Day 11: Really cold night last night. Woke up to 37°. By dawn it dropped to 34°. The frost on the ground is thick. It’s so cold that the steel of my rifle is like ice on my fingers.
I dropped Gary off on an old road parallel to the areas we are hunting. The last fresh sign was way above and over. We are making sure that they didn’t get pushed this way by all of the action on the other side.
Nothing. The only thing that has been here since it rained was a deer, a coyote, and another hunter.
When I first approached the unit, I hid behind some trees and watched the steam raising off of a stump to determine which way the wind was blowing. No hope…it was swirling so in I went.
After hiking 7 miles, we figure that we have converged every square inch around the herd. They are in a rectangular belt below the upper road. Yesterday and today’s hikes proved it. We know what we have to do tomorrow and it’s a pronominal feat for just two people. Unless there is fresh sign on the upper road in the morning we have to at least try. The clock is not just ticking but almost at the 11th hour.
Had a bit of fun this morning with some longtime hunting friends. We stopped in the road to check out an heavily used game trail along the lower road. As we came out, we made elk tracks coming down the bank and crossing the road. Good harmless fun as we will end up at their camp this afternoon to sit around the fire pit. You have to keep a sense of humor always.
Good gravy! NOAA predicts low of 34° tonight. Phew!!!!
We’ve done everything thing we can do for day 11 so good night all.
