Ha yeah sorry guys, my life has been a roller coaster since I broke my leg. I'm in a much better spot now but I ruptured my spleen (almost died) and lost my job two months before the hunt. This was already on top of rupturing my femur in January!
I broke my leg AGAIN in 2019, then overcame addiction from all of the meds I was prescribed in 2020, and finally went sober in 2021. If you're ever suffering, please shoot me a PM! We can all get through this!
I did get one that trip despite my leg being messed up and losing half my blood from the spleen rupture. I limped for 6 miles packing that elk out through a burned deadfall-choked hell hole.
So you drew the ONE NR Tag for this unit 2 years in a row? How is that even possible ? I guess after all the leg breaking you went thru, you paid your dues. lol
I had the second archery hunt in 2023. I lost my bull due to a bad shot. Going through a case of target panic. It was a tough hunt! A lot of it has burned now and all the dead standing trees have fallen to make it a match stick nightmare! Still a lot of good ground to hunt though. The bulls were herded up and bed down in the deadfall and stay in that stuff cruising the ridge tops. I had to ambush them by getting ahead of them since they refused to come in to any calls. I tried every trick in the book that usually work. It was a really fun hunt but I enjoyed my Valle Vidal hunt in 2013 more.
Just thought I'd throw this out here. If OP happens to draw the tag again or any lucky tagholders find this post, I live right outside the Caldera and am happy to call/haul animals in 2024. I am NOT an outfitter and will not/can not accept anything for it, I just love every part of hunting elk more than anything in the world.