44hunter45
Well-known member
I was better prepped this year than I have been in a while. I put in the range time and had my loads dialed. Shout out to @El Jason - His field marksmanship challenge really got me stoked. My scores sucked and I went back to the range twice more after that to tune up. I still am not Biathlon ready, but I'm in the best shape I've been in for a few years. I had bet heavily on the Owyhee Zone in the draws, but no luck. OTC Elk tag in my local Zone then.
This being an agriculture dominant county, IDFG allows generous "Greenfield" opportunities. We have an early cow only season starting August 1st. This is a rifle hunt, but you need to be on or within 1 mile of AG ground. IDFG has actively liberalized the rules regarding eligible ground for these hunts. It use to be actively tilled ground, then hay fields were added, then fields "where crops are stored" (aka haystacks.). At one time there was a restriction on USFS ground even it met the criterion. That is gone now too. Ag lobby vs elk management. IDFG says this herd is above objective, but I'm not sure there even is one beyond keeping them off AG. Some argue, and I don't disagree, that the one mile limit is no limit at all.
I stay compliant with the greenfield rules by escouting all the AG where I hunt and making 1 mile circles around them in OnX. As long as I stay within the Venn Diagram, I'm legal.
I have more and more become a cow elk hunter as I've gotten older. I put in for the dream hunts, but I'm very happy to put a cow in the freezer. I have been waiting for this opener. I understand the rules and how to comply, but still have what feels like a real hunt. You will see that I did not have a farmer with a tractor to load me out, although I have heard stories about that.
I realized that I have more tags than PTO this year, so I had it in my head that I needed to tag a cow day one of the season. I hunt pretty much the same drainage for this hunt every year, and it has been good to me. I've had a 4 year drought on elk and needed some meat in the freezer. Also to prove that I can still do this at 63 years old.
The hunting omens were good. The heat had broken and Friday was expecting rain. I love hunting in the rain! There were T-storms through the night and I like the weather change to keep the animals out in the morning.
I had the truck and pack loaded by about midnight on Thursday July 31st. Grabbed three hours sleep, a shower, and quick breakfast. My apps said legal light was at 4:56AM and I wanted to be well away front the truck by then. I was at the trailhead by 4AM and there was another truck there already! NBD - I drove on to the next trailhead. I really wanted to be on the ridge, so I really just ended up accessing it from the other side. The area has some rough nasty mech logged clearcuts. The slash can tip you over and blow your ankles and knees if you are not vigilant. More on that later. The elk use the clearcuts, but shelter in the timber leave pockets. The timber is thick nasty stuff and there is no stalking through it.
I have hunted both these drainages a lot and know them well. I had a plan to go to the last place I had shot an elk. (Why do we always think lightning will strike the same place twice?) It's on the ridge toward the end of the finger. I did not want to encounter the hunter that was in the valley below, so I reversed and went up the ridge with one foot in each drainage so to speak. I had to sneak through some of the timber as best I could to navigate the ridge to my next glassing spot.
As I was breaking out into my next glassing spot, the coffee and sausages caught up with me and it was time to dig a hole IYKWIM. After the paper and shovel work, I got back into my pack and started moving again. Now out of the timber in a margin area with logging slash and scattered re-prod. I had not gone 40 yards from where I done my business when I saw a cow elk trying to figure out what I was.
I dumped my pack and tried to get closer for a clear shot. The wind was in my favor and there were lots of smaller trees to use for approach cover. I got into a great position, but she was facing me through a small opening in the branches. It would be a 50 yard shot. So typically North Idaho. Lots of alarm barks and cow calling broke out. There were at least a dozen elk there. They started off away from me toward the open clearcut up the ridge. The very spot I had wanted to glass.
One of my dad's hunting friends taught me when I was young this is where you keep your head and wait for the shot. This after I had gone chasing after a muley buck straight down the hill. (He shot it, because he went to high ground and waited for his chance.) What was true in field marksmanship in 1970 is still true today.
The elk lined out across the ridge while I looked around for the perfect rest. With all the brush and reprod around me the best I could get was a dead standing tree that I could brace against.
They stopped on the ridge to look back. They still had not caught my wind, they just knew something wasn't right. I picked out one cow which was clear of the others and took my shot. She didn't look hit, but as I was working the bolt for another shot she started wobbling and tipped over. I set a pin to mark my shooting location.
I went back for my pack and loaded up. The other elk had not left. I've never seen this behavior before. They closed in around the down cow and were sniffing her. I started to wonder if I had killed the lead cow and they didn't know what to do. I got pictures of some of them standing over her.
![IMG_5788[1].JPG](https://www.hunttalk.com/data/attachments/350/350035-547a597b1c82767b6d0337f6398d9690.jpg "IMG_5788[1].JPG")
I had to gingerly navigate the logging slash down to a skid road and then made good time out to where she was. The other elk stayed by her until I was about 70 yards away. I picked the closest tangent spot on the skid road and started traversing the clearcut to where she was. Nasty going. Harvester track gullies and mech slash everywhere.
I left the truck at 4:50AM and pulled the trigger at 6:17AM. I set a pin where she was and did a line length in OnX back to my grain field legal anchor point. 900 yards/.73 miles. Whew!
As she lay. The shot is honestly a little far back and low. I should have clicked up about 4 clicks, but this CDS stuff is still new to me. The bullet dissected her liver, but did not puncture her paunch.
When I opened her up, in front of her diaphragm was liquefied. The lungs were pulped. The heart was fine.
![IMG_5794[1].JPG](https://www.hunttalk.com/data/attachments/350/350036-a82886417a3c7332a7a1aa81ce126367.jpg "IMG_5794[1].JPG")
After this pic I validated my tag and taped it to her right leg above the knee. First pic went to @p_ham to tell him my .358 Norma had earned a name. "Norma" DOH! (All my rifles get a name after they are blooded). Thank you Paul for this functional artwork. At 325 yards with a 250 grain bullet, this load still has over a foot/ton of energy.
It was then that I noticed she had her revenge by falling into bull thistles. Gutting and gilling time.
I was planning on the gutless method, but she was too much to handle alone. Gutting her out made the carcass manageable by myself. When I rolled her on her back I saw the exit wound. I actually was not impressed with the Speer Grand Slam expansion. I hit a rib on entrance, but the exit was less than 2x caliber. Still dead.
I was planning to take a CWD sample for IDFG, but I destroyed the lymph nodes accidentally.
![IMG_5795[1].JPG](https://www.hunttalk.com/data/attachments/350/350038-e58323b7c6d4378868ed7b8109dae604.jpg "IMG_5795[1].JPG")
It was 9:17AM when I got the last quarter in a game bag. Exactly 3 hours! Phase two complete. Now the real test of manhood for an old man. The first load included all my gear and a front quarter. Damn, that's heavy!. Cheap plug for the Eberlestock F1 system. The bag zips off, you secure the meat to the frame with three snapping straps, then use the bag cinch-down straps to snap the bag over the meat.
My truck was closer than the 3/4 mile to the grain field, but there were the clearcuts and the switchbacks on the skid road to deal with. 200 yards of absolute hell to get off the clearcut to the road. Sketchy footing under a heavy load.
![IMG_5796[1].JPG](https://www.hunttalk.com/data/attachments/350/350039-40147e5a4ea02c18c71fd9e1b1b4d940.jpg "IMG_5796[1].JPG")
This load was the hardest by far. Because of the equipment on the frame I had to strap this quarter leg up. Leg down is way better! When I got it to the truck, I dumped all unnecessary weight from the pack frame. Just the frame, the strapping, and two trekking poles.
Heading back to the truck I was seeing lots of fresh sign from the elk herd. I was packing out on their back trail. The last bit of fresh scat I saw was 500 yards from the truck. If I had turned right at the trailhead (Plan B) instead of left (Plan A) I would have been into the elk in 5 minutes. Maybe before legal light. What a sweet pack out that would have been!
30 minutes back in, next two loads were fairly easy. Easy enough that I took a more direct route. The last load was another tough one. It was a double load, with a front and the bag with the neck, liver, and heart. Closed the tailgate at 4:27PM. Ten hours from shot to last load in the truck.
Got the neck and giblets, plus one hind quarter deboned and secure and went to bed exhausted. I was worried about hanging meat overnight, but I was just completely used up. Hanging meat passed the smell test this morning and I going back to deboning.
I am so thankful for all this meat!
Write up complete. Back to meat processing.
Good luck to everyone.
This being an agriculture dominant county, IDFG allows generous "Greenfield" opportunities. We have an early cow only season starting August 1st. This is a rifle hunt, but you need to be on or within 1 mile of AG ground. IDFG has actively liberalized the rules regarding eligible ground for these hunts. It use to be actively tilled ground, then hay fields were added, then fields "where crops are stored" (aka haystacks.). At one time there was a restriction on USFS ground even it met the criterion. That is gone now too. Ag lobby vs elk management. IDFG says this herd is above objective, but I'm not sure there even is one beyond keeping them off AG. Some argue, and I don't disagree, that the one mile limit is no limit at all.
I stay compliant with the greenfield rules by escouting all the AG where I hunt and making 1 mile circles around them in OnX. As long as I stay within the Venn Diagram, I'm legal.
I have more and more become a cow elk hunter as I've gotten older. I put in for the dream hunts, but I'm very happy to put a cow in the freezer. I have been waiting for this opener. I understand the rules and how to comply, but still have what feels like a real hunt. You will see that I did not have a farmer with a tractor to load me out, although I have heard stories about that.
I realized that I have more tags than PTO this year, so I had it in my head that I needed to tag a cow day one of the season. I hunt pretty much the same drainage for this hunt every year, and it has been good to me. I've had a 4 year drought on elk and needed some meat in the freezer. Also to prove that I can still do this at 63 years old.
The hunting omens were good. The heat had broken and Friday was expecting rain. I love hunting in the rain! There were T-storms through the night and I like the weather change to keep the animals out in the morning.
I had the truck and pack loaded by about midnight on Thursday July 31st. Grabbed three hours sleep, a shower, and quick breakfast. My apps said legal light was at 4:56AM and I wanted to be well away front the truck by then. I was at the trailhead by 4AM and there was another truck there already! NBD - I drove on to the next trailhead. I really wanted to be on the ridge, so I really just ended up accessing it from the other side. The area has some rough nasty mech logged clearcuts. The slash can tip you over and blow your ankles and knees if you are not vigilant. More on that later. The elk use the clearcuts, but shelter in the timber leave pockets. The timber is thick nasty stuff and there is no stalking through it.
I have hunted both these drainages a lot and know them well. I had a plan to go to the last place I had shot an elk. (Why do we always think lightning will strike the same place twice?) It's on the ridge toward the end of the finger. I did not want to encounter the hunter that was in the valley below, so I reversed and went up the ridge with one foot in each drainage so to speak. I had to sneak through some of the timber as best I could to navigate the ridge to my next glassing spot.
As I was breaking out into my next glassing spot, the coffee and sausages caught up with me and it was time to dig a hole IYKWIM. After the paper and shovel work, I got back into my pack and started moving again. Now out of the timber in a margin area with logging slash and scattered re-prod. I had not gone 40 yards from where I done my business when I saw a cow elk trying to figure out what I was.
I dumped my pack and tried to get closer for a clear shot. The wind was in my favor and there were lots of smaller trees to use for approach cover. I got into a great position, but she was facing me through a small opening in the branches. It would be a 50 yard shot. So typically North Idaho. Lots of alarm barks and cow calling broke out. There were at least a dozen elk there. They started off away from me toward the open clearcut up the ridge. The very spot I had wanted to glass.
One of my dad's hunting friends taught me when I was young this is where you keep your head and wait for the shot. This after I had gone chasing after a muley buck straight down the hill. (He shot it, because he went to high ground and waited for his chance.) What was true in field marksmanship in 1970 is still true today.
The elk lined out across the ridge while I looked around for the perfect rest. With all the brush and reprod around me the best I could get was a dead standing tree that I could brace against.
They stopped on the ridge to look back. They still had not caught my wind, they just knew something wasn't right. I picked out one cow which was clear of the others and took my shot. She didn't look hit, but as I was working the bolt for another shot she started wobbling and tipped over. I set a pin to mark my shooting location.
I went back for my pack and loaded up. The other elk had not left. I've never seen this behavior before. They closed in around the down cow and were sniffing her. I started to wonder if I had killed the lead cow and they didn't know what to do. I got pictures of some of them standing over her.
I had to gingerly navigate the logging slash down to a skid road and then made good time out to where she was. The other elk stayed by her until I was about 70 yards away. I picked the closest tangent spot on the skid road and started traversing the clearcut to where she was. Nasty going. Harvester track gullies and mech slash everywhere.
I left the truck at 4:50AM and pulled the trigger at 6:17AM. I set a pin where she was and did a line length in OnX back to my grain field legal anchor point. 900 yards/.73 miles. Whew!
As she lay. The shot is honestly a little far back and low. I should have clicked up about 4 clicks, but this CDS stuff is still new to me. The bullet dissected her liver, but did not puncture her paunch.
When I opened her up, in front of her diaphragm was liquefied. The lungs were pulped. The heart was fine.
After this pic I validated my tag and taped it to her right leg above the knee. First pic went to @p_ham to tell him my .358 Norma had earned a name. "Norma" DOH! (All my rifles get a name after they are blooded). Thank you Paul for this functional artwork. At 325 yards with a 250 grain bullet, this load still has over a foot/ton of energy.
It was then that I noticed she had her revenge by falling into bull thistles. Gutting and gilling time.
I was planning on the gutless method, but she was too much to handle alone. Gutting her out made the carcass manageable by myself. When I rolled her on her back I saw the exit wound. I actually was not impressed with the Speer Grand Slam expansion. I hit a rib on entrance, but the exit was less than 2x caliber. Still dead.
I was planning to take a CWD sample for IDFG, but I destroyed the lymph nodes accidentally.
It was 9:17AM when I got the last quarter in a game bag. Exactly 3 hours! Phase two complete. Now the real test of manhood for an old man. The first load included all my gear and a front quarter. Damn, that's heavy!. Cheap plug for the Eberlestock F1 system. The bag zips off, you secure the meat to the frame with three snapping straps, then use the bag cinch-down straps to snap the bag over the meat.My truck was closer than the 3/4 mile to the grain field, but there were the clearcuts and the switchbacks on the skid road to deal with. 200 yards of absolute hell to get off the clearcut to the road. Sketchy footing under a heavy load.
This load was the hardest by far. Because of the equipment on the frame I had to strap this quarter leg up. Leg down is way better! When I got it to the truck, I dumped all unnecessary weight from the pack frame. Just the frame, the strapping, and two trekking poles.Heading back to the truck I was seeing lots of fresh sign from the elk herd. I was packing out on their back trail. The last bit of fresh scat I saw was 500 yards from the truck. If I had turned right at the trailhead (Plan B) instead of left (Plan A) I would have been into the elk in 5 minutes. Maybe before legal light. What a sweet pack out that would have been!
30 minutes back in, next two loads were fairly easy. Easy enough that I took a more direct route. The last load was another tough one. It was a double load, with a front and the bag with the neck, liver, and heart. Closed the tailgate at 4:27PM. Ten hours from shot to last load in the truck.
Got the neck and giblets, plus one hind quarter deboned and secure and went to bed exhausted. I was worried about hanging meat overnight, but I was just completely used up. Hanging meat passed the smell test this morning and I going back to deboning.
I am so thankful for all this meat!
Write up complete. Back to meat processing.
Good luck to everyone.
Last edited:
![IMG_5797[1].JPG](https://www.hunttalk.com/data/attachments/350/350043-dc136a422b2b658d5d51d02866038f7b.jpg "IMG_5797[1].JPG")
![IMG_5799[1].JPG](https://www.hunttalk.com/data/attachments/350/350045-4bcb222b6e3013c9f773d409a02dd331.jpg "IMG_5799[1].JPG")
