The Joys of Fall

Jake and I both have elk tags and so we have been hunting like CRAZY... with NO luck! Saturday we hiked from Ice Cave Peak to Whiterocks, on the hike Ben (Jake's brother) got his elk. We had our chance at three spike elk, but they were 1,000+ yards away and on a run. We tried tracking them down, but it was impossible. Sunday Jake and I woke up early and got on our horses. We rode through a blizzard, a lighting storm, and wind gusts up to sixty MPH! I was so cold I was in pain. Uma decided to try and knock me off by running me into a tree. The only thing that hit was my knee and it is still sore a week later. At that point we decided to build a fire and wait for the lightning and snow to stop. We finally were able to get back on and we RAN to the truck. When we got back to the cabin I knew I wasn't leaving again! Jake, on the other hand, wasn't finished. Ben, Tytan, and Jake all drove up to Paradise so Jake could go on a short hike. He started tracking an elk and lost sight of where he was and the time. He then was caught in a white out and lost all his tracks to get him back to the truck. He got on what he thought was a good road and walked up it for an hour and a half to find it was a dead end road. He turned around started walking through the timber to find Paradise Creek to get him out of his predicament. Meanwhile, we hear that Jake has been gone for five hours, is only wearing a hoodie, doesn't have his phone, and there is six NEW inches of snow from when he left. Ann, Barry, and my Dad all came up the mountain to help us look for him. Luckily, just as we all got up their he came out of the trees eight miles from where he had been dropped off. It was a scary day for us, but Jake always knew what to do so he was never scared (except he said he was scared when it was getting dark because he knew he would be in trouble with me!). Monday Jake and I went to our friend's field. We walked through a swamp and thick brush, but we got so close to a herd of elk that it was worth it. We were close enough to smell them (GROSS!!!). Just as we were getting there they must have smelled us too because we heard them get up and take off. Jake started calling at them and they stopped and called back at him but then the dog barked and it was over! Thursday Jake went on a LONG horse ride to see if he could find any. He saw a nice five point, but was in too thick of timber to even try. On their way back to the truck he and his friend were riding down the trail talking and not even trying to hunt when they came across two spikes right in the middle of the trail. It took them by such surprise that by the time they got off their horses the elk were gone. We drove all over tonight and will try again in the morning... wish us luck! (Del we are doing ALL of this for you! It really is pretty fun though. Next time maybe you will have to come out.)

Us at 5:00 AM (UGH reason enough not to hunt!)

Jake was trying to beat the timer on my camera. It was a cold morning.

After our hike off the mountain. 

We had so much fun camping with these guys all weekend! Of course, we had to keep our tradition alive and go to Ice Cave.

Jake took today off of work to stay home with Brilee and he found her mad bomber hat. He was so excited, and hopefully his excitement of the hat will eventually wear off on to Brilee. :)

On our hunt today! Jake stopped to look at some horses and Bri Bear and I hung out in the truck.

She kept pulling herself up onto the steering wheel. I thought it was so cute.

Big girl!

Here comes the hardest part of this whole hunt: Brilee is sleeping at Grandma and Grandpa's tonight so Jake and I can get up way to early for man kind to try and finish this hunt. I know she will do fine but I wasn't sure if I could handle a night away from her. This was right before our tearful goodbye's (not really but I was close).