John and Chris’s 2019 Roosevelt Adventures

[Little Big Man MT Chris]

Went for a hike today at a different access point for the area where my buddy John got a picture of the velvet bull pictured in my last post , wanted to get the lay of the land and see what kind of elk sign is in the area, and just get a good hike in , found elk , saw 2 Blacktails , a frog , a dead coyote, and 1000’s of snails , must be mating season for coastal snails, also my girlfriend applied for a Roosevelt Cow Tag in the Unit I explored today , they only give 20 tags for for the hunt , but she’s been buying points for years now , this will be her first elk hunt and i've been using the past 3 blacktail seasons to prepare her for this hunt and I believe she will draw it this year , even though her hunt won’t be till January of 2020. I saw today this is a place I could get her into pretty easily , I’m pumped for her hunt as well as my archery hunt, here’s a few pics from the days adventure

wasnt sure what this was till i found the jaw bone, dead coyote is a good one



i think i only accidentally stepped on one snail toady as they were everwhere on the logging roads today


one of the 2 Blacktails i saw today


found a small tuft of Rosie hair along a logging road


this is the cut i glassed up the elk in today, i saw around ten, there where probably more


heres 2 of the elk in that cut , this was the best of the pics i was able to get as i was standing on a stump, in an evergreen tree, hell and gone from them on the other side of the canyon, the other elk is bedded in top left of pic


this is why we hunt the clear cuts in Oregon, it really is a jungle in places here and the elk and deer disapear in this crap.


another view of the woods on the side of the logging road , you can see for feet !!!! ha ha ha


heres my frog encounter of the day , only thing missing today was a salamander and i would have seen all the slimy reptiles we got in the woods here


back to the truck and home...

 

[Little Big Man MT Chris]

Did a morning hike/exploring trip , saw 11 elk , one branch bull was in the group , I got a few blurry pics through my truck windshield before they left the clear cut , found a few more meadows connected to clear cuts for my 1st archery hunt , as always, I’ve included a few pics from the Roosevelt Jungle , aka the coast range



caught these elk feeding about 5:30 am this morning, i got up at 3:30 this morning to get a good half day of scouting in, 5 elk in bottom pic



I normally don't take pics of elk tracks , but this one was the size of my hand ,


a different type country i got into today





example of how Roosevelt Elk like to use old logging roads to travel, this old road ended at a meadow


the last meadow i saw today, had elk beds through out it



taking a line from the BRO CREW, time for the cat road shuffle


one of these days i will find a ROOSEVELT SHED, its been 2 years since i found the last one, i think its easier to kill a branch bull than find one of there damn sheds out here, i taken 2 bulls since i've found my last shed, i spend 3 times as much time scooting the woods as i do hunting elk, you would think i would get lucky at some point , NOPE !!!!! ha ha ha

 

[gouch]

When I was younger I hunted the Tioga unit fairly regularly. Got my first elk there. Then the Last 10 years before I retired from the Forest Service I spent way to many weeks crawling around the woods In the Siuslaw NF. So I have had about enough of wading through head high soak and wet ferns, digging Salmon berry thorns out of my flesh and dragging myself out of mountain beaver holes. So I hunt in the Cascades now days but I sure look forward to fallowing all of your adventures.

 

[Little Big Man MT Chris]

So I have had about enough of wading through head high soak and wet ferns, digging Salmon berry thorns out of my flesh and dragging myself out of mountain beaver holes.

ha ha ha ha !!! Saturday morning , when i went out i made the mistake of not wearing my sitka rain gear even though it hadnt rained , i was wringing out the water from my clothes when i got back to the truck i was so SOAKED ,because the brush was so wet with dew. a mistake i will never make again.

 

[Pucky Freak]

Keep the pics coming! This is great country that I have visited, but will likely never hunt in. Love experiencing it vicariously through your scouting posts though

 

[Little Big Man MT Chris]

Went over to Johns this evening, he is the shy one , he is also the one I look up to when it comes to Roosevelt hunting , I’ve learned a lot from him and look forward to hunting elk together for the 1st time this fall . John doesn’t do any social media and Hunttalk is the only social media platform I participate in . Here’s a few pics of Johns place ,he’s a jack of all trades kinda guy , very knowledgeable in a lot of areas , feel blessed to have him for a close friend, he did a rain drain from sheds , has a wicked hunt room in his house , and a few big ROOSEVELT’s in there to, after sending him pics of my Saturday trip , we went out this evening and put a trail cam in one area , and hiked a little, saw 2 herds of elk , good evening in the woods




we saw a herd ahead of us off the road a ways , thought as we drove past they would go farther across the field , NOPE, it was a stamped of elk right in front of us , when i realized the lead cow was coming our way , i just pulled out the cell and stared snapping pics, below is the main part of the herd


one of the stragglers not wanting to be left behind , went full airborne, who said elk cant fly, it happened so fast , it wasn't till after when i looked at the pics i realized i got a couple good ones


always hard to get john to look at the camera

 

[jnd1959]

Thanks for the pics. I look forward to the reports of the season.

 

[Little Big Man MT Chris]

John and I biked into some country to hang some trail cams, this area doesn’t allow drive in , he used the onx app, we ended up biking 10 miles and walking another 7 tenths when we go into our areas of interest


saw 3 cows about 20 minutes in , we only were able to get a pic of one, later on John saw a branch bull off a side road that busted us first , John was ahead like always, John has a 3K electric bike and I have an old school bike I have to push up all the hills while he waits at the top and cracks jokes at my expense



I really do love spending time in elk country


John looking for a place to hang a camera, just inside the tree line we found an area with generations of rubs , John having more elk experience than me said he didn’t expect much activity on this camera location but though we would get a bigger bull on it , time will tell


Taking a break in the shade and John being John


Another coast range scenic pic


John knew of a meadow close by I didn’t know off , we walked in to hang the 2nd camera


We made the meadow


Hanging the camera and I looked at one of the 4 elk trails coming into the meadow



The bike ride out

 

[jvanhoy]

Awesome looking country! Looking forward to following along on your hunts this year.

 

[Little Big Man MT Chris]

Instead of heading to the elk woods today to get some scouting in , I heard on Friday night , the man the myth the legend, BIG FIN was in Portland and was gonna be at an area pub , so I went to the city to say hello and have a beer , had a great time , met some great people , and some local BHA folks





Next week we resume our regular scheduled programming of running around in the coast range with the elk

 

[Big Fin]

Thanks for driving in to town to visit. And thanks for the good eats and the kind sharing of intel that might get me a headstart on my quest for a Roosevelt.

 

[rtraverdavis]

It was great hanging out with you guys today.

 

[Little Big Man MT Chris]

There are places and people that we meet or get to go and experience in life that the instant you get there , you feel or sense that this is special , where I went today is one such place , i was taken here by John last year , and on the way , myself being new to archery and when John told me he’s been driving out here for 15 or more years and that it would take an hour to get there , I asked the question why do you drive an hour way the hell out into the country to get your bow worked on ? And John politely explained to me with a few choice words mixed in , “ sporting good stores are great for some things but I ain’t letting no guy making $@#€ 14 bucks an hour who doesn’t even archery hunt ever touch my &#%¥ BOW !!!! And when we pulled into the parking lot I got it , and when I walked in Kenny’s place for the 1st time, I got it even more , blew me away , so today when we made a plan to head out to Kenny’s I was fired up, John had been telling me recently we need to go shoot his 3D course in the evening in the heat , it was in the mid 90’s today , because that will simulate early Oregon archery elk season , and I needed some arrows and a new sight as well, i really wanted to share local archery legend Kenny’s place with you all , so here’s the pics , he’s been doing it for 30 years, and I’m glad I’ve got to be a part of it





the door to his work space











Kenny hooking me up, when we got there he was closed, his house is across the street from his shop, he came over and opened for us , and worked on my new arrows while we went and shot the 3d course and then after he put a new peep sight on my string, which is why he has shorts in one pic and pants in the other






you could spend an hour looking at the walls of pics and trophies and and things hanging every where




john and i headed for Kenny's course


Arrows away




in the middle of the course Kenny has a metal plate covering a turkey target for the brave who want to test there skills at 4 inch hole, we chose to pass


the monument/memorial next to the target of all who failed..... ha ha ha


the drive from Kenny's back to pavement


lots of Blacktails out Kenny's way, we saw 4 on the drive out , this buck was 25 yards off the road in a farm field and was nice enough to pose for a pic


when we got to the town of Yamhill, i noticed Randy is becoming so popular in Oregon, the state is putting up signs to directing you to his location !!!

 

[kansasdad]

Old school!

Dude looks to be a bow whisperer for sure.

 

[Little Big Man MT Chris]

Old school!

Dude looks to be a bow whisperer for sure.

I agree on kenny is a bow whisperer ,I switched over to a stringless peep sight, Kenny gave my bow and said your probably gonna be a little high , i shot , 10 inches high at 20 , he goes yep , thought so , he took by bow , went back in his shop , I went and got my arrow , I came back he hands me my bow , then I put 3 arrows in the bullseye at 20 , after watching my 3 shoots he said I could shoot a little better if I change my release, it’s to long for me he said , didn’t have the xtra cash , but will be going back in July to get a new release from him.

 

[rtraverdavis]

Well, now I know where to go when I finally take the archery plunge.

 

[Little Big Man MT Chris]

Well, now I know where to go when I finally take the archery plunge.

If you go go early in the year and Kenny will take the time to work with you in person at his shop and get you dialed in , when talking to Kenny yesterday , he said after the Oregon draws released a-lot rifle elk hunters that only archery hunt as a last resort will show up at his shop with bows they haven’t touched in like two or three years and then hes slammed trying to get them all ready for their OTC archery hunt !!! LOL

 

[Deleted member 16014]

Thank you for these photos and updates, they are fun to see. It's really interesting to see a different critter and style of terrain than I'm used to.

 

[Little Big Man MT Chris]

Thank you for these photos and updates, they are fun to see. It's really interesting to see a different critter and style of terrain than I'm used to.

Your welcome at the beginning of the year I got the idea just to chronicle my journey with John as I prepare for my 1st Roosevelt archery hunt , it’s been fun to share , glad your enjoying it , is it gonna be tag soup or tagged out ???? Whatever the outcome it’s turning out to be my most enjoyable elk season yet , and it’s still 2 months till go time

 

[bobbydean]

Chris are you expecting a draw tag or OTC?

You look prepared either way.