Post by HuntMeister on Sept 25, 2009 21:52:31 GMT -5
As promised, some highlights and lowlights of my 2009 Wyoming Muley hunt. I wish I had some bucks to show for our efforts but not this trip. It seems that Mother Nature and Murphy’s Law both had it out for us on this trip, as you will see.
We had originally planned to hunt Muleys in Colorado this year but with the devastating ’07 / ’08 winter we decided in the fall of ’08 to do something else and save our hard-earned Colorado preference points for another year. After some studying, I determined that we could most likely draw a Muley tag in the popular Region G of Wyoming and so we applied and in June we learned that we were successful.
Now the real studying began, I ordered up maps, talked to as many people as I could find that had any hunting experience in that area and spent many hours on Google Earth checking out the terrain features. Finally I narrowed it down to an area in the Greys River Region that I thought held some promise due to limited access via trucks, ATV’s, and dirt bikes but not so steep looking as to be impossible (I hoped) for us flatlanders to hunt.
The season was to open on a Tuesday, so we headed out on Thursday prior so that we could get there early enough to try and acclimate to the elevation somewhat and try to get familiar with the country a bit before the opener. The trip out went without any problems and Saturday morning we headed out of La Barge, WY for the creek in the Salt River Range that I had zeroed in on. The drive in took about 3 hours and we saw a few interesting things along the way,
The Forest sign, woo-hoo, we are here boys!!
The Lander Cutoff…
A small herd of Antelope, season is in for them but these guys seem a bit far back to be hunted much and I think they know they have no worries…
Alas, the creek we are looking for (this photo was taken on a later day)…
I’m not sure what kind of Raptor this is, but she seemed to know where we were headed to and bird-dogged the trail awhile for us…
Around 2 to 3 miles on this trail and we reached the end of the trail for motor vehicles. Luckily, there was a beautiful camp spot right there, so we decided to unload our gear and setup camp.
Here are some shots from out “front” of camp panning from left to right…
The trail we were setup on continued on up into the mountains but was now restricted for the next 3 miles to vehicles under 50 inches in width, so I hopped on the quad and drove up in to see what I could. Along the way I spotted a Cow Moose down in the willows along the creek and we saw her a few times afterwards but for some odd reason we never had a camera handy when she was visible.
Just as the map indicated and the fine folks at Wyoming G&F had said, the trail ended about 3 miles in and from that point the trail continued on but was restricted to dirt bikes or foot travel only. So far our plan was coming together nicely. The next phase of our plan involved us riding the quad in to the end of the quad trail and then hiking on in from there to a area I had hoped would get us away from most day hunters, vehicles, quads, etc., a place where we could setup a spike camp for a couple of days. According to the map this area was a mere 1-1/2 miles (as the crow flies) from the end of the quad trail, should be a piece of cake we thought!
Sunday morning we got up, had a good breakfast and packed up our gear for spike camp. We were all very excited about this spike camp prospect, we had done wilderness drop camps before, but none of us had ever done a backcountry Spartan spike camp before. The drop camps, while being remote, were far from Spartan as we had horses & mules to haul in whatever gear and food we wanted. This time it was strictly what our backs could haul!
Dad & Rex both took a small pack of personal items with them and I, being the youngest one of the group, had promised to pack our camp gear in on the first trip and my personal gear in the second trip. We weighed our packs to make sure we were at an acceptable weight. In preparation for this hunt, I had been walking at home on a daily basis for several months, doing 4 miles with a 35-pound pack frame on trying to condition my body for this very hike.
Dad & I putting some gear on the quad and heading down the trail…
Rex & I heading out on the trail where the quad access ends…
About halfway to our spike camp, Dad refilling his water filter from the creek…
3-1/2 hours, 3 creek crossings, an estimated 3 miles and nearly 1000 vertical feet later we were quite exhausted but found what we felt would make an acceptable spike camp location. It wasn’t quite as high as I wanted to be but we were spent and still had to walk back out that afternoon. This is a beautiful place but WOW is it steep!!
We stashed our gear and sat down to rest and eat some lunch. The view from our camp from a left to right pan
After eating, I started glassing the hillsides on the opposite side of the canyon. Now I was really getting excited, within just a few minutes I spotted several Deer, most were Bucks and pretty nice ones at that! While you cannot see them in the photo, they were hanging out below the rim rock at the top in the green stuff above the trees…
That night at camp we were all pretty wound up, excited about the opener and not much sleep was had by any of us. The Elk, bugling their fool heads off, helped lull us to sleep. The next morning, we got all packed up and ready to go back up “the hill” to spike camp. Once we got there Rex and I took off with our basecamp water filter and a collapsible water container to find & filter a supply of water for our camp. We found a creek and got the water and as we were walking back toward camp I noticed that heavy clouds had moved in on us and it appeared that rain was imminent! We beat feet back to camp and got the tent up just in time to get inside before the thunderstorm hit! And what a storm it was, for 1-1/2 hours lightning bolts came down and it poured cats & dogs! We hunkered down in the tent and waited it out. Finally about an hour before dark it stopped. Time to get a campfire going and boil some water on the pocket rocket for our Mountain House meals.
Once again, the Bull Elk lulled us to sleep with their bugling.
Opening morning came early! Due to the previous evening’s rain, we were unable to do any looking around for places to setup so we headed to a spot we had been past on our water trip the day before. As it is breaking daylight, Rex decides to head up and over to the opposite side of the canyon and Dad & I decided to stay put a few more minutes. Shortly thereafter we started hearing some odd sounds, baaaa over there then, baaaaa over yonder, then baaaaaa everywhere! Yep, a herd of domestic sheep had moved into the canyon the night before and now they seemed to be everywhere! Dad & I were discussing what to do when all of a sudden we had 4 fairly large dogs barking & moving in on us! I threw some rocks at them and they decided to leave us alone but man, our morning wasn’t going anywhere near as planned. The dogs we decided belonged to the sheepherders.
We decided to split up, I went up in the canyon a little ways but couldn’t get away from the sheep, and so I crossed over to the other side and just kept climbing higher and higher until around 9000 feet I finally got out of them. I found some really good looking places up there with yesterday fresh sign & beds but by this time the sheep had run all the deer out of the canyon and into the dark timber! I sat there for a couple more hours, just glassing around and then Mother Nature decided to rear her ugly head once again! I watched the dark, heavy rain clouds move into the canyon from the south and commence to pour on us again. Rex on the other hand was having some luck. He had managed to get across from camp where we had seen the bucks the day before and got a shot off at a good 4X4. He had the time to range it at 398 yards but we now believe that he failed to take into account the extreme angle and shot way over the Buck’s back. Did I mention it was really STEEEEP up there?
Later that evening we all were really worn out and just a wee bit miffed about the sheep situation. We figure there were in excess of 3000 head of sheep in our canyon! They were heading out that evening but the damage was already done. Later that eve we discussed our situation, Dad & Rex were pretty well spent, tired of the hard ground and they wanted to head back to base camp. The next morning we woke up to the wonderful sounds of sheep once again! We got everything packed up, Rex & Dad did their best to share the load but I had to have help getting my pack on! Oh boy is this thing heavy!! We headed out slowly at first but once my muscles got warmed up I started moving pretty fast down the trail. Rex & Dad wanted to stop and rest every now & then so I told them I was going to keep moving as my load was crazy heavy and the sooner I got it off my back the better! Ten minutes past the first creek crossing, which was the worst one, I stopped to watch and see that they made it across OK and then I beat feet.
Everything was going smooth for about fifteen minutes until I got into a patch of dark timber, as I was walking along I starting hearing some noises. Just some rocks being pushed around at first but then came a sound, actually I should say some sort of vocalization from an animal and it dang sure wasn’t a deer sound! We had emptied the chamber of our rifles for safety during our hike but immediately after hearing that sound I racked one in the chamber and went to port arms. You think I was moving fast before, I was really moving on after that. I think I planed across the next two creek crossings!
Back down at the quad, I ran my gear back to camp and returned to get Rex & Dad; they were about ½ hour behind me. When we met up, the first thing they asked was “did you see the bear tracks up in the saddle?” “The tracks were in your tracks in a couple of spots, we couldn’t tell if you stepped in them or he stepped in yours.” “They were over six inches long and the claws were clearly marked!” GULP…now I think Bears are neat & all but I would just as soon keep my distance if you know what I mean!
Back at camp we decided to do some photos with our heavy packs on and the mountain we just returned from in the background…
We were trying to smile but we were done in to say the least! I weighed my pack, 55 pounds! It’s a wonder I could even walk with that on my back!
Everyday it would get very warm in the afternoon, cloud up and produce thunderheads and rain, running us off the hill. One day we decided to take the two hour ride to Big Piney, the nearest town and buy a shower, get some supplies, a fishing license and try to catch our dinner. On the way thru we came across this sign…
Reminding us of just how fragile life is in these mountains.
The Aspens were in various stages of color…
The Doe Deer were plentiful…
On the way back thru we did get some fishing and some catching in,
Dad with a Cutthroat Trout caught from the Greys River…
Some more Trout pics…
But then Murphy reared his ugly head once again…
We picked up one of those nails that are used to attach a shoe to a horse; it went in and out of the tire. We put 5 plugs in the tire but it wouldn’t hold air so we had to put the spare on. Curses, now we are without a spare and over 2 hours to the nearest town, a real buzz kill!
The next evening we cooked our trout and fried some taters & onions too, one thing for sure, we ate good out there!
Our last day to hunt, I climbed up into a another basin, got to the top and found a awesome place to hunt, too bad it was our last day. I sat and glassed for quite awhile until, yep you guessed it, the clouds started to build and I decided it best for me to get down the hill.
A thundercloud forming on our last day…
As a parting gift, Ma nature decided to send a two-hour major thunderstorm thru at 4 AM of the morning we broke camp to go home. Turned the roads into Gumbo, a truly greasy mess. We broke a very wet camp as soon as it stopped storming and left…
Just before we left, I took the quad down the trail to see how the roads were and I ran into two locals; I asked them during our conversation about the crazy weather, “Does it always storm and rain like this out here this time of year?” I asked. One fella replies, “I’ve lived around here over thirty years and this is the strangest fall I have ever experienced, it never storms or rains like this.”
So there you have it fellas, sometimes you get the bear and sometimes the bear gets you! Even though we didn’t bring back any Bucks, an awesome time was still had by all!
We had originally planned to hunt Muleys in Colorado this year but with the devastating ’07 / ’08 winter we decided in the fall of ’08 to do something else and save our hard-earned Colorado preference points for another year. After some studying, I determined that we could most likely draw a Muley tag in the popular Region G of Wyoming and so we applied and in June we learned that we were successful.
Now the real studying began, I ordered up maps, talked to as many people as I could find that had any hunting experience in that area and spent many hours on Google Earth checking out the terrain features. Finally I narrowed it down to an area in the Greys River Region that I thought held some promise due to limited access via trucks, ATV’s, and dirt bikes but not so steep looking as to be impossible (I hoped) for us flatlanders to hunt.
The season was to open on a Tuesday, so we headed out on Thursday prior so that we could get there early enough to try and acclimate to the elevation somewhat and try to get familiar with the country a bit before the opener. The trip out went without any problems and Saturday morning we headed out of La Barge, WY for the creek in the Salt River Range that I had zeroed in on. The drive in took about 3 hours and we saw a few interesting things along the way,
The Forest sign, woo-hoo, we are here boys!!
The Lander Cutoff…
A small herd of Antelope, season is in for them but these guys seem a bit far back to be hunted much and I think they know they have no worries…
Alas, the creek we are looking for (this photo was taken on a later day)…
I’m not sure what kind of Raptor this is, but she seemed to know where we were headed to and bird-dogged the trail awhile for us…
Around 2 to 3 miles on this trail and we reached the end of the trail for motor vehicles. Luckily, there was a beautiful camp spot right there, so we decided to unload our gear and setup camp.
Here are some shots from out “front” of camp panning from left to right…
The trail we were setup on continued on up into the mountains but was now restricted for the next 3 miles to vehicles under 50 inches in width, so I hopped on the quad and drove up in to see what I could. Along the way I spotted a Cow Moose down in the willows along the creek and we saw her a few times afterwards but for some odd reason we never had a camera handy when she was visible.
Just as the map indicated and the fine folks at Wyoming G&F had said, the trail ended about 3 miles in and from that point the trail continued on but was restricted to dirt bikes or foot travel only. So far our plan was coming together nicely. The next phase of our plan involved us riding the quad in to the end of the quad trail and then hiking on in from there to a area I had hoped would get us away from most day hunters, vehicles, quads, etc., a place where we could setup a spike camp for a couple of days. According to the map this area was a mere 1-1/2 miles (as the crow flies) from the end of the quad trail, should be a piece of cake we thought!
Sunday morning we got up, had a good breakfast and packed up our gear for spike camp. We were all very excited about this spike camp prospect, we had done wilderness drop camps before, but none of us had ever done a backcountry Spartan spike camp before. The drop camps, while being remote, were far from Spartan as we had horses & mules to haul in whatever gear and food we wanted. This time it was strictly what our backs could haul!
Dad & Rex both took a small pack of personal items with them and I, being the youngest one of the group, had promised to pack our camp gear in on the first trip and my personal gear in the second trip. We weighed our packs to make sure we were at an acceptable weight. In preparation for this hunt, I had been walking at home on a daily basis for several months, doing 4 miles with a 35-pound pack frame on trying to condition my body for this very hike.
Dad & I putting some gear on the quad and heading down the trail…
Rex & I heading out on the trail where the quad access ends…
About halfway to our spike camp, Dad refilling his water filter from the creek…
3-1/2 hours, 3 creek crossings, an estimated 3 miles and nearly 1000 vertical feet later we were quite exhausted but found what we felt would make an acceptable spike camp location. It wasn’t quite as high as I wanted to be but we were spent and still had to walk back out that afternoon. This is a beautiful place but WOW is it steep!!
We stashed our gear and sat down to rest and eat some lunch. The view from our camp from a left to right pan
After eating, I started glassing the hillsides on the opposite side of the canyon. Now I was really getting excited, within just a few minutes I spotted several Deer, most were Bucks and pretty nice ones at that! While you cannot see them in the photo, they were hanging out below the rim rock at the top in the green stuff above the trees…
That night at camp we were all pretty wound up, excited about the opener and not much sleep was had by any of us. The Elk, bugling their fool heads off, helped lull us to sleep. The next morning, we got all packed up and ready to go back up “the hill” to spike camp. Once we got there Rex and I took off with our basecamp water filter and a collapsible water container to find & filter a supply of water for our camp. We found a creek and got the water and as we were walking back toward camp I noticed that heavy clouds had moved in on us and it appeared that rain was imminent! We beat feet back to camp and got the tent up just in time to get inside before the thunderstorm hit! And what a storm it was, for 1-1/2 hours lightning bolts came down and it poured cats & dogs! We hunkered down in the tent and waited it out. Finally about an hour before dark it stopped. Time to get a campfire going and boil some water on the pocket rocket for our Mountain House meals.
Once again, the Bull Elk lulled us to sleep with their bugling.
Opening morning came early! Due to the previous evening’s rain, we were unable to do any looking around for places to setup so we headed to a spot we had been past on our water trip the day before. As it is breaking daylight, Rex decides to head up and over to the opposite side of the canyon and Dad & I decided to stay put a few more minutes. Shortly thereafter we started hearing some odd sounds, baaaa over there then, baaaaa over yonder, then baaaaaa everywhere! Yep, a herd of domestic sheep had moved into the canyon the night before and now they seemed to be everywhere! Dad & I were discussing what to do when all of a sudden we had 4 fairly large dogs barking & moving in on us! I threw some rocks at them and they decided to leave us alone but man, our morning wasn’t going anywhere near as planned. The dogs we decided belonged to the sheepherders.
We decided to split up, I went up in the canyon a little ways but couldn’t get away from the sheep, and so I crossed over to the other side and just kept climbing higher and higher until around 9000 feet I finally got out of them. I found some really good looking places up there with yesterday fresh sign & beds but by this time the sheep had run all the deer out of the canyon and into the dark timber! I sat there for a couple more hours, just glassing around and then Mother Nature decided to rear her ugly head once again! I watched the dark, heavy rain clouds move into the canyon from the south and commence to pour on us again. Rex on the other hand was having some luck. He had managed to get across from camp where we had seen the bucks the day before and got a shot off at a good 4X4. He had the time to range it at 398 yards but we now believe that he failed to take into account the extreme angle and shot way over the Buck’s back. Did I mention it was really STEEEEP up there?
Later that evening we all were really worn out and just a wee bit miffed about the sheep situation. We figure there were in excess of 3000 head of sheep in our canyon! They were heading out that evening but the damage was already done. Later that eve we discussed our situation, Dad & Rex were pretty well spent, tired of the hard ground and they wanted to head back to base camp. The next morning we woke up to the wonderful sounds of sheep once again! We got everything packed up, Rex & Dad did their best to share the load but I had to have help getting my pack on! Oh boy is this thing heavy!! We headed out slowly at first but once my muscles got warmed up I started moving pretty fast down the trail. Rex & Dad wanted to stop and rest every now & then so I told them I was going to keep moving as my load was crazy heavy and the sooner I got it off my back the better! Ten minutes past the first creek crossing, which was the worst one, I stopped to watch and see that they made it across OK and then I beat feet.
Everything was going smooth for about fifteen minutes until I got into a patch of dark timber, as I was walking along I starting hearing some noises. Just some rocks being pushed around at first but then came a sound, actually I should say some sort of vocalization from an animal and it dang sure wasn’t a deer sound! We had emptied the chamber of our rifles for safety during our hike but immediately after hearing that sound I racked one in the chamber and went to port arms. You think I was moving fast before, I was really moving on after that. I think I planed across the next two creek crossings!
Back down at the quad, I ran my gear back to camp and returned to get Rex & Dad; they were about ½ hour behind me. When we met up, the first thing they asked was “did you see the bear tracks up in the saddle?” “The tracks were in your tracks in a couple of spots, we couldn’t tell if you stepped in them or he stepped in yours.” “They were over six inches long and the claws were clearly marked!” GULP…now I think Bears are neat & all but I would just as soon keep my distance if you know what I mean!
Back at camp we decided to do some photos with our heavy packs on and the mountain we just returned from in the background…
We were trying to smile but we were done in to say the least! I weighed my pack, 55 pounds! It’s a wonder I could even walk with that on my back!
Everyday it would get very warm in the afternoon, cloud up and produce thunderheads and rain, running us off the hill. One day we decided to take the two hour ride to Big Piney, the nearest town and buy a shower, get some supplies, a fishing license and try to catch our dinner. On the way thru we came across this sign…
Reminding us of just how fragile life is in these mountains.
The Aspens were in various stages of color…
The Doe Deer were plentiful…
On the way back thru we did get some fishing and some catching in,
Dad with a Cutthroat Trout caught from the Greys River…
Some more Trout pics…
But then Murphy reared his ugly head once again…
We picked up one of those nails that are used to attach a shoe to a horse; it went in and out of the tire. We put 5 plugs in the tire but it wouldn’t hold air so we had to put the spare on. Curses, now we are without a spare and over 2 hours to the nearest town, a real buzz kill!
The next evening we cooked our trout and fried some taters & onions too, one thing for sure, we ate good out there!
Our last day to hunt, I climbed up into a another basin, got to the top and found a awesome place to hunt, too bad it was our last day. I sat and glassed for quite awhile until, yep you guessed it, the clouds started to build and I decided it best for me to get down the hill.
A thundercloud forming on our last day…
As a parting gift, Ma nature decided to send a two-hour major thunderstorm thru at 4 AM of the morning we broke camp to go home. Turned the roads into Gumbo, a truly greasy mess. We broke a very wet camp as soon as it stopped storming and left…
Just before we left, I took the quad down the trail to see how the roads were and I ran into two locals; I asked them during our conversation about the crazy weather, “Does it always storm and rain like this out here this time of year?” I asked. One fella replies, “I’ve lived around here over thirty years and this is the strangest fall I have ever experienced, it never storms or rains like this.”
So there you have it fellas, sometimes you get the bear and sometimes the bear gets you! Even though we didn’t bring back any Bucks, an awesome time was still had by all!
