my 2015 idaho season....

[razorback]

If you notice Gary and Terry hunted together quite a bit. There\'s a reason for that. This fat boy couldn\'t keep up with those guys! I hunted with Terry a few times when he wanted an \"easy\" day.

I arrived at camp in the afternoon and unloaded my truck, grabbed my bow and took off. I was lucky enough to bump an elk and find a little sign so I was pretty excited. The next morning the adrenaline had worn off and I slept in. I had driven 26 hours, set up my little camp and hunted. I was moving slow. I sat around camp and drank a cup of coffee listening for some bugles and noticed the outfitter ride by camp. By mid-morning I was ready to go. As I was working my way back to a seep where I had jumped an elk I came across a pond and wet area. I heard some splashing and immediately thought bull in a wallow. About 75 yards below me I could see what I thought was a horse. I assumed outfitters. I kept looking at the \"horse\'s back\" and noticed no saddle. All of a sudden it bolted and turned out to be a cow and calf moose. I had just checked the wind about 75 yards earlier. I checked it again and sure enough it had changed. This was different than Colorado and proved to be consistently inconsistent.

I was excited to have encountered moose. It was my second time to encounter moose while elk hunting. A few days later I walked up on this little guy behind camp. He was accommodating enough to let me take my pack off and get my camera out. Sure wished I had a tag for him! Moose are on my list.

 

[iccyman001]

Nice moose!!!!

 

[razorback]

Things were pretty slow for me the first week. I only heard a couple of bugles after dark from camp. They were close though. After the snow and rain moved out it seemed like it picked up slightly for me. Terry and Gary had a plan to listen from a creek crossing while I was going back to a seep across from them and see if I could find anything. I could see their headlights and they could see mine. I was using a green light. I just happened to notice four big sets of eyes out in the sage. Two of them were bedded. I\'m pretty sure they were elk. They let me walk right past them and I figured somebody was going to have some action. As I was getting to the ridge I wanted to be out before daylight I noticed two lights below Terry and Gary. I tried to text them but no service. I watched the lights and wouldn\'t you know, one of them peeled off and came straight toward the four sets of eyes I had got past. I never heard anything run but this guy went into some timber below the seep and made a ton of noise and left his light on well after I thought it was light enough to turn it off.

About that time I thought I heard a bugle. Then I was certain I heard a bugle. I began moving up the mountain and who did I run into? I about stepped on Terry and Gary. I think they got a kick out of that. Turned out it was Terry doing a location bugle. We walked together for a little bit as we had different plans for the day. Shortly after I split up from them I stopped at Gary\'s wallow to do a location bugle. Nothing. I had a small meadow in mind on up the mountain so I jumped out in the edge of the sage and took off. I noticed something above me and thought no way! An elk, just standing out in the open, check the binos, a bull. Just a spike (everybody remember I said five on one side) that was out the window! A quick check on the thermals and nock an arrow and I\'m off. I ran out of cover at 80 yards. I took pics but my camera just focused on the pine limbs as I was trying to stick the camera through them. It was a small tree to hide somebody my size. I decided to let him walk in the timber and then try to cut his tracks and do some cow calling. I gave him about ten minutes and eased up to where he went into the timber. I could see the trail he likely used but the ground was froze and I couldn\'t find a track. I went into about a 100 yards and sat down and called. I gave the set up about 30 minutes. He never showed. I was pretty excited though that was the first and only bull I\'ve ever seen!

 

[razorback]

After my encounter with the spike I was pretty excited. I hit the meadow that I wanted to and worked my way through the timber to the top of the mountain. There was a lot of very fresh sign there. It was mid morning and the wind was inconsistent so I sat on the back side and sent text messages back home. The wind was howling up there but I heard one bugle. I wasn\'t exactly sure how far it was from me but I knew it had to be close for me to hear it in the wind. I texted Gary and he gave me some encouragement. I checked the wind and dropped down into the best looking bedding area I\'ve ever seen in my two years of elk hunting. I knew elk had to be close. I figured if I had a herd bull with a harem close a challenge bugle would work so I gave my best growling bugle but got no response. I raked on a tree and bugled again but nothing. I worked my way slowly though the timber and came out to an opening. I was certain the bugle couldn\'t have been across the opening so I dropped lower and repeated the sequence. I got no responses but felt like I was in elk the whole time. The poop would stick to my boots and you could just smell elk. The area had several fresh rubs. I named that area the bedroom. I\'ll hunt that area again If I should go back there. I know my elk hunting experience is limited but there was enough sign I think anybody would agree on that morning elk were in the area. I learned that is what I\'m looking for when I\'m looking for elk sign.

 

[Zpd307]

so I have been racking my brain.... who would have thought day 7 would be such a brain fart....
anyways, through texts and such, I think that I have it somewhat figured out.
I sent my wife a text the night before that it was raining as I went to bed. so I concur that it was raining when I got up to the alarm, cage the elephant- come a little closer, if you want to youtube it
but it was sunny when I got up because I sent my wife this pic after I got up
[attachment=0]<!-- ia0 -->IMG_0008.JPG<!-- ia0 -->[/attachment]

 

[Zpd307]

all right! I got it..... finally
steve, thanks for posting up some of your experiences!
with the snow from yesterday, terry wanted to wait and let the snow melt today. I was more than agreeable to the idea! my soaked clothes and boots from yesterday, were still very fresh in my mind. so we loafed around camp through the morning. I shot some arrows into the block. steve and terry were giving me some encouragement. hey, don\'t screw up your shot at the 350\" bull one thing to take note, there were some small aspens growing around camp, so I decided to shoot through one and see how it affected the arrow. both steve and terry immediately took notice when I shot. a broad head cutting a twig make a very distinct sound..... the twig was very tiny.... anyway, it dropped the point of impact and moved it to the right significantly, at only a 25 yard shot!
so as the day wore on, I schemed a plan to get away from the hunter pressure. I was going to go in the back way to that elky bench that terry and I hunted a couple of days prior, the one in which terry found his 4x5 bull skeleton. the bench was not far away, after going over my maps some more. it would entail climbing up and over one ridge and then going back up another very steep ridge. I was going to originally park my butt in an aspen grove just below my wallow, terry and I had bumped what we thought were elk one early evening a couple of nights prior. but steve agreed to go there instead. terry was to watch the trail and hidden seep where we trailed the bugling bull with his cows.
so we all left camp together and split up at the funnel.
I jumped a pair of mulie does while walking passed the aspen grove, in the sage. they stopped to look at me at 34 yards. they knew I didn\'t have a tag....
40 yards later I saw a small mulie buck with his nose to the ground standing under a pine tree. he was pacing back and forth, he let me walk up to 37 yards. I drew back on his for practice I wonder if one of the does was getting close to being in heat. he left and went directly to where I saw the does head to. as I continued walking, I found all three of them together.
as I got into the timber the top of the first ridge, I knew that I did not have enough time in the day left to be able to get to the next ridge and have any time left to hunt it. I had never been down this ridge before.... so I still hunted up into a known bedding area. when it got closer to sundown, I tried bugling and cow calling. crickets, again..... I backed down, with enough time to find a spot in the timber that I felt was a good transition area for them to stage in, before they walked out in the dark. I cow called for a bit. nothing happened..... I left when I could no longer see in the timber
[attachment=0]<!-- ia0 -->IMG_0017.JPG<!-- ia0 -->[/attachment]
this pic I took and sent to the wife. I like taking random pics of where I am at, so she can she what I see, when I am seeing it.
sometimes the pics take forever to send, she didn\'t get it until the next day.....

 

[Zpd307]

day 8.....
by now, I would love to say that this was the magical day...... but it wasn\'t
in all reality, I have been living off of not much sleep, the conversations around the coleman lantern or the fire have been too fun. rehydrated noodles and instant potatoes, and experimenting steves mixture of mre\'s. I will NOT recommend betty crockers instant sweet potatoes!!!!! I never could get truly warm after the blizzard on the mtn the other day. it was damp and therefore chilly. the soreness I had for the first few days went away and turned into plain tiredness. the elk wernt cooperating the way I had envisioned, and I felt that everything I told steve and terry while preparing for the trip over the last year was false. we were even having a hard time just finding them. my spirits were starting to fail.... what I did have was a mini dan, sitting on my shoulder slapping me in the face and telling me to stay positive! actually, he was on my phone :lol: steve and terry never seemed to get down either. they helped me a bunch too!
back to day 8!
this will be my version of what steve has already mentioned.
terry and I hunted together again. we were to start at the funnel again. steve went his way and we went ours. for short fat guy, steve can move we looked over and saw his signature green headlight. hey terry, look at that, steves farther up the mtn than we are!
which reminds me, I haven\'t talked about terry\'s speed..... hes fast! I believe he is part mtn goat and antelope or something, he could leave me in the dust..... and he tells me that hes not in shape, sheesh
so we get to the funnel and wait. terry eventually rips a couple of locater bugles. wait for it..... we heard nothing. it was turning out to be a lot of on the job practicing by now!
a short while later we heard a stick break behind us...... terry and I both flip our heads...... its steve! as he was walking by us, I grunted. man did he jump :haha:
so steve proceeds to tell us about the two guys that followed us up the mtn. we never saw them. he saw 4 sets of eyes that he thought were elk. pretty cool! I decide to call an audible and change plans. I tell terry that I would like to try my plan from yesterday and go in from the back to get to that bench. surprisingly he agreed. I was waiting for him to throw a flag and call a penalty on me :banned: 15 yards for being crazy....
so we part with steve and head on our merry way. this is the beginning of, what I affectionately call, death march the third, or dm3!
we saw some beautiful sights, so this one will be pic heavy!
[attachment=4]<!-- ia4 -->IMG_0026.JPG<!-- ia4 -->[/attachment]
the funnel in in the background towards the left. the aspens is where I jumped the mulie does the night before. I am about where I saw the mulie buck.
after dropping down onto the other side of the first ridge, it was thick.....
then we had to go straight up on the other side....
[attachment=3]<!-- ia3 -->IMG_0027.JPG<!-- ia3 -->[/attachment]
can you tell that is steep, and this wasn\'t the super steep part!
[attachment=2]<!-- ia2 -->IMG_0065.JPG<!-- ia2 -->[/attachment]
we are about halfway up by now. this was taken at one of our many breaks.....
[attachment=1]<!-- ia1 -->IMG_0033.JPG<!-- ia1 -->[/attachment]
[attachment=0]<!-- ia0 -->IMG_0024.JPG<!-- ia0 -->[/attachment]

 

[Zpd307]

[attachment=4]<!-- ia4 -->IMG_0078.JPG<!-- ia4 -->[/attachment]
snack break!
[attachment=3]<!-- ia3 -->IMG_0090.JPG<!-- ia3 -->[/attachment]
we are almost there.....
[attachment=2]<!-- ia2 -->IMG_0028.JPG<!-- ia2 -->[/attachment]
see the little pond in the middle of the pic, just passed that into the aspens was our camp. the bull moose that steve took a pic of was at that pond. the giant bowl in the back of the pic was where we crossed the creek to get to....
[attachment=1]<!-- ia1 -->IMG_0073.JPG<!-- ia1 -->[/attachment]
we are finally on the big elky bench..... smile terry
[attachment=0]<!-- ia0 -->IMG_0074.JPG<!-- ia0 -->[/attachment]
this was after lunch. we had found another hidden grassy meadow that had elk tracks in it from the recent snow..... we went to this spot to enjoy the scenery. still cant find any elk..... I was disheartened to find that the wind was terrible again this day :x
speaking of lunch, this was when steve texted me about the spike he saw earlier in the morning. AND the bull he just heard bugle! the bull was obviously in his bed and steve had some tricks to get this bull killed.... I didnt hear back from him until back at camp, talk about being anxious.....

 

[Zpd307]

[attachment=3]<!-- ia3 -->IMG_0056.JPG<!-- ia3 -->[/attachment]
there were three ridges that converged into this bench. I tried bugling down into each draw. nothing was playing today either....
we found our way back to the grassy meadow from the other day, where I got a bull to bugle once. the wind was so bad that we gave up for the day. I did a good job of practicing my bugles. I was at least feeling better about my abilities. they were a far cry from the not so awesomeness from just a couple of days ago!
we had a long way to go, to get back to camp.... we decided the easiest way was to go out the way we came on the earlier night, which meant a 4 mile hike, from the bottom of the drainage. we were still at the top!
[attachment=2]<!-- ia2 -->IMG_0046.JPG<!-- ia2 -->[/attachment]
here is a better pic of how steep it really was....
[attachment=1]<!-- ia1 -->IMG_0012.JPG<!-- ia1 -->[/attachment]
another view. yikes!!!! my knees were barking.....
[attachment=0]<!-- ia0 -->IMG_0007.JPG<!-- ia0 -->[/attachment]
finally made it back to the road!, only 3.5 miles left to get back to camp. my feet are barking a bit too....

 

[Zpd307]

[attachment=2]<!-- ia2 -->IMG_0013.JPG<!-- ia2 -->[/attachment]
the sun shining on the montana peaks was gorgeous!
[attachment=1]<!-- ia1 -->IMG_0002.JPG<!-- ia1 -->[/attachment]
[attachment=0]<!-- ia0 -->IMG_0019.JPG<!-- ia0 -->[/attachment]
I was sure glad to be back at camp..... I told terry again, im never going up there again....!

 

[Zpd307]

day 9 was fun!!!!!!
terry hunted with steve, for an \"easy\" day :lol:
I got on the mtn bike again and went to a different drainage, this one was 5 miles away. it was steep and thick, not very wide though. it had water too. it has to have elk, right!?
25 easy minutes later, I arrived at the creek. there was a nice water fed aspen grove below the road that I had intel elk liked to feed there at night. from last year... so my plan was to hunt up from the road and see what I see. I hung around until it was light enough to see.
I was 30 yards up from the road when all of a sudden I heard a soft moaning bugle!!!!!! the timber was not very thick and I could see between 80-90 yards in places. he was on the same plain as I was. I guessed him to be less than 200 hundred yards from me I felt he was close enough that I took my time scanning that area, for fear he would see me first. then I heard him give out a moan.
if terry thought I was excited over that little raghorn on the first night...... hed be rolling on the ground laughing :lol:
I was trying to cover ground quickly but quietly, which was no easy feat, as the moisture had been sucked up and the ground was noisy.......! I had made it a ways when I heard him chuckle. he was definitely not in the same place, he was moving up...... so I started quartering up on him.
I ended up on a sage ridge. I should explain a bit. this drainage was like an hour glass. the road was the base of the glass. the bottom ridges angled up to a choke point, like the middle of the hour glass. then the ridges fanned out again like the upper part of the glass. the creek runs through the middle of it.
so when I got on the ridge, which was the middle of the hour glass, I saw that where the creek ran through was straight down...... it was very steep! I was glad that I didn\'t decide to hunt up the creek. that would have been rough!
I knew at this point, the bull did not go up the side that I was on..... I scanned around for a bit hoping to catch some movement. when the breeze died down at times, I could hear him raking. I had a pretty good pin point on him but I couldn\'t see movement. I actually heard him huff...
this encounter had been super cool so far!!!!! I had never heard this stuff before!!!!!
I was stupid and locate bugled to him, to try and get his exact spot. not only did he not respond, to that lovely bugle, but due to my location he could easily spot my location as I tried to back out and get over to his side... ugggg
so down and around I went. it was straight down and straight up! I had to stop on the other side to take my layers off, I was hot..... and hungry, again :lol:
I checked in with dan and my wife, I was excited to be able to finally be able to chase a bull again!!!!
so after my snack, I was off!
the weather was turning hot again and the sun was shining, a recipe for an early thermal change.... so I played it safe and went up and around where I thought he would have gone up into the drainage. I went through some thick nasty blown downs! I wasn\'t finding any benches..... the wind turned crappy again, again, ugggg so I didn\'t want to go in an explore. I ended up, going up along the timber in the sage.
it was hot..... by now, so I went into the edge of the timber to find some shade and take a break. and eat lunch. and try to nap. dang dan
with the heat and bad wind, I decided to back out and head back to camp. steve mentioned a couple of days ago that the stand at my wallow was gone, so I was going to go sit by it that afternoon.
heres where it gets interesting
while heading down in the sage, I cut a fairly fresh set of tracks. tracks, as in a herd. they were within a couple of days old. my mentality is, go where the elk want to go so I can see why they want to go there...
so I did.
as I was following the tracks, I was now back in the light timber. I heard the thunder of multiple sets of hooves. I look up to see multiple elk butts running away. it took me a second or two to comprehend what I just heard and saw..... they went a little bit and stopped. just then the bull bugled at me. wtf???? I have never been in this situation before. in my excitement, and we have had several passerby hunter reports saying that they have gotten into bulls with challenge bugles. sooooo, that\'s what I did. guess what, the herd runs off....
remember, I haven\'t been able to find an elk for a few days...... I was in shock
I sat down and kicked myself. I couldn\'t believe that elk were bedded in this area. every bedding area that I have been it was thick!!! this area was not... I could see 80-90 yards and grass was growing in most spots....
I texted dan and my wife.
dan suggested lost calf calling. game on!
so in order to make up distance quickly, to cover my noise, I was lost calf calling.
heres where it gets weird....
as I got to the spot where the herd just jumped up from, a calf gets up. another wtf moment.... it stood there looking at me! maybe 30 yards away. as I pull an arrow, it decided something wasn\'t right and trots away. I am knocking an arrow and heading to a nearby tree. it starts to go over the ridge and I was able to get to my external reed call. I blow a couple of assembly mews, thanks chris roe!, and the calf comes back on a string!!!!!
now we had a thread on killing a calf a little while ago, and I thought to myself that a calf would be a last resort. well, I was there at this moment..... the calf was walking across from me broadside 53 yards!. it went behind a couple trees and I assembly mewed again. it came around to a stump that I ranged at 28 yards. 2 more yards is all it needed to step for a perfect broadside shot.....!!!! it stood there a bit, looking for momma and sniffing. eventually it walked away. I was able to call it back, but not as close.
after telling terry the story, he gave me a hard time by asking if I was shaking
during the calf encounter, I heard the bull bugle. I had a general idea o where he was. it was not close...
I checked my ge maps to get a lay of the land. I conservatively checked the area. I didn\'t want to wreck the spot with my scent....
when the wind got right in the evening, I lost calf called myself closer to their area. what I thought was a good set up, ended up being 80 yards from the road.....
I found this out when I saw a tan suburban drive in the early evening....
more on that suburban to come......
so I headed back to camp....

 

[iccyman001]

I texted dan
dan suggested lost calf calling. game on!
so in order to make up distance quickly, to cover my noise, I was lost calf calling.
heres where it gets weird....
as I got to the spot where the herd just up from, a calf gets up. another wtf moment.... it stood there looking at me! maybe 30 yards away. as I pull an arrow, it decided something wasn\'t right and trots away. I am knocking an arrow and heading to a nearby tree. it starts to go over the ridge and I was able to get to my external reed call. I blow a couple of assembly mews, thanks chris roe!, and the calf comes back on a string!!!!!
now we had a thread on killing a calf a little while ago, and I thought to myself that a calf would be a last resort. well, I was there at this moment..... the calf was walking across from me broadside 53 yards!. it went behind a couple trees and I assembly mewed again. it came around to a stump that I ranged at 28 yards. 2 more yards is all it needed to step for a perfect broadside shot.....!!!! it stood there a bit, looking for momma and sniffing. eventually it walked away. I was able to call it back, but not as close.
after telling terry the story, he gave me a hard time by asking if I was shaking

At least it means your elk calling sounds like elk!
It responded to both your lost calf calling and mews!!!


Now you know you can sound like an elk and not a donkey.

 

[Zpd307]

dan, I wish.... if the calf was dumb enough to not run off with the herd, it was dumb enough to come to my calling!!!!! it was a fun experience though :upthumb:

 

[bowhunter]

day 8.....
this will be my version of what steve has already mentioned.
terry and I hunted together again. we were to start at the funnel again. steve went his way and we went ours. for short fat guy, steve can move we looked over and saw his signature green headlight. hey terry, look at that, steves farther up the mtn than we are!
which reminds me, I haven\'t talked about terry\'s speed..... hes fast! I believe he is part mtn goat and antelope or something, he could leave me in the dust..... and he tells me that hes not in shape, sheesh

I am 8 years older than Gary and fit but I didn\'t really work out much this year. I work hard and stay fit but need to get in better shape for the mountains. He runs marathons and bikes a lot. I am glad I was able to set the pace for him . Next year I will be a mountain Gazzell. You better start exercising now Gary. I have :twisted:

so we get to the funnel and wait. terry eventually rips a couple of locater bugles. wait for it..... we heard nothing. it was turning out to be a lot of on the job practicing by now!
a short while later we heard a stick break behind us...... terry and I both flip our heads...... its steve! as he was walking by us, I grunted. man did he jump :haha:

Steve thought my bugles was an elk. :lol: I usually call in at leas one hunter a year. I didn\'t expect it to be one of my hunting partners.

 

[Zpd307]

day 10
I woke up needing a mental health day :silent:
reflecting back on yesterday and I where I found the elk. I found one of those magical and mythical spots that get looked over by every other hunter.... the elk obviously recognized the lack of pressure there.... I found myself hoping that my them thinking a big old mean elk, trying to steal his cows, that I didn\'t scare him out of his secret area.... I wanted him to settle back down before I tried hitting that area again.
I decided to d a short morning hunt that would take me to a bedding area. if I couldn\'t get into anything by then, I was going to head back to camp and head into town. the local diner\'s burgers are awesome! and my mouth had been watering for one the last couple of days I was also going to take a shower at the local campground. $3 bucks for a unlimited hot shower!!!! I had been taking baby wipe showers so far and wasn\'t feeling toooo bad....
I went to the lower part of a different sage pasture. I found a spot that gave me a decent view so I could watch for anything feeding on the fringes of the timber just as you could just start to see. with any luck I would see one and knew where to try and catch up to them....
nothing was there. I found out why in a little bit....
I heard a bugle from the area where terry and steve were. I figured it was steve, he liked to bugle then I heard a bugle over on my side that had enough flair that I was willing to chase up on it. I closed in several hundred yards when I heard the bugle again, followed by some cow calling. they were obvious hunters...... now I know why I didn\'t see anything at day break. dang, they were also where I wanted to end up for the morning. so that plan was finished before it even started.
so to make the best of it, I explored that section of timber, which I hadn\'t been to before. I was looking for travel routes and such. I did find an area that had a ton of fresh rubs and a recent set of elk herd track that lead into the sage pasture. I also found that same suburban from the day before parked on an atv trail in the timber just before it met the sage..... :x it was not supposed to be there!!!!!!
so I went to camp and headed to town. I stopped and spoke with an older gentleman who was a camp neighbor. he was really friendly! he was from Chicago and he was with his cousin from Michigan. they were having the same problems with finding elk...

 

[Zpd307]

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CLq_vUffog&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]

 

[Zpd307]

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clxSAwTh9OE[/youtube]

 

[ABQ_Chica]

Wow! Thanks for the first-person ramble and the photos.
No matter how much we plan and prepare, managing expectations is always tricky when so many variables are ultimately out of our control.
Regardless, it sounds like you had a real adventure and made the best of a great hunt in a beautiful place.

 

[razorback]

Gary\'s Day 10 was probably the highlight of my trip. Terry and I hunted together that morning. Our plan was to give a location bugle from \"Gary\'s\" wallow and then go to a small meadow and work up to the top of the mountain to the bedroom that I had found a few days earlier. As Gary mentioned we were greeted by a chorus of hunters calling their way across the mountain. I think they failed to hear a bull give a bugle/moan but Terry and I didn\'t and set up on the wallow. I bugled and cow called a little and we waited. We could hear the hunters above us and soon lost patience. We hopped out in the sage and made a visual on the hunters above us. Four of them! We watched them continue to climb out of sight when all of a sudden our bull bugled. Terry worked his way back to the wallow where we figured he was going and I hunkered in place. After a few minutes I gave a mew and this bull ripped a bugle that sounded like he was in my face. I could hear his footsteps! I was fully expecting to hear Terry\'s arrow go THWACK! After several minutes Terry approached and said he heard him go further up the mountain. We chased and ended up catching the hunters above us. They had stomped all through my precious bedroom area and we spent the rest of the day on the mountain hearing nothing. That was the closest I\'ve ever heard a bugle and the first time I\'ve ever made a bull bugle. I\'ll remember that forever! Turkeys can\'t do that, so if I wasn\'t hooked before I certainly am now.

 

[razorback]

This was an awesome trip for me. A couple of days prior to leaving I watched this hunter packing out this rack by camp. I was extremely impressed. Maybe I\'ll get to do that someday! I also dug up a couple of aspen trees like I did last year in Colorado. My little aspen from Colorado is still alive and doing fine. Maybe I\'ll have my own little aspen grove someday and be able to watched the leaves turn when I\'m not able to make it out west and see the mountains. I am already excited for next year and can\'t wait. Thanks Gary and Terry, I had a great time.