Celebrating Forty Two Years

Ardella and I celebrated our forty second anniversary yesterday , a little different than most couples. Some would opt for a cruise or an exotic get away but not us. We went to the mountains Monday evening and came back last night because I had a tooth extracted this morning. No I'm not in pain, not at the moment anyway.

We went to scout for my archery elk season which starts August 30. On Monday evening we were first rewarded by seeing three does and a short time later two yearling bucks. One had a weird rack. We drove up an old road to look for elk and as we rounded the curve , a huge buck stood feeding about 100 yards away. He did not stay there very long but was nice to see him. Later I got out of the truck to peek over a hill and there was a cow and calf elk feeding up an old road so I snuck back to the truck and shortly they appeared on the hillside. The calf probably weighed 175 pounds but still wanted to nurse from mom. The cow acted like it's nursing days are numbered. Now that cow is safe with me as I won't shoot her when she has a calf but I suspected she was not alone. The next morning we went back to see if there were other elk below the hill and yes they had feed on various plants all night. It had just rained so the tracks were fresh. I tried to find the their trail but it looked like those elk flew in and ate and left the same way. There is a brushy old clearcut and some dark timber to the north but I could not find the trail. So we started building a ground blind in an old slash pile but found out it was home to some unfriendly yellow jackets so we moved up the hill to a small bushy hemlock tree. Just behind the tree was a stump for setting and it is only about 20 yards from their trail. We took some camo cloth and draped it around the tree and across some logs so it will hide me pretty good. Then we took old branches and stuck them behind to hide my silhouette. I know there will be a bull with those cows soon.

Later we went on another walk up to a big rock where we could see for miles. Wow , God made some beautiful country in north Idaho! Even Sadie seemed to enjoy the view from the rock. We also found where another small herd of elk had fed the night before. This time I found their trail that came out of heavy timber at the top of a clearcut. These are nonflying elk.

We spent the rest of the day reading and relaxing. I'm very fortunate to have a wife that enjoys the outdoors as much as I do. She has put up with my short cuts and wild adventures all these years. She is also my favorite hunting partner so I hope she bags that big buck.

Thanks Dear for putting up with me and for our two wonderful daughters.