Up is something that inevitably happens every time we go out. You’re saying, well of course! The mountains ARE the mountains and they go up. There’s sometime I just don’t think it’s all that necessary to go straight up. There may be other avenues that get you to the same place. Perhaps zig zag, a nice side hill jaunt back and forth to the top. Not in the mind of my honey. Up is where you have to go and straight is the quickest way. Doesn’t matter the weight of the pack, whether you’re carrying a gun or bow or how many layers you have on because it’s O’dark thirty and it’s cold! Up is the avenue.
So we were out rifle hunting deer probably my second year of hunting and we went to this great area way up the Entiat. We start walking down this trail with a creek on the right and a straight up hill on the left. Less than 50 yards down the trail I look behind me and there is a rather large, gorgeous two point walking the trail behind me. I said ‘hey buddy, what’s up?’ and he walked a little closer. So I walked toward him a little. Pretty soon we are about 10 feet apart and he’s just so curious about what we’re doing, where we’re going and why. I talked to him for a minute. I did let him know that if he had a 1″ kicker or eye-guard that I would have to shoot him, but that today he was safe. He didn’t, and he didn’t seem to really care.
I turned and started walking down the path behind Kim and he shook his head and said ‘please don’t pet him’. I turned around and the guy was still following us. I laughed and said ‘come on if you want to’ and then the guy decided he probably shouldn’t be there and walked off the path and into the woods. I wish I had petted him!
We walked about another 50 feet and Kim stops and looks up the steep incline to his left. ‘We gotta go up honey.’ I said ‘why? The deer are down here by the water. We just saw one!’ He replies, ‘the big ones are up there’. I said a lot of things in my head but what came out of my mouth was ‘fine!’
Halfway up that 70 degree angle climb, I may have shed a tear or two. I was mad and tired and sore. I would take two steps and have to stop to get my breath and rest. I couldn’t stand up for fear of falling backward. It was a good 100 yards up or more. Right toward the top I found a 2 pt shed and that made it a little more worth it. It was like a reward for the stupid climb. I called Kim a ‘damn Billy goat’ when we got to the top and he just laughed and said ‘it’s good for you’. Today he calls me the Billy goat so I guess he was right.
After all that, we climbed to an area and sat and glassed. Nothing. Not a burp from an animal that we could see or not see. After an hour or so we move on to another area up further on the mountain. The views are gorgeous but the thought of packing anything back to the truck weighs heavy on my mind.
We didn’t see anything but that first two point that day and climbed back down the mountain in the dark. I honestly have seen a lot of gorgeous country and views, sunsets and sunrises that I wouldn’t have if Kim hadn’t made me go Up.
Archery and Camo 