Elk Hunt 2015

So it is better late than never to put post this update about my elk hunt this year. This will be a long post so most likely only the guys who have hunting passion will be able to endure reading the entire thing. I had tags to hunt cow elk and Spike elk during this year's rifle hunt. We had quite a fun group geared up and ready to go for the opening morning of the hunt. We had my brother-in-law Morgan, Christopher (Buddy) Gomm (BFAM - brother from another mother), and Ryan Larson (friend from the ward).

We got up really early on opening morning at about 3:30 am. We headed up the Canyon and were at the trailhead about 5 AM with plans to hunt the backside of a popular area up the left-hand fork of Hobble Creek. Our plan was to go where I had seen the elk head during the day to bed down and sleep in my scouting trips - a difficult hike where nobody else would be and hopefully other hunting pressure would push the elk herd into us.

View from the top of the mountain we hiked opening morning

As we got to the top of the mountain, we had hiked for about an hour, and we began seeing signs of wildlife and even heard the call of the bull elk some distance away (or another hunter?). We slowly made our way down over the ridge into this shelf section with a watering hole at the bottom of it. We soon began hearing gunshots so we knew that there were elk in the Canyon.

Unfortunately, for the next several hours, we hiked around in vain while hearing all sorts of shots go off some distance away. I'm not kidding when I say that we probably heard at least 30 shots in one morning from other hunting pressure.We finally got to a vantage point where we could see across the Canyon pretty well. We saw several different groups of hunters in the area and even some elk being pushed around. We saw a cow and a bull in an area that were being pushed around by some hunters on foot. They were about 500 yards away, but with all the other hunters there in that area, we did not feel comfortable taking any shots that far.

We saw several other groups of elk but they were all still too far away and they didn't get pushed into us like we thought they would. We were in the right Canyon, but success was not on our side that day. Half of our group had to go home early due to some commitments that day, but Morgan and I stayed for the rest of the afternoon. We had a great and relaxing lunch eating a backpacking freeze-dried meal and taking a quick little nap.

After lunch, we decided to go back and head towards the way we came and hunt the ridge line with the idea that the elk had been pushed over the mountain to the other side in the thick oak brush. We'd been walking along for about an hour when we suddenly started hearing a calf or young cow call out in the oak brush below us. It sounded extremely close, but the oak brush was so thick that we couldn't see anything. I put out my own cow call to hopefully bring the cow in towards me as I walked down towards where the sound was coming from. But I must've been too slow or something because I missed it and I heard it off in the distance calling from afar.

We kicked around the mountain for another few hours and then headed back to the truck. It was a long day of hiking and we probably put in 4-5 miles and 16 hours on foot. We were in the right general area because we saw and heard elk a lot. But we just couldn't connect and get the lucky break.

The following Monday I decided I was just going to head up for a quick morning hunt in the same general area but to a place where I had actually shot my cow elk last year (by myself) on the other side of the canyon. Let me first say that I don't pride myself in going hunting alone, nor do I recommend it. But I take a few precautionary steps to ensure my safety when going alone. For example, I stay within safe walking distance, like a half mile or less, to the truck, I only go for short periods of time, and I only hunt the mornings so that I have daylight to my advantage.

So there I was by myself arriving just before shooting light. I walked out to the area that would give me an overlook of the entire Canyon. I didn't hear or see anything for the first five or 10 minutes. I was especially focused on the area where I had shot my elk last year but there was nothing down there. I then decided for some reason to walk up the Canyon opposite direction of where the elk had typically been. I didn't get but five minutes and there I saw two cow elk heading up a ridge line within 200 yards of me! They weren't extremely spooked or running but they were walking steadily to the top of the ridge. I have a rangefinder this year (thanks mom and dad!) and wanted to make sure I had the proper range so that I knew at what distance I should be aiming in my scope.

 I ranged them at 200 yards as they were just getting to the top of the ridge across for me. The first one went over the ridge and disappeared while the second cow stopped at the top of the ridge and was looking at me for a while. I took the safety off my rifle and aimed as best I could while the adrenaline was pumping - I was breathing quite heavily. For some wonderful reason that cow stayed on the top of the ridge looking towards me for several minutes as I was trying to get settled for a good shot. Finally I settled down, took a deep breath, and as the breath exited my body I gently squeezed the trigger as the scope sites hit dead on in the vital area.

Bang! The first shot rang out and I quickly through another round in the chamber and looked through my scope. I saw the cow elk standing on its back legs with its front legs kicking up in the air. I hit hit it! But not enough to drop it. I quickly shot another round and this time heard a loud crack. I knew that sound and it was the impact of the bullet and I thought the cow was down. I took the next 15 minutes to study where I thought it dropped, and slowly hike my way up to it. It wasn't too hard to find because it dropped right where I had shot it twice.

Dropped right where I shot - much easier than tracking tiny specs of blood all over the mountains

My first reaction was that it was a very small elk. It was much smaller than any of the elk that I've ever shot. It was either a very young cow or still calf which means that the meat would be most excellent. I watched the other cow running across the Canyon as I overlooked the beautiful animal thinking about the work that would be required to get to the truck. Luckily, I was only about a quarter-mile from the truck again (reminiscent of last year).

What a blessing! What luck! Why is it that I had so much prepared for the opening day and all this help to carry out the meat, and I find myself the following Monday with no help and a downed animal (but really, who's complaining?!). However, I will say that there's something manly about being out by yourself hunting, bagging, field dressing, and carrying the meat out by yourself.

Something that is unique about success on a solo hunt is the spiritual-ness of the hunt. Call me crazy but when you are alone the only person you have to share the excitement and gratitude with is God. And because the meat is something important to my family and provides delicious protein for us for an entire year, I feel especially grateful when I do harvest. I've made it a tradition to give a prayer of thanks when I do harvest such magnificent animal. This time was no different, a prayer was offered, and the work began.

I spent the next hour or so field dressing and quartering the elk. Ever since last year I started using a new technique called the gutless method where you don't have to gut the entire animal, only work around them meet areas to get to the meat you want (sorry to be so graphic - realities of hunting 101). This saves a significant deal of time, energy, and it's much cleaner!

By the way, the weather was perfectly crisp and cool with slight drizzling rain every once in a while. This was perfect because I didn't have to deal with flies touching the meat or heat spoiling the meat. An hour later I had the elk quartered, meat in bags, and the first load tied to my backpack. The first trip was the lighter load and wasn't too bad to walk the quarter-mile of somewhat level elevation to the truck. I then grabbed the heavy duty meat hauler backpack from my truck (I had borrowed from my father-in-law - Thanks Lon!) to carry the rest of the meat out.

Last load of meat on my back... it was heavier than it looks (I'm guessing 100 lbs)

Second trip was a little harder with a lot more weight on my back than the first (see pic above). It took me a little longer but I got back to the truck with relatively little soreness due to the shortness of the hike. I hopped in the truck with a big grin on my face and drove the 30 minute drive home excited to show my wife. I was home by 10:15 AM. My wife had no idea that I had shot one as I walked in. She thought that I was unsuccessful due to the early arrival. It was fun to surprise her and see the happy grin on her face as I told of my success. I love that she is proud of me when I bring home the bacon. I look forward to that grin every year.

Thats the "yay! let's get to work!" grin - man she is gorgeous!