Iowabow arrived early, really early. Like days before anyone else. Can you tell he was excited???
We drove out and set up his camp in the "Elk Rocks" area I have found last fall and heard elk bugling in the dark. I abandoned him to his own devices as I had to work Monday morning. I told him I would be back Tuesday morning and headed for town. Monday afternoon, after work, I was so excited myself that I packed like a madman and was driving up the little Forest Service two track at about 10:00 p.m. I walked into camp to the ringing echoes of pure copper free abo snoring! I made some bear snorts and growls as I shook one of the poles of his tent. Iowabow woke with a scream (he claims he was shouting at the "bear" in order to scare it away), and I had to rock him to sleep, singing lullabies to calm his frazzled nerves.
Next morning, well...later that same night, really...we rose and burst out into the woods to work our first gobblers. Iowabow had done a great job locating the flock and we had birds at about 100 yds rocking and rolling. He claims to have had a coyote right in front of his set-up, but I didn't see anything but a scabrous, handicapped, three legged chipmunk with an eyepatch.
He and I busted a hump most of Tuesday clearing out deadfall mountain pine beetle killed trees and catching up on current events. That evening, we put some birds to bed and did the same for ourselves.
Kyle and Julup showed up Wednesday early afternoon. They are buddies of mine from the muzzleloading/rendezvous circuit. They had their gear out and set up in record time, being old hands at this kind of work. I sent Iowabow out with them for the late afternoon/evening hunt. I offered to stay close to camp since we were expecting Tattoo Dave from Michigan to show anytime.
I had gotten no more than a couple hundred yards from camp and bumped two different feeder flocks moving toward a peak on the ridgeline east of camp. I heard a vehicle in the distance and soon heard it's horn sound off. I had left a note pinned with my jackknife to the upright pole on the camp kitchen awning instructing Dave to toot his horn when he arrived. I dogtrotted out of the woods a few minutes later and proceeded to be a living example of why it is not smart to meet people on the internet and make plans to meet them in the woods! Poor Tattoo Dave may very well never be the same. His gear was unloaded in minutes and set up. We were off on the errant feeder flocks moments later.
The entire crew was assembled now. Attrition had whittled this year's camp from 10 people to just a mere 5. Plenty enough, and with what I had gathered for groceries, nobody was gonna starve much.
....more to come.
