Hunting was tough this year and Mother Nature took its toll.  I hunted mule deer in eastern Wyoming the last week of October and first part of November on public land where we have enjoyed success in the past.  There were 5 of us going with two pickups pulling trailers from Northern California and myself travelling from southern California alone to meet them in Wyoming.  The day before I left the weather forecast was for a light snow and lows in the mid teens.  I left home in 85 degree weather and drove 550 miles and called it a day.  That night I looked and the forecast had changed to lows below zero!  We got to Wyoming and Interstate 80 was closed from border to border due to high winds and blowing snow.  They opened the road the next morning at 10 am and off we went.  Since I was not pulling a trailer I arrived early and went to check out the campground.  The Forest Service was just locking the gate and closing the camp for the year.  The next morning we headed out to find a campsite and the temperature was -11 with 60 mph gusts.  We shoveled a place for my wall tent and made camp but I decided I was going to town for one more night and not sleep in the tent in those conditions.  We tried to drive out on forest roads to where we normally hunt but most were blocked by drifting snow.  The next morning we tried to get back to camp and during the night the snow had drifted the road closed.  It took all day to get in and get everything out.  My tent frame was destroyed when we were taking the tent down when a 60 mph gust caught it and tried to blow it to Kansas!  It was a balmy -2.  After several attempts to hunt with my 40-70 Hepburn I gave up as every day was at least 40 mph winds and walking in the drifts was more than my artificial hips wanted.  I came home only seeing 4 small bucks that I passed on.  Next it was time to hunt cow elk in New Mexico.  I got there last weekend and the weather was 180 degrees from Wyoming with lows around 30 and highs of 60 and not a speck of snow on any of the mountains.  The elk were heading into the timber right at first light and not coming out until at least sundown.  I saw a cow and a spike with just a few minutes of light left the second night but passed as it was really getting dark.  The last night just at sundown the B-78 300 H&H spoke and one shot, one kill on a nice young cow.  The Hepburn will have to wait another year!  Tom

Snow inside tent after one night of 60 mph winds!  Needless  to say we spent the duration of the hunt in a motel.   

Good job Tom!
You have some of the best eating on planet earth in that cow. Our hunting has gone south as the wolves moved in again yesterday on their cyclic territorial roaming. They are usually here for two days and move on. When the wolves are present the woods are much quieter. Do you see/hear them on your elk hunt?

Sometimes we wonder why we do this every year? Then there are those years when everything goes well and it balances out the bad years.