Packing for a weekend hunt takes as much ‘stuff’ as packing for a ‘month’ hunt. The only difference is the amount of food but the equipment is the same.
My camper is still in repairs but thankfully no longer at Frazerway which sold me a damaged unit and lied for a year about having it ready by this spring. All winter the Frazerway folk gas lighted and ghosted and were evil so I was glad to retrieve the unit and transfer it’s care to another reputable RV service. Amazingly I read a complaint on the Better Business Bureau site almost identical to the abusive experience I had. I am so thankful to have the unit in good hands without all the sociopathic behaviour. Hopefully we’ll be back in the camper soon.
This experience tenting made me appreciate and miss the camper. I was so lucky though the weather was great. Sleeping on the ground was painful but waking in the rain would have made it all a lot worse.
Friday it was all I could do to get packed and pick up my ATV from John’s Chilliwack RV Storage. I was only missing one key and thankful to have my bolt cutter concealed in the truck. The whole back seat of the truck was packed so I had to unpack it to find the bolt cutter. Challenges after challenges. Good to see John who is always so positive and helpful.
I had my Iridium Satellite Phone from Ralf’s Mobile Electronics but I’d not renewed my subscription. I phoned them but before they could get back to me I’d bought a Garmin InReach which uses Iridium for texts and SOS from Cabelas. I’d stopped for more 30:06 ammo but they were really low and had no 180 grain. Fortunately I have enough and did get my little propane containers for the stove. They were sold out of mule deer tags so I was glad I had ordered one at least on line. Cabelas is a fabulous store with great stock but the staff are often ‘surly’ and unhelpful. They come acrosss as ‘superior’ too in that old ‘Holt Renfrew’ shop girl way. Irritating to have to deal with negative attitude when spending a lot of money on ‘recreation’. They need to take some lessons in customer relations from Reliable or Italian Sports. I just love shopping at those places because the staff are so enthusiastic and knowledgeable and helpful. Cabelas just has the advantage of being en route.
Madigan and I stopped at Macdonalds on the way out of Abbotsford for the requisite burger patty for the dog. I had the quarter pounder with cheese. We were on our way.
At Chilliwack with the trailer we stopped at Canada Tire for the Iridium package but they didn’t know either how to get the Garmin package they mentioned on line. Thankfully Ralf’s called me and used my credit card on file to do another 6 month satelite subscription so I could be in the wilderness with emergency communication capability and stay in touch with the clinics. I didn’t need the new Garmin Inreach but now have back up.
I loved driving my Ford F-350 pulling my trailer with Honda 420 Rancher with my happy co pilot Madigan. There was fire at Hope and we saw the helicopter dousing it with buckets from the water. Lots of smoke. Thankfully no road closure. As I drove I listened to a Johnstone Preacher Westrn on a “movie in your mind’ audio book. Life was good. On the road again. Madigan curled up against my side when he wasn’t standing up looking out his side window.
I donated a kidney and filled up with gas for the truck and 15 gallons of containers and for the ATV. At the Princeton Grocery store I stopped for last minute supplies having phoned Laura who told me sun down was in an hour. Not only was I going to be camping again but I was going to be setting up a tent in the dark. I did that for decades on my weekend hunts when I headed out at night so I’d be in place for a dawn hunt. This time I was just slow and old and looking forward to having a place to sleep.
I had planned on Chain Lakes and there was a ‘first come first serve’ camp space available. All the lake side were taken and if I’d not dilly dallied I might have had one but I did get a space where I could just drive in with the trailer. I’m impossibly bad at backing up trailers. Dave and Mack have been giving my pointers and I actually understood what Dave had told me about holding the underside of the wheel and that would show me the way the trailer was turning.
I got parked. I found the 1000 Lumen battery operated lantern I actually had the new headlamp where I could find it. Setting up the North Face 4 man tent really was easy even though it was years since I did it. I even put in the rug and sleeping bags and was ready for bed. The only problem was I’d not brought Madigan’s jacket and he and I were both cold in the middle of the night. I got up to pee and it was chilly. My Mountain Equipment Cooo. Draco neg 7 degree sleeping bag was great and I circled the other Draco O degree sleeping bag around Madigan to keep him warm. The next two nights I laid out my hunting jacket for him and wore a sweater to bed myself. The nights were except whenever I turned on the ground my back hurt and woke me. I’m not a happy camper sleeping on the ground. I had the Coleman cot but I never used it using a too thin ‘pad’ instead. I’m planning on a trip to MEC to get a state of the art pad or inflatable. I’ve tried everything to date and frankly the best camping sleep is off the ground in an RV with a good mattress. I missed my camper sleeping.
I did enjoy making coffee on the pic nic table with the Coleman 2 burner, one dead, old camp stove. I’d lost the knob somewhere and some time. That stove was 30 years old and still working fine. I had the little propane cans from Cabelas. I had the Italian stovetop Expresso machine where two pots gave me enough coffee to fill the thermos and have a cup for me. I had bananas too. Honey and canned milk.
I didn’t feel like hunting.
I’d woken at 7 am and could head out on the ATV but decided I’d try to hook up with the Bustards who were hunting that weekend with all their kids nearby. The idea of a hide and seek adventure driving about in the truck seemed a better plan. I packed up my tent and got back in the truck enjoying the comfort. I found Hembrie turnoff, I didn’ realize this was the FSR I’d just used a couple of years ago when I took Laura to stay at the Princeton Castles resort. A lovely hunting area. I enjoyed drinking coffee and driving back roads. I never found where the Bustards were and had a bitch of a time turning around with the trailer behind me. I managed it and then decided I’d get an A&W burger and try finding it from the Loon Lake side. Another long drive in the truck listening to an audio western enjoying myself sight seeing.
I saw a little bear on the road side grabbing my rifle from the back seat but realizing how young it was when i walked over to it and literally had to shoo it away. I had the camera and the rifle and took pictures instead. Curious fellow. Shit fur by the nose. More like a big dog. In a few years he might be food but not now.
I later did see a big bear bolt across the road going to fast for me to do anything but look where it disappeared to.
I wasn’t happy coming down Dillard logging road into a steep ravine. The road had become a trail and there simply was not where to turn around with just a truck let alone with a trailer. Then the road was washed out causing me to pray as I drove at an angle half on the wall to get past the bad part. I stopped and walked forward and thankfully it got better. I’d decided looking down into death and crash that I was not having fun so I’d head out to the area where I knew the trails. This exploring had gone far enough. I was a bit shook up though it was not nearly as scarey as the roads I’d taken on in the Broncho II and Ranger 25 years ago. I was crazier then. I have an ATV for these stunts not this truck I need for towing RV and for my Camper. Silly.
I headed back through Princeton I’d come across Alene and Methusala and another M named lake. Back west of Princeton I was in my old stomping ground and glad to set up my pup tent, the MSG one .. I was planning a trip to Yuma and this weekend had brought both tents and other gear to see what would work best. I liked the little MSG tent I’d used motorcycling but the North Face test though less cozy was much easier to set up.
I loved our camp ground and used the back gate on the truck for my kitchen, I’d shot a couple of grouse looking for the bustards and would shoot more here. I only saw doe. I missed a rabbit with the 30;06 at a hundred yards. I was aiming for his head and glad to miss because if I hit a rabbit body with the 30:06 it would simply explode like it had been hit with a mortar. I was shooting the grouse with 20 Guage 6 or 7 1/2 shot
The best part of the weekend was watching the little guy run ahead of me to the fallen grouse. He picked it up and came running back to me with it in his mouse , the bird bigger than his head and him staggering forward dragging wings and dropping feathers. I wish I’d had a video of it. He was such a trooper. My Madigan , the bird dog. Shinto had obviously done this and more and Gilbert had brought the birds out to the road and gone looking for more but none as adorably as Madigan who staggered along back to me. Time and again he did this. What a ‘retriever’, my little cockapoo hunting dog.
I really was enjoying the Rancher 420 and driving about the back woods.
When I saw a grouse up ahead on the side of the road I’d stop and brake the quad, then lift and load the 20 guage over under shot gun.I’d take my shot hit the bird with 6 to 8 shot, whatever I had stuffed in my pockets. The bird would flop about dying. I’d Unhook Madigan who was wearing a harness leashed for the ATV frame behind me. He’d jump down having watched everything and run as fast as his body could pounce on the wounded dying bird and kill big bird shaking it or tearing out the belly of the live squeaky toy. What filled me with pride was his picking up this bird the size of his head and more and running with it back to drop at my feet. He did this over and over retrieving five birds. I’d shoot eight over the few days. Other than throwing squeaky toys to fetch and retrieve I’d done no serious training and he just instinctively began retrieving and helping out the old guy. I’d rip off the feathered skin with my bare hands gutting the bird and tearing out the head and neck to free the meaty breasts. I gave him the heat and liver to eat raw while putting the breast with identifying winds in a zip lock bag.
I love cooking up the cubed breasts later with marmalade and spices and serving on rice. I love the Royal taste of grouse the highland delicacy. Having a companion hunting dog is such comfort and joy.
Back at my camp I cooked a dinner of pork chops zucchini and boiled potatoes with butter and sour cream on the tail gate of the truck. I enjoyed eating off the plate on my lap sitting on the cammo hunting chair with a fire of wood and waste paper products. Before going to bed in the tent I doused the embers with pot loads of water. Fire hazard warning was high.
I only saw a few deer but none of the legal horny vegans. I was thankful for the grouse a few more of which I shot on the last morning hunt. I’d actually risen at 6 am in the half light of dawn making coffee and filling my thermos. At least I was up as early as Bill Mewhort my old hunting buddy demanded. It would be dark when we’d set up in ambush. I was a lot more successful big game hunter younger shooting 30:or more dear over the years I don’t sit or stalk enough but so enjoy driving about grouse hunting, road hunting being the best grouse hunting strategy often. I saw a few rabbits too as they come out at dusk or dawn and nibble the road side grass.
I was glad to pack up the truck and load the Honda onto the trailer. Madigan was sad for the weekend to be ending. He sat on the loaded ATV wanting us to go out once more. I convinced him to join me in the cab and head home
We were in time for the mandatory A&W sausage egger., mamma burger and a beef patty ‘on the side for my dog’ A large coffee double double’.I love eating and driving listening to country music on the way home. We passed a large semi on its side at a turn on a mountain bridge, police directing traffic, the driver fortunately not hurt. At hope the fire we’d seen on the way up was just smoking.However a new fire still flaming was being water bombed by a couple of helicopters with buckets and on ground firefighters. Traffic was blocked on that lane but ours was clear into town.
I dropped off the trailer at Chilliwack storage doing a better job of backing up the trailer with Dave’s tips. ‘I taught all my kids to back up the boat this way and they all learned it this way’. It works but I’m still lousy at backing up trailers. Looks easy for some but requires patience and precision Im not gifted with tired at the end of trips.
Back in Vancouver I was thankful my home was still there in good shape, unpacking all the gear was the last ordeal and a reminder why I missed the camper where I stored most of the stuff I had now to haul home.
I was so thankful to climb into a hot shower with shampoo and conditioner. With clean clothes on I cleaned the 8 grouse putting them 2 together in new freezer bags in the freezer for future feasts.
I was so thankful to be home lying on my couch with the dog lying on my belly clean and in comfort with amenities and a new found appreciation for civilizations. Later I’d walk Madison and encounter Peter with his Havanese and regale him of Madigan, the cockatoo’s great retrieving. I’d sing the little guys praise again when I’d see Dave with his little shitzu bud. Madigan was strutting. It was good to be home . I could have just as easily been at the bottom of the adillard ravine or flipped on my side at that treacherous mountain bridge turn. Thanks to the grace of God we thrived and we didn’t have equipment challenge shad the weather was magnificent. I’d even stop by the side of a lake and had a swim. So I wasn’t even all that dirty despite the constant dust. I certainly would enjoy sleeping in my own bed and mattress. What a great grouse hunt indeed. Thank you Jesus!
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