In less than 24 hours, I will be flying to Boise to meet up with my buddy Steve Russell. Steve and UPS confirm that my stuff arrived safely. Thanks UPS. I have my bags packed and my backup bow ready for the flight. The maps are studied and initial game plans laid out. The fires are not an issue in our area. Weather is perfect. Cool with some rain forecast.
Supposedly our goal is an elk hunt but pretty much anything that moves is fair game. I have a general hunting license and elk tag. Steve is a resident and can kill anything in season. We are going to be opportunists. Fresh meat will sure offset the rice meals we are packing in.
This is a pure bivy style hunt. Unless game patterns indicate otherwise, we will pack up camp every morning until we find some reason not to. Our first couple days will be spent making a ten mile loop up to a saddle where game crosses from one canyon to another. Over the saddle and down another canyon. Hopefully some deer, elk, or other game allow us some stalking diversions.
The next 5 days or so will be spent going over a mountain into what local knowledge claims to be a good place to be. We are lucky in that Steve has a friend from the area who will join us. His family also owns horses so we won't be limited by having to pack out game on our backs. Anything up to 10 miles from the trailhead is possible.
It's been 4 years since my last elk hunt. I kind of miss it :)
On Monday, September 25, we'll have some pics and stories to share.
Sounds like an awesome time is to be had.....good luck!
Best of luck to you both!
F-Manny
Best of luck John!
What bows are you taking?
Alright :) Have a safe trip and a great hunt. Looking forward to hearing the story.
Have a safe trip and successful hunt
My primary bow is an Ancient Spirits Kadiak Recurve. Ribtek 190s and cedar arrows.
My backup is a sleeved takedown osage selfbow. I'm using some cool arrows made for me by Calvin Peters.
My pack weighs in at 38# with water. Hopefully I won't have to pack much water. But it's been dry and even with the rain, I probably will :)
Good for you, John. Glad to hear you are going. Have a safe trip. Jawge
Best of luck. Look forward to the pics and story.
Good luck, John. Have a safe and sucessful trip. Pat
John,
Welcome and good luck. Hope you find a big old bull to take home with you. If nothing else take home lots of memories and pictures.
-Fritz
Good luck on the ELK mate.
In Oz, alan
LUCKY
John best of luck my friend and since I just got my Bowyers Journal congrats!
Take a piece of plastic about 2' square and stake it out with 2 corners higher than the other 2 corners OR stake out all 4 corners evenly, punch a small hole in the middle and put a rock in it. Catch the rain for additional water.Won't have to carry so much.
Expect to hear great stories and see wonderful pictures upon your return.
Stay safe, have fun, hunt hard, shoot straight and track diligently.
John, have a great time. Just as Mickey said
" Stay safe, have fun, hunt hard, shoot straight and track diligently."
John,
Good luck. I returned last weekend from elk hunting in Colorado. Got into elk but didn't bring home any meat this year. Did run into a nice black bear. Had a great time.
Best of luck to you. Sounds like a great time.
Chris Smith
Thanks all. My plane leaves in 67 minutes (or so). Not that I'm counting or anything. God Bless!
John, enjoy your outing to the fullest. Not everyone takes that road less traveled.
God bless,
George
Have fun, be safe, and stay dry this time buddy!
Well, we made it down from God's country, safe and mostly sound. I have a lot of pics and stories to tell but 121 emails here at work and about 25 personal ones to filter through first. The short and sweet is that it started snowing on our way up the mountain and pretty much snowed every day. If it ever got out of the 30s, it was only briefly. Still, we had a great time, saw lots of animals, heard and saw tracks of many more, got in on a couple calling sequences, stalked a couple bulls and several mulies, killed some grouse, and overall had a blast. Twisted my knee in a fall the first day so I limped around a bit. It never slowed me down while I was on the elk though. It just hurt. Lost 2 toenails on the way down into the canyon. That's fewer than average for me. Saw bear and mountain lion tracks and heard some wolves howl. Saw lots of other hunters but that was near the road. There weren't any where we hunted. Missed my wife and kids miserably but smiled the whole way. I have a lot of "Reflections While Elk Hunting" to bore you with too :)
Awsome. I am glad you got to experience that. God bless.
Cool. Sorry you didn't kill an elk but it sounds fun anyway.
Congrats on a wonderful trip.
It's hard to beat hunting in god's country with friends.
Bryan
Forgive me for dragging this out a day at a time but I am limited to lunchtime for typing this up. I'll add the pictures tonight.
Idaho Elk Hunt Journal
Day 1 – September 15, 2006
Today started early with a 4:30 alarm clock to catch the 7:00 flight to Denver and then to Boise. My kids made me promise to wake them for a goodbye and I did. They gave me a groggy send-off and I kissed and hugged the wife goodbye for 9 days. My Dad picked me up for the ride over to the airport. I had high hopes.
The flight departed as planned and the sun rose as the plane did. It was a little cloudy but as we got over the clouds a pink morning arrived. The westward trip helped to prolong the beauty of this sunrise.
(http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/06elkhunt01.jpg)
As we descended into Denver, we skirted a couple thunderstorms where lightning was visible now and again. The forecast for a small town in a valley near our hunting location was lows in the 30's and highs in the 50s and 60s; partly cloudy for the weekend and midweek. No major precipitation anticipated. However we came to find that partly cloudy down low means mostly snowy up high.
(http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/06elkhunt03.jpg)
The flight to Boise from Denver was uneventful and I landed to cooler temps than I expected. Somewhere in the low 40s would be a good guess. No matter though, Steve was there to greet me and we rapidly recovered my backup bow and headed east to the hunting grounds.
As we got closer to the mountains, my spirits soared. It had been 4 years since my last elk hunt and I missed it desperately.
(http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/06elkhunt02.jpg)
The 4 hour ride allowed Steve and I to catch up a bit.
(http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/06elkhunt08.jpg)
As we passed through the small town we stopped for a last "civilized" meal and a couple things at the grocery and were on our way.
We had a particularly harrowing pass through snowy roads through a river valley. One false move on that road and you'd be getting picked up in pieces all the way down into the river. Steve didn't seem concerned so I should have just closed my eyes and trusted in the Lord.
(http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/06elkhunt04.jpg)
Our plan for tonight was to hunt the canyons leading into the river valley we drove up. On Sunday, our other hunting companion, Jeremiah would join us for the hike over the mountain into an adjacent valley for the real hunt. When we got to the area though, we found at least one RV or tent at each spot. Sometimes up to 5 or even 6 crowded the pull offs. We had to drive way up to the head of the valley before finding a spot that seemed less pressured. As we did, the snow began to fall in earnest.
(http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/06elkhunt05.jpg)
By the time we made our decision on where to go, it was 5:00 and it was about 6:00 before we got the packs on and headed up a ways to a flat area we had located on topo maps to camp and hunt. The snow was falling all the way up and we set up in it.
(http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/06elkhunt06.jpg)
Still, we were serenaded by a few elk bugles before falling asleep. We were stoked for the morning's hunt.
This is how we awoke.
(http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/06elkhunt07.jpg)
Nice story and pics so far John! Can't wait to read the rest.
Hey John, been thinking about ya. Hard leaving the kids, aint it? Looks like fun!
Sigh!!!!
Idaho Elk Hunt Journal
Day 2 – September 16, 2006
As you saw from the day one entry, it snowed. Not a whole lot but still...
(http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/06elkhunt09.jpg)
And it pretty much never let up all day. Squalls would blow in and dump a few quarters of an inch. Just enough to keep slightly ahead of whatever solar melting occurred. And of course, continue to test the water proof linings of our boots :)
(http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/06elkhunt10.jpg)
(http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/06elkhunt11.jpg)
We started by slowly moving through the bench we camped on. It terminated in a sweet saddle that just had to be a passageway from where we heard the bugling to some north slope bedding areas on the other side.
(http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/06elkhunt17.jpg)
We indeed found evidence of elk movement but the fresh snow told us it wasn't in the past few hours. Rubs were all over the place and elk droppings were commom.
(http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/06elkhunt14.jpg)
Only a few fresh tracks all day though. We never did find a concentration of elk sign in the area we heard the bugling. A hiking trail to a nearby alpine lake even had a group of 4 hikers and a dog pass through. We found abundant fresh deer sign and lots of bunny tracks. The animals themselves were not seen though.
After a morning of hunting the bench and saddle, we packed camp onto our backs and tried up higher.
(http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/06elkhunt13.jpg)
Again, no fresh sign was found and we decided that we weren't in the right place for a productive evening hunt. We covered a few miles and a bunch of elevation but never found what looked good enough to stay on.
Lots of sweet looking meadows certainly hold elk at times but not right now.
(http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/06elkhunt19.jpg)
In the end, we succumbed to the warmer looking valley and returned to the truck for a spot closer to where we were to meet Jeremiah the next day. ]
This turned out to be at the base of a beautiful canyon that would be a nice sojourn in the morning. We weren't completely committed to the morning hunt though and the wolves howling in the canyon just past bedtime sealed our decision to spend the morning drying out and conserving energy for our hike to the top the next day for the best part of the week.
John, tell Steve we miss him at the ITBA, and we wish he'd write or something..8^(
:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
Now THAT is camping :D Keep it coming...
-Brian
www.bowyersjournal.com (http://www.bowyersjournal.com)
great memories forming already!!
Idaho Elk Hunt Journal: Day 3
As I mentioned in the last post, we decided to sleep in and let stuff dry out a bit today.
(http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/06elkhunt21.jpg)
(http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/06elkhunt24.jpg)
The morning dawned bright with bluebird skies and warm temps. I woke up to find Steve on the nearby ridge.
(http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/06elkhunt22.jpg)
Today is Sunday and I will miss church so I am going to spend some extra time in prayer. Being at 7500 feet in elevation gets me closer to God by default though, right? It truly is God's country up here.
After eating some breakfast, I laid out my wet gear and boots to dry in the bright sun. Steve had done the same. I then took a little hike to the same ridge Steve was on earlier. It is a beautiful view.
(http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/06elkhunt25.jpg)
The morning passed quickly and soon it was time to meet Jeremiah and head up to the top. We planned to stay high and glass for elk tonight. I could tell quickly after meeting Jeremiah that we were going to get a long just fine.
A mention here about great women that sacrifice a lot to let us go on these trips. Betweeen myself, Steve, and Jeremiah, there were 11 children and 3 wives left at home while we hunted. The oldest child is 13 and the youngest 4 months. My wife had 4 swimming practices, 2 soccer practices, and 2 soccer games along with all the laundry, food preparation, and household duties plus a 40 hour work week. She even cut the grass a couple times. Thanks babe! I return every time a better man so I think it is worth it. But she sure looked tired when she picked me up from the airport on Sunday.
We headed up the trail that climbed to the top and over into the adjacent valley. It was relatively easy but the 40 pound pack quickly wore me out. Slow and easy is my motto. No sense killing yourself. My knee was definitely feeling it but we made it to a beautiful pass that would eventually take us down to the fertile hunting grounds.
(http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/06elkhunt27.jpg)
(http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/06elkhunt28.jpg)
Day 3 Continued:
Tonight though, we were on top to glass and see what there was to see.
After getting our bearings and setting camp, we headed to a spot that Jeremiah knew overlooked his favorite areas. We could glass several side canyons and benches as well as the creek bottom meadows. We were a little over 9000 feet and the creek bottom was around 7500.
(http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/06elkhunt30.jpg)
Steve headed out a little farther to see if he could find a vantage point to the other side of the finger of peaks we were on. That left Jeremiah and I to get a little better acquainted. It wasn't long until I spotted 3 muley does on a bench about 500 feet and 1/2 mile below us.
(http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/06elkhunt34.jpg)
Steve had the only deer tag so we went off to find him to see if he wanted to give it a go. A quick discussion and he decided it was worth a try. There was about 1 hour of light left. Jeremiah went down a ways with him to show him the way as I continued to watch the deer. Soon however, they disappeared around a group of trees.
(http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/06elkhunt31.jpg)
I watched the little meadow for a while and soon spotted more movement at the far end.
(http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/06elkhunt32.jpg)
As I watched the movement turned into an elk and a bull at that. It looked like a smallish 4 point but still plenty big. I had no way to warn Steve of the new game so decided to just let it play out. Jeremiah returned to the glassing spot soon after. The bull dissappeared behind some trees but was clearly working towards the place Steve was going to come down. They were definitely on a collision course! As we watched, Jeremiah spotted the bull run off and we wondered if it was with an arrow in it's chest :) A couple minutes later, Steve showed up in the meadow, not tracking so we figured he spooked the bull. The deer were gone too. Steve worked down towards where the bull ran and we heard some cow mews and a warning bark from the bull not long after.
It was getting wicked cold so we got into a clump of trees to wait his return. Around dark he showed up and we got the full story. As he worked toward the bench, he spotted the bull at about 70 yards but not before the bull spotted him. A short staring contest ended in the bull running off. His attempt to follow was met by the calling we heard. He also got the wits startled out of him during the followup by a grouse :)
We half sprinted back to camp and on the way stopped to take a picture in the twilight. As I was allowing my camera to take a nice slow exposure shot, an owl swooped into the frame not 10 feet away. I barely missed catching his blurry apparition in the pic. He lighted in a nearby tree allowing some close up viewing and poor attempts at pics.
(http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/06elkhunt33.jpg)
We returned to camp and bemoaned the high winds and cold temps a bit. Soon after though, the wind settled and the crisp night gave us a star show that defied anything you would ever see anywhere else. The path of the Milky Way was clearly discrenible and it was easy to see why the stars held such a prominent place in the life of ancient peoples. It was astonishing! Phots could never do it justice. I slep t soundly and hard and woke with renewed vigor for the morning glassing session adn then the hike into the valley.
I'm waiting for more John! Nice pics..
Idaho Elk Hunt - Day Four:
Today dawned beautiful and bright.
(http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/06elkhunt35.jpg)
Our plan was to do some early morning glassin gof the areas we were to hunt through the week and then move down into the valley for the rest of the week. We all were going to take different routes and hunt our way down with the intention of braodening the scope of our recon.
We went right back to the spot we were the night before.
(http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/06elkhunt36.jpg)
As we approached the spot, Steve noticed a muley doe just below the spot we saw the elk and deer from the night before. He thought she was stalkable so wanted to give it a go. I was going to head down on the other side of the finger and Jeremiah was going to go all the way out to the end of the finger. I would drop almost exactly on the spot we planned to rendezvous later in the day. Jeremiah advised Steve to go up to another higher spot where he often saw bucks and then go after the doe. He was convinced she would bed in the area. We spent a good amount of time glassing and Jeremiah found 10 elk way up high at the head of what he called "Wallow Canyon". They were about 9500 feet and out in an almost unstalkable position. In the pic, toward the left side is wallow canyon. The meadows up top is wherre the elk were. It doesn't look that far but it is a heck of a hike from where we were glassing. Down 1500 feet, about 2 miles and up 1500 more. We made that hike from the bottom a few times throughout the week.
(http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/06elkhunt37.jpg)
We noted this and split up for the descent. Steve worked high at first and Jeremiah and I hunted our way down into the canyon. My route took me through the series of bench meadows where we saw the bull the night before. It was fairly easy at first but the last 500 feet or so was fairly steep. Blowdowns were heavy in places. My knee was hurting since going downhill hurt a lot more than going uphill. Still, the scenery was beautiful. I didn't see much fresh sign. As I got down into the valley, I noticed some pretty large beaver ponds.
Here's where I dumped the pack after coming down. I couldn't carry it any more for a while so I left it and hiked the 1/2 mile to the rendezvous without it. I got it a little later.
(http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/06elkhunt38.jpg)
Seems the creek had been dammed a little further downstream. Jeremiah had told me this was a possibility but said we should be able to find a crossing spot upstream near the rendezvous. We also had an outfitter's camp nearby but it wasn't occupied at the time. I found a place to cross and met found I was the first one down. I took about an hour to recover and then went to make camp. Afterwards, I found that Jeremiah had placed his pack in the trail upstream and must have gone hunting. I put one of my blunt arrows in his pack pointing to my camp and did the same. I worked up to some of the benches just above camp and found a few fresh piles. I hoped that the elk were bedded up high and would work down to the meadows in the creek bottom. About an hour before dark, I hear Steve and Jeremiah in camp a half mile away and based on the scant sign, decide that a little socializing might be in order. I head down to find their camps set and them discussing the day's events.
Steve never got into any bucks up high and couldn't find the muley doe again. Jeremiah had to do a lot of backtracking to finally get down to the valley floor and spent part of the evening getting reacquainted with his family hunting ground. Spirits were high for the morning since he promised to take us up "Wallow Canyon" and show us how it got its name. Here's one reason.
(http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/06elkhunt39.jpg)
Thanks for the post and pics...great stuff...
Awesome John. Great pics and narration. :thumbsup:
Good Story John, great pics. what stick are ya' totin'??? good looker.
BD
:bigsmyl: :thumbsup:
I got to thinking and practically everything you see in the pic of me glassing was attained through the Tradgang or Stickbow.
The bow is an Ancient Spirits Kadiak with prarie rattlers traded for a selfbow shown here: Joe\\'s Bow (http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/joesbow.html) .
The quiver is one made for me by Steve Russell, my hunting companion, met via the Stickbow many years ago.
The arrows were a trade for some osage via the Tradgang. The Ribteks were purchased from someone on the TradGang. The wool coat from TradGang. The pants were from Jeff Peyton via the Stickbow. They served some time in Irag, on Jeff's legs.
I think I may have bought the binocs, gloves, hat and underwear from an actual store. For like real money and stuff. It was painful.
The mountains and sky are a gift from God :)
Man you can just sit and smell the clear fresh air in the pictures, not to mention the peacefullness. John , is that the Lost River range?
Somewhere in there Ted :)
Can't wait to read the rest John! There are so many stories going on right now its hard to keep track of them all. Sure is fun trying though.
Great pics and story John, can't wait to see more.
David
Good stuff John...looking forward to more!
Great pics John , I thought that it was somewhere in that part of Idaho. Sure nice to see others photo's
I love these great stories and photos! Good job, John! :thumbsup:
Wow, the hunt of a lifetime! :)
Idaho Elk Hunt Day 5: Tuesday
We started the morning out together but soon split up. My goal was a series of benches at the tail of "Wallow Canyon". Steve was going to head most of the way up and then loop back througha saddle into an adjacent canyon. Jeremiah was going to go up top and spend most of the day out on his own.
We got part ways up and saw the wallow from my last post. I split off and went up a small draw that ended in a saddle that was on the benches I was aiming for. I got up quite a ways and felt I was too high. I turned on the GPS and it said I was at about 9000 feet, about 500 feet higher than the saddle I was supposed to be in :) No worries, I knew where I was going and this area looked great. Plus it was a nice view.
(http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/06elkhunt40.jpg)
I hunted my way around until I hit pretty steep rock slide above the saddle. I could see where I wanted to be but had about 400 yards of this crap to get through first. It seemed fruitless but I went ahead and did it. About 100 yards to my goal, I hear a rustle in a nearby spruce and find it to be a grouse.
(http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/06elkhunt41.jpg)
Hmmm, this could be interesting. I'm 25 yards out and know that if I shoot, the arrow is going to end up somewhare down in the creek :) I decide if I'm losing an arrow, I'm getting the grouse so I move in for a sure thing. It sounds easy to move 10 yards but the angle of the slope and the slippery shale made it a bit of a challenge. I got close enough but couldn't find the dang bird again. Finally, I get the binocs out and find him tucked in some branches. I need to move 2 more feet and then I feel like it's a slam dunk. Of course the next step results in a flushed bird and no shot.
I finally get down to my destination and find almost no fresh sign. Jeremiah tells us this is a sure thing spot most of the time but as we find throughout the week, all the stuff down low seemed to have been presured pretty hard earlier in the season. I did find another nice wallow.
(http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/06elkhunt42.jpg)
Like every wallow we have seen so far, there was no indication of use within the last 2 or mroe days. They looked great, they jsut weren't getting hit anymore.
I headed down for lunch and pow wow with Steve. He decides to head up stream a bit and hit one of the side canyons. I am going to try in the very head of the valley at about 8500 feet. We spilt off along the way and as soon as we do, I bump 2 muley does at 35 yards. They stop at 40 and dare me to shoot. I don't have a tag and that's too far for me even if I did but it's clear they aren't worried about me having a rifle. A little farther on, I bump 3 more.
(http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/06elkhunt43.jpg)
As I get up into the canyon a ways, I find the going fairly treacherous., The creek gets very narrow and I am forced higher and higher on a muddy, shale slope. Slipping would mean a 50 foot fall intot he crrek below this little waterfall. I decide to be extra careful.
(http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/06elkhunt44.jpg)
But the journey is worth it as I am rewarded by a series of meadows and marshy areas above the waterfall. And at the junction of 2 streams, I find this.
(http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/06elkhunt45.jpg)
Now these look like something ight have been in them recently. And it smells like elk around here. I decide it's time to get a bt mroe aggressive. My history with calling elk is not good. Every time I have tried it, it has had the opposite effect desired. But they aren't bugling on their own so I figure I have nothing to lose. I get out my cow call and give it some lusty mews. I immediately get a bugle in retur. And it's close. And HOT! I'm flabbergasted. I get set up near a small meadow. The wind is good and I can just picture the bull coming into the setup perfectly. But after a couple minutes and some serious glunking, the bull seems to be in the same place. I wait a few more minutes and call some more which is immediately answered right back but from a little farther downstream. I move closer and go again, again answered quickly. But it is clear he is moving away. I try to sprint where I figure he is going and call again only to be answered from 50 yards farther down the valley. I finally figure he is with some cows who are either moving away to feed or away from this saucy competition. I think I know they are going up to some high meadows so I try a couple more times to get in front of them, each time they are even further than I think. I'm keeping up but just barely. I end up running out of room and there is no way to get in front of them. But, I played with them for about 40 minutes and had a blast. At least I got to talk to one.
Day 5 continued:
In the meantime, it had started to rain and I figured it was time to head back to camp anyway. There was no way I wanted to try that mud slope in the dark, in the rain. About halfway through it, I find this cool muley shed.
(http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/06elkhunt47.jpg)
I get back to camp at dark and find Jeremiah already there. He'd had a fun day but no really close encounters. He did track a couple bulls to their beds and ended up bumping them. They were both up high. Steve follwoed me int camp soon thereafter and had seen a 5 point bull but only got with 50 yards or so before getting busted. As we said our goodnights, the rain changed to snow. In the middle of the night, the wet clumps started bombing my tent and tarp. In my half daze, I thought something was in camp attacking us :) Here's what we awoke to. Heavy snow and squashed tents and tarps. We all survived relatively nscathed but it sure was an unwelcome sight.
(http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/06elkhunt48.jpg)
Here are a few of Steve's pics from the next day.
(http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/06elkhuntsr14.JPG)
Steve headed up high in the morning. I slept in. He found these bear tracks. Momma and baby bear.
(http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/06elkhuntsr10.JPG)
They went thatta way:
(http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/06elkhuntsr09.JPG)
Steve did not follow but did end up recrossing their steps a little later in the day.
Here are a couple pictures that had a surprising effect on me when Steve sent them my way. You see, if you've ever hunted the Flattops in CO or in some areas of just about any mountain state, you will inevetibly find some blowdowns. I never took any pictures of them because I am trying hard to suppress all memory. But Steve just won't let me forget. I'm making up a bumper sticker "I HATE BLOWDOWNS". Jeremiah and I had a great time with them later in the this same day. More on that later.
(http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/06elkhuntsr07.JPG)
(http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/06elkhuntsr08.JPG)
Another fearsome foe of mine in the mountains are the dang squirrels. Steve tells me they are "protected". I disagree since I saw no force field around them. He still said I couldn't kill them. Some law or some such. For a squirrel hunter they were torture. Thankfully, they aren't much bigger than our chipmonks so killing them seems silly. But I swear, there was one of these dang things on every tree. And they are loud and stupid and just sit there like this one, begging to be kilt.
(http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/06elkhuntsr02.JPG)
Steve killed our first game this day. A grouse. We ate it over the fire that night.
(http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/06elkhuntsr11.JPG)
Ok, John's been doing such a good job with the story that I haven't felt the need to chip in yet. I'm not much of a talker anyway. ;) I do need to add a bit more about that grouse though.
I've often heard these grouse refered to as "fool hens" and many a time the've earned that appellation by jumping up on a log ten feet away and practically screaming "shoot me!". :p Not so with the ones we found here. They were flushing from upwards of 40 yards away and instead of landing in the tree above them, they would often take off across canyon! :mad:
After about the first ten or so that I saw acted so skittish, I started to get a bit fixated on them and developed somewhat of a vendetta. Anyway, on this day I was way up at the top of the mountains on a rather large, flat bench. As I came around a large downed tree, this grouse flushed from almost under my feet and flew up into a tree only 10 yards away. After almost having to clean my shorts, I realized that I had a good chance at a shot. I pulled one of my judo tipped arrows from the quiver, drew back and let fly. A hit! Problem was the arrow stayed in the bird and the grouse was still alive, but hung up in the tree. So I shed my pack and gear and started up the tree to retrieve my prize. In so doing though, I managed to move some branches, freeing up the bird, which immediately hit the ground and started running!
No way was I losing this thing and so I hit the ground right behind it and away we went across the bench! We were in a race, weaving in and out of trees and downed logs, and then it turned into a contest of ring-around-the- rosie with a couple small saplings in the middle. Around and around we went and if I turned to go the other way, the grouse would turn just as quick and we'd reverse our patten. Finally, I pulled my wool jacket off and as I cut the corner on the next round, I was able to throw the jacket over the grouse and then pounce on it. A quick wringing of the neck and I had finally gotten my first grouse.
It's funny, the whole time this was going on, I was thinking about Rusty and how he described similar experiences on his Idaho hunt. It sure would have been something to see on video.
:bigsmyl:
Now that is some good ol' fashion fun!
Day 6: Wednesday
As I said in my last post, I slept in this morning. I just didn't have the energy to tromp through the wet snow.
Here's the view up the valley from camp this morning.
(http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/06elkhunt53.jpg)
Here's the view down the valley. There were elk tracks in this meadow this morning.
(http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/06elkhunt56.jpg)
Here are some camp photos. I have a smallish bivy tent that I can get by with but it sure makes it nice to have some more space. I added a 9x12 silnylon tarp that I can put up in a variety of ways. Here's a sweet vestibule way of doing it. It sure did make being socked in more pleasant.
(http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/06elkhunt49.jpg)
Here is Steve's setup. He uses a 8x10 silnylon tarp and a groundcloth. A rain poncho serves as a door when it gets nasty.
(http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/06elkhunt50.jpg)
I really like my MSR Pocket Rocket Stove too:
(http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/06elkhunt54.jpg)
Sorry but I have no pictures of the evening hunt. The focus was on elk, not pics. The evening hunt was to be a team thing bewtween Jeremiah and me on the bull I worked last night. The head of the canyon sort of splits into a left and right side going upstream. Steve was going to go up the left while Jeremiah and I went up the right. Depending on what we hear, we'd meet somewhere at the top maybe. The weather was pretty good but the squalls would blow in with the clouds and it was downright thick at times. I showed Jeremiah the area I worked the bull the night before but no sign was founf in the meadows below. I was pretty sure the elk were staying up high anyway so we worked to the area I first heard the bull. It was a series of benches ending at a beautiful perched meadow at the base of a saddle leading to the canyon next door.
As soon as we got up on the bench, Jeremiah gave out a locator bugle which was quickly answered way up high. We felt pretty sure the bull was up in the meadow so we worked our way up there via a tortuous route that took the better part of an hour. We gave a couple more bugles along the way that were answered. Part of the route was fairly open so we hoped the elk could not see us.
When we got up to a little draw that got us to the entrance to the bowl area that we felt the elk were staying, we set up with me 60 or so yards in front and Jeremiah in the back calling. We tried several sequences of calling but no repsonse could be heard. We moved up a biut more to the edge of a boulder field that led into the meadows. We still couldn't see into the bowl. We tried again and heard one more distant bugle but nothing ever showed. As we moved into the bowl, we could see fresh elk tracks in the snow but no elk. It looked like they had jumped the saddle and moved to the canyon next door. A couple bulls broke away from the herd with a bigger bull and 10 or so cows. We couldn't follow over the saddle so we tracked the satellite bulls down towards our camp. It was getting late so we decided to break off the tracking and return the next day maybe. The trip downhill was aweful since we chose to bushwhack through some blowdowns :) I HATE BLOWDOWNS. We made it eventually and got back to camp to Steve's roaring fire and stories of playing ring-around-the-rosyt with the grouse :) It turns out he was the last bugle we heard. We figured out that we either spooked the elk or the bull felt us getting closer and turned to avoid a confrontation. Either way, it was fun and we did all we could.
2 more days of hunting left :( We are getting closer everyday but the elk are fairly scarce and we may have blown it with the only real herd we have found.
Pics later.
Day seven tomorrow.
This is good readin' John. Thanks for the new desktop background pics too!
Great photos and story. Come on, tomorrow!
Great story John.....The pics make me feel like I'm there with ya..... :thumbsup: Terry
Man all that wet gloppy snow looks like fun , been there done that. Hard to get out of the bag on those mornings.
now I have to get back to work and that hurts a little! i was born in the wrong era.
Great story, great pics, thanks from a guy who can't be there!
Day Seven: Thursday
Today my plan is to hunt the areas above camp and see what tracks in the snow tell me. We have had a bull bugling late at night a couple times above and our original sighting of the bull was up there somewhere. In the end, I want to work hard and cover lots of ground to see if there is anything we are missing.
It doesn't take long to cut a couple elk tracks not more than 500 yards above camp. A cow and calf looks like. A few hundred feet further and I find where a bull crossed their tracks. The cow and calf split off uphill and the bull was sidehilling. We suspected that some of the satellite bulls around were cruising for lone cows. Our only herd was the one from last night and the 2 bulls definitely split off from there. Hopefully this guy was one of them and I could figure out what he was doing.
(http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/06elkhunt62.jpg)
I trailed him for a long time.
(http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/06elkhunt63.jpg)
In general I learned that elk are amazing. They have no concept of up or down or far and near. Obstacles for us are not for them. I tracked him right between several branches of a tree trunk when he very easily could have gone around. I guess he just wanted to keep going straight.
He seemed to be hitting every bench and meadow along the mountain. Generally, he was staying at the same elevation, somehere between 8500 and 9000 feet. He stopped at every meadow and apparently stood for a while.
(http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/06elkhunt65.jpg)
Maybe that's when he bugled??? He never hooked up with anyone. I thought about going back up at darkish and trying to see if he followed the same route. But all the bugles we heard were late and I bet he was doing this after dark.
Today was an extremely informative day. Tracking snow sure makes patterns of movement easy to read. Lots of deer and smaller animals were around too. I crossed the cow and calf tracks on the other side of the mountain. It looked like they just went over the saddle near where we glassed the first day up in this area. As I got around the other side of the mountain, I found where Steve had seen a lot of sign after looking for his muley doe the first night we headed down this way. The little canyon is full of wallows and rubs. It is very marshy and a couple wallows were hit in the past couple days.
(http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/06elkhunt59.jpg)
Probably by the bull I was tracking??? The only negative about this journey was a brutal downhill hike through blowdowns, steep mud banks, and marsh. I was wet, cold, tired, and my knee really hurt! It was a blast and I'm glad I put in the effort. It was right up there with a couple of really hard hunting days this week.
I know one thing, the way I have hunted elk in the past was not the way to do it. I kept thinking like a whitetail hunter. If you want to hunt elk, get all those thoughts out of your head right now. It's not the same. Not at all. Cover ground. Find fresh sign and hunt from there. Anything else is fruitless for the most part :)
I did have some neat encounters today. Along the route was this giant old spruce that had obviously burned a while back. Back home I love encountering old tress, usually oaks. I call them Sentinal or Heritage Oaks. My family once had a place in Brown County Indiana with the most amazing old oak tree on it. Almost every old homestead has/had one too. They are beautiful and I'd love to have one on a place I owned someday. This spruce reminded me of the same. Although burned, it still looked over it's little slice of heaven.
(http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/06elkhunt60.jpg)
Several ground demon squirrels were encountered. Most barking loudly at me as I invaded their turf. The snow showed their peculiar travel patterns from one tree back the other and over and over. It seems they live in one and gather pine nuts from another. Their home range must be miniscule. Maybe that's why they are "protected". Their demon eyes are obvious in the photos.
http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/06elkhunt57.jpg
(http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/06elkhunt58.jpg)
Pics tonight.
This was a very interesting day for me also and I learned alot by using the snow to read about the lives lived daily in the woods. I also had my closest encounter with elk this day.
As John mentioned, I got an early start and headed off towards the top of the hills. The world was soft and quiet with the new snow. So quiet in fact, that my own movement seemed almost out of place. I seemed to be all alone in an emphemeral world. However, as I moved further up the trail, I came upon a single set of elk tracks that gave lie to that notion.
The tracks were fairly fresh and so I decided to follow them to see what I could find. It was interesting to watch this animal's movement through the woods. The size and shape of the track made me think it was a cow and that was confirmed when I found places she was able to pass underneath branches without disturbing them of their snow. A bull would never have been able to do it with antlers on his head. I was also able see where she fed and how she regularly stopped to check on her surroundings. Finally, the tracks led me to an open area of hillside and at this point they stopped meandering and became more straight line focused. Upon reaching the opening, the tracks first lead straight across on an uphill diagonal. They then turned around and recrossed the open area, again on an uphill diagonal. Upon reaching the original side, the tracks turned around once more and headed into the trees on the uphill side of the opening. It was here that I found a bed with absolutely no snow in it. By doing all this, the cow was able bed and easily watch her backtrail. I'm sure she picked me off the second I came to the open area. From the bed, her tracks headed steadily off uphill towards a saddle where she crossed over and simply kept going.
Now to backtrack my narrative for a moment. As I was crossing the opening for the second time, the clouds broke for a moment and I noticed a cow on the opposite hillside headed my direction. From her speed and direction of travel, it looked like she would pass not far from me and so I hurried into the trees and found a good place to set up. After about a minute, I gave a few cow mews to hopefully draw her my direction. Less than 30 seconds thereafter, I saw brown movement through the trees and here she came at a trot. Based on her line of travel, It looked like she would end about 25-30 yards from me where I had a couple of good shooting lanes. In essence, that's exactly what happened. The only problem was, she never stopped. I tried mewing some more but she continued trotting in a straight line course until she reached the first cow's trail. From there she continued on without a pause and up and away she went. Oh well, I really thought I was going to get a shot. So close but yet so far.
Day Seven cont.
I spent some time pontificating on man and nature and where we are apart and where we are together. A lot of time I hear folks whining about one thing or another when game is scarce or other hunters are prevalent. Or maybe wolves are scarce and elk are not. The whine depends on who you are. Seems complaining is more common than rejoicing. Nowhere is this more evident than in the reintroduction of wolves or the management of forests.
(http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/06elkhunt61.jpg)
Seems man likes to fool around with stuff too much to me. We always want to "manage" things. I suspect it's an offshoot of our fear of the natural world, more specifically of the unknown. That and our preoccupation with control and arrogance. From generation to generation, this "management" takes different tacks. I suppose I'd prefer to just let it be. Accept what God gave us and quit meddling. We made mistakes in the past. No sense compounding them with more mistakes now. I hope I'm part of that middle ground of folks who are reasonable and not polarized to the "wise-users" or the "tree-huggers".
Here's the valley from way down. It is a series of beaver ponds. Very lush and lots of moose sign in here. (http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/06elkhunt66.jpg)
Here's one of the dams. Those white dots in the water are moose turds.
(http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/06elkhunt68.jpg)
Anyways, this day was a great one for learning. Not an elk was spotted but I think I'm a better elk hunter becouse of the experience. I'm taking tonight off. I'm tired and sore and wonderfully content.
(http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/06elkhunt69.jpg)
A wierd find in the most peculiar place was a tree bow saw down deep in the valley. No trails or camps anywhere. Steep as heck and really no apparent reason someone would be carrying a saw here. It wasn't too old and still cut fine so I carried it back to camp to cut firewood for the evening fire.
Discovery is half then fun, eh John?
In the last picture, see that peak in the background? Follow that down to the right, behind the rock outcropping, and you will see the saddle the elk herd jumped the night before when Jeremiah and I were chasing them. Just below the saddle is a darlk line of trees. Thats the bowl area we set up and thought they saw us from :( To the left of the rock outcropping is around where Steve shot his grouse. It's about 4 miles away inthis pic. Doesn't look quite so big from here :) Our camp is about halfway in between.
I am green with envy....sounds like an awesome trip. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for sharing.
What a wonderful journey.
Bryan
Day 8: Friday
For all intents and purposes, today is the last day of hunting. Jeremiah has to leave this afternoon. If we get an elk down in the valley, we need horses or more time to get them out than we have tomorrow. I fly out of Boise early Sunday morning so we are staying at Steve's Dad's on Saturday night. That's about 5 hours away. After this morning's hunt, Steve and I are going to pack up top and then head down to the truck after tomorrow morning's hunt.
My plan was to give the elk at the head of Wallow Canyon a try. We have seen them there every morning and even though realistically, it's a long shot to get to them, it can be done. After that, I am going pass over a saddle into the adjacent canyon and head back down to the valley floor. It's a few miles and a couple thousand feet elevation change.
2 bad things right off, I forgot my camera and my binoculars :( So no pics of the morning hunt and my spotting is going to be via naked eye.
I worked up the trail pretty early and got about halfway up before light. There a couple spots along the way that elk were encountered this week but I saw none. Few fresh tracks in the snow either. In keeping with the pattern established, the elk are up high. As soon as it is light, I can see a couple way up high in the meadows. In this picture from our glassing earlier in the week, you can see Wallow canyon on the left. The open areas up top are where the elk are when I start up towrds them. There's a small grove of trees above them and to the right.
(http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/06elkhunt36a.JPG)
There was a small finger of trees I hoped I could get up to those trees before they did. It was pretty steep and the snow made quiet walking impossible. But it was windy and steadily blowing from the elk to me. I lost sight of them as soon as I hit the trees though. It took maybe 10 minutes of tough walking but I got to the end of the finger.
There was a gap of about 50 yards between me and those trees. The elk were originally in the small meadow area to the left of where it says "I was right here". They weren't there anymore. I stood for minute trying to decide what to do. My options seemed to be wait it out, call, or move up to the trees and see what happened.
My decision was made for me as the first of 2 4x4 bulls moved out of the trees to where it says "Elk were up here". They weren't spooked but were moving across the open area and were 80 yards away. I knew I had nothing to lose so I started cow calling. That tripped them out. The lead bull kept moving and was soon out of sight but the trailer just stood there trying to find the "cow". I was in a fairly open area behind a tiny spruce. Behind me was nothing but snow covered meadow. He wasn't buying it at all. Soon he let out a bark and I kept calling. I knew I had no chance but it was fun anyway. He started moving off and I bugled. That made him bark several more times. Overall it was cool. So close but yet so far. Made me wish it was rifle season for a second :)
The bulls moved cross hill and eventually passed through the saddle marked on the photo. I continued on my hunt. It was brutally cold up on top. Wind was brisk and the only way I could keep warm was to keep moving. It was great though. Top of the world!
After doing a little exploring up top, I moved into the saddle into what is marked as "My favorite little canyon". I found a couple wallows and then crossed a big bear track. Very fresh, no snow in it and going back and forth. I didn't have a bear tag and didn't feel like messing with one so I moved along. The canyon is beautiful. I plan to spend more time in here on future hunts. I followed a cow elk into the bottom of the valley. It was nice.
I got back to camp around noon and Steve was already there. With another grouse and tales of mountain lions.
(http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/06elkhuntsr04.JPG)
http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/06elkhuntsr06.JPG
We packed up camp and headed up around 2:00. Here's a pic of a glassing spot up top. (http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/06elkhuntsr01.JPG)
Looks like ya'll are having a great time.. Great pics too. Thanks for sharing your hunt with us.
Steve looks like he liked the grouse hunting as well as we did. Keep the story coming and the pics.
James Young
I surely did James. And like with you, the grouse hunts had a tendency to break out at any time.
On this morning, I headed straight up in to those draws located above camp. I was originally following some deer tracks, but part way up, I came across the mountain lion tracks (which I'm pretty sure were less and half an hour old) and since I have a tag, a lion hunt broke out. After following the tracks for a ways, four grouse flew up into trees on the hillside above me and so without much thought, a grouse hunt broke out. :)
A fifteen yard shot netted me the first bird and then I passed low on a second one after a 30 yard, across canyon shot. Then, as I was chasing the stragglers, I had a hawk join in on the fun and suddenly I found myself all alone as the grouse took off with the hawk hot on their tails. Dang that was fun though!
John, you have no idea how good that second picture down in the day seven cont'd post looks as the wallpaper on my computer. Stunning!
Thanks
Mickey, that's the low res version for the web. I can send you the high res. It will look even better :)
Day 8: cont
As depressing as it was, it was time to move out of our valley and up top to make our way home. Before packing up camp, I ate every bit of food I had left, which wasn't much. I was left with a couple granola bars and coffee for the morning. Some GORP would round it all out for the final push down the mountain after tomorrow morning's hunt. We decided to take the trail out even though it was longer. I just didn't have it in me to bushwhack through blowdowns and such on the way up. We were camped at a little less than 8000 feet. Our destination was at a bit over 9000 feet. The trail was 3-4 miles with more than a couple switchbacks :) . We took it easy and made it in about 2 hours. Frequest stops for sightseeing and some calling, accompanied by conversation made the hike up pleasant. It still pretty much wore me out. I did around 8 miles with a couple 1000 feet elevation gains and losses in there today.
The wind up in the pass we were using was intolerable so we found a sheltered spot nearby in a group of trees. Here's a little snow sculpture the wind made.
(http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/06elkhuntsr03.JPG)
After setting up camp we decided to hunt for a while. Hunting tonight would consist of glassing the area on the other side of the mountains. One of the canyons is beautiful and has several meadows perched along it. They are very elky but also accessible from the road. In fact, the only other hunter encountered this week was about halfway up on Monday. This was also the same canyon we heard the wolves in on Saturday night. Still, we had a great view and a sheltered glassing spot to see if anything was there. I started out looking into an adjacent canyon that contained our trail down. Several deery looking spots proved empty and the wind soon wore me out. I moved around to where Steve was overlooking the other canyon and found a wonderfully sheltered spot in the sun. You can see me huddling there in my last post. It may look like I'm sleeping but I think I'm actually studying the map and my GPS :) Really.
Soon it was apparent that the elk and deer weren't around so Steve and I made our way back to camp. It was still early but I was beat so I got in my tent and hit the bag around 8:00.
Here's camp:
(http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/06elkhunt70.jpg)
Pics tonight.
Just an awesome thread, John. Thanks for taking the time to post.
I live near the MT/ID border in terrain much like that and one thing John has captures is how arduous Trad elk hunting can be...when he says you need to cover some ground and find fresh sign, he's dead right...I was watching a little Cabela's piece on Elk Hunting (rifle) in the Bitterroot and was laughing because the hunter was wearing a mic and he could barely get a few words out he was breathing so heavily...
...sure are right about Elk and whitetails being a different ballgame too...I just don't have the patience yet to be a good whitetail hunter...
WOW..... Mickey is right..... That picture makes an an awesome background on my desktop......Just like being there only you can breathe...... :D Thanks John..... Terry
Day 9: The Load Out
Well, it was inevitable. Time to go. I slept in this morning. Like for 14 hours or so. Must have been tired :)
Steve went out this morning and looked around. A couple muleys had passed right through camp. Not much else I remember. Maybe he'll chime in. We got packed up and made our way down the trail tot he truck. Here's the trailhead we came out of.
(http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/06elkhunt76.jpg)
These guys look aweful happy for the end of the trip.
(http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/06elkhunt74.jpg)
I'm not sure what he's thinking.
(http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/06elkhunt72.jpg)
Him either.
(http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/06elkhunt73.jpg)
Maybe something like, "We did it!"
(http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/06elkhunt71.jpg) (http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/06elkhunt79.jpg)
We did everything we could to get an elk on this hunt. We'll know more next time and the next. We will be back.
The Load Out
(http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/06elkhunt78.jpg)
A couple shots of the valley we parked in.
(http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/06elkhunt75.jpg) (http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/06elkhunt77.jpg) (http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/06elkhunt80.jpg)
Nice pics, thanks for taking us along.