Finishing up. Elk Sighting.

I got a hot tip about a sweet little valley with a brushy creek down the center that used to hold a lot of quail. I figured I'd hit it in the morning with fresh dogs and the wind in our faces (what a concept!).  On the way up in to the foothills, I passed an historical marker stating the Oregon Trail went right up this creek!  

La"?."

That was nice. I'm a sucker for history and really like to stop at all "historical markers". 

So, I stepped out of the truck, after parking at the bridge crossing over the creek, and grabbed my vest from the inside sliding it on. I looked up and a huge cow Elk walked up out of the creek about 40 yards away. Behind her was another cow, then a young bull, then two more cows, and finally, the MAC Daddy Bull!  I grabbed my camera and snapped away until the lead cow smelled me and they took off.....very cool! 

Finally, we got rolling and trekked for 3 hours with no birds! 

In the afternoon, I went high onto the cap rock and had a stroll with Bandit and Cap. Saw nothing but beautiful country!!!

Will leave to start back tomorrow. Winter storm warning for Thursday.