I wish I had better news on the hunting front, but unfortunately all I was able to harvest were some good views. The upside to that is that, regardless of how much I’d like to sit around a table with all of you and share some fresh venison, it’s a lot easier to sit around our computers and let me share the views.
Hope you all enjoy.
This was at the top of a mountain about 45 minutes from my house. It’s called Monte Cristo. It’s regularly on the lists of best places in the west to view the fall colors. In this case, it was plum full of hunters on horseback and all the trails were rutted out really bad from it. I opted to only enjoy the views and moved on to another location.
At the next location, where I arrived a little later that afternoon, I immediately came across this doe and a yearling. Look closely, they’re hard to spot. The doe’s on the right of center and the yearling in on the left of it with it’s head down. Hard to see huh? Imagine trying to spot them from 250-350 yards away? That’s a common shot range when hunting in the west.
As I got up to the higher elevations, where the bigger bucks opten hide out during the hunt, the ground was covered injust a little bit (4-5 inches) of snow. It made for a beautiful hike!
Part of the area I was hiking/hunting in had been subject to a very very large forrest fire some years back. It was caused by a couple of Boy Scouts..?! Go figure? Makes for dramatic scenery though.
Finally, I made sure to get a video for you to take a look at from the top of the mountain where I was hiking and stalking a few deer. I didn’t get them, but the view was almost worth it! This is in the High Uinta Mountain Range at about 10,900 feet elevation.
I’ll be trying again this next weekend, but that will be about it for my season this year. Wish me luck!
Best
Paul~
You can reach Paul Gardener by email, or check his personal blog at A posse ad esse.
