Unfortunately, a bunch of crazy/rude stuff has happened to us with a group of people protesting oil shale development. (Hence my blog going private.) Long story short... We had a rude note taped to our camper last week saying how we were being sued because our dogs are near PR Springs. Jake and I ignored it and kept on camping. (I truly believed someone at the BLM was trying to be funny.) Wednesday Jake gets a call from the sheriff and animal control about some complaints they had received. Both explained that they were sorry they had to even call, but they had to follow through to get these crazies to back off. Both warned us that the people were psycho and who knows what they are capable of. We were advised to leave, but told it wasn't because of anything we had done. They wished Jake well on his hunt, and we decided in order for us to enjoy ourselves we needed to follow their advice. (Also, Del's advice. So glad he is in my corner!) Today Jake had a phone call from a special agent out of the Attorney Generals office. He also echoed what we had been told "You have done nothing wrong. So sorry to have to bug you." That poor man got an ear full from Jake though...
Anyways, we got there and the best camping spot ever was vacant. It had been full all summer long so we felt pretty pleased. We dropped the Rhino off and raced to PR Springs. The protesters had already started arriving and camping RIGHT next to our camper. Jake and I were saying some pretty mean things and they could totally over hear us. Finally, some girl comes up to talk. She starts out by saying, "I hope you aren't leaving because of us." We just laughed at her and said that is exactly why we were leaving. She also said how she knows in Alaska it is rude to camp close to people, so we told her that it is also rude to do that in Utah. As she was leaving she made some comment about how the BLM is a pain, Jake and I just stared at her, and finally Jake informed her that is where we both worked. The whole time she was there Brilee was asking/telling her that the "testers" were suing her. "Why are you going to sue me?". We just laughed, and hauled butt out of there!
We got to our new spot right at dark and had the joy of setting up another camp in the dark. Luckily, the kids were tired and slept through it all. Jake and I finally crashed around 11. Jake asked us to go with him the next morning, and I agreed to it. He said he would sleep in a little to make it better for the kids. Well, the alarm went off and Brilee cried that she didn't want to wake up. Bronson never even quit snoring, so Jake went on his own. He had just pulled down the road when he ran into Shon Labrum. Jake used to guide hunters for Shon, but then he moved to St. George. Shon has an elk tag this year so he was scouting. Jake told him to jump in and they would hunt bear and scout together. It wasn't 15 minutes later that the dogs rigged the bear. Jake and Shon hiked in, and then Jake hiked back out to come get us. He got to camp and told us to hurry! Bronson and I ended up going in our pajamas. The bear was 330 yards from the road, and it was a big one. Jake wasn't ready to end his hunt though. So, we took lots of pictures, pulled the dogs back, and watched it run away. Bronson got to the tree and couldn't quit talking about the dogs. I kept trying to get him to notice the bear, but he wouldn't look away from the dogs. Finally, I waved and said, "Hi Bear!" He looked to where I was waving and about had a heart attack. His face was priceless. All our dogs made it to the tree, except for Weasel who we believe was running a different bear. He was three canyons away. We took the good dogs back to camp to water them and feed them. Then we loaded in the truck to find Weasel. After looking forever Bronson was ready for a nap. Jake took us back and Bronson fell right asleep. Jake and Brilee then went to pick the dog up. I slept for three hours, and woke up with Bronson. Jake and Brilee showed up about thirty minutes later. We decided to not do a night hunt and just hang out instead. We went for a long Rhino ride, got campfire wood, and sat by the fire. The kids fell asleep watching Charlotte's Web. Jake woke up early Saturday and went hunting again. The kids and I didn't even pretend to be able to go this time. We called him around 9 and he told us where he was. The dogs were chasing elk. We caught all but Weasel, AGAIN! (He's lucky he actually is a really good dog... Jake sold him years ago, and was lucky enough to get him back a couple of months ago. He only has to train a horse for the rest of his life to pay his debt to Bruce for him.) This time we took the Rhino to look for him. We planned a nice picnic. Right when we got to the bottom of Willow Canyon the rain started, and it dumped on us! We could see blue sky and knew we just had to go a little further to get out of the rain. I saw a bob cat/ mountain lion streak across the road about a mile ahead of where we picked Weasel up. I didn't really want to have a picnic after that. So, we went back to camp. Again Bronson slept and Brilee found a fort that she couldn't get enough of. Dale Boren and his grand kids showed up to hunt with Jake. Bronson woke up and we fed the kids dinner then went for an evening hunt. Our dogs rigged hard near Three Pines so we let them go. They took off a million miles an hour and ended up on Winter Ridge two hours later... That's a long ways for those not familiar with the Books. We knew they were on a bear, but it just wouldn't tree. It was a late night, but so much fun! Sunday morning every single bear hunter we knew got skunked. The weather was really weird and the bears just weren't moving. My Dad, Stac, and the Wildes came down to visit. It was great seeing them. We went on a nice walk down South Canyon. Julie then had some weird allergic reaction so they had to leave. As soon as they took off we loaded the dogs up and went for the evening hunt. Jake said he wouldn't turn loose unless it was a guaranteed bear. After about an hour of driving Dale called on the radio and said he had a bear run right in front of his truck. We turned around and were racing over there. Dale called back on the radio and said, "Jake, can you hurry up and get over here. All my dogs ran this thing backwards." I thought that was so funny, but Jake said it was really common. The scent is so fresh on both sides the dogs get confused. We knew right where the bear had gone so I got an awesome video of the dogs striking the bear scent. Gator (NOT our dog... We are borrowing him from Jeremy Harris) broke his chain and took off as soon as he smelled the bear. He didn't have a collar on. Jake was FREAKING out (Gator is not cheap). Pretty soon he came back and started running the bear backwards too. We just couldn't catch him. We turned Winger, Twinkle Toes, Weasel, and Chavez loose and they all ran it backwards. Smoke was the only dog turned loose to just run it the right way. Weasel came back and Jake caught him and then found the actual track and got him going the right way. They treed fast and we went screaming across to the BLM guzzler to hike into them. The GPS collar said 220 yards so Jake and I decided we would all go. Well, 80 yards from the bear tree, Bronson gets the idea he is over being carried and hates bear hunting. He started crying and screaming and totally scared the bear. Weasel and Smoke were the only dogs on the tree and they couldn't keep it up by themselves. It jumped, and our dogs came up to greet us instead of chasing the bear again. SO DEPRESSING, but kind of funny too. We held our heads hike as we hiked back to the truck. We only had a couple of hours of light to find the rest of the dogs, and Jake was so stressed about Gator. As we were driving out the three dogs (we found Winger on our way to the tree) we had started going crazy. Jake turned them out (rash decision in the heart ache of the other bear getting away) and Weasel took off on a hot track. The others took off on elk. Dale called on the radio and said he saw Weasel on the bear. It was just too much for him though, and he is an old dog so he was tired. He quit and came back to the truck just as the rest of our dogs were showing up with Dale's grand kids. Perfect ending to an exciting night! We headed back to camp and Jake cooked the kids hamburgers and potatoes and thanked them millions of times for finding our dogs. Monday was kind of over kill. The dogs were too tired to do anything, we were out of gas for the truck, and we needed to get home. Jake only hunted 45 minutes. We packed camp up and headed home. Brilee cried that we were supposed to stay for a long time, and no amount of convincing would make her believe we really did stay a long time. It was a blast and we have three more weekends to enjoy it!
Bronson makes his Daddy so proud.
Smelling the bear!
Jake and Bri heading to the tree.
Really... he pulled my hair the whole time. Kinda hurt.
Bri's fort.
Charlotte's Web
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