PART 4--
We set out in the rain. I didn’t even carry a rifle, just a pack, food and a tarp for rain. The rain let up after a couple miles and we settled in on a very good glassing knob across from the bedded herd. Nothing happened for more than an hour when I checked my phone and the duo had tagged a bull about ¾ of a mile from us. We mostly abandoned our hunt to go help pack out. We did turn around to glass before leaving our ridge and the herd had come out of cover but still hadn’t revealed a bull. It took almost an hour and a half to get to the down bull. They had it more than half processed when we arrived. We strapped on heavy loads in last light, added headlamps and bombed straight off the mountain towards the river.
It was rough going crossing several talus fields in the dark. We really should have gone to a ridge instead of the bottom of the draw but it started out so promising. Eventually we all got down, hung the meat over the river and trekked in the dark back to camp. The duo had been in cows all day estimating they saw 40-50 but no bulls within retrievable range until this lone bull in a wallow towards the river. They put a 430 yard shot on it with a 30PRC and it died in the wallow. It was another medium sized bull, 5x5 with double brow tines, thick main beams and stumpy ends.
The next day they picked up the meat as we floated past and again hired an airplane to fly the meat to civilization.
We stayed at another hot spring and nobody put in much hunting effort that night. I discovered my brother’s blisters were basically debilitating and his only footwear options were the boots that caused it, crocs and river sandals. I loaned him my trail runners the rest of the trip and that seemed to help him bounce back. The next day was our last real chance at success and the three of us went 4 miles up to spike in a promising basin.
Unfortunately, the creeks on the map weren’t flowing and water loomed in my head as a potential issue. We arrived in the basin at dusk and the habitat looked very promising. But we soon found that one of the nearby outfitters had already hit it within the last week and anything that had been there was likely gone. We glassed and called until dark but nothing replied or showed itself. When we went to camp near the basin the outfitter had clearly been in the area with horses, multiple fire rings and tents in the recent past.
It was my coldest night of the trip and I camped in a cold dead spot in the bottom of the creek bed. In the morning we glassed and the other two climbed the next ridge to poke over but nothing was seen.
At mid-morning as we packed up a string of horses with a guide and 4 guests rode past and it was clear we wouldn’t be seeing anything that they had missed. They looked like they were headed even farther out and we didn’t have the time or resources to go that far.
We moved the rafts down to a major tributary and had a layover day nearby. We had reports of elk in this area in past years and I had seen bears in most of my past visits. But the tributary had burned in both 2024 and early 2025. I hiked up with a gun the evening of our arrival and saw 2 old bear scat piles. Almost all of the berries had burned and there wasn’t much reason for bears to be hanging out there. I hoped the post fire green up would attract deer or elk but it is steep country and we didn’t see anything with 4 legs, any birds or really anything alive.
The next day half the group headed to some benches where elk are known to frequent. One guy saw a lone black bear but didn’t get a shot. Everyone else has to settle for seeing sheep. My brother and I abandoned the guns for fly rods and fished the tributary for hours. The fires had cleared a lot of the brush that makes casting some streams difficult and we slayed fish all day on dry flies. It was one of the top 5 fishing days of my life. We probably both caught 100 fish.
Back at camp the hunters told their tale and fishing seemed like a good choice.
The next morning we packed up and our plan was to hunt near our last camp in an area with no trails, outfitter or really much human interaction. Unfortunately in some confusion and negligence we missed our camp. It wasn’t very late and instead of trying to pirate another camp I convinced the group to do a double day and float all the way out. I had another trip to do in a couple days and another 24 hours to process my elk would be extremely beneficial.
Almost everyone agreed that 12 days was enough and 13 was unnecessary. We floated 20+ miles on the final day, tore down our boats, picked up our meat and arrived home around midnight.
Gear breakdown:
Gun- savage 110 trail hunter lite in 7PRC with a Vortex diamondback tactical 3-18. I shoot 175 ELDX hand loaded in ADG brass, CCI LRMP and 68 grains or magpro. I will not carry it again with the regular stock. Weighs 10 pounds. I practice out to 1100 yards but won’t shoot game over 500. Have never shot game over 420.
Suppressor- Nomad 30 ti-xc (LOVE IT, might go shorter in the future)
Rangefinder- sig 1500 (meh. Tops out at 500yd most of the time, sometimes struggles at 300)
Glass- sig zulu6 16x (favorite piece of gear), basic vortex harness
Spotter- swaro ATX 85mm (unused, sadly. It is just too big and heavy for backpacking.)
Footwear- brooks Cascadia trail runners, keen low tops- model unknown. I 90% hunt in trail runners. They take some damage but my feet love them.
Shirts while hunting- Costco wool base layer, lime green poly shirt from a fun run
Pants- Costco eddie bauer zip off, sometimes kahaki wranglers, sometimes Costco fleece lined work pants.
Socks- Costco wool blend
Puffy- Gerry Costco, 2 thicknesses depending on weather
Rain pants and jacket- did not carry
Tent- sierra designs solo tipi, 6oz (love the weight, tricky to put up, tends to have condensation. Barely big enough. Always get wet feet)
Poles- Costco carbon fiber
Sleeping bag- marmot 15 degree down
Sleeping pad- neoair xlite (love it, but a bit noisy)
Pillow- Walmart inflatable (my 1 luxury item)
Hydration- 3l camelback, 1 l Nalgene. No filter or treatment. Controversial but given the area and my time there I have 100+ days filter free and never sick.
Pack- Exo K4 5000 (love it. Could have gone 1 size smaller, should have gotten Nalgene holder and orange lid)
Knife- outdoor edge edc 3.5 (like the weight, price and blades, not overly durable though. Will start carrying 2. Try the gut hooks!)
Bags- black ovis (light but not durable, were a gift)
Other: Tyvek ground sheet to protect pad and process game on, some light cord,walmart headlamp, 10,000 Mah battery and cord, assorted diaphragm calls, Walmart bugle tube.
Stove: firemaple petrel kit (love it, super cheap, super light. Small fuel = 7 days)
Communication- iphone 14 satellite messenger (sold my inreach a year ago, love the sat texting)
Food- home made freeze dried dinners and breakfasts. Generic bars, fig bars, trail mix, peperoni, wheat thins, freeze dried chicken salad.
Map: Onx, with some heavy lifting by google earth during scouting.
As you can see I’m pretty cheap except when I buy something nice I try to get the best.
