Well,
i dont even know where to start.....so i will just start typing. Back when we found out we were drawn for this tag i put some pretty high expectations on the three of us. To get drawn for this tag was an honor in itself, but to be able to hunt very hard for two weeks with my brother and dad was even more rewarding than i could have asked for.
The memories we made in two weeks will last forever in my mind.
The melted boots by the fire, my bro not pulling the trigger on a 5x5 the second day of the hunt (hes kickin himself now), my dad having cell phone calls while sitting at camp, the snow blizzard opening morning, the timber tiger obstacle course, the broken lantern glass, getting lost a few times, the gigantic camp fires, stealing coals for my dutch oven, the countless times being scared out of our minds by grouse...i could go on for days.....
3 weekend scouting trips from august-october
a million hours on hunt-washington website
a million emails to people seeking information about rimrock
10 different maps
who knows how much we spent at joes and cabelas
time off from work
__________________________
all of this cant compare to the special time I had sharing the woods with my dad brother.
Now down to the good stuff:
I will bet that from Oct 18th thru Nov 2nd there was not many hunters that hunted harder and longer than my dad brother and I.
we hunted nearly every hour of daylight, rain, shine or snow. At times we hiked 10+ miles a day.
we covered a hundred miles on foot and i dont think we missed any road in the whole unit.
We saw a "ton" of elk in two weeks. About 40 cows and maybe about 5-7 bulls, but my brother was the only one to have a "legit" shot at a 5x5 and a spike that he decided on his best judgment not to take the shot. he has his reasons and i stand behind him that he didnt take a bad shot near dark and at around 275-300 yards.
So yeah we came home empty handed
and even so we still all had smiles on our faces
when we drove home.
so i will say this: i learned a very hard lesson this hunting season.....
Elk hunting is 95% luck (right place right time) and 5% skill.
I dont regret anything we did over the last three months in preparing for this hunt.
I hope that this hunt has jump-started my dads intrest back into hunting.
And no doubt my brother is hooked for sure.
So the way i see it is that even though we didnt get to hang anything this year it was a very sucessful trip and i hope that getting drawn for this tag has re-started a family tradition for many years to come.
I wont sit here and tell you that i wouldnt have loved to knock down a 6x6 or even a spike at this point, but it just wasnt in the cards for us but as we drove out of camp we told all of the new friends we met...."see ya next year".
Thanks to everyone on this site for all your help.
i wouldnt have made this trip how it was with out you guys.
thanks again!
What's that i hear?
............. QUACK QUACK QUACK.......Bang!!!!!
time to slay some ducks!
