Bulls, hell holes, and empty Camelbaks

[Ridge Ghost]

Nice bull and great write-up!

 

[Cheater]

Thanks for taking us along!

 

[ImBillT]

That’s a heck of an elk. After running out of water myself, I now carry 9L and a filter. It’s probably excessive, but running out of water is NOT cool.

 

[westbranch]

Congrats! I really want to drive down and check that country out in the next year or two.

 

[Focus]

Damn dude! All the respect in the world goes out from me to you. Sounds like you have enough mental toughness for five men. Great story and a great lesson (several actually). Thanks for sharing.

 

[BAKPAKR]

Congrats on the bull and a great story! I ran around the first week of September in an area I suspect was fairly close to where you were hunting. That is rough country. I have never gone through as much water as I did that week.

 

[noharleyyet]

Storytelling does not get any better than this threadstarter...

 

[Sawtooth]

That is some rough country to be elk hunting in alone. Glad to see everything worked out. Cramping is no joke and dehydration is even worse when you know that you are miles from the nearest water.

 

[LopeHunter]

Nice write-up. Heck of an adventure and have meat to show for it. Great job!

 

[Deleted member 20812]

Cramping is no joke and dehydration is even worse when you know that you are miles from the nearest water.

I had a pretty frank come to Jesus convo about 800 feet below the top. I was wondering if I would be lucid enough to know I needed to hit the SOS button on the InReach by the time I needed to do so.

 

[Deleted member 20812]

 

[Festus]

Outstanding story! Glad you and Finn made it out OK (and with meat).
Great write up. Great bull. Great lessons. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Sawtooth]

I hear that elk tenderloins are ranked #1 on the top 101 Best Gluten-Free Foods. Just saying.

 

[Dave N]

Good job! I know pictures don't do slopes justice but it looks like a doozy! Let's a guy know he's not Superman for sure.

 

[kansasdad]

Good one JLS. Thanks

Thanks for the pedialyte memory jog Ben Lamb.

Seriously good cautionary tale re: dehydration and a reminder to activate my Garmin InReach before heading afield.

 

[ashersdad]

Great hunt and even greater message. Thank you for sharing. It's amazing how it's often the difficult things in life that get us back to where we need to be with God.

 

[FranklinME]

Congrats and thanks for the write up. Great pictures. I'm too old for that country.

 

[Deleted member 38069]

Bit of a prologue here. The last couple of months have been an absolute grind. Remodel projects, remodel cost overruns, blown engine on a daughters car, insurance deductibles, and extra shifts/OT to cover all the above have worn me out. It was time for a break. Finn and I headed for the River of No Return country.

Friday the 13th full moon.

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I glassed a herd of elk Friday evening, then drove back to my buddy’s cabin and spent the night. He and his hunting partner offered to help pack out if I killed one.

I glassed more Saturday morning and then set up camp.

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I took Finn for a grouse hunt. Plenty of Blues, but they weren’t holding at all for a point.

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MR Beartooth ready for 0530 departure.

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I drank a Cold Smoke and let all of life’s worries slip away. My mind felt totally unplugged for the first time in many weeks. I reveled in the solitude and spoke to God with no distractions.

Opening morning found me descending into the abyss. I heard elk bugling where I had glassed them. Then I heard another. I saw him on a bench. I rushed my shot. I missed him. I tracked him. I shot him. He rolled. And rolled. And rolled. And stopped.

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I shot him in this basin.

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He was standing about where I snapped this picture. He rolled out of sight in the chit on the lower left.

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Finn got blood tracking experience.

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I notched my tag at 0811.

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I’ve never had such a difficult processing job. The loose soil, slope, and deadfall turned this into a nearly three hour CrossFit workout. 1045 and we have bags ready to go uphill. I needed to get it off the east facing slope to the main ridge where I could find shade and wind. It took me five hours to get everything 500 feet up in elevation to the main ridge

Halfway through this five hour pack, I ran out of water. There is absolutely none on this ridge. I hadn’t eaten since 0900, and I choked down a little food. I made the command decision to leave all the meat and hoof it to the truck. I had two miles and 2300 feet of vertical to go. It was very warm, and I knew I wasn’t taking a heavy load out with no water.

Dehydration is a very dark place. My legs were cramping and I’d have to stop and sit. My torso was cramping. I couldn’t swallow. I wasn’t sweating. My skin was red. I knew I was walking a very tenuous line. I kept in the shade as much as I could and kept plodding. I prayed. Three and a half hours later, I reached the trailhead. It was now 1900 hours, six hours since I ran out of water.

I drank. And drank. And drank. I was worried about 1) how my body was going to respond tomorrow and if I would be fully functional and 2) it was much warmer than had been forecasted. I struggle greatly with asking for help. It’s a definite shortcoming of mine. I knew I absolutely needed to take the offer presented to me earlier. I drove the two hours to my buddy’s cabin, drinking water, eating Oreos and cramping the entire way. I drank 3 liters of water during the drive and didn’t stop to pee once.

We returned the next day. It took me less time to come out with a 90 pound pack than it did to simply walk out the day before. Seven hours of packing and we were done. I was humbly grateful, as they had saved me two more days of packing.

I had a plan in place that if my buddies weren’t there I was going to bone everything and break four loads into three days. Thankfully I did have to execute the plan.

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This bull came to see us on our first trip in. He posed broadside at 40 yards.

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The ridge of despair.

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Vistas.

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Backroads.

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It was a short trip. I don’t feel cheated in any way. God did a hard reset on my mind and outlook. I’m fortunate to have about 250 pounds of meat waiting to be processed.

When a thread comes up about “how much water do I need?” I’ll answer “enough “, because if you don’t have enough it’ll be a really shitty day.



God doesn’t care if I’m a successful elk hunter. He cares what I learn along the way.

Peace my friends.

Congrats and thanks for sharing the great story!

 

[Pondera]

Looks like you still have some of that over budget renovation going on. Looks like the counter tops turned out sweet! I'll bet while butchering those quarters up you don't regret shooting him where you did! Great post and photos man!

 

[rtraverdavis]

This write up is great and all, but some selfie video of the in-the-truck cramp screaming would really tie the room together... But really, damn Jason, you’re a tough dude. It’s hard to really understand how brutal that work is until one’s done it. Hard to imagine doing while being severely dehydrated. I’m glad you’re okay and congratulations on a great bull.