Doug in Idaho
Member
Thought i'd post a few pictures of our elk hunt this year. Mostly scenery/camp pictures but it was a fun family hunt. My dad, myself, and my brother all had tags. My dad really could care less to shoot anything but likes to get out, and my brother ended up getting sick on the mountain and spent 2 days feeling awful in the tent but luckily never demanded to be taken home
. I'm glad we were able to pull it together with the horses and the packing in as I have a suspicion this will be the last hunt of this type that my dad goes on. Although I said that 4 years ago when we had this tag and managed to talk him into doing it again.
The day before the opener it was raining down low and by the time we got to the camp was a full white out blizzard up top. I've never been so glad to have the tent and stove finally set up in my life. The next day it went back and forth between snow storms and fog for most of the day.
The sun finally came in the late afternoon and I figured that there would be elk everywhere and easy to spot with the fresh snow but only saw a few elk that night.
The weather continued to get better as the week went on but the elk just weren't in there this year like they have been in the past. Especially bigger bulls. We saw 10-12 smaller bulls throughout the week but had passed on everything to that point. My brother did manage to make a new friend in the tent though. I guess at one point he jumped on top of the stove only to quickly jump off from the heat.
On the last night of hunting before we had to start packing off the mountain, I spotted a group of cows and a bugle confirmed there was a bull with them. I saw him briefly through the trees and thought he looked like a good bull. I got within range with a little bit of shooting light left. He had his head in some scrub pines raking the limbs and I saw the flash of antler but still couldn't tell how big he actually was. I had a good view of his body though. 1 shot was all it took. By the time I got to the elk it was dark and through the headlamp I discovered that he wasn't as big as I first thought but at that point I didn't care. He was a 5 by 6 and after trying to get it cut up and in game bags by myself I was glad he wasn't as big as the bull I shot in here last time. I knew I could get the horses close to him and the pack out the next day shouldn't be that bad. In my haste to get things quartered up in the dark (I was by myself this evening) I didn't even get the camera out which of course now I wish I had a few more pictures of him on the ground. This picture of my dad taking the antlers down to the horse is one of the only pictures I got of it, but is one of my favorites.
Moose did a great job hauling it out.
We had a fun time, the food was good, the company was better, and I can't wait to do it again.
. I'm glad we were able to pull it together with the horses and the packing in as I have a suspicion this will be the last hunt of this type that my dad goes on. Although I said that 4 years ago when we had this tag and managed to talk him into doing it again. The day before the opener it was raining down low and by the time we got to the camp was a full white out blizzard up top. I've never been so glad to have the tent and stove finally set up in my life. The next day it went back and forth between snow storms and fog for most of the day.
The sun finally came in the late afternoon and I figured that there would be elk everywhere and easy to spot with the fresh snow but only saw a few elk that night.
The weather continued to get better as the week went on but the elk just weren't in there this year like they have been in the past. Especially bigger bulls. We saw 10-12 smaller bulls throughout the week but had passed on everything to that point. My brother did manage to make a new friend in the tent though. I guess at one point he jumped on top of the stove only to quickly jump off from the heat.
On the last night of hunting before we had to start packing off the mountain, I spotted a group of cows and a bugle confirmed there was a bull with them. I saw him briefly through the trees and thought he looked like a good bull. I got within range with a little bit of shooting light left. He had his head in some scrub pines raking the limbs and I saw the flash of antler but still couldn't tell how big he actually was. I had a good view of his body though. 1 shot was all it took. By the time I got to the elk it was dark and through the headlamp I discovered that he wasn't as big as I first thought but at that point I didn't care. He was a 5 by 6 and after trying to get it cut up and in game bags by myself I was glad he wasn't as big as the bull I shot in here last time. I knew I could get the horses close to him and the pack out the next day shouldn't be that bad. In my haste to get things quartered up in the dark (I was by myself this evening) I didn't even get the camera out which of course now I wish I had a few more pictures of him on the ground. This picture of my dad taking the antlers down to the horse is one of the only pictures I got of it, but is one of my favorites.
Moose did a great job hauling it out.
We had a fun time, the food was good, the company was better, and I can't wait to do it again.
