High Expectations

Hunting high alpine mule deer is not for the faint of heart. 2011 marks our second attempt to outsmart these critters and come home with a backpack full of velvet antlers. So far the deer that exist in our unit (which seems to be few and far between) are still safely roaming the high places.

Last week was a mixture of a few hard hunts speckled with moments of recuperation. I felt like we were doing hunting sprints instead of throwing down a good long hunt marathon. There were several reasons for the whiplash style of hunting... personal, business, sickness (yes, I think I drank bad water - you know what comes with that!), etc. I'm not trying to list excuses for why we didn't punch a tag. I know that if we would have been able to stay on top of the mountain our chances would have greatly increased. It is what it is. The saying is still true... a bad day of hunting is better than a good day elsewhere. Or however it goes.

I recently read a blog post by Mark over at Sole Adventure where he dissected the importance of staying mentally in the hunt. I totally agree and have a feeling that is where our team wasn't as strong last week. If you haven't checked out this article, it is worth a read. Stay mentally strong out there while in the field! Good luck to everyone out there currently hunting. I can't wait to read your success stories!!

It is just over a week until we will be headed to the mountains again. This time we will be concentrating solely on elk and I'm hopeful that all distractions will be set aside.

I do have some great stories / pics from the last week. So, I'll try and get some posts up before picking up my bow and wandering off to the mountains. For example, the picture below shows the slope where we stalked 4 alpine Muleys. More to come!