Well this weekend we were finally able to get out and do a little scouting in the high country. I had my head scout and Sherpa with me so I knew that things were going to work out well. I was trying to get a lay of the land, being as how it will be the first time that I hunt this new area. So with my two helpers, our trusty watch dog and me
we rucked up and headed out on a six mile (one way) hike. We went to an area called Twin Crater lakes. The lakes themselves are a little above timberline, so we made our camp in the trees and then walked the last quarter of a mile to the lakes.
What a beautiful area! So once we had seen the lakes, we headed back to camp. Along the way we stopped and refilled our water bladders using a pump filter. This was the first time that I had ever used one and I have to say that I was impressed. It did not take long and the water tasted a lot better than if I had used iodine tablets. I had picked up a new backpack to use this year for a pack-in hunt. I chose the Badlands 4500 and I could not have been happier. What a mule!
I will give a full product review in upcoming posts, but to say the least, I was impressed.
Once we got back to camp, I really started to get to work glassing the surrounding hillsides. I was using the 4 step glassing process developed by David Long and mentioned in his book, Public Land Mulies (The Bottom Line)
It was early in the afternoon and I really wasn’t seeing anything, but as the day got later I started noticing a few nice mule deer and then a fairly decent bull elk. Success! Well kind of. I was glad to see that some techniques that I had read about worked, but I still am looking forward to seeing a little more of the area that I have to hunt. We have another trip planned in a couple of weeks and hopefully I will be able to narrow down the area that I would like to start out on opening day.