Exploring and Glassing

Now that was ugly - at the top of the bushwhack from hell

For our alpine hunting trip we went to an area none of us had ever been to before.  It was a completely new area to explore.  The hardest part was finding routes up from the lake through the brush to the high alpine.  One trail worked out, but another attempt ended up as the bushwhack to hell.  There were little ravines and plateaus that we had not seen from the bottom.  But that's all part of learning about a new area.

We also had to learn where the deer hang out - how to hunt the new area.  We are used to hunting places with more wide open bowls.  Places where you go to the top and move from bowl to bowl stopping to glass each one thoroughly for deer as you go.  But here the topography was much more rolling and the deer were not concentrated in any one particular place.  We found that deer could be found anywhere and everywhere. The rolling topography made it hard to see 'everything' from any one spot.  So we had to glass continually on the go.

Of course when we did see deer the rolling topography also made it very easy to sneak up on the deer.  What hid the deer could also hide us! Patrick

Lisa and Gregg sneaking up on deer - they got to within 30 yards or so!