Contributors to this thread:
So much about how tuff navigating dead falls...I just got up on the logs and walked...sometimes I was 10 feet off the ground. Did fine until stepping on loose bark that slipped. Good to work on balance in prep for elk hunting. Walking on top of the logs is easiest way to get through these obstacles.
I'll agree with that point, but sometimes that opportunity doesn't always present itself when trying to navigate deadfall.
True beg, nevertheless, lots of footwork and balance drills will pay off in the rocks and when carrying a top heavy load. Feet and balance leave with age far before strength and stamina leaves. Probably an overlooked aspect of training for a mountain hunt.
i save this part for night time more fun esp when u almost impale yourself
I hate to agree with you on the balance issue, but you're probably right
Ed Viesturs wrote that before one of his Everest summits he did a lot of balance drills with a personal trainer. I believe he said it made a difference
Bake
I did a non-hunting backpacking trip with a friend about 7 yrs ago where we spent several days in eastern Washtington in stuff that was so thick with dead fall, that there were many areas that the trees didn't fall to 45 degrees. These areas of clear cut, decades after the harvest, had very tall trees that grew right next to each other. Eventually the fastest growers killed the lower story.
We had areas where we never touched the ground for hundreds of yards and 10 feet off the ground was common. We actually pushed over 3 standing dead trees on that trip just putting our hands on them for balance. It was remarkable the first time, then it just got plain scary.
Ever since that 6 day trip, the two of us navigate on downed logs with ease whereas our hiking partners will go around the odd downed log.
Enough time doing anything mechanical makes you better at it.
Make sure you have some Quick Clot in your pack if you do much deadfall walking with a pack. I still have pieces of wood working their way out of my leg after impaling myself on a sharp staub that broke off with my body weight. Happened so fast. I was walking the log just fine, then my foot slipped on a damp spot in a shadow. That was 10 years ago.
Luckily it didn't get an artery. I hobbled out and drove myself 60 miles to a hospital. The nurse turned white and almost passed out when she came in and saw the trauma surgeon with two fingers all the way inside my leg. He couldn't reach the end of the wound.
Sure that was the wound Lou?
I walked them in the Flat Tops years ago and even jumped a small herd sleeping ahead of me. I will not walk them ever again. Too risky. Anymore with all of the Beetle kill I pay attention where I put my tent in the back country just in case it gets windy.
Oldgoat, The prostate duties are reserved for my attractive single-mom doctor, who wears tight jeans and low cut tops to help ease the procedure.
;)
This wound was so deep the surgeon was touching my liver. He had a funny line as he was pulling the wound together- "Sorry, but your days as a leg model are going to be over when this heals."
Those dead falls are going to be an issue more and more. Pair all of the beetle kill with elk that find spots away from pressure and an area with deadfalls is the ticket.
So many guys hate hunting in that stuff- me included...but the elk love it for bedding areas.
Waiting for TBM's 'next level HDYLMK' walking-on-water tips :-)
Lou; does your GUM practitioner take private consultations? ;-)
Yes it can be good training, but it is also dangerous. Walking on deadfall with a partner is one thing, but when alone, you may just be asking for it. You really have to pay attention. The problem is when you get complacent and start hopping on logs lying more down-slope. A couple years ago I took a spill that probably looked pretty nasty from a bystander, but I only ended up bruising my tailbone luckily.
Kill an elk in chest high deadfall a half mile from a trail and three miles from the truck? Not me. Good luck to those that do. I have passed those shots too many time to remember.
I guess bears and ravens have to eat too.
This was one of the easier areas where I hunted this year. I could step over most of it. But it was easier to call them to me on the edges than go in there after them.
The upside is that I could hear their hooves hitting logs from a long distance when they came in silently.
Hard to get through this stuff quietly. However, the SLIP System trekking pole helps with stability and balance, and provides an instant decoy if needed!
Best of Luck, Jeff (Bowsite Sponsor)
TBM... 10 feet in the air. You didn't think to walk under it? Or is your noggin really that big?
Jacqumo, I have a similar prostate exam story, will PM you...lol
Awwwww Fuzzy :-(
And I thought Bowsite was all about sharing...
;-)
And elk just fly through that stuff. Night time and steep terrain in this stuff is a nightmare.
My knees ache just looking at those pictures
I didn't take pictures of the blowdown that I encountered this year.
I'm not going back to get any either.
you guys need to take "Navagating Blowhards 101"
I can avoid them easily in the daytime but it seems like in the dark I get sucked into deadfalls like water going down the drain....
I think the most danger I have ever been in, besides the time we went up the rock slide, was a big and gnarly aspen grove with dead fall stacked two high. It was a bad idea. I generally avoid aspen groves if I see dead trees in them, definitely rock slides.
I have a rule. Never walk on logs, especially if there is bark on them. If wet or snowy they can be deadly.
I watch 'Ax[e] Men' and am not at all surprised to see the loggers wearing boots with metal hobnails to give purchase when clambering over felled trees setting up choker lines
I did a rifle elk hunt in colorado this year. It was an old burn that was full of deadfall. It was hard to map out a route while looking at it and was especially hard once you started getting in it. I know one thing...pictures don't do it justice as far as the difficulty.
Sounds like some of you have been watching too many Bear Grylls TV shows. That guy will get you in trouble in a big hurry!
As far as dead fall goes, if you can't crawl over it or under it, go around it. Don't take a chance of injury. Am I right Jaquomo?
Bill, I wish I had a photo of the massive hole in my leg after we pulled the staub out. Ten years later and my thumb barely covers the scar and hole.
Many would throw up after seeing that chunk of wood broken off and sticking out of their leg. I guarantee it would cure a lot of internet flatland log-walkers...
"Jacqumo, I have a similar prostate exam story, will PM you...lol"
"It was a one in a million shot doc" Frank Costanza
That bark that flies off the second you weight it is "speed bark"...fun stuff. I really think wearing trail running shoes with a good rock plate is the way to go for lots of deadfall. The soft shoes with soft tread spreads your weight out and conforms to the surface much better than a hard boot. The Salomon sense mantra is the grippiest thing I have ever used, even on wet logs.
A fractured thumb and a hyper extended knee was enough to teach me a lesson!
Can't believe some folks are casual about walking on deadfalls. So many assumptions go into doing it - it's not going to move, I'm going to have perfect balance, I'll have good traction, when I get to the end of the damn thing I can keep going, if I fall off---what??? Way too many factors to make it a good risk most of the time. BTW, I'm not talking about logs on the ground, although buried branches are rarely dry and usually slippery as hell. At least there you can use a walking stick and usually catch yourself.
Agree with TBM (jeez, again) that balance exercise are key. Anybody put up a slackline? Sometimes deadfalls are unavoidable, but that is the definition of high risk behavior. Another thing, if you do fall and break a leg, chances are real good that not only will you not be able to get out, but nobody will find you. I look at areas of beetle kill and hope that they end up logged or burned.
Williamtell, In a lot of areas in Colorado really bad deadfall is an unavoidable navigation hazard. There are literally entire units that any timber is deadfall.
Also, say what you want about the beetle kill, I agree it is a total pain, but it is creating some really good hunting and habitat in what not so long ago pretty bad habitat.
If I fall and break a leg they WILL find me. Even if I'm just out for a quick scouting hike with my dog, I always carry a full compact survival/first aid kit and a SPOT locator with extra batteries.
A couple close calls in bad country when solo scared good sense into me. I spend a lot of time alone in bad places, and don't intend to end up as a headline, and later, a SAR case study.
I have had my SPOT not give a location on several occasions. They are good but not infallible.
Larry, I've heard that, but so far mine has been 100%. Haven't had to use the emergency beacon though (knock on wood) but since it sends out a signal every 15 minutes I assume that signal is more reliable? That's also why my survival kit is pretty comprehensive, so I can hang in there if basically immobile.
You guys can have all that thick crap !!
Always seem to find plenty of elk to hunt in sagebrush country !!
Question: If I'm in the middle of deadfall hell, going the aerial route by necessity, how would elk get anywhere near that? My experience is elk are really good at finding a landside route that isn't as bad as it looks on first glance - i.e., an 800-kb animal can navigate through with their feet on the ground every step. Of course, elk know the area and route and we don't, but I have on more than one occasion wondered if anything bigger than a squirrel could or would want to be where I regretfully end up.
Elk go through the laying on the ground deadfall like it wasn't there. But even they have a tough time in the stuff that is stacked a few feet off the ground. Big difference. For the elk. There is usually a decent trail somewhere through (or around) that stuff.
For us it all sucks.....
Unfortunately things change all the time, month to month, even week to week. You will be on a great trail working it's way though a bad stretch and suddenly it narrows and stops where it looks like a giant started a game of pickup sticks... do you go back (usually all uphill) find another route? Or fight your way through this section with the hope it opens back up in a little way??? Crap.
What is scary is when standing dead trees are everywhere, even camp has to be chosen carefully. If/when the big wind kicks up and you can hear the trees going down here and there....
williamtell and TD are spot on. If a 700-800# bull with big antlers sprouting out of his head can navigate that nasty stuff, I should be able to do it as well. I have never seen an elk try to imitate a circus tight rope walker yet.
I'm with Lou. I have an ACR ResQlink PLB. The older and more clumsy I get, the more I feel a need to pack it with me!
My friends' dog disemboweled itself on a deadfall snag a few years ago, those jagged branches can hurt you bad if you're not paying attention!
I've tracked (and recovered) wounded elk through that stuff with no blood trail. High lung, etc.. What looks like impenetrable pickup-sticks can actually be negotiated in some manner if you get down at elk eye level and look hard. Getting the meat out was another matter, however..
Try having a showdown with a cougar in waist-high deadfall, where the only trail through it is the one he's on about ten feet away and he shows no inclination to go anywhere but where he's crouched, with his tail twitching. That was a definite "pucker" experience.
One summer my partner and I spent a weekend with chainsaws cutting a path across a ridge to a morning ambush spot. Getting there any other way risked blowing the elk out as they fed up the open slope. By the time season started, the elk were using that trail every time they were on that slope. We killed a number of elk at the entrance to the trail before deadfall made it impossible again, and we got tired of clearing it every summer.
Jaq, you always have the best stories but just leave us hanging right after you set the hook.
F- TBM's thread, please tell the cougar story in full length and detail hahahah.
Ha, Evan -
Ok, the Cliff Notes version - I was picking my way through the huge deadfall to ambush a herd bull. There was only one viable path through it for about 100 yards. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a tan blur as the cat spun around to face me. He was stalking the same herd I was stalking.
He crouched and stood his ground, tail twitching, ears back, as I raised my jacket over my head, talked nice to him, talked dirty, negotiated. Standoff. I only had a longbow, and he was ten feet away, behind a log except for his head.
I paged my partner on the radio and told him the dilemma, that I was going to have to turn my back on the cat and climb over some waist-high deadfalls. I took out an arrow and hoped I would be able to stab him if he jumped on me. I held my breath and climbed out, and when I turned back around he was gone. Never saw him again.
I found another tricky path over and through the logs, and five minutes later I shot the herd bull. But I was looking over my shoulder the whole time.
The best part - the next season my partner was in almost the exact same spot trying to sneak in on a bull. He was a little freaked because of my experience the year before, and we'd found a partially-buried, freshly killed muley buck close by. Suddenly something jumped on his back and he shrieked like a little girl and started thrashing on the ground. Turns out he had a Montana elk butt decoy in his fanny pack, and it picked that very moment to blow open. :)
Boom! That is what I am talking about man! Great story, pretty crazy too. At any point did you consider trying to shoot him for your own safety?
This is so much better to get on here and read stories like this, rather than ready Turkey Blow Man's crap.
I know you are doing some writing now, where could i find some of your stories and pictures?
Thanks again,
Because of the way he was crouched behind a big log, the only thing I could see was his head and the tip of his tail. If I'd had bear spray I would have hosed him down. If I'd had a handgun, I probably would have shot the log. But it never occurred to me to try to shoot an arrow into his face.
I wasn't really "frightened", only concerned. Everything happened in slow motion and I was thinking clearly. It was good to learn that about myself in that situation.
I'm contributing now and then to Bowhunter and Bow & Arrow Hunting, mostly. Their standards are low enough that they seem to like my work. :) The most recent stories were in the September issue of Bowhunter and in the November-December issue of Bow & Arrow Hunting. I'm working on new pieces for both of them now. Thanks for asking!
Keep the stories coming Lou :-)
I remember waaay back when I first started reading 'Bowhunter' with MR James as editor in chief....wasn't there a guy called McGee who used to write a humourous column? Hunting should be fun after all...
'There I was, stalking the herd bull...when suddenly a p***ed looking Grizz appeared out of nowhere...all I had to hand was my decoy hat and a peanut and bacon bagel...'
I've got a B&C sized badger story that involves a MT elk butt decoy premature deployment... pretty sure I might have squealed just a bit too...
Stuff just happened to Maggie. We were eating at a diner and this waitress just picked him out of the crowd and started giving him the devil...he could dish it back though.
>>-ww---> I have the same problem, older = clumsy !
LOL! Sad but true. But it's not all bad. I hunt a lot slower than I used to. Makes for better stalking ability. Stop and smell the roses!
