Getting back to the Palomino Maverick camper I was having another coffee with Laura when a doe walked by the camper. No doubt a spy for her buck friends.
I made up steak and eggs with toast and we had a feast. Gilbert had so many bits from both Laura and I that he had to lay down and sleep after his meal. I ran the Honda 2000 generator charging the Camper battery, the electric bicycle battery, our iPhones and my iPad. I then added 5 gallons of water from the blue jug to the camper.
After all that activity we had a Sunday afternoon nap.
5pm I loaded up the KTM 690 and took my Winchester Model 70 Coyote Light 300 win mag short rifle. I petted Gilbert who doesn’t seem too disturbed to be left behind. I’d let him walk about the fields with me in the after noon which he’d done blind. He’s such a brave little boy. I think being blind and walking about, even following me, is pretty challenging. He’s glad to stay at home and protect Laura. He may be blind but he can bark and bite if need be. He loves Laura so much and wouldn’t let anyone hurt her.
I love the KTM 690 for it’s willingness to putt along at a perfect hunting speed 15 to 20 km/hr. I stop every now and then to scan with my binoculars. On the relatively smooth rock and gravel roads going slow I could still scan the forest and fields around me. I was looking for bear. Black bear rifle hunting season opens Sept 1 while only bow hunting for deer opens that early. Rifle for deer opens on Sept. 10. I like the bow hunting weekend mostly because the weather each year has been so grand. It’s also a time to get all the systems checked out and be ready for the usually more productive rifle season. It’s been quite a few years since I shot a deer with a bow but I truly love this first bow hunting weekend.
Grouse season does’t open till the 10th but in the past I’ve shot grouse with my bow. With the number of arrows I’ve lost missing each grouse I shot cost $20 or more a bird. Ptarmigan is open now but it’s a Wiley bird and I’ve never got close enough to shoot one with the bow. I’ve shot them with my 22 long rifle in the past but they really are a lot smarter than the grouse.
I love the smell of birch, pine and hemlock as I ride along. Lots of cows in the field. No bear. I did see a herd of horses too. They’re lovely in the field by themselves, ranging wild. I did see a dog moving the cattle. I thought it might be a wolf at first but looked at it in the binoculars and saw that it was actually working the cow herd.
I rode up Dog Creek road, RR6 noticing that a fellow has a lovely cabin to rent out there. Bill Mewhort and I had stayed in the Circle H Ranch nearly 25 years ago when we first came up. There’s a famous dude ranch in the valley but more and more there are these rental cabins, a bit like country Air BnB.
I’d not been this way in a long time but loved the terrain and all the little water ways and marsh ponds. I remembered coming up here with Tom one time and having a flock of ptarmigan make fools of us as we tried to sneak up on them from several different ways but each time they flew off a little ways when we were still out of gun range.
It was chilly and overcast and a little sprinkle began. I was wearing my jean jacket with a flannel shirt but stopped to put on the fleece I brought back from my IDAA conference in Reno this summer. Cozy, and I figured good luck too. We say good luck is God acting anonymously.
When the rain began in earnest I left off hunting and began to hurry back. I was going at 65 km/hour on the country road when I hit some loose gravel and had to keep the motorcycle on the road swerving back and forth while easing on the back brake. After that and imagining lying in the ditch with a busted pelvis trying to reach my iPhone to call Laura to get an ambulance, I kept below 50 which is a safer speed for motorcycles on the logging mains and country roads. I didn’t realize how far I’d gone and was getting colder by the km as the temperature dropped and the rain continued. There’s nothing like being chilled on a motorcycle.
I sure was happy to find our camp though getting off the motorcycle I was cold and stiff. In the camper I cranked on the furnace while Laura told me about the herd of cows that had come over and walked around the camper and picnic table. She figured they were wondering if they knew who’d we’d barbecued.
A cup of tea with honey helped but what was magnificent was the Stag chilli Laura made up. Now that really hit the spot. The perfect ending for a perfect day. Now we’ve been reading with a candle burning. I’m reading Judd’s Journey, an excellent western. Laura is reading a Vanity Fair magazine. Gilbert is already asleep in his bed.
Bed sure will be welcome tonight. Bed Glorious Bed. I love my bed. What a great day in the country. Thank you Jesus. Amen.
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