The Season of Stupid (& elk)

[Dsnow9]

At this point I don’t care, I need to get this shirt on or I will never be able to hold still for a shot. The raghorn is now behind a big juniper and the big bull and cows are pre occupied. This is my best chance. I pull the shirt over my chest pack and everything and try to warm up. The cows are now about 250 yards away and working closer. Still 1/4ing to and still working toward that nice open face that should put them perfectly broadside at 200. I had been sending @MtnElk and someone else photos and videos on a group thread. Each time the elk were getting closer and they kept asking what was going on and were they on private or what? I responded with something along the lines of they have been on public and in range for over 30 minutes now. I’m just having to much fun! And I’m freezing.

As I slowly start to warm up with the sun just cresting, the cows are almost in the perfect spot, I see the big bull pop out into the sun. I snap a few quick pictures and then send a text along the lines of “game time”.

You can see the bull showing off in the sun and the cows and calves feeding across the hillside in a nice line. I had joked about shooting two since I had two tags, but didn’t think the opportunity would present itself like this. I took this photo at 7:01am dropped the phone and then went into full gunfighter mode.

 

[SwaggyD]

 

[wordenn]

Fix Bayonet!

 

[Jwill]

Congrats on the full freezer(s) and looking forward to the rest of the writeup!

 

[Neumie]

Hunt sounds awesome, your writing style brings me along, thanks!

You could put a tag line on the cart for going down hills for one of your supervisors to hold onto if it gets a bit steeper.

 

[Dsnow9]

Hunt sounds awesome, your writing style brings me along, thanks!

You could put a tag line on the cart for going down hills for one of your supervisors to hold onto if it gets a bit steeper.

Downhill was pretty easy. Used it like a wheel barrow and it worked great. Uphill pulling behind was rough. At the end I’ll do a recap on the cart and what I’m going to change for next year. My co 4th season it might get used but we will see, it will definitely make the trip

 

[Dsnow9]

The cow was facing to the right just where she was in that last picture, a hair under 200 yards. I have my fancy @p_ham rebuild all set up on the tripod with my spartan insert, my back is braced against my pack, and loosely crossed legs.

The bull lets off one more bugle and I focus on my cross hairs and squeeze. I heard the thwack but saw a huge pile of dirt fly up behind her. I am slightly above her so the dirt looks like I may have shot high. The cow froze, I don’t know if she even flinched. I refocused and squeezed the trigger again, thwack. Dirt tuft that seems left and high. She looks to maybe have flinched.

“Wtf”

I rack another one, focus, squeeze, thwack, she turns downhill and freezes again. Hard quartering too, and I focus and squeeze, thwack, right between the shoulders. She stutter steps and then turns left. I can clearly see 4 exit holes. From my elevated position those should be perfect. Exit hole on the 1/4 to barely exited behind the vitals. I take my focus off of the cow and look Up for a second. Her calf is calm and looking at her, rack one, focus, squeeze, thwack, drop.

“Ok I’m feeling better about my shooting”

I look left and the cow is still standing. I put one more in her this time a bit higher and she drops.

6 rounds total. 5 in the cow, one in the calf. All in the vitals.

 

[Dsnow9]

I didn’t feel right leaving the calf without momma, and I didn’t feel right dropping the two cows and leaving two calves. I knew the meat would be great and much more of a reasonable pack out.

I had actually gone over this scenario with a trusted advisor and we thought gutting the first and spreading it out and then moving over to the other to gutless, then back to the other would be the safest bet not to lose meat. I started with gutting the calf, then made some coffee and a little peak granola before going full tilt and finishing the cow and going back to the calf.

I then made very quick work of the whole process. I impressed myself. It went about as smoothly as I could ask for. I started cutting at 7:50 and everything was hung in bags, bone in, in a juniper about 200 yards down the hill by 10:50.

 

[SwaggyD]

Strong work! good eating there!

 

[Dsnow9]

At this point I decided to break down the cow hinds. I deboned them and hiked them back to camp as I waited to hear an eta from @MtnElk
I made it back to camp and took off my boots, switched to camp shoes, and had a bunch of food to recoup and go back and debone everything else while I waited for @MtnElk

 

[Dsnow9]

At 3:50pm I had everything deboned and started my hike back to camp with the rest of the cow.


Found an elk poop rock!


And then got back to camp, made some coffee, and put on a puffy to wait until @MtnElk to get there. At this point I could see him a couple miles off on the flats.

 

[Khunter]

Dang that was a nice bull you spotted!

 

[LuketheDog]

And then got back to camp, made some coffee, and put on a puffy to wait until @MtnElk to get there. At this point I could see him a couple miles off on the flats.

...he was probably whistling while he walked, little did he know what kind of punishment he was in for

 

[Dsnow9]

...he was probably whistling while he walked, little did he know what kind of punishment he was in for

We shall see… but I do agree he had no idea what kind of punishment I was tee’ing him up for…

 

[Deleted member 52098]

SUNDAY

I woke up at 5:30 to the sound of my alarm with the biggest smile on my face. Opening day was here. Granted I wasn't rolling out of a tent and onto the hunting grounds, but I was going to be on my way soon. Bless my dad's heart, he was ready 30 mins early and told me to drop him off at the airport early. I woke the girls, hugged them goodbye, told them I loved them and hopped in the truck at 615. For the first 30 mins of the ride to the airport, there was nothing from @Dsnow9 and that made sense as it was barely light out. But as we started to approach the airpot, I was getting photos and messages that indicated things were lining up perfectly. I dropped my parents at 715 at the airport. After getting their luggage out of the truck and rearranging the coolers, I got back in the truck at 723 am to the text "Cow / Calf Combo down". GAME ON! He had done it. Queue my now over excited premature post of "@Dsnow9 tagged out". Rookie got overly excited, lesson learned.

I pealed away from DIA and stopped at the first gas station on the road north to WY for my last civilized bathroom break when I got a call from @Dsnow9 . Man oh man was he STOKED. You could hear the excitement in his voice, it was so awesome to hear a person so happy that all of my small regrets about not being there disappeared. I told him I should arrive at the TH at roughly noon and planned to be hiking by 1215... and to camp by 4/430. We hung up, I peeled out again and was on the way. I hauled my ass up to WY driving way faster than I normally do, but I was so excited to get up there.

I arrived right as I said I would and was hiking by 1215. I stopped to take a quick shot out of our trucks and hit the trailhead by 1215 on the nose. For reasons about to be explained, this is the only photo I have from Sunday...



Now mind you, I have a) never stepped foot in this unit, b) it's Wyoming, so the land boundaries are weird and not always clear and c) its hot as hell. I dropped down and crossed the stream, didn't fall in. Small victory. I should have looked at my map right away or just looked up to see an easier way up and out of this little bowl, but I was determined to start hustling. So for the first - and not last time today - I made things way harder on myself. I picked a spot with a lot of cattle tracks going up the side of the ravine and followed those up. It was slippery as shit, and with an 80 lb pack, not the best way to start a hike. But I got up, and started hauling ass to camp. My goal was to average a 20 min mile with this pack on until the climbing got more intense. For the first 3 miles I stayed on track time wise and directionally. But this is when an earlier mistake came to bite me. I created a track on OnX that looked efficient and fast. I sent it to @Dsnow9 before season opened and he said "looks close enough"... which should have been my first clue that I should have looked at earlier tracks of his. But I didn't. and because I didn't, I started on a pattern that would continue through the day of getting off track and instead of backtracking, went balls to the wall in a straight line to correct my course. Often through just stupid terrain.

at the approximate 3 mile mark, I was supposed to go up and over some rocks that came down in a little saddle between huge spires. I did not, I went around all the rocks, down a ravine, up a ravine and found what I thought was the trail that @Dsnow9 told me to stay on. Normally very directionally astute, I told myself to stop checking my path every few mins as it was slowing me down and keeping me off my pace... another mistake. So I followed this trail and followed it and followed it... because technically it was headed in the direction I was supposed to go. Except I wasn't on the path, I was on a pronghorn game trail to two lakes... one of which is on private. As I passed the second lake, I thought that was odd, opened my OnX and an audible f$%^ came out of my mouth. Not only was I not on track, I had boots in places I was not supposed to be. I quickly made an abrupt 90 degree turn and started hiking hard through sage brush and other assorted crap... constantly being chirped at by the groundhogs / squirrels / whatever you call them in your area. Man oh man did their chirping only annoy me more that I had gotten lost.

I went another mile and opened my map, hoping to see that I was in the appropriate spot and was no longer as lost idiot that could have received a trespassing ticket. Nope. In my annoyance, I was walking more at a 45 degree angle than a 90. I cursed again. Mostly because I am not a guy that gets off track ever and the day I do it, the sun is high in the sky, hot as balls and my hunting partner is waiting for me. I pulled out OnX, find where I am, find where I need to go and draw a straight line to where I need to join my actual path. I left that map open and walked, one foot after the other.

And this is where the s$%^ became a full on clown show. The path I packed was indeed through public, but would require going 4 large wash outs / ravines... and oh yeah, it was storming and the sky was lit up with lightning like a Nat Geo show on lightning storms. Beautiful, but terrifying. Heavier rain was more of a threat here as I had to walk up and down all these low points. Luckily no flash floods happened today. I went up and down the valleys of death and finally arrived at the trail, I was an hour behind my pace and pissed off. At this time, I got service and got a call from dsnow. He asked where I was and I let him know what was happening and that I was an hour behind schedule. I then naively told him I would then be there in like an hour lol - not realizing I was about to do all the actual climbing on this trail. He laughed at my estimate and said ok and we hung up.

I arrived at camp at 538 pm having hiked the same mileage I would have had I not gotten lost, with an EXTRA 1000 feet of ascent and descent. There is a particularly funny pic of me giving dsnow9 the finger as he was making jokes, casually sipping coffee in his sandals sitting criss cross apple sauce on a rock. He told me to unload my pack as were going up to get the calf and look for more elk. I was wrecked - I don't handle heat super well - but said ok. Dumping literally everything I could except a coat, some snacks, water and my rifle.

We hike an additional 1.3 miles back behind camp and he puts me on the knoll he was on in the morning and I started glassing. All I could think of what... "DAMN this is beautiful elk country". All my frustration over being slow and getting lost dissipated and I settled into being here, being present and happy AF. He retrieved the calf and just as it approach 7 (less than 20 mins of shooting light left), I look to my right and hear a faint bugle. I glass up a nice bull, a cow and a calf. They disappear behind a little ledge and pop out in this golden field. It's dark and hard to make them out too much, but THEY ARE MAKING THEIR WAY TO PUBLIC. We are stoked. We might get to bed another combo and be ready to go in the morning. We watch as the cow and calf cautiously start crossing the field, while the bull just stands there looking majestic AF. The wind is picking up, but we are ways out and it feels like it's going back and to our right... way away from them. But suddenly they take off running left. I pull out my wind checker and there is no way it hit them. I have no idea why they just took off, but they went back in the timber. Either way, what a great way to end the day. I saw elk in the unit I was hunting them in WHILE I could actually hunt them. If that doesn't make you feel all good inside, I am not sure what will. Even a weak bugle from him was something to experience.

We hiked back to camp and talked about what we wanted to do the next day. We could either get after them first thing or we could take the meat out and come back. The weather was supposed to be pretty hot AND we didn't technically put those elk to bed, so I thought it was smarter to get the hard work out of the way first thing and get the meat out. I would never forgive myself if my selfish desire to punch a tag resulted in any meat loss. It would go against my primary objective this trip to be a good hunting partner. We agreed it was a good call, we ate some food, laughed at stupid jokes - as tired people do - and went to bed.

What a first day. 12.5 miles hiked, mostly with an 80lb pack and yet I couldn't wipe the smile off my face as I fell asleep.

 

[Khunter]

Great storytelling guys !

80 pound pack?

 

[Deleted member 52098]

Great storytelling guys !

80 pound pack?

No usable water there… packed it all in

 

[Dsnow9]

SUNDAY

I woke up at 5:30 to the sound of my alarm with the biggest smile on my face. Opening day was here. Granted I wasn't rolling out of a tent and onto the hunting grounds, but I was going to be on my way soon. Bless my dad's heart, he was ready 30 mins early and told me to drop him off at the airport early. I woke the girls, hugged them goodbye, told them I loved them and hopped in the truck at 615. For the first 30 mins of the ride to the airport, there was nothing from @Dsnow9 and that made sense as it was barely light out. But as we started to approach the airpot, I was getting photos and messages that indicated things were lining up perfectly. I dropped my parents at 715 at the airport. After getting their luggage out of the truck and rearranging the coolers, I got back in the truck at 723 am to the text "Cow / Calf Combo down". GAME ON! He had done it. Queue my now over excited premature post of "@Dsnow9 tagged out". Rookie got overly excited, lesson learned.

I pealed away from DIA and stopped at the first gas station on the road north to WY for my last civilized bathroom break when I got a call from @Dsnow9 . Man oh man was he STOKED. You could hear the excitement in his voice, it was so awesome to hear a person so happy that all of my small regrets about not being there disappeared. I told him I should arrive at the TH at roughly noon and planned to be hiking by 1215... and to camp by 4/430. We hung up, I peeled out again and was on the way. I hauled my ass up to WY driving way faster than I normally do, but I was so excited to get up there.

I arrived right as I said I would and was hiking by 1215. I stopped to take a quick shot out of our trucks and hit the trailhead by 1215 on the nose. For reasons about to be explained, this is the only photo I have from Sunday...

View attachment 295364

Now mind you, I have a) never stepped foot in this unit, b) it's Wyoming, so the land boundaries are weird and not always clear and c) its hot as hell. I dropped down and crossed the stream, didn't fall in. Small victory. I should have looked at my map right away or just looked up to see an easier way up and out of this little bowl, but I was determined to start hustling. So for the first - and not last time today - I made things way harder on myself. I picked a spot with a lot of cattle tracks going up the side of the ravine and followed those up. It was slippery as shit, and with an 80 lb pack, not the best way to start a hike. But I got up, and started hauling ass to camp. My goal was to average a 20 min mile with this pack on until the climbing got more intense. For the first 3 miles I stayed on track time wise and directionally. But this is when an earlier mistake came to bite me. I created a track on OnX that looked efficient and fast. I sent it to @Dsnow9 before season opened and he said "looks close enough"... which should have been my first clue that I should have looked at earlier tracks of his. But I didn't. and because I didn't, I started on a pattern that would continue through the day of getting off track and instead of backtracking, went balls to the wall in a straight line to correct my course. Often through just stupid terrain.

at the approximate 3 mile mark, I was supposed to go up and over some rocks that came down in a little saddle between huge spires. I did not, I went around all the rocks, down a ravine, up a ravine and found what I thought was the trail that @Dsnow9 told me to stay on. Normally very directionally astute, I told myself to stop checking my path every few mins as it was slowing me down and keeping me off my pace... another mistake. So I followed this trail and followed it and followed it... because technically it was headed in the direction I was supposed to go. Except I wasn't on the path, I was on a pronghorn game trail to two lakes... one of which is on private. As I passed the second lake, I thought that was odd, opened my OnX and an audible f$%^ came out of my mouth. Not only was I not on track, I had boots in places I was not supposed to be. I quickly made an abrupt 90 degree turn and started hiking hard through sage brush and other assorted crap... constantly being chirped at by the groundhogs / squirrels / whatever you call them in your area. Man oh man did their chirping only annoy me more that I had gotten lost.

I went another mile and opened my map, hoping to see that I was in the appropriate spot and was no longer as lost idiot that could have received a trespassing ticket. Nope. In my annoyance, I was walking more at a 45 degree angle than a 90. I cursed again. Mostly because I am not a guy that gets off track ever and the day I do it, the sun is high in the sky, hot as balls and my hunting partner is waiting for me. I pulled out OnX, find where I am, find where I need to go and draw a straight line to where I need to join my actual path. I left that map open and walked, one foot after the other.

And this is where the s$%^ became a full on clown show. The path I packed was indeed through public, but would require going 4 large wash outs / ravines... and oh yeah, it was storming and the sky was lit up with lightning like a Nat Geo show on lightning storms. Beautiful, but terrifying. Heavier rain was more of a threat here as I had to walk up and down all these low points. Luckily no flash floods happened today. I went up and down the valleys of death and finally arrived at the trail, I was an hour behind my pace and pissed off. At this time, I got service and got a call from dsnow. He asked where I was and I let him know what was happening and that I was an hour behind schedule. I then naively told him I would then be there in like an hour lol - not realizing I was about to do all the actual climbing on this trail. He laughed at my estimate and said ok and we hung up.

I arrived at camp at 538 pm having hiked the same mileage I would have had I not gotten lost, with an EXTRA 1000 feet of ascent and descent. There is a particularly funny pic of me giving dsnow9 the finger as he was making jokes, casually sipping coffee in his sandals sitting criss cross apple sauce on a rock. He told me to unload my pack as were going up to get the calf and look for more elk. I was wrecked - I don't handle heat super well - but said ok. Dumping literally everything I could except a coat, some snacks, water and my rifle.

We hike an additional 1.3 miles back behind camp and he puts me on the knoll he was on in the morning and I started glassing. All I could think of what... "DAMN this is beautiful elk country". All my frustration over being slow and getting lost dissipated and I settled into being here, being present and happy AF. He retrieved the calf and just as it approach 7 (less than 20 mins of shooting light left), I look to my right and hear a faint bugle. I glass up a nice bull, a cow and a calf. They disappear behind a little ledge and pop out in this golden field. It's dark and hard to make them out too much, but THEY ARE MAKING THEIR WAY TO PUBLIC. We are stoked. We might get to bed another combo and be ready to go in the morning. We watch as the cow and calf cautiously start crossing the field, while the bull just stands there looking majestic AF. The wind is picking up, but we are ways out and it feels like it's going back and to our right... way away from them. But suddenly they take off running left. I pull out my wind checker and there is no way it hit them. I have no idea why they just took off, but they went back in the timber. Either way, what a great way to end the day. I saw elk in the unit I was hunting them in WHILE I could actually hunt them. If that doesn't make you feel all good inside, I am not sure what will. Even a weak bugle from him was something to experience.

We hiked back to camp and talked about what we wanted to do the next day. We could either get after them first thing or we could take the meat out and come back. The weather was supposed to be pretty hot AND we didn't technically put those elk to bed, so I thought it was smarter to get the hard work out of the way first thing and get the meat out. I would never forgive myself if my selfish desire to punch a tag resulted in any meat loss. It would go against my primary objective this trip to be a good hunting partner. We agreed it was a good call, we ate some food, laughed at stupid jokes - as tired people do - and went to bed.

What a first day. 12.5 miles hiked, mostly with an 80lb pack and yet I couldn't wipe the smile off my face as I fell asleep.

 

[Deleted member 52098]

View attachment 295420

Clearly my wife married me for my personality... because it wasn't for that Adonis body of mine

 

[perma]

That was fun to read. You guys are wild.