Elk Tag Soup but Blackie Buck down

[pianoman9701]

Washelkhunter got a good campsite way out of the way and far down a rutted road, so we were pretty much undisturbed. Bahuna got us hooked up with a 34 ft. RV that was like a hotel. Great times by the fire. Full working facilities. We had a doe who came into camp almost every day for peanuts. After the buck was hung on Thursday, she didn't come back though.

We hunted 560 and 572 for 9 days and saw so little fresh sign it was a bit disheartening. I did get a small spike buck. I'll have to wait to post pics my buddy took because the Garmin VIRB camera I was using didn't save anything after Tuesday - I lost a ton of pics and video and that sucks. The buck tastes great. Wonderful food on the table and the trip with my buddy Bahuna was excellent. The last day Saturday, we decided to do an AM hunt and then pack up. We were able to get into a meadow that we've hunted before but had guys there all week. Saturday, we got there first. We set up some deeks and did a little calling, some raking. After a bit we left to go pack. On the way out, there were calf tracks on top of our boot tracks from the way in. I tracked as far as I could and did some cow calling, but nothing came together. That was it and we went home later. It took us all of about 2 hours to break camp.

The habitat in 560 and 572 around the north side of Indian Heaven is poor and horribly choked. They've started cutting trees finally, so it should improve in some areas over the next 5 years, but it's got a long way to go. We'll be looking for a new unit next year. With all the good public land units now closing for late archery, there's little but WEYCO to hunt. So this will be it for us this year. Even a bad elk trip is better than the best day working. Thanks for a good time and a good partner, Brucie.

[Kain]

Congrats on the buck.   

[washelkhunter]

Congrats on the buck Ringo! Wish i could have come back up. Did Bahuna have any trouble driving out of that site?   

[pianoman9701]

Thanks Kain! No, we got out just fine. The ruts were bigger when we left but no problem. Venison tenderloin salads last night, liver for breakfast this AM. Backstraps for dinner tonight!

[washelkhunter]

Thanks Kain! No, we got out just fine. The ruts were bigger when we left but no problem. Venison tenderloin salads last night, liver for breakfast this AM. Backstraps for dinner tonight!

  you're killing me!

[DIYARCHERYJUNKIE]

   good work pman!!!  I might be able to point ya towards a few elk next year pman shoot me a pm and I'll do what I can. 

[pianoman9701]

What a great group of guys! 

[hntrspud]

Good job pman!  Dont you have late season for elk?

[Band]

I was rooting for you to score on an elk, Pman, but you got the next best thing.  And there's always the late season too.  Nice job on the buck, looking forward to the story & pic.

[pianoman9701]

Thanks Band and hntrspud. Most of the public land units on the wet side close late season, leaving mostly the WEYCO, Hancock, Rayonier, etc. units. I won't be paying those guys to hunt limping elk. They'd probably turn me down for the permit anyway. They've got a big front and side shot of BBarnes, jongosch, and me in their head offices! Maybe Washougal unit on DNR land is a possibility. We'll see. It's goose season then, too.

[pianoman9701]

Little spike Blackie.

[SnakeEyes]

Nice job!

[Kain]

Your camp sounds amazing.  Im a little jealous.   

[pianoman9701]

A friend of a friend has the RV and let us use it for some repairs to it - battery, maintenance, etc. It ended costing us about 1/5 what it would have had we rented. Granted, it's 20 years old, but it sure was comfortable. The shower is bigger than mine at home.

[MLBowhunting]

Nice pic.