Elk Hunt!

[Okanagan]

Great stories and pictures.  Thank you. 

Question:  were there several of those bent trees like Dante is lying on fairly close together, and were they on a bench on a mountain side?  Curious to know if they correspond to something similar to places in BC and in Idaho.

[Dave]

THere were quite a bit of those types of trees.  You can actually see a few in the background of that one pic with Dante. 
This seemed to occur along the ridge running from the crest down toward a shoulder (if that makes any sense).  My imagination came up with trees getting blown down across saplings, and then those saplings continuing to grow into those contorted figures continually reaching for sunlight.   

Figured I'd go with that as the invisible force hypothesis is already out there.   
What do you think is going on in BC and Idaho?

[Okanagan]

Don't know why but I missed your reply post with the question about such trees in BC and Idaho.  Just noticed it.

An Okanagan Indian friend of mine told me that the place I first saw like that in BC was an ancient traditional hunting camp.  It was on a flat bench not far from a big saddle, below a main ridge top and above a big canyon that was one of the best places to hunt mule deer.  He told me how and why the old people bent those trees over but I can't remember.  Direct questions are impolite, but I hope to remember to ask him in some way next time I see him.

While hunting elk way back in an Idaho wilderness area, I came on a small bench in timber in an almost identical terrain setting, with a scattered cluster of the same bent over living trees.  Due to the age of the trees these camps must have been in use about 100-75 years ago.  That one was on a bench below a ridge top, just around the corner a few hundred yards from a saddle or pass, and above a big canyon. 

Sounds like the trees you saw may have been a natural event, partial blowdowns,  scattered on ridge lines etc.  But the line of them running down onto a shoulder makes me wonder if what you are calling a shoulder is similar to what I called a bench, and if clustered there, I'd guess it has something to do with an old Indian hunting camp.  The men would camp there each year to hunt.

Sorry to make it such a slow conversation!

[Dave]

Clyde, what you are explaining makes more sense than what I was thinking. Your description sounds almost exact to where this occurred.  There are three of those type of trees right there in the pic I took, and I remember a few more further along in the same few hundred yards.   The best hunting out in the entire area is a very big bowl that begins just to the left of where Dante is napping. Any pressure at all, and they all pour into this hole.



And this is to the right of this area (only a few hundred yards)\\, so I couldn't find a nicer spot to mark as a campsite.  If you ever find out the 'how and why' I'd love to know.