Day off for holiday, I thought I'd make a ski jaunt. There is a peak some miles away I have made a few abortive attempts to reach in the past. Timing has always been bad and I have always been stalled and stopped by bad weather or bad snow or normally a combination of both.

This time I had high hopes.

Setting out and on the way...

I left home at 9:00AM and returned to the hearth again 4:00PM. As it turned out, I had to do a "gearshift" {skis to snowshoes or boots or back to skis} several times but overall the snow was pretty good. From home to the peak and back, round trip was about 11 miles. The ranch house here is at 2700 feet on the valley floor and the peak I skied to is 4000 feet. Along the way are many ups and downs even as the general trend is of course, up.

The Goal still some ways off:

A peak of any height is always fun to reach and this one sports some nice views:

I saw plenty of wolf track. In fact, at one spot I counted five fresh track going over the side of the trail. Then nearer home I found more. With the deer and elk concentrated in the low country, predators are concentrated among them, too.

On the way back, I wandered about in some thick timber and jumped a snowshoe hare. It bolted and ran, but didn't go too far. The little critter stopped in some brush and was somewhat obscured by such; enough to keep me from knowing exactly what part of it I was looking at but presenting enough body for a centermass hold with my Polish Tokarev pistol. Shot was about 20 meters and at the crack it flopped about and fell into a hole. Digging and rooting, I finally saw its head deep down and finished it with a head shot. I was shooting 85 grain Wolf gold Hollow Points. These are very accurate from the pistol and are quite destructive on small game and butcher stock. I shot a meat lamb {about 90 lbs on the hoof} last Saturday with this round and it nearly beheaded the critter under the skin, struck at the base of the head as it was.

The Harey Hiding Hole:

The hare collected:

It was a hard pull for me overall but the weather was beautiful, the snow for the most part good and I got to see lots of God's creatures {mostly deer} and the 1000 meter run across my hayfield coming home was just plain fun. And, of course, tasty bunny for the pot!

Looking back on it all, an enjoyable day spent: