Gents,
Got a chance to shake down my kit and stretch out the legs this weekend. I hunted an area West of Ellensburg. The area I planned to hunt proved too difficult to access in the wife's SUV so it was on to plan B. It was raining at lower elevation and turned to snow the higher I got. Lots of hunters driving trucks and ATVs. The road turned into a jeep trail where I was supposed to go and there was no way I was taking the wife's SUV through there. I didn't have much of a map of the area, no GPS (it's safe and sound in NM, as you remember that my hunting season was supposed to be over) and didn't have the time to drive around to scout. With the clouds and snow, I really couldn't get my bearings together for the lay of the land. I bumped into two hunters that said they were trying to glass off of the North side of the mountain I was on and that there was a nasty talus slide a half a click East of the end of the road. They said the country was too steep and rough, and it wouldn't be worth it anyway because the conditions prevented glassing the area below. BINGO! An area too hard to access for most sounds like the ideal hide for elk weary of hunters. Seeing all the camps on the way up, I knew that I'd be pushing timber on the North side if I was going to have any luck. Made it off of the talus slide, dropped another 100' going nice and slow with the wind in my face and movement catches my eye. Sure enough, it's the dark legs of a cow walking in the timber. She had a friend in company, but I could only see patches of hide through the thick timber. They were eating buds from a woody bush with which I'm not familiar. I dropped the pack, moved in and had her dead to rights at about 30 yards, but the unit is spike only. I watched them feed for a good 20 minutes, but could never get a glimpse of the other elk's head. Eventually, they faded back into the forest the way only elk can and I never saw them again. I paralleled the mountain going west and found a cut with a small creek that I decided to follow down and use as my landmark for hunting the mountain (remember, no GPS). I found a flat area, pitched camp and made up some Mountain House Lasagna for a little nutrition. That afternoon, the snow let up and I descended further down where I found a nice clear cut in the valley floor. That evening, I made a loop through the clear cut, back into the timber and back to camp with no luck. It snowed most of the night and must have got down to about 0 degrees F, as I have a 0 degree bag and was wearing socks, hat and waffle long underwear and got cold about 0400. In the morning, I thought that maybe the two inch blanket of white might put the elk at ease and maybe I'd catch one in some of the clear cuts. No luck with that, so back into the timber. Wind was swirling as I went as slowly as possible hoping to bump an elk or at least cut a track. No luck, called it quits and headed back to camp for some chow and warm water (got to love that jet boil). Packed up camp and headed back up the mountain. It never got above 24 degrees on Sunday and the drive out was pretty hairy. All in all, I had a great time and was happy to have at least seen two. I got to shake down my kit, which I've distilled down to about 45 pounds, see some beautiful new country and can now say that I've hunted the Cascade Range in WA. I LOVE BACKPACK HUNTING!
Got a chance to shake down my kit and stretch out the legs this weekend. I hunted an area West of Ellensburg. The area I planned to hunt proved too difficult to access in the wife's SUV so it was on to plan B. It was raining at lower elevation and turned to snow the higher I got. Lots of hunters driving trucks and ATVs. The road turned into a jeep trail where I was supposed to go and there was no way I was taking the wife's SUV through there. I didn't have much of a map of the area, no GPS (it's safe and sound in NM, as you remember that my hunting season was supposed to be over) and didn't have the time to drive around to scout. With the clouds and snow, I really couldn't get my bearings together for the lay of the land. I bumped into two hunters that said they were trying to glass off of the North side of the mountain I was on and that there was a nasty talus slide a half a click East of the end of the road. They said the country was too steep and rough, and it wouldn't be worth it anyway because the conditions prevented glassing the area below. BINGO! An area too hard to access for most sounds like the ideal hide for elk weary of hunters. Seeing all the camps on the way up, I knew that I'd be pushing timber on the North side if I was going to have any luck. Made it off of the talus slide, dropped another 100' going nice and slow with the wind in my face and movement catches my eye. Sure enough, it's the dark legs of a cow walking in the timber. She had a friend in company, but I could only see patches of hide through the thick timber. They were eating buds from a woody bush with which I'm not familiar. I dropped the pack, moved in and had her dead to rights at about 30 yards, but the unit is spike only. I watched them feed for a good 20 minutes, but could never get a glimpse of the other elk's head. Eventually, they faded back into the forest the way only elk can and I never saw them again. I paralleled the mountain going west and found a cut with a small creek that I decided to follow down and use as my landmark for hunting the mountain (remember, no GPS). I found a flat area, pitched camp and made up some Mountain House Lasagna for a little nutrition. That afternoon, the snow let up and I descended further down where I found a nice clear cut in the valley floor. That evening, I made a loop through the clear cut, back into the timber and back to camp with no luck. It snowed most of the night and must have got down to about 0 degrees F, as I have a 0 degree bag and was wearing socks, hat and waffle long underwear and got cold about 0400. In the morning, I thought that maybe the two inch blanket of white might put the elk at ease and maybe I'd catch one in some of the clear cuts. No luck with that, so back into the timber. Wind was swirling as I went as slowly as possible hoping to bump an elk or at least cut a track. No luck, called it quits and headed back to camp for some chow and warm water (got to love that jet boil). Packed up camp and headed back up the mountain. It never got above 24 degrees on Sunday and the drive out was pretty hairy. All in all, I had a great time and was happy to have at least seen two. I got to shake down my kit, which I've distilled down to about 45 pounds, see some beautiful new country and can now say that I've hunted the Cascade Range in WA. I LOVE BACKPACK HUNTING!
