March 14th to April 17th

On March 14 late in the evening I spotted a one-sided 4 point. I watched him for half an hour hoping that he would drop his antler. I finally had to move on, and snapped a photo before leaving.

Fast forward to April 17th when I found myself in the same general area. I knew it was a long shot, but I got out of the truck and walked into the sagebrush where I had seen the lop sided buck over a month earlier. Less than 100 yards from the truck in almost the exact spot I had photographed the buck I found my prize. Most likely it had fallen off right after I left the buck.

(By the way, my daughter has camera induced Turrets Syndrome, whenever a camera appears she goes totally nuts!)

Springtime in the West

Despite the snow storms and freezing weather, I suppose it technically is spring. It would be nice to at least have a little true spring weather before summers heat starts blasting us. I will keep my fingers crossed.


I busted through several snow drifts to get to the top of Little Mountain NE of Vernal and arrived on the top just in time to enjoy a hole in the clouds, affording some really pretty views. The break in the weather didn't last long, and the hole quickly filled back in. I got stuck in a deep snow drift just as the second wave of the storm hit and I got to spend an hour and a half digging my truck out in a blizzard.



I made the trip looking for these little buggers. I didn't find any that day, but went back a couple weeks later and there they were. The status of the Greater Sage Grouse is still under review by the US Fish and Wildlife Service, and we are still waiting on the decision in regards to a possible endangered species listing.






Funny looking dance, eh?

It's That Time Again...

It's that time again when the cabin fever has reached near terminal levels, and finally the snow starts to melt a little, and the bucks start dropping their antlers. I have been noticing a few bucks that have shed, so I spent a day out scouting for potential shed hunting areas. I have a pretty good list of spots I would like to try. I decided to do a little hiking and had a great time and even managed to luck into a couple freshly dropped brown sheds. One still had a little blood on the burr. I hope this is just the first of many more to come this spring.

I Hate Snowmobiling!

First, I grew up in St. George and the only experience I ever had with a snowmobile as a kid was when I got hauled home from our Boy Scout cross-country ski trip because I was puking my guts out and too sick to ski back to the truck. I skied all the way in to the cabin where we were staying, it was all uphill, and the ski back to the trucks the next day was supposed to be awesome. Well, that night I came down with some sort of stomach flu, and didn't even get to enjoy any of the downhill on the way out.

Fast forward a few years and still, the only snowmobile experiences I can think of are unpleasant to say the least. Take for example, last Valentines day when I got stuck at least a dozen times while trying to drag out a dead elk in the dark. I didn't get home until 11:00 pm and was too exhausted to do anything nice for Tristie. This is just one in a long list of similar snowmobile experiences. And, the list goes on...

Yesterday I agreed to help a co-worker snowmobile into a remote area to set motion activated cameras for a wildlife survey. Doesn't sound much like work does it? Well, I though the same thing until 10 minutes into the ride when we had multiple machines stuck in 40" deep powder. The next 5 hours were punctuated with multiple episodes of digging, lifting, pushing and pulling snowmobiles out of deep powdery snow. I also somehow managed to tear one of the front skis off my machine when I was trying to get it out of a tight spot. We pretty much rigged the ski back on with some duct tape, bailing wire, and a little faith. It was so cold that any time my fingers touched anything metal, the metal stuck frozen to my skin (remember the tongue on the flagpole Double Dog Dare?). I limped the snow machine back to the trailer and miraculously the ski stayed on until I drove the sled up onto the trailer.

Chalk up another awesome day snowmobiling for me! I can't wait to see what the next one is like.

Blood, Kicks, and Drool

I got to trap and transport 100 antelope for a transplant. It was pretty wild. I got rammed, kicked, bled on, and covered with antelope drool. However, one little gal stopped and let me give her a hug before she ran off, and it made me forget all about the blood, kicks, and drool.