2008 2009 Hunting Season

Moving on I drove to Routt National Forest to stay the next three or four nights in an old restored Forest Service Guard Station. Originally built in the 1920s, there was no running water or electricity, but had everything I needed for a comfortable stay.

The view out the back door was awesome. In the distance can be seen a natural feature in the skyline known as "Rabbit Ears". Some mornings a big Bull Elk would hang out with the cattle in the valley by the cabin.

The first morning started with some exploring. On my drive into the Routt National Forest I was immediately warned by a very vocal Hawk or Eagle. He was not kidding, What I found was hunters, lots of them. Both Blackpowder and Bow hunters everywhere. Every turn off, every gate had hunters camped in front of it. No Blue Grouse on this leg of the trip for sure. So I headed east into Rolling BLM land.

First thing I found where the Antelope. Sidetracked again I found myself identifying public lands holding Antelope that I may hunt on another trip.

I also checked out some areas for fishing. I visited Delaney Butte Lake where I saw some big trout cruising the shallows searching every rock and every hole. Also a tributary of the North Platte at Manville State Wildlife area. Really nice trout stream.

Finally I ended up at Arapaho National Wildlife area. First I bothered the local waterfowl with a few pictures and enjoyed the mountains in the distance that recently received the snowfall.

Not fully aware of what I could hunt or where, I visited the headquarters. I met up with Wildlife Technician Dale. He was very helpful, marking places on a map for me. I was excited to find there where Snipe on the area. So off I went looking for them. I found them.

I was shooting dove off an old railroad right of way when the Fish and Wildlife guy stopped by in an old 1960s tractor to tell me where he had just flushed some Sage Grouse on the area. Unfortunately my truck was about two miles in one direction and the Grouse about three miles in another. Not to mention our long conversation about his job, hunting, and fishing. The Grouse had moved on by the time I got to the location.

A walk through the Prairie Dogs on the way to the Sage Grouse was interesting.

Back to the Snipe and Dove area, I found this group of Ruddy Ducks. As well as Muskrats