Spousal Support

[the nikster]

For many years I have coveted a bull tag in one of Idaho's limited draw units. I have paid my dues year in and year out with no tags to show for my effort($$). Each and every spring my wife puts in for the same tags in hopes that one of us will eventually be rewarded. This summer we learned that we would be hunting elk in our dream unit on my wife's tag.
After all these years of her supporting me I felt like I should support her goal of a 320+ bull.
We searched for and purchased a rifle she could call her own, it's pink. She picked a caliber that made her comfortable due to her recent shoulder issues, .243 WIN. I took the two of them out for some shooting and soon learned my wife is a bit of an ace with a firearm. I think she has been holding out on me.
Figuring Idaho to be cold in November we hooked her up with a bunch of warm clothes including insulated pants which she love, love, loves!! and a pink beanie.
Now we were in a holding pattern. Recounting the days each day hoping maybe we added a day on accident and it was only 93 days away instead of 94. As November approached it became clear I would be working on the opener and for the next 8 days. We would have to wait a bit longer and so we did.

 

[Gr8bawana]

Good luck to you and your wife. Contrary to popular belief the .243 will do the job with proper shot placement and a good stout bullet.

 

[TheShootist.41]

Congratulations and good luck.

 

[L. I. Yankee]

Good luck guys.....

 

[the nikster]

It turned out I did not have to work the entire first week of November so, on the afternoon of the 2nd we hatched a plan to do a bit of elk hunting that week.
I did a little tidying up at the office monday morning then went home to pack. By noon we had the wall tent, sleeping bags, food and tag all loaded up. We stopped by the gas station on the way out of town to check the air in all 5 tires then headed out.
We always stop at the store in Dubois on the way by and top off the tank. I always look for antlers in the back of trucks while I am there and this time was no different. We saw nothing outside but they have a really nice mount inside (370+) so I showed that to the missus and that is where we set the initial bar.
With the truck fueled up we headed into the great unknown we call 'ELK HUNT 2014".
We did stop for a few minutes to check our zero's on the way in. Everything was in order.
By dark we had the camp set up and a fire started. We warmed up some foil dinners my wife (Kathleen) had prepared for us. It's kind of a family tradition to have foil dinners the first night out for us. It is easy to get a fire started then let the dinners cook while you finish camp. We got the air mattress inflated and set up the bedding. with camp ready to go we sat in our camp chairs and enjoyed the crackle of the fire and the scent of potatoes and burger.

 

[Gr8bawana]

Looks good.

 

[Gr8bawana]

Looks good, thats a great way to get the hunt started.

 

[the nikster]

The morning of our first day was a cold crisp eye opener. I had ripped out the zipper on my bag moments after we went to bed so we spent most of the night in the truck.
From where we were camped we drove about 700 yards up the hill to a good place to glass. We hoped to be able to sit in this location and see elk as we had in years past.
The clouds were moving in below us and the views were breathtaking. And the elk!!!
At first light I saw a heard of elk about 700 yards above us to the North.The spotter confirmed nothing that would score over 200. 13 or so bulls. All spikes and rag-horns with about 20 cows. Then, just above us to the west at 500 yards we saw a couple of cows with a small 5 x 5 in tow.
There is a huge bare spot just above and to the west of the bigger herd that we cannot see. When the elk fed out of view we quickly drove to a place just below them, got out and started the climb to see if there was a bigger bull. We climbed up several hundred yards until we could start seeing the flat but no elk. The tracks in the freshly fallen snow showed they were heading dead down wind so we determined to cross the wind in hopes of catching more elk in the open to our south.
In just a few moments we had spotted a heard of elk sitting on a ridge about a mile to our south. We closed to within 600 yards but given their location and the open terrain we could get no closer. 30+ cows with a dozen bulls. 1 decent 5 x 5 and a bruiser 6 x 6. Somehow, in all the excitement we got video but no stills of this herd. The decision was made to take some scenery pics and head back to the truck for lunch.
After lunch the fog settled in hard and tight. Knowing that there were elk all around we stayed close to the truck and glassed when the fog allowed. We never saw another elk on day 1. I called my brother who was bringing his daughter up the next day. We agreed to meet up at 6:30 and go from there..
kathleen and I made our way back to camp where I heated up some brauts and she cooked up some trimmings for dinner. It got dark early so soon we were in our bags (I repaired mine) and excitedly anticipating what the morning would bring.[/ATTACH][/ATTACH]

 

[oldillini]

Congrats on the draw. Beautiful pics. Good luck!

 

[the nikster]

Before it got too late we decided to put the chains on for in the morning. There is a small spring that flows down the steepest part of the trail and freezes at night. This area can be pretty tough to climb in the morning without chains.

At 6:30 in the morning my brother and his daughter showed up. Quickly we headed up to the scouting position. I spotted a 5 x 6 bull travelling up a ridge. He was a decent enough bull for the last day but too small and too far away for today.

Minutes later we spotted a smaller 5 x 5 with a small herd of cows. we watched them move up the ridge for a while but decided to go up on top and try our luck.

Again, when we got up on top the clouds moved in.

We got out of the truck to take a stroll up over the last 200 yards to the top. We were still milling about and getting our packs on when I spotted a herd of elk, about 100, on a ridge a half mile to our north. Looking through the binoculars I could see 50 or 60 more strung out towards us through the draw. Sorry, I was too excite to take pics so here's a pic of me and my wife on top of the world.

We got back into the truck to head that direction. About 1/2 hay there I spotted another smaller herd of elk in the rear view as we came around a knob. My brother said it had 5 or 6 smaller bulls and 25 cows in it so we kept moving. The big herd went over the hill but we suspected there was a big clearing on the other side. We got out of the truck again in hot pursuit. We probably covered about a half mile on a rounded knob, each step allowing us to see about 3 more feet of the knob. Suddenly, to our left, I spotted 8 cows with a spike and small 5 point moving up a tiny draw in the wide open. I ranged them at 240 yards and we turned the girls loose. It does not get better than this. Easy shot and we could drive right to them. The thing is, I don't believe in Karma, but Karma loves me. We spent more than an hour in the fresh snow looking for even a drop of blood. Nothing. Here is a pic of me reenacting the bull as it came into view.

An hour later we caught up to the rest of the herd further north. Only now they were too far away through some really nasty stuff to chase. We decided to head back towards camp and take some more pics, one of the mountain...

One of my truck. I hope that old truck has one more elk left in it.

It was getting late so we headed to camp where a warm bowl of soup and some Hawaiian rolls were waiting. Tomorrow would be the last day of this hunt.

 

[MTpubliclander]

the suspense is killing me! good luck!

 

[Gr8bawana]

Keep at it and ggod luck.
Just a tip, when you sleep on an air matress in such cold weather using a closed cell foam pad make sleeping much warmer. The closed cells insulate you from the cold air circulating inside the air matress.

 

[MT_elk]

Sounds like a great hunt so far! Can't wait for the rest of the story!

 

[the nikster]

The next day was a bummer. We drove about 10 miles and hiked a couple more. We saw some groups of cows way of in the distance but no big herds and no bulls with them. The only excitement came at the end of the day as we were heading out in the truck. Suddenly there was a 5 x 5 bull standing in a 4 acre opening in the forest. I told her to get out and shoot it, heck, we could drive right to it!! She said it looked kinda small. As he departed to the west I reminded her it was going to be her first decent bull. She reminded me he wasn't.
That was the end of that hunt. we figured we had a good first week.
8 days later found us in the same area with similar results to the last day, small herds of cows was just about all we saw. We drove back into town and got a hotel room and determined to come up with a new plan and a new area.
Morning broke cool and crisp. We headed into an area that has been good to us in years past.




About a half an hour into our walk my wife asked me to take a picture of her hair as it froze.




We took a couple of scenery pics because the area just looked so beautiful.





We saw a couple of deer and 1 really nice buck but he was wayyy to far away to take a photo of so we left him be. We were not seeing any elk and this was a bit confounding as we had seen so many in this draw in years past. Still, we kept walking and were soon about 2 miles from the truck. This was one of my favorite spots to sit. My father and I have seen many elk from this same spot so I had told my wife we would stop and rest here for a while. I also told her the place was special to our family as our oldest daughter had leaned over a tipping tree and shot her moose from this spot.She was probably getting tired of hearing how great that spot was.
That is when I looked back into the shadows on the side of a burned out mountain and saw a big brown body. Make that 2 big brown bodies!! I glassed them in the darkness. 2 bulls!! The one on the left was the bigger but they were both nice. They were both standing broadside facing to our left. While I ranged the bull, I told her to find a solid rest. Incredibly and somehow fittingly, she leaned over the same dead tree my daughter had used about 10 years previously. She is a good shot and I know the ballistics. I told her where to aim and she did. She aimed for what seemed like decades. I was on him with my binoculars and told her to shoot when she felt comfortable. Waiting, waiting, waiting....Soon the second bull began moving off and I told her she needed to shoot quickly if she was going to try to take that bull. I was just about to check her pulse when her rifle crispily cracked the frozen air. He stumbled down 2 steps and she hit him again. He stumbled again and she hit him a third time in 45 seconds. He crashed downward into a couple of bushes and went down. Here is a pic of the log she and my daughter used as a rest and at the end of her finger is where the elk was standing when she shot it the first time.



Whew! that's a lot of writing, I need a break, maybe some turkey.

 

[Gr8bawana]

The suspense is killing me! Can't wait to see it.

 

[the nikster]

Disclaimer #1:
According to my wife it was not a cool morning, "it was flippin freezing'"!

Disclaimer #2:
According to my wife she had on "about 4 layers of clothing". She is not fat. (I agree)

Disclaimer #3:
Yes, it was a long shot. She went 3 for 3-I don't want any complaining.

 

[oleefish2]

Disclaimer #1:
According to my wife it was not a cool morning, "it was flippin freezing'"!

Disclaimer #2:
According to my wife she had on "about 4 layers of clothing". She is not fat. (I agree)

Disclaimer #3:
Yes, it was a long shot. She went 3 for 3-I don't want any complaining.

I had my wife on a cow hunt in sub zero temps and she was a trooper but unimpressed on the drag out. She also had tons of clothes on and when we were about 400 yards from the parking lot she said don't those men standing there know I am a lady and we need help? I stuck my foot in my mouth as always and said, she had to many cloths on for anyone to tell what she was. I was dragging by myself for a while. So guys never and I mean never let your mouth over rule your brain.

 

[MT_elk]

Cool story. Can't wait to see the pics.

 

[the nikster]

Ok, enough screwing around. After 6 hard days hunting and dozens of miles of walking my wife finally had an elk down. We took different paths to get to the elk and I was there before her. When she got there we sat about 10 yards away from the elk for about 30 minutes. I have often expressed to my wife the sacredness of taking the life of an animal. We spent 30 minutes experiencing the emotional ups and downs that come with success. When we were done with the emotional part, we took some pictures.
This is the first pic we took. I pulled his head around for the photo. Do not let the picture fool you, this place was STEEP!




I drug it down near the bottom of the draw and we took some more photos. This is one of my favorites.




We came back in the next day with an ice fishing sled. I reduced him to quarters and we put him on the sled for the 2 mile hike out.




We got to the truck at a little after 9 pm and found we had not 1, but 2, flat tires. We spent the night in the truck. we had lots of food and water and plenty of blankets, the truth is it just wasn't that bad.
We hauled the antlers and cape into the taxidermist last monday and expect to see it again within the next year. I butchered him myself and just finished grinding the last of the burger last night. The freezer and our hearts are full.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

 

[bobbydean]

Congrats to the huntress.

Congrats to the story teller.

Well done!