An Outdoorsman’s Journal: Rocky Mountain adventure - School Sports Calendar

An Outdoorsman’s Journal: Rocky Mountain adventure

Hello friends, This week’s column has good news and is loaded with adventure. As you may know, my 23-year-old daughter Selina Walters has been hired by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as a biologist in Montana. Selina graduated from UW-Stevens Point last December and I helped her to move to Missoula in January. Selina and I communicate almost daily. She has become a very active hiker and fly fisher woman, and does a lot of camping and kayaking.

On April 15, I was notified by the State of Montana that I was successful in drawing a general combo elk/deer tag. Selina will have been a Montana resident for six months and it really looks like she will be able to join me in the Gallatin National Forest near Bozeman for an October elk and deer hunt with a rifle. Ever since Selina moved, we have been planning a scouting, ATV, camping and hangout with the pups trip, and that is what this week’s column is about. Thursday, Aug. 15 – High 71, low 41 It is 1,286 miles from my house to the trail where we would unload my ATV and trailer. Red and Ruby were as excited to see Selina as she was to see them, and the mood was excellent as we began our three-night adventure. Our first goal was the journey up the mountain with my 570 Polaris Sportsman 2-Up. We would be headed to where I have camped the last two falls and two years ago harvested a beautiful 6-by-6 bull elk.

It is a long trip, and I was concerned about 8-year-old Ruby, but like her pup, Red, she climbed the mountain with ease. As soon as we got as far as we could go with the ATV, I became pretty excited, and even though I was only wearing sandals, I talked Selina into going up the mountain to my elk hunting spot, 35 physical minutes. I told Selina a million stories, we took 30-second breaks and when we were home, there were plenty of elk and deer signs, but to be honest, it was dry and other than beds and droppings there was not much to see.

It had been a long last 36 hours and we hiked back to our campsite, the mood was perfect, a thunderstorm worked our way and for the next four hours we were rained on, which was until like midnight. We stayed outside and cooked northern pike, perch and sweet corn from my garden. We forgot butter but it was an excellent meal.

Friday, Aug. 16 – High 74, low 45 All four of us slept in a tent on the ground and the pups are loving life. Today we went for a long ATV ride and then for the last four hours of daylight we hiked up to elk paradise. We did not see any elk or deer, but it was fun hoping we would. Saturday, August 17 – High 76, low 43 Selina is a Walters, which means she has big energy, and each night we have been staying up well past midnight. Our phones are useless, we have no music and it is too dangerous to have a campfire, but neither of us let that bother us a bit. Today’s goal was to find a backup place to elk and deer hunt. Selina had her onX and we took the ATV a few miles from camp and began hiking. Selina understands that elk like grass, and so we began a journey to find open country among the dark timber. From the get-go, we were into very steady elk and mule deer sign and then, just like that, the dark timber opened up to a beautiful “park,”or you could say pasture, and it was literally loaded with sign.

We found a spot where Selina will hunt in October and I went farther up the mountain. Our last night was a dandy and this father- daughter team has adjusted to her move away from Wisconsin about as perfectly as could be.

Live large, Sunset

Mark Walters