Lemon drops, mountain tops, and bears.

[Charlie Lamb]

Where do you start with a trip like this one? Like every other trip, you start at the end... at least that's where the story tellin starts.

In that respect this story is like every other bowhunting trip, but that's the only way.

It had been coming for far too long and I was past ready when I rolled up to Shaun Webb's log home in central Iowa.

The weather was gloomy but it could hardly suppress the anticipation that only seemed to be snowballing after a long winter of preparation and dreaming.

It'd been 25 years or more since the last time I'd released an arrow at a bear... an average size black that took a cedar shaft from my 70# longbow "yellowgirl" and expired back in the dank recesses of a northern Minnesota swamp.
 

I thought about how long it had been between kills even though I'd hunted diligently with outfitters and on my own. With a little aching under my wallet (and in it) I remembered all the long hours spent in trees waiting for my furry quarry to appear.

I remember the disappointment of each failed trip and how after time the disappointment was replaced with fond memories.
In time with age and maturity as a hunter the disappointment faded more quickly until it was replaced by the glow of satisfaction even before the hunt had ended.

Like the words in the old Rolling Stones song, "you can't always get what you want..."
How well I knew that tune!

[Charlie Lamb]

Shaun and I visited for a while but there was electricity in the air and we both felt it. Before long, even though the hour was late, we threw our gear in the back of his truck and were soon headed west down I-80.

Some where in Nebraska in the wee hours of the morning we finally stopped and grabbed a couple hours shut eye in a rest stop. Before the rising sun reflected in the rearview mirror we were beyond anything that resembled eastern cover.
The corn fields and oak wood lots long since replaced by vast expanses of open, covered with bunch grasses and the occasional windmill squeaking out it's mournfull song on a prairie wind.

[Charlie Lamb]

I'd expected we'd be on the road for at least two days but that was before we took off ten hours ahead of schedule.

Now it looked as if we'd add almost a solid day to the time I'd planned visiting my buddy Vance Brewer.
That was a good thing and I hoped that it fit his schedule... I was pretty sure it would.

(cont. in the morning)

[Steve O]

Charlie...

"But if you try REAL HARD, you might just get what you NEED"

Very "wisdomous" from the old boys; I often sing that one to my 8 year old son  

[vermonster13]

Got my story teller mug and am ready for some reading.

[Littlefeather]

Been waitin on you Bud. Glad to start this adventure. Can't wait to hear how it all ends.     See ya in the morning. CK

[PV]

Can't wait to hear the rest!

[Whip]

This should turn into an epic tale!   We got Charlie, Curtis, and Shaun, three of my favorite story tellers collaborating on the same adventure!  Pull up a stump freinds, this one may take awhile...........        

[cjones]

This is gonna be a good one! Can't wait to read the rest.

[Stone Knife]

My story teller mug if full and I'm ready.

[Whip]

 
   
 

[JC]

Ahhh yes. Another Lamb masterpiece told in the appropriate Lamb fashion (i.e. keeping the audience in constant suspense for a seemingly endless, agonizing period of time)    

Looking forward to it Charlie!  

[Whip]

That makes four cups already this morning.  I'm going to be bouncing off the walls waiting on this one!  :rolleyes:

[4runr]

           

[Charlie Lamb]

It's hard to figure how many times I'd made this very same drive to western Wyoming. It's also hard to figure just how many times I'd wished for some majical shortcut that would trim hours off of the drive.

In the delerium brought on by I-80 and mid Nebraska (they didn't chose the highway location for it's scenic properties) I'd often fantasized about driving into a time warp, a starship portal which would save me from the boring hours behind the wheel.

Of course there are no such portals and the eighteen wheelers which threatened to run over the top of us weren't really Clingon birds of prey... ok, so there was this one really ugly driver.

In due course we arrived at Vance's no worse for wear.

[Charlie Lamb]

It was good to see Vance again. In his typical fashion he welcomed Shaun like a long lost friend... it's the kind of guy he is.

We were soon wrapping ourselves around some homemade vittles and sharing the events of the trip and the long winter just past.

Spring comes slowly to most of the rocky mountain west and it was just showing it's full beautiful self when we got there.

The morning after our arrival Shaun and I slipped away, while Vance tended to business, for a quick tour of my favorite mountains and a brief encounter or two with the little ground squirrels of the area.
 

I knew Vance would be waiting to share the adventure with us, so I kept the goofing around to a minimum. It was tough to do with so much to see and places to explore.
 
 

We limbered up our bows in the cool mountain air and sucked in deep draughts of the pine flavored elixer.
 

[Charlie Lamb]

Why the time warp thing is absent during the drive out to Wyoming and is painfully present once I get there is beyond me.

Soon we were joined by Curtis Kellar, who'd also made record time in joining us. The short days ahead would resound with bull sessions and the loud "whop" of blunt arrows finding their mark on the ever present ground squirrels.

 

It was good practice for all of us and Curtis especially needed to grow accustomed to shooting with additional layers of clothing... he adapted just fine.

Often we hunted in pairs or even all together... ground squirrels offer those kinds of opportunities.

Near some old corrals we found the squirrels quite abundant and circled off in our own separate directions to see what we could see.

I made a couple of hits and a few misses... if ground squirrels are anything, it's fast!
A little haphazard at first (by ground squirrel standards), we soon cleaned up the slop and were thumping the little squeekers on a fairly regular basis.
 

Since this was the shake down part of this trip and we were fine tuning for bigger things we also tripped off to the mountains for some broken ground shooting at more severe angles.

Stump shooting in these mountains not only includes a wealth of stumps, but for the imaginative, the trees are full of snarling mountain lions... of the pinecone variety.    
 

 

We all got in on the pinecone action...
 

(cont.)

[Littlefeather]

Thwop! The pics are great!

 

[Full Quiver II]

Man, you and Curtis' story telling and picture taking have me able to smell the woods from my office down here in Florida. Hats off to you brothers! Great story and pics. Thanks for sharing with us all.

[Full Quiver II]

P.S. Where can I buy one of those nice-looking Bowyer's Journal caps?