Antelope Hunt

[BosnMate]

I posted a photo of a mule deer fawn a few days ago. The picture was taken on the eastern flank of Beatys Butte, in the southeastern high desert of Oregon. These photos I'm posting now, and the story about them took place just after Jimmy Carters presidency, and the gas shortage was still a fresh memory, which at the time was important because of the remoteness of the area we were hunting. In fact, because of the past shortage, many gas stations, especially rural stations, went out of business.

There are antelope in Oregon, just not like Wyoming where they have lots of them. In order to get an Oregon tag, you have to apply, and then be drawn, and it took me 11 years to finally get a tag for the East Beatys Butte game management unit, so this hunt was taken quite seriously by yours truly. And I might ad, I've never got another one. In the post showing the mule deer fawn I mentioned the isolation of that particular place, so this time I'll show a map of the approximate location of Beatys Butte, just north of the Nevada state line.

An interesting side note regarding gas at that time. Just north of Lakeview, at the junction where we turned off 395 onto 140, there was a sign that said, "Next Gas 200 miles." That gas would be found at Denio Junction in Nevada, about 100 miles from where we would be hunting. Giving full discloser, we actually went to Beatys Butte twice, once before season on a weekend scouting trip and then a week or so later for the hunt, so all together, combining the two trips, we were in that area for over a week.
We stayed at Actly cow camp, which at the time was not being used by anyone else. There was water there, which was a big plus, and all and all, I think our stay there was very comfortable.
In those days I was using a film camera, so I didn't take near as many pictures as I would now with the digital camera.

During the scouting weekend, we were on a road of sorts, coming down a hill where the rancher had put out salt for the cows. I managed to run my truck up onto a rock, and it was resting on the frame. We got the truck off with no damage done, but you don't want to take that desert for granted, and I had to take some serious teasing over it.

This is Actly Cow Camp. I stayed in the cabin.

This is my friend, making a long dust in the desert. That country is tough on vehicles.

It was a hunting trip, and I filled my tag. Note the lava rocks in that field. There just isn't any driving across country along there, as far as that goes, the road out to that location wasn't much better than the field. That lava is not smooth cobbles, it's sharp, tire cutting stuff.



The day before I killed the antelope, I was hunting in Sage Hen Canyon, ran into these pictographs, so after my tag was filled, I went back and took photos, and looked around a bit.

Found this spot where someone had sat and flaked tools. The black flakes are obsidian, and if you look close there is a red flake also.
The rancher had taken a cat into the canyon at the location of a spring, and dug out a water tank that was fed by the spring. On top of the ground where the cat had pushed it out I found this.

 

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[BosnMate]

I just thought of this. I haven't been out there for a long time, and I think it was when Bill Clinton's was president that they declared a lot more wilderness areas, and national monuments etc. This area where we were hunting I've been told is now private property. The rancher owned Steens Mountain, and it's a rather unique place, so the government lusted after it, and when they were done they had traded thousands of acres around Beatys Butte and the Catlow Valley to the rancher for Steens. So I have no idea what the access is now, but I wouldn't drive all the way out there expecting to find it the way I've told it, it's possible that area is very restricted now, perhaps even posted with no trespassing. It's just something to think about. The land of the free is not near as free as it used to be.

 

[austin]

Cool truck, cool pictographs, cool antelope, not cool lava, but what a memory. Sounds spectacular...

 

[tamrock]

Man you are out in the middle of no where. I've been to Denio, Nev. There was a mine operating there that was west of the town. I took a picture of the hand painted sign on the Oregon Nevada border just at the end of the town of Denio, but can't find it it now. I took 140 up through southern Oregon once to Willsonville, OR. and came back here to Denver on I90 and drop down through Idaho and west Wyoming. Thats a cool point. I think they call that material the Black Rock Desert Obsidian. The mines I visit in Nevada now have you go through a onsite visitor orientation and sign all their papers saying you understand all the polices and rules. They also hand you a paper of Nevada state policies to read and sign saying you understand collecting old minesite artifacts, such as bottles and stone artifacts is prohibited by the state. One time me and our mechanic out of Carlin Nevada went to a mine out by Midus Nev. signed all the papers and then took a dirt road that went Tuscarora Nev. and drop down from there to Elko. Dang! if I didn't find one of those black obsidian points that day just after I signed papers saying I understand I can't pick it up.

 

[adirondackjim]

Great photos and story.

 

[old digger]

It's an awesome experience to finally get a tag after applying after all those years, I bet. Congratulations on filling your tag. But finding that obsidian knife would have made the icing on the cake.

 

[BosnMate]

It's an awesome experience to finally get a tag after applying after all those years, I bet. Congratulations on filling your tag. But finding that obsidian knife would have made the icing on the cake.

Yes, and I wasn't even really looking for anything, but then I guess I always subconsciously have an eye out. I was working for a cow outfit in Nevada, and would spot points at long distances when horseback, especially after a rain.

 

[BosnMate]

Man you are out in the middle of no where. I've been to Denio, Nev. There was a mine operating there that was west of the town. I took a picture of the hand painted sign on the Oregon Nevada border just at the end of the town of Denio, but can't find it it now. I took 140 up through southern Oregon once to Willsonville, OR. and came back here to Denver on I90 and drop down through Idaho and west Wyoming. Thats a cool point. I think they call that material the Black Rock Desert Obsidian. The mines I visit in Nevada now have you go through a onsite visitor orientation and sign all their papers saying you understand all the polices and rules. They also hand you a paper of Nevada state policies to read and sign saying you understand collecting old minesite artifacts, such as bottles and stone artifacts is prohibited by the state. One time me and our mechanic out of Carlin Nevada went to a mine out by Midus Nev. signed all the papers and then took a dirt road that went Tuscarora Nev. and drop down from there to Elko. Dang! if I didn't find one of those black obsidian points that day just after I signed papers saying I understand I can't pick it up.

I lived in Nevada, and have never signed a paper saying I wouldn't pick up anything, but like I told Old Digger, the points I did get were on private land, the ranch where I worked at the time. The obsidian might well have come from Black Rock, it's not very far away. But north of Beatys Butte there is a huge area of ancient lake bottom, that is covered with obsidian nodules. The volcano must have blasted the obsidian into the air, and it landed in the lake, cooling it into cobbles much like they used to make lead bird shot. Traveling through there, I had to stop and open a gate, and noticed them by the hundreds, so got to looking around and found this one, and kept it because it looked to me like an Indian had knocked some spalls off the the rock, which makes sense, because packing rocks are heavy, and the spalls would be much lighter and could be worked later. It's interesting also, that there is a spring on Beatys Butte, with lots and lots of flakes where they were manufacturing tools, but at that spring most of the flakes are red obsidian. I didn't feel guilty for picking up that knife, the dozer had ruined any chance of an archeology dig, and it was on top of the disturbed ground, which I've always thought was legal to pick up. There are some opal mines around Denio, where you pay to dig and keep all you find. I never went to one, but a sheep herder out on the Black Rock found an opal arrow head, which is on display at Flavel's in Klamath falls, in a walk in vault. It sure is pretty, wish I had a picture. I think I have a brochure somewhere with a picture, now I'll have to look for it. Here's the obsidian ------

 

[tamrock]

Man I'd like to find an opel arrowhead. I think the state of Nevada gets the Gold mines and contractors to add that disclosure in the areas that they consider important locations. There's surveyors and exploration drillers working all over in that country and I'm sure the state is thinking those guys would be picking things up, so they make them at least sign papers saying they understand you need to be someone special to be picking up artifact.(all bs)... There's an ancient quarry site close to a mine out by Midus that is littered with a cream color white chert like rock chips. I've never found an artifact from that stone and thought it odd I found the black obsidian one not far from that quarry. We just had a guy quit who was taking on the north Nevada area, so I was told I'll be back at it again running out that way. I'll be doing a little walking around and hopefully spotting some artifacts I can't be touching, but if I see any I'll take a picture of it for everone.