The last week of September my dad showed up in town to watch the dogs and Matt and I packed up our trusty truck to head to MT and WY for a week of outdoor fun. As with last year our purpose was to go antelope hunting, however, since the season started on a Tuesday this year we figured we would take our time and do some visiting and fishing along the way.
Saturday afternoon we rolled into Bozemen, MT where we meet-up with a buddy that Matt worked with years ago at a gear shop. After lunch with he and his wife, we headed to the local fly shop to procure fishing licenses and headed out for some fly fishing. I was pretty excited, I have fished before, and I do own fly gear (purchased on clearance during our wedding) but I have not fly fished. This would be my first time. Matt spent the few weeks leading-up to our trip loading bullets and tying flies, so we were prepared. I donned my waders, put my pole together and promptly fell on my ass and slid downhill towards the river - graceful...
Once in the water our buddy Matt pointed out a hole that he had see some fish jumping at. Matt give me a 5 minute tutorial and then headed off to chase the previously mentioned fish. I was left to practice casting in a location that was unlikely to produce fish. After a few casts I decided if I was going to be left to my own devices to practice I should at least do it in a more fishy location. I didn't have any luck, but I did enjoy myself. Oh, Matt said he did catch a fish or two, but neither Matt (our friend) or I saw them so I cannot vouch for him.
Sunday morning we woke-up and were on the water by the crack of 10am. This day we were fishing the Gallitan, the river that 'A River Runs Through It' was filmed on. That being the case I decided I needed to channel my inner Brad Pitt and maybe I would get luck and land a fish. Or, if you go by the movie, my lack of technique would mean that I shouldn't disgrace a fish with actually catching it. Either way I wandered around until I found a place I thought looked promising and started practicing my cast again. I didn't really have hopes of catching anything, but it was a good chance to work on my technique. And then it happened, my line went taunt. I actually had something, even better, I actually managed to land it. I caught my first trout (brown) on a fly rod. I was pretty darn pleased with myself. Matt caught a rainbow (mine was bigger).
Monday morning we thanked our gracious hosts and proceeded to our hunting ground south of Casper, WY. We rolled in that evening to rain... After setting-up camp, eating dinner, and packing for the following morning we curled-up for the night to thoughts of antelope bounding through our heads. Tuesday we were up bright and early and had hiked-out for shooting light. We stayed together that morning and after some stalking came upon a pair of antelope, they were too far away for me to comfortably take a shot, but Matt was game. One shot and she was down. We hiked over to her and I believe the first words I heard out of Matt's mouth were "son-of-a-bitch". Looking down he realized he had shot a fawn. He was duped, it was a pair of fawns that were together. Lesson learned - if the ears looking abnormally large it is likely a youngin. My take on the situation is we now have the veal of antelope, this is high quality tender meat, intended only for special occasions.
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| Proud hunter |
Wednesday morning we again headed out together, put in some miles and didn't see many antelope. Came back that afternoon had some lunch, relaxed a bit and prepared to head back out. That afternoon we decided to do our own thing and took-off in opposite directions. After hiking out a few miles I crested a hill and saw a family of three laying off in the distance. I quickly dropped back into the gully and started working my way around to get closer. When I popped out of the gully the three were still laying down, unaware of my presence. Heart pounding I army crawled as close as I thought I could without alerting them to my presence. I set-up behind a sagebrush clump and just watched them for awhile. After I determined they were close enough for me to shoot I clicked the safety off and lined-up. They were still laying down and my first shoot was a clean miss. However, it did get everyone to stand-up and look around, putting me in a much better position to shoot. I sat for what seemed a lifetime to calm myself down and took my shot. This is where it goes south.
It was a hit, I saw her jump and stagger. However, instead of taking a second shot right then to finish her I assumed she would wander just a bit a fall. Given my assumption I packed-up my gear and hiked over. When I got there I was greeted with a whole lot of nothing. I walked a gird for a few hours to make sure I didn't miss anything, I found nothing. I was devastated. Not because I didn't have my antelope but that I hit one and then didn't finish the job. After a few hours of beating myself up and looking for a trail I finally gave-up and hiked back to camp. I sat in my chair and pouted. I felt that I shouldn't hunt anymore, I took my shot, I hit something, and I failed on the follow-through. I didn't deserve another chance. Matt got back to camp and thinking I would great him with a antelope (he heard my shots), instead he got me grumpy.
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| Epic fail |
Thursday morning Matt decided to hike out to an area I recommended he check before grabbing breakfast. Shortly thereafter I heard a shot and hurried my packing to go see if he got something. As I got closer I saw a young buck circling around Matt and the down doe, he then dropped into a gully and headed towards me. I wasn't interested in him so I carried on with my hike. A few minutes later a mature doe popped-out of the gully right in front of me, since I was expecting the buck by the time I realized what had happened she ran off. Opportunity missed. Upon getting to Matt I found him with a large doe, he was a happy camper.
I hunted the rest of that morning with no success. Upon returning to the truck Matt had just sat down to relax and a WY Fish and Game biologist pulled-up to check-us. Matt dug out both of his kills and got approval. When he heard that I had not yet had success he suggested a different area that we try. Seemed like a good idea so we packed-up camp and headed out. One problem, the truck wouldn't start, did I mention we were in the middle of nowhere? Thankfully the biologist drove back by and was kind enough to give us a jump. After going into town to get a new battery we headed to the new spot. We scoped it out agreed that our previous location was better, then it started to pour. The roads to get back to where we were are silty, rain was quickly turning them into a impassable mess. With that my hunt was over, we pointed the truck towards Lander, WY to go visit friends.
After a night in Lander we headed towards Jackson, WY where we spent the day down by the river, Matt fishing and me reading.
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| Fishing the Snake River |
That evening we went to a local steak house and had what might be the best appetizer I've ever tasted - bison carpaccio. If you don't know what that is it is raw meat pounded really thin served with crusty bread and gouda cheese. I would go back just to eat this! That night we hung out in Jackson and went to the Cowboy Bar where I saddled up to the bar and ordered a shirley temple. Matt compensated for my lame drink and drank whiskey.
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| Bison Carpaccio |
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| Lima at our wedding spot - 22 weeks |
The next morning (Saturday) we debated if we should head back or extend the vacation and take the long way through Yellowstone so we could do some fishing. Extending the vacation was the obvious choice. One our way through Yellowstone we fished three more rivers, all I caught was a rock, Matt actually got a couple of fish.
On our way out of the park we saw some sheep plodding down the road. It was a great vacation, as usual is passed far to quickly and the drive home seemed to take far to long.
