2017 Mule Deer Hunt Day 4 Hunt Day

After a fairly good night of sleep, I was up early and shortly having french toast for breakfast.

Jim, Bill and I were headed west to the ranch the Connecticut guys were on the previous day where they had seen a few decent mule deer.  Jim admitted he hadn't been there in a few years.  He took a few indecisive turns and a few turn arounds.  This led to a couple hours of time spent locating the right ranch, including exhaustively referencing the GPS and stopping for help from a few ranch houses.  Jim was quite embarrassed by the situation.  I wasn't too thrilled that so much early daylight was being burned, but we just had to make the best of the situation.

Eventually Jim got directions from the right person and we found the ranch.  This was more classic Wyoming high country with rolling hills, flat areas and lots of sage without much in the way of trees.
We spent some time looking for mulies and saw a few of them.  Eventually we came across a buck that was bedded by itself.  It was a mature deer with reasonable width and height, but he was basically a 2x2 with a crab claw on the end of each tine.  We let him lay.

Hunting around some more, we noticed a whole heard of mule deer in a pasture across the road in an area we could not hunt.  In with the herd were a few fairly decent bucks.

The two bucks were not without company.

We watched them for quite some time hoping they would begin to move, but they seemed very content in that pasture.  We left to do some more searching and found several more groups of deer on the ranch we were hunting.  One group had a very mature deer with a nice 4 point on one side and a single beam on the other with a split brow tine.  Jim thought he was unique enough to take, but it wasn't what I wanted for a first mule deer.  It did hurt a little passing on him.
We searched some more and eventually made it back to the pasture deer who had not moved.  We ran another time through the property and I had to think very hard about the crab claw deer.  Ultimately I passed which was probably the right thing to do. 

We headed out of the ranch back to where we started on the previous day.  On the road, Jim recognized the rancher whose property we were on and stopped to talk.  The rancher had just acquired a new property so we trailed him to take a look at it.  It was only about 500 acres and had some ancient out buildings along with a flea bitten tiny house.  We drove with the rancher to the end of the property, noticing a big herd of mule deer a ways off.  We gave the rancher a ride back to the entrance to the property to a bulldozer which he was going to use to dig out a drainage ditch.
Returning back to the property, we took a closer look at the mule deer.  There were several bucks in the group, but nothing to get too excited about.  Jim kept going to see if any more were around.  As we approached a dug out bentonite hill, Jim yelled something like, "Shooter buck right there, get out and get your gun on the grill of the truck."  I saw two white patches and wasn't sure which was the deer.  I grabbed Jim's binoculars and located the deer.  I put on my orange hat and stepped out.  I was lining up on the deer when he stood.  As I was trying to get a sight picture, he spun around and started to go over the hill.  The shot wasn't too far, at about 150 yards.  But the combination of distance, scope turned down, moving animal and extreme cornering away (nearly an ass shot), just didn't feel right.  He ran over the hill without me touching the trigger. 
We drove around the hill to see him saunter off of the property.  I was a bit disappointed.  Jim was a bit pissed off.  But not rushing the trigger was the right thing to do even if it was one of the better mulie bucks Jim had seen in a long time.

We headed back out of the property.  The pasture deer had moved farther away from the ranch we were on so we headed to the ranch from the previous day to look for whitetails for Bill.  En route, Bill's legs started to become extremely painful.  Jim had to pull over for a while so Bill could exercise his legs.  It looked very painful.

Once at the ranch, the fog followed us in, making seeing anything at more than around 100 yards nearly impossible.  We sat for around two hours before heading out.  On the way out, a decent buck was chasing a doe, but it was on the wrong side of the fence.

Jim stopped for gas on the way back to the lodge and the guys for Connecticut stopped shortly after.  One of them had shot a real nice, heavy 10-point whitetail.  The other had used his doe tag.

On the road to the lodge, Jim saw some shenanigans that looked like road poachers.  He dropped Bill and I off and went back to investigate.
One of the other guys in camp had hit a decent whitetail and they had spent most of the day looking for it.  As it got dark, they were forced to call off the search.

So it was a day of ups and downs for all. 
I was not too happy at missing a rare opportunity on good mulie, but I won't second guess my decision.  If I had rushed the shot, a bad hit was not unlikely and that would have been far worse.  Hunting is always an adventure, from starting the day lost to everything else that happened, it was a pretty memorable day.  At one point in my life, rushing the shot would have been a given - I'll take it as previous lessons learned that I did not.

Dinner that night was a wonderful beef stew while everyone related the excitement of the day.

2017 Mule Deer Hunt Day 3 Hunt Day

I was up at 3:00 which is way too early even by hunting standards.  I survived some fitful restlessness until I finally got up and got a shower.
It had snowed several inches overnight and temperatures were well below freezing.  This was uncharacteristically early winter, but that can be Wyoming.

Jim took Bill and I out to a ranch about 20 miles from the lodge.  We got there right about daylight.  It is about 5000 acres and has a good population of mule deer.  The hunting technique is to use the truck as a "mobile blind" to glass for deer and then adjust to any deer that look interesting.  This might mean stepping outside of the truck and shooting, a stalk to get closer, or waiting them out to see where they go.
Very soon after it got light, we saw a mule deer buck bedded with a dow on a hillside.  As it got light Jim used his spotting scope and saw it was a 4x4, but that was including brow tines.  It wasn't a shooter, and definitely not a first-day shooter.  I fully realize the "first-day" syndrome can sometimes result in a last day without venison.

Over the course of the morning, we moved to several more spots.  I saw more deer than I have in years.  Gobs and gobs of whitetails plus a few mulies.  But the sheer number of deer was staggering
Jim saw one real nice mule deer making tracks into some timber, but we were not able to locate him after that.  Still, that did give me hope for a mule deer.

We headed back to the lodge for lunch and a rest.  This allowed me to take a few pictures of the lodge.

And deer were browsing right next to the lodge through the afternoon.  A doe tag would not even be fair here.

The lodge itself is a former riding camp and dude ranch that also served as a lodge for hunting.  The owners, Gary and Carolyn now use to to house missionary families in the US on leave, but still maintain its use as a hunting camp for Jim et al.  In addition to the main building, there is Gary and Carolyn's house along with a smaller cabin where the hunting guides camp.  With the cold, wet, clammy conditions, a warm fireplace with solid walls and a roof was a luxury.

After lunch we headed out again, this time closer to the lodge.  The first place we went had us on a rise with an expansive view.  From where we were sitting, we could see several groups of deer, including at least two groups of mule deer, but no bucks in the group. 
From where we were sitting, we could actually see Devil's Tower in the distance.  This was sort of sprinkles on the icing on the cake.

At one point I was able to watch two young bucks spar with each other.  It wasn't a full on buck fight, but it was still really cool to see.  Being able to see that alone almost made my afternoon.

We moved around a few times throughout the afternoon and saw hoards more deer.  There were several almost-shooters, but mule deer were scarce through the afternoon.

I had the job of opening and closing gates which got pretty muddy as the day wore on.  It was just above freezing, melting enough of the snow to make things a total mess.  The Wyoming mud is both crazy sticky and horrendously slippery.  At one point, I asked Jim if I could take my gun with me when I had to open the gate as the cows the gate was keeping in were arrogantly looking for snacks or something.
Jim has a strict muzzle-down policy for guns in the truck - which would not be my preference and I believe comes with its own risk.  But it is his camp.  With all the mud I had tracked into the truck, I was starting to get a bit muzzle paranoid.  I usually bring a soft-sided gun case on these types of trips just to keep the gun from banging all over the place in the truck, but I forgot on this trip.  When in Rome ... and the risk is probably acceptably low.

We ended the afternoon looking for deer off of the county road.  As with every place we had been, there were tons of deer with several almost shooters.  There was one ~4.5 year old deer that had a really nice set of antlers, but it was also a bit thin.  It was very close to shooter, but it walked to be looked at another day.

I thought we ended a little bit early as there was still ample light, but it was getting dark fast with the continued heavy cloud cover.  Back at the lodge, my boots were impossibly muddy from my gate duty and a lace had nearly broken.  Thankfully I had the foresight to bring some spares.

Most of the other hunter's day was similar to ours.  Hundreds of deer seen, but none quite good enough yet.  One group had gone after one whitetail, but had failed when the gun fired on bolt closing.  Or was it operator error.  Either way, not good.

Dinner that night was spaghetti and salad followed by home made cream puffs.  Without a doubt, it was a very good first day of hunting.

2017 Mule Deer Hunt Day 2 Arrive Day

I woke up too early to get the gratis hotel breakfast, so I putzed around a while and watched TV.  Hoping it would be ready early, I walked down to the hotel lobby.  The person working was not nearly as friendly as the man who checked me in.  In fact, she was downright surly.  I thought that may have been only because I was at the breakfast area early, but she was even more annoyed when I had the nerve to check out a short time later.

After packing most of my stuff up, breakfast was available and they had Waffles so all was good.  After a couple waffles saturated in syrup, I was on the road.
It was still dark dark, so I was a bit worried about the 80MPH speed limit coupled with deer on the road, but the eastern part of South Dakota isn't nearly as bad as the western part.  Once headed west on I-90, the GPS said go straight for around 340 miles.  There aren't very many places with less turns than that.

A short ways down the road, my Honda Ridgeline rolled over to 10,000 miles.  I guess it is used now.  And yes, I do use the awful econ button when on long interstate routes (but no, I can't stand it when driving just about any other time).

About a million years ago, I worked at a bakery in high school.  I was sort of related to the family that owned it, and their daughter who I worked with now lives in Rapid City with her husband and kids.  Since I had the time, my plan was to meet them for lunch.  This had all the potential to be awkward, but I hadn't seen her in well over 20 years and it would be fun to catch up.
I got gas in Wall, South Dakota but wisely decided to avoid the awful tourist trap of WallDrug.  Since I was a bit earlier than I thought I would be, I arranged to meet my friend at Cabela's where her husband works.  While perusing around, they had quiet camo hunting snow suits on clearance for half off.  It was too good a deal at $60.  I don't think I'll need it on this trip, but it sure will be nice while deer hunting in a treestand.

After meeting my friend, we talked for a bit before heading over to a nearby burger joint for lunch.  It was great reminiscing about stuff from two decades ago and catching up on life since.  There are many twists and turns in life along with goals and signposts that lead absolutely nowhere.  As Alton Brown said in an article I read about him a while back, "Funny business, this living."  The time flew by and all too soon it was time for me to leave to rendezvous with the hunting guide.

Leaving Rapid City, I left the interstate and got on 2-lane roads headed to Hulett, Wyoming.  Temperatures hovered near freezing and a very cold rain started falling.  The drive to Hulett took about 2 hours and it would have been a nice drive if it hadn't been for the weather.

I ended up getting to Hulett too early, so I stopped in a hotel parking lot and read the two magazines I had brought with me.  I got gas at the only station in town; they are very proud of their fuel - charging about $0.50/gallon more than any other station I saw.  This allowed time for the rain to stop, so I parked near where we were supposed to meet and walked the town.  I was quite tired of sitting in the truck at this point.

Eventually Jim showed up and we all caravanned to the lodge.  The lodge was about 10 miles down a very muddy dirt road.  This is what a Ridgeline on a hunting trip is supposed to look like.

Even with the snotty conditions, the drive to the lodge was phenomenal.  I saw more deer on the drive than I have in several years combined.  There were so many deer, I initially (and very briefly) thought it was some kind of venison farm, but they were on both sides of the road and inside and outside the fence.  The fences were enough to contain cattle, but not deer anyway.  The pictures do not do this justice as I was trying to take it while driving down the dirt road.

Once at the lodge, there was some talking and lollygagging before dinner.  Pork chops, beans, potatoes.  I must be careful on this adventure.
There were a total of 6 hunters in camp along with three guides and the couple who own the lodge.  It was two brothers form Connecticut, father and son from Tennessee and North Carolina (I think) and I would be hunting with Bill from Pennsylvania.  Bill was a nerve condition which gives him very limited mobility.  He had first option on whitetails, I did for any mulies.
I was still on home time, so I turned in early while most of the other guys watched the world series.

2017 Mule Deer Hunt Day 1 Drive Day

Monday was a pleasantly monotonous day at work.  Pleasant since it was a bit slow.  Monotonous since it was a bit slow.  But I would rather have that immediately before heading out on a much needed vacation than have firecrackers in the pea soup.
So after putting in the requisite eight plus hours, I left work just as the rain started.  Once home, I nationalized the garage so I could pack without getting wet.

I started waking up well before my normal time for work and finally got out of bed a little early.  It didn't take too long to get ready, check and recheck that I had everything, and hit the road.  I pulled out of the driveway right about 4:00 AM.

I crossed into Indiana quickly and took 2-lane roads for about an hour to get to the interstate.  This required one reroute due to construction, but it looked like the construction was nearly complete.  Once on I-74, I headed north and west.  Traffic was just starting to pick up through Indianapolis, but getting through was relatively easy.
Continuing north and west, traffic on I-74 remained relatively light.  I crossed into Illinois just as light was starting to build to the East, and traffic became oddly heavy for a while.  West of Peoria, almost all traffic seemed to vaporize.

I was listening to the book A Dog's Purpose by W. Bruce Cameron.  I was a bit more than surprised when the first incarnation of the dog is euthanized very early in the book.  The second incarnation of the dog made me miss my dogs a lot.  It especially made me miss Mandy and Jackson as the descriptions of Bailey sounded a lot like those two dogs.  Listening to the end of Bailey's life was difficult.  The incarnation as a police dog was only mildly interesting.  The final incarnation into a life with a trash family followed by bliss was a bit predictable.  But I enjoyed the book.  The only frustration was that since the book was transferred from a CD, the ordering of the tracks put tracks 1-10 at the end of the directory list, which required adjustments twice every CD.  Once I figured this out though, it was easy to deal with.

I crossed the Mississippi River on I-280.  SO always takes pictures of the Mississippi when we cross it, so I did too.  But the pictures out of the frame of the truck window don't really have the same significance as when SO and I are on the motorcycle.

Once into Iowa, truck traffic picked up a lot on I-80.  I know things thin out to the west, but east of Des Moines always seems lousy with tractor trailers.  I took I-380 then US 218 to I-35 up to I-90 in Minnesota.  Interstate 90 was gloriously open.  Although I did see the remnants of snow on the shoulder in a few places along I-90.

After A Dog's Purpose I switched the USB to The Billionaire's Vinegar which is a book about ultrararefied wine collecting.  It felt odd to be listening to such a book while headed on a western hunting adventure, and I'm not even sure where I heard about the book.  I only got a few chapters into it, but it was very interesting and it goes into detail about the realities and idiosyncrasies of wine collecting.  Much like anything where there is lots of money to be made, fraud, ego and snobbery plays a big role.  The history interspersed through the first few chapters added a lot to the book.

Eventually I made it to Sioux Falls South Dakota.  The 13-hour, ~850 mile drive was tiring, but not painful.  Weather had been clear and dry all day with temperatures hovering just above freezing.  This is great travel weather (for the Ridgeline, maybe not for the motorcycle).

I ate from my box-o-buffet but hadn't drank much through the day as beverages force more stops.  Once at the hotel, I attempted to rehydrate while also eating more junk food.  I survived a long day on the road, but pork rinds and Quiznos may prematurely end my life.  Maybe the ice cream sandwich will save me, even if it doesn't help me sleep.

2017 Mule Deer Hunt T-3 Days

I didn't start hunting until relatively late in life.  While I had shot guns a few times as a kid, I didn't even own a gun until I was 21.  Starting hunting late, and continuing to do it is relatively unusual.  I guess I always had an interest in hunting, but never the opportunity until I bought my first house next to an avid bow hunter.  Continuing hunting when starting late in life and without many friends who hunt is even more unusual.
A strong interest in hunting without involving other people is just fine with me.  I've tried to get people to go with me on my hunting adventures and they can seem pretty excited about it until it comes time to actually start thinking about money - then they scatter.  I have nearly given up on getting others to go with me at this point.  My 2013 Wyoming hunt for for pronghorn was the worst - where the person I was supposed to go with bailed at the last minute.  There were extenuating circumstances, but they could have been worked around as we are all adults here...

What I want to hunt has changed a lot over the years.  At first it was all moose, which I've never done and is still interesting, but not exceedingly so anymore.  Bears, yes ... wild boar, definitely.  Caribou has never been a big interest, but I've had the opportunity to go after several other animals, some of them more than once.  My motivation for hunting has changed, but it also hasn't over the years; my enjoyment of it has similarly changed and not.  I do hunt for meat - as I really enjoy being more involved in what goes on the dinner table.  And I enjoy seeing and being close to impressive animals, but animals I've taken and taxidermy I have would not impress a real trophy hunter.  What I've come to realize is that I'm after the overall experience of hunting.  It is a great way to travel and see out-of-the-way locations.  It is a great way to meet interesting people - although I've met a few people who don't seem to posses many redeeming qualities as well.  I'm mostly an experience hunter - the whole experience, from then to zed.  And while taking an animal is not required, it is an integral part of the overall experience.

Mule deer has been on my list for a long time.  In my travels out west, I've seen them several times, most notably in 2006 when I nearly hit two impressive mule deer bucks while leaving the Black Hills on an early morning motorcycle jaunt to Devils Tower.  And after accruing some preference points in Wyoming, I'm finally heading there to hopefully go after mule deer.  From research I've done, the area I'm headed to has both whitetails and mulies.  So this could be interesting.

Western hunting is different than the eastern woodlot hunting I'm most familiar with.  I've been shooting at least every few weeks through the summer and mostly off a bipod to get ready.  Frighteningly, I've had a couple misfires which I attribute to bad primers.  This is slightly concerning but only slightly.
The last few weeks has been a whirlwind.  As important as maintaining muscle memory with my rifle, I've spent time making sure my physical fitness is maintained; given ongoing rifle practice, this may be even more important.
With heading out in early November to drive to Wyoming, I've had to get much of the fall chores that are normally done through the end of October and early November done earlier than usual, especially since I'll have minimal time after I get home before the local deer season starts.

Regardless of how well I am or am not prepared and how much I've gotten done at home, I'll be heading out on the long drive to Wyoming.  A lot of my coworkers look at me like I'm nuts when I tell them I'm not flying, but flying with a ton of hunting crap, plus a large rifle case is crazy expensive.  Getting home with meat on a plane is nearly impossible.  And quite frankly, traveling on commercial airlines is about as unpleasant as things can get.  Besides, I like the drive as a part of the experience and a chance to mentally prepare.

When I first started hunting in the early 1990's, I never dreamed I'd have even a fraction of the adventures that I have had while hunting.
I'm sure that regardless of what I return with, it will be with memories that can be created in no other way.

2017 Eclipse Day 7

Cambridge, Wisconsin to Home:  474.3 Miles

I was up before anybody else and found a way to make coffee.  It is funny how little things like where the coffee filters are stored can sometimes seem so personal.  I'd never heard of Vanilla Life Cereal before, but it was pretty good too.

We were on the road around the same time as my sister left for work, heading south.  Traffic was heavy but tolerable, especially near the interchanges that led to Chicago.  But with a mix of Wisconsin and Illinois drivers, it wasn't too bad.  The Illinois drivers weren't even trying too hard to kill each other.

SO paid our toll at the most hateful toll booth on I-39 just across the border into Illinois.  Traffic lightened up considerably around this point.  The weather was cool but comfortable, mostly sunny with periods of clouds.
Making our way to I-74 felt like we were getting close to home.  As usual, traffic on I-74 was very light, even through some construction zones.  We passed a few more wind turbines and a couple trundling military convoys throughout the day.

We were making good time, so we decided not to stop for a real lunch, grabbing some food at a gas stop.  The bacon cheddar dogs sounded good to me, but the first slippery one I grabbed bounced off of the counter and onto the floor.  There is absolutely NO 5 SECOND RULE AT A TRUCK STOP - that hot dog went into the trash and I grabbed one of the dogs from the "Still Cooking" line on the automated meat roller.

Soon enough we were on two-lane roads familiarly close to home.

We got home in time to get the dogs and they seemed happy enough even if the older dog did seem to be in wandering mode.  Things will settle down to normal soon enough.

All my motorcycle adventures have been amazing.  Some of them are about the journey, some of them are about the destination.  This adventure was about an event.  The event.  Two minutes and thirty-seven seconds of darkness.
At one point on the way home I starting thinking about how fortunate I was to be able to do these things:  motorcycling across the country, seeing fantastic scenery, meeting interesting people, staying with family,  seeing a bit more American history and kitsch, and having everything work out to witness a rare celestial event - the 2017 Eclipse.

Oh dark, dark, dark, amid the blaze of noon,

Irrecoverably dark, total Eclipse

Without all hope of day!

— John Milton

2017 Eclipse Day 6 - Alvin Straight Day

Pocahontas, Iowa to Cambridge, Wisconsin:  381.6 Miles

In July, 1994 Alvin Straight set off from his home in Laurens, Iowa to see his brother, Henry, after Henry had a stroke.  Unable to drive due to poor vision and mobility, and far too independent to get a ride, Alvin set off on his lawn mower for the 250 mile trip to Blue River, Wisconsin.  The lawn mower broke down, so Alvin returned to Laurens and set out on a John Deer mower that was in slightly better shape and made the trip successfully.
In 1999 David Lynch immortalized Alvin Straight and the motorcycle journey in the movie The Straight Story.  I really liked the movie and thought it had several good lines:
"What is the worst part about getting old?"
"Remembering what it was like to be young."

David Lynch took some liberties with the actual events which is fine for a "based on real life" film.  The movie itself seems very non-Lynch-like in that it bears little resemblance to things like Twin Peaks or Mulholland Drive.
I thought it would be fun to recreate, as best I could, Alvin Straight's journey on my motorcycle and I was headed in a direction on this trip which would make it a good opportunity.

We left under a cool 50F on another early morning.  Backtracking a few miles, we went to Laurens, Iowa where Alvin Straight lived.  The sunrise on the way there was nothing short of stunning over the Iowa agricultural fields.

Laurens seemed like a nice enough town.  I had thought about staying there, but the options were limited and the Pocahontas Inn and Suites was an absolute A+ so I'm really glad that was the hotel of choice.

From Laurens, we followed Alvin Straight's route as best I could - I tried gleaning information, and took what I could find online.  I'm sure there are misses and maybe a lot of them.  But I did what I could and it did get us on to some new roads.
One of the few stops we made on the route was at the Grotto of the Redemption in West Bend, Iowa.  This is shown briefly in the movie, but it deserved a closer look.  It is absolutely stunning.  More info on it can be found here, but seeing this in the middle of rural Iowa was shocking.

The view from above is even more amazing.

The detail is exquisite; I really liked the serpent.

We didn't get a chance to go into the museum or gift shop (unlikely to buy anything anyway with such limited room) as we arrived and left before they were open.  So we continued on Alvin Straight's route.

Iowa is mostly agricultural in the Eastern part of the state, but there are some very pretty parts with good riding, especially near the Mississippi River.

We crossed the river at Marquette.  I don't think I've ever crossed it this far north before.  It was much broader than I anticipated, possibly because it is right near where the Wisconsin River empties into the Mississippi.

Once across the river, we followed the Wisconsin River for quite some time.  Following the twists and turns of the river.  It was a beautiful early afternoon.

Soon enough, we came to Blue River, Wisconsin, where Henry Straight lived - ending our Alvin Straight journey.

Along the journey I had time to think about Alvin's trip.  Laurens to Blue River is about 240 miles.  At five miles per hour, that means the travel time was 48 hours (we did it in about 4 on the Gold Wing).  If Alvin only drove 6 hours a day, that means the actual travel time was only 8 days.  I know he did stop for repairs and to visit family en route, but those stops were the bulk of the "six weeks" it took on the lawn mower.
Perhaps it is best not to overthink these things - it is still a good story.

Continuing on, we stopped for lunch at a deli in Muscoda.  It was the perfect road food joint - the kind of restaurant that is only open for breakfast and lunch.  The burgers were fantastic.

Back on the road we made our way towards Madison.  For a capital city, Madison really sneaks up.  It isn't too bad a city to get around and we made our way to Cambridge to see my sister.

Once at my sister's, we talked for a while before heading out to Azatlan Park.  The park was neat, but it always feels a little disingenuous that the Indian Mounds were excavated and then rebuilt.  Still, they were neat to see - much bigger than the mounds at home.

After a great dinner at a restaurant on the Crawfish River, we headed back to the house for a few episodes of the TV show Fargo before calling it a night.