Well, Monday Oct. 30th had arrived after much preparation and anticipation. It was with some nervousness that I loaded my hunting equipment into my friend Tim?s truck and started the drive to Boise, Idaho for our Elk hunt. Nervous I guess because I had never done an out-of-state elk hunt and I was nervous about camping in the cold weather. I would learn later that with the proper equipment you won't be cold.
We arrived in Boise on Tuesday the day before opener and met another friend, Paul at his friend Larry?s house. It was about 4 pm so it was too late to go set up camp. We decided to stat at Larry?s and leave a little earlier the next morning for the hunt area and setup camp the next evening. We ended up going to Cabela?s to pick up a couple of things.
After that we broke out the maps to discuss where to hunt. Paul and Larry had been deer hunting the past 5 days in the Atlanta area and had not seen any elk and only about 10 deer. Paul was bummed as he had expected to be passing up small bucks to get a bigger one. Since they had not seen any elk in the areas they hunted we chose to start in an area Larry?s friend suggested and one that a guy on a western hunting website had also told me about. I was excited that two independent people had told us about the same area. We ended up with a Plan A and an Plan B.
Wed. Nov. 1 came early after the usual night-before-opener lack of sleep. We drove to the trailhead we had picked only to find about a dozen or so horse trailers parked and a couple of camps there. We figured the horse guys were way in so we started hiking. Climbing would be more like it. We hiked three hours and only went one and a quarter miles. It was some steep and rugged country. We had heard very few shots during the hike and they were far away. We reached the top and spread out. Other than a few deer, some chukar and grouse we didn't see any elk. We left early so we could setup camp before dark. I thought the hike in was tough but it didn't compare with the hike out. I was killed by the time we reached the bottom. We went to a nearby campground and setup camp. We then decided there was no way would hike in and out of the area we hunted that day any more. We decided to go to the top and see what was there.
Thursday started early again and after some oatmeal for breakfast and packing some lunches we headed up the mountain. We get on top and it's 11 degrees with pockets of snow all over. We park, decide where we are each going and take off. I take the middle route that would lead me down the canyon, Paul went to the right side and Tim to the left. I didn't go too far from the truck and cut some very fresh elk tracks. There appeared to be 4-5 animals and they were heading down the canyon. Cool, fresh sign and I know there are going to be elk in this canyon. I hiked on down looking for a good place to sit and watch. After realizing I would be in the very bottom of the canyon I decided to go ahead and track a set of really fresh elk tracks instead of just hiking down to find a spot to sit. I follow these tracks up the right side of the canyon. I found where the elk had taken a leak and from the looks of the yellow snow in relation the to tracks it was apparent it was a bull. I'm tracking along and I hear a whistle. It's Paul. He said he had been there about an hour and swears he had heard a cow call down in the draw. I told him I didn't want to cut in front of him and of the elk I had been tracking. He said he was going to sit there and I told him I would go higher up the mountain and then down to a spot where I could sit and watch. We parted and I hiked uphill and then cut across the hill. I went through some brush at the head of a draw and came up on a huge rock on the hill. It looked like a coyote had been using the rock as a hideout and that was cool. I then walked around the rock and into the head of what looked like about 10 foot wide open lane down the mountain for about 70 yards. To my shock there was an elk bedded quartering away from me and looking back over it's back at me. About the time I realized it was an elk I saw antlers. BULL! In this unit it is bull elk with antlers longer than six inches to be legal. This bull was obviously legal so I throw my gun and start to look for a spot to shoot at. I realize I should get a rest and step back to the boulder I was next to. Well, that didn't work because a bush in front of the rock kept me from seeing the elk. I step back to the side and the elk is still just looking at me over it's back. I put the gun back up and flip the safety off. I pick a spot right at the base of it's neck and pull the trigger. SNAP! Dang, a miss-fire. I knew I loaded a round earlier so open the bolt and there is a round there. I almost closed the bolt but decided, smartly, to eject that round and load a fresh one. I look down and the elk was still just looking at me. I place the crosshair on the base of the neck and shoot. I may have rushed it a little but the miss-fire had me rattled. I ended up missing that shot. The bull jumped and started running straight away from me. I find the back of the neck and shoot again. Dang! Another miss. I load another round and the bull went about two more bounds and stepped broadside down the hill and looked back up at me. I put the scope on it but there is a small pine covering the chest, parts of the neck and head from my view. I can only see the rump and it's face clearly. I know this is the last opportunity I will have so I find a brown spot in a opening in the pine where the neck is and shoot. I think I see the elk drop at the shot but that is as far as I can see down the hill. I'm out of ammo so I start to reload. As I'm reloading I hear three shots ring out down the canyon. I think I missed and now someone else is shooting at the elk as it escapes. I work my way down to the elk bed. I see Paul across the hill and lifted his hands up asking what's up. I jester back that I'm not sure if I hit it. I get to the bed and don't see any hair or blood. I start down the trail it started running down and don't see any blood there. I get to where I thought it was when I shot and don't see anything. No disturbed dirt, hair or blood. I'm standing there thinking I had missed the bull when I notice some bushes down the slope moving. I start thinking what the heck was moving those bushes when I then see an elk leg kick up in the air. Hot dang, I did hit it! I circle around and see the bull is on his back with it's head virtually under it. One antler is under it's shoulder the other across the brisket. It slowly moves a leg so I put a round through it's chest and finish it. I stand there in disbelief that I have actually accomplished a dream and have a bull down. Paul gets there and congratulates me and I have to sit down. I just said, ?Oh my God.? And Paul asks, ?What?? I answer, ?That is a huge animal!?. He says, ?Yup, and now the work begins!? What an understatement that was. The bull turns out to be a 4X4 but was a 5X4 but had a broken tine on the left antler. We take some pics and then a guy walks up the hill and asks if we got one. We say yes and he says something I don't understand. I thought maybe he had shot at the elk too and we would have a discussion about it. We ask if he has one and he said yes and turned back down the hill. We take pics and then sort out our gear so Paul can meet Tim at the truck to get the packs. I start skinning and Paul leaves to get Tim, the game bags and packs. As I'm skinning one of the guys from below comes up to see if we had horses. I say no and ask what they got. Evidently there was a whole herd of elk below mine and they were watching them come out of the timber feeding in a draw. A bunch of cows, spikes and two 5X5?s came out by the time I shot. When I shot they took off and then the herd bull, a decent 6X6 runs out and they shoot it. That was the shots I heard after mine. Needless to say, it took 8 hours to get my elk back to the truck and it was after dark. We went back to Larry?s, hung the meat in a barn and got a good night's sleep. We took the elk to a butcher then back to the mountain.
I hunted with Tim and Paul Sat. starting in fresh snow. We cut some very fresh tracks down the ridge from my elk but didn't see anything Sat. During the night it starting raining really hard so they decided not to hunt Sunday. I was glad myself. We decided to break camp and stay at Larry?s Sunday night. Monday would be the last of Tim and mine?s hunt so that worked out as we had to dry our outfitter?s tent. We hunted Monday further down the canyon we had been in and Tim and I saw a bull about 1500 yards away. We decide to make a play for him but after 2 hours we were only half way to him and knew it would be hard to find him and even worse than mine to get him out. We were 1.28 miles from the truck at that point and my elk was only about a half mile in. We hang it up and head to Larry?s to pack up and start the drive home. It was a great trip and one I will remember the rest of my days. Thanks Paul and Tim for all the help with this elk.
We arrived in Boise on Tuesday the day before opener and met another friend, Paul at his friend Larry?s house. It was about 4 pm so it was too late to go set up camp. We decided to stat at Larry?s and leave a little earlier the next morning for the hunt area and setup camp the next evening. We ended up going to Cabela?s to pick up a couple of things.
After that we broke out the maps to discuss where to hunt. Paul and Larry had been deer hunting the past 5 days in the Atlanta area and had not seen any elk and only about 10 deer. Paul was bummed as he had expected to be passing up small bucks to get a bigger one. Since they had not seen any elk in the areas they hunted we chose to start in an area Larry?s friend suggested and one that a guy on a western hunting website had also told me about. I was excited that two independent people had told us about the same area. We ended up with a Plan A and an Plan B.
Wed. Nov. 1 came early after the usual night-before-opener lack of sleep. We drove to the trailhead we had picked only to find about a dozen or so horse trailers parked and a couple of camps there. We figured the horse guys were way in so we started hiking. Climbing would be more like it. We hiked three hours and only went one and a quarter miles. It was some steep and rugged country. We had heard very few shots during the hike and they were far away. We reached the top and spread out. Other than a few deer, some chukar and grouse we didn't see any elk. We left early so we could setup camp before dark. I thought the hike in was tough but it didn't compare with the hike out. I was killed by the time we reached the bottom. We went to a nearby campground and setup camp. We then decided there was no way would hike in and out of the area we hunted that day any more. We decided to go to the top and see what was there.
Thursday started early again and after some oatmeal for breakfast and packing some lunches we headed up the mountain. We get on top and it's 11 degrees with pockets of snow all over. We park, decide where we are each going and take off. I take the middle route that would lead me down the canyon, Paul went to the right side and Tim to the left. I didn't go too far from the truck and cut some very fresh elk tracks. There appeared to be 4-5 animals and they were heading down the canyon. Cool, fresh sign and I know there are going to be elk in this canyon. I hiked on down looking for a good place to sit and watch. After realizing I would be in the very bottom of the canyon I decided to go ahead and track a set of really fresh elk tracks instead of just hiking down to find a spot to sit. I follow these tracks up the right side of the canyon. I found where the elk had taken a leak and from the looks of the yellow snow in relation the to tracks it was apparent it was a bull. I'm tracking along and I hear a whistle. It's Paul. He said he had been there about an hour and swears he had heard a cow call down in the draw. I told him I didn't want to cut in front of him and of the elk I had been tracking. He said he was going to sit there and I told him I would go higher up the mountain and then down to a spot where I could sit and watch. We parted and I hiked uphill and then cut across the hill. I went through some brush at the head of a draw and came up on a huge rock on the hill. It looked like a coyote had been using the rock as a hideout and that was cool. I then walked around the rock and into the head of what looked like about 10 foot wide open lane down the mountain for about 70 yards. To my shock there was an elk bedded quartering away from me and looking back over it's back at me. About the time I realized it was an elk I saw antlers. BULL! In this unit it is bull elk with antlers longer than six inches to be legal. This bull was obviously legal so I throw my gun and start to look for a spot to shoot at. I realize I should get a rest and step back to the boulder I was next to. Well, that didn't work because a bush in front of the rock kept me from seeing the elk. I step back to the side and the elk is still just looking at me over it's back. I put the gun back up and flip the safety off. I pick a spot right at the base of it's neck and pull the trigger. SNAP! Dang, a miss-fire. I knew I loaded a round earlier so open the bolt and there is a round there. I almost closed the bolt but decided, smartly, to eject that round and load a fresh one. I look down and the elk was still just looking at me. I place the crosshair on the base of the neck and shoot. I may have rushed it a little but the miss-fire had me rattled. I ended up missing that shot. The bull jumped and started running straight away from me. I find the back of the neck and shoot again. Dang! Another miss. I load another round and the bull went about two more bounds and stepped broadside down the hill and looked back up at me. I put the scope on it but there is a small pine covering the chest, parts of the neck and head from my view. I can only see the rump and it's face clearly. I know this is the last opportunity I will have so I find a brown spot in a opening in the pine where the neck is and shoot. I think I see the elk drop at the shot but that is as far as I can see down the hill. I'm out of ammo so I start to reload. As I'm reloading I hear three shots ring out down the canyon. I think I missed and now someone else is shooting at the elk as it escapes. I work my way down to the elk bed. I see Paul across the hill and lifted his hands up asking what's up. I jester back that I'm not sure if I hit it. I get to the bed and don't see any hair or blood. I start down the trail it started running down and don't see any blood there. I get to where I thought it was when I shot and don't see anything. No disturbed dirt, hair or blood. I'm standing there thinking I had missed the bull when I notice some bushes down the slope moving. I start thinking what the heck was moving those bushes when I then see an elk leg kick up in the air. Hot dang, I did hit it! I circle around and see the bull is on his back with it's head virtually under it. One antler is under it's shoulder the other across the brisket. It slowly moves a leg so I put a round through it's chest and finish it. I stand there in disbelief that I have actually accomplished a dream and have a bull down. Paul gets there and congratulates me and I have to sit down. I just said, ?Oh my God.? And Paul asks, ?What?? I answer, ?That is a huge animal!?. He says, ?Yup, and now the work begins!? What an understatement that was. The bull turns out to be a 4X4 but was a 5X4 but had a broken tine on the left antler. We take some pics and then a guy walks up the hill and asks if we got one. We say yes and he says something I don't understand. I thought maybe he had shot at the elk too and we would have a discussion about it. We ask if he has one and he said yes and turned back down the hill. We take pics and then sort out our gear so Paul can meet Tim at the truck to get the packs. I start skinning and Paul leaves to get Tim, the game bags and packs. As I'm skinning one of the guys from below comes up to see if we had horses. I say no and ask what they got. Evidently there was a whole herd of elk below mine and they were watching them come out of the timber feeding in a draw. A bunch of cows, spikes and two 5X5?s came out by the time I shot. When I shot they took off and then the herd bull, a decent 6X6 runs out and they shoot it. That was the shots I heard after mine. Needless to say, it took 8 hours to get my elk back to the truck and it was after dark. We went back to Larry?s, hung the meat in a barn and got a good night's sleep. We took the elk to a butcher then back to the mountain.
I hunted with Tim and Paul Sat. starting in fresh snow. We cut some very fresh tracks down the ridge from my elk but didn't see anything Sat. During the night it starting raining really hard so they decided not to hunt Sunday. I was glad myself. We decided to break camp and stay at Larry?s Sunday night. Monday would be the last of Tim and mine?s hunt so that worked out as we had to dry our outfitter?s tent. We hunted Monday further down the canyon we had been in and Tim and I saw a bull about 1500 yards away. We decide to make a play for him but after 2 hours we were only half way to him and knew it would be hard to find him and even worse than mine to get him out. We were 1.28 miles from the truck at that point and my elk was only about a half mile in. We hang it up and head to Larry?s to pack up and start the drive home. It was a great trip and one I will remember the rest of my days. Thanks Paul and Tim for all the help with this elk.
Congrats on a great bull, gotta be happy with that guy. Always seems the harder the work for the animal the more you appreciate it.
