Had a great trip again this year with Cedar. Opening day was frustrating to say the least, put many many miles on the boots only to find where the elk had been 3+ months ago. On the second day we made a trip further west and managed to find a heard of elk (see Cedar's post on the Umptanum thread
). Decided we would go back to that area Monday and see what we could make happen. After a slight tire mishap on our way up, we decided to hike in on a different rd than we had originally planned. Got a mile and a half or so in and heard some movement up on the hillside. Threw out a couple cow calls and down the hill the noise came. No sooner did I get my gun up, legs appeared in the creek bottom below us. When it came into view, to our surprise, it was a spike! Then the work began. Had we not gotten the flat, the pack out would have been a piece of cake. Maybe 100yds total to the rd, then an easy drive out. But having the trusty spare on the truck left both of us feeling it was safest to man up and carry the critter out on our backs. Huge thanks to Cedar for all his help!
