Finally got good weather, clear sunny, about -5 to + 10, and time to get out for the winter moose hunt. Got a bit of a late start - usual for us. But cut tracks very close to town. Followed for a while but lost the trail and they probably weren't as fresh as I first thought. Had a beautiful drive up through some nice country but little sign. Happy to find that even with all the thaw and rain, snow and ice conditions are pretty good. Bigger creeks are still open and there are a lot of icy places I did not want or dare to drive our snogos on - could be thin still. Saw where a moose broke down a bunch of ice. Lots of fox, coyote, rabbit tracks. Maybe wolverine tracks in one place but I'm not good at ID'ing them. Even found a lot of ptarmigan tracks down low - which is unusual for this time of year. I think the mountain tops must be iced over. Late in the day we even found a good size flock but w daylight fading fast we didn't spend much time trying to hunt them - real spooky birds. Saw 5 cow moose. One pair right on the trail and didn't want to get off. Saw why too - they went belly deep as soon as they stepped off. Hate to see them work so hard. My sharp eyed son spotted the other 3 in a big willow patch. He was cussin my blindness - I get too busy dodging trees and trying to pick a trail that I don't look around much - why I really don't like hunting from snogos - loud stinky - but the only way to get out. We watched the 3 for over an hour from several angles but couldn't grow any antlers on them and no big boy volunteered to come out of the brush. Was just lovely to be out - first time in a couple months. Everything was rosy on the way home until at a creek crossing I revved up to avoid getting stuck. The "snowball" on the other side must have been an ice covered stump. Dumped me HARD off the machine. I hit the ground with my right elbow jamming into my chest - lots of popping and crunching - knocked the wind out of me and a real pain thru ribs and back. I had my rifle on my back that prevented me from rolling with the fall. For a few minutes I was wondering how much got broken. Maybe the tylenol is working but I seem to just be bruised up a bit. Hurts to sneeze. Hope a good sleep makes most of it pass - we want to go for those ptarmigan and still try for moose tomorrow. Note to self: next time DON'T Forget the snowshoes dummy!
Supposed to be colder tomorrow.
