WestKyHunt
Well-known member
I'll leave this here.... for inspiration
2021 kamikazee elk
- Thread starter TRS_Montana
- Start date
BirdManMike
Well-known member
I helped a friend get a cow elk (field dressed) on the hitch rack of his Forester once. Worked ok. Only 15 miles or so drive back to his house, tho.
nwihunter
Well-known member
That’s a pretty slick set up.
I think the little stick figure family is a must.
TRS_Montana
Well-known member
Yeah I looked at the luxe and one tigris (I think is what it’s called). Came down to reputation, customer service, and resellability.
TRS_Montana
Well-known member
Oh man, I’m definitely stealing this idea. The car seats are going to be a little less stable on that floor, but the kids are pretty resilient.
TRS_Montana
Well-known member
Well, haven’t gotten as much scouting in as I would have liked, but luckily I’ve got good friends who are way better at hunting than me. We’ve come up with a game plan for the rifle opener.
The spot I’ll be camping at is 10 miles from the trailhead. I’ve got the pony saddled up and going to head in this morning to set up camp and watch what comes out this evening.
Here’s my trusty steed with about half of my belongings strapped to it.
Going to hunt through Sunday, then spend the next two weeks hoping for snow.
My oldest son told me that I should probably wait to shoot a Christmas bull. With the way the regs are shaping up in MT I suspect it’s only a couple years until there are a lot of folks shooting Christmas bulls.
The spot I’ll be camping at is 10 miles from the trailhead. I’ve got the pony saddled up and going to head in this morning to set up camp and watch what comes out this evening.
Here’s my trusty steed with about half of my belongings strapped to it.
Going to hunt through Sunday, then spend the next two weeks hoping for snow.
My oldest son told me that I should probably wait to shoot a Christmas bull. With the way the regs are shaping up in MT I suspect it’s only a couple years until there are a lot of folks shooting Christmas bulls.
MTHunter1321
Well-known member
Good luck! Looking forward to the follow up!
Pahoundsman
Well-known member
Good luck,waiting on the follow up.
TRS_Montana
Well-known member
A little teaser.
Will write the story up after I get my gear cleaned up and put away, and I recover the from the reconstructive surgery I’m going to need on my legs after our 8.5 mile pack out
Nameless Range
Well-known member
Heck yeah!
TRS_Montana
Well-known member
With the bike carrying capacity set at maximum, I loaded my camp up, strapped on my pack, and headed out.
From stories I have heard, I expected to have to drive my truck through an endless sea of horses and pack strings on my way in. I arrived at the trailhead at noon, and only counted about 20 rigs. I know that sounds high, but seriously, not nearly what I was expecting.
On my way in, I ran into a guy about my age (mid 30s) and his dad (59). They were the only other people that I saw not riding a horse. They probably didn't have a minivan, though.
We walked together for a while, then parted ways and I continued on the bike. Embarrassingly, right after we split up, I took the wrong drainage and had to cross-country my bike over this ridge. My bike...that's loaded with all my camping gear. Not a great start.
I ran into the feller and his dad later, and they said they thought someone was going to find me crumpled up at the head of this drainage in about a year. Here's a pic of the ridge I had to go over on my bike:
From stories I have heard, I expected to have to drive my truck through an endless sea of horses and pack strings on my way in. I arrived at the trailhead at noon, and only counted about 20 rigs. I know that sounds high, but seriously, not nearly what I was expecting.
On my way in, I ran into a guy about my age (mid 30s) and his dad (59). They were the only other people that I saw not riding a horse. They probably didn't have a minivan, though.
We walked together for a while, then parted ways and I continued on the bike. Embarrassingly, right after we split up, I took the wrong drainage and had to cross-country my bike over this ridge. My bike...that's loaded with all my camping gear. Not a great start.
I ran into the feller and his dad later, and they said they thought someone was going to find me crumpled up at the head of this drainage in about a year. Here's a pic of the ridge I had to go over on my bike:
TRS_Montana
Well-known member
Here's what the trail looked like heading up. Not the most fun mountain biking I've ever had.
TRS_Montana
Well-known member
Alright. Over the ridge and back on the right trail. Which, as you'll see when we came out, was not much better.
After coming out of the canyon, I rode about another mile and stopped to fill up with water. At this point, I've been on the bike for about 4.5 hours. As I am getting my filter out and taking in the scenery, I see some suspicious looking dots on the side of a hill about a mile off. A quick look through the binos confirms they're elk. You'll have to deal with some blurry pics. I decided not to bring the spotter on a 9-mile solo backpack hunt.
These elk were out in the wiiiiide open. At 4:30 in afternoon. It looked like they had been there awhile. I pulled up my OnX to see exactly where they were, and of course, they were on the lone section of private that butted into the public land.
Oh well, fun to see elk, so I just sat there and watched for a few minutes. I could see one bull running the show and bugling. I watched him for a little while longer. You can pretty easily pick him out in the picture above. I'm not an expert on large elk, but this bull was huuuuuuge. Huge. There were 27 bulls and about 80 cows in this herd (more elk outside the pic). You can see a handful of other bulls in the pic. There were some respectable bulls in the bunch, but they looked like dinks compared to this bull. Huge.
They were on private, but you can see the fence in the lower 1/5th of the picture. They were very close to public. I decided I'd head on and get camp set up, then do a little more glassing and make a game plan for the morning.
After coming out of the canyon, I rode about another mile and stopped to fill up with water. At this point, I've been on the bike for about 4.5 hours. As I am getting my filter out and taking in the scenery, I see some suspicious looking dots on the side of a hill about a mile off. A quick look through the binos confirms they're elk. You'll have to deal with some blurry pics. I decided not to bring the spotter on a 9-mile solo backpack hunt.
These elk were out in the wiiiiide open. At 4:30 in afternoon. It looked like they had been there awhile. I pulled up my OnX to see exactly where they were, and of course, they were on the lone section of private that butted into the public land.
Oh well, fun to see elk, so I just sat there and watched for a few minutes. I could see one bull running the show and bugling. I watched him for a little while longer. You can pretty easily pick him out in the picture above. I'm not an expert on large elk, but this bull was huuuuuuge. Huge. There were 27 bulls and about 80 cows in this herd (more elk outside the pic). You can see a handful of other bulls in the pic. There were some respectable bulls in the bunch, but they looked like dinks compared to this bull. Huge.
They were on private, but you can see the fence in the lower 1/5th of the picture. They were very close to public. I decided I'd head on and get camp set up, then do a little more glassing and make a game plan for the morning.
TRS_Montana
Well-known member
I bike about another two miles on the trail and get to my camping spot. As it turns out, my camping spot is about a mile as the crow flies on the other side of that herd of elk. "Huh. That wouldn't be a too hard of a hike in the morning." I says to myself.
Here I am, just about pulling into camp:
You can see the ridge in the picture.
That knob on the far right of the ridge that is on the right side of the picture. That f-ing knob. Keep that knob in mind. That will arguably be the most important topographic feature of this entire story.
Here I am, just about pulling into camp:
You can see the ridge in the picture.
That knob on the far right of the ridge that is on the right side of the picture. That f-ing knob. Keep that knob in mind. That will arguably be the most important topographic feature of this entire story.
TRS_Montana
Well-known member
Alright. I told my 4-yr old I'd take him out for a deer hunt this evening. More to come later.
Hunting Wife
Well-known member
I don’t know how I missed the whole prologue earlier, but this is gold!
I can’t decide if I’m more excited for the epic finale, minivan action shots, or to see what riches @Ben Lamb bestows upon the author of this yarn.
I can’t decide if I’m more excited for the epic finale, minivan action shots, or to see what riches @Ben Lamb bestows upon the author of this yarn.
MTHunter1321
Well-known member
Enjoying this! Looks like some pretty awesome country!
