jryoung
Well-known member
Went to Montana with my buddy R.J. (yes, it was R.J. and J.R. hunting together) he had never hunted elk before and had an opening in his schedule to take advantage of. R.J.’s day job is an outfitter here in CA primarily for salmon in spring, summer and early fall then waterfowl through the winter. He sprinkles in a little hog and turkey hunting as well. The pictures you may recall of my wife holding up large salmon, striped bass and or ling cod are all from the boat R.J. is the captain of. I was glad to not make this trip solo and felt a little extra pressure due to the “role reversal” if only on a casual level as I read the tax code for a living.
So we headed off into elk country.
An hour into it, I think there may have been a moment where he was reconsidering his decision as we climbed.
We saw promising sign
When we got to the top it was past bedtime for the elk so we made coffee.
And relaxed in the sunshine
And took obligatory gun pics.
As the sun reached closer to the horizon we dropped off the hillside and waited like lionesses on the Serengeti…but our prey never showed.
So we walked off the mountainside.
Day two looked more like elk season, but our prey did not show.
R.J. noted he was hoping for some fine table fare, so I said “do you want to shoot a cow”, he said yes, so I called an audible and we moved units.
It looked elky…and with the temp down 30 degrees from the first day, he may have rethought his decision once again.
As we stalked through the thick timber, crossing elk tracks less than 12 hours old he said, “I think we’re in the right spot at the wrong time. Then, seconds later, this happened.
Which led to this.
We headed to his buddies house in Divide and things got really offal.
So we headed off into elk country.
An hour into it, I think there may have been a moment where he was reconsidering his decision as we climbed.
We saw promising sign
When we got to the top it was past bedtime for the elk so we made coffee.
And relaxed in the sunshine
And took obligatory gun pics.
As the sun reached closer to the horizon we dropped off the hillside and waited like lionesses on the Serengeti…but our prey never showed.
So we walked off the mountainside.
Day two looked more like elk season, but our prey did not show.
R.J. noted he was hoping for some fine table fare, so I said “do you want to shoot a cow”, he said yes, so I called an audible and we moved units.
It looked elky…and with the temp down 30 degrees from the first day, he may have rethought his decision once again.
As we stalked through the thick timber, crossing elk tracks less than 12 hours old he said, “I think we’re in the right spot at the wrong time. Then, seconds later, this happened.
Which led to this.
We headed to his buddies house in Divide and things got really offal.
