Enjoying the Great Outdoors of Idaho.
All photos are of my friends and family, all wildlife taken without guides and fair chase. Click on posts photos to enlarge. Older posts have been archived to speed loading, click older posts to view. Also check out my other photo Blog Scenery of Idaho, a link is posted below.
Thanks and Enjoy, Robert Millage
Copyright Robert Millage, use of Photos and content with permission only.
Comments sent to me both good and bad from my wolf hunt.
. . . To him who has once tasted the reckless independence, the haughty self-reliance, the sense of irresponsible freedom, which the forest life engenders, civilization thenceforth seems flat and stale. Its pleasures are insipid, its pursuits wearisome, its conventionalities, duties, and mutual dependence alike tedious and disgusting. The entrapped wanderer grows fierce and restless, and pants for breathing-room. His path, it is true, was choked with difficulties, but his body and soul were hardened to meet them; it was beset with dangers, but these were the very spice of his life, gladdening his heart with exulting self-confidence, and sending the blood through his veins with a livelier current. The wilderness, rough, harsh, and inexorable, has charms more potent in their seductive influence than all the lures of luxury and sloth. And often he on whom it has cast its magic finds no heart to dissolve the spell, and remains a wanderer and an Ishmaelite to the hour of his death. Francis Parkman
Well, I hunted hard, as usual, this year for whitetail. I passed on plenty of decent bucks (such as the one I shot with the camera below) and had missed opportunities on some trophy bucks...was beginning to think I had a Wolf curse, especially after having snow fall out of a tree and into my scope while a huge mountain buck ran off......
I ended rifle season without punching my tag, so I thought I would give a late muzzle loader season a try. I've never taken a game animal with a muzzle loader, so thought it would be a fun and challenging experience. I hunted a day on the Selway, with little luck, and being down to the last day and a half of the season, I set out with my good friend Donny to hunt some areas he has access to.
It has been bitter cold the last few days, and figured the deer would be needing to move to eat and stay warm in the sub-zero overnight temps. The temperature had however warmed up to ten degrees when we set out on an afternoon hunt.
We saw some deer, out of range of the muzzle loaders, and the cold temps were causing all sorts of havoc with the camera and other optics...as you can see in the frosty deer pic above. We were walking a canyon rim when two bucks came running out into the field about 75 yards in front of us. I pulled up the muzzle loader and put the open sights on the largest of the two, and as he slowed his run to a trot at about 125 yards, I held at the top of his front shoulder and fired. He immediately folded with the impact of the 295 grain lead slug, then spun and ran about 30 yards crashing into a fence and brush, where he piled up.
He wasn't the biggest buck I'd seen this fall, I passed on quite a few larger than him earlier in the season, but for my first muzzle loader buck I was excited, and definitely will have to do more muzzle loader hunting in the future......he turned out to be about a 15 inch 4x5, not bad for only one day of season left, and he will make some fine eating for the winter months ahead....
Detailed Wolf Hunt article written by myself and my photos
Wolf Photo
Deer Camp Photo
Will also be in future March issue of Field and Stream and have a photo in the March issue of National Geographic.......buy a copy or get a subscription!!!!!!
My Cousin Joe Sams and his 2009 Whitetail Buck....at least I'm not the only one who shoots off horns (my 2008 mule deer) thanks for making me not feel alone!!!!!
I helped my Brother In-Law take this really nice 18 inch 4 point whitetail. It was a fun hunt, and he made a great downhill shot in some very steep and nasty terrain.
Dustin took his brother in law out yesterday and he shot his first whitetail buck. Steven made an excellent shot at 400 yards through both shoulders using Dustin's 300 ultra. Congratulations Steven!
This year I was going to hunt the opening weekend of Elk Season with my good friend Jim. His plan was for us to mountain bike our gear a few miles back in behind a gate on some old skid roads, then hunt from there. He had taken an elk in there the year before, and it seemed as good as any place for my Elk hunting season. We loaded packs, and a small trailer Jim pulled behind his bike and headed in the day before opener. I hadn't road a bike in well over a decade, but managed to not wreck...more coasted downhill, and pushed the bike uphill... all in all it wasn't a bad way to get in to camp. We set up a rough spike camp, and tried to make things as comfortable as a mummy bag and small Bivy tent can be. We were welcomed to the woods this year by mother nature throwing record cold temps at us...I am pretty sure we were in the single digits the first night.
Opening morning, I went with Jim at daylight, to check out the area he took his bull in the previous season. After sunrise, we did some glassing. I told Jim I would head an opposite direction for the day, so we could cover more ground. I hiked several miles, and found some great hunting ground and terrain. I saw two whitetail bucks, one of which was a nice 17 inch 4 point, but not big enough for this early in the season, and 6 miles from the gate. I attempted to get some pics of the bucks as they walked within 30 yards of me, but my batteries died in the camera due to the cold. By the time I fumbled with the pack for new batteries the bucks winded me and took off. I continued to wander for the day, enjoying being in the mountains during my favorite time of year. I found lots of fresh elk sign, including some rubs, but no elk crossed my path.
I returned to camp and enjoyed a hot evening meal around the fire. I began to worry about Jim when darkness fell and he had not returned. I turned on the radio to try and call, but no reply. As hours went by, I worried more, thinking either he had something down and was dealing with it, or had some other situation arise and was huddled around a fire somewhere in the cold dark woods for the night...hoping he had not injured himself to the point of not getting a fire started. Finally at about 9:30 I tried the radio one last time (before going to bed and starting a search for him at daylight) and Jim came across in reply, asking if I had any plans for the morning as he had shot an elk. Upon his return to camp, he informed us he had hit an elk right before dark, and had tried to trail it, but his batteries gave out in the flashlight. He had built a fire and warmed for awhile before hiking back to camp. During his hike he had to shuffle his last working batteries between his light and GPS, and thought he had wolf go past him in the dark, as he only could see its eyes in his dim light.
The next morning, we strapped on the pack frames and went looking for his elk. We scoured the place where Jim had shot the bull, but could not find a single drop of blood, or piece of hair. There were so many elk tracks in the area, we couldn't figure out which way the bull had gone. 4 hours into the search, we jumped some more elk, and without a single sign of Jim's bull, I told him I would go after them while he searched. After chasing elk for a few hours and a couple miles I heard another guy from our camp come across the radio to inform us he had found Jim's elk. He had wandered down to check on us, and in a stroke of luck walked right up to the bull. I had struck out on relocating the jumped elk, so cruised back to help with the found bull.
Upon inspection, Jim had made a good heart shot, but the bullet didn't exit...I think he was so close to the bull, his bullet blew up, causing massive internal damage, but not leaving a blood trail. Somehow with a bullet through the heart, this bull had made its way uphill and to the right several hundred yards, while from the noises Jim heard we thought the bull had gone down to the left....The Bull was a nice 6x7, with very nice sword points, one of which flattened out into 2 points on the tip.
After taking some quick pics, we set to work taking care of the elk. Night and falling temps were coming quick, so we set upon boning out the meat.
After getting the meat bagged, Jim and I both took half, electing to try our luck with overloaded packs vs making a second trip. Jim's friend Chris didn't have a pack frame, so he volunteered to take the horns and head out. We had about a 4 1/2 mile trip up out of there, heading cross country to a skid road that would lead to a gate near where our vehicles were. We made it to the skid road before dark, but while trudging up the road darkness swept over us. Chris and Jim got out ahead of me, as we all set into our own pace while dealing with the weight of our loads. While taking a break leaning up against a cut bank I heard something in the brush above me. I figured it was just a deer, so continued on. Upon stopping again, I heard the brush rattling again, and after a couple more occasions could tell something non-hooved was following me. My headlamp was growing dim from the cold, and I had well over 100 pounds of bloody elk meat strapped to my back, so I was a little unnerved about having who knows what trailing me. I had a little .38 pistol, so I drew it, and walked on with it in hand. I was about to the point of stopping to build a fire, as my back had started to spasm, causing flashes of light in my eyes, which I figured was not a good sign, on top of something trailing me, when I saw a light come around the corner ahead of me. It was Jim hiking back in to help with the load. Once we met up, Jim informed me we were almost to the truck, and we split my pack for the last 1/4 mile.....the tail lights of the waiting truck at the gate were a beautiful sight....
We elected to spend the night in my FJ versus walking back into camp in the darkness and the car thermometer reading 10 degrees cemented the decision. After a restless night of sleeping in the bucket seats, running the car and heater every hour or so we set off at daylight to break camp and pack it out. After half a day of hiking and biking we were done, and more than ready to head home for a hot shower, Excedrine, and a warm bed.........
Well, Saturday was the first day I could get out and do a little bow hunting. I have wanted to get a nice Mule Deer with my bow for a few years now, and with no special permits, your choices are pretty limited in Idaho. There isn't a lot of great opportunities for over the counter trophy Mulies. However, there is a unit that has a archery season that has some good Mule Deer opportunities. I decided to go into a spot that is very steep, comprised of rocky bluffs intermingled with thick brush. The bucks like to bed at the base of the bluffs and if you can spot one bedded, there is a chance to get above and gain a shot opportunity. When my alarm went off on Saturday, I thought of a million reasons to sleep in; it’s going to be too hot……I’m too tired……….maybe I should just sleep in? But that’s really not my style; I live for this stuff, so here I go, up and at ‘em. I walked out through the freshly harvested wheat field and headed out towards the breaks of the canyon. As I make my way around the steep canyon, I didn’t see a whole lot, mostly does and small bucks. The sun was up and once the sun hits those deer they are looking to bed somewhere cool. I was thinking about hiking out and coming back for an evening hunt when a couple deer caught my eye. One look at the lead deer and I knew he was a shooter for me with my bow. I have taken some decent bucks with my rifle, but have never taken a buck with Archery. They were headed for a draw with a lot of bluffs and really thick brush. I thought that if I could cut them off by ambushing them atop one of the bluffs, I might have my opportunity. Well, no such luck. By the time I spotted the herd, they were well out of range with no opportunity to get closer. There are a lot of rock slides and I don’t care how you try it, you can’t be silent in that stuff. I spotted the biggest buck and he seemed to have split off from his buddies and was feeding towards the top end of this canyon…….a box canyon with 100+ foot cliffs! When he fed behind some smaller bluffs, I saw my opportunity to close the distance. I figured if I spooked him oh well, I can’t shoot him at 150 yards; I needed to take the chance. It was real noisy going and I ended up spooking the other five deer, they were running and thrashing making their way through the thick stuff. My heart sank……..I surely blew it; no way would that buck be in the last place I saw him right? I decided to sneak up and peek over the bluff as if I expected him to be there. I couldn’t believe it; there he was, bedded and looking in my direction! He must have heard me and decided to stay put to see what was making that noise. I sat and watched him at 86 yards for about an hour. I stayed hunkered down to make sure as not to spook him. He finally got up and made his way to bed at the top of the box canyon……….right below the big cliffs!
It took me about half an hour to navigate through the rough stuff to the top of the mountain to where I could see into the top of the box canyon. I knew was bedded in some really thick stuff. Many different strategies ran through my head, I wasn’t sure if I would even be able to see him once I got above him. When I go to the top, I used my binocs to try to glass him in the thick stuff. I almost couldn’t believe my luck, I had stopped at the perfect angle and I could see his tail and hindquarters in the brush. I could see the edge of the cliff below me and I figured that might put me in range. As I got towards the edge I got that real dizzy feeling, I don’t really like heights all that well, but this is the kind of cliff you only fall off of one time………your last time! So here is the buck I’ve been bird doggin’ for two hours, bedded straight below me, quartered away, but with some brush over his vitals. I decide right there that would wait him out all day if that’s what it took. I looked at my watch, it was 10:00…………I had to ask myself, why did I only bring one bottle of water and leave my lunch in the truck? I sat there until twelve and decided that he probably wouldn’t be getting up until the afternoon early evening feed. I decide to go grab more water and my lunch if I was going to be on stakeout for the rest of the day.
I got back to my perch around 1:00 and saw the buck was still bedded……he had moved while I was gone. I cursed myself for being impatient. Now he was bedded facing me, I figured I would have to wait until evening when he left to go feed before I would get my chance. The sun was beating down and my feet were hot and sweaty. I thought since I was sitting doing nothing, I might as well take off my shoes, and dry out my socks in the sun. About 3:15 the buck started to stir. Barefoot, I grabbed my bow and knocked an arrow. I figured with the steep downward angle that I would lose about ten yards from the trajectory. He started to quarter away, I drew back took careful aim and let her rip! This had to be one of the coolest things I had ever seen. Watching that arrow drop out of space, this buck has no clue in the world that danger is above him. I felt like a cougar waiting to pounce this thing! I watched my arrow drift into space and crack! Down he went, right in his tracks! I didn’t want to take any chances…..so I put another arrow in him. He started to thrash around and got his antlers tangled in a tree (what a blessing!) he kicked for a few minutes and that was that. I couldn’t believe it, first buck with a bow! Now I just had to get him out…….all by myself. I finally got to the truck about 8:00 that night, tired but happy. I wish one of these days I would shoot something that I could ride or drive to…………especially if I’m gonna pull this stuff by myself. Oh well, if you’re gonna be stupid you gotta be tough!
Nothing like the sun burning through the Forest Colors of late summer and early fall.
A nice moon made the evening all the better, and was a beacon for the Wolves to howl at....
After hearing the wolves howling and raising cane down in a drainage I went in before daylight to set up. At daylight I started calling, using a coyote distress call, and within 20 to 30 minutes they came in. This Female came out first, and I believe she winded me, since she turned to run as I took my shot. Even as I was skinning and taking pics after the shot the wolves were still making a rukas in the timber around me.
Some of my friends floating the Lochsa 6/28/2009. I had a wedding to attend the night before, so was uanble to go on the trip, had to settle for following with the camera.
Jerry and Dustin Looking over some Elk Hunting ground. Jerry spotted a bear in the little opening to the right of Dustin's shoulder, it made for a day long hike down into that hole in pursuit.
Blond bear, long ways out so a little blurry. They earned an A+ for effort going after it but were unable to close the deal.
A shed I drug up from a deep dark hole.
Waiting by a fire for Dustin and Jerry to return from chasing the blond bear.
Some desert Muley's
Sunset over our varmint camp outside of Jordan Valley
Doing some long range varmint hunting on the National Guard range.
Blackhawks flying over ahead of a thunderstorm.
Getting hits out to 300 yards on some 4 inch tall by 1 inch wide targets. A good spotter is a must.
The gang of varmint hunters with Clyde's badger, left to right, Dustin, Myself, Clyde, Jerry, and Donny.
Sunset over the Boise Valley from the Mountains above.
Jason and Landon went hunting for turkey today. They found two jakes with a hen and even though it wasn't a big tom Landon convinced Jason he wanted him to get this jake. :) He wouldn't let Jason pack it out to the pickup either. I had to get his bloody pants to show who did the grunt work! :)
While out horn hunting I had a run in with a badger with an attitude problem. I at first could not tell what was moving in the grass at my feet, then it turned and raised its head. I did not have a gun with me, but my buddy who was about 100 yards away had his little .380 Beretta pocket pistol. I yelled for him to hurry over as all I had between myself and a badger was my hiking pole. I managed to get the gun from my buddy and connect on my 3rd shot from about 25 feet.
I have always wanted to get a badger, as they make a really fine rug for the wall, and are impressive with the colors on their coat and their long claws and teeth.
While skinning the badger out my buddy went for a little hike and found an old rusted bucket that I used to pack the badger out. They have a strong musk smell, and I was thankful I would not have to strap it to my pack.
A dead cow elk, aparant victim of wolves, left largley un-eatin. I have found several like this during the last couple of years. This one was on the Selway and judging by the smell was at least a week old.
This has been one of the reasons I believe the wolves have been so devestating on our elk herds in some areas, they don't just kill to eat, when elk are in a weakend state they seem to kill for sport and eat very little from each animal.
I have given in to peer pressure and am having these pics printed and building frames for them. They are looking better than expected so far. I changed most to Black and White since I like that look along with a rustic frame.
Results from another day of shed hunting. Heavy 3x3 set, last years 5 point, and a little 4.
Scruffy Mule deer buck enjoying the late winter sun. Photo by my Mother Connie Cox
Six point shed. A deer was watching me when I found this shed, you can see it between the forks.
The deer were everywhere while I was shed hunting last Sunday. This whitetail was in no hurry to get out of my way, and slinked around in the brush as I passed by.
Elk, Deer, and Turkey's sharing the field in front of my Mother's house. Kamiah valley in the background, a rough place to have to live.
Turkey's in the Fog, Kamiah Valley.
My Cousin Joes kids and their shed horn they found.
Whitetail on the Southfork
Elk on the Southfork
A nice winter day of Firewood cutting, Red River.
Ice crystals growing out of the Snow near Red River
My grandfather Bob Taylor was born in 1904 in Shouns Tennesse. He came to Idaho at the age of 14 to work in the woods as an equipment operator for logging companies. He was an avid outdoorsman, and here are a few pictures of his that I thought I might share.
Early picture in TN with what was most likely moonshine and pistols, Bob on the right, may explain why he had to head west shortly there after.
Fishing North Central Idaho's trout streams 1937.
Camping In Idaho 1930's
Making a hard living working in the woods in the 1920's.
A creel full of trout in the 1940's
Bob and his dog with a bird for the pot. His 1897 Winchester 12 gauge in his right hand that I now proudly own.
His nice camping setup late 50's early 60's.
Another creel full of trout.
Bob with pheasants and his 1897 12 gauge. I have taken the old Winchester out for a couple of pheasant hunts, as much as I like to protect it, I figure he would like the fact that it still takes a bird every now and then.
Bob became a pilot and used his plane to access back country areas such as this picture at Fish Lake in the Selway Bitteroot Wilderness 1960's.
Another pic of the 1897 Winchester, his Jeep, Pheasants, and the Kamiah valley in the background.
Bob with a steelhead in the 1980's before his passing in 1988.
I finaly made it out to try and catch a Metal head this fall and was rewarded with this really nice male and a 25 minute plus fight. When you haven't caught one in a few months you forget how tough they can fight.
2008 Whitetail, Thanksgiving Day Buck. I started this rifle season like many before, with a focus on filling my Elk and Mule deer tags during the month of October, and waiting to focus on my mountain whitetail during the rut of November. This year was going to be different due to a new extended season for the unit I hunt, instead of the season ending on the 20th of November, I would have until December 1st. The extra days at the end, during the peak and post rut, had me excited for the better odds of crossing paths with a bruiser buck. The other change would be that since the season continued through Thanksgiving we would be bringing up friends and family and have our Turkey Dinner in the wall tents, which sounded like a better way to get to spend quality time without the distractions of TV, phones, etc…..
We set up our camp the weekend of the 15th and I planned on hunting a few days here and there and then taking off the week around Thanksgiving. Most years we have had a lot of success around the 17th of November, but this year we had the misfortune of having clear skys and a near full moon which sent the deer into their nocturnal mode, making hunting difficult. I did manage to call in several decent bucks but none that were worthy of my tag this early in the season. I had one 5×5 in particular that was kind enough to pose for my camera as I debated taking him with my revolver since he was only 20 yards away. I decided to let him walk since he had a couple of broken points, and I was looking foward to having the extra days of the extended season to hunt. Here is a photo of this buck over the sights of my S&W 686. I hit the deer hunting hard the week of Thanksgiving. There seemed to be more hunting pressure this year than in years past so hunting was tough. With the terrible economy, more people were out to put meat in the freezer. Some of our local sawmill workers and loggers were laid off from work, and the majority of these guys are die hard hunters, so they had more time than normal to head for the hills. Most years we can count on a good dusting of snow in mid to late November which seems to get the deer moving and concentrate them at lower elevations, but this year the weather never did us any favors and we were not blessed with getting to chase these mountain bucks in the snow. The evening before Thanksgiving I ventured out of my normal grounds to a higher elevation in an attempt to get away from areas hit by other hunters. I was walking down an old logging road, making my way back from some clearcuts before dark, when I heard a deer blow and start running towards the road thru the timber. Like an idiot I waited to pull up my rifle until I could see what the deer looked like, and by the time it registered that it was a very large buck, he was already across the road and headed out thru the dark timber. After messing up on this buck due to my picky ways, I decided it was getting late enough in the season that I needed to stop looking and maybe start thinking about actually tagging.
The morning of Thanksgiving I returned to the same spot where I saw the buck the night before. As I was approaching the exact same spot from the day before I once again heard deer blow and start running towards the road. I back peddled a couple of steps to where I had a nice clear shooting lane and put my cross hairs where I thought the deer would go. While looking thru my Burris rifle scope I saw doe, doe, doe, horns, and let a shot go from my Tikka .243. I thought for a minute I may have shot low, and began the look for blood, hair, and the signs of a connecting shot. I didn’t spot any blood but could clearly see the bucks tracks so I followed them. After about 45 yards I could see the buck ahead of me piled up over a downed cedar. Upon approach I could see he was not the large buck from the night before, and that he was a smaller horned 4×4 with a couple of broken points. He was an older deer, and I could tell he was on his downhill slide as far as antlers go, but he definitely was the scrapper of the area with his broken tines, tore up hide, and other signs of battle. In short order I had the buck back to my vehicle and loaded up. I was a little disappointed that he was not the buck I had seen previous, and I also have a problem with shooters remorse, I love the hunt so much I hate to see it end. My mood changed however on the way back to camp and upon getting to share the experience with friends over our wonderfull turkey dinner. This has been a tough year for a lot of people in our area, but I at least had one thing to be thankful for on this day, and it was hanging on the meat pole at the edge of camp.
Well, I hunted hard, as usual, this year for whitetail. I passed on plenty of decent bucks (such as the one I shot with the camera below) and had missed opportunities on some trophy bucks...was beginning to think I had a Wolf curse, especially after having snow fall out of a tree and into my scope while a huge mountain buck ran off......
I ended rifle season without punching my tag, so I thought I would give a late muzzle loader season a try. I've never taken a game animal with a muzzle loader, so thought it would be a fun and challenging experience. I hunted a day on the Selway, with little luck, and being down to the last day and a half of the season, I set out with my good friend Donny to hunt some areas he has access to.
It has been bitter cold the last few days, and figured the deer would be needing to move to eat and stay warm in the sub-zero overnight temps. The temperature had however warmed up to ten degrees when we set out on an afternoon hunt.
We saw some deer, out of range of the muzzle loaders, and the cold temps were causing all sorts of havoc with the camera and other optics...as you can see in the frosty deer pic above. We were walking a canyon rim when two bucks came running out into the field about 75 yards in front of us. I pulled up the muzzle loader and put the open sights on the largest of the two, and as he slowed his run to a trot at about 125 yards, I held at the top of his front shoulder and fired. He immediately folded with the impact of the 295 grain lead slug, then spun and ran about 30 yards crashing into a fence and brush, where he piled up.
He wasn't the biggest buck I'd seen this fall, I passed on quite a few larger than him earlier in the season, but for my first muzzle loader buck I was excited, and definitely will have to do more muzzle loader hunting in the future......he turned out to be about a 15 inch 4x5, not bad for only one day of season left, and he will make some fine eating for the winter months ahead....
Hiking with dad.
We set up our camp the weekend of the 15th and I planned on hunting a few days here and there and then taking off the week around Thanksgiving. Most years we have had a lot of success around the 17th of November, but this year we had the misfortune of having clear skys and a near full moon which sent the deer into their nocturnal mode, making hunting difficult. I did manage to call in several decent bucks but none that were worthy of my tag this early in the season. I had one 5×5 in particular that was kind enough to pose for my camera as I debated taking him with my revolver since he was only 20 yards away. I decided to let him walk since he had a couple of broken points, and I was looking foward to having the extra days of the extended season to hunt. Here is a photo of this buck over the sights of my S&W 686.
I hit the deer hunting hard the week of Thanksgiving. There seemed to be more hunting pressure this year than in years past so hunting was tough. With the terrible economy, more people were out to put meat in the freezer. Some of our local sawmill workers and loggers were laid off from work, and the majority of these guys are die hard hunters, so they had more time than normal to head for the hills. Most years we can count on a good dusting of snow in mid to late November which seems to get the deer moving and concentrate them at lower elevations, but this year the weather never did us any favors and we were not blessed with getting to chase these mountain bucks in the snow. The evening before Thanksgiving I ventured out of my normal grounds to a higher elevation in an attempt to get away from areas hit by other hunters. I was walking down an old logging road, making my way back from some clearcuts before dark, when I heard a deer blow and start running towards the road thru the timber. Like an idiot I waited to pull up my rifle until I could see what the deer looked like, and by the time it registered that it was a very large buck, he was already across the road and headed out thru the dark timber. After messing up on this buck due to my picky ways, I decided it was getting late enough in the season that I needed to stop looking and maybe start thinking about actually tagging.
In short order I had the buck back to my vehicle and loaded up. I was a little disappointed that he was not the buck I had seen previous, and I also have a problem with shooters remorse, I love the hunt so much I hate to see it end. My mood changed however on the way back to camp and upon getting to share the experience with friends over our wonderfull turkey dinner. This has been a tough year for a lot of people in our area, but I at least had one thing to be thankful for on this day, and it was hanging on the meat pole at the edge of camp. 
Debating taking him with my pistol.
