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.

Pumpkins, Plots, Etc

Prizewinner pumpkin (that's the variety) from seeds given to me by Grant Scheesele.  I have a couple of these vines and they appear to still be growing.  They're going to be big - too big to lift?

Watermelons from seeds given to me by Graham Scheessele.  There are 6 or so fruit but I'm afraid we're running out of growing season.  I won't be back for two weeks so I picked a couple to be sure that I get some.

I just picked pumpkins from vines that were dying.  There are many vines that still appear to be growing.  I thought that it would be best to get the ripe ones out of the field since the deer seem to be nibbling them this year.

This weekend's harvest - maybe 10% of the crop.

And there's some good size ones in there.

Watermelon harvest - haven't tasted yet.

Brassica in the orchard field.

Oats in the orchard field.

Still soybeans in the orchard field but they've been grazed hard.  They will keep eating the leaves as long as they last and then the will munch on the beans into winter.

Clover at the pond field.  This is where the 9 point was grazing on Saturday night.

The new (lower) pond field clover.

More brassica in the orchard field.

Clover in the main field.

Driveway stand - soybeans, brassica and clover.

Barn stand - clover.

Apple on the way to blog author's mouth.

Trailcams 9/18/11

Turkey parade

Coyotes looking for a turkey parade.

The big boy is out of velvet.

This guy has a high rack and he's out of velvet on 9/17.

Same buck 6 days earlier in velvet

While grilling dinner on Saturday night, I watched 4 does and this large 9 point buck in the pond stand.  I tried taking pictures thru the spotting scope - not great.  He had long main beams and a 20" to 22" spread.  His browtines were different lengths.  It looked like all of these deer entered the field up the shooting lane that I cut a year or two ago.

I'm sure this is the same buck and this pictures doesn't really do him justice.  He's been on camera before while still in velvet.

This is the "mutant" rack that has shown up before.  He's all out of velvet now and has some sticker points.

Can't see much other than this buck was in the process of losing his velvet on 9/14.

Last Warm Up for Utah Elk Hunt

And it wasn't pretty.

This was exactly 200 yards, sitting, off sticks.  The first 3 shots surrounded the bullseye in the 9 ring.  That didn't seem too bad - maybe a 2" group. Then I shot a few fliers way off to the right - had to be flinching.  I finished what was left of the box and did somewhat better.  I think after about 3 shots I just get flinchy.  First one is the most important one.

So I moved back as far as I could to still see the target and it was 240 yards but I had to shoot standing off of a rest on the back of the Ranger.  I shot 5 shots and only one of them was any good.

I also shot the 223 today, couldn't believe how much stiffer the trigger is on it.  I need to work on that when I get time.  I was getting pretty good groups with it.

The weather in Morgan Utah looks to be highs in the 70's, lows in the 40's, and sunny every day.  Comfortable for the hunters but not really cold enough to keep the elk on their feet and moving.

Here's a link to get in the mood for elk.
http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=794wEIbHlDc&vq=large