hey all
Have never put the time in to post a thread like this in all my hunting and fishing adventures, but I felt this one needed to be told. Rewind back to early in 2020, before everything went to hell. I had coordinated a trip my family and I had talked about for several years, an Idaho rifle elk hunt, which would be our first big out of state elk hunt. The 4 of us bought tags and the excitement started to build. Unfortunately, covid had other plans, and like everyone else in the world who had vacations, celebrations, events, and millions of other plans they were looking forward to living in color and in person, our big elk hunt fell apart. The other three people in my party decided the Idaho trip we had planned was not in the cards with covid. I couldn't think of a better way to socially distance than with the elk and wolves and bears. So what was supposed to be a big communal trip turned into a solo trip earlier this summer.
I am no stranger to hunting big game alone, but this would be on a much grander scale than anything I had attempted before. In recent years, most of my elk hunting has been with the bow, and typically out of a treestand. While much of this hunting has been alone, I am walking in just a few miles and back to bed in my nice warm truck camper every night. A few years ago I was drawn for a mule deer rifle rut tag, and did most of that hunt solo, but again back in my camper every night. After putting on a ton of miles during that trip, walking 5-7 miles in and out every morning and night, I quickly came to the realization if I ever had a similar hunt in the future, I really needed the capability to spike out for 3-5 nights at a time. This solo trip became the inspiration I needed to develop that capability.
I will go into a few more details at the end of this on some of the winners and losers in the gear I chose, I know most of us are gearheads. I will say this forum was very helpful in helping me decide which direction I wanted to go on a number of items. Much of my spring and summer was spent developing handloads for the two rifles I would bring with me, a 338wm and a 7rm. On the mule deer hunt a few years ago a fall ended my trip a day early after I thought I landed on my scope, it just blew my confidence, so I wanted to have a spare on this hunt. I also rescoped both rifles with scopes designed for dialing elevation, anticipating shots out to 500 yards or more. I put a lot of time and research into gear choices, and spent many an evening with my wife, rucking around the neighborhood with 50-75lbs in my pack, or as she called it "hucking." I also spent a lot of time on the trigger, getting very comfortable with dialing and MOA needed for different ranges. A dope card out to 550 yards affixed to both rifles left me feeling as confident as I ever have been. The "hucking" and range time would both prove to be beneficial.
The unit I had a tag for is a popular one in Idaho, good success rates and high participation. I travel often for work into Idaho, so my initial plan was that I would be able to spend many weekends putting boots on the ground, tagging on scouting days to weekly business trips. Again....covid. OnX, the internet, bios, and rangers became my scouting tools. The unit I would be hunting would be any bull, and would be primarily around 7-8k feet in elevation. Over the summer I put my plan together. Having experienced many times having a plan based off OnX imagery, then getting punched directly in the face when you get on the scene, I had a few different plans in place. I knew I wanted to get away from the crowds as best I could, so I had a plan A, B, and C, with A being the most ambitious in terms of mileage, and C being something I knew I could accomplish. The area of the unit I would be hunting is known as being pretty steep, wild and rough. I am 41 years of age, and in fairly decent shape. In my mind though I'm still 18, does anyone else not feel that way? Reminds me of Top Gun, "your ego is writing checks your body can't cash!!"
I left home on October 23rd and made an uneventful 9 hour drive to where I would be hunting. An overnight on the way put me NEAR my target trailhead early afternoon on the 24th, the day before my season was to begin. I say NEAR my trailhead, because as many who hunted this Idaho rifle opener know, we got a winter blast at the very beginning of the season. I drove to within about a mile of the trailhead, then was stopped by snow. It would snow hard all that day and night, and drop down into what I am pretty sure were single digits for the first couple nights. I didn't even bother to stop and put up my base camp arriving that afternoon, just drove as far as I could, packed my bag with food, and started walking. Leaving my truck in frigid temps, snow piling up, I had a funny thought. Every once in a while you read an article about an idiot swimming in an alligator pond or something similar. Idiot gets eaten, and we all sit back and think well that was a pretty predictable outcome. Walking away from my truck, I thought, if I was to die doing this, a lot of sane people would think, "well that was pretty predictable, what intelligent person walks into the mountains in a freezing snowstorm alone?"
As predicted, my plan A was much too ambitious, I ended up walking the mile or so to the trailhead, then an additional 5.03 miles to where I would set up my camp. My hunt had begun. I awoke Sunday morning to about 8 inches of snow, and bitter cold. The first three days of my hunt were pretty uneventful to be honest. A lot of miles working the large basin I was camped in. Initially I was very optimistic about the conditions, knowing the fresh snow would make tracking very easy, and I felt I would quickly get an idea of where the elk were and weren't. Let me tell you, the basin I was in was not where they were. I did not see a single elk track until I threw in the towel Tuesday afternoon, and pulled out of the spike camp I had set up. Walking back to the truck that afternoon, I cut a few elk tracks in the snow, but still not much to get excited about. I set up base camp along the road Tuesday evening, with the plan that I would hunt a lower elevation drainage for at least a few days.
Wednesday and Thursday I would hunt a couple different spots, and again put on a ton of miles just trying to find elk. Hunting a brand new spot is always tough, as in my experience you spend a lot of time initially crossing unproductive areas off the list. I was seeing more sign, but also a lot more people. By the end of the day Thursday, still not having even laid eyes on a live elk, I was starting to doubt my skills and intuition. Was really starting to feel like all my instincts were just wrong, and starting to really second guess what I was doing. Like so many have said before me about a solo hunt like this, the decision making and mental game is REALLY tough. By Thursday night I was pretty down in the dumps, and really not sure what to do next. I was losing motivation, and starting to miss the wife and kids. I ate dinner that night not sure what to do Friday morning. Over the last 6 days since I had arrived, the weather had changed to absolutely beautiful, sunny and cool during the day, and cold at night, but not bone chilling like the first few nights. The south facing slope I had originally set my spike camp in had been getting sun all day long, and much of the snow had melted off. I made the decision as I went to bed that night that in the morning, I would drive to the trailhead, with the road now mostly free of snow, and make the 5 mile walk back into the ORIGINAL basin I had set my spike camp in. That was the basin I had scouted and dreamt about all summer, and I was going to give it a second go. My plan was to hunt hard Friday through the end of the season Tuesday.
Have never put the time in to post a thread like this in all my hunting and fishing adventures, but I felt this one needed to be told. Rewind back to early in 2020, before everything went to hell. I had coordinated a trip my family and I had talked about for several years, an Idaho rifle elk hunt, which would be our first big out of state elk hunt. The 4 of us bought tags and the excitement started to build. Unfortunately, covid had other plans, and like everyone else in the world who had vacations, celebrations, events, and millions of other plans they were looking forward to living in color and in person, our big elk hunt fell apart. The other three people in my party decided the Idaho trip we had planned was not in the cards with covid. I couldn't think of a better way to socially distance than with the elk and wolves and bears. So what was supposed to be a big communal trip turned into a solo trip earlier this summer.
I am no stranger to hunting big game alone, but this would be on a much grander scale than anything I had attempted before. In recent years, most of my elk hunting has been with the bow, and typically out of a treestand. While much of this hunting has been alone, I am walking in just a few miles and back to bed in my nice warm truck camper every night. A few years ago I was drawn for a mule deer rifle rut tag, and did most of that hunt solo, but again back in my camper every night. After putting on a ton of miles during that trip, walking 5-7 miles in and out every morning and night, I quickly came to the realization if I ever had a similar hunt in the future, I really needed the capability to spike out for 3-5 nights at a time. This solo trip became the inspiration I needed to develop that capability.
I will go into a few more details at the end of this on some of the winners and losers in the gear I chose, I know most of us are gearheads. I will say this forum was very helpful in helping me decide which direction I wanted to go on a number of items. Much of my spring and summer was spent developing handloads for the two rifles I would bring with me, a 338wm and a 7rm. On the mule deer hunt a few years ago a fall ended my trip a day early after I thought I landed on my scope, it just blew my confidence, so I wanted to have a spare on this hunt. I also rescoped both rifles with scopes designed for dialing elevation, anticipating shots out to 500 yards or more. I put a lot of time and research into gear choices, and spent many an evening with my wife, rucking around the neighborhood with 50-75lbs in my pack, or as she called it "hucking." I also spent a lot of time on the trigger, getting very comfortable with dialing and MOA needed for different ranges. A dope card out to 550 yards affixed to both rifles left me feeling as confident as I ever have been. The "hucking" and range time would both prove to be beneficial.
The unit I had a tag for is a popular one in Idaho, good success rates and high participation. I travel often for work into Idaho, so my initial plan was that I would be able to spend many weekends putting boots on the ground, tagging on scouting days to weekly business trips. Again....covid. OnX, the internet, bios, and rangers became my scouting tools. The unit I would be hunting would be any bull, and would be primarily around 7-8k feet in elevation. Over the summer I put my plan together. Having experienced many times having a plan based off OnX imagery, then getting punched directly in the face when you get on the scene, I had a few different plans in place. I knew I wanted to get away from the crowds as best I could, so I had a plan A, B, and C, with A being the most ambitious in terms of mileage, and C being something I knew I could accomplish. The area of the unit I would be hunting is known as being pretty steep, wild and rough. I am 41 years of age, and in fairly decent shape. In my mind though I'm still 18, does anyone else not feel that way? Reminds me of Top Gun, "your ego is writing checks your body can't cash!!"
I left home on October 23rd and made an uneventful 9 hour drive to where I would be hunting. An overnight on the way put me NEAR my target trailhead early afternoon on the 24th, the day before my season was to begin. I say NEAR my trailhead, because as many who hunted this Idaho rifle opener know, we got a winter blast at the very beginning of the season. I drove to within about a mile of the trailhead, then was stopped by snow. It would snow hard all that day and night, and drop down into what I am pretty sure were single digits for the first couple nights. I didn't even bother to stop and put up my base camp arriving that afternoon, just drove as far as I could, packed my bag with food, and started walking. Leaving my truck in frigid temps, snow piling up, I had a funny thought. Every once in a while you read an article about an idiot swimming in an alligator pond or something similar. Idiot gets eaten, and we all sit back and think well that was a pretty predictable outcome. Walking away from my truck, I thought, if I was to die doing this, a lot of sane people would think, "well that was pretty predictable, what intelligent person walks into the mountains in a freezing snowstorm alone?"
As predicted, my plan A was much too ambitious, I ended up walking the mile or so to the trailhead, then an additional 5.03 miles to where I would set up my camp. My hunt had begun. I awoke Sunday morning to about 8 inches of snow, and bitter cold. The first three days of my hunt were pretty uneventful to be honest. A lot of miles working the large basin I was camped in. Initially I was very optimistic about the conditions, knowing the fresh snow would make tracking very easy, and I felt I would quickly get an idea of where the elk were and weren't. Let me tell you, the basin I was in was not where they were. I did not see a single elk track until I threw in the towel Tuesday afternoon, and pulled out of the spike camp I had set up. Walking back to the truck that afternoon, I cut a few elk tracks in the snow, but still not much to get excited about. I set up base camp along the road Tuesday evening, with the plan that I would hunt a lower elevation drainage for at least a few days.
Wednesday and Thursday I would hunt a couple different spots, and again put on a ton of miles just trying to find elk. Hunting a brand new spot is always tough, as in my experience you spend a lot of time initially crossing unproductive areas off the list. I was seeing more sign, but also a lot more people. By the end of the day Thursday, still not having even laid eyes on a live elk, I was starting to doubt my skills and intuition. Was really starting to feel like all my instincts were just wrong, and starting to really second guess what I was doing. Like so many have said before me about a solo hunt like this, the decision making and mental game is REALLY tough. By Thursday night I was pretty down in the dumps, and really not sure what to do next. I was losing motivation, and starting to miss the wife and kids. I ate dinner that night not sure what to do Friday morning. Over the last 6 days since I had arrived, the weather had changed to absolutely beautiful, sunny and cool during the day, and cold at night, but not bone chilling like the first few nights. The south facing slope I had originally set my spike camp in had been getting sun all day long, and much of the snow had melted off. I made the decision as I went to bed that night that in the morning, I would drive to the trailhead, with the road now mostly free of snow, and make the 5 mile walk back into the ORIGINAL basin I had set my spike camp in. That was the basin I had scouted and dreamt about all summer, and I was going to give it a second go. My plan was to hunt hard Friday through the end of the season Tuesday.
