The Glassing Tree

Jun 12, 2020

Preparing for September - E-Scouting

I'm going to apologize up front... this post is going to be very vague & hopefully you'll understand. Periodically, over the last several years beginning in 2014 with my grandfather's early rifle hunt I have spent a fair amount of time on Google Earth studying many different areas within the unit that I'll be hunting this fall. I will not be posting any specifics... no names... everything that will be shared here will be very generic. But what I will do is give a little bit of insight into how I approach sitting down with the laptop and looking at different areas on the computer screen.

The first thing to consider is your hunting style... you should do this almost sub-consciously because inevitably what you will find is you will be drawn and you will fall in love with areas that will be suitable for your hunting style.

You will find that you will be "flying" around on Google Earth and you will see an area on the screen that you will look at and really like what you see. When I see an area like that I will zoom in take a closer look at the area using the tilt and rotate functions to manipulate the aerial viewpoint to get a better feel for the terrain. I also have a USGS Topographical overlay that I will toggle back and forth between the satellite image and the topo image. This helps me better see and understand the terrain and also helps in identifying the locations that are marked out on the topo maps like water sources, peaks, trails, and food sources. I will also use the topo map to identify more subtle things in the terrain like saddles, small draws, or slight ridges that could be used as travel corridors, escape routes, or used to my advantage in some way. Another benefit that I have found is that I've identified roads and trails that are not indicated on the topo maps but clearly show up on the satellite imagery... and on the flip side I've identified roads and trails indicated on the topo map but they no longer appear to be maintained on the satellite imagery (I definitely make note of these).

Once I decide that an area is a place that I'd like to really take a deep dive into researching I will make several folders to save my findings in. I have a folder with all the water sources marked with a blue dot. I have a folder with all the peaks marked with a yellow dot. I have a folder with all the roads and trails marked with red lines, and a folder with all the ridges marked with yellow lines. With white dots I will identify glassing spots and what I would think would be the best route to access them.

When all of these areas are identified and saved into the respective folders I will "turn on" and "turn off" the different folders just to get a feel for the information that I have identified. I can look at the water sources and then turn on the road/trail folder to see the proximity to the different roads and trails. I can turn on the glassing spots and see where they are at relative to water sources, food sources, saddles, escape routes.

I guess you could say that my version of E-Scouting is just marking anything that looks good... and the area with the most things marked generally gets the majority of my attention moving forward.

Full disclosure, I have already identified the area that I will focusing my attention on this year. My wife peeked over my shoulder one night as I sat in the chair while watching TV and with a confused look on her face asked me what all the markings meant... the screen looked like a mess of lines and dots all over the map.

I've done enough E-Scouting on this area now that I have actually identified several little "mini-spots" within the larger area and that is what drives where I will select to make my basecamp. I've identified several good camp locations on the satellite imagery and I have each of those spots already prioritized. I'll take a drive down to the area sometime this summer and investigate in person those camp spots and solidify which one is first choice, second choice, etc.

I would also like to take a couple short hikes to some of the glassing spots I've identified just to get my own eyes on those areas, and maybe if a couple of the water sources are as out of the way as they appear on the satellite images I just might put up a trail camera or two.

Jun 3, 2020

Preparing for September - "Prepare Every Needful Thing"

I would imagine that most tagholders for the 2020 hunting season, especially those who drew limited entry and once-in-a-lifetime permits have begun their preparation. Most have probably started with internet research... what the cool kids these days call "e-Scouting." I confess, I have done my fair share of e-Scouting but much of what is actually consuming my thoughts right now are the little logistical details.

My biggest focus currently is this... "how can I plan and prepare now to maximize my time on the mountain." That leads me to thinking of all the things that I have experienced over the years that have come up or happened that have cut my time short while hunting... you know, all those little things that pop up that cause you to be back at camp, headed into town, or even headed back to camp early.

First, vehicles. I have been stranded by dead batteries in both vehicles and ATVs. Those were fun experiences and gratefully none of them left me in too big of a pickle.

I always carry a Stanley portable jump starting kit that also doubles as a basecamp USB charger for phones and other devices. My parents got me one of these several years ago and I don't go hunting or fishing without it... for the most part it's functioned as a big phone charger but there have been a couple of occasions where we've used it to jumpstart an ATV or vehicle. I will also probably try to borrow a small generator just in case. I will be carrying chains for all 4 tires of my little 4WD Ford Escape (that's right... no big pickup truck for me just yet, and I've found that I can easily take that little Escape into places that really bugger up bigger vehicles paint jobs!). I'll plan on doing some maintenance work on my vehicle through the summer and probably even take it into Les Schwab before I leave to have them do one of their pre-trip checks just to make sure there's nothing super crazy potentially going on. I'm still unsure if I want or need to take ATVs. I am planning to drive out to the main area I have been e-Scouting sometime this summer to check it out, I will make the final decision on the ATVs until I see if they would be necessary.

Second, base camp. One of the biggest differences that I want to have between my hunt in September and my grandfather's hunt back in 2014 is I want to me mobile. My grandfather set up an elaborate basecamp... a huge canopy with a kitchen underneath, multiple sleeping and food tents, a small latrine tent... it was quite comfortable.

However, because we had put down such deep roots in that campsite there was no desire to explore other areas that were any farther than about a 30 minute drive from camp, and if we would have not been seeing elk and wanted to move to another area altogether it would have taken hours to break camp, move, and set everything back up again.

For my hunt I am prioritizing mobility. I am willing to sacrifice many of the creature comforts of that elaborate camp for the ability to pull up stakes and move without hesitation. My vision for basecamp will be a good sized tarp strung between trees protecting a simple "kitchen" that includes my small Lifetime camping table (sadly this Lifetime 8190 Portable Camp Table is no longer in production although a similar table is made as a "tailgating table"), small 2 burner propane stove, a high output single burner stove from Camp Chef , and an old canning pot. My intent is that in the event that we decide to move that it would take less than 2 hours to break camp and get everything packed back in the vehicle and be on the road headed to our next spot. We will have a simple dome tent for sleeping and all coolers will likely be kept under tarps/blankets outside, I don't want to have multiple tents and things to have to take down. But I could definitely see having a couple hammocks strung between trees to relax in during down time.

Lastly, I have been thinking a lot about food and food preparation. I do not want to spend a whole bunch of time at camp preparing meals. I have had good luck with what I call "grab & go" type stuff for breakfast... granola bars, fruit & grain bars, donuts, fruit... stuff that is easy to grab as soon as you wake up, throw it in your pack or pockets and eat it when you have 10 seconds to sit down later in the morning. For lunches I'm thinking of just doing deli sandwiches and making my own elk/deer/pronghorn pastrami for the lunch meat. Either that or getting a couple of the pre-made deli sandwiches from Winco and splitting those between everyone. I guess I'll have to see how many roasts I have left in my freezer come September and if I'll have enough meat to make my own lunch meat. Lunch is still very much a topic that requires additional thinking before I make up my mind. My plan for dinners is to make them beforehand, with the help of my wife, and then portion out the meals into vacuum sealed bags that can be thrown into a pot of boiling water to heat them up. When we return to camp we can fire up the Camp Chef burner as soon as we get back and throw the meals into the water to heat up, then we can go get changed, and by the time we get back to the kitchen area our dinners are already in the process of getting heated. Most of the meal ideas I've had involve either rice or pasta... grilled chicken fettuccine alfredo, mongolian beef stir fry with rice, maybe even a little salmon chowder if I have any left by then! I'll just have to pay attention to what meals my wife makes that would work well being bagged and vacuum sealed then reheated.

I'm actually having a lot of fun thinking about these logistical type things and discussing them with Doug and Cody.

May 26, 2020

Preparing for September - Physical Condition

If you didn't catch my post the other day about drawing a Utah limited entry elk tag... it is a tag that I had targeted for several years now and I knew going into the application period that I had a very good chance at being one of the top point holders, so I was expecting to draw this year. Knowing that my chances of drawing were good I actually began preparing around the New Year. I knew that I had to get myself right physically.

I am part of the predominant religion here in Utah and in my local congregation I was called to work with the Deacon's Quorum (12 & 13 year old boys). The Church rolled out a new program for the youth and since I was working with them I decided to also participate and set some goals for myself. One of the goals is "Physical" and sometime between Christmas and New Year's Day I stepped on the bathroom scale and saw a number that I had never seen before... 225. At 6'2", 225 isn't bad if you are an NFL safety... but I'm almost 40 and have a desk job!

For the last couple years I had told myself that I wanted to weight 185lbs again. I felt that I had the motivation to actually do something about it this year. I decided to start small and for the month of January I eliminated soda and candy (Dr. Pepper and Swedish Fish are my cryptonite). I also decided to try a "Push-Up Challenge" of doing 100 pushups a day for 30 days. January came and went without me drinking any soda or eating any candy and doing 100 pushups every day. On January 31st I stepped on the scale and it read 219.4lbs. Not too bad for my first month and the best thing about the pushup challenge is that it got me into a routine of doing something daily.

In February I continued with the goal to not drink soda or have any candy and to replace the pushups I decided to take it up a notch and do a "Burpee Challenge" where I did 100 burpees a day. February came and went and on Feb 29th I stepped on the scale and it read 211lbs. But at this point I was starting to see plateaus in my weight-loss so I knew that I would have to step up my physical activity.

In March I began to finish three bedrooms, a home office, and a family room in my basement so I took advantage of the physical labor. I also began doing specific workout routines alternating by doing core specific routines M/W/F and High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) routines T/Th/S and taking Sundays off to rest. I would work on the basement in the afternoons right after work, then after the kids went to bed I would do my workout routines. I really started to see the physical changes during March... the love handles started shrinking, the spare tire was shrinking... it felt good and I liked looking in the mirror and seeing some real results. Interestingly though, I didn't see a huge difference in March on the scale because on March 31st I stepped on the scale and it read 207.8lbs... but I knew that even though the sheer weight loss wasn't as high as the previous months I was going through what the fitness experts call a "body recomposition".

In April, I stepped it up again and included a weight lifting/training component to go along with my core workouts on M/W/F. And man, did that accelerate the "body recomposition" and the weight loss that I was seeing continued. On April 30th I stepped on the scale and it read 200.2lbs.

The first time I stepped on the scale and saw a number below 200 was May 3rd... 199.8lbs.

May has been tough, I've gotten away from my routine a little bit because we were in a time crunch to get the basement ready for carpet so there was about a week where I was up until 1 or 2 am painting and didn't do my usual workouts. Once you get out of routine it's so easy to just let it go... and it's so hard to get back into the routine. I also developed a nasty case of tendonitis/tennis elbow from all the mudding, sanding, and painting so I haven't been able to do any of the weigh training without re-aggravating it and setting myself back. I really want to get back to the weight training soon.

To date my lowest number on the scale has been 196.8lbs on May 22nd. I'm trying to get back into the routine but I'm finding that now that the kids are officially out of school and summer has started that I don't get that time in the evening between when they go to bed and when I go to bed. I'm going to need to be creative in carving out my workout time again and getting back into the routine. The workout routines put out by FitnessBlender.com are great, I've created a profile and identified a number of "favorite" videos for core, HIIT, and lower body specific routines that I really like and that push me. I generally look for workouts lead by the male instructor because those seem to be an intensity level that are a better fit for me. My wife has been a huge support, she has been exercising religiously for a while now and has even started training for a half marathon this summer. We support each other mutually... she knows if it's a "core night" or "HIIT night" for me and I know which days are her "run days" so we can keep track of each other.

In five months I have lost nearly 30 pounds and I'm creeping closer to my goal weight of 185lbs... and hopefully that means that I am in good physical condition to go up and down the mountain on my elk hunt this fall. I've got about 12 pounds to go and I'm hopeful that over the next couple months I'll be able to shed that weight and reach my goal before my hunt starts.

May 23, 2020

Zoleo Satellite Text Messaging Device

I have spent a decent amount of my free time debating on whether or not it would be necessary for me to invest in a device that would enable me to communicate with my wife and loved ones while I am hunting the back country. One of the major deterrents for purchasing such a device was price. The Garmin inReach Mini and Delorme/Garmin inReach handheld have been readily available for years. I was also almost ready to pull the trigger on the BivyStick Satelite communication device.

All of the mentioned devices approached the $300.00 range for purchase and they also required subscriptions for service. I had previously owned a Spot 3 device and it failed to send a check in message to my wife resulting in a couple nights of tears and funeral plans. After that experience, she insisted that I needed a 2 way device so that I could confirm that she had received my messages.

I carefully considered the existing devices for purchase and then one night while browsing Instagram the Zoleo device appeared on my social feed. I was astonished to see that the device was listed for $199. After seeking reviews I noticed that there was only 1 review on Amazon at the time. After careful consideration, I concluded that the difference in price between the Zoleo and the other devices was enough to send it through the check out process on Amazon.

One of the major features that sold me on the Zoleo device was the fact that it had buttons to check in and call "SOS" in the event that my cellphone became compromised.

When the device arrived, I downloaded the Zoleo app and I was pleasantly surprised to observe how quickly the device connected to my cellphone. I got online and entered my credit card information to start my Subscription. Zoleo charges $40 to activate your account and then from there you can select one of their three plans:$20/ Basic, which enables the device to send and receive 25 messages;$35/In Touch, which enables to the device to send and receive 250 messages; $50 Unlimited, which enables unlimited messages. The Basic and In Touch plans allow users to pay $.50 for any additional messages that get transmitted in excess of their plans limitations. All plans include Satellite SOS alerts and GEOS SOS Monitoring Services.

Upon powering up the device I discovered that the device has an audio component to it and it sounds off at activation. When you send messages the device will first determine if you have either Wifi or Cellphone reception to economize your precious limited satellite messages. If a message must be sent via satellite the device has four lights to indicate transmission and message arrival. The Zoleo app is amazingly simple and it displays all the information that anyone would ever need. It provides battery Status in both bars and numerical percentages, and satellite connectivity. The contacts in my cellphone automatically transferred over to the Zoleo app and I could instantly text any of my contacts. Upon sending my first message in Airplane mode, I was pleasantly surprised discovering that the device plays an audible tone indicating that the message was successfully sent and received. There are green checks that display when a message has been received by the recipient.

In my opinion this device does 100% of what I would ask of it to do. On a recent bear hunt I was able to send and receive messages from the location at the center of the image amongst the rockslide.

Using this device is as easy as turning on the device and opening up an app and sending text messages.

I would like to add that Zoleo has not sponsored this blog submission and I am not compensated in anyway for providing this review. I just feel that it is a great product with enough merit to write about.

May 19, 2020

Utah Draw Outcome

There should have been some measure of excitement to receive notification of a $285 pending charge on my credit card. There should have been confirmation of that excitement when the official DWR email was received. I read posts with exclamations of excitement and/or disbelief from guys who have drawn one tag or another. There I sat in front of my computer staring at the open email... SUCCESSFUL... and I wasn't excited about it. The thing is though, I don't get excited about drawing tags. I just don't. For whatever reason I've always just taken the results and moved on to the next phase. But even this was different. As I notified friends & family and they expressed their excitement for me, but I felt something very different... pressure.

You need to understand something here and now... I have a score to settle with that mountain. That mountain challenged my ego in 2014 and won, go back and read about my grandfather's limited entry elk hunt (here, it's the 2nd story from the bottom titled "2014 Central Mountains, Manti Early Rifle Elk"). This is personal and I'm not too ashamed to admit that this is about my pride. For my grandfather's hunt I was asked to gather all the information and put together a plan but as you can read there were circumstances and weaknesses (both physical and quite honestly mental) that prevented us from fully carrying out that plan & without a thoroughly thought out back up plan we floundered. This time however, this is my tag, this will be my plan, things will be done my way. I need to atone for the extremely unpleasant taste in my mouth from that past experience. The pressure likely comes from this. I want revenge. Redemption. Vindication.

So, I feel it. I feel pressure. I feel a ton of pressure as I begin preparing for this hunt. I feel pressure to have the kind of experience that warrants the years of waiting for this tag for what equates to the entirety of my adult life. I feel pressure to prove to those that were part of that hunt in 2014 that my planning and preparation was up to snuff, that it was good enough to kill an animal then & that it will be good enough now. I feel pressure to legitimize myself to you, to prove to you that this "online persona" I've created (whatever that means) through this blog and on the forums I frequent isn't a complete farce. I feel pressure from my wife to not completely waste almost $300 that could have been used to purchase actual food should I return home with empty coolers. It's cathartic to write about it (even though I feel silly saying cathartic).

All in all, I am far more excited now that I was a week ago & if past experience is any indication of the future my excitement will continue to grow through the summer. The early scouting process has begun and there have been many text discussions with the two friends (Cody and Doug... both regulars on this blog) who will be my "wingmen" on this endeavor. I'll try to give regular weekly(ish) updates on my scouting and preparation efforts leading up to opening day, sign up to receive email notification when posts are published.

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