It took all day and four trips to get all the meat back to the cabin and stored in the smoke house. The hide was tacked up on the back of the smoke house to dry. It was getting cold so I went in the cabin, started a fire and sat down to relax. The warm fire quickly drove the cold from my body and I was starting to drift off to sleep. Suddenly I was jolted back to consciousness by a blood curdling roar out behind the smoke house. I grabbed the Winchester and ran to the smoke house. I slowly slipped along the wall to the back. As I peaked around the corner there was a female Squatch. She roared again looking at the hide tacked to the back of the smoke house. I brought the Winchester up quickly, took careful aim, and dropped her in her tracks. I went over to her and started gutting her. I have never had one of the creatures trail me back to the cabin before. That is odd behavior for these things. I had better set out some security measures in case more come calling.
It was well after dark by the time I got the female boned and the meat in the smokehouse. I would have plenty of meat to last most of the winter now. That will save me a trip down lower to hunt elk. Tomorrow I will start smoking the meat and cut some more fire wood, and get my security measures set out around the cabin. I went back in the cabin, loaded wood in the fire place, and went to bed.
I awoke to 4 inches of fresh snow around the cabin. I stoked up the fire and put the skillet on the fire to heat it up for breakfast. I started the coffee and went out to the smokehouse to get some steaks. I went back in the cabin and started frying the steaks. I noticed the wood pile was getting low so I went out to get an armload to restock. There were three sets of fresh Squatch tracks by the wood pile. I had built the cabin in this small valley 2 years ago because the Squatch here in the Cascades seemed to avoid it. What were they doing in the valley now? I took the wood in and flipped the steaks. I finished breakfast and went out to start the fire in the smoke house. Once I had that going I got out the big bear traps I had stashed in the wood shed. I had bought them when I got to Morton on my way up into the Cascades, but had never found a use for them. I figured now they would make a good security system. There were three of them. Each one weighed 40 pounds and had steal jaws with four inch long razor sharp teeth on them. The jaws were twenty four inches wide and if a person were to step in the trap it would snap their leg off just below the knee. I cleaned and oiled the traps, made sure the spring were moving freely and that the trigger pan was smooth. I went out and searched around the cabin for more sign of the beasts.I was looking for good places to put the traps to warn me if they came around again.I placed one at the end of the trail where they had come into the clearing last night. The second one I had put at a point in that trail about one hundred yards from the cabin where the trail went between two large rocks. The third I put under the back window of the cabin. By the time I finished placing the traps it had started to snow again so I went back in the cabin for the day.

This is a story I have been working on for a while. I have finished a rough first draft and now I am rewriting it and polishing it up some for the second draft. I will keep posting pieces of it as I write them here on the blog.

As the sky slowly lightened I could see the big male coming up the trail out of the valley. I slowly pulled back the hammer on the Winchester and lined up the sights. As he topped the ridge coming out of the valley I lined the sights up on his chest and squeezed the trigger. The sound of the rifle was more like a cannon than a 30-30 in the crisp morning air. The big male flipped over backwards back down the hill as the bullet impacted in the center of his chest. I quickly moved over to the edge of the ridge and looked down. He was piled in a heap about 10 yards down the hill. I walked down and stretched the big male out on the trail. He was at least 10 feet tall. I quickly gutted the carcass and started skinning. this was the 20th of this species I had killed. It had taken me a long time to get over the queasy feeling I got when I saw how much these skinned Sasquatches looked like humans, now i just look forward to getting all that meat back to the smoke house so I have plenty to eat for winter.I spent three hours boning out the meat and separated the bones. I never leave the skeleton intact. I loaded a third of the meat on my pack and headed back to the cabin. Along the way I tossed the bones into rivers, and over cliffs. Anyone finding one bone would never know what it came from, but a whole skeleton would be easy to identify.

As the sun slowly began to rise over the peaks of the Cascade mountains I could just make out the lead cow of the herd of Elk through the morning mist. I had watched that herd feed out into the meadow just at sundown last night. I have been trailing this herd for 3 days now. That lead cow has busted me every time I have gotten close so far and kept the herd out of range of my bow. Instead of going back to camp last might I climbed up to the top of the meadow. so far they have fed out the top every morning at sun up so I wanted to be in place when they came up. It was cold last night, but now that the elk were only 50 yards from me and the wind was in my face it was worth the cold night.
The rut was in full swing. I could hear several bulls bugling all around me. The big herd bull with this group was all over the meadow defending his turf and harem. He had been doing that most of the night too. Slowly the herd moved up the meadow and closer to my location. The lead cow was out in front as usual and her ears and eyes were working overtime. That cow was a old and crafty one. She knew what to look for and was quick to sound the alarm at any sign of possible danger.
The lead cow was only 40 yards away now. I began to wonder if I didn’t make a mistake by bringing the recurve instead of the compound. If I had the compound she would be in range and an easy shot. With the recurve I was not comfortable shooting beyond 30 yards. I had spent several months practicing my instinctive shooting technique and could easily hit a paper plate with every shot out to 30 yards. At 40 yards I was only on target 50 percent of the time. On the target range I am ok with 50 percent, but not when shooting at a live animal. As the lead cow moved closer the herd bull started running up along side the herd. He was quickly coming into range as well. Which one is going to get to 30 yards first? the cow kept plodding along as the bull ran past her. The bull stopped. He was standing broadside at 26 yards. I slowly began to raise and draw my bow. as I sighted the arrow in on the bull I noticed the cow was in range too. For 3 days I have had my hunts ruined by the wary senses of that cow. Which one is the better trophy? the bull has been running around oblivious to everything around him except the cows in his herd. I quickly shifted my aim to the cow. I settled my fingers into the corner of my mouth. As I looked over the arrow I picked a spot on the cows side. I pictured the arrow arcing out over the meadow from the bow and hitting that spot.When I saw the arrow in my mind strike that spot on the cow’s side I didn’t as much release the string as just relaxed my fingers. The arrow leaped off the shelf and arced just as I has imagined it out over the meadow. The arrow disappeared into the ribcage of the cow. She wheeled around and ran back down the meadow for the safety of the trees below. the other cows in the herd quickly followed the lead cow. The bull just stood there looking confused. He wanted to go up the hill because there were other bulls down below, but the cows had gone down the hill. Finaly the bull turned and ran after the cows. As I sat there waiting I realized that I made the right choice. Killing the bull would have been a good trophy to hang on the wall, but the cow was a trophy memory that I will carry the rest of my life.

I have to say I am a bit surprised that it has taken this long for this problem to  occur, but I knew it was coming. And everybody needs to get used to this because it is going to keep happening. Wolves are a predatory animal and they are triggered to attack when they perceive a prey animal fleeing them. A person riding a bike or jogging on a trail would appear to be fleeing. Check out the story here.

When I received the Magnetic Gun Caddy in the mail for review I was intrigued and yet mad. I had tried many different ways to do exactly what the magnetic Gun Caddy does for years. I never once tried a magnet. The Magnetic Gun Caddy is a simple and effective tool that will give years of protection to your firearms and fishing poles.

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I try to keep politics out of my posts here. I really want this blog to be more about my adventures in my daily life and not a platform for my political beliefs. Don’t get me wrong, I have many opinions on politics and I am not  afraid to share them, but I have other outlets on the internet for that. I am posting this because this article on Arlen Specter from CNN bugged me. Specter says that he left the Republican party for the Democrat party because the G.O.P. is becoming too conservative. Specter has told his story for changing parties several times and every time it is different. Arlen Specter was voted into office by citizens of the state of Pensilvania. Because he does not feel he can win another election as a Republican he turned his back on the citizens that voted for him to change party for a better chance to keep his job after the next election.  Arlen instead of changing parties, why don’t you try doing the job you were hired to do, for the people that hired you? Arlen Specter lied to the people to get elected. He has now come to realize that those same people are pissed about it and want him gone. I know that the ONE is very pleased with this switch, but I hope that all of the citizens in pennsilvania recognize what a snake he is and send him packing. Both parties are now so corrupt and out of touch with the people of this country that we all need to say ENOUGH! We want our country back. It is time that we remind both parties that their primary focus is to serve US. They were hired by the people of the United States of America to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States of America. They were not hired to do what is best to keep their party in power. I emplore every citizen of this country to get involved in the next election. Demand that the candidates for every office give real answer  to questions about their policies and not politician double speak. Hold them to those campaign promises and above all hold them accountable to the Constitution. If we do not stand up and demand that we STOP SPENDING MONEY WE DO NOT HAVE!! that we SECURE OUR BORDERS and that we STOP EXPORTING JOBS OVERSEAS!

I have a few new posts up on Clicque Clack Food. My review of the BBQ Addicts blog and my Redneck Rice are must read.

Jeff

I have been very busy lately and not been updating my blog as I should be. I Am doing good with my efforts to quit smoking. I have had some days that I have been very tempted to smoke, but I have been able to resist them.

Jeff