JACT 2021 Hunting 2-wk vacation

The emphasis here is VACATION. I’ll start the blog by saying we had to eat our deer & elk tags which did not taste good! However, trekking across a mountain versus sitting in an office is an adventure worth having. This year we changed it up as we could now utilize Truedat, our all-season Momentum trailer.

Tip - remember to sweep leaves off of your solar panels for best efficiency!

We also had to creatively schedule the 16 days of hunting. James earns one more week of vacation each year than I do, so he used 11 paid days of vacation where I only had 8 to use. We both took Friday off before the opening day of Elk season to set up camp. We hunted Saturday & Sunday, then I came home that night to work Mon-Wed.

James mostly hunted independently but walked in once with Jeff True to sit in his blind. He never did see a spike elk this year. Each afternoon he hung out with his cousins & uncles up on top, where they had their elk camp set up together with their cabin tents, wood stoves, camp kitchens & outhouses. We did not miss all that work but missed being camped with them!

We had parked Truedat down at the bottom of the mountain to avoid rattling it up the dirt road & 40 minutes’ worth of washboards. Therefore, James drove his truck every morning up to hunt, which got old with every twist & turn in the dark.

On Thurs, my dad & I traveled back over the Pass to spend one last night at Elk Camp with James. Then the three of us traveled to Eastern WA on Friday, where we stayed for the next 10 days. Mom “stay”cation’d back on the homefront, caring for all the animals.

We dropped off dad to stay with his sister in Spokane for a few days until we met up again at his brother’s house on Monday. We headed north & hooked up for 3 nights at the RV lot next to the Chewelah Casino. We each lost $40 bucks Friday night which was enough to keep us away from the slots the rest of the weekend.

Saturday morning, rain drummed on the roof while fog smothered the mountains, challenging our hunting ambitions. So Instead of heading to Waitts Lake, we ventured out for a day trip to the ghost town of Bodie, WA!

Bodie was first established in 1896 near a gold mine that operated until 1940 with a total production of 1,300,000 dollars. The late 1800s, with the gold rush miners & gunfighters, interests us, so this town’s remnants were thrilling! It was a two-hour drive to get there, with snow near Republic but clear for our arrival & for pictures.

We returned, traveling East along the Canadian border, gasping at beautiful mountain valleys & landscapes before turning south to head back to base. It was time well spent, just us & our dog Chase, roadtripin’ listening to our favorite music... away from work, news & the internet!

On Sunday, James explored Waitts Lake hunting for deer. At the same time, I traveled over to Idaho to catch up with dear friends from FSA to celebrate the recent retirement of my cohort in crime, Laurie Karr!

Having no luck over the weekend, we were excited to set up camp Monday in Deer Valley, WA, on my Uncle Denny’s property. Unfortunately, he had terrible news about the whitetails this year. Many of the animals had died from bluetongue disease in his area & sign of activity was sparse on his property. We traversed up & down his mountain for a couple of days & came to the same conclusion.

Dennis then suggested we hunt over at the Boise Cascade timberland & offered to get us up there before sunrise Wednesday morning. He joined us for the morning hunt, then pointed us in the general direction back to his house & told us to call when we made it to a road.

We set out for an all-day hunt with many mountains to conquer. We saw a buck at least a thousand yards out & we also saw a moose, which was fantastic. 12 hours later, with groaning legs & screaming feet, we made it to the road & called. He & dad promptly picked us up. My hunting excursions were over, but James got out a few more times while I recovered. LOL Here’s our YouTube video for the entire hunting VACATION:

On Thursday, Dad & Denny’s buddies, Jerry Cleveland & John Bingham, arrived for their annual weekend hunt with my uncle. John is my dad’s lifelong best friend whose stories would entertain the world if I could ever podcast them.

We spent the evening playing pool & shooting whiskey until people dropped off to bed one by one. James, myself & John remained late, sitting quietly under the lights around the Keller Bar. It just so happened that it was Veteran’s Day & we sincerely thanked him for serving in Vietnam. He then shared some some of his personal memories…

The night before leaving for the army, John & dad, true to form, partied HEAVILY. The following day, dad dropped him off & they departed, unsure of the future. John described that first day & how he was picked on right away due to his evident hangover. He continued to share a few more events from this time in his life.

If you ever get the chance, instead of posting a generic thank you on social media, make time on Veteran’s Day to sit with a vet & listen to what they have to say. I’ll treasure this experience always.

James & I hung on every word for another hour. I told John dad still has all the letters he sent from Vietnam. He chuckled & replied, “that son of a bitch never wrote back once!” But then he spoke with love that dad picked him up the day he arrived home. He became emotional with his gratitude for dad because he was there for him as only a friend could be after the war. In the silence, we choked back our tears, turned out the lights & stumbled to bed.

Thank you for reading thru to the end of the blog! I wish we had a “trophy” photo to share with all you hunting fans, but in my own opinion, this trip overflowed with rewards. Mixed in with our outdoor adventures were memories made with each other, with close friends & with family. Plan out your big adventures but participate in the daily adventure too! Be sure to treasure the adventure of life itself...GO DO IT! #JACTventures