Summer is over!

Well, summer is gone and I haven’t done a very good job of keeping my blog updated!

We did take another trip back to Montana and got to enjoy the cool weather and some nice scenery again. Didn’t get in as much hiking this time, but did end up making the 14 mile round trip back up to Crystal Cave again. There was still more water than normal, but at least this time we were able to do some exploring.

Here's a picture of Mike making his way upstream.  Usually the water here is only a trickle, but it was about 2 feet deep at least this time.

The main entrance to the cave is huge, probably 30 feet wide and 10 feet tall.  One finger that we climb up ends up with a few small exit though!  This is Ben looking back inside after he made it through the exit.  We had to do some dirt moving this tiime to get out because the creek had brought plenty of debris with it.

Here's Mike making his way out of that same exit.  It doesn't look that tight in the picture, but it is a belly crawl and you have to squirm your way out.

We hauled our ATVs up there and were able to enjoy some trail riding. This picture was taken on a 20 mile loop that is closed to anything over 50” wide.

We bought a new ATV pretty much just for this trip and it worked out really good.  We got a really good deal on it as it was a 2007 model with over 11,000 miles on it which is pretty much unheard of for an ATV.  It had spent it's entire life running dry dusty trails in West Texas and the week afer I bought it, it was able to cool it's wheels in some Montana snow.

Here's another picture of it at the top of another ATV trail.

Saw this beautiful cinnamon black bear and her two cubs one day. Watched them for about 15 minutes from the road until they ambled off.

Still working out to try to be in good shape for hunting this year. Got in 37 miles in during July and 41 miles in August. Not quite where I wanted to be by this time, but getting there. I probably won’t be at a 10 minute pace for 6 miles by the time we leave for Wyoming for my elk hunt there, but I really want to be there before my New Mexico elk hunt.

Still haven’t gotten much rain down on my hunting property and it is looking pretty sad. I’m filling my protein feeder up every 2 to 3 weeks as that’s about the only decent food source available around. No monster bucks showing up on camera, but I did get this picture with 7 bucks all in the same picture waiting for their turn at the feeder.

They are showing up well after dark and leaving well before dark so I’m afraid that they are bedding a long way from my property which would make sense since there isn’t much there for them right now. No point in planting any fall food plots right now because the ground is still too dry and there really isn’t anything better in the forecast. Long term they aren’t expecting any decent moisture until next spring so I may be filling feeders for a while longer.

Have some work to get done down at the land and hopefully I will be posting some more soon on some projects down there.  Hunting season is right around the corner!

That’s it for now. Nathan

Montana Vacation #1.

Well, it's been a month since I posted so I guess I should update this a little bit.

Been trying to keep up the work out schedule to get in shape and actually got a 6.5 mile run in a couple weeks ago. Didn't keep it at a 10 minute pace, but but overall was pretty happy with my progress.  Spent a week in Montana and got in 35 miles of hiking with 14 miles one day.  Still liking the runkeeper app for my iPhone, really nice using it to keep track of my runs and hikes.  No blisters on my feet with my boots that I bought last year either!

It is amazing how much snow is still on the ground up there, especially since things have been so hot and dry down here in Texas.

Here's a few scenery shots from my hikes in Montana.  Lot's of snow still on the mountains!

The 14 mile hike was to a cave that we've been exploring over the last few years.  Out of the 700 feet or so of passages that I've mapped, only about 75 feet of them were accessible due to the water running through with the heavy snow melt.  Was interesting to see it with that much water though, maybe we'll find some new spots when we go back in August.

Here's the entrance to the cave.

Lots of water flowing this year.

In the end I got plenty of exercise and saw lots of pretty scenery.  Something that is severely lacking in my part of Texas.

The snow was so heavy it broke the roof on this old mining shack.

Still a TON of snow on the Beartooth pass!

We had a VERY enjoyable trip and were not ready to come home.  Coming home over the Beartooth pass it was 44 degrees at 1:00PM local time.  When we got home the next day the temperature topped out at 112 degrees at the house!  Quite a change!

Still praying for rain and not getting much.  I did make it down to the hunting land and got some work done down there.  I'll make another post on that.

That's it for now.  Nathan

Finally got lucky on this years draws!

Well the New Mexico results are in and I finally got some luck!

When the emails came out last night all I got was an email notifying me that I was successful on my 3rd choice elk tag but didn't get any other emails. They only send out emails to the successful applicants so I figured I struck out on everything else.

I was still happy with the elk tag, but a little disappointed that I didn't draw my 3rd choice deer tag because this will be the last year with really good odds on it since New Mexico will be completely revamping it's drawing system for nonresidents and the odds for the unit I apply in for my 3rd choice are going to go from around 40% to somewhere closer to 10%.  I also passed on some decent bucks in that unit last year and shot an older buck instead so hopefully they will have all had a year to grow older and bigger!

The results post to their website at midnight MST time and I actually thought about staying up to check on it, but decided against it and went to bed. When I woke up this morning the first thing I did was go check the results though and was surprised to see 2 green boxes instead of just one for the elk tag. I drew my 3rd choice deer tag too!

Of course if I was REALLY lucky I would have drawn the sheep tag or the ibex tag, but I'll settle for the deer and the elk tag!

Here's my official results!

The 3rd choice elk tag is for a unit that I did a lot of research on the computer for, but I haven't stepped foot in the unit in person. The success rates are pretty good and the drawing odds were decent (about 30% last year for nonresidents) but it isn't known for it's quality. From what I understand a 300" bull would be a very good bull for that area, but that's plenty big enough for me.

The other interesting thing about the area I drew is that it is a Wildlife Management Area (WMA). This will be the last year that nonresidents are allowed to hunt them in New Mexico so that will be kind of unique too.

I've got the map of the WMA overlayed on google earth and have been looking at it already. I will definitely need to keep working on getting in shape, the unit is roadless and the elevation starts at 7,700' and tops out at 11,000'! Of course if I stick with my typical strategy I will want to go to the thickest nastiest spot in the WMA because that's probably where the elk will be!

Only negative is that my friend who hunted with me last year on my New Mexico elk hunt also applied for the same areas that I did and he didn't end up drawing. Hopefully I will still be able to talk him into going with me though!

That's it for now. Nathan

Unsuccessful....

I don't think I've blogged about this here on my blog yet, but I've somehow decided that I would like to hunt a mountain goat before I get too old to climb to the mountains where they live.  The problem with that is the only options are to get really lucky and draw a tag, or to spend some bucks and hire an outfitter in British Columbia or Alaska.

So far I'm opting for the getting lucky and drawing a tag, but it isn't working out very well so far.

My first rejection came from Colorado.  I actually applied for a nanny goat tag thinking that there wouldn't be nearly as many people applying for a nanny goat tag as for a billy, and I was right, but there still were enough folks applying for the 1 nanny goat tag that I wasn't lucky enough to draw it.

Here's my first rejection notice.

After Colorado came Idaho.  I did quite a bit of research and felt like I had a decent chance at Idaho, but when it comes down to it nonresidents are limited to a maximum of 10% of the tags in Idaho and what I thought were close to 10% odds ended up closer to 5% odds when it was all said and done.  That's still better than it is for most states, but I pulled another "unsuccessful" result in Idaho.

The next rejection came from Utah.  I really didn't have much of a chance in Utah so I wasn't really suprised, the only reason I even applied there was because I was already applying for elk and it was pretty cheap to add an application for bighorn sheep and mountain goat so I did.  The odds were well under 1% though so it would have been like winning the lottery if I had actually drawn in Utah.  No lottery winner here, some more unsuccessful results.



Those were the only 3 states that I applied for a mountain goat tag, but I'd been doing some research and decided to go ahead and start applying for elk in Nevada.  Of course since I was applying for elk I went ahead and decided to apply for deer and antelope as well since it was cheap to add them, but not to worry I was unsuccessful on all of them as well!

One interesting thing with Nevada is that they list out all the applicants.  I was suprised to see that there were 2 other Padens that applied and had the same bad luck as me.  Not sure if I am related to them but there is a chance that I am.

I still have some applications pending for New Mexico so there is still a chance that I may have another tag in my pocket before it is all said and done, but right now my Wyoming General Elk tag is all that I have other than my Lifefime Texas license.  I have a chance at my 3rd choice elk tag and my mule deer tag in New Mexico but both of those have less than 50% odds so I still need to get lucky.

Hopefully I'll be updating the blog with good news in a week or so!

That's it for now.  Nathan

Wildfire - Part 2

Now for the results of the fire.  Here are some panoramic pictures from a the highest vantage point I have on my place. Pretty much the only thing that didn't burn was bare dirt. The road and some long narrow food plots that I planted last October but they never grew because it didn't rain.

This picture is a little over 180 degrees of panorama. It starts off looking north and then pans around to the southeast.  Just click on the image to see it full size.

This picture starts off looking northeast and ends up looking southwest.

Last panoramic picture. This one starts off looking southwest and ends up looking due north of a complete 360 for all the pictures combined.

The area looking north was the thickest nastiest stuff on my property and you can see from the ashes that there was plenty of fuel to burn there. That area took the brunt of hottest fire. There were actually a few stumps still burning today when I was down there checking on things. The rest of the place didn't exactly come out unscathed, but some of the trees look like they just might have a chance.

Now for some close up pictures of the damage.  Our travel trailer is toast.

The blind on the hill made it.

Protein feeder made it.

Grain drill is going to take some repairing.

Some of the stumps were still on fire when I was down there today.

My biggest and oldest mesquite burned from the inside out.

I took a timed shot with the camera to try to give some perspective on how big it was.

Another big mesquite gone.

Lost another smaller blind that I had in a different spot.

Maybe you can see it in this closeup?

My tripod stand made it but the big mesquite behind it didn't.

Here's what it looked like when I first put it up.

Not much left of my south fence line. Wooden posts don't hold up very well to fire.

The crazy thing is that the brush seems to have just completely burned up with no trace left behind. This area had lots of brush mixed in with the grass and it is completely wiped clean.

Not just a pass on by type of fire.

I only found 2 dead animals walking the place. A cottontail rabbit and this bird. Craziest looking bird I've ever seen. Several folks have identified it as a Painted Bunting. Too bad it is dead, it was a beautiful bird!

And this picture just shows the worst of the fire. The tree in the front center of the picture still has green leaves for now, but it completely burned up at the base and then fell over.

That is not a small tree by any means either, just a couple trees up from it is the large mesquite that I was sitting on in one of the timed pictures. The tree laying on it's side was at least 30 feet tall and I wouldn't be able to reach my arms around the trunk of it.

I'll try to get some before and after pictures posted as well. I will be documenting the progression for the next several years as well. The big trees can't be replaced in my lifetime, but with a clean slate hopefully the habitat can even better than it was before the fire.

That's it for now.  Nathan

Wildfire on my hunting land - Part 1

Well, our hunting property burned up last week, but I'm just now getting around to posting in on the blog.  I was actually down there the Saturday before it burned up and that was when I shot the pig in the last post.  The fire occurred the very next day.  According to the newspapers the cause of the fire is thought to be lightning, but they haven't completely confirmed that yet.  The fire burned a total of 8,500 acres so I was by no means the only one affected.  No permanent homes were lost, but a lot of damage was done.

At least I got some neat pictures.  I had 5 trail cameras out when the fire hit and ended up with pictures of the fire on 3 of them. 2 of the cameras are going to be okay, 1 might make it and 2 are toast.  I didn't have the time on the cameras syncronized, so I can't really tell how long it took to go from one setup to the other, but you can see by the time stamps on the pictures that it was moving pretty fast.

Here's the camera that got hit first. Picture quality isn't very good, I'm guessing it was struggling with the smoke. You can see the leading edge of the fire toward the top of the picture.

50 seconds later and the fire has moved a bunch. The flames weren't even in view on the left side of the picture on the first one and they are pretty close on this one.

Just 3 seconds between these two pictures and the fire noticeablely advanced.

4 more seconds and it is back burning pretty intensely. I mowed a path in front of this camera and that slowed down the advance quite a bit when it hit the shorter grass, but it didn't stop it because the straps burned off the camera and it ended up on the ground. It might be salvageable.

Next camera. This one is setup on my protein feeder which somehow didn't end up burning up. This one doesn't have seconds on the time stamp so you can't really tell exactly how long elapses between each picture. These pictures do give a pretty good feel for the intensity of the fire.  Notice all the ash in the air in the first picture.

You can even see flames coming in front of the lens on this shot. This camera was pretty melted and I'm pretty sure it is toast but the SD card seems to still be fine.

The brush is burning pretty intensely in this shot.

Just 2 minutes on the time stamp from the first picture and the fire is already moving on with pretty much everything burned up. You can see that the plastic housing on the camera has melted and is covering up some of the lens.

This camera is setup on one of my spin feeders. In the first shot no actual flames are evident. Lots of smoke though.

37 seconds later and there are now plenty of flames.

32 seconds after that and things are pretty well engulfed.  This is just one minute and 9 seconds from the first picture when you couldn't even see the flames.

37 seconds later.

Less than 2 minutes later and the fire appears to be already out. Notice the temperature recorded on the bottom right of the screen, 128 degrees!

A few minutes later though and if you zoom in you can see that the fire isn't out, it's burning in the crack of the big mesquite tree.

The fire would burn in the crack of mesquite trees and over the next several hours burn the heart of the tree completely up and even down into the roots. The tree in that last picture ended up burning completely to the ground at the stump.

Here's an example of another tree that suffered the same fate.

Pretty amazing to have the fire documented with the trail cameras.  The damage to my property was pretty severe with nearly all of my largest mesquite trees destroyed and my travel trailer and a few other items burned up as well.  I'll post the details of the damage on another post.

That's it for now, Nathan.