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Sunday, September 30, 2012

Hiking with guns


'Hiking with guns' is synonymous with you went hunting and while you got in a beautiful hike you did not kill anything.  Another take, I guess, could be that it means you are super bearanoid and only go hiking with guns to defend yourselves.  But today Adelia, Julie, Philip and I wanted to harvest a deer, and it ended up the former - a beautiful hike with guns.  I must admit that since I got a deer yesterday I was secretly not excited about carrying another heavy load off of the mountain - so no deer did not bum me out too much.

And it really was beautiful - absolutely spectacular.  The snow squall that caught me yesterday cleaning my deer had deposited 4 to 5 inches of new powder. The sun was out and yesterday's thunder and lightning a thing of the past.   The ocean all around in the bright sunlight.  The new snow melting in the sun made it feel like a snowstorm in april.  It felt like spring.

We followed some bear tracks that beelined for the deer carcass I shot yesterday.  But for some reason the bear did not munch on the carcass.  We saw only ravens, crows and magpies making a meal of what I left behind.

But no deer.  We only saw 3 deer total and no bucks.  We think the snow might have driven the deer down into the spruce.  Later when they are used to the cold they will move back up into the high country.  Patrick




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