A tad off topic PD hunt story a couple of graphic pics
Snake River Marksman
7/19/09 11:39am
If this needs to be pulled I'll understand.
The Mud Springs Hunt
It was three and a half easy hours of driving to get in the right area. By then it was getting late and the sun was setting. I’d need to find a suitable spot to set up “camp”. All of the land around me belonged to the BLM so I could just pull of anywhere and be legal, but I want a spot that was not visible from the road and would not have much if any road noise from traffic. Not that there was much traffic to begin with. In twenty miles of driving, I’d only seen one other vehicle headed in the opposite direction. I took a right onto an unpaved county road. About a mile down I spotted a solid two track and hung another right. Down a slight hill and back up the other side gave me a great view of a small valley with a decent buck antelope in the bottom. A good breeze blowing across the top of the hill should keep most of the bugs at bay, so I shut down the truck and called it “camp”.
In the dimming light of the warm summer evening I prepared my bed for the evening. I re-arranged the things in the bed of the truck, setting some short pieces of two-by lumber to support the air mattress evenly where the rails for the 5th wheel hitch crossed the bed of the truck. Then I spread a tarp over lumber to protect the air mattress that I then inflated. Putting the sleeping bag on the air mattress completed my preparations just as the sun set beyond the hills to the west. I crawled in and settled down for the night, rolling the tonneau cover up to about chest level to protect me from any dew that might settle over night. The wind layed down to a gentle breeze, the night air cooled and the stars came out. I watched a satellite cross the sky, thanked god for everything and fell asleep.
As the moon shone on my face, the coyotes began to sing and I awakened to full consciousnus at 0344. With a small grin, I rolled over and went back to sleep. The morning sun crept over the hills to the east at 0715 and I awoke to crawl from my sleeping bag. I got dressed and broke “camp”.
I drove back out to the county road and immediately spotted a large jackrabbit in the road. “Drat no loaded rifle” I said to myself. I took the next road that happened to head in the same direction the jack had gone and stopped on a small rise to survey the country side and spotted a coyote a couple of hundred yards off. “Jeeze you’re a slow learner!” Still no rifle. I got the rifle out and loaded, but the coyote was long gone. “Ah well too early for gunfire anyway”. I needed ice and coffee so I headed into town, topped off the truck and headed back out.
It wasn’t far down the road that I found a little two track and headed off. Over the second rise the two track followed a small creek bed and the bottom of the draw was approximately a half mile wide. For two miles or so and all the way across the draw a prairie dog town meandered amongst the sage. It was not dense with holes or dogs, but it had a fair population and allowed me to shoot a few.
http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c121/1snake2river3marksman/mudsprings005.jpg " alt="" />
http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c121/1snake2river3marksman/mudsprings007.jpg " alt="" />
http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c121/1snake2river3marksman/mudsprings008.jpg " alt="" />
These dogs were dumb. They allowed me to walk amongst them stopping and popping them as I went. I didn’t shoot much or for very long and the longest shot I made was about 250 yards. My hit percentage was probably less than 50% but I was just happy to be out. With my barrel hot and me sweating in the midday heat, I decided to cruise around and see what else was in the area and return later that evening when things cooled off.
Driving the area I saw lots of really pretty country,
http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c121/1snake2river3marksman/mudsprings013.jpg " alt="" />
http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c121/1snake2river3marksman/mudsprings012.jpg " alt="" />
some wild horses,
http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c121/1snake2river3marksman/mudsprings010.jpg " alt="" />
http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c121/1snake2river3marksman/mudsprings011.jpg " alt="" />
many many antelope,
http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c121/1snake2river3marksman/mudsprings018.jpg " alt="" />
http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c121/1snake2river3marksman/mudsprings014.jpg " alt="" />
http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c121/1snake2river3marksman/mudsprings019.jpg " alt="" />
and quite a few golden eagles as well as other raptors. What I didn’t see, was many prairie dogs or any people.
When I drove off the dirt out onto the pavement I noticed the truck was driving funny. It didn’t take long to get the idea I had a tire going flat. After a tense minute or two I found a spot to pull off and sure enough the front left tire was flat as a pancake. I made the change (Put a 4-way lug wrench in your vehicles it really helps) and decided that my trip was about over. Without a full spare, it would be foolish to go back onto the BLM and unpaved county roads. A little disappointed, but still happy, I drove the four hours home.
Gear:
Stevens 200 223 with Rifle Basix trigger
FC brass 50gr vmax 26.5gr IMR 4895
Sightron 4x16
Brunton 8x45 binocs
Leica 900 range finder
Chevy 2500HD Duramax
Olympus C740 ultrazoom
Garmin Etrex GPS
Delorme Atlas and Gazetteer
The Mud Springs Hunt
It was three and a half easy hours of driving to get in the right area. By then it was getting late and the sun was setting. I’d need to find a suitable spot to set up “camp”. All of the land around me belonged to the BLM so I could just pull of anywhere and be legal, but I want a spot that was not visible from the road and would not have much if any road noise from traffic. Not that there was much traffic to begin with. In twenty miles of driving, I’d only seen one other vehicle headed in the opposite direction. I took a right onto an unpaved county road. About a mile down I spotted a solid two track and hung another right. Down a slight hill and back up the other side gave me a great view of a small valley with a decent buck antelope in the bottom. A good breeze blowing across the top of the hill should keep most of the bugs at bay, so I shut down the truck and called it “camp”.
In the dimming light of the warm summer evening I prepared my bed for the evening. I re-arranged the things in the bed of the truck, setting some short pieces of two-by lumber to support the air mattress evenly where the rails for the 5th wheel hitch crossed the bed of the truck. Then I spread a tarp over lumber to protect the air mattress that I then inflated. Putting the sleeping bag on the air mattress completed my preparations just as the sun set beyond the hills to the west. I crawled in and settled down for the night, rolling the tonneau cover up to about chest level to protect me from any dew that might settle over night. The wind layed down to a gentle breeze, the night air cooled and the stars came out. I watched a satellite cross the sky, thanked god for everything and fell asleep.
As the moon shone on my face, the coyotes began to sing and I awakened to full consciousnus at 0344. With a small grin, I rolled over and went back to sleep. The morning sun crept over the hills to the east at 0715 and I awoke to crawl from my sleeping bag. I got dressed and broke “camp”.
I drove back out to the county road and immediately spotted a large jackrabbit in the road. “Drat no loaded rifle” I said to myself. I took the next road that happened to head in the same direction the jack had gone and stopped on a small rise to survey the country side and spotted a coyote a couple of hundred yards off. “Jeeze you’re a slow learner!” Still no rifle. I got the rifle out and loaded, but the coyote was long gone. “Ah well too early for gunfire anyway”. I needed ice and coffee so I headed into town, topped off the truck and headed back out.
It wasn’t far down the road that I found a little two track and headed off. Over the second rise the two track followed a small creek bed and the bottom of the draw was approximately a half mile wide. For two miles or so and all the way across the draw a prairie dog town meandered amongst the sage. It was not dense with holes or dogs, but it had a fair population and allowed me to shoot a few.
These dogs were dumb. They allowed me to walk amongst them stopping and popping them as I went. I didn’t shoot much or for very long and the longest shot I made was about 250 yards. My hit percentage was probably less than 50% but I was just happy to be out. With my barrel hot and me sweating in the midday heat, I decided to cruise around and see what else was in the area and return later that evening when things cooled off.
Driving the area I saw lots of really pretty country,
some wild horses,
many many antelope,
and quite a few golden eagles as well as other raptors. What I didn’t see, was many prairie dogs or any people.
When I drove off the dirt out onto the pavement I noticed the truck was driving funny. It didn’t take long to get the idea I had a tire going flat. After a tense minute or two I found a spot to pull off and sure enough the front left tire was flat as a pancake. I made the change (Put a 4-way lug wrench in your vehicles it really helps) and decided that my trip was about over. Without a full spare, it would be foolish to go back onto the BLM and unpaved county roads. A little disappointed, but still happy, I drove the four hours home.
Gear:
Stevens 200 223 with Rifle Basix trigger
FC brass 50gr vmax 26.5gr IMR 4895
Sightron 4x16
Brunton 8x45 binocs
Leica 900 range finder
Chevy 2500HD Duramax
Olympus C740 ultrazoom
Garmin Etrex GPS
Delorme Atlas and Gazetteer
2,863
Randy