September 1st!! Opening day of archery season. Kyles parents took the kids for a sleepover last night so that we could head out bright and early. We got up into the blind at about 7:00am and it was cold! It was only 5C and windy. I really should have worn a couple more layers but dumb me thought the blind will block most the wind, I should be fine....WRONG. I had layers in my pack but once we were settled I didnt want to go digging through it incase I scared an animal away. At about 8:00 we had a bull light up...and then another. We were getting excited that we may actually have a chance at one the first day. They called back and forth for a bit and then we heard cows chirping, not far from us. So I got my bow and started to get ready hoping the cows would get one of the bulls to come down. Then the cows went silent...the wind had picked up and changed. It was swirling right to them and they left. Shortly after that the bulls went silent too. It was pretty frustrating. So we sat for another hour or 2 hoping maybe they would come back but the wind was not cooperating. It was constantly changing and swirling so we decided to get out of the blind and hike...Thank god! I was freezing, my feet were so numb I couldnt feel them for a little bit of the hike and was pretty clumsy. But the rest of me warmed up quick especially with the sun out now. We decided to hike up out of the basin and up the mountain. Close to the ridge we found the one bulls bedding area and where he was calling from. So it was nice being able to learn the area a little better and have an idea where he hangs out now. So we made our way down to the jeep and decided to go to a different area.
We headed to a different area in hopes we could find a bull, even though we were running out of time. We had to pick up the kids before dinner time. So we parked the jeep and hiked up to the ridges. We had run out of time, and if we had shot an elk we would have been very late so we decided to do some glassing from the top and get some pictures. It was beautiful country and very steep, but we had a good view of some slides and an adjacent mountain range. We gave our new Onca Hunting Wear a good first test run and were happy, but we have a whole season to put it to the test still. We had a good day and had some fun. I was happy to be back in the high country.
