John and Chris’s 2019 Roosevelt Adventures

[Little Big Man MT Chris]

The hanging meat cooler is coming along , John, Big Chris and myself did our biggest ride yet , took 2 rigs for a start and end , went just over 20 miles yesterday, saw a lot of good looking country, didn’t see a lot of elk sign came across 2 cows and calves, but they busted us 1st and we’re headed for the timber before we saw them , after the trip we decided great looking area but with less elk sign in this section of country we decided this won’t be an area we will focus on this season. Doesn’t mean we won’t, but it’s a back up area . Took a few pics







It’s double wall insulation













One of the highlights of the day was seeing this old logging road marker and realizing a bobcat is using it as his favorite scratching post , we wanted to put a trailcam on it but it’s was so far out , coming back to recover it would take a half a day to do it .

 

[Little Big Man MT Chris]

More work was done today on the meat cooler , then a BBQ and flinging arrows, the running joke now is , since we’ve built this thing no ones gonna get a bull now to hang in it , I don’t think that jokes funny !!!

 

[Little Big Man MT Chris]

John got out twice this week did some scouting and playing with his 6.5 creedmore and Fired a few at distance, I was not able to go ☹ , here’s his pics







This is 2 big ugly Oregon Slugs making out or something, anyone got some salt ???




And the best bull pics so far this year I feel. A good looking 4x5

 

[marshman]

Nice slugs, i killed a crap load of em last night, gotta love the Pacific Northwest. Nice young bull too!

 

[rtraverdavis]

It’s close to go time. When are you guys heading out Chris?

 

[Little Big Man MT Chris]

It’s close to go time. When are you guys heading out Chris?

The crew will make camp August 23rd , opening day is Saturday the 24th, as for now I’m scheduled to work opening day with the following 3 weeks off work starting Saturday the 25th , when it gets closer to the 24th I will put a request in and try to get the 24th off , if not I will miss opening day with the guys or if it’s an easy day at work I could get to camp by 4 or 5 and get a evening hunt in opening day also . my Job vacation weeks go Sunday to Sunday, but because of the longer archery season if I can’t get Saturday the opener off it’s not as big a deal as missing a day of rifle season when the hunts are shorter, also because I live here I don’t have a long travel time , I think about 45 minutes to elk camp . That made the choice on picking vacation time easier , rather than blowing a week of vacation and only get one hunting day out of the week the of 24th , and get a 15 day hunt or miss the opener but get 21 days to hunt elk , so i chose the 21 days of hunting and took August 25th till September 15th off. With archery odds being 1 out of 10 fill a tag , and this being my 1st archery hunt as well as I turn 50 this year during my elk hunt , want to try and get it done this year , before age and time slow me down.

 

[Little Big Man MT Chris]

With work being crazy busy right now , working 6 10’s I don’t have time for evening scouting, and my next day off is next Sunday, John and I took the late afternoon to go check a camera we hung June 2nd , at that time I wrote John’s comment to me , said he didn’t think we would get a lot of elk pics but we would get a bigger bull, well today was time to see if the crafty old Roosevelt hunter John was right , as was he ever , only 6 pics on the camera in 2 moths time , and sure enough we got a pic of the biggest bull in the last 3 years, we were bummed the camera was just off the trail a fraction, but I pic we did get gave us BIG BULL FEVER , ha ha ha ... we readjusted the camera hoping to get a full body pic , the date of the pic was August 2nd , season opens in 20 days , John named the bull Dolly because of the massive fronts !!! Lol , I was like did a Rocky Mtn Bull wander over from eastern Oregon??? Were thinking those fronts are about 15 , 16 inches which is massive for a Roosevelt, we also hung another camera in an area I found a ton of Rubs in back in March , I didn’t take any scenic pics this trip as we just going fast on the bikes today , anyways HERES DOLLY !!!!!!!

This is the pic from June 2nd as we searched the edge of the cut for an elk trail , we hung the camera, 15 yards or so in the tree line

 

[Little Big Man MT Chris]

My friend Cam pulled a cam today he sent me these pics , he will be hunting with John and I this fall, Cam killed his first elk last archery season a funky velvet 3x1










We think it’s 3 different bulls , this last pic he looks heavier than the first 2

 

[Little Big Man MT Chris]

Got of work early yesterday so I went to pull a camera out of an area John and I hung it June 2 , I was excited to see what elk pics we got and to share with everyone. It’s about a mile walk from the gate on an old overgrown logging road to get to an interior road system. As I came up on the flat I knew I was close to the the mainline as I begin to see light filter through the trees, I get excited and that excitement turns to dread as with each step the light coming through the trees gets brighter and brighter and I know it shouldn’t be that much light , and it begins to sink in they logged the big timber patch John and I hung the camera in , CRAP, as I come out of the woods into the mainline, I see a patch of trees still standing at the far end of the road , a slight glimmer of hope fills my heart as I know the meadow was closer to the corner of the road split , quickly riding my mountain bike to get the , my hopes are dashed again as I looks like they went at least 100 yards past the end of the meadow and the location of the camera , time to hike in and take a look , walking very carefully through the piles of trees and debris not wanting to slip and fall and impale myself on a branch or something, a few time getting in I was 5 to 6 feet off the ground waking on piled trees, very dangerous if not careful, getting to the middle of the area I see a small patch of grass about 20 feet by 20 feet or so , at this point all I can do I laugh, frustration over the lost camera, passes, I look around for a little bit hopefully for a miracle and realize it’s hopeless, if a logger didn’t find it working it’s under 25 tons trees and debris. Working my way back out , instead of heading back to the truck , I decide to ride up the road and look for elk , logging activity doesn’t bother the elk much they just go around it and move to the next area, there is some nice older clearcuts close by that the elk are always in that provides a few good glassing point , and sure enough I spot elk with my eyes , less than a mile from the operation , I get a pic through the binos , not that great but watch them for awhile then head for home , 4 cows no bulls , today was another example of Roosevelt elk hunting and how the landscape is constantly changing, below is some before and after pics

John and I back in June in the meadow and one of the big elk trails leading to the meadow



John placing the camera


One of the 4 or 5 trails we found heading to the meadow


The area 2 months later !



Getting over the trees


Standing in all that’s left of the meadow


A pic of the meadow as I crawl out a different way


Walking out on logs that circle was the meadow



One of the cows I found later


And one more thing, some might have noticed I had on a HECS under shirt, Mom got me the whole suit for Christmas, I never would buy one , but it was from mom who’s heart was in the right place , and in honor of mom’s everywhere, I will rock that shirt proudly from time to time during my hunt , so I don’t what to hear no freakin crap about it !!! Only John can tease me ! Ha ha ha ha

 

[Little Big Man MT Chris]

Headed for Johns this morning, We’re going to take the mountain bikes up and check 2 trail cameras and then pull one and relocate in the area where we found the big bull we nicknamed dolly and try to get a second camera in that area we’ve done some research on Google earth and we think we found the area where we might catch it crossing , then where gonna mount some tool brackets in my rig for hunting season, Oregon’s Elk season is 13 days away , not much time left , Anyways hope to be able to post up for everyone some great Roosevelt pictures on the two trail cameras from later today unlike earlier this week when I went to pull a trail camera and found out the entire Woods were leveled by loggers !!!!

 

[Little Big Man MT Chris]

Back from the woods, found a couple small meadows today, this is probably our last trip out this before season starts , it’s been a long journey to this point.
We had elk , on both trail cams , and a few other critters as well, here’s the pics we chose to share









A coyote


A bobcat




After checking both cameras we rode to another spot to get a better feel for the area, in the biggest meadow we found today , we discovered a big elk trail in the back corner and walked the trail for awhile back into the Coast Range Jungle, we found giant old stumps from yesteryear.

The giant old stump


John Walking the elk trail back to the meadow


Back in The meadow


After finding that big trail , if we get a bull torching off on that side of the hill , we know where he will most likely pop out for a set up scenario

Back at Johns we drilled and mounted the tool brackets for my rig , were required to have a tool , shovel and extinguisher during fire season







While doing the brackets John took an elk hamburger out of the freezer broke it in half and gave the dogs a frozen dog treat


Brackets are done




The walkin cooler is also done , John had the meat hooks washing in the dishwasher and meat tubs are ordered and on the way





Now if we can find a few elk to cooperate and volunteer to fill this cooler!!!!

 

[bobbydean]

Chris, I have really enjoyed this thread. Your preparation for this hunt was incredible.

Looking forward to the hunting part now. I hope all you hard work pays off and you get to use that cooler.

 

[Little Big Man MT Chris]

Chris, I have really enjoyed this thread. Your preparation for this hunt was incredible.

Looking forward to the hunting part now. I hope all you hard work pays off and you get to use that cooler.

Thanks ! I’ve enjoyed sharing it , Johns been doing it this way for years , I caught the elk bug late in life , seems like each of our passion and drive to be the best hunters we can be just fuels the fire and drives us to push each other harder, i’ll Admit , I’m anxious, excited and nervous all at the same time. Wondering what events will unfold in the days to come.

 

[Little Big Man MT Chris]

Went to Johns for one last Broadhead shoot , in early July I went back to KUTCH archery shop and got a new release, Kenny also put a new loop on as mine was starting to fray , which caused them to readjust my peep , my broadheads flew fine before that , but tonight was 1st time shooting them
Since , john had to tinker with it more than last time , I was becoming a little unsettled at first , not panicked but getting there , John finally got it right and I hit the Black 8 inch circle out to 60 , we shot for awhile between 40 and 50 till I got comfortable again seeing that broadhead hit black for awhile. 4 days till season , on the way home I took this pic posted below, don’t know how everyone else’s summer has been , but in Western Oregon this has been the mildest August I can remember for ever , Lvl 1 fire danger , by now it’s always a 2 , because August here is upper 80’s and mid 90”s for the whole month and hitting triple digits a few times at least , but this years it’s been upper 70’s and low 80’s with some rain , and the reason this is great for us ,we hunt logging properties, most close to public at lvl 3 and most years, we hit 3 at some point in archery season and it limits where u hunt , but this year even if we get a late hot spell it won’t bump anything to lvl 3 , and we hav 3 different properties we plan to chase Roosevelt’s on , needless to say we are pumped up with this years mild late summer weather, the high for Wednesday is upper 60’s and rain ! Even better , with mid to upper 70’s for opening weekend maybe mid 80’s by middle of next week. I’m just a happy hunter in Oregon

 

[duckhunt]

Great report, looking forward to the beginning of your season

 

[gouch]

The fire danger is extreme down here in the southern part of the state. Not sure why since like you say this has been one of the coolest summers I've seen in my 65 years here. Supposed to be some of the hottest weather of the summer for the opening of the season though, seems to always work out that way. But I'll be out there in the brush as usual. Nothing new about bow hunting in the heat around here. Good luck on your quest for your first bow kill elk, hope you get a big one. I'm looking forward to your posts.

 

[rtraverdavis]

Good luck Chris. I’ll be thinking about you guys this weekend.

 

[Little Big Man MT Chris]

The fire danger is extreme down here in the southern part of the state. Not sure why since like you say this has been one of the coolest summers I've seen in my 65 years here. Supposed to be some of the hottest weather of the summer for the opening of the season though, seems to always work out that way. But I'll be out there in the brush as usual. Nothing new about bow hunting in the heat around here. Good luck on your quest for your first bow kill elk, hope you get a big one. I'm looking forward to your posts.

Glad you’ve enjoyed the posts , our area isn’t expected to warm up till next Wednesday, it’s still 9 days out , hopefully it will change , best of luck to you down south

 

[Little Big Man MT Chris]

We’re inside 48 hours till go time , we will have like 8 guys in camp , people will have different schedules and be coming and going throughout the week, John took 10 days off and I have 21. Took food over to Johns tonight to pack the RV , mom cooked us up a bunch of frozen meals , burritos, deer heart , meatloaf , spaghetti, sausage, kraut and tatoes! We will feast like Kings ! John is headed up tomorrow to get camp going , I hav to work Friday and Saturday so I will miss opening day . I will get up to camp sometime Saturday after work , if off early enough, I hope to get an evening hunt in . John has a heavy heart right now as he had to put HANK down this week . Hank has been Johns side kick for over 14 years . I surprised John tonight with a 8x10 framed pic I took of Hank last year on the day John tagged out on his archery Roosevelt, we were in the shop and just skinned his bull when old Hank tried to drag off with the bull hide to chew on ! Made a great pic , Johns gonna hang it in his gun room. It will be good for John to be up in the woods for awhile and not home where Hank was always there , the hunting should help with the grieving process

All the frozen goodies from mom ! Moms are great


Home sweet home next week


The pic I had framed for John, Old Hank,
He loved the scraps from the deer and elk we would hang

 

[Little Big Man MT Chris]

I’m leaving work and the crew is up in the woods , cam found a herd earlier today with 2 branch bulls in it there game planning for tomorrow, John just sent me this pic of elk on an older logging road , note the big loader arm of logging barely visible through the trees!
It’s gonna be hard for me to concentrate at work tomorrow with my mind on the mountain