I meant to post these photos back in August....
Seems the family and I were touring the Rocky Mountains in August, enjoying God's creation and creatures, like this moose..
And this deer..
And these elk...
Each animal sighting stirred my hunting instincts, the coyote's howling woke me at night, and the bull elk's bugle touched my soul. Somehow my Brackenbury Drifter recurve and a few arrows had made the trip too, hidden under the seat, and after a little sweet talking, begging and even a tear or two (hey, I'm not too proud to cry), the women in the truck agreed to a little break from the driving. They got a hotel with a pool and cable TV, and Daniel and I got to explore the Pawnee National Grasslands of Colorado for antelope.
We were in a likely looking area at dawn...
and saw antelope immediately! We spent the day exploring the area and watching several groups, even trying a stalk or two. We found a large group of bucks feeding on an alfalfa field, and watched them from a distance, trying to learn their patterns..
The next morning, we were in their previous day's bedding area with the wind in our favor, and soon saw them eating their breakfast of alfalfa. The lead buck headed towards a distant water tank - it was decision time, as we had to pick up the girls after lunch and head east for home. Should we stay or should we try to get ahead of the lead buck and hope the group would follow him? We scrambled and soon were on the opposite side of the field, expecting big things to happen soon.
After an anxious wait, I peeked over the hill - the herd was safely settling into their beds, exactly where we had been at daylight. Bad decision! Oh well, it was a fun sharing my first, although very short, antelope hunt with my son! Maybe next time we'll guess correctly. I enjoyed exploring the prairie..
We'll be back in 2007 when Daniel can carry his own bow!