FISH CATCHING TRAVEL

Knockin Tail Lures by My Coast Outdoors

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The mule deer are in full rut and thrashing trees and bushes.

This morning there was a smaller buck chasing a doe in the back yard and three more promptly showed up.  Plenty of posturing and some fighting it was a joy to watch.  One of the smaller ones got run off by a big boy who took over and he promptly went to a small bush and thrashed the stuffing out of it.  Not to frustrated.

Then on the way home today this boy was right on a doe and proceeded to rub the heck out of a big Aspen.  I know with whitetails it is often the size of the tree that gets rubbed, in this case it was a big buck and a big tree.  Sure is a pleasure to watch all this craziness going on right now.  And with the weather about to return more to normal I can get out in the woods and do a little snow shoeing and check tracks.  With the fishing off the plate until the ice is on, the river froze the last couple of days, it will be chasing animals until back in Texas in January.

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Winter Has Finally Arrived!

The weather report on Thanksgiving Day was all over the place.  First it was possibly a foot, then a couple of inches but no matter what we were going to get some snow.  My forecast was spot on using the best indicators.

A good 5″ plus when I took this and it was still coming down.

Yesterday the couple of times I was out including my walk the deer and turkeys were in full on eating mode.  I easily saw a minimum of 50 deer, and everybody was getting their feed bag on.  So, my guess:  How about the upper end of the forecast and it turned out to be spot on.  The critters don’t lie.

Before heading out to have Thanksgiving dinner with friends I spent the day doing a complete maintenance job on the snow blower.  As it is supposed to keep snowing until after midnight that just might turn out to be a wise decision.  Will find out in the morning.

This is what I woke up too.  I completely cleaned the railing and the truck so looks like a good 8″ last night.

Thank goodness the snow blower is ready to go and as soon as it gets above 20 degrees will get out there and go to work.  But it is 10 degrees as I write this so time to watch a little fishing and keep looking outside as the turkeys are still out and about, it is up to their belly.  Have not seen a deer yet but they will be coming soon.  Plus it is a balmy 12 right now!

But nothing that beast of a snow blower couldn’t handle.  Sure am glad we bought that!

Until last winter I had no experience with a snowblower but the one that came with the house is a self-propelled beast.  It really is a matter of just following it around and it did not take long to do the job.  Then I took a quick trip through town, the road were still slick as was the neighborhood.

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A Chili Kind of Day

It never got above 27 today after our big snowstorm.  A great day for a fire, some football and chili.  This was as good as it looks.

Big Horn chili.  It will cure what ails ya on a winter day!

When all said and done my buddy figured this cost about $100K if he was lucky.  As far as I am concerned it was worth every penny.

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Today, Monday, it was 6 degrees when I got up and when it barely cracked dawn it was -1, which is cold for this time of year in Colorado.  But with that comes the opportunity to see sheep and elk who come down from on high and hit the valleys and field.  So since I was not going to snowshoe today time to head up north of Creede and see what might be out and about.

The roads are basically clear but there are some serious patches of ice here and there as not all of the road gets sun.  Of course, it did not help that it was 14 degrees in Creede at 1:00.  But the sun was out and I was pretty confident that a few sheep would be down and that turned out to be the case.

Just a small part of the sheep that were out.

Sorry they are backlight but that was the only shots I could get on this bunch.  There was no way to get in better position as the road was only plowed to the edge, there was no good place to park and still see them, and no way to get around them.  So basically, stopped on the highway with flashers on, good thing traffic was light.  But it limited how long I could watch.

He chased this poor girl all over the field.

The rams were in rut and the chase was on.

The rams were doing some banging and hassling and it was a little irritating that I could not get in the proper position and wait out the great shot.  If there was a good side at least I ended up just watching their antics.

I am sure she was getting all the attention she wanted!

After a couple of cars came time to head back to town.  Once I got not that far out of South Fork there was a bunch on the road licking up the salt or whatever they use on the ice.

At least the sun was right but the traffic keep running them back off the road.

Nothing massive but some nice young rams.

So the early afternoon drive was a success.  With the weather finally acting like winter, and the hunting season coming to a close, the elk should start showing up at the lower elevations.  There was not quite as mush snow north of here which may slow the migration down some but it will happen.  Haven’t seen a good elk in a while but will keep on looking.

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Hope everyone had a safe and happy Thanksgiving.  I spent the day with friends, though there was 2 places serving free dinner.  Folks have been so nice, it really is a calm small town vibe and not one person got shot or carjacked.  So keep stopping in and thanks for reading my stuff.

Good Luck and Tight Lines