Elk Ambivalence

Its October first, 2009, which means that dawn, two days hence, rings in the opening of the the general elk season in Utah. So why am I feeling so ambivalent?!?

It turns out that I’m headed to Utah’s High Uintas Wilderness area, solo, with nothing but a backpack full of gear, and a loner 30-06. Actually, this “loner” is packing several loners on this particular excursion. The good friend who loned me the fancy-pants Christensen Arms 30-06 (with a sweet carbon fiber barrel, yada, yada, yada) also let me tote along his Leica laser range finder (what a sucker! 😉 ). Another associate also lent me an older-model GPS unit, … just in case. So, again, why am I feeling so ambivalent, and exactly what conflicting feelings am I having?!?

I must admit that amidst all of the excitement of elk season, I’m feeling a non-trivial amount of dread. I guess one reason is because the Uintas are serious business, and the weather can be *very* unpredictable this time of year. Did I mention that I’ll be alone? A part of me feels like Les Stroud (but with a backpack full of survival gear), headed out for a solo survival adventure. However, the main reason is because I have never actually harvested an elk, and without horses, there is only one way to get 500+ pounds of meat out of the back country wilderness.

On the other hand, I’m going to spend the better part of a week in the Uintas, hunting elk, and angling trout in high-alpine streams/lakes! And what better way to celebrate World Vegetarian Day? So on the one hand, I would *really* love to shoot a big ole’ elk, and on the other hand, I’d like to just stay home by the fire.

Oh, and while it may be true that my friends have *way* better gear than I do, I have *way* more fun with it!

Wild Brown

04/23/2009

Work was fairly hectic today, so I was a bit frazzled when I got home.  I’ve got a huge final project due for my stats class next week, so I didn’t feel like making the time commitment required to go chase wild turkey in Idaho again.  Burned out, with no time to hunt… What better cure than to stand in a scenic river canyon, and angle for a spell?

I drove up Logan canyon, and decided to fish the river just above third dam.  The water level was way up from just a few days ago with spring run-off, so I had to cross the bridge and enter the river from the camp ground side.  The fast-moving and murky water made me think that my prospects for hooking up fairly were slim.  However, the river splits, and the slower section lazily rolls by the camp ground.  The water in this section is much clearer, which always seems to make the trout here that much harder to catch.

I waded out into the shallow, calm area just by the trail head for the Nature Trail, and noticed that there were a few trout rising, which is typical for this section of the river.  It seems that there is always some sort of midge hatch going, so I tied on the smallest mosquito pattern that the fly shop had to offer, with an even smaller nymph dropper.  Unfortunately, the bugs floating down this section of river always seem smaller than what the fly shop has in stock, so I keep telling myself that I’ll buy some smaller hooks and tie my own… Someday.

I have no idea what time I stepped in the water, but I imagine it was around 7 pm.  I spent the next hour being toyed with by the small brown trout who were happily rising around me.  They never even took a second look at my dry fly, but I suspect that I missed several strikes on the nymph.  Shortly after my watch chimed 8 o’clock, my dry fly disappeared beneath the water.  Tight line!  After a brief fight, with several attempts to lose me in the weeds, I landed a 10.5 inch wild brown in the net.  One look at this beautiful little fish, and I decided to take her home for dinner.  I fumbled in my vest pocket for the stringer, only to realize that I tossed it in the trunk.  It clearly never crawled into my vest by itself, so project time!

Dinner: Wild German brown trout, pan fried in my favorite cast iron skillet with olive oil, some left-over chopped yellow peppers, chives, fresh-squeezed lemon juice and Chardonnay.  Seasoned w/ Old Bay.