Gas Prices and Mule Deer

I had an article published by Hunting Illustrated Magazine, and thought I would post a link to the story. The article is about energy development and how it affects mule deer.

Mule Deer and Gas Prices Article

I also wrote an article for them last year about buck hunting and mule deer population dynamics. I have a link to it as well.

Hunting and Population Dynamics Article


I have enjoyed writing for a magazine, and am currently working on another article on sea lions, wild horses and wolves. If only I put that kind of effort into writing my thesis :-)

Fall is Coming

I can't wait for fall to get here! This week I spent a night on the mountain and felt that familiar chill in the late evening and early morning that means fall is on its way. I wish it was fall all year long! The bucks are looking good, and the bulls should be stripping their velvet as we speak. What an exciting time of year.

Wooly Bully

I got to see some wild, free-ranging buffalo yesterday on a huge piece of awesome ground that very few people ever get to see. Often, people associate Indian Reservations with barren, hot, dry, desert, wasteland type areas, but I tell you what, the Ute Tribe in Northeastern Utah has some lands that are unreal! I was on the Hill Creek extension of the Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation and the country was far superior than any "white man" land in the surrounding area. It was gorgeous and the tribe was a very generous host. I snapped some photos of a couple big old Wooly Bullys. What neat animals.





My Buffalo theme song "Wooly Bully"

The Good the Bad and the Ugly

That pretty much sums my experience hunting deer in Idaho.

I will start with The Bad:
In 2004 the day before the opener my friend Shane and I were headed up the trail on horseback to a spot where we had seen a few decent bucks while scouting. The lead rope on the pack horse somehow got under the tail of his horse, and she didn't like it one bit. When the bucking stopped Shane was laying on the ground and had smacked his head on a rock pretty hard. I had to use super-glue the get the cuts by his eye to stay shut because they wouldn't stop bleeding. I took a photo with my digital camera so he could see what the cuts looked like. He was acting a little funny, but insisted that he was fine and wanted to keep going. He just didn't quite seem right, so I made an executive decision, and we headed back down the mountain. He had a mild concussion and did some damage to his shoulder that took months to totally heal.


(this was after we had cleaned him up and glued the cuts shut)

The Ugly:
I backpacked all my my camping gear, including a super heavy Wal-Mart 4-man tent (what was I thinking?!) into a remote area and got ready to hunt. I think I overexerted myself and after just one day of hunting I got incredibly sick. It was all I could do to hike out, and I left all my camping gear. I spent several days sicker than a dog lying in bed, then a big snowstorm hit. The forecast called for more snow and it was late October, I knew that if I didn't hurry and get back up there to pack out gear it would be spring before I could get there again. I still wasn't feeling 100%, but I did what I had to do. I had a hard time finding my camp spot as the tent had collapsed under the snow. I was holding out hope that I might just happen into a big buck, but I didn't see a single deer track in the snow. It was a long, slow hike in the wet snow, but I made it out with my stuff.



The Good:
Thankfully my Idaho deer hunting trips haven't all been bad. In 2005 and again in 2006 I had a great time hunting with Tristie's Dad and my brother-in-law. I skipped the horses and backpacking, and camped in style in a 26' trailer with a big slide-out, heater, microwave, and even a TV and DVD player. I almost felt guilty hunting in the lap of luxury... but not that guilty. Luck was on my side, and I ended up with a couple good bucks. My 2005 buck was a pig with a huge body and thick antlers. The 2006 buck wasn't as heavy, but was a little wider and was a lot of fun because my whole family was with me that year. 2007 was a slower year for bucks, but I still had a great time with Tristie's Dad, Brother, and Uncle. Her Uncle Dee might not have as fond of memories as he ended up with a broken back window in his truck (I told you we should tie the 4-wheeler down Dee). The non-resident tag might be expensive, but it's only money, and I wouldn't trade the memories for anything.


(look at the body size on that fat boy!)


(2005 buck)

(2006 buck)

I can't wait to see what Idaho has in store for me in 2008!

Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder

So, Tristie doesn't think antelope are pretty, and, well I just flat disagree. I think they are quite handsome. I only have a few months to convince her otherwise, as I have just been informed that I drew hard-to-draw antelope tags in both Wyoming and in Idaho! You know I want to get one for the wall. I was one of only 5 non-Idaho residents to draw, out of over 1,700 applicants! Can the odds of convincing Tristie to let me put a mounted antelope head in our house be any worse? Wouldn't something like this look nice hanging in our front room?



Now you can't tell me that wouldn't look good. I have a really good photo collage that I put together a while back that has a bunch of pictures of me unintentionally making weird faces while getting my picture taken, and I threw in a couple close-ups of antelope faces from past hunts. I promise that my antelope mount will look better than these ones, and if Tristie can put up with my face every day, having a stuffed antelope head staring down at her from the wall can't be that bad.