blueridge
Well-known member
Quick recap of my OTC A tag in central Idaho. My son and I flew into a very smoky Boise last Thursday. Left first thing Friday for my central zone. Lots of both hikers and hunters over the weekend at our first spot. Elk were very quiet (hunters, not so much) and eventually found them pushed back 4+ miles deep and way up high (9800ft). Brutally steep. Had three cows just out of range, then a nice herd bull and about a dozen cows came over a saddle at 200yds away. Cover was pretty sparse up there so we couldn't close as much distance as I would have preferred. As soon as we started the calling sequence he pushed his cows across the open rock face into cover just down from the peak. Storm picked up and started hailing and snowing on us. It was starting to get dark and too late to make a loop around the back side to drop in from above, so we hiked back out. 5 hours to hike in, 3+ to hike out. Made for some long first couple days with no other opportunities. Good thing is the rain really cleared the skies after that. By Monday morning we were the only ones there. We know you don't leave elk to find elk, but we figured we would give them a break (hoping they would relax and come back down a little), and also, being our first time in Idaho, there were some other places we wanted to make sure we checked out.
Headed up to the White Clouds. Packed in 5 miles before we started seeing good sign. Horse hunters were the only ones we saw back there. Set up camp just before dark. Quickly realized that packing something 6+ miles out in that country was a little more than we were comfortable with (my knee was starting to really bother me from the previous ridge climbing), so we did the 4+hr hike back out. Beautiful country though, and really enjoyed the clear mountain lakes.
Went to town, washed some clothes, ate a warm meal, and took a break day at a hotel.
Next day headed back south to check out another spot and found some really good elk country. Seems like an initial 3hr hike uphill gets you away from the vast majority of folks. Did some calling sequences in a timber patch. Didn't see anything, so my son and I started to walk parallel down through the timber, stopping every 50 yards or so for him to call some. Just as we start walking down, I spot the body of an elk between two trees about 60 yards away. I try to get my son's attention to stop him before he gets spotted, but it's too late. The bull, a decent 5x5, was onto us and turns and heads downhill.
We do the same hike the next morning, leaving at 4am at the trailhead to make it to the top of the ridge by daylight. We set up to glass and instantly see nice 6x6 and 14 cows coming down over the opposite ridgeline. We spend the next hour watching them make their way to their bed. The wind is wrong to circle back the way we came along the ridgeline, so we commit to a 3hr loop down the finger ridge, up the opposite side, then back across just above their timber patch to set up and call. Brutal. Idaho is so damn steep. It's 12:30pm by the time we're in position. I sneak out ahead 40 yards of my caller. Just as I am about to give him the signal to start, I hear a branch snap just beyond a raised part in the hill. I walk ahead 5 steps to peak over . . . and it is another hunter. wtf. The bull had been quiet chuckling and soft bugling, so I assumed he had heard him and was sneaking down in on them. He sees me, then waves, and turns uphill and walks away. Hmmm. Two minutes later his buddy comes through. I motion him over (it's public land, he has just as much right to the elk as me, so I wanted to chat about how to handle it or work together on the play). Ends up that they hadn't heard a thing. But, they had just walked in from upwind, the direction we had spent the last 3 hours hiking to avoid. He hunts past, my son and I back out and take a quick nap to let things cool down. Start a calling sequence. Nothing. Make our way down to where they were bedded. Nothing. The other hunters had bumped them out.
Headed up to the White Clouds. Packed in 5 miles before we started seeing good sign. Horse hunters were the only ones we saw back there. Set up camp just before dark. Quickly realized that packing something 6+ miles out in that country was a little more than we were comfortable with (my knee was starting to really bother me from the previous ridge climbing), so we did the 4+hr hike back out. Beautiful country though, and really enjoyed the clear mountain lakes.
Went to town, washed some clothes, ate a warm meal, and took a break day at a hotel.
Next day headed back south to check out another spot and found some really good elk country. Seems like an initial 3hr hike uphill gets you away from the vast majority of folks. Did some calling sequences in a timber patch. Didn't see anything, so my son and I started to walk parallel down through the timber, stopping every 50 yards or so for him to call some. Just as we start walking down, I spot the body of an elk between two trees about 60 yards away. I try to get my son's attention to stop him before he gets spotted, but it's too late. The bull, a decent 5x5, was onto us and turns and heads downhill.
We do the same hike the next morning, leaving at 4am at the trailhead to make it to the top of the ridge by daylight. We set up to glass and instantly see nice 6x6 and 14 cows coming down over the opposite ridgeline. We spend the next hour watching them make their way to their bed. The wind is wrong to circle back the way we came along the ridgeline, so we commit to a 3hr loop down the finger ridge, up the opposite side, then back across just above their timber patch to set up and call. Brutal. Idaho is so damn steep. It's 12:30pm by the time we're in position. I sneak out ahead 40 yards of my caller. Just as I am about to give him the signal to start, I hear a branch snap just beyond a raised part in the hill. I walk ahead 5 steps to peak over . . . and it is another hunter. wtf. The bull had been quiet chuckling and soft bugling, so I assumed he had heard him and was sneaking down in on them. He sees me, then waves, and turns uphill and walks away. Hmmm. Two minutes later his buddy comes through. I motion him over (it's public land, he has just as much right to the elk as me, so I wanted to chat about how to handle it or work together on the play). Ends up that they hadn't heard a thing. But, they had just walked in from upwind, the direction we had spent the last 3 hours hiking to avoid. He hunts past, my son and I back out and take a quick nap to let things cool down. Start a calling sequence. Nothing. Make our way down to where they were bedded. Nothing. The other hunters had bumped them out.
And also afraid he was going to get impaled. After 30 seconds of staring through him, the bull eventually must have winded him and turned and ran off.
, and I was clean and greased for the downhill. 
Would have been ugly without it.
