An Outdoorsman's Journal

By Mark Walters

Hello friends,

This week's column has good news and is loaded with adventure. As you may know, my 23-year-old daughter, Selina Walters, has been hired by the USFWS as a biologist in Montana. Selina graduated from UW-Stevens Point last December and I helped her to move to Missoula in January. Selina and I communicate almost daily, and she has become a very active hiker, fly-fisher woman and she does a lot of camping and kayaking.

On April 15, I was notified by the state of Montana that I was successful in drawing a general combo elk/deer tag. Selina will have been a Montana resident for six months and it really looks like she will be able to join me in the Gallatin National Forest near Bozeman, for an October elk and deer hunt with a rifle. Ever since Selina moved, we have been planning a scouting, ATV, camping, hang out with the pups trip and that is what this week's column is about.

Thursday, August 15 - High 71°, Low 41°

It is 1,286 miles from my house to the trail where we would unload my ATV and trailer. Red and Ruby were as excited to see Selina as she was them and the mood was excellent as we began our three night adventure. Our first goal was the journey up the mountain with my 570 Polaris "Sportsman" 2up. We would be headed to where I have camped the last two falls and two years ago harvested a beautiful 6x6 bull elk.

It is a long trip, and I was concerned about 8-year-old Ruby but like her pup Red she climbed the mountain with ease. As soon as we got as far as we could go with the ATV, I became pretty excited and, even though I was only wearing sandals, talked Selina into going up the mountain to my elk hunting spot, 35 physical minutes. I told Selina a million stories, we took 30 second breaks and when we were home, there was plenty of elk and deer sign, but to be honest, it was dry and other than beds and droppings there was not much to see.

It had been a long last 36 hours and we hiked back to our campsite, the mood was perfect, a thunderstorm worked our way and for the next four hours we were rained on, which was until like midnight. We stayed outside and cooked northern pike, perch and sweet corn from my garden.

We forgot butter but it was an excellent meal.

Friday, August 16 - High 74°, Low 45°

All four of us slept in a tent on the ground and the pups are loving life. Today we went for a long ATV ride and then for the last four hours of daylight we hiked up to elk paradise. We did not see an elk or deer, but it was fun hoping we would.

Saturday, August 17 - High 76°,  Low 43°

Selina is a Walters, which means she has big energy and each night we have been staying up well past midnight, our phones are useless, we have no music, and it is too dangerous to have a campfire, neither of us let that bother us a bit. Today's goal was to find a backup place to elk and deer hunt. Selina had her OnX and we took the ATV a few miles from camp and began hiking. Selina understands that elk like grass, and so we began a journey to find open country amongst the dark timber. From the get go, we were into very steady elk and mule deer sign and then, just like that the dark timber opened up to a beautiful "park" or you could say pasture and it was literally loaded with sign.

We found a spot where Selina will hunt in October, I went further up the mountain. Our last night was a dandy and this daughter/father team have adjusted to her move away from Wisconsin about as perfectly as could be.

Live large,

Sunset