Summer trip with the family... some fishing some elk hunting (long)...

[Tod osier]

We try to do a big trip every summer and our plan summer 2020 was Alaska salmon fishing and caribou hunting, but it wasn’t in the cards. With the coronavirus pandemic surging in areas of the US and the border with Canada closed, we cancelled our plans. Instead, we planned a two-part trip: part one was a 10 day backpacking fishing trip and part two was a couple-three week early season antlerless elk trip that my our son had a tag for.



We considered the idea of a trip and thought hard about if we could do a trip with the safety of ourselves and those we would contact as a priority. We decided that by travelling in the camper we are really self-contained and doing mostly camping off the grid we could reasonably manage the risks to ourselves and others. Very interesting travelling in the time of corona.



Heading out with coronavirus prevention supplies in the camper.

Back of truck at home ready to leave.

Sun over the sage.

Heading into the mountains.

Getting gear ready for 10 days in the backcountry.

Heading in.

Celebrated our 20 year anniversary.

Flowers.

First camp of the trip.

Skeet with the food for 10 days.

Super bear hang in the subalpine.

Gus trying to catch one for dinner.

Amazing.

What colors.

Mother and son.

Fish fry.

 

[Tod osier]

This was one of those magical fish on every cast evenings. You go a long time between having action like that. Twice on this trip we had action when the fish were just jumping on the hook every cast.

This was neat. I was fishing a beetle on the Tenkara and caught this brookie with a live ant biting him inside the mouth and not letting go. Bad day for him and terrestrials.

Lot of nice browns in this lake, but I only was able to dupe a smaller one.

More flowers.

Jen cracked the code on the Macks in the lake. We knew they were there, but she figured out how and where.

I’m not sure how this picture of the old skinny guy got here, or how he got ahold of my trout.

Tasty trouts. Growing up fishing for lakers, they have always held a special place in my heart.

High altitude lake trout for dinner.

You know the mosquitos are pretty bad when this many end up in the fry pan.

Bugs were really bad at times. About an hour a day they just hammered my feet and ankles.

Bugs really bugged the dog.

Our third camp of the trip at sunset.

We had frost many of the nights, which is perfect as far as I’m concerned.

Fourth and last camp of the trip.

More flowers.

Fishin.

 

[Tod osier]

We fished the inflow stream of this lake and the fish were really stacked in there. Fish on every cast for as long as we could stand it.

Pretty minnow.

Fish fry.

Relaxing after dinner.

Bear hang.

You yellow-belly come out and fight.

Heading out.

We had a caribou trip in Alaska planned and my hope for that trip was for Gus to be able to hunt something different and special. When we cancelled Alaska, Gus was very lucky and drew a low odds tag last minute for an early season antlerless elk hunt. He was really excited to be able to hunt elk, maybe more so than the caribou trip we cancelled.

This trip was kind of make or break since the caribou hunt fell through and we were also planning a Wyoming antelope hunt for this fall that we didn’t draw due to corona-creep this year.


We hunted part of the unit that was pretty high altitude-wise with some meadows interspersed. The high elevation with its cooler temps allowed some breathing room if we got an elk down several miles back from the road.



Looking up into the mountains on the way there.

We got to the hunt area over a week ahead of the hunt and had up to 2 weeks to hunt, so we were in good shape as far as being able to put the time in.

Our camp.

This was not a place we hunted in the unit, but we had a beautiful, if not white-knuckle, drive through it.

It is noteworthy any time you get the truck over 11K feet altitude.

We spent several days scouting pre season, we were out morning and night glassing and then hiking and looking for sign mid-day.

Getting to the glassing knob before light.

Glassing.

Found some! We never saw this herd again, but it did just what we needed to light a fire in our bellies when we hadn’t been seeing much.

 

[Tod osier]

Glassing until last light.

On the way from glassing in the evening.

We went out to check Gus’ zero on his rifle and do some longer range shooting. Here he is practicing at 300 yards - he smoked it!

Opening day deep meditation.

“We just need to get over and up there.”

Getting pretty warm, almost to the top.

Glassing on the third morning.

Smoke from a fire one state over drifted in at times.

Pika.

Meadow at dusk. We sat this meadow a couple times, there was a lot of fresh sign and we had been seeing elk moving through the area. We heard, and then finally saw, a very nice color phase black bear tearing logs open to get at grubs along the margin of the meadow one evening.

View of the same meadow at dawn.

He got his shot the 4th morning. Checking for sign after the shot.

Blood, boy and elk.

Sweet success.

Boy with elk.

Mother and son.

We broke down the elk and packed a load out before noon and got back to get the second load of meat early afternoon. It had chilled nicely in the shade and breeze, probably better than the meat on ice in the cooler.

 

[Tod osier]

Almost to the truck with the second load.

Tropical storm Isaias was bearing down on home, we ended up getting hit pretty hard with town being more than 80% out at the peak. Our power went out in the early afternoon the day Gus filled his tag. The race was on from there to get home to deal with the freezers before they thawed and to get the elk in the freezer!!!!

Up early and headed East with the petal to the metal.

First meal, fried heart. I'd pick tenderloins, but he always picks heart.

We took a day to clean up and debone the elk to satisfy CWD rules in the states we would travel through to get home.

Last quarter. Yes, Lenny is Gus’ personal hero, but I prefer Rodney.

180 pounds of boneless elk.

Almost home. Sunrise over the midwest.

Stocking up for a 2 week self-quarantine before arriving in CT.

Can’t see it well, but the water in the bottle from the bottom of the freezer is still 100% solid after 4 days. Stuff on the top layer of the freezer was melted, but ice cold. We had another couple days before we would have lost anything. We got the generators going and got everything frozen down and got power back after about a week of it being out.

Garden looks good and is providing nicely as we fulfill our self-quarantine requirements. Lawn was a bit long, tho'.

 

[JC hunter]

Grreat write up

 

[Jagger0502]

Very cool. If more families did this more often with their kids our future generations would be looking a lot better.

 

[Mac7]

Very cool. Looks like a great time.

 

[townandcountry]

Very cool and inspiring trip report! I hope to do this with my son one day. Thank you for sharing!

 

[WoodrowCall]

Great write up. Thank you for sharing.

 

[SW_VA]

Really enjoyed the read! Awesome pictures too!!

 

[mtnridge girl]

Great adventure with the family. Thanks for sharing. Nice job with the pics also.

 

[Wmmichael20]

Great account of what looks like an awesome family trip.

 

[Rangerpants]

This is great. Congratulations to your son and awesome write up!

 

[ColoHtr]

Great story, thanks for sharing!

 

[Tsimms]

Enjoyed reading that and fantastic pictures. Congrats to your son on the elk.

 

[Lark Bunting]

Great write up on an awesome trip! Thank you for sharing and congratulations to you and your son!

 

[huntdoc]

Thank you for sharing! Looks like a great trip.