Sunday
Guy and David went out to North Flat but the big guy did not appear. They saw nothing. Not sure where Bill and Craig went. Nothing much was seen. We all came back to the cabin, somewhat deflated.
Bill decided, after "sleeping on it", that the trees I had suggested were probably right. Before breakfast, while the day was not yet hot, we went down and trimmed some trees.
Over the years, some of the trees in the valley between HumBird and Matteoni have grown up. In years past, Dad and Bill have trimmed some, but the hedge needed trimming again. Here is a view of Matteoni from HumBird:
The trees that are blocking the view from the lowest clearings are on the far right, and shown here:
The trees are marked below:
It may seem easy to identify these, but it was not. Bill and Craig went down to the trees, David and Guy were spotters on HumBird. Craig cut down the tree on the far right. Being a helpful sort, as it was falling, I yelled into the walkie-talkie, "Craig, why did you cut THAT one?", with a tone that was both obnoxious and offending. Craig hollered back,
"Because that was the one you told me to cut, damn it!" I told him that I was just checking, it was the right one. He cussed abit more but knew he was had.
This cleared up the far right part of the ridge, but more needed to come down. Bill tried to identify the right one, with David's help (which Bill thought was not much help), and cut another one.
Bill cut one of its trunks, but it got stuck in the fork of an adjacent tree. It was down enough to not worry about it. Bill cut another trunk.
That left just one standing. Bill was tired, so I went down and cut the last one.
The crew walked back up to survey the final view:
We went back to the cabin and started breakfast around noon:
David and Guy packed up about 4, leaving Craig and Bill to do the final Sunday hunt and Monday am.
Bill's Report:
Lousy. Saw a bedded doe near our oak buffet. Can't see that bench well from Hummingbird.
Put trailcam there this morning. Cut more pines on Matteoni.