SCliving Outdoors
Well-known member
This year I decided it was time to cash in my elk points and try my hand in Wyoming chasing elk. I applied for a west general tag and WY gladly took my 5 points after the completely typical 5 month wait for the draw results. My friend Trent and I have been hunting together for 3-4 years primarily in the spring in Idaho for bears, however, Trent recently move over to Alpine, WY and he offered to get the resident “guide license” and take me into the wilderness. I quickly accepted this offer and he headed over to the G&F office to sign on the dotted line agreeing to hold my hand and share a sleeping bag with me in the wilderness areas to insure my well being during the hunt.
The summer quickly faded and I was boarding a plane to fly to Idaho Falls where Trent picked me up at the airport and we headed across the boarder. Upon arrival Trent asked me exactly where I wanted to go. The wilderness area we were headed into was a spot neither of us had ever been. I had 2 main areas I’d e-scouted. I’d sent him a bunch of pins, but somehow only one of the areas had come through which had been my secondary choice, but I think being flexible is necessary on any hunt so we just adjusted our plans and headed to that area. We arrived after dark and just picked a random area along a creek to camp for the night. We awoke the next morning with plans to shoot my rifle and to checkout different trails looking at pressure and adjusting our plan as needed. The rifle shot well only needing a small adjustment because of elevation. Next we looked at trailheads. We looked at 3. One had a group of 4-6 hunters and guides heading in on horses, another had 3 local trucks (1 with a horse trailer and one trail had no one. The trail with no one on it had a clear reason why. The trail began with a 700’ climb in the first .65 a mile. I have something in common with elk… I don’t like seeing hunters either. We adjusted our plan and took the steep trail. We arrived to our camping spot about 6pm and set up camp. It was a beautiful ridge surrounded by burn area, deadfall and beautiful aspens that were all gold. We had a stream down below us so we gathered water and checked out 2 different glassing spots within 400yds of camp. While checking one of them out we saw a nice pile of grizzly scat (not fresh) which was fun. One of the spots was significantly superior so we glassed for about 45 minutes that night only seeing a few deer. Trent threw out some location bugles right at dark and we heard a few distant bugles which was encouraging. We tucked into our tents looking forward to an opening morning full of bugling bulls.
The summer quickly faded and I was boarding a plane to fly to Idaho Falls where Trent picked me up at the airport and we headed across the boarder. Upon arrival Trent asked me exactly where I wanted to go. The wilderness area we were headed into was a spot neither of us had ever been. I had 2 main areas I’d e-scouted. I’d sent him a bunch of pins, but somehow only one of the areas had come through which had been my secondary choice, but I think being flexible is necessary on any hunt so we just adjusted our plans and headed to that area. We arrived after dark and just picked a random area along a creek to camp for the night. We awoke the next morning with plans to shoot my rifle and to checkout different trails looking at pressure and adjusting our plan as needed. The rifle shot well only needing a small adjustment because of elevation. Next we looked at trailheads. We looked at 3. One had a group of 4-6 hunters and guides heading in on horses, another had 3 local trucks (1 with a horse trailer and one trail had no one. The trail with no one on it had a clear reason why. The trail began with a 700’ climb in the first .65 a mile. I have something in common with elk… I don’t like seeing hunters either. We adjusted our plan and took the steep trail. We arrived to our camping spot about 6pm and set up camp. It was a beautiful ridge surrounded by burn area, deadfall and beautiful aspens that were all gold. We had a stream down below us so we gathered water and checked out 2 different glassing spots within 400yds of camp. While checking one of them out we saw a nice pile of grizzly scat (not fresh) which was fun. One of the spots was significantly superior so we glassed for about 45 minutes that night only seeing a few deer. Trent threw out some location bugles right at dark and we heard a few distant bugles which was encouraging. We tucked into our tents looking forward to an opening morning full of bugling bulls.
Last edited:
