I never understood why guys would want to drive for 5 hours for a place to hunt but now I do.
In my first hour I woke up a hog, in brush too deep to kick into, probably wisely since I really didn't want to get charged. Then I bumped a cow elk up which I had never seen before in the wild. She wasn't but 60 yards away but sadly it wasn't the season and I didn't have a tag. Maybe something to think about putting in for this year.
Since I was there for either pigs or turkeys I found a gobbler. I stupidly ignored a friend's advice to hunt from the other parking area and stayed on the front side of the river. I suppose my calling has improved dramatically as I kept the gobbler engaged in a conversation for over an hour. But he wasn't going to cross the river and I wasn't going to wade across after him. Still very fun.
Also got a look at two big trout crossing a bar in the river. It was only a few inches deep there but these to 24 inch trout kept fighting their way across the bar then letting the current push them back and doing it again. Pretty entertaining!
I definitely will be back. Oh, area 25 was max-packed this weekend and no one saw a damn thing.
In my first hour I woke up a hog, in brush too deep to kick into, probably wisely since I really didn't want to get charged. Then I bumped a cow elk up which I had never seen before in the wild. She wasn't but 60 yards away but sadly it wasn't the season and I didn't have a tag. Maybe something to think about putting in for this year.
Since I was there for either pigs or turkeys I found a gobbler. I stupidly ignored a friend's advice to hunt from the other parking area and stayed on the front side of the river. I suppose my calling has improved dramatically as I kept the gobbler engaged in a conversation for over an hour. But he wasn't going to cross the river and I wasn't going to wade across after him. Still very fun.
Also got a look at two big trout crossing a bar in the river. It was only a few inches deep there but these to 24 inch trout kept fighting their way across the bar then letting the current push them back and doing it again. Pretty entertaining!
I definitely will be back. Oh, area 25 was max-packed this weekend and no one saw a damn thing.