The Hunt

The hunt was truly an answer to prayer. The verse the Lord gave to me on Friday morning was? "Delight thyself also in the Lord and He shall give you the desires of your heart." Was getting an elk really a desire of my heart and one that the Lord would give? Remember in the last Life on the Ranch I asked if it was O.K. to ask God to tie an elk to a tree? Well----

I met Chip in Miles City at 3:30 and we headed north to Jordan, then Brusett and then what looked like wide open spaces. We were hunting in an area that was burned about 4 years ago so the majority of the trees were dead.

As we were getting closer to our campsite, Chip spotted a bull elk looking at us and then a smaller one up on the hill. My hunt was already successful. I was with Chip in beautiful country and I had seen an elk.

We got to our campsite and got the camper set up. Chip cooked supper and then it decided to rain. I am a tad bit claustrophobic and knew that the rain meant mud and that we weren't going anywhere. I didn't sleep much that night and woke Chip up to talk to me at 3 A.M.

Saturday was a beautiful day. We hiked and then we were going to take the four wheeler out as the ground had dried up. We realized that we had a flat tire and ran the four wheeler into town to get it fixed. I needed that to get my bearings straight and to realized that we really were in civilization. When we got back to camp we rode all over but didn't see any elk.

Saturday night it didn't just rain, it poured and the wind blew. But I slept through most of it. Chip woke up at 3 A.M. and started praying about this elk hunt. He really wanted me to get one and he was concerned.

Sunday was the big day. We got up and walked around a bit and then took the four wheeler out scouting. We went about a mile when Chip stopped and we walked up on a hill so that Chip could check out the area. He spotted a herd of elk a couple of miles away. He said that a couple of them were huge! (My dream come true!) As we started to work our way around the hills to stay out of sight of those elk, we crossed a set of elk tracks. We followed those tracks and saw the two elk bedded down about 300 yards away. At the same time we heard a four wheeler to the right of us a few miles away and we saw three hunters on the skyline on horseback. Chip knew that we wouldn't have a chance getting to the herd of elk before the rest of them did so we decided on the biggest of the two that were bedded down.

I crawled to the edge of the hill and scoped the elk, found the biggest of the two and shot. He stood up and then laid down but his head was still up. I shot again and then he got up and headed up the hill. I made a shot at him while he was running and hit him. The three hunters turned him around and he headed down into the trees. That is where he got stuck. The hunters sat on a hill and pointed to where the elk was. I made the last shot. The three hunters were there and helped Chip pull him to a flat piece of ground where the work began. We had him back to camp by 5 P.M.

Chip is as proud as he can be! He has shown the horns and pictures to everyone.

Every step we took on those days could have been considered coincidence, but having prayed as we did, we knew that it was God answering our prayer and telling us that He does love us.

It is time!

After years of applying for a bull elk tag in the Missouri Breaks, I finally received it in the mail a few months ago. Chip is packing the camper with everything that I will need to get the big bull. I am praying a lot that this will be an easy hunt. A miracle to me would be a huge bull elk with his head stuck in a tree begging me to put him out of his misery. Then again, just getting an elk would be a miracle for me.

So until I return with or without the big one, keep us in your thoughts and prayers. This is a new adventure for me and I am just a tad bit nervous. I have always said that camping out is taking my pillow and sleeping at a Holiday Inn. This time I am doing the real thing. Thankfully, Chip knows what he is doing.

Rounding up the cows

We received a call Saturday evening that our cows were mixed up with the neighbor's yearlings. We won't talk about how that happened, except that they have probably been sharing pastures most of the summer.

Chip got on the phone and gave Kelly a call. She rounded up a friend with a horse and was in Alzada by 11 A.M.

The video (if I get it to post) is after the work was finished. Thanks for the help.

Waiting for the sun to shine

Fall has arrived bringing very cool temperatures and a lot of moisture. The road crew working on Hwy 323 has not worked very much in the last couple of weeks. The road has been closed on a couple of occasions to keep big trucks from mudding down and getting stuck in the unpacked dirt.

We are experiencing below normal temperatures. Like 40 degrees below normal.

We were saddened this week when we had to put Puppy down. She grew up in a loving family that kept her in a fenced yard, in the house or riding down the road in a vehicle. She had no fears and didn't know danger. She loved the ranch and enjoyed running and playing with Jake. She ran toward a pick up, veered to the right and somehow connected with a tire. We were given two choices. One was to put her down or the second was to take her to the other vet in town. She would be in intensive care for days, go through surgery and who knows what all. She would have been 9 in January and was showing signs of arthritis. The practical and human thing to do was to put her out of her misery.

Since Puppy was Swan's dog, we did let him make the final decision. Putting Puppy to sleep was a hard call for Swan, but he new that it was the right choice.

She always met me at the door when I came home for lunch and would sit beside my chair at night to be petted. She is missed.

Chip buried her on the hill where his childhood dogs are buried.