Benz's 2020 Montana Elk Adventure (detailed)

[benz1978]

We climbed down from our shooting nest to the bottom of the snow shoot. This appears to be the easiest path to the elk. We make slow progress up the snow shoot and get into the trees where the elk were bedded. We can really smell them now. There are lots of rubs in the area as well. We hike to where I thought I shot him and look around and there’s nothing. No blood. No elk. We push up a little further into another small opening. Nothing. At this point, thoughts are racing through my head. Did I really see him fall? How can there be no blood? Did I miss him completely? Earlier that day, I had taken a fall onto my back and landed on my rifle. I took the rifle off my pack and inspected it and it looked fine but I was second guessing whether I had bumped the scope or something. My partner suggested we had likely gone too far up the snow shoot and we should have seen something by now. I ranged back to our shooting area and we were right at 350 yards so we were in the right area but it was certainly disheartening to not see anything at this point. My partner thought we should turn back and start slowly tracking for blood. I decided to push up one more time into another small clearing before following my partners guidance. As soon as I got into the clearing…BLOOD! I got blood I yelled at him. He was up higher on the snow shoot in the timber area and he hiked up parallel to me but in the timber. He yelled back, “I have blood here as well”. I replied, “I’ll be up there in a minute, let me catch my breath”. He said “take your time, there’s an elk attached to this blood”. We had found my elk! Thank God! I was really starting to feel sick that I had missed or wounded this animal. What I thought I saw from my shooting perch and what actually happened matched…we just hadn’t gone far enough.

 

[benz1978]

The shot was a little back vs. where I remembered lining up the reticle. I attribute this to him walking. There’s no way I was going to try to stop him for a still shot. Either way, the 165gr AB did the job. It clearly went into his vitals and it did not make it through to the other leg. He didn’t go 30 yards before turning back and falling over. I didn’t look for the bullet but I suspect it found his heart. With that, I didn’t bother going after the prized heart. It was getting late after doing my first gutless method on an elk and we were already going to be getting back at dark. We bagged him up and hung 2 of the quarters in small spruce trees about 100 yards from the kill site. The other 2 quarters got loaded in our bags and off to camp we headed. We were about 2 miles from camp but fortunately it was almost all down hill. We just had to avoid the deadfalls and steep descents. I led the way and we cut a new trail to camp that was a bit more direct than our original trail to our location. The return trip was mostly uneventful, minus a few slips and falls along the way. We hung the 2 quarters a couple hundred yards from camp and then headed up to camp to warm up, change and have a bite. The days hunt was so taxing that eating offered little appeal. I really just wanted some water and I choked down a couple bars and some jerky. No hot meal tonight…just need a warm-ish bed.

 

[benz1978]

The next morning, the hunting partners decided they wanted to head back closer to the truck if possible. The hunt wasn’t quite over but the realization that we had a long long trek back to the truck with an elk made us realize we probably didn’t want to have to haul 2 elk back to the truck. So we went back to the kill site and the 2 fresh hunters saddled up on the 2 remaining quarters. I hauled the head and we headed to camp again. About midday, we got to camp and we sat down for some lunch. The 2 elk quarters were hung at a separate location than the first 2 in the event that they were discovered by grizz. After lunch, we broke camp and started on our way. We would look to make camp maybe 2 miles from the truck and spend the rest of our time bringing the 1/4s in from the original camp site back to the truck. As we prodded back towards the truck…the temps got colder and colder as we approached the top of the mountain our trial crossed over. Eventually, our water supplies disappeared as the creeks were no longer running but frozen solid. When we got to the area where we thought we might camp, we huddled and decided to just push to the truck. It was another 2 miles to get there and it would be dark when we arrived but we could truck camp and we had fresh water in coolers that wouldn’t be frozen. Onward we pushed, eventually making it to the truck. We offloaded, hydrated and then contemplated our next move. The party was pretty bushed and we ultimately decided to head into town vs. truck camping. This likely meant our hunt was over and the guys holding tags felt ok with this decision. So we loaded up and headed back into town for a warm meal and bed. The next morning we woke and had breakfast and while at breakfast, one of the guys mentioned he had arranged for a horse pack out service to get our elk. This would buy our party another day of hunting while the pack out service went after our elk (spend all day hunting vs. hiking / packing out elk). With mules and horses, the packout service got there and back in about 5 hrs. Would have taken us double that easily.

 

[benz1978]

Upon arrival, one of the guys in our party that traveled on horseback with the packout service said “we have a little problem. The grizz got ½ the elk.” Turns out they found one of our caches and decided they needed it more than we did. Fortunately, our foresight to separate the meat paid off as they only found one of our caches. The other was unscathed and got ½ and elk to take home with us. I suspect this is just the way it works sometimes when you are hunting in grizz country. As we loaded the truck, a local from a truck camp near by stopped by to see what we had. He asked us where we were from (he was from Bozeman) and how we did. We mentioned to him where we camped (about 4 miles back) and both he and the horse packing service guy laughed at us. Said we were much further back than 4 miles and that “no one hikes back there with camp”. The horse service guy chuckled under his breath and smiled at us. He had taken horse camps back there but never thought anyone would hike back there. Apparently, our trek was considerably longer than the aforementioned 4 miles. I believe the ONx app measures distance as the crow flies and doesn’t account for elevation changes. All told, we concluded we were somewhere between 7-8 miles back and we shot my elk another 2 miles further back yet. Not exactly what we had planned and it felt every bit as hard as it sounds to us flatlanders. After a few handshakes and additional ribbing, we got into the truck and headed back towards home.

 

[benz1978]

Conclusion and casting call…lots to read here. I felt like we fumbled and bumbled through the entire hunt. We hit the perfect storm of weather in Montana for an opening weekend rifle hunt. We got punched in the mouth by cold and snow. Had several near misses on the highways (apparently Montana doesn’t really believe in sand/salt on the roads). We saw some magnificent country. There was danger, misery, elation, dread, wonder, success and failure all bunded into a 2 week adventure. It was the hardest thing we’ve ever done and for me, a definite highlight of my life. I am looking forward to doing it again next year, albeit under better weather conditions if possible. We didn’t camp as much as we wanted but we really enjoyed Bozeman. The food was great, we got to visit several outdoor stores including my personal fave…Stone Glacier. The boys at SG were welcoming and congratulatory of our success on our very first trip. I got a free growler of beer and a photo for the store wall. Pretty cool that they do that. The guys I went with don’t plan to make this an annual trip. I’d love to get back and do it again, but I’m going to be looking for new hunting partners. I’d love to go with someone who has great experience and success doing this year after year on public land. If any of you seasoned DIY elk hunters are looking to fill spots in your elk camps, PM me. Rifle or Bow.

 

[AaronMColeman]

Conclusion and casting call…lots to read here. I felt like we fumbled and bumbled through the entire hunt. We hit the perfect storm of weather in Montana for an opening weekend rifle hunt. We got punched in the mouth by cold and snow. Had several near misses on the highways (apparently Montana doesn’t really believe in sand/salt on the roads). We saw some magnificent country. There was danger, misery, elation, dread, wonder, success and failure all bunded into a 2 week adventure. It was the hardest thing we’ve ever done and for me, a definite highlight of my life. I am looking forward to doing it again next year, albeit under better weather conditions if possible. We didn’t camp as much as we wanted but we really enjoyed Bozeman. The food was great, we got to visit several outdoor stores including my personal fave…Stone Glacier. The boys at SG were welcoming and congratulatory of our success on our very first trip. I got a free growler of beer and a photo for the store wall. Pretty cool that they do that. The guys I went with don’t plan to make this an annual trip. I’d love to get back and do it again, but I’m going to be looking for new hunting partners. I’d love to go with someone who has great experience and success doing this year after year on public land. If any of you seasoned DIY elk hunters are looking to fill spots in your elk camps, PM me. Rifle or Bow.

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Very pretty bull! I'm a fan of the "shape" of the antlers over the size of the antlers.

Losing 1/2 the meat happens sometimes. Do what you can but it happens. Great trip . I live in Wyoming, if you're ever interested in hunting out this way, hit me up. I live here so showing a few hunters around and ramming through the woods would be fun...I'm far from an expert, but I am past the just bumbling around phase at least

 

[fatlander]

Congrats on your hunt! If I were you, I’d go back and edit every single post you made with a unit number in it. Delete the unit numbers. There will most definitely be more people there for the simple fact that someone posted about it on the internet and was successful.


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[RCL]

Great write up.
Thanks for posting.

 

[ArcherAdam]

Great stuff! Congrats!

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[voltage]

Thanks for the great write up! Congrats on the bull!

 

[slick]

Congratulations putting it all together.

Now go back and get rid of all the specific unit numbers. Rule #1 Don’t post specific units- make other people learn how to figure out where they should go without telling them exactly. Especially general units anyone can hunt most years.

Edit: Unit numbers are for PMs

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[BadDogPSD]

Congratulations on a very nice bull! You definately put the work in and earned your trophy.
If you have the fuel, heat up some water before bed, put it in nalgene bottles and put it inside your sleeping bag/quilt.
It'll help keep you warm, wont freeze, and you'll have drinking water for the next day.

 

[lyle_destroys]

That's a great trip in my opinion, no serious catastrophe and you came home with meat and antlers. Doesn't get any better than that.

 

[lyle_destroys]

Btw we had some serious cold in Colorado this year. My partner and I were prepared to backpack hunt it but decided to go back to the warm wall tent with the old men every night.

 

[AaronMColeman]

Units are big usually! I don’t see how mentioning them is a problem unless you got a monster, or are talking about specific locations in a unit. Every unit has successful hunters so no biggie to me.

I do understand the caution with providing locations. I hunt public land and would have no problem if someone posted a decent bill to come out of my unit. Just don’t give away the details

 

[Gila]

Congrats there! That was an excellent write up....I was curious how a nor'easter would get into DIY public hunting. In the not too distant past, non-resers would cut their teeth with an outfitter. Down here the critters won't typically bother an elk carcass overnight if you drape a piece of clothing over the rack. No grizz here though, although there are rumors of mexican browns in the wilderness. These days I am a fan of october hunting at the lower elevations like 7500-8500ft. Nothing better than grilled elk steaks IMO. Enjoy!

 

[Gila]

Congratulations putting it all together.

Now go back and get rid of all the specific unit numbers. Rule #1 Don’t post specific units- make other people learn how to figure out where they should go without telling them exactly. Especially general units anyone can hunt most years.

Edit: Unit numbers are for PMs

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I don't think PMs are a good idea either...be surprised how many wannabe, lazy guides are looking for a hand out. I spend alot of money and time wearing out boot leather pre-season scouting. And there are other locals that go the extra mile as well. I have helped non-resers in the past who were lucky enough to draw a limited entry and I never heard from them again.

 

[Gila]

Units are big usually! I don’t see how mentioning them is a problem unless you got a monster, or are talking about specific locations in a unit. Every unit has successful hunters so no biggie to me.

I do understand the caution with providing locations. I hunt public land and would have no problem if someone posted a decent bill to come out of my unit. Just don’t give away the details

Draw units.....blast it on the internet and the odds to draw go way down. Units that become "famous" have draw odds approaching zit...point....zero

 

[Rotnguns]

Say, what a great story! Thanks for sharing your adventure with us.

 

[Pacific_Fork]

I know you’re new to western hunting but please delete unit numbers, some of us here hunt those same units.