First Scouting Trip

Hey, doesn't someone around here have an archery elk tag this year???  Actually, Jay and I both do.  Mine is the September archery hunt, and Jay has a tag for the November archery hunt.  As usual, life has been busy for both of us, but our minds are still very much on elk hunting.

I made it up this past weekend as my first official scouting trip for my elk hunt.  Luckily, I was drawn for a unit that I'm very familiar with, so that helps.  I was able to get out and hang a trail camera, as well as hike around and look for some antlers.  Hiked a few miles Sunday morning and found one antler for my efforts.  It was from a previous year.  I did find several sets of quad tracks driving off road criss crossing the area I was looking in, so I'm sure they picked up a few.  Here are a couple as it lay pics.

While out shed hunting, I saw something green scurry across the ground ahead of me.  It darted from practically between my legs to a nearby cliffrose bush.  I peaked inside the bush and was able to snap these pics.

I couldn't believe how green he was.  I have no idea what kind of lizard he was.  If anyone knows, feel free to comment.

I asked the kids if they wanted to get out and try to do some fishing.  Of course they wanted to, so we gave it a whirl.  I've got to be the world's worst fisherman.  No luck for us.  The kids had fun though.  We also got to see a couple of elk feeding along as we were fishing.

I couldn't believe how much green grass was up there.  I checked out several tanks I know of, and most of them had a good amount of water, at least enough to get them through the next month until the Monsoons hit.  Here's hoping we have a great monsoon season. 

From now until the season starts, most of my time will be consumed by shooting my bow, getting in shape, and scouting for elk.  I've done some upgrades to my bow that I'm liking so far.  I'll be sure to write about those soon.