Monday, September 26, 2011

Utah - After the Hunt

On Saturday 9/24, Teri came first thing in the morning to pick up Jim.  After some arranging, they were able to get all their luggage, coolers, guns, and elk head loaded into the truck for the long drive home.  Bob and I had flights on Sunday (I had moved mine up from Tuesday) so we planned to go for a drive.
Our outfitter for the hunt, R&K Hunting, has a lodge and huge hunting lease just across the border in Wyoming.  We decided to take a drive up to this lodge which is called Queen Mountain Lodge.  It was a little more than an hour drive and we arrived at about 11am.  Here’s a few photos of the lodge – a little more upscale than our accommodations in Utah.


The hunters were just coming in from the morning hunt and one of the groups in camp was filming for a TV show – Phil Phillips Unleashed.  In WY, it was still archery season so all of the hunters in camp were bow hunters.  The celebrity hunter for the TV show was a female editor of NRA magazines and she had shot a bull that morning.  The arrow had made 10” of penetration and the bull was blowing blood out his nostrils – clearly a lung shot.  In spite of that hit, the bull had run off and they had lost the track after a few hundred yards.  They decided to back off and come in for lunch.  Our outfitter, Justin Richins, has a wirehaired dachshund that is trained to track wounded game.  He called and someone drove up to camp with the dog and after lunch, they headed out to track the wounded elk.  We’ll have to watch for the TV show to find out if they recovered it.

Earlier, Justin gave Bob and me a tour of the lodge and then we did some fishing in the pond out back.  I used my flyrod and Bob borrowed a spinning rod.  We both caught a few nice rainbow trout and then had lunch.  After lunch we headed out on our next adventure – a drive thru the High Uintas Mountains.  It was beautiful and we stopped to fish some of the mountain lakes where we caught some browns and brookies.  After making a few wrong turns, we made it back to the lodge for dinner.






On Sunday morning, we had breakfast and then I drove Bob to the Salt Lake City airport for his morning flight.  My flight wasn’t until 5:10pm so I drove over to Park City and wondered thru the Main Street shops and street fair.


After lunch, I headed back to the airport, returned my rental car, and checked my bags.  In SLC, TSA checks the gun while you’re standing there and it went without a hitch.
I did most of the writing for these blog posts while waiting at the airport and during the flight home.  I landed in Cincinnati about 11:00pm and got home around midnight.

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