Whirlwind trip around the South

I flew to Huntsville, AL on Wednesday, picked up Brandon after school and drove to Aiken, SC.  We arrived in Aiken at 11:45pm.  On Thursday, we just rested.  Friday we drove to Nashville, NC to visit my grandmother while she is in rehab for her back.  While we were there, I was able to see my Uncle Richard, Aunt Bobbie, Uncle Skippy and Aunt Mona.  After dinner with Bobbie and Richard, we went to Raleigh and watched my oldest niece, Bronwyn, play soccer.  Then we were off to Holly Springs to stay with my brother, Byron and his family.  We got up Saturday morning and watched my youngest niece play softball then hung around with Byron, Laurie and the girls for a couple of hours before driving back to Aiken.  Here are a few pics from our visit.

Da Bears

Last Saturday, I rode back in to get the tent and some other camping stuff. While I was there, I placed a game camera in a tree overlooking the scraps from the elk I had gotten the week before.

Terry and I rode in yesterday and picked up the camera. There were about 50 video clips of bears on the camera. I think there were two bears that had fed on the carcass.

Here are two of the best videos. The one bear is huge!

http://vimeo.com/29556469

http://vimeo.com/29556839

Elk Hunt

Saturday morning, Terry and I rode horses about six miles into the Gates of the Mountains Wilderness Area and set up camp. Much of the area is dry but we camped in a cool shady spot along a small creek.

Saturday evening, we hiked around and tried calling in some elk but they were pretty quiet. We did see a big black bear. On our way back to camp at dark, we saw a herd of elk in a meadow and there was one big bull with them. It was too late in the day to try to go after those.

The next morning we heard two different bulls bugling so we set up and tried to call them in to us. They didn't want to come down so Terry stayed in one place and called every few minutes. When she would call, the bulls would answer. I moved closer and closer until I was within about 75 yards of him. He walked a short distance then started rubbing his antlers on a tree. I was able to sneak up to 40 yards for the shot. Afterward, he ran about 50 yards and then tipped over.

We got the bull at 10:00 AM and it took until 6:15 PM to get him to the trailhead. It was a long hot hike out leading the horses.