2020: Fill the Family Freezer

[Sawfish]

Excellent Bear! Congratulations.

 

[goodorbit]

Nice job! Way to stick with at and get it done!

 

[Ajt5110]

Amazing to see your journey! Awesome to see the hard work paying off with a bear and turkey so far! Can’t wait to see the updates for your elk and Deere hunts!

I’m getting ready for our October hunt as well and can’t wait to finally be out there again.

Best of luck with the rest of your year!

 

[Kmarkwardt]

Update on 8/20/20

Physical Capabilities

• Hike 5 miles a week in the “offseason”
  • I actually did a lot less hiking up until about a week ago. I was working through Atomic Athlete's Ultimate Predator program for the last 2 months. It was a great blend of strength and hunt specific conditioning that was feasible in the gym. Very consistent with that.
  • Now, and for the next 3 weeks, I'll be hiking 3x a week. We have a 2 mile trail with a ton of elevation gain that usually takes about an hour to do round trip. This week was unweighted. Next week will be 40#. Following week I'm not sure.
• Continue to workout 4-5 days a week all year
  • Done.
• Fix ankle as best as possible
  • Ankle feels pretty good, knock on wood.
  • I got a new pair of the Kenetrek Eversteps and they feel great.
• Get treadmill for winter

Mental Toughness (Hunt When You Don’t Want to Hunt)

• up at 4:45 every morning for yoga, meditation and cold shower. That may seem stupid, but it'd be way easier to sleep in that extra hour and not do the thing I'm supposed to do, so I think this is a bigger deal than it seems.

Access

• Snow tires/chains for ATV
  • Got new tires last month. I think they'll be great
• Scout other archery unit with buddy
  • Ended up not getting that second tag, so I have my areas pretty well scouted.
• I am now working through Mark Livesay's E-Scouting course. It has been awesome so far.
  • I have continued to work through this a bit. Not as much as I should have, but I've learned a lot. Barring fires, we're pretty dead set on our top 3 areas for archery this year. I think I'll get more use out of that in the winter.
• I got a fat tire bike which should provide great access and options for access in spots
  • I think this is going to be pretty sweet. Hauling ass and bugling might be a great plan for a few days during archery.

Weapons/Shooting
Shoot to 600 yards (verify yardages)
- found a great spot I can get to 500 yards, (and probably further, but a 12" target at 500 yards proved to be a good challenge). I think my takeaways from that are:
- I need more practice at further ranges.
- I may need to consider improving my accuracy with either gun or ammunition improvements
- From a controlled, good rest without much wind I'm quite comfortable out to 400. I've got turrets and hash marks confirmed on both rifles and believe I was 100% from that yardage both times I've shot that far.
- I'd still like to be comfortable to a 12-15" target out to 600, but that doesn't seem like it'll happen this season.


Long range shooting course

• Didn't happen. Probably could benefit, but I think time behind the gun at distance is still the big factor.

• Shoot 12-15 boxes of ammo/year
• I believe I will have accomplished this and then some.

• Shot IQ Program?
  • Did not do. Did a few modules of the Nock On program. Feeling good.

• Shoot/Log 500 arrows
  • Have done this.
  • Have only missed a few days over the last several months of shooting.
  • This year I've implemented a cold bow challenge with the guys in camp. Every morning I text out a scenario and yardage and we text each other our shot. Good learning and experience for sure.

• 3 3D course shoots
  • Did not do. Most were cancelled.

• Dry fire, Dry fire, Dry fire
  • Kinda stopped doing this unfortunately.

• Shoot 2-300 rounds of .22 in the winter
  • Did close to this.

Equipment
• Trekking poles
- Just did this. Went with the Amazon cheapies.

Calling

• Using the elk nut app for reference and just practicing in the car.

Adaptability and Mobility

• Compile 3 accessible areas, put together hunt plans for each
• Kinda. Meeting Friday to plan. Should write all of these out next week.
• Scout 1 day a week in august
• Not doing. Spending time at work and with family to buy time with them.

Long Term Mindset

• Put together hunt plans to be able to focus on doing the little things
• Ditto from above

Time
• Ensure business is running smoothly without me, enabling me the amount of time to get away
- Looks like I'll be in a pretty good spot.

• Put in time with family so I can get away
- Same.
- Planning on setting up elk camp a week early and spending the night with my 6 year old. I'll bear hunt with him as long as he can stay focused and we'll stay in the easily accessible areas. Then I'll run him down the mountain to his mom and I'll hunt that evening. With two days I think I have a good shot at picking off a bear early.

• Plan hunts and be clear with family and work on time commitments
- Done. 1 week for elk/bear in sept. Maybe a day or two after that for bear if I don't fill that tag.
- 1 week for rifle elk in oct if unable to get it done with a bow.
- 1 week for deer in nov
- I'd like to double all of these in 2021. One out of unit hunt for elk or deer as well as antelope in WY.

Tags
- I thought I'd buy two elk and two deer tags this year, but the way the year shook out it just didn't make sense. So I'll just need to focus my ass off on the tags I have and do as much as I can to get them filled.

Almost time to execute!

 

[Kmarkwardt]

Just some reflection as I start season Sunday with a 7 day archery elk hunt.

This has been the most focused I've ever been on hunting season. As you can discern from this thread, I've spent the full year thinking about it, planning for it and for the most part, executing on that plan.

Certainly there are a few things I could have done better. I could have been more consistent with some things. I could have devoted more time to others.

But at the end of the day I'm pretty proud of what I have accomplished so far.

I'm in the best shape I've ever been in.

I'm more mentally prepared than I have ever been.

I've improved my rifle setup substantially.

I've shot significantly more rounds out of my rifle.

I've shot out to 500 and am reasonably comfortable at 400.

I've shot more arrows, shot more frequently, shot from different distances and started shooting earlier in the season.

I know where I'm going better than I ever have.

I have more confidence in the team we've got going than ever before.

I have last year under my belt as an experience that I continue to deem as a negative, but I think that eventually I'll see it as a positive.

I've got a great team of people at my business who we have developed and kept through a pandemic who support me doing these wacky adventures.

The negatives:

I could have practiced calling more. Not so much in just sounds, but sequences and more of "learning the language".

I didn't get comfortable out to 600 yards with a rifle.

I could have scouted more and found more options.

I never shot any 3d.

I could have more tags. I wanted to get two deer and two elk, but those both sold out before they were available again in Idaho for residents to purchase as leftovers.

So, reflecting back, I think I'd say that the preparation positives far outweigh the negatives.

Now becomes the second phase of this. Action.

Knowing full well that all of this preparation could still result in diddly squat and even more disappointment, I know that I need to set more process goals instead of outcome goals. That said, I should admit that my obvious goal is to harvest an elk, another bear, and two deer. However, if the animals don't want to play or things just don't pan out, I need to focus on things I can control.

I believe those things are:

- Staying in the field. Seems so stupid and lame to admit, but the pull of camp and comfort of home is strong when you're in the bottom of a drainage. It's easy to let yourself head back early sometimes. It's easy to talk yourself into it and how you deserve it. But animals aren't killed in camp.

- Stay positive. This is related to the last one, but I need to be more positive in general and understand that all we need is one and that it can happen at any moment. But if you're internally pouting about another failed season before it's even over, you're probably not in the right headspace. I need to remember that this is totally in my control. Mistakes will be made, things won't go the way I want them to, but it's not over until it's over.

I kinda think that's about it. I think those are the things I can really control in this. Hunt hard and stay positive.

So, my first goal for this next 7 days is to hunt hard every day and not get distracted. I do believe that mornings off are deserved sometimes, and sometimes you just end up back where it only makes sense to head back. But I think I'll know when I'm there and when I'm done whether or not I fulfilled this.

My second goal is to divert those negative thoughts when they come in. Perhaps easier said than done, but I recognize that I have a choice to continue that line of thinking or to mentally slap myself and say, "hey, knock that shit off!" Again, not sure how to quantify it, but I think I'll know when I'm done.

 

[Kmarkwardt]

Ok, checking back in after our first hunt.

We went out for the short archery season afforded to our B tag in my unit.

The dates were the 6th-12th of September.

I went in with high hopes. We'd be in the full 7 days with no restrictions or obligations. Weather looked a little warm, but not outrageous.

I set up a camp a week early with my son. I spent a day up there and was able to glass up elk and had a couple bugling in the early evening, so hopes were very high.

We went in the day before and were greeted by about a dozen other camps/trucks in a place that used to be pretty solitary. No big deal.

There were 4 of us, so we split into pairs of two.

Me and my partner hit the trail aiming to be where we wanted to be at sunrise, and more importantly, to beat the crowds.

We hiked out in the dark, hauled ass and stayed silent. As far as we could tell, we smoked everyone else and wouldn't have any company.

We came around the corner just as the sun was coming up. Perfect.

We cow called 1 time and had a bull scream back at us from under 200 yards. Holy shit. Perfect.

My partner was shooter, I was caller and we dropped in. Wind was headed straight down, so we dropped in where we were and hoped to parallel him or get just below with me calling.

We softly cow called in as we worked our way through the notoriously thick brush. He started coming towards us almost immediately.

I was about 50 yards above my partner, bull was coming in just as I thought, aiming to get below me to wind me, where I knew my partner was waiting to cut him off and put an arrow in him.

I couldn't see shit because of the head high brush, but I heard him coming in hot.

Then I heard him bust from damn near on top of where my partner was.

I did not, however, hear an arrow fly.

Hoping I just didn't hear it, I found my partner, who said the bull came in to 3 yards, but needed to take one more full step and he'd have cleared the brush enough to get a shot.

Damn.

Long story short, no kill.

We then noticed two spikes on the open hillside headed the other direction. Fine, no bull? Let's kill a spike or two.

Ran to get setup for them, couldn't get them to stop or come in. Chased them for 1/4 mile and lost them.

Disappointed, but pumped about the action we had in the first hour of the first day, our spirits were high.

In hindsight, we could have put a little better plan together. We could have moved up a little on the trail where it was more open and then dropped in, but we didn't know if he was going to come below us first, making the wind impossible to work with. We could have been more silent on the way in, but we weren't exactly aggressively calling either. We just wanted him to know we were two sexy cows in the brush.

In any case, off to a good start.

Or so we thought.

We hunted the same basin the remainder of the day. Glassing, calling, moving, finding wallows, etc. No more elk to be found.

Oh well.

Unfortunately for us, aside from a handful of cows and spikes, the last elk we'd hear or see for the next 5 days.

We did 12-15 mile days, went way the hell into no man's lands. Dropped into hell holes. Bugled from ridges. Sat wallows. Sat water. Cow called, raked, glassed, etc.

Nothin but sore feet and a dislocated finger to show for our efforts.

Then, when all hope was lost, on the very last hour of the very last day, I got a glimmer of hope. I was sitting on a ridge, basically reflecting on the fact that I did what I set out to do and didn't really have any regrets. I worked my ass off, only took a morning off after I did a particularly ridiculous death hike (during which I dislocated my finger). I figured, "well, that's all you can do."

As I was sitting the ridge, two spikes started feeding down at about 400 yards. I edged closer to them, and cow called a handful of times, getting their attention but not conjuring up much interest. I bugled softly. Lo and behold, from about 1000 yards away, a bull bugles immediately.

Holy shit!

So I've got an hour left, I've got 1000 vertical feet or more to the bottom, he's at my elevation on the other side and I'm solo.

Well, what am I going to do, sit and yell at him? No way, lets give it a try.

I drop in a couple hundred feet and bugle again. He answers and I can see him moving.

Hot damn, it's a party.

I haul ass, slip sliding my way down over 100 yards of loose rocks, dive into the death alder patch and brush bust my way across to where I finally find an opening that's about 20 yards across. I setup, it's perfect. He can't get below to wind me, and it's got one way in.

I stay there for a few minutes and he doesn't seem to be coming much closer. He's still about 500 yards off.

So I break through there, and cross the creek. In my limited experience, I've felt that creeks signify some sort of border, and that once you cross those, you're in their neighborhood. Perfect.

I'm now running up the other side. I come to a game trail that's mostly open for 70 yards and setup again. He now sounds like he's coming again. Probably 250-300 yards off.

I start ranging stuff and taking stock of where I am.

I'm thinking a few things:

- That opening starts 70 yards away. That's far. I'm hearing Chris Kresser's course in my head of "doorways". I get concerned that he's going to get to this big opening and hang up.

- I'm also on the wrong side of the trail for the wind. Not a huge deal, but it could be better.

- Previous season I messed up opportunities by not being aggressive enough. I was petrified to move, thinking elk would see me and freak out.

So, I push forward, knowing time is of the essence. I run to the "big" clearing and find that the tree I wanted to use for cover is choked in brush. Crap. Now I'm about 20 yards from where he'll probably be coming out.

There is one more tree. I run to it and get there right as he's coming out.

We're literally a yard apart now. He's on one side of the tree. I'm on the other. I've had this happen before under different circumstances and the bull just stood there, not wanting to commit before eventually just running off. Not this time.

I wanted to be more aggressive, so here we go.

Carrying this momentum, I draw, start to slowly move towards his side of the tree and cow call, thinking he might hold up as I move and get a shot. Turns out he is not a fan of this at all. I don't know if he saw me, smelled me or both, but he busts well before I thought he should have.

Mother f*cker.

I cow call at him like a maniac.

He circles underneath me and stands broadside staring at me from 20 yards.

I draw.

Unfortunately, all I've got to shoot at is the top 6" of his back, as he's standing in that stupid huckleberry brush again.

We have a stare down and I, knowing it's over, watch what could have been stand there for 20 seconds before he runs off and out of my life for good.

I think for a split second about spiking my bow into the ground and walking out of there. How the f*ck did I I mess that up so bad?!

I sit there contemplating all of my errors and the reality of my situation when I hear some movement about 50 yards off.

"Game on?"

I keep cow calling and move.

I get a glimpse of two fuzzy antlers looking in my direction. A silver medal spike! Let's do this!

I run towards him, cow calling all the way over.

I have him the first time at 10 yards, covered completely by brush. I'm at full draw and need him to move forward like 4 feet. No dice. I hold for a minute, have to shift my foot because I'm on a steep incline and am about to fall over. He busts.

Damn.

I chase him back down. I get him to 10 yards again. I creep and crawl along over and next to a fallen tree. He's hanging out. I setup and draw as he pokes his head in the opening to check me out. When he finds an arrow pointed his direction instead of a cow, he runs off. Again, never a shot.

I do this at least one or two more times, never having a shot. Only seeing his face.

Finally, he get's tired of this game and runs off for good.

Son of a bitch.

Failure again.

I'm exhausted from the last 45 minutes.

I briefly consider crying. I know that was a very killable bull and that I messed it up.

(cont next post)

 

[Kmarkwardt]

(cont from previous post)

Instead, I hike out and find my partner, who basically watched the whole thing from further up the ridge.

He's pumped. He tells me that he's proud of what I did. He tells me that 9 out of 10 guys wouldn't have done what I did in regards to diving all the way in there, climbing all the way up the other side and chasing that far off chance. He tells me that he knows I'm bummed but that the grit and determination that I showed was what will make me successful long term many times over, even if not in that very moment.

This means a lot to me, as he's been chasing elk for 20+ years compared to my 4.

And yet I still can't shake that feeling of, "damnit, another missed opportunity".

In hindsight, I believe I made a handful of mistakes.

- I should have taken him getting up and moving as a sign that I didn't need to push as hard to get so close and let him come to me. (But, in my previous experiences, the best plan of attack was to get as close as possible so it turned into some action instead of just a shouting match).

- I should have stayed at the end of that game trail and waited to see what he did, then moved. Maybe he would have hung up at 70 yards, but I think I could have run back and forth from where I was, simulating that the bull was after was still down lower in the bottom and that I could have re-setup where I was able to get a good open shot. (But, I didn't want to leave myself with a a 60+ yard shot and I saw an opportunity to close that distance to 20 or less).

- I should not have tried to move when we were on opposite sides of the tree. I should have stayed put and let him make a move. (But, at that close, I didn't know if he could smell me or see me, so I thought that I would only have a slim chance).

I'm still losing a little sleep about it. Being that close (again), is hard to stomach.

But, if I were to coach myself, I'd say, "well once again, you've learned a ton. That doesn't fill the freezer this year, but it might next year and the next and the next."

Good news is that I signed up for this B tag so I could have 2 weeks of rifle season and then a week of muzzleloader after that. That's a little under a month out.

Here's to hoping that if they were so late to bugle for in September that they might be still bugling into October and I can still get it done.

Still have a bear tag, two deer tags and this elk tag, so lots of work to go!

 

[dakotaduner]

Got to tell you, I have been enjoying following you on your journey. You have made a plan and your working it. Enjoy the hunt and the season. You seem to be learning a lot on every outing.
Good luck

 

[Kmarkwardt]

Got to tell you, I have been enjoying following you on your journey. You have made a plan and your working it. Enjoy the hunt and the season. You seem to be learning a lot on every outing.
Good luck

Thank you! That means a lot. I appreciate the time you’ve taken to read and reply.

 

[goodorbit]

Well at least you harvested a geat story. Had me on the edge of my seat. You gave it your all, but the Elk were not reading the playbook. You'll make other opportunities! Strong work!

 

[caesAR15]

I realize this is a piss poor consolation prize, but you ended up with a great story to share and you tell it really well. I'm glad you're sharing -- you're getting me pumped up

 

[FLAK]

Forgive me if I'm off topic but it relates to "filling the freezer"
If you don't already do this I would recommend planting a vegetable garden. You can freeze and can the veggies. It's a great thing to do together with the whole family. Harvest time can be just as rewarding as processing an animal when you see the shelf & freezer full of the fruits of your labor.
Nothing better than home made soup made from your own green beans, potatoes, carrots, corn & stewed tomatoes. (with chunks of elk or venison thrown in of course).
Good luck!

Yep, I put Kale, Cabbage and Onions in the ground yesterday.

 

[Grouseman]

I'm a relatively new hunter.

Grew up in Southern California surfing, diving, skateboarding and fishing.

Moved to Idaho 8 years ago at the age of 27. I knew I'd keep fishing and exploring the outdoors, but I really never intended to start hunting.

I'm not really sure what triggered it, but I imagine it was the sense of adventure and the sense of responsibility of harvesting my own meat. I own a gym and have always been interested in fitness. My wife and I started eating Paleo about 10 years ago. I think the ability to take it one step further really pushed me into what has been the most challenging endeavor that I have embarked up on in my entire life.

I've got 5 or 6 seasons of hunting under my belt. Due to the relative ease of drawing a second, antlerless whitetail deer tag, I've harvested 2 deer a year since beginning. 6 bucks, the rest does. I somehow managed to luck into shooting a spike elk my second year of hunting as well.

Every year, I've gone more and more down this rabbit hole. Unfortunately, my success rate outside of whitetail hasn't reflected that.

I live in a unit that has a lot of opportunity to hunt different species, but not great success rates on elk or mule deer, so I'm trying to give myself some grace on that. We do, however, have a very solid bear population, which I really didn't start hunting until last year.

2019 was the year of missed opportunities. Missed two elk with a bow (screwed up the first one by rushing the shot, then hit a branch on the second), missed a bear with a rifle. Shot my normal whitetail buck and a doe.

The frustrations of 2019 have only fueled me to be even better in 2020.

My goals are to fill one tag of each of: black bear, deer and elk. My lofty goals are to shoot two of each. My even loftier goal is to be able to not have to buy any meat for our family in the future. We have a healthy family of 3 that consumes a decent amount of meat, so that might be out of reach. Fish will of course count towards that, and we eat a lot of eggs, so round it all out and I think it's within reach with a lot of luck and a lot of intention.

To achieve these goals, I'm going to try and be pretty systematic. Reading the blog post on the front page about "What it Takes to Be a Successful Hunter" has me thinking along lines of categories and trying to make sure I check all the boxes I can in the offseason, preseason and in-season to fill my tags.

Those categories and related goals (updated throughout the year) are:

Physical Capabilities

• Hike 5 miles a week in the “offseason”
• Hike 10 miles a week in the “preseason”
• Hike 20 miles a week in the month leading up
• Continue to workout 4-5 days a week all year
• Fix ankle as best as possible
• Get treadmill for winter

Mental Toughness (Hunt When You Don’t Want to Hunt)

• …?
• Meditate daily and learn how to control my mind better

Access

• Snow tires/chains for ATV
• Scout other archery unit with buddy

Weapons/Shooting

• Shoot to 600 yards (verify yardages)
• Long range shooting course
• Shoot 12-15 boxes of ammo/year
• Shot IQ Program?
• Shoot/Log 500 arrows
• 3 3D course shoots
• Dry fire, Dry fire, Dry fire
• Purchase long range gun and become proficient with it???
• Shoot 2-300 rounds of .22 in the winter

Equipment
• Trekking poles

Calling

• Chris Kresser’s calling program in winter

Adaptability and Mobility

• Compile 3 accessible areas, put together hunt plans for each
• Scout 1 day a week in august

Long Term Mindset

• Put together hunt plans to be able to focus on doing the little things

Time
• Ensure business is running smoothly without me, enabling me the amount of time to get away
• Put in time with family so I can get away
• Plan hunts and be clear with family and work on time commitments

Tags
• Put in for moose tag
• Purchase 2nd tags for deer/elk/bear


I'll try and keep updating this as I go, but I think putting this out here a year in advance will be fun to reflect on.

Solid plan man, the only thing I didn't see is be sure to keep the family balanced with all the time spent hunting. (If that's a factor for you). It can mean the difference between fighting for the time away vs being encouraged to do it. I'd say that has been my biggest challenge this far.

 

[Kmarkwardt]

Elk Rifle Season Recap:

Our B Tag has a its season from Oct 10-24th.

The bad news/good news about the week we spent archery hunting is that we basically scouted the area for that whole week. We knew where bulls were, and we knew that most of them survived.

In preparation for the season, one of the best things I did was to make a hunt plan, roughly using the E Scouting course from Mark Livesay.

I compiled about 12 different spots or hunts that I wanted to do over the season.

I am fortunate enough to have a pretty flexible schedule. I arranged my work in a way that I had 10 days of hunting available to me. Some would just be afternoons. Some, I knew, would be ruined by weather. We can get pretty socked in with fog here, which all but ruins most of my elk hunting spots.

Day 1: We know exactly where we want to go. The two of us hop in the truck at 3am, drive the 2 hours in there and arrive with an hour to get to the spot we wanted to be. Upon arrival, a truck pulls in behind us. As we're gearing up, we ask them where they're going. They planned on going to the exact spot we were going. Rather than argue about it, or party hunt it, we decide to go elsewhere.

We head out the trail to a spot that I had found on google earth and had accidentally stumbled upon while bear hunting. We had no idea what to expect, but were met with a pretty epic spot. Great, expansive place to glass and the ability to actually shoot what we could see, which is a rarity here. It's usually either 1000 yards or 6 yards.

We sat and glassed for 2 hours before the fog rolled in. We saw two cow elk, but no bulls. The radar called for worse and worse weather for the next 24 hours. The clouds from that weather means that it's impossible to hunt. So we left, feeling pretty good about our day. Found a new spot, saw elk. Not too bad.

...until we bumped into another truck on their way in headed up to help that other truck pack out the bull they shot at sunrise. That stung a bit. We were pretty irritated and kept pondering if we should have just stayed the course and bumped them out.

Oh well.

Day 2: The next day we went out again. Different plan, same area. Got to the basin we wanted to glass before sunrise only to be met with that same fog. We could maybe see for 100 yards. So we waited it out for a few hours, then decided to try and still hunt down through, calling as we went.

Of course, halfway down the mountain, the fog lifted.

At this point, we're too far down to change plans. So we keep hunting through and have 4 other guys try and hunt the same basin from the top.

Fun.

We hunt it all the way out, no elk. A big sow and two cubs were all we saw.

For the evening, we sat and glassed a spot I had seen a big bull during archery, but nothing showed up.

Day 3: I was only able to make an afternoon hunt for this day. It was a beautiful day though. I sat and glassed that first spot I newly discovered. Nothing real interesting to note other than the 4 bears I saw in different areas that I couldn't really get to.

Day 4: Afternoon hunt planned for the day. Only that was interrupted by a buddy who needed help breaking down and packing his bull out. As much as I wanted to hunt that afternoon, I was sincerely stoked for my friend. He's put in the time and is just a great guy.

So I went in to help him pack. The pin he sent me made it look like it would be easy. It looked like it was about a half mile off a trail. How bad could it be? I told him I'd be there in about 2 hours.

4.5 hours later I find him. That was a grueling, nearly straight up trail that gains about 2000 feet of elevation in less than a mile.

We spend the day packing that bull out and get home around 1am.

I was just really happy for him and would have packed for free.

Instead, he generously offered me a hindquarter, the sincere offer to let me hunt that spot again and the promise to help me any time I needed it for anything I needed packed out.

He said, "there were at least half a dozen more elk with him. I didn't see any other antlers, but I didn't look that hard."

Luckily for me, that spot, despite being a brutal hike in, was a mile away from private land, which meant that for a 3 day period, it was legal to shoot any elk.

Those 3 days were the following 3 days.

Day 5: I arrived at the above trail at sunrise and hiked in. My body was smoked, and hiking that trail in was not exactly what it had in mind for recovery. I spent the first 4 hours hiking in and exploring the area. Heavy rain was forecasted around noon, so I wanted to get to a glassing, sheltered spot by then, hoping to sit it out for the evening.

I ended up going exactly where my friend was when he shot that bull and tried to get comfortable under a tree.

With the combination of steep and pouring rain, there was no sleep to be had. I had lunch, tossed and turned and listened to a podcast over a period of about 2 hours.

This turned out to be a blessing, as at about 2pm, 6 cows and 2 calves started feeding out of the trees at about 400 yards.

Holy shit, we're partying!

I looked around and realized that in an effort to keep some stuff as dry as possible that I had gear strewn all over the damn place. Binoculars, rifle, lunch, pack, phone, clothes, pistol, etc. All of these items were all over the place. OMG, what a mess.

Oh, and I'm wearing all of my clothes because it was cold and wet. I looked and felt like the Michelin man. Not exactly the getup I was hoping to be wearing to make any moves on animals.

I gather up all my stuff and turn around to get setup.

Shit. They're gone. I momentarily think about hurling my rifle off the cliff.

A few seconds later I realize that they had somehow all ended up behind a patch of trees. Crisis averted.

I move forward slowly and setup.

They're at 330-350 yards at this point. I double check all my drops and identify the hash mark I want to hold over. I make note of the 11" drop that should happen at this distance to make sure that hashmark aligns with the actual drop distance.

In the steep it was nearly impossible to get a great rest setup. I pack around a 27" bipod that is usually perfect for seated shooting, only it was too short and it was too steep for the uphill/sidehill shot I needed to make. I end up sitting and putting one of the bipod feet on top of the toe of my boot. This is surprisingly steady albeit awkward.

Safety off, hold over the closest, biggest cow.

I decide I don't like the position and put the safety back on.

I adjust, refind the elk and squeeze the trigger.

Shit, safety never got taken back off.

This mistake turned out be somewhat of a blessing as that first trigger pull was terrible. It felt like I slapped and prayed.

I remind myself of all the shooting fundamentals I worked on all off season and to just relax.

Second attempt of my trigger pull felt far better. I felt confident after the shot. The elk reacted, but didn't go screaming off over the next canyon.

For a split second I thought I missed and almost reengaged. But I saw the closest cow take a different path than the others.

She looks like she's moving different than the rest. She then rears up on her hind legs and goes completely head over heels backwards, sliding about 100 yards down the wet, steep bear grass.

She takes quite a tumble, but ends up piled up when she stops.

Hell yeah!

I watch for a second to make sure she doesn't get up, but if the shot didn't kill her, the tumble probably did.

Mission accomplished.

I call my wife. I think she's as stoked about the meat as she is that I'm coming home and won't be hunting the upcoming week.

I call my buddy. I don't think he was expecting to fulfill his promise of helping me pack just a day later, but he was a trooper and offered to be there in a couple hours.

I make my way over to her.

I've been striking out on elk for 5 years. I killed a spike my first year with a rifle and decided to try with a bow after that with no luck. So, it felt like a bit of a momentous occasion, not to mention that it was going to significantly help my goal of filling the freezer.

All of these things are going through my mind as I get to her. I pick her head up to cement the moment and give thanks. In response, she begins another tumble, almost taking me out. She slips and slides another 80 yards. So much for my moment...

I make my way down to her new resting place and find her completely upside down, wrapped around a root wad, with 5 feet of vertical on either side. How this happened is beyond me.

She's impossible to move from this position, I'm alone and will be for the next 6 hours. Oh, and it's still pouring rain.

The best solution I can come up with is to just quarter her as she lay, making due as I can. Hoping that if I quarter the one side that I'll be able to roll her in a way that will make the second side easier.

Long story short, this sorta works.

I'm a pretty strong guy, but wrestling these quarters in a way that I could get them off was some of the most physically demanding work I've ever done.

Bad news is that all the rain has made the ground muddy. Her tumble through the ground made her quite muddy as well. It was not pretty, but I got it done.

I headed down with the two front quarters and backstraps, bone in (because I decided I'd rather have the extra weight than extra dirt/mud.

We headed back in for the final two quarters.

We made it out back to the truck at 3am, almost 13 hours after I pulled the trigger.

Two elk in 3 days out of that spot was a pile of work, but I'm considering myself done for a few weeks.

I'll start doing some waterfowl hunting and planning for my deer hunt, for which I've got a regular tag and a doe tag.

2020 Tag Update:

Turkey: 1
Bear: 1
Elk: 1

Meat update:

Turkey: 2#?
Bear: 40#
Elk: 150#

 

[Shrek]

Congratulations !

 

[Kmarkwardt]

Update 11/22

(Spoiler alert) I had two real tags left. One general deer and one antler less deer.

I've been out for deer 4 or 5 days now. We're spending Thanksgiving with family so that week is out. Unfortunately that is usually the best week of hunting for whitetail up here. I don't think I've ever shot a buck earlier than the 18th, with the majority on the 21st, and I think it only gets better from there, I'm just not picky and usually shoot the first non-spike I see. In all honesty, after starting the season Sept 6 and usually going pretty hard until the end of Nov, I'm usually ready to take some time off.

It's been pretty slow out there. In an unit with a lot of deer, there have been a couple days of zero activity. Admittedly, I've been looking for new spots and using the earlier part of the season to scout, so I didn't have a ton of faith in my early efforts.

Tuesday I spent the afternoon in a new spot and saw a handful of does and one buck who happened to be crossing the trail about 25 yards in front of me and saw me before I saw him.

I Friday I went somewhere else because a truck was at the trailhead and I really dislike hunting with other people in the same area. Part of my attraction to hunting has been the solitude. That spot sucked. Seemed like it could have potential, but I didn't see a living thing.

Got to the Tuesday spot at 5:15 yesterday in order to make sure I beat anyone else in and sat for the hour before sunlight with high anticipation. With the amount of deer I had seen before I figured that it would be a slam dunk. Especially with that antler less tag. With my real priority being filling the freezer, time being of the essence and knowing I had this entire weekend to hunt, I was planning on shooting the first deer I saw. The math I did was that if I shot one at sunrise, I could pack it back to the truck and head back out the rest of the day and Sunday to fill the other.

The sun came up and my anticipation was met with disappointment. Not a thing was out moving around.

So I got to moving. This is a new spot for me, so I figured I could slowly cover some country and still hunt, getting to know the area.

I found some great stuff, but no deer. I didn't even bump any, which is rare on nearly any trail or road up here.

Oh well, I figured it was just a matter of time.

So I kept moving and ended up back to a spot I had seen a couple of does the first time I went out here.

Patience and slowness have never been my strong suit. But I know I need to work on it.

So I committed to covering the 1/4 mile adjacent to a big clear cut moving as slowly as I could. I'd take 3 steps, stop and glass. I did this for about an hour. If nothing else, I was proud of my effort.

I got almost to the end of the cut and see a deer stand up from about 80 yards off and to my left. I see antlers and bring the gun up but lose him as soon as he stopped moving. I don't know if ended up behind a tree or what. After having the gun up for a couple of minutes I know I need to take a break. So I do.

He spooks and runs/bounds. I tail him with the gun and grunt. No dice.

He's alternating behind brush and no brush.

In the 3 seconds I had to make a decision, I consciously decide to shoot. Not sure why, but in hindsight I was glad I did. It wasn't one of those, "what the heck man? That was dumb!" kind of moments.

I range it and he was 128 yards. Hmmm.... Maybe that wasn't so smart.

I go and look for blood. I find nothing. I grid out the direction he was heading and also find nothing.

Crap. I'm still not regretting my shot, but I'm annoyed at my miss.

I call a buddy and chat with him for a second. I always think it's nice to get a second, uninvested, calm opinion from someone if you can.

His opinion is that he'd be surprised if I just missed. He knows how much I've been shooting and he knows that I know that I would probably know if I just made a poor shot.

I commit to gridding another 30 minutes.

10 minutes later, I find a small patch of hair. Like 4 white hairs and a pin prick of blood. Crap. Not a clean miss.

I look closer around the area and find a big patch of white, long hairs and no blood. Double crap. At this point I know the shot was low and back.

I hands and knees crawl around for 20 minutes and find a couple of hairs, no blood and no other evidence of deer.

I call my buddy again and tell him what I'm experiencing. I try and sell him and myself on the fact that I just nicked him and that he's fine.

He knows better (and I do too). I just don't what to do at this point.

I commit to gridding down for the next couple hundred yards and know that this will be the rest of my day at least (it's noon).

Now I'm kinda pissed at myself. I know I was calm when I decided to take the shot, and I don't really regret it. But I am mad about what I'm assuming will be a lost deer.

I know he went downhill, so I grid down, making ~50 yard passes back and forth.

About 75 yards downhill, I find a bright red piece of bone on the ground and one single drop of blood. Interesting. Now I'm even more disappointed.

I hands and knees around there for 20 minutes and don't find anything else.

I grid down again and find a piece of caul fat in the brush 25 yards from the bone. One drop of blood.

Grid down and find more caul fat.

Then a 3rd piece and a small speck of blood.

I'm about 2 hours and about 200 yards into the track at this point. I know he's gut shot and figure the bone was one of the rear ribs.

Not hopeful. Annoyed. Disappointed in myself. I'm basically talking myself through the fact that I consciously took the shot, that I had practiced all season and that every shot at an animal carries some risk of this. I'm also coming to terms with the fact that my season is over. I'll punch this tag and cope with the lost animal, knowing I'll do better next time.

30 min later I find my first real sign of anything hopeful. I come across a log that would have been belly height. I know that if he's bleeding he would have bled on this log, but I can't find anything.

Then I find a spot with some blood that looks like he bed down in. This is my first real indication of bleeding and it's probably about the size of my palm. Dark blood. Not awesome, but it's something. I am now figuring that with the next day and a half, I can probably find him. Luckily it's fairly cool and it'll get cold overnight.

I have some lunch, thinking I might want to give him some more time to bed down and hopefully expire. I commit to another 30 min after I'm done with lunch. At this point it's been 3ish hours. I probably should have given him more, but I figure at the rate I'm tracking, it won't make much difference.

It's still pin drops every 10-15 yards, but the game trails he's on are tight. So there aren't a ton of options to follow.

30 min later I find another piece of guts and more blood.

Something has changed for him in this escape and the blood gets better.

Then I find a pile of guts. Intestines and stuff.

I assume this is good. I figure he can't live too long without all of that and that the blood will get better.

Turns out I'm right.

It's murder scene type blood now. No more hands and knees. No more guessing.

He made it another 50 yards after that and I find him dead, and he feels like he's been dead a while actually. Holy crap, hot damn. I'm still not happy with my shot, but I'm happy it turned out right and that I don't think he suffered too long.

I can't believe it. I'm 4 hours into the track. For the previous 3 hours and 30 minutes, I assumed the worst.

He's not a big deer, but I'm very happy. I'd consider myself more of a meat hunter than a trophy hunter. If I happen to shoot something decent, great. If not, a full freezer is my reward.

I notch my tag, finish the gutting (the shot basically eviscerated him), and drag him out.

I hang him up in my garage and reflect on the fact that I've more or less accomplished my goals. I still have my antler less tag, but I'm feeling pretty proud of what I have achieved. I harvested a turkey, a bear, an elk, and a deer. And I might try and fill my antler less tag late season with a bow.

Then, as I'm skinning him, I make the cardinal mistake of cutting towards myself and make a deep cut in my thumb. Turns out the day isn't over yet. I go and get a couple stitches, come back and finish up.

Even though I'm exhausted, I pull out the tenderloins and make them into tacos, again spending the time to reflect on my season.

 

[Idaho_Potato]

Look up cut resistant gloves on amazon. These were a game changer for me this year. I just finished cutting up a cow in the dark, snowing, and about 15 degrees. I popped hand warmers on the back side of my hands inside the gloves and it was smooth sailing. I always cut myself somehow, especially when it's dark and cold and I'm trying to get it done quick. They are light too.