Deja Vue All Over Again

(click to enlarge)

Gale shot this hero shot a couple turkey days ago up near Malta. (I know, I know, her bad luck the only model fool enough to pose that day twas me but like the man says you gotta play the hand dealt ya).

Anyway the temperature (not the wind chill mind you) at first light in town was -28 (not a typo). As I walked Kate to the vacant lot across the street from the motel (too damn cold to camp) I knew the only way would be to stall awhile hope for the best.

So we headed to the cafe ordered a big breakfast (thinking bigger might take longer) swilled coffee until the waitress finally quit bringing the pot, took a drive through the refuge (the excuse there was to see how many other insane hunters we might have to dodge--weren't none). Then instead of signing in to hunt the refuge we decided to stall some more and check out a couple WPAs. By this time the gal on the radio was waxing apoplectically "dangerous" wind chills and "blowing and drifting snow" creating "hazardous" conditions to your health and well-being so...What to do? 

Naturally we pulled the ear bobs down, loosed the hound and headed for the thickest, most drifted cattail tangle we'd seen on our early morning tour. Yes, it was damn cold, insanely so, but undaunted good ol' oblivious-to-snow-and-cold Kate soon uncovered a rooster, pushed it into a drift, pointed. Lucky me, it flushed almost close enough to kiss, too easy, I made the shot and...And in no time flat we had ourselves a 3-rooster limit.Mission more than satisfactorily accomplished we made a mad dash for the truck. Cranking up the heater we then took a drive over to Nelson to check on the ice fishing (we had no intention just seemed like a good time waster and twas--in case you're interested nary a fool). By then it was lunch time so we drove back into Malta, grabbed a bowl of hot soup, swilled more coffee and...And called her good. 

The reason I bring this monumentous occasion to light this morning is of course the air temp and wind chill are once again bottomed out--minus 10 on the porch, weatherman says the wind chill is about -25 and to expect blizzard conditions through tomorrow with even stronger wind, lower lows and...well, blizzard-like. Gale just reported I-15 into Idaho, the infamous Monida Pass, is now officially verbotten...

As Yogi might say, "Here we go folks looks a lot like deja vue all over again"....over and out...Chuck

Pondering Winter and...

...this morning Al officially declared the Big Hole River trout fishing DIW. Hard to argue given it snowed all day Saturday and since Friday the high temperature in this neck of woods has yet to reach double digits even though both Saturday and Sunday the weather gurus promised highs in the low 20s. Sorry not on my porch anyway. Three mornings in a row now bottomed out below zero, -10 Saturday, -8 Sunday and -4 this morning.  OK, for southwest Montana such readings are no big deal and far from what Old Man Winter is capable of dishing out but...Single digit highs and that the wind is almost never still this time of year do make it damn chilly and while I don't know if the Big Hole is yet starting to ice over you can bet the farm should the forecasted lows for the next few days--negative 20 something in town Wednesday who the hell wants to know what up Wisdom way--the ice gods will damn sure be wearing a big grin anways.

Signs of winter have been around for awhile now, most days barely reaching the freezing mark, snow piling up almost daily in the mountains, rumors of big elk herds migrating down from the high country (near Lima several road closings in the past few days to protect one big herd from yet another potential slaughter  (hooray, tis about time, eh?) otherwise. Ducks and geese abandoning now frozen over potholes and showing up in great numbers wherrever open water exists by the thousands. Up near Stevensville at the Lee Metcalf NWR thousands of geese showed up the other day to say nothing of the many thousands ducks accompanying the big migration and on and on...

For my dogs sake and OK for our sanity I hope the Ol' Boy reconsiders at least long enough for us to make a few more swings before heading south. As come mid-December we plan to head to southwest Idaho, then on to Nevada, Death Valley and eventually to chase quail about the deserts of Arizona. And yes, winter-like or not, we can still, no doubt will still hunt but...Well you know, wimpy geezers and all, what can I say.

Hunting: One REALLY BIG Black Bear (see sad update below)

(Photo courtesy of Pocono Record)

Bow hunter David Price bagged a 17-year-old black bear weighing 879 pounds the largest bear ever recorded in Pennsylvania near Fernwood Resort on Monday.

Update:

It is now being reported "Bozo" as he was well known and lovingly labeled by the folks at Fernwood Resort was more a pet than a real live-in-the-wild bear. This of course is nothing new in Pennsylvania where fed bears are the norm a far cry from out here in Montana where "a fed bear is dead bear" meaning of course if a bear, black or grizzly, starts showing anything more than a passing interest in human food a death sentence is almost always the outcome--meted out swiftly by agents of Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks.

Pennsylvania does not allow "baiting" and if you are caught feeding deer, turkeys or bears as I recall something like 30 days before season you are subject to fines and almost always no hunting is enforced within several hundred yards of the bait/feed station for the duration. It is not however illegal to "feed" wildlife in the off-season and as such has become a popular activity wherever wildlife and humans interact, which in a populous state such as PA is almost everywhere. Our sons both have rural properties and feed during the off season much to the delight of all concerned, especially the grandsons who often sleep on the hunting camp roof to insure a bird's eye view of the nightly wildlife show. In this case the feeders are long empty when hunting season rolls around but of course this is not always true. Back to Bozo.

Fernwood apparently allows no hunting and so the feeder remains full throughout. The young man who shot the bear was not hunting on Fernwood property, no where close to the feeder (according to reports) and according to Game Commission officials "did nothing wrong." So there you have it, Bozo is dead fair and square and remains as reported a really big mother...over and out...

Chuck

The heaviest black bear ever recorded in Pennsylvania was shot and killed by a bow hunter just north of Fernwood Resort in Pike County on Monday.

The Pennsylvania Game Commission confirmed that David Price of Barrett Township killed the 17-year-old bruin, which had an estimated live weight of 879 pounds. The bear had a field-dressed weight of 744 pounds.

Price's bear was 15 pounds heavier than the state's previous record holder, a 864-pound bear killed by Doug Kristiansen of Dingman Township in 2003. That bear was also shot in Pike County.

"This bear could be No. 1 in the world," game commission spokesman Tim Conway said of Price's bear.

The world record is determined by skull size. After 60 days, the bear's skull will be measured to determine where it will stand in the record books. The world record skull is more than 23 inches wide, Conway said.

Attempts to reach Price on Thursday were unsuccessful.

Every year bears killed in Pennsylvania are entered into the Boone and Crocket rifle record books. Bears that have a skull measurement of 20 inches or greater are eligible.

This bear is unique and will be remembered because it was killed during Pennsylvania's first statewide archery hunt and could be ranked as high as No. 1 in the Pope and Young archery records.

Since 1992, six bears weighing at least 800 pounds have been killed in Pennsylvania.

Price's bear was known to game officers in both New Jersey and Pennsylvania. It was captured and tagged in New Jersey, but never in Pennsylvania, Conway said............................................

By MIKE KUHNS

Record Sports Editor

November 19, 2010