Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/433799
S P O R T I N G C L A S S I C S 3 6 If I can't be there when it happens, hearing her story will be almost as good. There's also been much talk about big elk lately. Daughter-in-law Alisha has permission to hunt on a big ranch east of the mountains. It's a stronghold for bulls after snows clog the high country. I'll be there if Keni's deer is hanging, mostly to watch the other side of the mountain just in case that's where they happen to be and to help my son pack quarters, if things turn out the way we imagine. Alisha will, no doubt, insist on carrying out the head. Her excitement over it all has been contagious. The people at Fish, Wildlife and Parks recently saw their way clear to send me a special permit as well, this one for cougar in the Swan Range. A friend quickly volunteered his hounds and snow machines, and we've carved out a chunk of January when conditions should be just right. A lightweight, pinpoint-accurate Savage .243 is waiting in the safe and my snowshoes are already loaded in the truck. Best of all, my wife, Kellie, will be going along. I hope that she is the one who discovers the track, and I'll let her lead the way as we close in on the hounds barking treed. In the end it will be our cat, not simply mine. Afterward, I suspect, Kellie will want a cougar permit of her own. A s hunters, we seem to spend most of our time waiting for things to happen, hoping to draw a permit or for the dawn of opening day. We wait for our sons, daughters, and puppies to be old enough to join us afield, for a particular animal, better weather, or whatever it is we're watching to turn just right and offer a perfect shot. Occasionally, we even wait for our taxidermist to call because something is ready to be picked up. We spend much of the off- season searching for prime hunting areas, the ideal rifle, or something