Let me preface this post. I finally lucked out and drew a couple of limited entry/controlled hunt tags, but this elk tag was the one I was most excited for. Elk have been my unicorn, with me having only shot one cow in the past. When I zig they zag. I’ve gotten real good at making elk tag soup…
My flight left on Sunday for Idaho and the Monday before I woke up with a bit of a cough. Things got progressively worse throughout the week to the point I took a day off on Thursday with a 102º fever. I seemed to get a bit better Friday and Saturday, but once I got on the mountain I could tell I wasn’t myself. I’d hit the gym regularly all summer with this hunt being the main focus. My legs were fine I just couldn’t breathe…
I landed in Idaho at 11pm on Sunday night, which is 1am EST, which was really 2am on my body as the stupid daylight ‘savings’ time had taken place. BOY and I headed straight for camp. He’d hauled most everything up previously, but there was still a few things to get set up and ready. I think we hit the rack at about 3am.
Day 1:
We woke about an hour before daylight and got ready for the day. I had left all my stuff in Idaho from the deer hunt in a big bag, so there was a bit of gear shuffling going on that morning. We made it to the top of the mountain about 10min after legal light. We glassed from a few places they’d seen elk in before. We found a herd of about 20 in the adjacent unit and had spotted a lone bull a couple of miles away in my unit. We didn’t get a real good look at him, but he was big enough to warrant a walk to see if we could get a better look. Just as we were heading back to the ATV, we spotted ‘the herd’! From where we were we counted about 70 head and they were filtering round the corner out of sight. Lots of smaller bulls and spikes, but no way to get to them from where we were. So, we headed down and around to where we’d seen the lone bull earlier. The hike over to where we saw him was far from daunting, but it took all I had to get there and back (see preface). We didn’t find any live elk, but saw where someone had previously shot a spike bull. It had been gutted, but was still there whole… We ran into the hunter a couple of days later packing it out, seems he got into some wolves after shooting the spike and ran out of time to get it out that day as he got sidetracked trying to kill a wolf.
Day 2:
BOY’s father and uncle had came to camp the night before and they headed to some lower country to see what they could find and his dad had a spike tag in his pocket. BOY and I headed back to where we were the night before to see if we could locate ‘the herd’. We didn’t find what we were looking for, but did see 10 cows and a 1X3 bull. We met up with the other two around lunch time and they’d found ‘the herd’ down quite a bit lower than they were the day before. BOY, his father, and I headed down to take a peek at them and to try to find a way to make a move one them. We spotted them spread out over a couple of hilltops that had burnt a few years before. From there we could tell there was one decent 6pt and a really wide 5pt. We headed down lower to investigate routes in to the country they were feeding in. We didn’t find anything that didn’t require a saddle or a LONG uphill climb. So we headed back up only to find a truck parked where we were watched the herd earlier. We’d considered waiting until morning to make a push on them, but seeing that we weren’t the only ones keeping tabs on them we decided to make a move that night. Up the road was a secondary road that we thought might offer a better angle on them. On our way up we topped a small rise and BULL! About 750yds a head of us and a long way from the main herd was a lone bull bedded at the top of a small hill in the middle of the burn. We backed the truck out of site and snuck back up the road with the spotter. He was definitely worth going after! Boy and I dropped lower, around, and up another hill that should put us across from him. We belly crawled the last 50yds putting us 320yds from the bull. I finally was able to get a good rest and view without any grass in the way and shot! That’s when the rodeo started… More shots than I care to recount were taken and a quick footrace down the hill ensued. In the end I had my first bull elk on the ground! A 7X7!
Here I am walking up to him for the first time. Look at the bull, not the belly...
BOY and me!
BOY and his dad were a bit amused at my apparent lack of excitement. But, I had dreamed, schemed, and worked for the day I shot my first bull for a long time. I think I was more in shock than anything in that it had actually, finally happened. The rodeo, in the end, was sort of a good thing. The bull’s final resting place was about 30yds from an open ATV trail! We got the bull caped, boned, and loaded on the ATVs without one piece of him having to ride in a backpack. I have helped others pack enough elk to know that is rarely the case, but I wasn’t going to complain.
A big thanks goes out to BOY, his father, uncle, and rest of his family. The hospitality they showed me in my two trips to Idaho this fall were amazing. As many here know, I’ve helped BOY on a few OIL tags and other hunts, but I doubt I would have gotten near as nice a buck or bull (or any at all) without his help. Thanks a bunch BOY! I’m not sure I’ll be able to repay you in like kind, but I look forward to trying!
My flight left on Sunday for Idaho and the Monday before I woke up with a bit of a cough. Things got progressively worse throughout the week to the point I took a day off on Thursday with a 102º fever. I seemed to get a bit better Friday and Saturday, but once I got on the mountain I could tell I wasn’t myself. I’d hit the gym regularly all summer with this hunt being the main focus. My legs were fine I just couldn’t breathe…
I landed in Idaho at 11pm on Sunday night, which is 1am EST, which was really 2am on my body as the stupid daylight ‘savings’ time had taken place. BOY and I headed straight for camp. He’d hauled most everything up previously, but there was still a few things to get set up and ready. I think we hit the rack at about 3am.
Day 1:
We woke about an hour before daylight and got ready for the day. I had left all my stuff in Idaho from the deer hunt in a big bag, so there was a bit of gear shuffling going on that morning. We made it to the top of the mountain about 10min after legal light. We glassed from a few places they’d seen elk in before. We found a herd of about 20 in the adjacent unit and had spotted a lone bull a couple of miles away in my unit. We didn’t get a real good look at him, but he was big enough to warrant a walk to see if we could get a better look. Just as we were heading back to the ATV, we spotted ‘the herd’! From where we were we counted about 70 head and they were filtering round the corner out of sight. Lots of smaller bulls and spikes, but no way to get to them from where we were. So, we headed down and around to where we’d seen the lone bull earlier. The hike over to where we saw him was far from daunting, but it took all I had to get there and back (see preface). We didn’t find any live elk, but saw where someone had previously shot a spike bull. It had been gutted, but was still there whole… We ran into the hunter a couple of days later packing it out, seems he got into some wolves after shooting the spike and ran out of time to get it out that day as he got sidetracked trying to kill a wolf.
Day 2:
BOY’s father and uncle had came to camp the night before and they headed to some lower country to see what they could find and his dad had a spike tag in his pocket. BOY and I headed back to where we were the night before to see if we could locate ‘the herd’. We didn’t find what we were looking for, but did see 10 cows and a 1X3 bull. We met up with the other two around lunch time and they’d found ‘the herd’ down quite a bit lower than they were the day before. BOY, his father, and I headed down to take a peek at them and to try to find a way to make a move one them. We spotted them spread out over a couple of hilltops that had burnt a few years before. From there we could tell there was one decent 6pt and a really wide 5pt. We headed down lower to investigate routes in to the country they were feeding in. We didn’t find anything that didn’t require a saddle or a LONG uphill climb. So we headed back up only to find a truck parked where we were watched the herd earlier. We’d considered waiting until morning to make a push on them, but seeing that we weren’t the only ones keeping tabs on them we decided to make a move that night. Up the road was a secondary road that we thought might offer a better angle on them. On our way up we topped a small rise and BULL! About 750yds a head of us and a long way from the main herd was a lone bull bedded at the top of a small hill in the middle of the burn. We backed the truck out of site and snuck back up the road with the spotter. He was definitely worth going after! Boy and I dropped lower, around, and up another hill that should put us across from him. We belly crawled the last 50yds putting us 320yds from the bull. I finally was able to get a good rest and view without any grass in the way and shot! That’s when the rodeo started… More shots than I care to recount were taken and a quick footrace down the hill ensued. In the end I had my first bull elk on the ground! A 7X7!
Here I am walking up to him for the first time. Look at the bull, not the belly...
BOY and me!
BOY and his dad were a bit amused at my apparent lack of excitement. But, I had dreamed, schemed, and worked for the day I shot my first bull for a long time. I think I was more in shock than anything in that it had actually, finally happened. The rodeo, in the end, was sort of a good thing. The bull’s final resting place was about 30yds from an open ATV trail! We got the bull caped, boned, and loaded on the ATVs without one piece of him having to ride in a backpack. I have helped others pack enough elk to know that is rarely the case, but I wasn’t going to complain.
A big thanks goes out to BOY, his father, uncle, and rest of his family. The hospitality they showed me in my two trips to Idaho this fall were amazing. As many here know, I’ve helped BOY on a few OIL tags and other hunts, but I doubt I would have gotten near as nice a buck or bull (or any at all) without his help. Thanks a bunch BOY! I’m not sure I’ll be able to repay you in like kind, but I look forward to trying!
