Gone scouting... via Sturgis.

[Indian Summer]

Last Friday I rode to Dayton Ohio 4.5 hours each way to attend a memorial ride, which was another 3 hours in the saddle. The day I got back I attended a memorial ride and then the funeral for a friend who got absolutely ran over by a flat bed tractor trailer last Tuesday. The next morning I left for Iowa to take care of some business which with all of the construction took 11 hours there and 10.5 back. I got back at 10 last night, a day late because as I got on a ramp in Geneseo Illinois my battery light came on. I had to go a few miles down I-80 and get a hotel and putt down to a Harley dealer there. Lucky me it was just a bad battery that was 3 1/2 years old. I leave in t minus 30 minutes for Sturgis which is about 1400 miles each way. I'll ride all over the Black Hills while I'm there putting on about another 100 miles before I come home.

But I just got an email from the manager of the outfit that leases the ranch I'm hunting on this year. It looks like it's a go to meet and check out the area I'll be hunting. The ranch isn't huge but if they are there it can be a gold mine. The state land behind it is pretty big and also good hunting for miles. I also have two spots with a pretty big chunk of public land I need to check out. The ranch is only 2.5 hours from Sturgis. What's another 400 miles at this point. Being able to go over there is half the reason I decided to go to Sturgis this year. I only decided a few days ago when I found out I could mix in some elk hunting.

I give a little report when I get back. If it works out like I think it will I'll be putting together a hunt plan for my hunters in the future. All of my other plans require just the General Wyoming elk license. This unit takes 2.5 to 3 points to guarantee the tag. With point creep going on and having so much good general unit hunting I decided to burn my 4 points and go hunting.

Time to roll the steel horse out of the cement barn again. See you soon.........

[Backyard]

So jealous right now
Last time I went out to that party, I got married. We chose to ride up to the Minn. Arrowhead country instead this year to celebrate our 25th.

Ride safe brother

[WapitiTalk1]

Have an enjoyable but safe trip mister. Good thing you took the bike; Lefty has the company leer jet all next week

[Elkduds]

Ride safely, young man. There is a National Monument in Black Hills, called Wind Cave or somesuch. Very impressive.

[Indian Summer]

I'm back! Took 2 days to recuperate! As always it was an interesting trip with lots of beautiful sights and natural wonders. For example Toni from North Carolina.

[Indian Summer]

I have a camp site behind the Full Throttle saloon with nearly no neighbors, a small lake, and a wide open view of Bear Butte. On the last morning I went up there with a friend to spread her father's ashes. I was very honored that she asked me to go there with her and say a few words.

[Indian Summer]

Can't go to the Black Hills without driving Needles Highway and seeing some wildlife. First time I ever saw mountain goats there. We came around a hairpin turn and there were about 50 bison stampeding up the road from one side to the other coming right at us. A buddy in front of me lock up his rear wheel and the herd split around us. There were two monsters in the back.

[Indian Summer]

No trip to Sturgis would be complete without a drive over to Sundance Wyoming and a stop at Devils Tower. Pics do NOT do it justice. Yes.... BHM!

[Indian Summer]

I don't think they will ever finish the Crazy Horse monument. But the head is done and it's still cool to go see. It is HUGE!!! Way bigger than Rushmore.

[Indian Summer]

No shortage of night life in Sturgis right! Got to see Foghat do Slow Ride, Ted Nugent Rocked the house. Local bands are really good too. Michael Ballard, the owner of the Full Throttle which burned down last year has all of his "stuff" moved up to the new property. Here's his giant chopper last year... and me beside it on the flatbed this year. The place will be incredible in 2017. Lots of incredible motorcycles there too needless to say.

[Indian Summer]

So you want to know how the scouting went. Good. Short and sweet though. I met what will soon be the new owner of Triple Three Outfitters. The old owner Craig who passed away was from Pa like me and so is Phil Rutt the new guy. he has worked for Craig for a number of years and they actually had an agreement for him to buy the outfit before Craig passed.

We hit it off! Compared notes and told a few war stories and laughed our butts off. He showed me how to get to the property and we rode around the place on his 4 wheeler. It was super rocky. So much so that they can't run cattle there. Very desert like. Which is good for me because there are three good water sources coming out of this east slope timber. There are humps on the back side of the places and up over top of them, out of sight, are some open parks where the creeks comes off the hills ad things flatten out. Really nice places for elk to peek out of some thick rocky stuff before thinking about coming out into more open stuff after dark. The fact that water is scarce there has me pretty excited.

I met a young kid there, maybe 20, from Colorado. he is working there... but doesn't hunt. I love ranch hands like that! xoxo dude. lol He had a few sheds he found this spring. Nothing big but he never really looked for any. He showed me around the place we will be staying which is a mobile home trailer. Has everything I need but I have to say at times I will be missing the wall tent. But better yet he said I'll keep an eye out back and if I see elk I'll let you know right where they pop in and out of the timber. Perfect!

The season open a month before we get there. The ranch to the south is gigantic and has an outfitter on it. I can just see some bulls making their way to a unhunted ranch from there. Plus the timber on the hill is so thick and it's so steep that they can hide by the light of day really easy. I'm used to giant mountain ranges so I've been worried that I won't be able to quench my thirst by putting on enough miles. But I was surprised. It is so freaking steep, thick, and rocky that there might as well be 5 times the area there to hunt. There is a bunch of state lad behind it which is a big part of my hunt. I wondered how many people might me back there. I can tell you not many because what seems like not too bad of a hike from the road would be impossible to cover before noon. Nobody could ever be back there early or late. And if they do cross along the hillside somewhere it won't be down low which is where the elk would run to.... which is toward us.

At the back of the property there is a gate. He wanted to take me up the switchback road which would have been great but the lock is old and wouldn't open. That will be fixed before I get there. I was happy to see some ridges that ran from back in the hills west out onto the ranch. Really good vantage points to glass but also to hide behind while you work your way toward elk you have spotted. No doubt I am out of my element hunting anywhere on the east sides of Montana or Wyoming but I like what I see. The people I met there gave me a good feeling too. Everyone I talked to said the same thing: "You might not see a couple hundred of them back there but if you only see 5 I bet they are all bulls" That works for me! We really only need to see 2 as long as they are the right ones. As always I have a plan B. The elk are actually there right now and it's not far away at all. But I don't think I'll need to go there unless it's just to take a mid day drive on a day where my muscles need a break and of course... to explore! I love that stuff.

If I want I can play it by ear and buy OTC cow tags when I'm there. They said see where they are first because there are 3 different units in the area. Then buy the tag and you should kill one in a day no problem. That works for me too. If anyone is ever interested in hunting with Trip 3 let me know. They have hunts in different price ranges on both private and public. Everything from antelope (we saw a bunch on the ranch) to deer to lions and of course elk. His public land camp is in wilderness in the Bighorns so no non residents up there.

So now it's time to look at the maps all over again because of course as usual things looked a whole lot different with boots on the ground. But at least I set foot and eyes on the place and I feel way better.