2012 – A Year in Review Part 2

This is part two of our recap of 2012.  If you missed Part 1 be sure to check right here before reading on.

Summer started slow this year.  The water ran high through June, and we didn’t get much in for fishing.  In late June we decided to get back out and test our luck on some water that we hadn’t visited in months.  It paid off as I fooled a large brown on a green drake just as the sun was setting in the west.

From there on out the fishing was stellar.  The following week we took a small day trip to another one of our favorite creeks and found some fish willing to eat.  Travis made the best of the day and finished with a nice cutthroat.

I had the camera along and documented the afternoon in a short piece titled “Creekside.”

We soon had elk on our minds and traveled to a few of our elk haunts to put up trail cameras for the summer.

We found good sign in our spots and had four cameras up by the middle of June.  In mid-July we took our first backcountry fishing trip of the year.  It took us into some amazing country and the fishing was great.

For more photos and the story on this trip check out our post “Back to the Wild – Part 1” and “Back to the Wild – Part 2.”  Here’s the video from that trip, “7 Miles Back.”

From there we had a few mellow weeks and then embarked on our annual fishing trip to some of the most beautiful country we’ve set foot in.  It would be a weeklong fly fishing trip in the backcountry and the weather was perfect.  The beginning of our trip started off with us exploring some new water upstream of where we had fished last year.  After bushwacking to the river we were left with minimal options for a campsite.  The spot we found couldn’t have been better and it started our trip out with a bang.

The fishing was exceptional as always if you were willing to put in the time to get back away from the easy access.  This area, although remote, is just like any fishing in Montana.  The easy to access spots usually get fished hard and the best water always requires a little extra effort.  Up here any extra effort tends to pay off big time.

To read more about Part one of our trip see our post “The Unknown – Backcountry Cutties.”  Not only did we catch a bunch of beautiful cutthroat but we also managed to find and land some bull trout.  These fish are a little bit tougher to find and catch but we landed one each day we tied the streamers on the big rods.

To read and see more photos from our trip be sure to check out our post “The Unknown – Backroad Bull Trout.”  It was a killer trip and we filmed a bunch.  We came home and began sorting through the hours and hours of footage.  What we came up with turned out to be our best piece of the year and probably our best fly fishing short to date.  Enjoy “Wild & Clear.”

That trip would be our last fishing trip of 2012 and was a great end to another awesome summer of fishing.  Again we shifted back to the upcoming elk season and we made it back into the mountains to check our cameras and scout some areas around Missoula that we knew held elk.  We documented a day in the elk woods as we scouted in mid-August in a short film titled “Recon.”

In late August we made a two and a half day trip to Southwest Montana in search of antelope with our bows.  We got at least a half dozen stalks in and it was never tough to locate the antelope.  Getting in close undetected was definitely difficult.

On the last day we were able to cut off a large group of antelope does and unfortunately Travis missed as his arrow sailed right over her back.  It was a great chance to tune up our spot and stalk skills as we would be heading out the next week to chase elk in the open country of the Missouri Breaks.  Soon it was opening day of Montana’s archery season and our good friend Tyler had met up with us.  After his brother failed to show up for opening day, we decided to bring him along on the first morning and see if we could get into some elk.  Only an hour after daylight we had a bull on the ground.  After a group of four bulls came up the hill right to us, Tyler was presented a shot on a medium size bull and sent one right through both lungs.  He had taken his first elk and it was an awesome experience to share with him.

If you’d like to see more about our first week of elk hunting you can see more at “Brown and Down” and “Elk season continues.”  For the rest of the week we hunted hard and found bulls everyday.  We even called in a 5×5 to 20 yards, only to not get a shot opportunity.  The next week we were back and conditions had changed drastically.  There were hunters everywhere and the elk had congregated heavily in the thick willows that lined the riverbottom.  Without a boat and a tree stand set it was going to be tough.  After five days we had only located one mature bull that we could stalk.  We were able to sneak to 70 yards undetected but without further cover we couldn’t get any closer.  As is always the case, the wind swirled and the gig was up.  After that we decided to give our spot in the dark timber a go.  It was a stark contrast to what we had been hunting.

We found lots of sign but the elk weren’t being vocal.  We had just missed the rut and it’s almost impossible to take a bull without being able to call one in.  The second morning we had one come to 20 yards but the brush was so thick that Travis was never presented a shot and finally the bull spooked when he circled and caught our wind.  We were starting to get a little worried and decided to change up the tactics the following day.  After not finding any water sources we made our way to one that seemed too close to the road to be a good option.  After further investigation we found that the small bit of water was actually getting used fairly hard.  We decided to set up on a wallow that had fresh bear sign and wait.  About an hour into the hunt and a monsterous, old bull stepped out at 8 yards.  After almost two minutes at full draw, he finally turned broadside at 30 yards the the rest is history.

I had achieved my goal of arrowing a mature bull.  I was super stoked and to top it off Travis got it all on film and it’s going to be an awesome episode that will be released in 2013.  I had this bull aged and he ended up being a 14 year old elk.  You can read the whole story on my 2012 Archery elk right here.

After that we continued to hunt hard in an attempt to get Travis and elk with his bow.  After being unable to seal the deal with his Anarchy, it was on to rifle season.  We invited our Dad down for three days and would be hunting elk east of Missoula.  After two days of no fresh sign, we decided to move locations.  A snow storm was blowing through that night and we hoped the fresh snow would give us the upper hand the next day.  The following morning we woke up to a fresh blanket of snow.  We hiked up onto the ridge where Travis had shot his bull before and began searching for tracks.  After crossing a fresh set of grizzly tracks, we soon found tracks from a small herd of elk.  After spotting two through the trees and not getting any shot opprotunities, emotions were down.  We continued on and a few minutes later Travis spotted a black wolf cruising through the timber.  He dropped to a knee and with one shot, killed his first wolf.

For more photos and the full story see our post “A New kind of Predator.”

Over the following months, we spent our time exploring new country in search of a big, old mountain buck.  We got to see some amazing country and we hiked a lot of miles.

We found some awesome spots that we’ll be back to next year but we never did find that big mountain buck we were looking for.  Soon it was Thanksgiving and we were back home chasing whitetails up the mountain behind my parents home.  It was tough hunting, as spot and stalk would be our go to tactic.  The deer weren’t responding well to any type of calling and the brush was very thick making our efforts seem worthless.  On the last morning we were headed up the mountain when we spotted a nice whitetail staring at us off the side of the trail.  Travis quickly sized him up and decided he’d be a great first whitetail.  After two shots he had his first whitetail buck.

It was a nice 8 point and after some photos and a little video, it was time to take care of the meat and head back to Missoula.  Again we ventured back into the mountains to see if I could get it done on the last weekend.

Once again we covered lots of miles and glassed up a lot of country.  We found a few nice bucks but not quite what I had set out to tag.  Unfortunately I would go another season without punching my deer tag.  At least it will fuel the fire for next year as I look to bag a big mountain buck.  After that we finally caught up on some sleep and editing.  In early December we made it out to fish for the first time in months.  We met up with our good buddy Anthony Von Ruden and hit a local spot.  The weather was pretty nasty as the temperature was in the low 40s and a steady rain was coming down.  We soon found that the fishing was red hot as we all began hammering into fish.

The action kept up for the next couple hours and Travis landed his largest rainbow of the year.  It was a chunky bow that would rival some of it’s Alaskan counterparts.  To see more from this day be sure to check out our post “Brown December.”

The rest of December found us working hard to get proposals out to all of our hunting sponsors so we can continue to make hunting films in 2013.  We also spent countless hours going through all of our fly fishing footage from 2012.  We finished our Fish Reel for 2012 and scheduled flights to go to the SHOT show to kick off 2013.  Below is our 2011 Fish Reel and our most recent 2012 Fish Reel.  I think that the progression is apparent and I can’t wait to see how 2013 shapes up for us.

Thanks again for all the support you guys have shown us and we are very excited about the projects we have planned for 2013.

-Zack