Too Much?

This is the scene from my buddy's house in the South Hills of Helena. I'm looking out over the Helena Valley. Usually, you can pretty much see the entire town from this vantage point with the Capital, the Catholic Cathedral, Carroll College--all the way out to Bob's Valley Market and on to the Sleeping Giant. It's what we pray for this time of the year for better elk and deer hunting. It's why I was so confident about my hunt on Thursday that I actually drug a sled up the drainage to my little honey hole. You gotta believe, right? Well, I did believe and the elk still hadn't shown themselves and walking out, I started thinking about patience and belief and when is too much of anything, too much. 

As for the snow, it's ok. It can stop now. I mean, there's a couple feet of snow at around 6,000 feet and in the high country, there has to be a good three or four feet. That should move the elk down. What seems to happen on public lands, is the first weekend, hoards of people hit the mountains in the lower elevations and it pushes all the animals up to where no roads go and they are relatively safe. They'll stay there as long as they can get to the food in the parks and they can move around relatively easily. Three feet of snow will definitely get them to think about heading back down-hill. 

In the past few years, that snow didn't come until late in the season or even not until after the season. It made it really tough for hunting those public lands. Now we have the snow and it's only the first week in November. We still have three weeks to hunt so this year should be a slam dunk, right? But here's the deal; the harder it is for the elk to move around, the harder it is for the hunter, which again, can be a good thing because fewer folks will be able to get out and those of us that can hump our ways through the drifts should be able to capitalize. The problem is, I'm getting old and the last couple days of pushing my way through the snow has kind of been kicking me ass. Too much?

The other thing is the idea that with enough patience and belief that the elk will eventually be back in my little honey hole, could be preventing me from exploring other options. How much patience is too much patience. When does a person just need to sell out and look for other honey holes? 

There's an expression I use for fishing in small creeks when you know there's a trout in a hole but he just won't take a look at your fly. "Someone pooped in the punch bowl." I'm guessing I don't have to explain that too much. I just wonder, with all the pressure from the past few years, if this little honey hole has turned into a shitty punch bowl. Doubt is creeping in.

By the way, the last couple days hasn't been a total bust. While walking in on Wednesday, I jumped three moose. On my walk out on Thursday, I cut a moose track that I wasn't completely sure wasn't an elk. When I turned the corner, I found a bull moose literally standing two feet from my sled that I had stashed. He turned and looked at me and we stood staring at each other at about 60 yards. I have officially seen more moose than elk this rifle season...

Keep 'em where they live...