Goat Flats Hike

Sydney and I with our friend Katherine got out on a fun day hike to check out Goat Flats near Anaconda in the Anaconda Pintlers. Great day!

 

Kayak instruction summer 2022- Tarkio

 After having little luck finding a better job than lowes I decided to kayak instruct again for the summer. It was a good time but I don't like being away for so long and want to get to know my new home in summer.

 

Nick and Julias wedding!

 We drove to Deception pass in Washington to see out friends Nick and Julia tie the know. Beautiful followed by some heavy rains....very fun time! Picked up my new-old truck on the way back!!

 

Moving to Helena

 We packed up the house in Missoula and made out way to Helena where we arrived at a small ADU style spot above one of Sydneys friends friends garage. 

 

 

 

 

Hunting Season 2021

First Deer

This hunting season was the first season that I felt confident that I would be able to get within range of a few deer and time would tell....but not that much time. It is my second year on the property that I've been allowed to hunt so I had all my stands up before the season was open allowing for the deer to get comfortable with them which helped a lot I think. In any case, Sept 16th I got my first doe which snuck up on me from a direction I wasn't expecting but was luck enough to draw back when she was at around 30 yards and get a good hit and went down at 40 yards or so. It felt great to have success so early especially when I had 4 more B tags in my pocket and also my general tag. The property owners let me drive out to where she fell so it was the easiest haul out I've ever had which is not saying much as this was my second deer ever.

Third 

My second deer came in fro the same direction as the first with similiar results but during the time those two deer came in I was able to get a good idea of how the deer were moving and got permission to put another stand on an adjacent property. On the third sit on October 29th I had a group come running through at 20 yards. I was lucky to get a quick,"bawww" out to stop her and she was down in seconds. I was worried that they might be able to cross the road but fortunately she went down on my side of the fence....unfortunately she was in the middle of the road. I quickly pulled her to the side and field dressed luckily to not have a single car go by as it was taking place.

Obvious trail

After the third deer I put up another stand that the property owner told me had a few bigger bucks coming through to see if I couldn't get a shot on a bigger buck for my general tag which is either sex. On my first sit after I got the stand up I was on the verge of getting up and leaving as the nightfall drew clearer and a bigger buck busted me at probably 50 yards. He would have come right in to me but with nightfall coming fast I'm not sure I would have taken a shot but it was cool to see. After that I put a lot of time sitting in that stand and saw quite a few deer but nothing too big. November 11th I put out a decoy to see if it would work on bucks in the rut because since I had purchased it all it had gotten me was busted with a few does. Around noon a buck started walking across the field toward the decoy. He wasn't the biggest that I had seen on the property but with finals closing in I new he would be the one. He went behing a small patch of thick cover and took a good look a the decoy pausing for around a minute before breaking back to my left. I new I couldn't draw sitting so I waited for him to pass behind tree and used that break to both draw my bow and stand up. He paused in a small break in the trees and I let my arrow fly, it disappearing an inch behind the front leg. I knew before the arrow hit that the deer wasn't going far...it was just too good. Waiting thirty minutes was hard to do especially with such a clear trail to follow visible from my stand. Slowly I got down and followed the trail through thick cat tails to the other side. He fell on the other side out of the thick. A perfect season complete! I feel like this season I had break throughs every time I went out in regards to sign, patterning and just figuring out whitetail behavior. Had a blast...looking forward to next season already!

 

Wedding, Wisconsin, and Chicago

 We took a trip to Wisconsin to go to one of Sydney's cousins weddings which was a blast as I've never been to that part of the world. We also got to spend a some time in Chicago walking around the city and taking an architecture tour. Pretty fun time and great break from Missoula. Cheese curds and beer!

Architecture Tour

 

The Bean

 

Bride and Groom on Stage after Wedding

Missoula Summer

The summer of 2021 was a good one....a little smokey but good never the less! This summer we got out backpacking, canoeing, rafting, foraging and overall had a blast although at points the smoke was quite thick! 

We also got some good work done on garden, something that Sydney spearheaded while I filled in the front of the houses garden with mulch which made it look a lot better. I also finished the boat rack...took long enough!

  I also bought a new, smaller whitewater canoe which has been a blast getting out with even though it's a lot tipsier than my other boat. We had a blast hosting the 4th of July Party this year. Was great to have Chris back out and dad was able to join this year. Soon after the party we got on the South Fork of the Flathead (trip report on this blog) and after that a CO trip (also on this blog).

 

We we got back from the two trips mentioned above we were wiped and spent a lot a after work time canoeing the Bitteroot taking it a little more low key while also starting to shoot my bow more frequently getting ready for the archery season. All and all it was a great summer although somewhat busy....hopefully more backpacking next year!