Making the best of it!

[Len Backus]

Sometimes things don't work out as you planned. I made 2 aborted trips to Montana for black bear hunting this month. The first time I was unable to get up the mountain due to last minute snowfall. So I watched the temps and 2 weeks later decided the snow must be all gone on the forest service roads and it was time to go back and try again.

And the roads were clear of snow -- but not of fallen trees. About 2 miles from my intended hunt area I was faced with this. No chain saw along and a pretty unsafe situation anyway, even if I'd had a saw.



So back to the Big Horns of WY and more hiking, deer scouting and picture taking. Probably the best ever show of wildflowers while I was on a hunting related trip.

 

[Len Backus]

I'll try the MT black bear hunt again this fall. But meanwhile I had a very nice trip anyway.
.
.

 

[rancilio]

Keep making the best of it... and share the photos! Amazing they are.

 

[SidecarFlip]

Hey Len...


All the pictures are first rate except the imported car one....lol

 

[Bullet bumper]

Beautiful photos , they look so professional . You can't do much about bad luck . Next time will be great. America has some beautiful countryside that is for sure , makes the Australian bush look like a crap. I am saving one of those photos for my collection .
I had a bad mishap one time going hunting. Some road repair people in the outback pulled down a bridge on a fairly main road but they put the " road closed / detour sign " only about 60 feet before the big gap where the bridge used to be. You can imagine what happened as we drove along at about 100 KH ( 62 MPH) all loaded up and with a heavy trailer on the back .
Straight through the sign and fence and skidded over the edge into the creek.
Lucky for us the bank and creek bed had been all excavated and was fairly smooth and flattened out. We kind of slid to the bottom and there we stayed all night until a truck using the detour spotted us and towed us out .
During the day you could see that the bridge was not there but at night you could not and by the time you spotted the sign it was too late , a fact lost on the local road gang . Only damage was to the front end from the fence wire and the tow hitch because of the steep angle at the bottom but it was fixable.

 

[HuntnPack]

Len,
very nice pics, looks like a good road trip, & those are always successful. You get to go back again.

 

[Daveinjax]

I know just how the feels! Went to my deer lease yesterday to fill feeders and get our pictures. Trees down all over the main road in. Cleared eight before giving up. Hiked in and changed batteries and cards but couldn't fill feeders. Hiking in I counted eleven more down! Next week other two members and a tractor. I still had a great time hiking the club and scouting!

 

[Len Backus]

Thanks, guys.

 

[JustMe2]

Great pictures!! Definitely God's country. It's way too hot and muggy to do much in the woods here in Florida. If the mosquitos don't carry you away this time of year, you float away on your own sweat. Won't be cool enough to get into the woods until about October now.
Jer

 

[hunterbob]

Well, Len... a successful hunt depends on a lot of things as we both know. Let me tell you those pictures you took are beautiful, and to me its the culmination of a fantastic hunt. To be in that spot where you took them; is what us hunters live for, and not just for the kill. Many times in the mountains we stop at a meadow, or a brook, or view a stream from a mountain cliff. Just a silent moment sometimes to take it in. I stood on top of a 5,000 ft Mountain one time with my Father. I remember that I was 16...We didn't see any deer that day, but it was just Dad and I standing there looking across that mountain range. Yea, we know its Gods Country. A lot of non hunters don't understand this, but I would love to stand in those spots where you took those pictures.

"A true Hunter doesn't measure his success or failures, by his kills alone."
Bob Tucker

 

[JustMe2]

Well, Len... a successful hunt depends on a lot of things as we both know. Let me tell you those pictures you took are beautiful, and to me its the culmination of a fantastic hunt. To be in that spot where you took them; is what us hunters live for, and not just for the kill. Many times in the mountains we stop at a meadow, or a brook, or view a stream from a mountain cliff. Just a silent moment sometimes to take it in. I stood on top of a 5,000 ft Mountain one time with my Father. I remember that I was 16...We didn't see any deer that day, but it was just Dad and I standing there looking across that mountain range. Yea, we know its Gods Country. A lot of non hunters don't understand this, but I would love to stand in those spots where you took those pictures.

"A true Hunter doesn't measure his success or failures, by his kills alone."
Bob Tucker

Well said. Been there, done that many times also. What a wonderful feeling.

 

[sp6x6]

Len,If you where in my neck of the woods?Would have been glad to help you out

 

[Kaboom]

Now that looks like a "good ol USA huntin Rig" !!!!!