Carnivore2
New member
Have'nt logged in for awhile due to my pass word being jacked up, so I just re-registered as 'carni2'. I should first start by saying concrats to everyone this year; alot of great elk were taken w/ equally good stories. I figured I'd add one more.
Day 1 (4 Nov). Flew into Boise 3 Nov, at 10:30 p.m. After getting the car situation taken care of I headed to Mountain Home to meet up w/ my hunting partner. Stopped by a friends to grab my gun; hit Wally World for some last minute supplies and headed into the hills. Arrived at camp around 3:00 a.m. I tried to get a quick nap but to no prevail, and we were off at 4:30. So the days plan was to hunt a bowl/ridge I hunted last year. Pretty rough hike in terms of distance and vertical. There was still a few inches of snow, which made it a little tough in the slide rocks. If that was'nt bad enough, the fog rolled in and stayed for most of the day (40-50 yard visibility)
I told my buddy we might as well wait it out since we were so far in. Eventually cleared up and we continued our trek. Not much going on in terms of elk; all of the sign was old. The fog slowed us down so we were'nt able to hunt down in the bowl like we planned. And somewhere throughout the day I managed to slip and jack up both knees. Felt like I tore something in both of them. Is was bad enough in my right knee that I did'nt think I was going to make it down, but eventually around 8:45 p.m we made it back. So day one, after being up for almost 36+ hours was nothing more than a long painful hike.
Day 2 (Friday, 5 Nov).
Woke up in pain. Plan for the day; try to recover enough in order to hunt the next day. Drove to town (Wally World) to get a knee brace, good pain pills and spent the afternoon scouting. The area I hunt is glassable from a distance. So we made our way to our spotting location around 4:00 p.m and waited. At about 4:30 the elk started coming out; first abunch of cows and then finally the big guy. He was all by himself, just grazing on the hill side. So, there's the plan for the next day. Head up the mountain in hopes of crossing paths w/ the big'n. Sore knee...what knee...we have elk to hunt.
Day 3 (Saturday, 6 Nov)
The day started off w/ plenty of enthusiasm. We hit the trail at about 4:15 a.m. Gotta love those straight up hikes Got into position in time and waited. The only problem was it was the weekend and there were a few more hunters out. All they were doing was walking the ridges, which meant the elk stayed down in their forrest hide outs. We split up w/ plans to meet up around noon, but come noon, there was no-one in sight. I decided to drop down into the heavy forrest to see if I could come across something, but all I saw was cows. By this time my knee was screaming again and I decided not to go back up to look for the others. The downward hike was 10x's more painfull. I made it down around 5:00 p.m and my buddies followed around 7:00. W/ the extra hunters up there the elk stayyed out of sight.
End of day three Elk 3/hunters 0.
Day 4 (Sunday) I'm divorced and my children still live in Idaho so I spent the day w/ them. What a blast, elk hunting is the 2nd love in my life; the kids come first.
Day 5(Monday, 8 Nov).
Since the kids would be in school, I decided to head up the mountain again. I hiked up a different canyon in hopes the elk moved over from the weekend pressure. About half way up the mountain I ran across John, a hunter from CA. Since he was new to the area I offered to show him the lay-out of the land. Now I'm usually selective on who I hunt w/ but right away I could tell he knew what he was talking about and did'nt mind showing him my spots. We ended glassing a few canyons and spotted a couple of nice shooter muley's. Watched two bucks almost go at it, but the smaller one finally gave way. Still pretty cool. About mid day John and I shook hands and headed in our seperate ways. I was going to check out a high flat plateau where the elk like to go when pressured and he was going to a saddle where bulls like to cross in the evening. Well, the elk were'nt on the plateau so I sat (due to my knee ) and started glassing. At about 4:08 p.m I spotted a ridge full of elk. This was close to the spot we spotted the big bull on Friday. I'm not sure how many there was (I quit counting at 50) but they just came pouring out from behind the ridge. Here' the point where I have matured as a hunter (my excuse for getting old). From my location, w/ a good set of knees I could make it to them in a bout an hour/hour and a half. On a bad knee??? Also the wind was completely in the wrong direction; I would have been coming down on them w/ the wind at my back. They would have busted me for sure. So, after much deliberation I decided to head back down the mounatin and go after them the following afternoon. As most of you can contest to; when elk hunting, you're coming off the mountain at night, and this night was no excepting. My knee was hurting so bad that the only way to go down was to skip/hop like little kids do when they act like they're riding a horse. I would stop and just laugh, because I knew if someone was watching me they'd think "what a freaking looney" ...Gotta do what you gotta do, and if it meant skipping down a mountian then so be it. Ended up being a rough hike out since there was no trail and I was in some pretty steep stuff. And if it was'nt steep it was thick of brush. But I did'nt care, I had elk on my mind.
Day 6 (Tues, 9 Nov)
Last day of the hunt which is where the 'hail mary' part comes in. Since these elk were only coming out in the evening, I planned to go up in the afternoon. So I went to school, picked up my little ones for a lunch date. I cherish those times! Afterwards I gather my gear, drove to my site and headed up. I chose a ridge opposite of the ridge I had seen the elk the day before. It was a ridge we hike up on Saturday, so I knew there was a nice bowl at the top. My plans were to sit in the rocks and wait it out. My plan was solid except for the wind which was blowing at my back, up canyon. But being so late in the last day of the season there was nothing I could do but press. About half way up the ridge I looked across canyon and saw some elk on the ridge. This would have bee great except it was the wrong canyon and there would no way for me to get accross to them in time. I was sure these were the same elk I'd seen the day before and they had crossed over during the night, but for some reason I kept going. I finally made it up the ridge and found a good out cropping of rocks to set up in. I looked at the ridge I wanted to hunt and saw nothing so I was more interest in glassing the elk on the oppsite ridge. All I could see was about 15-18 cows but I knew there was more. While I was glass I kept hearing things behind me, but I was to consumed w/ the elk cross canyon. When I turned around there was 8 elk, 60 yards away, slowly moving out of the bowl I was sitting over..chit, chit!!! I turned around and threw the scope up hoping to see horns but a big 'no-go', all cows. It's about 4:10 when I watch the cows cross over out of sight. Iturn around and see not 15-18 elk but more like 60, chit, chit!!! I don't know why I was really concerned there was no way I could get there and it was about a 700 yard shot (not my game). Turns out, all I see is cows/calfs; not one set of antlers in the buch. I know this for sure because I later saw a hunter below them. He must have been pissed when he could'nt find a bull in that bunch. So I turn back around and wait over my spot. At about 4:40 a cow sticks her head out on the ridge. She just stands there w/ her nore in the air. The wind was at my back blowing right into the canyon she was above. After about 15 mintues of this cow just standing there, out come a few more. They smell me but due to the wing swirling in the canyon they kept looking for me down canyon. After about 6 cows come appear, out comes my bull (at this point in the hunt, any bull is my bull). I see right away he has something wrong w/ his left side, and he has something dangling from his right antler. Well, needless to say he smelt me to and he just stood there w/ his nose in the air. At this point, he's about 350 yards away, and if he decided not to come down, I was going to let the ole .300 reach out and touch him. I was so pumped I was shaking, but I still had enough since to remain calm and not rush a shot. After a few more minutes of the elk staying on top of the ridge they decided it was safe. Well, maybe not safe, but safe enough to head through the bowl and get the f" out of there. Something just wasn't right, and that something was me Well, they headed straight fo me and he ended up giving me a great 60 yard broad-side shot. One shot w/ a 200 grain Nozler Partician and I had my elk. What an absolute blast. Got my first load off at about 11:00 p.m. Waited until Wedneday to get the rest. Nothing like those late forth qtr, game saving drives!!!
Almost forgot. The stuff hanging from his anter was a glow stick attached to some cotton rope. There was also a piece of rubber (almost like a water bladder). His left side was broken off right above his eye guard. So he turned out to be a 5x1. I still need to get pics of the rack (I left the chit hanging on it).
I have pictures of where I hunt but don't know how to post them. help?
Day 1 (4 Nov). Flew into Boise 3 Nov, at 10:30 p.m. After getting the car situation taken care of I headed to Mountain Home to meet up w/ my hunting partner. Stopped by a friends to grab my gun; hit Wally World for some last minute supplies and headed into the hills. Arrived at camp around 3:00 a.m. I tried to get a quick nap but to no prevail, and we were off at 4:30. So the days plan was to hunt a bowl/ridge I hunted last year. Pretty rough hike in terms of distance and vertical. There was still a few inches of snow, which made it a little tough in the slide rocks. If that was'nt bad enough, the fog rolled in and stayed for most of the day (40-50 yard visibility)
I told my buddy we might as well wait it out since we were so far in. Eventually cleared up and we continued our trek. Not much going on in terms of elk; all of the sign was old. The fog slowed us down so we were'nt able to hunt down in the bowl like we planned. And somewhere throughout the day I managed to slip and jack up both knees. Felt like I tore something in both of them. Is was bad enough in my right knee that I did'nt think I was going to make it down, but eventually around 8:45 p.m we made it back. So day one, after being up for almost 36+ hours was nothing more than a long painful hike.Day 2 (Friday, 5 Nov).
Woke up in pain. Plan for the day; try to recover enough in order to hunt the next day. Drove to town (Wally World) to get a knee brace, good pain pills and spent the afternoon scouting. The area I hunt is glassable from a distance. So we made our way to our spotting location around 4:00 p.m and waited. At about 4:30 the elk started coming out; first abunch of cows and then finally the big guy. He was all by himself, just grazing on the hill side. So, there's the plan for the next day. Head up the mountain in hopes of crossing paths w/ the big'n. Sore knee...what knee...we have elk to hunt.
Day 3 (Saturday, 6 Nov)
The day started off w/ plenty of enthusiasm. We hit the trail at about 4:15 a.m. Gotta love those straight up hikes
Got into position in time and waited. The only problem was it was the weekend and there were a few more hunters out. All they were doing was walking the ridges, which meant the elk stayed down in their forrest hide outs. We split up w/ plans to meet up around noon, but come noon, there was no-one in sight. I decided to drop down into the heavy forrest to see if I could come across something, but all I saw was cows. By this time my knee was screaming again and I decided not to go back up to look for the others. The downward hike was 10x's more painfull. I made it down around 5:00 p.m and my buddies followed around 7:00. W/ the extra hunters up there the elk stayyed out of sight.End of day three Elk 3/hunters 0.
Day 4 (Sunday) I'm divorced and my children still live in Idaho so I spent the day w/ them. What a blast, elk hunting is the 2nd love in my life; the kids come first.
Day 5(Monday, 8 Nov).
Since the kids would be in school, I decided to head up the mountain again. I hiked up a different canyon in hopes the elk moved over from the weekend pressure. About half way up the mountain I ran across John, a hunter from CA. Since he was new to the area I offered to show him the lay-out of the land. Now I'm usually selective on who I hunt w/ but right away I could tell he knew what he was talking about and did'nt mind showing him my spots. We ended glassing a few canyons and spotted a couple of nice shooter muley's. Watched two bucks almost go at it, but the smaller one finally gave way. Still pretty cool. About mid day John and I shook hands and headed in our seperate ways. I was going to check out a high flat plateau where the elk like to go when pressured and he was going to a saddle where bulls like to cross in the evening. Well, the elk were'nt on the plateau so I sat (due to my knee ) and started glassing. At about 4:08 p.m I spotted a ridge full of elk. This was close to the spot we spotted the big bull on Friday. I'm not sure how many there was (I quit counting at 50) but they just came pouring out from behind the ridge. Here' the point where I have matured as a hunter (my excuse for getting old). From my location, w/ a good set of knees I could make it to them in a bout an hour/hour and a half. On a bad knee??? Also the wind was completely in the wrong direction; I would have been coming down on them w/ the wind at my back. They would have busted me for sure. So, after much deliberation I decided to head back down the mounatin and go after them the following afternoon. As most of you can contest to; when elk hunting, you're coming off the mountain at night, and this night was no excepting. My knee was hurting so bad that the only way to go down was to skip/hop like little kids do when they act like they're riding a horse. I would stop and just laugh, because I knew if someone was watching me they'd think "what a freaking looney"
...Gotta do what you gotta do, and if it meant skipping down a mountian then so be it. Ended up being a rough hike out since there was no trail and I was in some pretty steep stuff. And if it was'nt steep it was thick of brush. But I did'nt care, I had elk on my mind. Day 6 (Tues, 9 Nov)
Last day of the hunt which is where the 'hail mary' part comes in. Since these elk were only coming out in the evening, I planned to go up in the afternoon. So I went to school, picked up my little ones for a lunch date. I cherish those times! Afterwards I gather my gear, drove to my site and headed up. I chose a ridge opposite of the ridge I had seen the elk the day before. It was a ridge we hike up on Saturday, so I knew there was a nice bowl at the top. My plans were to sit in the rocks and wait it out. My plan was solid except for the wind which was blowing at my back, up canyon. But being so late in the last day of the season there was nothing I could do but press. About half way up the ridge I looked across canyon and saw some elk on the ridge. This would have bee great except it was the wrong canyon and there would no way for me to get accross to them in time.
I was sure these were the same elk I'd seen the day before and they had crossed over during the night, but for some reason I kept going. I finally made it up the ridge and found a good out cropping of rocks to set up in. I looked at the ridge I wanted to hunt and saw nothing so I was more interest in glassing the elk on the oppsite ridge. All I could see was about 15-18 cows but I knew there was more. While I was glass I kept hearing things behind me, but I was to consumed w/ the elk cross canyon. When I turned around there was 8 elk, 60 yards away, slowly moving out of the bowl I was sitting over..chit, chit!!! I turned around and threw the scope up hoping to see horns but a big 'no-go', all cows. It's about 4:10 when I watch the cows cross over out of sight. Iturn around and see not 15-18 elk but more like 60, chit, chit!!! I don't know why I was really concerned there was no way I could get there and it was about a 700 yard shot (not my game). Turns out, all I see is cows/calfs; not one set of antlers in the buch. I know this for sure because I later saw a hunter below them. He must have been pissed when he could'nt find a bull in that bunch. So I turn back around and wait over my spot. At about 4:40 a cow sticks her head out on the ridge. She just stands there w/ her nore in the air. The wind was at my back blowing right into the canyon she was above. After about 15 mintues of this cow just standing there, out come a few more. They smell me but due to the wing swirling in the canyon they kept looking for me down canyon. After about 6 cows come appear, out comes my bull (at this point in the hunt, any bull is my bull). I see right away he has something wrong w/ his left side, and he has something dangling from his right antler. Well, needless to say he smelt me to and he just stood there w/ his nose in the air. At this point, he's about 350 yards away, and if he decided not to come down, I was going to let the ole .300 reach out and touch him. I was so pumped I was shaking, but I still had enough since to remain calm and not rush a shot. After a few more minutes of the elk staying on top of the ridge they decided it was safe. Well, maybe not safe, but safe enough to head through the bowl and get the f" out of there. Something just wasn't right, and that something was me Well, they headed straight fo me and he ended up giving me a great 60 yard broad-side shot. One shot w/ a 200 grain Nozler Partician and I had my elk. What an absolute blast. Got my first load off at about 11:00 p.m. Waited until Wedneday to get the rest. Nothing like those late forth qtr, game saving drives!!! Almost forgot. The stuff hanging from his anter was a glow stick attached to some cotton rope. There was also a piece of rubber (almost like a water bladder). His left side was broken off right above his eye guard. So he turned out to be a 5x1. I still need to get pics of the rack (I left the chit hanging on it).
I have pictures of where I hunt but don't know how to post them. help?
