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What could be better than combining backpacking, hunting, and fishing?
I met up with Sherpaman at 6:30 on Friday night and we made the drive over toward Goodluck Lake in the Southern Adirondacks. As we drove up a hill on Route 10 as we neared the town of Arietta, it began to snow lightly. By 9pm we made it to the trailhead. Fortunately it was a short hike to where we were to setup camp because each of our packs must have weighed in around 60 or 70 pounds with our extra hunt cloths, gear, and 10lb+ riffles. When we made it to camp we set up the tent and were in bed by 10:30.
4:00am came too soon the next morning as we crawled out of our sleeping bags and into the frigid morning air. We put on our hunting cloths, at breakfast, drank coffee, and headed into the surrounding forest in the dark so we could be sitting on watch for daybreak. Between 7:30 and 8, Sherpaman radioed to me to start a drive. I zigzagged through the woods, over a rocky knob, and through a spruce swamp before reaching Sherpaman. By the time I reached him I had stripped down the layers of clothing I needed to keep warm earlier the best I could, but was still very hot. We took turns driving and watching for the remainder of the morning. Over the course of the morning we traveled through gullies, through swamps, up ledges, up through ravines, and even over a 2300’ mountain before returning to camp around 1pm for venison chops for lunch. Most of the hiking was off trail. Sherpaman tossed a line in the water in an attempt to catch a fish. By 2:30 we returned to the hunt and sat on watch until dark and returned to camp by the light of headlamps.
The next morning we slept through our alarms and didn’t walk up until 5am. We rushed to get ready and ended up heading into the woods at about the same time as the day before. Sherpaman headed up the trail up Goodluck Mountain to sit on watch, while I drove up the backside of the mountain. As I approached the summit I ran into bear scat and a freshly ripped open rotten log and stump. Close to the summit I jumped a deer which I only saw it’s tail as it ran away. We took a brief break on top of the summit cliffs which gave us views across the Mohawk Valley and as far as the Helderberg Escarpment. We descended off the mountain and made one last drive. Sherpaman had a fairly close encounter with a bear. He didn’t see it but heard it as it ripped down a tree and saw the tree it ripped down shortly after the bear left (I presume it took off when it heard him approach). We saw no more deer, but a lot of fresh tracks. We then returned to camp, packed up and, hiked out. The deer defiantly outsmarted the hunters this weekend, but it was great to just be out there.
I met up with Sherpaman at 6:30 on Friday night and we made the drive over toward Goodluck Lake in the Southern Adirondacks. As we drove up a hill on Route 10 as we neared the town of Arietta, it began to snow lightly. By 9pm we made it to the trailhead. Fortunately it was a short hike to where we were to setup camp because each of our packs must have weighed in around 60 or 70 pounds with our extra hunt cloths, gear, and 10lb+ riffles. When we made it to camp we set up the tent and were in bed by 10:30.
4:00am came too soon the next morning as we crawled out of our sleeping bags and into the frigid morning air. We put on our hunting cloths, at breakfast, drank coffee, and headed into the surrounding forest in the dark so we could be sitting on watch for daybreak. Between 7:30 and 8, Sherpaman radioed to me to start a drive. I zigzagged through the woods, over a rocky knob, and through a spruce swamp before reaching Sherpaman. By the time I reached him I had stripped down the layers of clothing I needed to keep warm earlier the best I could, but was still very hot. We took turns driving and watching for the remainder of the morning. Over the course of the morning we traveled through gullies, through swamps, up ledges, up through ravines, and even over a 2300’ mountain before returning to camp around 1pm for venison chops for lunch. Most of the hiking was off trail. Sherpaman tossed a line in the water in an attempt to catch a fish. By 2:30 we returned to the hunt and sat on watch until dark and returned to camp by the light of headlamps.
The next morning we slept through our alarms and didn’t walk up until 5am. We rushed to get ready and ended up heading into the woods at about the same time as the day before. Sherpaman headed up the trail up Goodluck Mountain to sit on watch, while I drove up the backside of the mountain. As I approached the summit I ran into bear scat and a freshly ripped open rotten log and stump. Close to the summit I jumped a deer which I only saw it’s tail as it ran away. We took a brief break on top of the summit cliffs which gave us views across the Mohawk Valley and as far as the Helderberg Escarpment. We descended off the mountain and made one last drive. Sherpaman had a fairly close encounter with a bear. He didn’t see it but heard it as it ripped down a tree and saw the tree it ripped down shortly after the bear left (I presume it took off when it heard him approach). We saw no more deer, but a lot of fresh tracks. We then returned to camp, packed up and, hiked out. The deer defiantly outsmarted the hunters this weekend, but it was great to just be out there.
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