Two cents and four thoughts.

[ELK_HUN10]

I want to go to Hawaii for a vacation. They have rocks over there that are not as old as I am. They also name some of their streets after some of the folks in Washington D.C. (One Way and Dead End) This must be an island of paradise.

[ELK_HUN10]

How to do the watusi: Some time ago, me and my father-in-law drove up to a mountain lake to go g. After we cast our lines out, we sat down under a pine tree and waited. After a little bit, a chipmunk came over and started chattering at us. My father-in-law wears coveralls and had a package of corn nuts in the pocket, He opened up the corn nuts and ate one and threw another one to the chipmunk. The chipmunk took a few nibbles out of the corn nut and then ran off with it. Pretty soon the chipmunk came back and chattered again. My father-in-law threw him another corn nut and ate one himself. This went on until the package was empty and he put the empty package in his pants pocket. The chipmunk came back again and started chattering, he was told that the nuts were all gone. The chipmunk ran over to my father-in-law and up the inside of his coveralls leg, way past the knee. My father-in-law yelled and jumped up and started to do the watusi. The chipmunk ran out and ran about 20 feet away. It was hard to tell which one was madder. I guess anyone can learn to dance if they've a mind to. You can't blame the chipmunk, he was just looking for some more nuts!

[ELK_HUN10]

A long time ago a song said: Sign , sign, everywhere a sign, do this, don't do that can't you read the sign? Anyway a sign I read said: No hunting, no g, no camping, no swimming, no berry, picking, no mushroom gathering, no tree cutting without the proper license,tags, or fees paid. Further on down a sign said: No motorized vehicles, and no chain saws allowed. After a while mountain bikes got popular and people would ride them on the trails. Then the sign said no motorized vehicles, no chain saws, and no mountain bikes. Later on, hang gliding became the fad. People would pack their hang glider to the top of one of the Sawtooth mountains and fly off. Pine trees grow real tall, cliffs are real steep, and the wind usually blows in the wrong direction and changes often. Therefore most of the landings were crash landings. Then the sign said no motorized vehicles, no chain saws, no mountain bikes and no hang gliding. One year I bought a single wheeled game cart that had duel brakes on it. You were supposed to be able haul 500 pounds on it going down hill. To test it out, we loaded a cabin tent, cots. Tarps, Sleeping bags, lawn chairs, stove, lantern, cooler, g gear and refreshments on the carrier. We pushed it up the trail. The trail climbs 2500 feet in two miles. It took us eight hours to get to a flat ridge on top. So that is where we set up camp. We got a camp fire going. It started to get cloudy. After a while it started to rain so we put up a tarp so we could set by the fire in the lawn chairs without getting wet. Then it really started to rain. Then we had a cloud burst. This went on for a couple of hours. I guess an eagle scout troop had back packed in to one of the high mountain lakes in the area. Any way, they started to come by in ones and twos, they looked like drowned rats. We always said hi to them. They took one look at us drinking hot coffee, then would glance into the tent and see our cots with the dry sleeping bags on it, and not say a word. After 15 or 20 of them went by, an older guy came out and than we didn't see any more people. The next morning, we went g. I guess the rain warmed the water in lake up, because we sure caught and released a lot of fish. We went back to camp and packed up. It only took us an hour to get back to the trail head going down hill. The brakes on the cart worked good. The next year the sign said no motorized vehicles, no chain saws, no mountain bikes, no hang gliding and no wheeled game carts.

[ELK_HUN10]

With all the snow we get in the winter and all the rain we get in the spring, Has anyone else noticed how fast and how much the mountains are growing? Going the same pace I always go, It now take me an hour and a half to to go up a hill it used to take me 60 minutes to do. This must be a side effect of global warming.

[ELK_HUN10]

He took two steps forward and one step back, I was helping a nephew of mine pack out some elk they had got. In this area, the top half of the mountain was forest and the bottom half was sagebrush. All of a sudden he jumped straight up in the air and back up the trail. Being he was packing a front and hind quarter of an elk, he probably moved a total of three inches. It was a warm day for October and a rattlesnake had decided to sun himself on the trail. It seemed at the time, doing the two step was my nephew's best option. The rattlesnake sure made a nice hat band though.

[heath_jhns]

they taste good to.

Heath

[ELK_HUN10]

The eight second bull ride. My brother- in-law had got a spike bull elk and with enough snow on the ground, I was helping him drag it out. We dragged it across a meadow to the edge of a steep hill that did not have any trees on it. I told him when he pulled the elk over the hill, he would need to step out of the way because the elk would really take off on him. It was a long hill, but it had a run out to flat ground at the bottom. Facing down hill, he grabbed both spikes of the elk and jerked the elk down the hill. The elk immediately took off and ran up over his ankles. My bother-in-law fell backwards over the elk and he and the the elk went down the hill. With his feet under the elk, and him on top of the elk they went down the hill together. He kept yelling: Oh shoot, oh shoot, oh shoot, or something that sounded like that anyway. Pretty soon they got to the run out at the bottom of the hill and came to a stop. I yelled to him and asked him if he was all right. He said: "Yeah". I told him I am sorry but I would have to sat down so I could laugh and not fall of the hill. He said: "well he rode it for eight seconds any way." I told him, yeah that was a score, but he would lose some points for not spurring with his feet. He said: "But the elk was on top of his feet." Some people always have an excuse.

[ELK_HUN10]

I've eaten rattlesnake before, it tastes like chicken. I've eaten mountain lion before, It tastes like chicken. About half of the exotic animals taste like chicken. I've eaten porkypine and ptarmigan, they taste like a cross between liver and duck. I think that is why they call them survival food. If you think you are hungry enough to eat a porkypine or ptarmigan, wait a few more days. It might help.

[heath_jhns]

i've heard that about porkypine but never have tried it.

Heath

[ELK_HUN10]

Twice a kid. My father-in-law was 73 and he had never got a elk in his life. He really did not like hunting in the snow. We were walking in to our hunting spot and the ground was bare. After a while I looked over, and there was three elk walking in the same direction we were going and about 100 yards away. I said: "there is some elk." and pointed. The elk heard my voice and stopped. My father-in law brought the muzzle loader to his shoulder and aimed at one of them. After about 30 seconds, he was still aiming at them. I told him he was going to have to shoot because the elk were getting nervous He shot, he must have been looking over the top of his sights because he hit high and knocked the elk down in his tracks with a backbone shot. I told him: "nice shot and congratulations." My father-in-law said yippie and jumped up about six inches in the air. He said yippie 3 or 4 more times. Each time jumping up into the air. Then he wanted to run over to the elk. I told him to load his gun. He said we had to go over there so the elk would not get way. I told him the elk was not going anywhere. He still wanted to go over to the elk. I stood in front of him and would not let him leave until he loaded his gun. I didn't tell him my rifle was still loaded. I asked him was he going to wrestle the elk? Then he loaded his rifle and we went over and dispatched the elk. He said he would field dress the elk while I went and got the 4-wheeler. Then he said: "I told you that you didn't have to have snow on the ground to get an elk!" I went back and got the 4-wheeler and in two trips, we had the elk back to camp. I guess people can still have as much fun as kids do every once in a while. That was about the best hunt I had been on since I got my first deer when I was a kid!