I get up to slip my boots on well before daybreak. The sky is perfectly clear. The waning moon and stars has this open meadow lit up like a lantern. The winds are light and steady. They have been like the force of a hurricane for days now. That’s a little exaggerated but you get the idea. It is just cool enough for a lightweight jacket. I only have a couple days left here on the mountain and really need to make them count. This has the looks of a good day to make something happen.

A hurricane had made landfall in Louisiana the evening before I left home to make my journey across the Country. It was mostly a big rain event, back home. It rained all night and we left in the rain the next morning. . It rained on us clear in to Arkansas, maybe southern Missouri. The winds were extremely gusty, at times. From what I’ve learned, a catastrophic hurricane, will make landfall at the Florida Panhandle. This one will also make landfall the evening before I leave. Hopefully it will all be moved out by the time I make way into my homeland of the south.

I am sitting here at the trailhead well before sunrise. I prep my pack to make sure I have all the gear I’ll need, before I hit the trail. As I am making my way down, I see the sky start to brighten more and soon after the eastern sky starts to glow. The winds are light and pulling in a good direction for the hunt.

As I approach the spot I want to listen from, I notice the clouds rolling in from the west. Then, I hear my first bugle of the morning. Not long after, the winds picked up and the temps drop. The sun was reaching the mountain side to the west. Hurriedly, I try to cut some distance. I know the winds are about to go spastic, as they do almost every day in this drainage. Especially with this kind of change.

About halfway, I spook what I believe to be one of his cows. Frustration sets in but I have the wind in my face and keep going. It is now cloudy but the wind is holding steady. I am desperately trying to get in as close as possible to maybe only make a few cow calls, if any at all.

These bulls are extremely call shy due to fact of being so heavily pressured for almost 3 weeks now. It is not easy to sneak in on them here. The burnt area is open and the un-burned is so thick that I am busting brush to get through. I have this gut feeling to stop. I think, “No need to push it”. Then, I feel a slight breeze hit the back of my neck.

The thought of “back out”, runs through my mind like a freight train. Suddenly, I hear movement. The sound of elk hooves on the ground, thumping rock. Now, a bull sounds off just slightly out of sight. “Too late”, I think to myself. I am about to see them or I am going to get busted. I knock an arrow, to get ready. In that instant, I feel sprinkles of rain hit my head and the wind makes a dive, right in the direction of the sound of what I believe to be elk.

The winds from a hurricane are devastating. They wreak havoc on anything that it comes across for miles and miles inland. Though, not life threatening, nor property damaging, the winds in the mountains will wreck a hunt in an instant. I am overly conscience of the wind and play it to the best of my abilities, but it has always been my worst enemy. This year, it seems to be worse. Maybe it has simply been the drainage I have hunted. I work a big loop and stay quiet for hours, in hopes to hear another elk sound. I failed….

I am no quitter, so I moved camp to hunt another location for my last day. The wind is predicable and calm here.

I pray for my friends and others in the midst of this hurricane. May your camp withstand the winds and you overcome its path of destruction.