Final Installment,
OK,
They call and say they have found my tundra at about midnight... I ask Cody if he still carries that 45 acp in the holster mounted under his dash? ( yes, we all have concealed carry permits, and this is totally legal in WA ) He says yes ... I suggest he bring it in as funny noises are happening close buy with me covered in blood and gore from trying to continue working in the dark until I finnaly lay down and then can no longer find, that $450 custom damascus 3" drop point with its Big-Horn Sheep "scales" on each side of the handle.
After walking in about a mile, while I'm telling them by cell phone which skid roads to take to get in closer.... yep.my phone dies.... " that damned old filp phone anyway"...
So we start yelling back and forth... 20 minutes or so later here comes some light.... Yipeee I'm saved well almost anyway.. We find the missing knife and finish boneing and bagging meat and load the 3 back-packs they have brought in...
I end up with the head strapped to my back with the rack pointing down and only a 30" inseam.... Ya see any problems there ?
Not to mention the crossbow with it's loaded quiver that I'm manuvering thru everything we must get thru to survive the night.
Really not funny at the time.... as I'm old and quickly getting older as in NEAR DEATH, or it's sure feeling that way...Remember the disabled hunter plackard in the picture of the quad ? There really is a reason as I have severe COPD from over 30 years of welding on lead based painted objects as well as galvanized ones and lets not forget the 40 plus years "looking cool" with the damned cigarette hanging from my mouth.
We look at and take directions from a not so Smart "Smart Phone" ...damned thing had us walking in a big circle thru hell in no time... I finally realize the tidal river we have finally found is on our " right " but should be on our " left " to get back to those fields..
Finally at 2:30 AM we reach that old paved road way out beyond the fields... I need to be physically pulled up the 8' bank and then the boys take my keys and head down the road to find the vehicles and return.... I'm seitting there as this " young lovely" drives up at that late hour and stops to ask if I'm OK and need help? I said "I'm just fine but something to drink would be great "... she had no water, but quickly offered a "shock Top" beer and then drives off... Man I'm in heaven you should have seen the looks of the boys when they got back....priceless...
I get them to load the truck and they start home only to be at work at 7:00 AM and with that 1 1/2 hour drive to get there.
I finally hit camp about 3 AM it then takes 2 hours to heat water and wash up as well as lay the meat out to cool while protedcting it from that nights rain..
In bed by 5AM, but up at 7:30 breaking camp to get back and get the elk in the walk in cooler... Yesterday I clean meat up further, and take to processor to be processed and split evenly between me and each of the boys for their families...
Last night at 10 PM I'm at my young taxerdermist friend arranging a European Mount ( gonna' be nice and only $250 ) now the 2 to 3 month wait..
Oh well , when I got home from the hunt I had a new Leupold X-bones waiting to mount on the 355 while moving it's present Nikon Bolt to the new Axiom SMF.. Life is good!
One last mention,,,,, I used the M355 with a Nikon Bolt for this hunt along with 18" Diablo's tipped with 125 gn 4 blade slick tricks..., man those are nice heads as I was never a fan of replaceable broadheads but they held up well to elk ribs and 3 were still sharp enough to shave...
Yes Dan, aka: excaliber I'm sure you noticed I did not use those beautiful Zombie Slayers as I had already lost 2 of the 12, and at that point and was fearfull of the terrible brush at the coast with no luminocks to assist in finding them after a shot.
I hope you enjoyed the "Rest Of The Story " as much as I did telling it !!!!
Gene