I spent another night up in the Uintah Mountains. My goal—find elk. I failed. I didn't find any elk. However, I found elk sign (read poop), and I heard what I think could have been cow elk talking to one another (more on that later).

First off, just because I failed at finding any elk, doesn't mean the trip was a total failure. One, I covered a lot of ground while I was out there. I probably hiked a good four miles and covered a lot of distance on my ATV. What did this serve? It let me become familiar with the terrain and the locations I wanted to hunt. It also helped me prepare for when I go back. I now know where I want to camp (with back-up locations just in case) and I have a half-a-dozen spots I think could be good to try and get a good shot at an elk.

Two, I learned that I need to take something to mark my trail. Even though the trail was blazed with these markings (which was a life-saver), it was too dang easy to get lost. I went out twice on the same trail, and lost the same trail each time. You might think it’s easy, especially with the tree markings. Think again. Too many trees out there and that trail was grown over in a lot of spots. When I go back to hunt, I’ll tie small ribbons on the trees at regular intervals to mark my path. I figure I’ll be going out to the sweet spots in low-light to no-light, and having the trail marked could make or break the hunt.

Three, just getting out into nature is a win all by itself. I love the outdoors. I could spend too much time out in the woods if I didn’t have obligations to pull me back. I got to test out my new pack as well as brush up on my land-navigation skills (yes, it will atrophy just like everything else). Plus, you get to find crazy things like this burnt out tree trunk and this hidden wood person.

Will I fill my two elk tags? I don’t know. I do know that there are elk out there. I saw the sign, found wilderness that looked like great elk habitat, and I also heard a bunch of cows talking. Which, by the way sound like a pack of banshees wailing in a chorus. It happened in the morning while I was cooking my breakfast. Not more than a half mile from my camp, it started off as a kind of a cross between an elk bugle and child screaming. Within seconds many more of the same calls answered in a hellish chorus. Then they all died down to silence in about 40 seconds. Really kind of terrifying if you’ve never heard it before.

Elk are kind of sneaky bastards and this will be my second hunt. I’m somewhat flying by the seat of my pants again since I never did much elk hunting growing up. I’m working off what research I’ve done, advice from friends, and pure luck. We’ll see come October whether or not I’ll get lucky and have some meat for the freezer.

It's almost a fully functional Death Star!

"That is not dead which can eternal lie..." H.P. Lovecraft

I went out a couple weeks ago and took a look at my trail cam again. I was happy to find that I didn't have 300 pictures of cows. Instead I had over 1000 pictures of moving tree limbs. I guess I set it up too close to another tree and whenever the wind would blow, it would register the movement.

Regardless of the wind, I got some interesting pictures. Unfortunately, no buck deer pics. I guess the bucks didn't want to travel that path. However, I did get a close up shot of a doe. At one point she looked right into the camera and said hello, or what the hell is that thing?

Then, the cows returned to enact their sabotage! Once again, the 'effin' cows ate my salt lick! I didn't think they would climb that trail...guess I was wrong. I won't immortalize them by posting any of those pics. What I will post, however, is the strange, flying, stick creatures I caught on camera. Not sure if they are just falling sticks, or what. But I like to believe it was a Sasquatch throwing communication rods in an attempt for some Jacks Links Jerky. 

I made it up to the lake this time. It was more of an overly large pond, but pretty nonetheless. Also, on the way up, I spooked a good amount of doe. One of them decided to not give a crap about me and keep on nomming on the grass. I got a decent pic with my phone. 

Even though I didn't spy any bucks this time, it was fun and totally worth it. I'll be going out to scout again at least one more time before the hunt starts, plus I'll be going to scout in an entirely different region for elk soon. I'll post on both of those adventures.