Too much Camo

I had been hunting the high country in central Oregon for about a week. My hunting partners on this trip were my cousin Steve and my brother in-law Dennis. We had seen a lot of deer and a few elk so far on this trip.

The one thing that I was looking to bag with my bow was a cougar. I had found several dead deer in a canyon that had the markings of a cougar kill. I had passed this information on to my hunting partners and explained the cougar was probably still hanging out in the same location.

We had heard a lot of bugling in the bottom of this same canyon so the plan was for Steve to go into the bottom and setup and wait to see if one of the bulls would come his way. He found a pretty good spot where several trails intersected and sat on a log on the downward side of the intersection. It wasn't long before he heard movement on the hillsides around him. With ears perked for the sound of any incoming elk, Steve was on pins and needles. Then a sound behind him set him on alert. It was the sound of bark tearing off a log. Only thing it was the log he was setting on. Then something hit him square in the back. Screaming like a women was his first reaction and his thoughts were, of the cougar has me and I'm a dead man. Good-bye cruel world see ya later alligator. Then a little voice rang out yelling and scolding him for being there. It seems that his camo had worked so well a squirrel had ran down the log he was setting on and tried to climb him as if he were just another tree in the woods.

After gaining his composer and getting himself out of a tree he had jumped into. He proceeded to chase the killer squirrel all over the area. The squirrel was able to climb a tree every time he got close and then would jumping down and continuing the game it seemed to enjoy playing with the strange-funny tree. Soon Steve couldn't play any more and had to go back to camp and cleanout his pants from the attack of the killer squirrel.

Another example of having too much camo was when my brother in-law Dennis decided he would setup in a ground blind and see if he could harvest one of the deer we were seeing in a certain meadow. Once at the location Dennis sat himself on a stump over looking the meadow. After a little while he noticed there was a log near by that he thought would give him a better view of his ambush spot. So being the good hunter, he moved to the primo location. He had just settled in when he heard something approaching from his previous location behind him. Knowing he couldn't turn around without scaring off what ever it was that had walked up behind him. He sat very still in hopes that it would walk by and give him a shot once it pasted his position. But as all bow hunters know it was not to be. The intruder stopped just a few feet behind him and spit all over the back of his neck and head. Turning quickly, there before him stood three large Mule deer bucks. Within seconds all parties were miles apart and still wondering what had transpired. After cleaning himself up Dennis returned to camp. With the lesson just learn, that sometimes being to close can cause you to get a spit bath from your quarry, which can be the worst humiliation of your life.