hens very seriously. As a friend put it the other day...Awesome, cat-like, a real predator on the hunt. It's October now and the season is well along, a bit over half-way to the end of sage hen season, November 1. So far for us it's been tough: birds scattered, still not in the usual haunts, apparently due the extreme dry which has haunted the area pretty much since last fall at this time. I can't recall the last time we had any significant rain and except for this spring hardly any moisture to speak of, at least in this neck of woods. What birds we've found have not been far from water, taking adavantage of what little green vegetation is still around...most having been long since turned brown and desicated. Much like the withered brown grass in our backyard, each step is a loud crunch. 



Fly Fishing: Fall's Here... AT Last

Shriveled creeks, fleeting glimpses of long awaited fall colors...yesterday's sudden temperature drop--near 80 two days ago barely 40 yesterday with an all day stiff and frigid north wind...long johns and wool gloves...fleece and wool instead of well-worn fishing shirts...

...the season's first spawning redd (all time earliest for this ol' boy)and...

...a spawned out brown (another all time earliest). I caught the old girl a couple days after I spotted her and her mate spawning not far from the redd (above)e.g. NOT on the redd as has become way too de rigeuer of late...in my humble opinion that is... Anyway all that and of course the on going hunt for upland gamebirds (pheasants come in Saturday) although we have no plans for participating in the opening week circus and will continue to hunt down sage hens, huns and perhaps a blue grouse or two..