McClain Lake 2013

                                 Loon with a bullhead

    Morning loons

    The loonie crew.

     Eagle with a northern pike

    Another loonie crew?

     The lure of Isabella.

     Beautiful evening.

     Oh yea !

        Loonie.
    


     Eagle flying 1

      Eagle flying 2

 

 

   Eagle flying 3

Morning sun

 

Uncle Don



Steve and his "girls". We are still waiting for our first egg.

The coop under construction. We built it on skis so we could drag it around.


Finished coop and run.

Our chicks in the brooder.

Their first time in the coop !

Hazel

Hermione ...

Penny and Adelle

Hazel and Hermione checking out Martin

The coop in a new spot (we move it every week) It is next to Tish's Dahlia beds

Raised bed garden of Dahlias, blueberries, raspberries, and peppers and eggplant.

Horses....

Isabella and Cassie....










The boys and Steve....

















The boys and Tish....













Tish and Georgie on the beach.
















Steve and max on the beach.

On the beach at Nehalem Bay State Park Campground after a day riding.

Elk Hunting 2010

Hi everybody, welcome to the 2010 elk archery season in NE Oregon. Our story begins like last year with Tish, Isabella and Steve making their way to the Elkhorn Mountains in NE Oregon on the 27th of August (Happy birthday Dad). It was a nice drive over from Canby, but a change of over 7,000 feet in elevation can have some consequences........We left a sunny and mild Wilamette Valley and wound up in a cold and snowy/rainy campground.

What a difference a little time and elevation can have! It had been 27 degrees the night before we got there and the first day of archery season started with a high of 37 degrees and snow and sleet all day. We did get out and look at some country and even bumped some elk around in the Antone Creek basin. No luck in seeing them let alone getting a shot.

When we got back to camp the business of the day was to try and dry out and stay warm. We were glad we had decided to bring along the small wood stove we have for the wall tent, it was a life saver. We did go through a bit of wood to keep things cozy.

Here is our setup for this year's trip. Isabella brought her new tent and actually slept out in it most of the nights (what a trooper). The green canopy wound up getting blown into the Matrix during a rain storm and left it with a new dent and scratches. Oh well, as Josh says "you have to be willing to suffer" and it's worth it for the thrill of hunting those amazing elk, right?

This is one of the meadows near the campground where the elk came out almost every night after dark to feed. It can get to a person to hear them only 30 yards away but not be able to see them because they magically know when to leave before it is light enough to see them. Oh well, it is very fun to be so close to them while we camp there.

Here are Isabella and me in a new area we explored in the North Fork of the John Day River. The basin burned about 10 years ago and now the trees are mostly about 4 feet high. The elk seem to really like the area as we saw numerous other hunters in the area.

Tish and Isabella taking a break on the trail.

The great white hunter? This was the nicest day of the trip for about 5 hours.

Well the next few days offered us oppurtunities at elk each day. We just were not able to have things turn in our favor and on Wednesday morning Tish and Isabella had to return home to get Isabella ready for school and to get to her dad's house for the weekend.

I had decided that I wanted to check out some new country and I began looking over the maps and found a spot up on the Elkhorn divide only about a mile from camp. I headed up there that afternoon after cutting up some more fire wood for the wood stove. After I parked the truck I worked my way up to a saddle between two small basins that looked interesting. There was not a lot of sign up there but I did find a well used game trail and began to follow it down towards a large meadow you could see from the road. The trail wound around the hillside and lead to a series of small secluded meadows. The first meadow seemed like a good place to try and catch some elk moving down from their bedding areas on their way to the meadows below. I looked around and found a nice hiding spot to hang out that would offer some shot opportunities if anything came along.

After an hour or so, I heard some branches break and saw some movement through the trees. Sure enough, 4 cow elk and one calf came out into the meadow. The only problem was that they had come out and were moving up the trail not down it like I had planned on. My situation was that I now had 10 eyes looking in my general direction and able to see any of my movements. I was quickly realizing that I would probably not be able to get a shot off at these elk who were only 30 yards away. They began feeding and suddenly they all had their heads down in the tall grass at once. I was able to draw my bow and take aim while they became alert at the movement they had heard. I aimed quickly at the closest cow and shot my arrow. It hit home (although a little farther back then I would have liked, I think due to the fact that she was quartering to me more than I thought) and she turned and ran away down hill with a "crack". I sat for 15 minutes as it got darker and then decided to check for my arrow. I did not find it or any blood where she had been standing so I decided to back out of the area and head for the truck for the evening.

The next morning I headed up the hill as close as I could drive to the area according to my GPS and after about 20 minutes I found a nice spot of bright red blood. I also found the last 5 inches of my arrow a little later and decided to head back to the blood spot and began tracking with more fortitude. The blood trail was pretty slim, a small drop of blood every 6 feet or so. After about 90 minutes of tracking and back-tracking I finally came upon her!

Then began the job of processing her into packable parts. I found during the processing that she had a broken rear leg. She must have broken it when she turned to run off and that was the "crack" I had heard. I was very happy to have found her. I was also able to find the remainder of the arrow nearby. It took me about an hour to get her ready to pack out, it was only about 55 degrees, so it was perfect weather for taking care of the meat. She had wound up going downhill after the shot about half-way to the road I was parked on, so my pack out was only 20 minutes each trip. I was able to get her out in 3 trips! I was very happy to have such an easy pack, just dumb luck I guess, but I will take it.

The trip back home the next day was pretty uneventful, but it was a beautiful day for a drive and it always fees better when the back is full of meat for the winter! I got to see some of the new wind farms on the Washington state side of the Gorge, and this reminded me of Tish who had just finished up working on an EIS for a new transmission line corridor to help get that new power onto the grid.

It was also nice to see Mt. Hood from the east side of the Cascades, it is such an impressive mountain.

Well that is it for now, I will try archery hunting for blacktails in the second archery season which begins in late November which should be interesting. It's farewell to the Elkhorns for another year but we will be back!

Spring break in Washington DC

Isabella at the Vietnam Memorial

Tish and Isabella at the Lincoln Monument

West end of the Capitol

Capitol Dome

Dave and Nancy at their front door

Steve, Tish and Isabella in front of the White House

Reflection of the Washington Monument in the Vietnam Memorial

Great sculpture outside the Dept. of Labor (I think)

Mt. Vernon

Dave, Nancy, Tish, Isabella and Steve outside Mt. Vernon

Reagan National Airport at midnight

Front of the White House

Lincoln Memorial