Day 1: hike about 10 miles just trying to find fresh sign. No luck so head back to camp early to pack up and go in a little deeper. Get camp packed up and moved to a new location. Go to bed
Day:2 hike to the top of a glassing knob in the dark to try and see/hear some elk. Plan was just to locate some and then form a plan for the following day. See 10 elk, bugles in every direction, decide to make a move on 1 of the bugles for the evening. He was on the next ridge over so we went all the way down, all the way back up top. Wind was a little swirling on the hike up due to thermals and prevailing. Finally got to the top around Noon and sat down to eat. Found a steep cut that had a Bench below it and it lead right into dark timber. Walked right above that to a saddle where we thought some elk were using to get over the top to the other side where water was. Setup and wait making sure our wind stayed consistent. Around 5:30 I decided I was gonna do some cow calling down over into the timber where we thought some elk were bedded. First calling sequence no response. Waited 5 minutes and left out 5-6 more cow calls. Looked down the saddle and here he comes. Sprinting our way with his tongue hanging out! My buddy whispers “Are you gonna shoot him?” And I looked over without missing a beat and said “absolutely “ he comes to 50 yards (so I thought) and I settle my pin and whiff. Right over his back! (Think he was more like 40 yards) Elk runs in a circle and eventually works himself right back to the original spot. With my buddy ranging this time I took a second shot and WHACK! Little high and the elk drops. Quickly I run up and put a finishing shot in him just to be safe. Wow what just happened?!?! Buddy and I celebrated and then the work started. Got him down to camp that night and went to bed.
Day 3: woke up, ate breakfast, started packing meat at 8:30am. At 7:00pm we finally got to the truck with our last load! Talk about an exhausting day. But we would do it all over again! Thankful for a buddy who enjoyed the grind with me. Slept in the truck, headed back home to Pa the following morning. Made it back to Pa in 29 hrs.
Great trip and already trying to figure out when We can get back! Forget all about the misery of packing meat already
