2018...A Year of Firsts

For the first time in a long time, I did not harvest anything during the fall season and I didn't kill a bear at home in the spring- but looking back on the year, it was an amazing year. Not just for me but my family. This truly was a year of firsts for us.

The spring season started off with bear and turkey here in BC. I have never killed a turkey, although it wasn't for lack of trying lol. But this year I was lucky enough to get my very first one! And to top it off, Kyle and I doubled on them- a first for us.

At the beginning of May, Pheonix turned 10- legal age to hunt in BC. From then on we were on the hunt for her and her first big game animal, she wanted a black bear. We had a few plays on different bears but she just wasn't quick enough. Then we went to Saskatchewan (unfortunately the age there to hunt is 12) for a week and a half to do some bear hunting with friends. It wasn't long after we got home that she was able to fill her first big game animal! And it was a dandy bear. She got the enjoyment of being able to watch him interact with a sow and they had no clue she was even there. Kyle was with her when she pulled the trigger and was hanging back with Easton. Her first hunting season ever and she got her first big game animal and her first bear. She was over the moon.

In Saskatchewan, I was able to accomplish a first for me as well. We had been there 2 other years previously and each time I left with just a tag. This year was different. The very first night we were there- Pheonix and I sat in a stand and waited patiently. The very first bear that came in was the one I took. I knew he was a decent bear but I wasn't expecting for him to grow in size when I walked up to him. 3rd time...or year...was the charm apparently. And he is my biggest bear ever, he even beats Kyles grizzly bear! We both came home with beautiful big bears.

The fall season came along and I was 100% dedicated to getting Pheonix her first buck. She had so many opportunities but she just had troubles getting on them quick enough or was picky about what she wanted. When the doe season opened for youth she was excited to be able to shoot a buck and a doe, so of course when the first doe she had an opportunity at came she took it without hesitation. It was just the kids and I hunting when she got her first deer. It took a bit for her to get set up, but the doe wasn't concerned with us. She missed her first shot, and I was keeping an eye on it in my binos. I was very impressed and proud of her on how she didn't even miss a beat when I told her to shoot again. She adjusted her shooting sticks and shifted over and reset up like a pro in one swift movement. Perfect shot and she had her first deer.

When she shot her first deer, Kyle was away up north hunting for moose with his cousin. His first time hunting moose up north. He was successful with a beautiful tri-palm. His first moose ever.

For the 2019 season, Pheonix already has her sights set on a cougar! We will see....

 

Pheonix's First Deer

Friday! The start of the weekend. Work is done, school is out and we are scrambling to get our hunting gear together and into the truck so we have time to hunt. The sun sets at 7pm now and is black out by 7:30, so it doesn't leave a lot of time to get everything together and to get out.

We managed to get everything done and horse fed by 4:30 and we were hunting by 5. Doe season had opened up on the 10th of this month for everyone. On the way out I was telling Pheonix she had the rest of season to shoot a doe and a buck, October 10-31 was doe for everyone, and youth had a doe season Nov 1- 30 and general buck season went until the 30th of November. She had passed up so many spike bucks since September 1st, I wasn't sure she would be wanting to shoot a doe as her first deer. We have been hunting for this one big buck we have seen 4 times now and she has had a chance at twice. So I was a bit surprised when she said she was willing to shoot a doe.

Right off the get go we found a deer, from a distance it looked like a doe but as got closer you could see it was a little button buck so we continued on. We came upon a lone doe after that, she wasn't concerned about us and was just kind of milling around. I asked her if she wanted that one and she asked my thoughts on it. I told her she was a young doe and that was all she needed to hear- she wanted to pass. Onward we went. After that every doe we found had fawns with her. But it was a beautiful evening and we were having a good time. She wanted to go into the area where the buck hangs out. I told her we wouldn't see him because we are going in to early- she was ok with that. Now I drive a half ton truck and this road is basically a rough quad trail, I don't really like taking my truck in there because I have poor tires for the type of terrain I have to drive through but we took it slow and my truck made it in one piece lol. 7 o'clock hit and I told her that we didn't have much light left for hunting, so if we seen a deer and she wanted to take it, she would need to move a little faster getting set up than she usually does. Shortly after I said that she says deer! So I stop and look with my binoculars. A doe- I scanned the clearing looking for any sign of another deer with her and there was nothing to be found, so I drove the truck up a little farther and parked it. We jumped out and walked the fence line back to where we seen the deer. We got there and the doe was still there feeding. So Pheonix tried to set up using the fence as a rest- didn't work. It was either to high or too low for her. So we set up the shooting sticks aka my trekking poles strapped together. She goes mom they are to low, so I reset them and she was good. I sat watching the doe in my binos. Now she has missed 2 bucks this season already, so I was hoping she wouldn't have a threepeat. The doe was in a massive clearing up on a steep hill and Pheonix was shooting off her knees because that's the most comfortable position for her- so the shot was a steep one and more difficult than the two misses earlier. It didn't take her long to find her in her scope and after a minute- boom. I watched the doe run about 10 yards then stop and stand there. I quickly said reload reload! She did and was able to shift the gun and shooting sticks so she had a sight of the doe and within a few seconds- boom. Off goes her second shot. I said you got her! I watched her run about 30 yards and she disappeared from my sight. So we listened and sure enough you could hear her crash. Pheonix asked what was that? I replied, "That's your doe crashing. She's down! " She was pretty excited, she wanted to go find her right then and there. I told her to wait a few minutes so I could bring the truck back down and get my pack.

By the time we got the truck back down the light was fading fast. So I looked for my headlamps in my pack. I found my back up lamp- batteries were dead, crap! I looked around and couldn't find my good one, double crap. So I searched my truck to find the yellow one I kept in it for emergencies and it was no where to be found....maybe Kyle took it? uh oh. No headlamps and it was now dark...so I used the flashlight on my phone which sucks...bad. So we headed towards where we last seen her, in the dark with the flashlight on my phone. Pheonix was nervous, there was a cow bull hanging out in the clearing and now that it was dark you couldn't see him. But he never bothered us. We searched for an hour and I started to say it would be better to come back in the morning. But as we started walking down I found blood, so we searched for a little longer. Couldn't find her, so I went through my pack and found a garbage bag (my flagging tape was in the truck) and tied it to a tree marking the blood trail for morning. We got back to the truck at 9pm. She was understandably worried that coyotes were going to get it, but I reassured her it would be fine.


I got the kids up early the next morning so we could eat and get going right away. We headed back in and as we pulled up to where I had parked the truck the night before I looked up on the hill and said there she is. Pheonix was excited and asked how I knew it was her- I could see her white belly from down here. She was about 10 yards from where I tied the garbage bag onto the tree- we had walked all around her the night before! To be fair she did die in like a dug out on the hill lol. We had brought the dogs with us just encase she was hard to find- more eyes the better. But they weren't needed this time lol. So we all hiked up to her and not a hair was out of place. We looked her over and it looked like Pheonix missed her first shot and her second one was perfect- double lung shot. Unfortunately the steep angle of the shot resulted in the bullet exiting through the guts- I was careful not to puncture the bloated belly. Koda was not being helpful trying to bury the deer in dirt while I was working on it. After pictures, I got all the meat off that I could and strapped it on my backpack- Pheonix had to help me get up lol. And we hiked back down to the truck. Once at the butcher he weighed the meat- 60lbs. Now she's asking every day when her deer will be done!

2017 Whitetail Buck

Hunting with the kids can some times be a challenge, especially when the temperatures are starting to drop and you can feel winter trying to claw its way into the area. We do a bit more truck hunting when it's cold, mainly because Easton has a hard time staying warm. He's like me in that way, I have a hard time keeping warm and I always carry a backpack full of layers with me. This year we haven't been having to much luck when it comes to elk. The hot summer and drought conditions pushed the elk out of our usual elk spots and so we had to do a little more exploring. So we haven't been seeing much of elk, actually we weren't seeing much of anything for the first week or two after the bush was re-opened. Due to fires the bush was closed from September 2-14, they finally re-opened it on my birthday (15th) at noon.

We traveled a little more north hoping we wouldn't see too many people out, boy were we wrong. Truck after truck and we ended up seeing nothing at all. The terrain in there is to thick and steep for the kids to hike, so we chalked it up to a nice evening drive.

Next time we stayed a little closer to town and tried sitting. We each took a kid and separated.  I had Easton with me. We were seated in the middle of a rock ledge with a bunch of fallen trees to cover any movement. After about 30 minutes Easton was asking how long we were going to stay. The wind was howling and it was a bone chilling one that cut right through your clothing. I told him until dark. He was bored but played with his lego men beside me. I wasn't too worried about the noise he was making-the wind would cover his sound.  By this time he had his hoodie on and his jacket along with my gloves and toque. After another 15 minutes, he said he was cold. So I pulled out my down jacket for him to wear and pulled both his hoods up over the toque. I bundled up after I got him cozy, wearing my vest and softshell jacket, gloves and toque. We sat there for a little bit and he snuggled up to me. After an hour he was asking if daddy and Pheonix were back at the truck yet, I kept telling him no they weren't but he wanted to go check. This was his way of saying he wanted to go back to the truck. We sat for another 10 minutes and I could see he was cold, I was starting to get pretty chilled too. So I suggested we head back to the truck. I messaged Kyle to let him know what we were doing and he asked us to come pick them up then. Neither of us seen an animal, but that's part of hunting.

Finally, one evening I made a suggestion on where we should go. We have good luck with whitetail in there and we see bear and elk too. We were seeing a couple does, some little bucks. But not really anything either of us wanted to cut our tags on. We parked the truck where they deactivated the road and Kyle decided to go for a short walk on the other side, I stayed at the truck with the kids. I took a picture of the sunsetting and let Pheonix play with the big camera.
When Kyle came back to the truck it was about 20 minutes before we would lose shooting light, and we turned around and started making our way out. We only went about a kilometer down the road when he stops the truck and says big buck Niki. I coudn't see it, it was on his side of the truck down a pretty good hill. I didn't waste any time, I jumped out with my gun and dropped down into the clearing a little bit. I instantly seen him with the light bouncing of his antlers, he looked like he was the same size as Kyles big buck that he shot a couple years ago. He was standing just on the edge of the treeline in a cut block about 200 yards down. I didnt waste any time I put my rifle up, aimed and squeezed the trigger. Kyle watched him in his binos. As soon as my shot went off Kyle says you hit him hard, I reloaded and made my way down a little bit more to a giant root ball. I was going to use it as a rest if needed. But it wasn't needed. He was going down when he was heading back into the treeline and I watched him go down with a huge crash. I was over the moon! We waited a bit and grabbed our backpacks. Pheonix wanted to come with us, Easton stayed up in the truck and watched a movie snuggled in his nest of blankets. By the time we got down to him we were almost out of light in the clearing, it was dark in the trees. He was easy to spot though, he had fallen with his antlers stuck in the ground and his bright white throat patch seemed to glow in the low light.

Once we got to him he did have some ground shrinkage, but I didn't care. He was still an amazing buck. My biggest one and he had a unique rack- double brow tines on both side with a kicker on the one which made him  a 6x7.
Pheonix was getting nervous with the darkness in the trees, so I gave her my unloaded rifle to take back to the truck and she could stay up there with Easton until Kyle and I finished up, we kept Kyles rifle ready just in case.
It didnt take us to long to get him field dressed. We loaded him onto my pack and I hiked back up to the truck. Kyle didn't take a single piece of him. At the butcher we weighed just the 4 quarters, backstraps, and tenderloins- he came out to 67lbs.



Nikita

Sept 5 - Archery Season in BC 2015

The day started like any other day during hunting season, except I was not hunting with Kyle or the kids. I was heading out to hunt with a friend of mine and his son, while Kyle took the kids hunting. Both of us were looking for elk and decided maybe we could do better split up.
I got to James camp site at 6:30 am. It was perfect timing, they were pretty well ready to go. So we grabbed our bows and started walking. It was raining, and had been raining all night so everything was already saturated. We had to wait a little bit for daylight to come but once it did we were able to  glass the fields down below. It didn't take long to spot a small herd of about 8 elk, 6 cows and 2 calves. Luckily the area was open for cow. They were at the opposite end in the farthest field from us so we started to walk when movement caught my eye below us- 2 elk had come onto the field below us. It was a cow and a spike bull. The guys gave me the go ahead on first elk so once they had gone behind some trees a scooted down the large steep hill and across the field. I had kept an eye on them until i lost sight at the bottom, I noticed the cow had made the tree line on the other end of the field when I reached the bottom. I hoped that the spike was still in the field, lagging behind her like he did before. I got to the edge of the field and could hear him making his way up the big hill in the trees. James and Chris caught up to me and we decided to try for the larger group of elk at the opposite end of the area. We made our way through soaked waist high grass and down to the river. Unfortunately we ended up jumping the cows and they took off so we made our way back to their camp. The rain never let up the whole time, I was really happy with my Onca Gear. Under my softshell jacket I was completely dry, even my phone in my pocket was dry, and my pants and jacket both were dry by the time I made it back to town in with the heat on in my truck. My boots on the other hand felt like they had enough water in them for fish to live in. As I made my way out of the bush I called to see how Kyle was doing with the kids. He was successful! Apparently he got a cow elk right at daybreak and by the time I phoned it was already dropped off at the butcher. So we met up and left one vehicle behind and tried to find me an elk. We found a grizzly and lots of whitetails, little bucks and does with fawns- but no elk. So I finally had enough of my wet feet and we made our way home.

I changed my boots and we headed out again. The rain was still coming down but it was getting the animals moving so we didn't want to waste it. We went to a different area and it didn't take long for us to start seeing game. Right away we started seeing deer and a black bear! Then another black bear and another. We ended up seeing 6 black bears total, 3 young bears and a sow with little itty bitty cubs. I made attempts at stalking several deer but the one wasn't going to stick around for anything and the other I came close to but a truck pulled up and was making a bunch of noise and scared the buck away. After that it was all does and little bucks. We did manage to kill a couple grouse for the freezer afterwards tho, the kids were pretty excited. As we were running out of light we happened upon a couple deer. Kyle takes one look and says Nice Buck, Go! So I got my arrow nocked and started to pull a stalk, I only seen the one buck because he was a red color and he had a nice 4x4 rack that was tinged slightly red. He seen me and he spooked into a large patch of xmas trees, but when he spooked the other one slowly jogged behind him into the tree patch. So I didn't get a good look at him, just noticed movement and a grey body. So I made my way quietly around the xmas trees until i found a slight opening through them. I tucked in a little so I had cover and decided to wait to see if they would come through it. As I was tucking in the red buck spotted me. All i could see was a face and antlers watching me from the trees. So I froze. It took him a minute to decide what he wanted to do but he eventually scooted across the opening without giving me the chance to draw back. So i knelled down hoping the other one was coming. It didn't take long and I seen antlers coming through the trees. Knowing I had a small window of opportunity I pulled back right away and waited at full draw. He didn't even know I was sitting only 20 yards away, he started to walk into the opening and as soon as I had a clear shot i took it. The arrow hit him hard. So I waited for a minute or 2 before running back to get Kyle, just making note of where i was and where he was when i hit him. I knew it was going to be a hard search for him, the xmas tree patch was HUGE and extremely thick. Kyle came in with me and the kids waited quietly in the truck. We found my arrow and started to do a bit of a grid through the trees, it didn't take long and I could here truck doors banging back at the road and the kids making a bunch of noise. So Kyle kept looking and I ran back down to the truck to give them poop for being so noisy. As soon as I opened the door to give them trouble Pheonix cuts me off saying she found my buck. I looked at her dumbfounded. She pointed out the window into the trees a little ways, she says hes right there I watched him and the other buck run over there and then yours fell down and the other one ran. So I put my binos up and sure enough there he was, 30 yards from the damn dirt road! So I bailed the kids out so they could come and see it with me.

I was so excited to see him. I never realized how big he was until I walked up to him and was able to put my hands on him. He is definitely my biggest deer to date.

Back to back bucks

Dec 1& 2

First day of bow Season! So happy that the rifles are away until predators and that most people are out of the bush. We decided to go out for an afternoon  /evening hunt with the kids. The bush was alive with deer, we seen over 30, but we also didn't realize that the weather was taking a turn that night. 

While we were driving out we noticed a doe bedded down only 15 yards off the bush road. So We stopped and backed up to get a better Look at her. As we were backing Up She got up, and when we stopped she ran...taking her boyfriend (that we hadn't seen) with her. And he was big! Kyle tried following them but The snow Was horrible for stalking. Frozen, thin lcy snow. So we continued On. We found lots of does and fawns through out the day and even some spike and 2 point bucks. We came upon a doe that had no concerns or worries About us, I hummed and hawed whether I wanted to shoot another doe. Finally I decided. I Walked back to where She was and ranged her at 20 yards, pulled back and let my arrow fly. Missed. She had taken one step side ways and my arrow just missed her, scared her though. She jumped straight up in the air and walked off. I went down and found my arrow, not a spec of blood. I Walked back up to the jeep and we Continued On to where we had plans on going. We got to the clearings and parked. We sat and glassed for a little while. We soon found a group of about 5 or more does And fawns. The clearing has a lot of high brush and clusters of Christmas trees so we thought we Would walk down the road thru the clearing. We made it almost to the end of the Clearing when I seen movement out of the Corner of my eye, A buck. He was on the trail of a hot doe and didn't take notice to us. When l finally got Kyles attention he had moved into a patch of Christmas trees. I motioned to Kyle where he Was heading.  He tried as quietly as he could to get ahead of the buck. The buck beat him out of the trees and stopped at 60 yards, he now noticed he wasn't alone. Kyle pulled back and let an arrow fly. I heard the smack and he was down within 30 yards. Kyle was ecstatic.  It was his biggest buck with a bow. I ran back to get the jeep and brought it down, then helped him drag the deer over. 

The next morning Pheonix had school, so we decided to go out after we dropped her off. Well, we woke up to a blizzard. We drove all the bush roads trying to find some sign of life in the woods. Nothing. I was getting pretty frustrated and even more so after receiving 2 phone calls(one from city bylaw) that our one dog was barking non stop. So i was annoyed, frustrated and feeling defeated for the day. As we were heading out to go home, we turned down one of the side roads off the bush road just as a detour. Off in the distance Kyle sees a buck. The only living thing we had seen all day, and it was a buck. He was heading away from us so I jumped out and tried to cut him off. He was heading towards another spur road so I headed down that, thankfully the snow was soft and deep from the snow storm,  cushioning my footsteps.  I managed to catch up to him just after he crossed the spur and he stopped broadside 45 yards from me. I quickly pulled back and let my arrow go. I hit him perfect height but he took a small step forward so my arrow hit him a little further back then I wanted. I followed him a little bit and seen he was bleeding so I backed off and went to the jeep. It was getting close to having to pick up Pheonix do we decided to let him have a couple hours to die. Kyle took me home so I could get Easton some lunch and pick up Pheonix and he headed out to find my deer. It didn't take him long to find him, but he did go quite a distance.  He was a tough one. By the time I got back to the house with the kids he was on his way home with him. We loaded the kids up and went out so we could get pictures and clean him out. I was pretty happy, my day definitely turned around.  He is my first archery buck and my biggest overall. 

4 long years has paid off

October 24, 2012

In the last few days we have been having a snow fall warning for the whole area. And since it had snowed a good couple of inches over night we decided to go out and see if we could find some whitetail or mule deer.
We got the kids packed up and ready for a whole day out and about and brought the puppy (sitka) along. We put Sitkas jacket on him so he would stay warm in the box of the truck, the temperature only got up to 0. Kyle is trying to train him to be a hunting dog and to see how well he tracks blood. We left town at about 11:30 am and planned to be out until after dark (7:00 pm).

While we were driving down one of the main back roads we spotted 3 deer in the back of a clearing so we stopped. I jumped out, got my bow ready and started to head in after them. They weren't at all concerned about me, not until I got about 80 yards from them. I had my range finder with me and was using it as binoculars. I sat for a little bit and watched them. I decided to watch them and figure out which one the fawn belonged to. There were two does and a fawn, one doe was younger then the other. I watched them for about 10 minutes and figured out the fawn belonged to the older doe, so I set my sights on the other. She was much more jumpy then the mother, as was the fawn. But the mother didn't really take the fawns reactions into account. The doe I was after never stood still, she was back and forth, walking away then coming back, and the mother and fawn were in between us. Momma knew I was there but she wasn't worried...until I got within 40 yards of them and started circling behind them to get to the other doe. I'd take 2 steps then she would watch me, and it continued like that until the baby bounded away and momma slowly walked away from me...taking my doe with them. So I headed back to the road and back to the truck.

We seen many animals. Bald eagle, tons of elk (2 of which were legal bulls, 3 days after season ended), golden eagle, skunk, grizzly, redtail hawk, and tons of whitetails (most were does with fawns). We also found an area where a pack of wolves were running. Their tracks were all over the place and you could see where they had been sleeping. This got Kyle excited, we had decided this winter we were going to try some wolf hunting. Kyle went for a walk to look out over a lake to see if any were running around while I stayed with the kids. Pheonix was asking me what daddy was doing and when I told her he was looking to see if he could see a wolf she got excited and asked if she could shoot one when she got bigger. I think we will have a little hunter on our hands!

After a while we decided to go up a road nobody had been on. It was a long road. Finally we crept up to a landing that had fresh deer tracks on it. So Kyle and I jumped out with our bows and told the kids to sit and watch their movie and we would be right back. We walked up onto the landing and checked out the tracks, it was timber all around the old landing. We looked up the hill to where the tracks led and seen a deer disappearing through the timber. We decided to follow since we figured the deer didn't know we were there. There was absolutely no wind, which was nice because earlier it had a nasty bite. We quietly stalked up after it. About half way up the big hill, it caught sight of us and stopped, we got a good look at her then at 40 yards. Big mature doe, without a fawn. She was alone. She stood and watched us, she was more curious then scared. So I got my bow ready and started walking away from kyle to the left so I could get a clear shot. While I was walking, Kyle started to talk to her and it caught her attention. She was listening to him but watching me. I pulled back and settled my pin on her and let the calm run over me. I released. I seen where the arrow entered and her mule kick. It went through her and she took off. I listened and heard her crash. So Kyle and I hiked up to where she was standing and retrieved my arrow and found her trail. We tried to get Sitka to follow the trail but he couldn't put 2 and 2 together, it was his first time. She had ran straight across the hill, only 20 yards away. After 4 years of bowhunting and never able to harvest anything, I finally got my deer! It was well worth the hard work and long wait.

We dragged her down to the landing through all the brush. As we were dragging her the Korelian was coming out in Sitka. He was jumping at her and nipping at her. He was excited. As we were heading through all the brush you could hear Pheonix cheering from the truck. We got to the landing and Kyle brought the truck up and let the kids out. Pheonix was very excited. Easton was leery of the deer. We got some pictures and Easton wanted to sit with me but he didn't know about the deer. After the pictures, the kids were happy to play in the snow and Pheonix would come help with the deer. Once we were done, we got everybody back in the truck and started to head out. We had about 1 hour left of light so we hunted the way out, hoping maybe Kyle would get lucky. He pulled a couple stalks but nothing. It was a great day spent as a family, and thankfully we were lucky enough to harvest a deer.

Nikita

Trying for a doe

October 16. 2012

We have been fortunate that Oma (Kyles mom) has been so willing to have some grand baby time and has taken the kids last night and tonight. So we have taken advantage of the free time and have used it for hunting. I have been hunting with my bow for several years now and have yet to harvest anything with it. Last year we got desperate for meat, so on the last day I pulled out my rifle and I was able to harvest a doe. This year I want to get a whitetail with my bow, no exceptions! So last night we went after my elk, since Kyle had harvested one on the weekend. The only elk we seen was a spike bull...on the highway...in the dark. The only other animals we seen were whitetails. It was like I was being taunted since I didn't have my bow with me. So I decided the next morning to take my bow along and I would focus on a doe. It had stormed all night and into the morning. Pounding rain, hail and snow with thunder, lightning and high winds. So needless to say the deer were extremely jumpy in the morning which made any stalking near impossible. We hunted from morning to night. Seeing about 45 whitetails (does,fawns and 1 small buck) and 10 elk (cows, calves and 1 large bull...on the highway..in the dark). I pulled many stalks through the day and was only able to pull back on one doe. I miscalculated the distance though and my arrow fell short as she danced away wagging her giant white tail at me. I never did find my arrow amongst the tall grass. I have used treestands, but have a hard time trusting something that hangs off a tree by a chain. I do like my ladder stand though. I now have a full understanding why people mainly use treestands for whitetail...they are very difficult to spot and stalk.

I love my bow and I love hunting with it. I love the challenge, but my is it frustrating!

Nikita

Scouting in August

August 12-13, 2012

Kyle and I decided to head out for a scouting trip and an overnighter. The valley we decided to go into is not accessible by truck, so we brought along our bikes. We loaded up the bikes, packs and 2 of the dogs (the other one( Koda) stays with the kids at the grandparents) and drove out. It takes about an hour and a half to get to the spot we park, then another few hours to get up the mountain. Unfortunately the terrain is not very bike for riding up the mountain, so with our packs on we pushed the bikes up it. That sucks by the way! Usually it is quite a bit cooler when you are up that high...but it wasn't. It was still 25 degrees while is was 30 degrees in the valley. The norm is about 15 degrees cooler then the valley...so we didn't know what we were getting into at all!

We got about 3/4 of the way up the mountain before Kyle called for a stop. We were both done, he was exhausted (he just got off night shift) and I was cooking. We stopped by a creek and the dogs were in seventh heaven! Kyle also decided to wear his new boots up and had some nice blisters emerging (yuck!). We dropped our packs, took off our boots and ate with our feet in the creek. After about an hour of resting we put our boots back on with some clean socks and decided to walk the rest of the valley with just the binos, camera and defender. Thank fully once your back there, the valley is not very long or wide so its easy to glass with binos. When we came up onto an open area Kyle announces that he sees elk across the valley. So we found some bushes to sit in and glass them. There were 10 elk in total and they had seen us. They were feeding above the tree line and one of them was a bull...a very mature bull, the others were 4 calves and the rest cows. So we watched them and scanned the rest of the valley for more signs of life and we eventually found a lone billy that came out to sun himself in the last rays of evening. We didn't stay long to watch the elk, the bull was getting pretty agitated with us and pushed the cows a little more up the mountain. We headed back to the bikes and Kyle decided we should head back to the truck.

 By the time we got to the bikes I was not feeling so good, I had a pounding headache. So we jumped on the bikes and rode down the mountain. It would have been nice....minus the headache...and it was definitely a lot faster then hiking down. While we were heading out the animals were starting to come out. On our way down the mountain we seen a massive Bull Moose, a mule deer doe and her fawn and a whitetail doe. Once we were at the truck we cooked up a mountain house and Kyle let me eat first to see if it would help with the headache...it didn't...it made me nauseous, so i didn't eat. Kyle drove us down to the valley in the dark and we set up camp..or i should say he set up camp. I was basically useless by this time, I had every piece of clothing packed on me and I was still shivering. Once the tent was ready i climbed in my sleeping bag and instantly passed out.

The next morning I felt refreshed but still a little fatigued. Kyle decided we wouldn't do any major hiking for the day. So we drove the valleys, we drove down one that we know well; it was washed out so we jumped out and walked a ways in. This time we ran into 2 cow moose, an owl, and glassed 2 more goats. After this we headed home, slowly, taking the long way around through the bush instead of heading back to the main roads.








Nikita & Kyle