Update on son and my "skunk". So, my boy has the multi-season elk draw. He went out early archery (first year). He never got a shot. He saw a couple, but nothing close and he doesn't have the stalk down yet. I don't have a smoke pole, didn't know anyone to borrow one from and I couldn't go buy one this year, so he gave archery a try during muzzle. No animals where we were. I was spotting and trying to help him. He had drawn the Umptanum cow during muzzle too. Seemed like where we were they were not and once we left a spot someone chased them into that area. Oh well, he's 16 and busy with school so he couldn't hunt the middle of the week and it was also homecoming. We will go out for late archery this year to see if he can get one down.
Between the two of us, the various OTC, cow tag and his multi-season, we have been in and hunted Manastash, Umptanum, Little Naches, Bumping, Bethel, Nile, Naneum, Taneum and Teanaway.
I had the OTC east side spike. Hurt my knee on opening day and was a cripple for three days. Saw a couple herds of cows with no spikes but a couple herd bulls. I believe both got taken out of Manastash. The crowds were a lot less on modern this year, I think. Glassed the hills and saw a lot of orange though. Had to leave on Tuesday for personal business, so took the travel trailer home and winterized it and parked it. Went up into Taneum and Teanaway on Wednesday with my neighbor. His boy who hunts is active service and lives in Kentucky. He was one of the guys hunting in Afganistan. His other boy doesn't hunt. He can't move much, but he sure is a blast to shoot the chit with. Anyway, we saw a lot of deer on Wed, a few fires, and lots of orange too. Talked with probably 15 sets of hunters - if you saw a Gold Suburban with a game carrier on the back, that was me and Marv. Thanks for the great conversations.
This morning, I packed out of the house and boogied over to Bumping. Got there at 7. Was in cows within 30 minutes. Couldn't see if there were any spikes in the group. Moved up the hill as a cow busted me and they took off down the hill and then three booms. Had to be the same group I was stalking. Sure hope someone got either a cow or a spike out of my pressure. This was the hardest year for seeing animals. With a bum knee, I could not go as deep as I had in years. I can't go out tomorrow as my wife needs me to drive kids around.
Talked with a lot of new hunters and seasoned ones this year. I appreciated every group I chatted with. Mike, Pretty Cool huh, Chit Happens, etc. hope your season ends well. For me, tag soup, but still rooting for my boy to get a late season elk.
I've never done late season archery and don't know what to expect, but we will figure something out. The good thing is he can go pretty much anywhere. This will be his first, so I'm hoping and crossing fingers and praying for a downed animal.
Thanks guys for a great year.
