As we reached the second meadow and the spot we were hoping to find, we found a great looking area another .5 miles up the mountain. We both gave each other that look, but we knew we needed to push on. As we climbed and breaths got shorter I could only look to the tree line as my goal. We reached a great spot with a small peak surrounded by a huge meadow. Once again we sat and called for about 2 hours. We were in the shade and shitting in just my pants and shirt it was little chilly. A the sun got higher I could feel the temps start to climb almost instantly. I had a squirrel at 3 yards rummaging through the brush below me. I moved my boot about a 1/4 of an inch and he froze. He sat there looking at me trying to figure out what or who I was. I slowly reached for my trail mix to toss him a nut. He wanted no part of the a took off like a rocket. I think he is still running to this day.I heard Al coming through the bushes and we decided to head a little higher up the mountain to see if we could glass anything up on the surrounding hillsides. Once again nothing was to be seen or heard So we made our way back to camp.
On the way we stopped and set up at the only bear sign we have seen all week. Al had a bear tag and we figured this would be the best spot to set up. I found myself a nice dead fall and kicked backed while Al was in bear mode. No sign of any movement so we headed back to camp for lunch.
The evening we venture off in a new direction we had not gone yet. We were perched a few hundred yards above a pond. At one point we noticed movement in the water. Hoping to see a bull or a cow come from behind the trees we were surprise by 2 ducks going crazy and having a good ol' time splashing in the water. As the sun set we headed back to camp. We were going to pack down to lower elevation in the morning set up camp and hunt a few lower areas. As I drifted of to sleep I had not ideal I would be awaken at 2:00am.
I was awoken by something hitting my tent and myself in the head. We both screamed and yelled as we got out of our tents. Just picture its 2:00am, I am in only my boxers and I am barefoot. I have my flashlight and my .357, Al has his flash light and bear spray ready. At least he was in his base layers. I grabbed my jacket from my tent and we looked all around camp and could not see or hear anything. The only sign was a faint imprint in the dust on my tent. We chatted for a few and back in the tents we went. I fell asleep rather quickly for what had just happened.
We woke up, packed up camp per our plan to move to a lower elevation and headed down the mountain. W found a new camp site close to a river and set up camp. We filtered water, had some snacks and checked out the lay of the land. We knew we only had 2 hunts left so we would make the best of it. That evening we headed to the beaver ponds and sat over a pond with great sign and tracks all around the pond. Unfortunately we did not see anything around the pond. We made the hike out and decided we would not side hill back to the area we had just hunted. We had dinner and a Pats Back Country Brew by the stream then headed into a meadow to look at the stars. There were thousands of stars to look at. We did spot a mule deer buck feeding in the meadow in the dark. Finally a game animal. We watched him feed for a while then we headed to bed.
Then next morning we took off in a different direction hope to seal the deal. It pretty much followed suit with the other hunts. The only thing we heard was each other calling. We headed back to camp to load up and hike back to the truck. Once we made it to the truck we had a beer and a cigar to end the trip. All in all I had a blast and can not wait to get back to elk country. We stayed the night in Cortez took showers and hit the town for a good dinner.
We hit the road first thing in the morning back to California
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