Do you see it? In the park to the left of center. There's a bull standing in there. Yeah I know. There's no way you can see it because it's like, two miles away. But I know he's there now and I've seen him come out on that park twice in the evening so I need to make a plan for tomorrow. The problem with hunting and plans is that they involve animals that don't necessarily follow the plan and other variables that are often out of our control.
This happened to me a couple years ago, where I watched a bull go into timber off of a park a few times and I decided to post up in some trees off the edge of the park and wait him out. It worked on that day and although it wasn't a huge bull, it was definitely a rewarding hunt. You can check out the details here: http://themontanadream.blogspot.com/2015/09/done-and-done.html
So when things work out, it not only affirms some feeling like you might know what you're doing, but it also contributes to an expectation that things will work out and then frustration when they don't.
I stayed the night in this drainage with the idea of going after that bull the next day. I actually got a bull to bugle within a few hundred yards of taking that photo and went after him but the bulls are just talking right now and they don't really want to engage. The bull I glassed from across the drainage was pretty predictable and I felt like I could head him off the next evening as he came back to feed. It's a good plan if nothing screws it up...
A few days ago, I noticed a noise coming out of the wheels on my truck. I brought it in and had a mechanic take a look. He thought it was the front rotors so they did a full-on break job for about $400. I left feeling confident that they had indeed fixed the problem but they didn't. I noticed that noise again as I was driving through the mountains. I figured I'd just wait until I was out to have them look at it again but I woke up the next morning, jumped in the truck and drove around to see another vantage-point to glass and realized that this was something serious. Not only did the noise get louder, there was also now a grinding sensation. Not good.
The grinding and the squealing coming from my wheel was so loud, I'm guessing every animal in the mountains for miles around was covering their ears and heading for cover. It wasn't the rotors, although now my breaks were locked up and grinding the rotor to a pulp. It was the bearings and I'm 15 miles from nowhere and worried about getting out. The bull would have to wait.
It wasn't an epic ordeal getting out. I left the truck in 1st and 2nd gear and only touched the breaks when I absolutely had to. I rolled up the windows and turned up the radio and prayed I didn't start a fire. It worked out. I nursed it all the back to Helena but now I'm waiting for bearing to be shipped. Bummer. But I do know there are elk in those woods and I will be going after them again.
Keep 'em where they live...
P.S. I took my winter bag this time and was actually able to get some sleep. However, in the middle of the night, I heard this whooping sound that woke me up. Sasquatch?
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