One of the biggest issues that occurred during my recent blacktail deer hunt was that we were basically stuck to moving across Oregon's massive public lands by foot. Don't get me wrong, I love a good heavily-armed hike, but going to a new spot like Southern Oregon, where the mountains are steep, and the woods are thick, well, that's not a recipe for true success.
And while the original plan would've solved that, i.e., taking the Stark Vargs off the trailer to rip around the woods, the weather in fall was not conducive to that plan at all. Rain turned to snow, snow turned to ice, and ice then turned to warm weather and muddy puddles on the last day, the only time I could take the Vargs into the woods.
While I still maintain the Starks were great at sneaking up on deer, their use case for a Southern Oregon fall in what amounts to a coniferous rainforest wasn't the best planning on my part. What I should've done is what Jody Smith, the man behind Jody Smith Guide Service who was just up the road from where we were, does. And that's rely on something like his Can-Am Defender, which is showcased in this awesome conservation and hunt film by Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation.
The video teamed RMEF with some folks from both Browning and Silencer Central, the latter of which produces the suppressor that's currently fitted to my Christensen Arms Ridgeline FFT and which came with me to Oregon. According to the description, "Along Oregon’s rugged coast, representatives from Browning and Silencer Central team up with the RMEF for their first-ever Roosevelt elk hunt. Over four rain-soaked days, they navigate thick timber, coastal fog and the challenges of hunting Roosevelt bulls."
And it's that "rain-soaked" and navigating "thick timber" and "coastal fog" that I want to highlight, as that's exactly what we encountered on the deer hunt. But while Brandon May from Silencer Central, and Ryan Jibson from Browning were nestled away in the Defender's cab, warm and out of the elements while they were searching for their quarry, we weren't. And that can be a big boost to morale, or in our case, the opposite.
Honestly, having spent a lot of time behind the wheel of a side-by-side this year in my hunts, I should've known better than just to rely on the bikes. But more than that, after watching this video, I know how I can seek redemption next year, and it's absolutely going to involve a side-by-side with doors, windows, and an HVAC system.
