My First Elk Hunt: A Short Story

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2021 Wyoming Elk Hunt​

Preamble

I wrote a short story to be able to help me remember my first elk hunt. I figured this would be a good place to share this story. Let it be known that I am a nerdy CPA, and I do not write much of anything, so forgive me for the shortcomings of this.

I have redacted some things, most noticeably the outfitter’s name at the outfitter’s request. I don’t understand it, but I feel I must respect his wishes.

Introduction

I dipped my toe into the western hunting dream in 2017. One of my best friends, @archp625 , convinced me to buy points in Wyoming for elk, deer, and antelope. To be completely honest, I wasn’t thrilled with the idea. Buying points? Why do I have to buy points? I had recently graduated from college and I was broke. Regardless of my hesitation, I bought all three (even though that mule deer point almost didn’t make it into my cart), but I honestly only wanted to hunt an elk someday. At this point, I looked at a Wyoming elk hunt as a bucket list item.

Fast forward to September of 2020 - I had hunted antelope in Wyoming twice at this point, with a Montana mule deer tag in my pocket which I planned to use in the upcoming November. Western hunting had transformed from a bucket list idea to a way of life. The draw strategies, the articles, the e-scouting… it all consumed me. I was fortunate enough to be in a much better financial situation than I was in back when I started buying points in 2017. I decided that I wanted to hunt elk in Wyoming in 2021. At first, I was convinced that I should do this DIY, but after reflecting on the fact that I wasn’t even sure where elk live, I elected to start researching outfitted elk hunts for the following fall. I talked to many outfitters, and I was extremely surprised to hear that many of these outfitters were booked years into the future.

After being ignored and/or turned away by all of the outfitters that had were perched atop search engine results, I filled out a form on Wyoming Outfitters & Guides Association expressing my interest in a 2021 rifle elk hunt. A handful of outfitters reached out to me following that submission, but nearly all seemed disinterested in fielding the myriad of questions that I had (I am a CPA by trade… I am sure my questions were in excess of a normal client). However, in early October, Mark, the owner of Elk Hunting Outfitters, reached out to me via email. I remember vividly being a few Busch Lights deep, and sending Mark an extremely short (and arguably rude) email: “What are your elk success rates?”. Frankly, I was tired of dealing with outfitters. I was tired of being told I would be called back the next day and never called back. I was tired of my emails going unanswered. I was tired of references having disconnected numbers. Nevertheless, Mark didn’t skip a beat, and gave me a detailed response of expectations. This was during elk season, and in addition to being the owner, Mark also guides during hunting season. Within the next couple of days, Mark and I were on the phone and it was clear that Mark was honest, trustworthy, and humble. It didn’t take long for me to realize he was underselling his outfit. It was apparent that Mark wanted to under promise and over deliver. For the first time in this entire process, I felt as if I was talking to a human that understood me. Within a week, one of my best friends, Mitch, and I were booked for a 2021 rifle elk hunt.

Mitch and I received the great news in May of 2021 that we had drawn our Wyoming General elk tags as we had expected. We quickly made the call to Mark to let him know the good news. This hunt is 12+ miles back in the backcountry. The plan was to access the backcountry camp via horse. Additionally, all of our hunting would be on horseback. I had minimal horse riding experience, and I made it a priority to research mitigating the soreness from horse riding. I did two one hour trail rides locally during the summer. I quickly learned what drove my discomfort. Additionally, I purchased a Peloton following Mark’s recommendation that a bicycle would help with the soreness. I am sure that a standard Huffy would have sufficed, but I still enjoy riding my Peloton to this day. I do believe the Peloton helped me immensely with the saddle, and with getting into better shape for the mountains.

Besides getting ready for the physical aspects of the hunt, I also focused on my shooting. I ordered a custom 300 PRC in December of 2020, and took possession of that in June of 2021. Around the time I picked up my new gun, I was alerted that I drew an antelope tag in Idaho. The deadline for putting the gun to the test on a hooved animal was expedited. I put 204 rounds through that gun prior to my antelope hunt, and on August 26th, I connected on an antelope at 455 yards (in what ended up being the worst antelope unit in America). This took my confidence to a new level, and this got me even more excited for our elk hunt. This Idaho hunt put us near the outfitter. Mitch and I planned to fly to our elk hunt, and then rent a car back to Missouri. Following the successful antelope hunt, my then-fiancée-now-wife and I made the drive from Idaho to the outfitter. I left coolers and gear that Mitch and I would use on our October elk hunt.

​

 

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Day 0

My wife dropped Mitch and I off at the airport at 3:30am. Walking into the airport, I felt a cloud of anxiety. I was departing on the single most expensive vacation of my life. The biggest cause of worry was checking our rifles. Fortunately, that was an extremely smooth process. We planned to fly from Kansas City to Jackson, with a connecting flight in Salt Lake City. We made it to Salt Lake City at 7:30am local time, and quickly made our way to the big board of flights. We were greeted with an “On Time” indicator next to out flight to Jackson. There were a couple of hours to kill, so we went to a restaurant to enjoy one of our final meals in civilization. The anxiety that I had disappeared following a couple of Bloody Marys. Our flight was delayed multiple times (before I forget, here is a reminder to drive to all future hunts), but we still made it to Jackson by 2:30pm. Unlike Kansas City, it appeared the airport staff had dealt with firearms before, and by 3:00pm, we were on our way to the outfitter being driven by a guide. We spent the evening getting unpacked, taking in the sights, meeting the other hunters that were to be in camp with us, playing trivia, and enjoying a few Coors Banquets.

 

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Day 1

I had channeled by inner child on Christmas morning. I awoke well before my alarm with no interest in going back to bed. I made some minor adjustments to everything that was packed for the day’s trek into the backcountry. We ate breakfast with all of the other hunters (there were 3 others), and then Mitch and I went to verify our zero. After verifying, we did stretch a couple of shots out to 600. The steel rang for us both, and we were ready.

Following the chorus of steel, Mitch and I were introduced to our guide, Walt. Walt was a slender man without an ounce of camouflage on his body. He sported a flat cap and often was accompanied by a hand rolled cigarette – my type of guy. At 10:45am I found myself on top of a Clydesdale-looking horse named Dale. Dale had drawn the short stick by having to carry the 6’3, 240 pound guy. Dale and I departed the trailhead behind Walt and his horse. We had a 12 mile horse ride ahead of us if we went straight to the backcountry camp with no detours. I knew this may be one of the hardest parts of the trip. If I was to get too sore on this ride, I knew the rest of the hunt would be nearly impossible. Walt and I talked nonstop for the first few miles of the ride. It didn’t take long for Walt to make it clear that he was a no funny business type of guy, and that he was going to put us on elk. After 5.3 miles of riding, we took a break. I was relieved to adjust the height of my stirrups.



At this point, we made our first detour of the ride. We got back on the horses and started climbing – there was no more conversation – we were now elk hunting. It didn’t take long to start seeing elk sign. We found our first group of elk after our 2 miles after our break. When I say “we”, I mean Walt found them; a common theme of the trip. Walt had a beat up pair of Leica 8s around his neck, and those things found all sorts of elk. This first group of elk was a herd of 8 cows at ~1.5 miles away. Even if there was a bull with them, an approach would have been difficult. Approximately an hour later, we found what we had been looking for – a herd of ~50 elk that were bedded in a meadow. There was a mix of bulls and cows, and our first stalk was underway. Earlier in the day, Mitch had won the flip of a coin, and he was the first shooter for today. We got the horses as close as we could, and then approached on foot for the last 500 yards. As we approached, we were hopeful the elk had not yet moved. I felt uneasy as the wind was swirling in the mountains, but my apprehension was relieved as we heard bugles. Upon hearing bugling, I paused to take in my surroundings. I had never felt more blessed. My moment of reflection was interrupted as Mitch and Walt, now ~10 yards ahead of me, jumped a bedded branch antlered bull that we had not seen. Mitch was unable to get a shot (or even evaluate if the bull was a shooter), but the bull ran away from the bigger group; our stalk continued.

The three of us came over a rise and we found ourselves amongst the elk. Elk were moving in all directions. A group of three bulls, led by a definite shooter, had us pegged. They were only ~150 yards away, but they were heading away. Mitch tried to get a shot on the biggest bull, but an ethical shot was never presented. We watched the herd of cows and small bulls for the next 20 minutes, but a mature bull never presented himself. We listened to the small bulls bugle many times which was an absolute treat. We decided to back out to leave these elk for another day.

Mitch, Walt, and I made it back to our horses and ate our lunch. Mitch and I realized we were starving, and these calories were welcomed into our bodies. Walt did a calculation that I assume can only be learned after multiple decades of hunting and hiking in the mountains, and he determined that a 6 mile bee line toward camp would get us there around dark. We were traveling, but we were still hunting. The sun was setting and Dale and I were comfortable. The horse and I had become the best friends (in my opinion). As I was taking in the scenery, there seemed to be some sort of explosion in front of me. Walt had jumped off his horse faster than the blink of an eye. Walt had seen a group of elk feeding in an avalanche chute on the mountain side above us. If there was an Olympic event for time to get off a horse, Walt would be bringing a gold medal to America. Mitch and I descended from our noble steeds, much slower than Walt (needless to say), and we crept through the pines to get a better look at this herd. As we peered around an evergreen, the clearest whisper made it out of Walt’s mouth: “BULL!”. Mitch found the bull in his scope. The bull was only 200 yards away, pushing his harem of cows in an attempt to get one to cycle in mid-October. Mitch elected not to shoot. This was a decent 5x5 bull, but not a first day bull. We watched the bull chase the cows into the timber, and then got back on the horses.

The three of us made it into camp ~30 minutes after shooting light. A review of my OnX track revealed 17.1 miles travelled that day. I have at assume 16.5 were on the back of Dale. It didn’t take Mitch and I long to make our way to the cook tent, where we were welcomed with a home cooked meal in a canvas tent, prepared by the camp cook, Kendra. We discussed the day’s hunt with the other hunters and guides. We quickly learned that we had the best day of hunting, and to not take this experience for granted.

 

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Day 2

Our alarm sounded off at 5:00am. I got dressed for breakfast and stepped into a blanket of snow. This was a welcome surprise. Mitch and I ate breakfast, and then headed back to our tent to get ready for the day. We left camp on horse at 6:30am. Within a half mile of camp, we were seeing countless fresh elk tracks. I kept having to remind myself to look up at the mountain sides, and not down at the sign in the snow. After 2.5 miles of riding at 7:15am, the sound of horse hooves in snow was pierced by a high-pitched bugle. Walt jumped off his horse before the bugle ended and told me to get my gun. Today was the day for me to be the shooter, following Mitch’s day yesterday. I quickly retrieved my rifle from the scabbard as Walt tied my horse to the tree. We spent the next half hour looking for that bull. We never saw him, but we did see ~10 cows. This was less than a half mile from our encounter the previous evening, and it may have been the same herd that we had seen less than 12 hours before.

It was apparent that we were not going to find this bull, so we were back on the horses. As we traversed the valley floor, we continued to see elk tracks and beds in the fresh powder. My head was on a swivel. Approximately 8 miles into the day, the elk sign increased; it was evident that we were close to a herd. The sign was so heavy that we tied the horses up prior to seeing or hearing an elk. We walked down the trail, and within a few minutes, we saw cows and calves through the trees. Those elk saw us at the same time that we saw them. They started to move up the mountain at a 10:30 angle on a clock. Every time we were spotted by elk, I was always surprised that they never seemed too uneasy. We paralleled those elk from the valley floor and eventually ran into more elk above us on the mountain side. We had not yet seen a bull, but we prepared for a shot. These elk were moving from right to left along the mountain side ~200 yards above us. My crosshairs were on the vitals of ~15 cows as they passed through shooting windows, but a bull never appeared. The cows moved out of sight, so we followed again. We came around a corner and we saw the herd again; however, this time there was a bull. The bull saw us immediately, and he headed straight up the mountain and went over the ridge. His cows did not follow, though. The cows were on alert, but they moved from right to left across the mountain side with a low level of urgency. I was immediately deflated when the bull exited, but my disappointment was swiftly replaced by excitement when he came back over the mountain peak. Apparently, he realized he was alone and his thirst for love sent him back into danger. I found him in my scope and Mitch gave me a range of 275 yards. I held a few inches high, and a cow call from Walt stopped him in his tracks. Before the echo of the cow call had exited my ears, I squeezed the trigger. The report of my rifle was followed by a THWACK. The bull turned around and ran back our direction, keeping a similar level of elevation. As he slowed, I pulled the trigger as his shoulder passed by my crosshairs. Just like the first shot, the second shot found its mark and my first bull was down.

The bull is down below that rock peak.



See the tine?



Hero pics:



I was overwhelmed with emotion. A feeling of accomplishment rushed through my body, and I was so grateful that Mitch was with me. I took a few moments to take it all in. We made the 1.1 mile hike back to the horses, and then rode the horses to the location of the shot. We climbed the steep mountain to my bull. It all happened so fast that I was not 100% sure of his size. I was pleasantly surprised when we got to him, and I couldn’t have been any happier. Coming from a guy that is used to whitetails, I was speechless at the body size. We spent the next couple of hours taking pictures and getting him quartered. The meat and cape were covered with pine boughs, with the intention that the camp wrangler, Thomas, would retrieve it the next day. Following our successful harvest and the completion of all of the tasks that come with shooting an elk, we enjoyed lunch around a fire. We each retold our account of the event from our unique perspectives. My face hurt from smiling, but we still had another tag to fill.



The fire reinvigorated our spirits, and we started hunting again. After 1 mile of horse riding, we emerged from a creek to see a single calf bedded 150 yards away on the other side of a meadow. We all got off our horses, and soon realized that this was an entire herd. The calf did see us at the same time we saw it, but we were fortunate that the calf was the only elk that had seen us. The other cows paid her little attention. Over the next few minutes, the calf’s anxiety must have finally gotten to the other elk as they all started to stand up. At this point, we had not yet seen a mature bull, but we were hopeful that one was in the herd that we could not yet see. Just as I focused my binoculars on the left side of the herd on a few raghorns, a mature 6x6 emerged from behind a tree, moving from left to right. Mitch settled into the shooting sticks and within a few seconds of seeing the bull, a shot rang out. The bull ran straight away and was out of sight within a moment. The other elk did not move away as quick, and they moved a slightly different direction than the big bull. As soon as the herd moved out of sight, we ran to the location where the bull was standing when the shot was fired. It was apparent that this was a clean miss. The fresh snow helped to verify that. Mitch said the shooting sticks settled into the snow right before he pulled the trigger, causing him to shoot high. This miss was disheartening, but we were all grateful to verify it was a clean miss. We followed the tracks of the heard, and found them just a couple hundred yards away. There were multiple branch antlered bulls and cows, but the big bull was gone. It was becoming clear that these big bulls had exit strategies that were a bit more sophisticated than the raghorns and cows.

Needless to say, we were discouraged, but it was only the first full day of hunting. We got back in the saddle and climbed 1000 vertical feet to do some glassing. We very quickly saw a herd of 50+ elk ~1.1 miles away that were bedded on the edge of a patch of timber. It was getting late in the day, so we hurried to make a stalk. We made our way closer and tied up the horses when we were ~750 yards from the herd. We got within 200 yards of the big group, and realized we could not get much closer. By the time we got to the herd, they had started to feed in multiple directions. We watched over 50 cows and small bulls in front of us for over a half hour. We heard at least 50 bugles from bulls that we could not see, and we even saw 2 cows with GPS collars. On the mountains around us, we watched another 75+ elk travel and eat. We were in the middle of 150+ elk. I am confident there was likely a shooter in the group, but he never emerged. At this point, we were 8 miles from camp, so we elected to leave the elk until the next day.

The horses guided us back to camp; the second half of the trip was lit by moonlight. We saw many cows and a few spikes on the way back (when we could still see), and we were confident that filling Mitch’s tag was just a matter of time. Once again, there was a warm dinner waiting for us back at camp. The OnX track feature got a workout today, totaling 21.7 miles travelled. I have never fallen asleep easier than I did that night.

 

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Day 3

We started the next day a bit slower than the previous morning. Thomas, the camp wrangler, was with us this time. We made the trek to my bull from the day prior. To be honest, I was extremely concerned about a bear getting to the meat. When we arrived at the meat, we were welcomed by over a dozen bald eagles. I wish I could have taken a picture in time. I was relieved to realize the meat was in good shape. Another hunter, his daughter, and their guide (the daughter’s fiancé), met up with us to help us load the bull onto the pack horses. We got the meat loaded, and my bull was headed back to camp.

The 6 of us started hunting together as we moved toward the area we had seen the large group of elk the previous evening. It did not take us long to find the elk, and a stalk ensued. We split up from the other group to get two angles on this herd. We spent over two hours looking at elk as they moved in and out of shooting windows. We followed the elk as they fed calmly away from us. We came over a rise and were greeted by a shooter bull at 125 yards. Mitch wasted no time, and made this shot count. The bull dropped in his tracks. We were both elated! We retrieved the horses once again, and made our way to his bull - many high fives ensued. Mitch rarely gets excited. However, I saw him smiling more than I ever have before. He was thrilled, and that made me even happier.



The other group of people sat with us as we quartered and caped Mitch’s bull. We covered Mitch’s bull with pine boughs, and wished the other group luck. We headed in opposite directions. Within 10 minutes, we found ourselves within a few hundred yards of a herd of elk with multiple mature bulls. Unfortunately, the other group was headed the other way. Walt decided it was possible to catch up with them. I expected to see Walt to look like he was in a western movie, with his horse galloping to find the other hunters. Much to my surprise, he tied the horse up, and told us to watch the elk. Walt ran straight up a mountain faster than what I believed to be humanly possible. A few minutes later, I see Walt running back toward us, with three horses/riders in tow. We knew Walt was a mountain man, but seeing him outperform a horse was a treat. The other hunter tried to get a shot on the biggest bull, but struggled to find him in the scope before a swirling wind sent the herd running. Our scent seemed to scare them much more than the sight of us, which I found very interesting.

For the first time, we made it back to camp before dark. We enjoyed Cowboy Caviar and elk heart as we waited for the other hunters to make it back to camp for dinner. Another hunter, Ken, from Pennsylvania shot an elk that day, taking the camp’s total to 3 of 5 tags being filled. Mitch, Walt, and I covered 15.8 miles on this day, but with filled tags, we seemed to not be tired at all.

 

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Day 4

Day 4 was unique – we were tagged out. We spent the morning getting packed to head back to the trailhead. Walt, Mitch, and I rode to Mitch’s bull with two pack horses in our caravan. We loaded Mitch’s bull up and started our ride back to the lodge. We saw more elk on the way out, and I couldn’t help but smile. In total, we went 15.4 miles that day, nearly all of which were on horseback. When we made it back to camp, we were alerted the other two hunters had tagged out as well, making camp 5 for 5. Mitch and I spent the evening watching the Steelers beat the Seahawks in overtime.

 

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Day 5 & 6

We spent the fifth day taking our elk to a processor and getting a rental car secured. Some of my broken Spanish and $100 (in cash), expedited our elk processing time to one day.

We left the lodge early the next morning. We ate breakfast in town, and then picked up our processed meat from the processor – they did an outstanding job, for the record. We started our 850 mile journey home, and ended up hitting a mule deer doe within 10 minutes. With no terrible damage, a few zip ties had us back on our way. We arrived at home at 1:15am due to some delays from a snow storm.

 

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Conclusion

I enjoy the entire experience of hunting and looking back, I do wish the hunt would have lasted longer. However, the feeling of accomplishment overshadowed any desire for some more type 2 fun. Paying a reputable outfitter was worth every penny to me. I learned so much, and my learning curve was greatly reduced compared to going about this in a DIY manner. I love elk hunting – and look forward to more elk hunts in the future!

If you are thinking about a trip, do it; DIY, guided, ranch, backcountry, whatever. Just do it. Make more money later.

If you made it this far, thanks for reading.

Cheers,
Joe

 

[dphifer]

Congrats. Sounds like it was a great experience for you. Enjoyed reading your write up.

 

[thomas67]

Great write-up. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Mblehm]

Great story!

 

[archp625]

Excellent write up. Hopefully you have more stories like this after this season.

 

[mncoolbeans]

Great story and very will written. I enjoyed reading it.... A Big Congrats to you and your buddy on your Bull Elk.......Great Memories!

 

[AlleghenyMountain]

Great story and beautiful pictures.

 

[Roger17]

Great story telling! Congrats on your elk.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

 

[1javelin]

Other than the outfitter, and Wyoming, and horses, and a rifle, this is my intention for a good story in Colorado this year! Great story, I could almost see myself there.

1

 

[wgonfan]

really like the pics! hoping to have a "my first elk hunt" story to tell soon myself!

 

[Geewhiz]

Stellar write up man and congrats on the filled tags. Loved the story!

 

[Elk-fanatic91]

Congrats on the bull, and great write up. I really enjoyed reading that!

 

[JB64]

Excellent write up, you really captured a great experience. Best of luck on future endeavors!