End of the hunt

This week was the end of the deer/elk hunt. On Wednesday after work Chris and I headed up to our trailer. We were the only ones in camp. Kennedy stayed at Todd and Jana's and my mom took her to school. Chris and I had the whole place and camper to ourselves. Wednesday night we went in and sat in what we call Todd's blind for the night. We didn't make it to camp til 6 o'clock at least. Nothing came in that night. No elk were talking. The sheep were all over the hillside across the way and it started getting cold! We hiked back to camp at dark.

When we woke up Thursday morning it was FREEZING COLD. Like 30 degrees freezing cold. The thing about archery hunting is usually its really warm. Hot. Its the first hunting season and its usually in a tshirt.. which just helps add to the ridiculousness of the hunt we were having. We decided to sit in Todds blind again and see what happened.

The elk were silent. We were freezing. I had on my scentlok bottoms which is like a fleece lined, my pants, my long sleeved shirt with scentlok top, my jacket, my leaf suit jacket, my mask, gloves and wool socks. I FROZE. Chris and I had to cuddle in one blind just to try and stay warm. You cant tell but Im sitting between his legs. He had his arms wrapped me because he was so cold and I had to leave my arms long his legs to keep them warm for him. Then he got warm enough he fell asleep.

 Our view as the sun was coming up

 I found the perfect branch to hang my bow on even

 We stayed for several hours and then decided to come out. We ran into a doe feeding about 80 yards from us. She was in the middle of the trail. We were able to sneak up with in 50 yards of her with out her noticing us.

 That night we went back out around 3. I sat in my blind this time. Chris sat in Todds blind which isnt too far away and watched for elk. No elk. No elk bugling. Nothing. I had a grouse come into about 17 yards from me (and they are in season now) so I shot it with my bow. That was all that came in that night or made any noise!

Friday morning was the last day of the hunt. It closed at sunset that night. It was so cold again when we woke up. Low 30's. We again headed in at 530 in the morning in the dark to our blinds to sit and freeze waiting for elk. We had a hard time seeing because we could see our breath and it rises.. well the lights we are using are attached to our hats so the breath air rises right up into your light. It was like walking in fog.  I took an extra hoodie and my new bibs Chris had bought me. I stayed a little bit warmer but was still cold. The bogs we were sitting on had frozen. Our noses were frozen. I kept checking my fingertips for frostbite they hurt so bad.

 We sat til about noon and pulled our cameras. We could still see our breath at hiking out.

 We went back and had some snacks and not much longer headed back in for the night hunt. It was still pretty cool but not near as bad as it had been. The week before .. 11 days prior to be exact... Todd had shot at a grouse and hit it but his arrow went into the tree. He shot one that had a lumeok on it. They are guaranteed to glow for 12 hours. ELEVEN days later its still glowing! We couldn't believe it. Look at the middle of the pine tree for the blue light.

My cute hubby who hiked so hard and spent so much of his time trying to help me find elk. 

Nothing came into us that night. Nothing was talking. Nothing was moving around :( We ended the season of my big bull tag empty handed. I wont lie it was a lot of a bummer. We worked so hard. I had wanted it so bad. Spent months planning, practicing, talking about it, getting er.. and that was no meat in the freeze also. But we had a great time. We had so much fun at camp each week. We looked forward to going up there. Saw some neat new areas and spent a lot of quality time with family. Really cant complain about that.  

We hiked back to camp in the freezing dark. Chris asked me if I wanted to pack up and go home, we could be home by about 11pm or just spend the night and go home in the morning. I was in no rush to hurry home so I voted we stayed the night. We cooked sloppy joes and Mac & Cheese, cuddled on the couch and watched Grumpy Old Men. Cant really complain about a night like that! We got up at 7 that next morning packed up everything and headed for home. It was a little bitter sweet. We had spent the last 4 weeks there and now not again until next year.

On the way out we saw two nice moose. They were out all over the place.

We pulled into Todd and Janas to get Miss K. Todd had cooked us breakfast. Kennedy ran up to me, hugged me and said I missed you mom... wheres Daddy?? And ran off to go love and cuddle on him!! Apparently I wasnt that missed ;) Dad was.