Alpine blacktails??

[proguide66]

Hmm not sure about that ! This is the first time I have ever looked for b tails in the alpine ..ever.. Holy shit does it look juicey up there but ZERO sign and mega bugs. If theres a batchelor pack where I was they are probably sticking in the middle of the bush! Here's some shots,
http://i443.photobucket.com/albums/qq155/proguide66/alpineplay027.jpg

en route to higher elevations,

http://i443.photobucket.com/albums/qq155/proguide66/alpineplay011.jpg

look how juicey it looks! expecting to see bone and ears on every slope...
http://i443.photobucket.com/albums/qq155/proguide66/alpineplay026.jpg

http://i443.photobucket.com/albums/qq155/proguide66/alpineplay028.jpg


http://i443.photobucket.com/albums/qq155/proguide66/alpineplay029.jpg

[proguide66]

http://i443.photobucket.com/albums/qq155/proguide66/alpineplay041.jpg

But not a track ! not even a drop of poop. Saw one lone wolf track on snow , one old grizzly dump and 5 billion bugs.What the hell do they eat up there? ( bugs that is).
So I found an alpine pond and dove in! chilly at first but after sweating off 5lbs and loosing 3 pints of blood to the bugs it wasnt hard to get in !
http://i443.photobucket.com/albums/qq155/proguide66/alpineplay039.jpg

I did find good sign about 500 ft lower.The buggers are hiding in un cut timber , real thick stuff and cool. I'll bet a guy 'might' find a good buck up high a little later? when the frost kills the bugs and makes it comfortable to hang out up there?

[CooperSscat]

Gorgeous shots Proguide66. Brave of you to take that dip too! Today marks the last day of the pig heat. :-)

Jeremy

[~T-BONE~]

Funny u don't see them high! I've always come across them at the edge, where the the scrub and old timber meet!

[proguide66]

While looking for SD cards for my trail cams today I came across a pic of this guy from last yr...funny I never noticed it..looks like some age on him by his bases!

I'll probably have to sleep up there to get a real good 'recon' of the area today...too much work to do yet before play play play..

http://i443.photobucket.com/albums/qq155/proguide66/maturebuck20102.jpg

[adamgarbett]

awesome pics thanx for posting. its not everyday sum of us get to see country like that

[TyTy]

Looks like your well into the mountain hemlock timber/slopes. douglas fir makes for more shade on a hot day. Was there any mix fir timber types around?

Thats what i've been looking for, high evelation douglas fir bluffs, makes a dense but huntable timber. pretty hot for bluffs right now though too i guess.

Maybe you just have to go even higher up the hill! the bucks are at the top hiding from all the bugs?

cool pics,

[BlacktailStalker]

Yes looks perfect... lots of places to bed under all those trees on a bright, hot summer day though. Like you say, the bugs are surely a problem but they could be bedded up in the rocks too where the wind is.
Bet just being up there gave you the itch (maybe one from the pond parasites too :lol:)

[proguide66]

HA ! it was actually too cold , I used the water to kill my own crotch crickets! haha

[Big Lew]

North-east of Mission, above Statlu Creek, just below the sub-alpine, I've jumped big blacktail bucks from their beds (in some of the nastiest windfall thickets imaginable) during the middle of the day. Their tracks suggested that they were feeding at night in the sub-alpine, and then coming back down into the thick, cool stuff to bed for the day. They were at the level I started to see goats. I was bow hunting, and even were I using a rocket launcher, I didn't have a hope to get one.

[Iron Sighted]

Well, at least you found yourself a beauty place to go for a hike. I'm sure the deer will show soon enough, in the mean time just keep enjoying the scenery.