Montana; EXTREME HUNTER

Ah Montana! I have many wonderful memories of the “Big sky country”, I was a Mule packer and Big game Hunting guide in the Bob Marshall and Scape goat wilderness areas of that state for 5 years before heading to New Mexico and other adventures.
I had just recently returned to Montana from Maine via Virginia. My good friend Chelsea was in Virginia and informed me that she was moving back to Montana, and asked me if id rather ride with her instead of hitch hike across Canada.
I accepted her offer, took the train to Boston, then south to Virginia,  and met my friend at the depot. We drove to her digs in the woods; Chelsea had an excellent meal of venison prepared. I ate like a king, well stuffed and satisfied; we sat around talking for a while then crashed out. An early departure was expected so I wanted to get at least 4 hours of sleep.
After a 5 day drive across the USA with stops in West Virginia, Illinois, and South Dakota we arrived in Missoula, Montana at night, located Chelsea’s new digs, then hit the sack. I awoke early the next morning and began unloading her truck and the Uhaul trailer.
The next Morning she dropped me off at my friend Jagers house near Helena. Of course no one was home, so I went to the shed where I keep my gear cache and dug out my tent, army cot, and wood burning stove.
I set up camp in my usual spot on the Jager ranch and settled in. It was a little cool outside so I fired up the 2 dog stove and set a pot of water on to boil up some guides coffee. I had some staple foods in my cache also in the form of coffee, oatmeal, salt, sugar etc, so I cooked up a big pot of Oats too.
Call me strange but I love to eat cold oats in the morning with my coffee, I had just cooked up enough for 3 days or so.
I poured myself a cup of strong brew then headed outside to make friends with and to pet Jagers new dog Scout. Now Scout is a replacement dog for Alpine, old “Alpie” had to be put down last winter due to advanced age, cancer and a few other maladies from which he would never recover. I sure did love that big old dog. He was as big as a bear and very loving and friendly, he was also a great foot warmer on a cold day. However, Scout seemed to be a good dog also. She has a smart looking face, a pretty coat, seemed to mind well, and was easy to train. I’m sure Ill like her as much as I did old Alpine.
Anyhow, in due time Jager rolled in to the homestead and as always we exchanged greetings, and information. It was good to see my friend again! Jager is another of those hyper intelligent guys I have met in my travels, he has a great sense of humor, is very articulate, well traveled, educated and a force to be reckoned with if you piss him off.
The man can fix anything from a Zippo lighter to a diesel engine; he is combat vet, a 4^th degree black belt in some type of karate, and expert with ASP baton, Night stick, or knife. Jager is also very knowledgeable about the wilderness, big game hunting and all types of weapons. I have seen him pull off some amazing shots with a compound bow, rifle, shot gun and pistol.
For instance – making a head shot on a deer at 150 yards off hand, with a scope mounted .22 rifle in driving snow and very cold temperatures, through thickly growing lodge pole pines. Or, nailing a trophy sized Mule deer buck with a bow in the driving rain, or a 460 yard shot to bring down a trophy antelope, etc. etc. the list goes on.
He also has a wonderful library of excellent books and the largest video collection of movies and outdoor documentaries I have ever seen. I could spend years just going through his collection.
We sat down to some Blackberry brandy and coffee to talk about a hunt he wanted to make in an area that had just opened up to Pistol hunting. We made plans to head out the next morning before light so that we could get to the area just as the sun was coming up.
As we were setting there Jager told me about this character on a survival TV show claiming to be “An x Army Ranger and extreme hunter”, turns out he Lied about being an Army Ranger so I checked out his website to see what type of A-hole would claim such a thing . I couldn’t find anything to indicate that he was an “Extreme hunter” either .The only thing I could find on the website was Extreme Boredom.
Way too early the next morning, I was rousted out of my slumber by the sounds of someone splitting wood; it could only be one person at this hour – Jager! I heard him walk toward my tent, throw back the flap, come in, kick me in the foot and say – “You gonna sleep all day? It’s already past 3”.
Carrumba! It took me a few minutes to get my heart started, luckily Jager had a pot of Javva brewed up and I filled my old veteran travel mug. Now, I have traveled all over the world and tasted coffee from many places and I can tell you that Jagers coffee ranks somewhere in the top 5(maybe #3) for me in taste and consistency. Pretty good stuff on a cold Montana morning!
We hopped into the “Battle Blazer” as Jager calls his old beat up Chevy Blazer and lit a shuck for the mountains. As usual, my friend was correct as to the amount of time it would take us to arrive on site. He parked the “Battle Blazer” and we grabbed our packs. I was taking a leak and could hear Jager rooting around in the back of the Blazer looking for something. As I was zipping up I heard him lock and load his 1911A1 custom .45. It is sure a pretty looking piece, I am kinda jealous of it, I wished that I had one also.
We shouldered our packs and headed down the trail, After about 150 yards or so, I was walking behind Jager and finishing off the last of my coffee when I heard his .45 clear the holster followed by a shot! Then Jager saying “she’s down!”.
It was a pretty amazing snap shot. He hit the Doe in the head, on a down slope, through lodge pole pine trees that were growing pretty close together, after we paced it off it was about 50 yards or so.
I can’t hit the broad side of a barn at 25 yards with a 1911 but my friend Jager nailed this deer in the head at 50 yards while standing on slippery gravel in low light, on a down slope, through the trees– that is extreme hunting!
After we tagged the doe it took about 15 minutes to gut her out then another few minutes for us two old guys to drag this heavy doe up the hill toward to road. Once on the road Jager headed off to get the “Battle Blazer” so we could load up this old girl and head home.
The entire hunt took about ½ an hour to include gutting her out and dragging her to the truck .It took longer to drive to the area of operation then it took to harvest the doe.
Once we got back to the homestead we hung the doe, skinned her out, and quartered her then packed the meat in coolers to take to the meat processor. I remembered to bring the heart along from the gut pile and cooked it up later that evening with some onions garlic and chillies. I also made gravy from the drippings and poured that over some taters I boiled up.
We took the ribs, Jagers wife made a spice rub for them, then we roasted the ribs on the grill; tastier fare you have never eaten! Jager, his wife and son and tomahawk all stood around knawing on those deer ribs until they were just a pleasant memory.
Good stuff and another memorable time to add to the thousands I have had in Montana! I look forward to getting back there again soon to spend time with my friend.
As the old Merle Haggard song says “Big city turn me loose and set me free; somewhere in the middle of Montana” Truer words were never spoken!

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