NDR - Montana fishing trip...

Great story and pictures Todd. I'd love to do a trip like that but I'm the only one in the family that feels that way. Did you have a guide service do your packing in and out and make sure your truck was in the right place. Logistics would be a bitch!.
 
Dave Clites said:
Tod, good to know you took precautions. My college buddy hunts near Choteau MT where his sister and BIL are Forest rangers. He has some hair-raising stories..Like sleeping in with a solar-charged electric fence around his tent. He has invited me along but I am not old enough to die yet...

Yes, I've heard the bears in MT are supposed to be really aggressive, especially if you are hunting and have an animal like an elk down. We have a bear fence and have used that in AK when we had meat, but it is heavy and a pain. If we don't have meat, we will go without every time. I remind myself that the likelihood of being killed by a bear is probably way lower than getting in an accident on the way there :). I have a lot of trust in bear spray, but in the tent not so much. I really like a gun in the tent. You can almost feel warmth from the reassuring glow of the tritium sights waiting at the ready in the dark of the night.
 
Tod,

The move took place from late March through the end of June!
I left State service after 25 years on April 30th and started with my new company on May 1.
We closed on the house down here in Tampa in late March, moved a big Uhaul full of stuff down in mid-April, I moved down here in mid-May, then sold our house & moved the family down in late June.
Daughter started new middle school down here and our son is off to his freshman year at U of A-Huntsville.
So it's been quite a spring/summer for us!

I did manage to get out fishing a few times, caught some grey snapper and spanish macs. No snook or tarpon yet.
Still trying to figure out here exactly I can duck hunt down here. Tampa Bay is a complete change from Mobile Bay. Really hard to figure out what is restricted and what is not, not very duck hunter friendly area, IMO. But I kind knew that was what I was getting into. I'll try to get out a little this year but I dont have high expectations.
 
WOW! I'll say it again, WOW. The picture of your first campsite, what a beautiful place to be. The trip must have been an amazing adventure, I mean rafting, trout, bears, fire, and the scenery. Speaking of bears, would that side piece of yours stop one? Thank you for sharing your trip, again as in the past. I thoroughly enjoy seeing the pictorials.

Eric
 
Ed L. said:
Great story and pictures Todd. I'd love to do a trip like that but I'm the only one in the family that feels that way. Did you have a guide service do your packing in and out and make sure your truck was in the right place. Logistics would be a bitch!.

Yes on the logistics a lot of moving parts. We did the trip a la carte with the packers mainly because there isn't one outfitter that handles both ends of the operation. The entry and exit are in 2 different ranger districts and are 150-160 miles by road apart, so they don't want to move between the trailheads with horse trailers. My first thought with the fire was the trouble that it was going to cause with the logistics, but it turned out great. For the truck shuttle, they don't want to shuttle until the last possible moment because the take out is notorious for packrats getting into the vehicles and wrecking them, so everyone leaves their hoods open to discourage them moving in (we didn't see any signs of packrats, but there were a lot of ground squirrels running around and everyone had their hoods open).
 
Carl said:
Tod,

The move took place from late March through the end of June!
I left State service after 25 years on April 30th and started with my new company on May 1.
We closed on the house down here in Tampa in late March, moved a big Uhaul full of stuff down in mid-April, I moved down here in mid-May, then sold our house & moved the family down in late June.
Daughter started new middle school down here and our son is off to his freshman year at U of A-Huntsville.
So it's been quite a spring/summer for us!

I did manage to get out fishing a few times, caught some grey snapper and spanish macs. No snook or tarpon yet.
Still trying to figure out here exactly I can duck hunt down here. Tampa Bay is a complete change from Mobile Bay. Really hard to figure out what is restricted and what is not, not very duck hunter friendly area, IMO. But I kind knew that was what I was getting into. I'll try to get out a little this year but I dont have high expectations.

That is a LOT of life in that period. Moving and a lot of changes for everyone, you should be happy to get out fishing at all! Good luck in your explorations.
 
Eric Patterson said:
WOW! I'll say it again, WOW. The picture of your first campsite, what a beautiful place to be. The trip must have been an amazing adventure, I mean rafting, trout, bears, fire, and the scenery. Speaking of bears, would that side piece of yours stop one? Thank you for sharing your trip, again as in the past. I thoroughly enjoy seeing the pictorials.

Eric

Thanks Eric, it was a good trip in an area I'd always wanted to explore a little further (we were near there in 2008 bird hunting).

The glock I'm carrying is supposed to be pretty good medicine for bears (it is a G20, shoots 10mm). You shoot hard cast lead (non-expanding) and are going for a central nervous system hit and that will certainly drill through any bears skull. It is about the same as a 357 mag loaded as I'm carrying it, but I can really throw lead downrange much faster and accurately than I could with a revolver (there are a lot more powerful revolvers out there, I really like shooting the glock and will switch all my handguns in that direction). It is a real compact package, but it does get heavy at the end of the day. Were it just me, Id be OK with spray, but I really like having the gun in the tent and the ability to intervene in an encounter that a family member is having with a bear from a bit of a distance (bear spray is only good 20 maybe 30 feet and only good if the bear is headed directly in your direction). In AK last year we saw a LOT of bears when we all had spray and it gave me the feeling that I'd really like something different/more. Carrying a long gun if you aren't hunting is a PITA.
 
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Tod, You are living the good life. Good for you.

A mess of fish, a big yellow dog, fire, water. Great company...
Really outstanding.


Such incredible photos.
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Glad you didn't have any trouble with the fire or bears. As close as you were to the fire you had to some nasty thoughts in your head with the family there when you were asked to evacuate. I loved the line about reassuring glow of the tritium sights. When we lived in Arkansas we lived close to a place called bear hollow and had bear in our backyard more than once. We had a friend that lost two Rottweilers to bear. Anyway I always enjoy your vacation writeups. Hope you have a good hunting season.
 
Tod,
Thanks so much for writing this up and posting it. My son is a senior this year and even though we have taken one hunting trip every year I don't feel I have had enough time outdoors with him. Seeing you and your family taking the time brings a smile to my face.

Brandon
 
Just read your post! What an amazing trip, even with the fire! Breath taking really! thank you for sharing
 
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