Wilderness Elk Hunting in 2009 - What a Year!

Well folks, it's been awhile since the last time I sat down and posted something on our blog, but the time has come, once again, for a Ryan post. And, as you might expect, I'll be sticking to my standard habit of only posting things about hunting or fishing trips (Kathleen pretty much takes care of everything else...). The trips in question this time? Archery elk hunting 2009. Now, normally I do one big elk hunt each year for about 9 days with my dad. This year, however, since I didn't have to teach or take any classes this fall, I decided to do a shorter bonus trip with my good friend from Moscow, Chris Warren. This allowed me the opportunity to hunt elk in two states, and gave Chris the opportunity to see what hard-core wilderness elk hunting is all about. As a result, though, I'll be breaking this post into 2 sections: 1) Idaho elk hunting with Chris; 2) Oregon elk hunting with dad.

Section 1: Idaho elk hunting with Chris

As you'll see a bit later, dad and I opted for a little different type of hunting trip this year then we've done the past several years, which included hunting in Oregon instead of Idaho. So, that opened the door for me to do this bonus trip to the wilderness area in Idaho that dad, myself, and Kathleen's dad have hunted successfully the past two years. Chris has never hunted before, but has been wanting to see what it's all about for awhile, so this seemed like the ideal opportunity for a test run. Now, the past two years when we've done the big trip to this area, we've rented pack llamas (see last year's hunting post around this time). However, for a short, extra trip like this that really wasn't an option due to cost, so we turned it into a strictly backpacking trip. We hiked in on a Sunday afternoon after worship, hunted Monday-Friday, and then hiked out on Saturday. Camp was about 3 miles into the wilderness, and we hunted deeper in from there. The biggest down side to this trip was that the only time we could do it was the first week of season (archery season in both Idaho and Oregon is 4 weeks long). The first week tends to be a bit early for really good hunting, because the weather is very hot and the elk are just beginning their mating season (rut), so they tend not to move around as much or make as much noise as they do later in the season. Nevertheless, we did manage to get one really outstanding, action-packed day in (Monday), mostly because it poured down rain and got cold most of the day before (Sunday, which, of course, made for a very soggy hike in). Weather like that tends to get things moving, when it lasts. So, my plan is to describe the events of that first day, and then just hit a few highlights from the rest of the trip.

Those were some heavy packs!

Some pictures of camp...

Day 1: Monday morning at dawn found us glassing (looking over with binoculars) a hillside on the opposite side of a creek drainage that has produced for us in the past. Within half an hour, we saw 6 different bulls moving around on that hillside, 2 of which appeared to be pretty good 6-points. To make a long story short, we slowly worked our way down to the bottom of the drainage and over to their side in an attempt to get below them and call one of them in. During that process, which took close to an hour, we got to listen to them bugle, and we had the pleasure of watching 2 of them spar with their antlers and push each other around the hillside. That was awesome. Unfortunately, by the time we got over to their side of the drainage, things were starting to get hot, and they all bedded down in the timber and stopped bugling, which left us with no idea where they were. I tried cow-calling for about 15 minutes anyway just to see if I could get something to come in...and something did. Unfortunately it wasn't an elk, but a large, male black bear hungry for elk! Once I knew he was there, Chris and I watched him for several minutes as he attempted to locate the source of the calling. Fortunately, after not hearing anything for awhile, he gave up and moved on. If I had had a bear tag I would have been one happy guy, but bear tags in our unit require a lottery drawing, which isn't something I'm real interested in. Anyway, after he ambled off, we slowly worked our way up through the timber on the hillside hoping to see an elk before it saw us. It didn't work. The closest we came was when I poked my head out of the timber into an open area and spotted a nice bull bedded against a tree 70 yards below me. Unfortunately he had heard us coming and was looking right at me when I saw him. He let me get an arrow nocked and range him (too far of course), but that was it before he took off, along with another bull we hadn't seen bedded further back in the timber. Close, but not quite. We didn't see any more elk that day, but as a bonus, I shot a blue grouse about 30 minutes later up on the same hillside. Later that same day, and much closer to camp, I managed to shoot another grouse, this time a spruce grouse. I shoot grouse whenever I can on elk hunts because they make a great wilderness dinner bonus, but never before have I killed 2 grouse on the same day with 2 arrows. Fresh grouse cooked over open campfire coals is a real wilderness treat, and we both got to eat a grouse for dinner that night!

Glassing our favorite hillside.

Spruce grouse for dinner!

Unfortunately, the weather got really hot again that first day and stayed that way for the rest of the week. That really quieted things down, and we actually never saw another elk the whole trip. We did, however, have a really good time anyway, so here are a few of the highlights:

• Brook trout fishing on the lake we camped next to. We actually fished every day of the trip, mostly in the afternoons, and caught little brook trout constantly whenever we were out. It was a blast. On a couple of days we actually kept a few and cooked them for dinner in addition to our backpacking food. Like the grouse, fresh fish cooked over coals is a real treat, and something I've never actually done on a hunting trip before. Gotta love it!

Brook trout are both pretty and tasty!

• Some amazing hikes in some really hardcore country. I think Chris would agree with me that not covering enough territory definitely was not the reason for not seeing elk during the remainder of the trip. We covered a lot of ground and saw some really amazing country. On the last day we actually hiked up to a wooden cross that somebody had erected years ago high on a cliff overlooking the whole area. Kind of weird, but a cool place to be.

• Almost getting run over by a deer while taking an afternoon nap in camp. About half-way through the trip a mule deer doe came bounding right into our camp in the middle of the afternoon while we were taking a snooze, and screeched to a halt about 20 yards from our tents (and 5 feet from my bow, which was leaning up against a log). It is legal to kill a doe in this unit, and I had a deer tag, but being that the deer was closer to my bow than I was, it wasn't really an option. Eventually she bounded off, never to be seen again.

Overall it was an excellent trip. We worked hard, got to see and experience some amazing things, and left with a feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction. I hope we get to do it again in the future. Now, on to part 2!!!

Section 2: Oregon elk hunting with dad

My dad and I have been dedicated wilderness elk hunters for about a decade now, and our annual trip always produces experiences and memories that we'll both cherish the rest of our lives. Every one of our trips has been amazing, and in the past 4 years we've actually started to see some consistent success, having harvested 4 elk and a deer. This year, however, takes the cake. We started out as backpack hunters, and then during past 4 years we've rented pack llamas to enable us to hunt and pack elk out from further into the wilderness. These hunts have always been hard-core, and we typically lose close to 5-10 pounds in 8-9 days of hunting. This year, though, we decided to take it to the next (and what I think is probably the final) level. This year, we arranged to do a bivy-style drop camp in the Eagle Cap wilderness in Oregon. That entails several things that are different from our past hunts. First, rather than hiking 4-5 miles into the wilderness with llamas before setting up camp, we hired an outfitter to take us 10 miles in on horseback and drop us off. Second, rather than hunting each day by leaving and returning to camp, we hunted bivy style. That means setting up a base camp and storing some supplies there, and then putting 3-5 days worth of food, clothes, and sleeping gear into an internal frame pack and heading out after elk. You hunt as hard as you can all day and go wherever you want, and then sleep where you end up at the end of the day. After 3-5 days of this, you return to base camp and re-supply. This is a pretty major difference, because it means that rather than traversing this rugged country all day with a day pack and then coming back to camp at the end of the day, we were traversing it with 45-55 pound frame packs, all day every day. The third major difference from past hunts is that part of the deal with the outfitter was a meat haul for each of us. We go as deep as we want and hunt wherever we want, but we're required to take a satellite phone with us. When we shoot something, we immediately call the outfitter and he brings his horses and mules in to pack it out for us. This type of hunting would have been impossible with rented llamas. The flip side is that it's about as physically challenging as it gets. We decided almost exactly 12 months ago that we wanted to give this type of hunting a try this year, and spent the entire 12 months preparing for it. I've been running 40-50 miles/week all year, and dad has done a variety of cross-training, including hiking in and out of a deep river gorge near his house with a 40-70 pound pack several times each week. It paid off...

Loading up and heading in!

Base camp.

Getting water at base camp.

Elk hunting bivy style!

The first two and half days involved mostly constant hiking. We actually saw very few elk, although we got to see some mountain goats up close and a 16-inch bull trout working his way up a 3-inch deep creek. We brought 3.5 days worth of food with us for our first bivy trip, and so on the third day we found ourselves trying to make it back as close to camp as we could so that we'd be able to get all the way back the following day. We didn't even make it close. At about 4 in the afternoon on that third day we were hiking along a trail 11 miles from and 3,500 vertical feet below our base camp when we were blessed with the opportunity we've been waiting for for 15 years. The trail we were on was on a steep south-facing slope about 100 yards above a creek bottom. As we were hiking, I looked down and noticed a huge (although I had no idea how huge at the time) bull walking down into the creek from the opposite hillside. He had no idea we were there, and he proceeded to walk right into the creek and take a big drink. We waited to see what he would do, and what he did do ended up providing me the perfect opportunity for a stalk to within bow range; after his drink, he spent the next 5 minutes at least thrashing the snot out of a bunch of trees and bushes in the creek bottom with his antlers. Clearly the mating hormones were raging. Anyway, that meant that his hearing was obscured both by the sound of the creek and his activity, his sight was obscured by the bushes he was destroying, and the afternoon wind was blowing uphill from him to us. Perfect. I immediately began to sneak downhill, but about 60 yards from the bottom was met with a 20-foot vertical cliff that I hadn't been able to see from the trail. That presented a problem. After a minute of looking around, I found a narrow crevice in the cliff face that I was pretty sure I could climb down without a big pack on. So, I took my pack off, left it on the steep hillside and worked my way down to the bottom of the cliff. By the time I got into a good position, the bull was still thrashing brush, but now from only 25 yards away. I found a nice gap in the brush that I knew he would walk through when he was done thrashing if he continued on his previous path, knocked an arrow, and waited. Sure enough, a minute later he got bored with his bushes and continued on downstream, right into my shooting lane. Now, at that range the noise of the creek was a lot louder than I had guessed, and I needed him to stop in the right position for a shot, so, when I saw him coming I drew my bow, and when he stepped into my shooting lane...I yelled at him! Hey! No response. Hey! Even louder this time. He finally stopped but had no idea where the sound had come from. No matter. I worked through a couple of nervous shakes, then settled my pins and released. The shot was good, although I was worried at first that it might have been a little far back. Amazingly though, the bull had no idea he was hit. He took about 5 steps and stopped, just out of my view due to a big tree, but in plain view of my dad up on the trail, who got some incredible pictures at that time. After looking around a bit, he did the unbelievable and turned around and walked right back into my shooting lane. So, taking the opportunity, I stopped him the same way as before and delivered another good arrow. He ran up the opposite hill, but made it only 15 yards before running out of steam. A minute later it was over. Now, anyone who reads this needs to understand that although dad and I have taken our share of elk over the years, a big, mature, 6-point bull is something we've been dreaming about since I was a kid, but had never managed to accomplish before. In fact, big, unpressured bulls are the primary reason for going to so much trouble to hunt deep in the wilderness in places that few people are willing to go. So, even if you're not a hunter, imagine something that you've longed for for nearly 2 decades but have never been able to get it...and then the day comes when it finally happens. What an amazing blessing. Walking up to that bull was overwhelming. He was an absolutely amazing animal, likely weighing over 600 pounds and sporting antlers with 51" main beams and a 40" inside spread. For me, the wilderness bull of a lifetime. That bull will provide both Kathleen and myself as well as my dad and step-mom with a year's worth of lean, healthy meat, and his antlers will soon adorn our living room. Despite our awe when we walked up to him, however, a lot of work lay ahead of us. I shot him a little before 5, and it was well after midnight before we were done field dressing him and getting all the meat bagged and laid out near the creek. As instructed, we called our outfitter that night, and at 1 o'clock the next afternoon he arrive at our location with mules to pack out my bull. As a result, despite our position 11 miles from a base camp that was already 10 miles into the wildness, our meat was hanging safely in a cooler 24 hours after the shot.

This is looking up from where he was standing to where I shot him from, below the cliff.

A variety of bull pictures...

Now, by the time our outfitter arrived and we got my bull all loaded up and on its way out, it was already late afternoon, and so there was no chance of making it back to anywhere near base camp that night. So, we decided to spend one more night in the spot where I shot him, rest up, and then head back to base camp the following day. Recall, however, that we only brought enough food for 3.5 days...and this was day 4. All we had left was a little bit of snack food. We solved our little problem by having the best wilderness dinner I've ever had that night; fresh elk steaks (cut off just before the outfitter packed the meat out) cooked over an open flame. What an awesome meal! Then we rationed our snack food for the trip back to base camp the next day. Needless to say, when we arrived back at base camp at the end of day 5, we were pretty hungry!

Mmmm...steak dinner...

So, at this point we had 4 days left to hunt, but this post is getting just a tad (OK, so that's a gross understatement) long already, so I'll just hit the highlights:

• Lot's more hiking in some amazing country.

Gotta love the Eagle Cap!

• Almost getting hit by a falcon flying about 5 feet off the ground carrying a grouse it had just killed. He just missed us and then landed on the trail about 20 yards away!

This guy's catch was so heavy that he had trouble taking off after we got this picture. In fact, we never did see him make it into the air again.

• Almost, and I mean almost, getting a bull for dad. On the second to last day, we found a bull with a couple of cows in a basin, and he was super vocal. We worked down into the basin and manged to get within a couple hundred yards or so, and then started cow calling. He loved it, and everything went almost perfectly. Dad set up about 60 yards ahead of me while I did the calling. That bull responded to every call I made with a screaming bugle, and pretty soon he had closed the distance between himself and dad to less than 50 yards. Unfortunately, he hung up in the trees at that distance and only his cows finished the trip. They came right to me at a dead run and screeched to a halt 20 yards away. Once they got to where they had heard the calling and didn't see an elk though, they got suspicious and started circling me. The whole time the bull was still bugling in the trees within bow range of dad, but he just wouldn't present a shot. The cows circled me and eventually winded us. One alarm call from one of the cows and the bull snuck off into the timber. So close!

• Accidentally getting between a black bear sow and her cub. Now that's the one place everyone always tells you not to be in the woods! Like I said though, it was an accident. I was standing in some trees glassing a big basin when something ran by me to my left about 15 yards away. I couldn't see what it was because the trees were too thick, but about 30 seconds later I could hear some kind of baby animal crying for it's mom about 15 yards away to my right. It never occurred to me it might be a bear...until that little cub poked its head out of the trees. Needless to say, I got out of there as quick as I could!

• Being with 20 yards of mountain goats, bighorn sheep rams, black bears, elk, and mule deer all in the same week. That's hard to beat.

• Getting to watch a bull elk spend 10 minutes tearing up huge chunks of dirt and grass in a meadow and then lay down repeatedly and wallow in the creek that ran through the meadow. Unfortunately he was on the other side of a huge canyon and it was too close to the end of the trip to go after him. Fun to watch though!

All the way on the other side of this canyon you can just barely see the little meadow that we watched that bull in through binoculars.

This is the meadow with dad's camera zoomed all the way in, and you can just barely see the bull standing in the middle of it.

All in all, it was an absolutely incredible trip this year. And the best part of all was that I got to share it with one of my best friends and lifelong hunting partners, my dad. So, until the next hunting or fishing trip, this is Ryan Long, signing off of blog duty.