Well, I finally have a few minutes to put up some pictures and tell our story. We left Virginia around November 5th. Headed west. Pretty easy going trip for the most part. Stopped into a Scheels and some other small places as we headed west, but for the most part we were all ready to get into the mountains.
We had a full truck full of gear and equipment..
This is what my son did for the majority of our drive...
I gotta say, it was nice to have him come alive once in awhile to drive though, even for the short periods of time, he filled in real well!
We primarily headed west on the I80, through Iowa and Nebraska, then into Wyoming..
Not a ton to see. Great country, but after 1000 miles or so, we were ready for some mountains..
We shifted northwest into Wyoming and went up in the Jackson Hole area.. Awesome country
My son saw his first ever mule deer, elk, bison, moose, antelope and who knows what else.. It was great stuff.
Well, after much ado, and driving, we arrived in our elk hunting camp... Bill had got the camper all set up and we chatted for the evening about the drive and other stuff, but I am pretty sure by the time my head hit my pillow I was asleep..
The following day we all sorta split up and did some scouting in the known elk places we have done well in the past. Again, as usual we spotted plenty of big old bulls, and a few spikes.. (Brian, Bill and my son had tags, and I was the chief packer and guide for my son)..
Opening day was upon us and Bill was up and cheery as ever (about 0345L) or so.....
We all headed up some of the country we thought elk would be in and we found the first herd of about 40 head of elk about a mile away or so. We started making movement towards them as they went into the timber in order to try and get to a good ambush position for the evening.. Well... A few other hunters ambled through the timber and pushed them elk OUT!! Wow, I have never seen so many elk move so danged fast. They literally came outta that timber so fast, down hill I swear I saw the big bulls back legs touching his ear he was getting outta dodge so fast..
I am not really good with which days are which, but we did get into elk everyday. Pretty sure the following day it rained pretty good, I went into town and the three elk hunters went into the timber. After I got back from town, I caught up with them, just to find them all racked out.... I tell you what, leave Bill alone for ten minutes and he has a fire and is ready for a danged nap!
Pretty sure the following day we hunted another mountain top. Great terrain and excellent elk sign. Bill hunted the parallel ridge from us and Brian, my son and I hunted the top of a ridge... Well, we hit a decent clearing and decided to split up, my son and I go to the right and Brian to the left. We were supposed to meet up on the far side of the timber/clearing and then get a good vantage point for the evening.. Well, ended up Brian wasn't anywhere to be found so my son went to tracking Brian... Sure enough, getting over the side, we see his tracks disappear and we have no idea where he is.. Well, I just happened to look down and there were about 25 elk right down below us, about 500 yards away, since it was so late in the day, I wasn't sure my son and I could drop down far enough to get closer, so we decided to watch them put them to sleep.. Little did we know Brian had already dropped down a couple of hundred yards and started the sneak on the elk.. We identified the one spike in the group. As the elk fed through one piece of timber and into the next the elk were feeding up out of a small meadow when we saw the spike separate from the group, well, just about that time we heard the first shot, looking through the bino's, and the spiker was untouched, moving back into the group, 2nd shot, the spiker just moved around and started moving away and higher, well, the 3rd shot was on the mark and my son commented how the spikes legs buckled from the 200 AB that just poked him.. Well, the spike took one step and ROLLED butt over end for about 75 yards, knocking a cow down as he rolled... Brandon and I are all watching this through our bino's (better than TV)...
Well, the son of a gun stood back up after that huge rolling episode! As soon as he tried to take one step he commenced to rolling about 75 yards or so downhill (they never seem to roll closer to the trailhead)!
At that point we watched him come to rest against a tree and was dead.. Finally Brian came alive on the radio and asked where we were. I told him we were just above him and would meet him over by the elk..
Once we took a few pictures we started skinning and quartering the big guy and being that it was 25* that day we thought we might better find our way up and outta the hole and come pack with pack frames later on..
We did bring some tenderloin and heart out with us, so supper was good that night..
The others will have to fill in the story for me, cause I sorta lost track of the days, but we hiked a whole lot and got into elk everyday, but had a heckuva time getting closer than about 400 to most of the herds which held the spikes. The big bulls were sorta reclusive and in the timber, a little easier to get to, but the danged spikes were surrounded making getting into my son's rifle range was a little tougher..
We ended up getting some good snow one night, and man, once it cleared, Bill and Brandon, along with me were out there trying to put some more elk down. Unfortunately for my son he missed a long'ish sorta shot with my 35 Newton, and after running over the area and making sure we didn't wound the animal, we went home for the night.. Little did we know, Bill had planted a 180 PT on a spike on another mountain....
We were late getting into camp, but Bill was probably a good 2 hours behind us, since he had a real good hike off the mountain.. Once Bill got to camp he told us about the spike he found and assassinated with his old 300 Win Mag. After a warm supper and such, we all bedded down for just about the last days hunt, since the following day, we'd have to assist Bill with getting his elk off the mountain.
Brandon and I took off in the morning drove to a real promising area, same area he missed the spike, and started searching for more elk, well, we got into elk but no spikes, but kept crossing over ridge after ridge, till just before dark, we were glassing down over the side and saw three bulls moving our direction, close (150 yards or so).. Well, my initial look through glass made the one into a spike and I told Brandon to get ready, well, as he was getting nestled into position to shoot, I started seeing little eyeguards and called him off.. He was a little bummed, but again, its hard to get it 100% right your first time out, but the lad hiked very hard and stayed with it everyday..
We ended up 66% for our elk hunt which seems pretty danged good.. I was happy, Bill shared some meat with me and Brian has a whole elk to stuff into his freezer, so it all ended pretty danged well..
The following day, we went up and packed Bill's elk off the mountain.. Man, they die in just the most difficult places to skin them! :lol:
We did get it taken care of and off the mountain though...
Not before my son caught this action shot of me slipping around the danged elk though..
Here are some other pictures.
Here is my boy with his frozen elk nose....
Some packing pictures..
A couple of us..
Here was a shot of camp and the surrounding area..
Brandon cleaning up some meat... Those steaks looks excellent! Can't wait to have a couple grilled up!
I am sure the others will chime in with more of the story. I just wanted to get something in here.. Great hunt. Congrats to Brian on his first elk kill, my son Brandon for taking to the trails with me, he made me very proud and Bill for his, well, God knows how many elk he has killed, but congrats on another!
We had a full truck full of gear and equipment..
This is what my son did for the majority of our drive...
I gotta say, it was nice to have him come alive once in awhile to drive though, even for the short periods of time, he filled in real well!
We primarily headed west on the I80, through Iowa and Nebraska, then into Wyoming..
Not a ton to see. Great country, but after 1000 miles or so, we were ready for some mountains..
We shifted northwest into Wyoming and went up in the Jackson Hole area.. Awesome country
My son saw his first ever mule deer, elk, bison, moose, antelope and who knows what else.. It was great stuff.
Well, after much ado, and driving, we arrived in our elk hunting camp... Bill had got the camper all set up and we chatted for the evening about the drive and other stuff, but I am pretty sure by the time my head hit my pillow I was asleep..
The following day we all sorta split up and did some scouting in the known elk places we have done well in the past. Again, as usual we spotted plenty of big old bulls, and a few spikes.. (Brian, Bill and my son had tags, and I was the chief packer and guide for my son)..
Opening day was upon us and Bill was up and cheery as ever (about 0345L) or so.....
We all headed up some of the country we thought elk would be in and we found the first herd of about 40 head of elk about a mile away or so. We started making movement towards them as they went into the timber in order to try and get to a good ambush position for the evening.. Well... A few other hunters ambled through the timber and pushed them elk OUT!! Wow, I have never seen so many elk move so danged fast. They literally came outta that timber so fast, down hill I swear I saw the big bulls back legs touching his ear he was getting outta dodge so fast..
I am not really good with which days are which, but we did get into elk everyday. Pretty sure the following day it rained pretty good, I went into town and the three elk hunters went into the timber. After I got back from town, I caught up with them, just to find them all racked out.... I tell you what, leave Bill alone for ten minutes and he has a fire and is ready for a danged nap!
Pretty sure the following day we hunted another mountain top. Great terrain and excellent elk sign. Bill hunted the parallel ridge from us and Brian, my son and I hunted the top of a ridge... Well, we hit a decent clearing and decided to split up, my son and I go to the right and Brian to the left. We were supposed to meet up on the far side of the timber/clearing and then get a good vantage point for the evening.. Well, ended up Brian wasn't anywhere to be found so my son went to tracking Brian... Sure enough, getting over the side, we see his tracks disappear and we have no idea where he is.. Well, I just happened to look down and there were about 25 elk right down below us, about 500 yards away, since it was so late in the day, I wasn't sure my son and I could drop down far enough to get closer, so we decided to watch them put them to sleep.. Little did we know Brian had already dropped down a couple of hundred yards and started the sneak on the elk.. We identified the one spike in the group. As the elk fed through one piece of timber and into the next the elk were feeding up out of a small meadow when we saw the spike separate from the group, well, just about that time we heard the first shot, looking through the bino's, and the spiker was untouched, moving back into the group, 2nd shot, the spiker just moved around and started moving away and higher, well, the 3rd shot was on the mark and my son commented how the spikes legs buckled from the 200 AB that just poked him.. Well, the spike took one step and ROLLED butt over end for about 75 yards, knocking a cow down as he rolled... Brandon and I are all watching this through our bino's (better than TV)...
Well, the son of a gun stood back up after that huge rolling episode! As soon as he tried to take one step he commenced to rolling about 75 yards or so downhill (they never seem to roll closer to the trailhead)!
At that point we watched him come to rest against a tree and was dead.. Finally Brian came alive on the radio and asked where we were. I told him we were just above him and would meet him over by the elk..
Once we took a few pictures we started skinning and quartering the big guy and being that it was 25* that day we thought we might better find our way up and outta the hole and come pack with pack frames later on..
We did bring some tenderloin and heart out with us, so supper was good that night..
The others will have to fill in the story for me, cause I sorta lost track of the days, but we hiked a whole lot and got into elk everyday, but had a heckuva time getting closer than about 400 to most of the herds which held the spikes. The big bulls were sorta reclusive and in the timber, a little easier to get to, but the danged spikes were surrounded making getting into my son's rifle range was a little tougher..
We ended up getting some good snow one night, and man, once it cleared, Bill and Brandon, along with me were out there trying to put some more elk down. Unfortunately for my son he missed a long'ish sorta shot with my 35 Newton, and after running over the area and making sure we didn't wound the animal, we went home for the night.. Little did we know, Bill had planted a 180 PT on a spike on another mountain....
We were late getting into camp, but Bill was probably a good 2 hours behind us, since he had a real good hike off the mountain.. Once Bill got to camp he told us about the spike he found and assassinated with his old 300 Win Mag. After a warm supper and such, we all bedded down for just about the last days hunt, since the following day, we'd have to assist Bill with getting his elk off the mountain.
Brandon and I took off in the morning drove to a real promising area, same area he missed the spike, and started searching for more elk, well, we got into elk but no spikes, but kept crossing over ridge after ridge, till just before dark, we were glassing down over the side and saw three bulls moving our direction, close (150 yards or so).. Well, my initial look through glass made the one into a spike and I told Brandon to get ready, well, as he was getting nestled into position to shoot, I started seeing little eyeguards and called him off.. He was a little bummed, but again, its hard to get it 100% right your first time out, but the lad hiked very hard and stayed with it everyday..
We ended up 66% for our elk hunt which seems pretty danged good.. I was happy, Bill shared some meat with me and Brian has a whole elk to stuff into his freezer, so it all ended pretty danged well..
The following day, we went up and packed Bill's elk off the mountain.. Man, they die in just the most difficult places to skin them! :lol:
We did get it taken care of and off the mountain though...
Not before my son caught this action shot of me slipping around the danged elk though..
Here are some other pictures.
Here is my boy with his frozen elk nose....
Some packing pictures..
A couple of us..
Here was a shot of camp and the surrounding area..
Brandon cleaning up some meat... Those steaks looks excellent! Can't wait to have a couple grilled up!
I am sure the others will chime in with more of the story. I just wanted to get something in here.. Great hunt. Congrats to Brian on his first elk kill, my son Brandon for taking to the trails with me, he made me very proud and Bill for his, well, God knows how many elk he has killed, but congrats on another!
