CoryTDF Idaho 2018

[CoryTDF]

Day 1
I cringed a bit at the 7-11 coffee as it had that acidic tang of cheap and slightly burnt coffee. Still the aroma of the coffee mixed with the smell of hunting gear and some spilled unleaded fuel was enough to set wild the pulse of any hunter. The chocolate doughnut wrapper crinkled as I pulled another fat pill out and stuffed it in my mouth. Chocolate doughnuts have become somewhat of a tradition for me and I could not start this trip by breaking a lasting tradition. A failed sip of coffee left a small wet spot soon to be a stain on previously clean camouflage pants. Now it was a hunting trip.

The Idaho state line came into view and as my tires rumbled over the bridge separating one state from the next. I could not help but allow my mind to run wild with what may prove to be one of my best trips to date. I was going in solo and this was the largest hunt I had ever planned to do alone. It would be alone for the first 4 days of this hunt and I planned to make it an adventure of a lifetime. My radio blasted old Marty Robbins and as each mile marker past I get a bit more excited.

The green gate was surprisingly pristine and on it hung a white sign with large letters saying “Road Closed” but it was clear than people did not always follow that warning. The rhythmic click of the gears on the mountain bike seemed to echo throughout the whole canyon and when it finally stopped at a large landing I was on cloud 9. The air was thick with the smell of sweet grass and though it was unusually warm that day the past rains loosed up the perfume of wet mountain sides and with it the dreams of big bull elk.

Camp was a tipi with a titanium stove though this heat wave made the stove seem silly. I set camp up entirely as I knew it would be a late night of walking back in the dark and I did not want to have to fuss with anything upon my return. I set out dinner for the night and hung my food sack before I departed for my hunt.

The clanking sound of the round being stripped from the magazine and the clunk of the bolt as it settled into its seat was one that I had been waiting to hear for nearly a year. It was go time on the mountain and as my boots softly clomped on the ground I was dreaming of big bulls and each step brought me closer. I was walking slowly though the forest was so thick I could not see anything I was letting my ears do the work. 300 yards away from an old burn edge I hear a bugle.

It was October 22 and I never thought that I would be calling in bulls during this hunt but I brought along my cow call because it does help stop a bull at any time of year. I reached for the call and let out a few short calls which were answered immediately and I could hear the forest erupt. The sound of breaking branches and long whistling bugles was getting louder and closer with every second and I had no choice but to shelter in place. I was caught in about the worst place that I could be and with no place to go I just laid down on the trail and hoped for a shot that would be no more than about 10 yards. The bull was inside 75 yards or so and still coming fast when the wind swirled and I listen in sadness as I heard the retreat.
 
A half mile of trail separated me from my current location and the perch in which I planned to sit. My blood pumping with excitement at the thought of nearly calling a bull into archery range and it was like a movie that played over and over in my mind as I continued on. My perch was on a rock outcropping that was about 100 yards off the trail and up the side of a very steep hill. As I struggled through the brush I stopped for a break and right at my feet I saw what looked to me a moose paddle. I reached down and that was exactly what it was. This has been my unicorn for all the years I have shed hunted and I finally found one! I was sure this was a sign of luck to come! 

Sitting on my perch the sun was hot against my face. I was in a long sleeve shirt but was wishing that I had something lighter. The bright sun made the yellow tamarack trees shine and their brightness enhanced the green of the pines. It was really a splendid view.  I sat there glassing and daydreaming for about an hour before I heard the first bugle. It came from a patch of trees about 400 yards in front of me. The second bugle came from the left and the third from the right! I was right in the middle of three bulls and I was getting absolutely pumped. I knew now that it was a waiting game. One of these bulls would make the mistake of coming into a clearing and I would capitalize on that. I thought briefly about trying my cow call but thought better of it as they did not know I was there and I didn’t want to draw attention to myself. It was a waiting game and I needed to be patient. I would wait, watch, and pray that one of these bulls would come out to feed.

For the next 2 hours I sat listening to bulls bugle and the anticipation had me going a bit nutty. My eyes started playing tricks on me and I was watching huge bugling bulls transform back into large boulders. I heard sticks breaking under the massive weight of a bull only to see it transform back into a squirrel. I was coming out of my skin but I knew I had to wait. I turned around and glassed a hill behind me where I had shot at a bull the year prior and when I turned back around to look into the trees I saw a tan body. My heart started to pump and I got my gun ready. It was a spike and a pretty good one at that. In another world I would have flattened him right then but I had mature bulls bugling and because of this he got a pass. A short time later I hear a cow barking. She came into view and I could not see what she was in such a fit about but I watched her feed over the hill. My eyes raced back and forth searching every space and opening. A tan body came into view through a window in the jack pines. It was a bull!

The bull was feeding into an open meadow but he was running parallel with the trees. The first window gave me an opportunity to see him and he walked behind cover. I steadied my rifle on the next opening and when he came into view I placed my crosshair on his shoulder and took up the slack in the trigger. Boom! The rifle bucked and when it settled I could no longer see the bull but nor did I see him go down. The woods erupted in crashing and chaos so I grabbed for my cow call and used it to quell the madness. The second cow call was answered by a bugle and soon after a bull was charging towards me. There was still loud crashing coming from the area I had last seen the bull I shot at and so I pulled up my glasses to see if I could get a better view. I watched with intense excitement and when I saw the bull raise his head and then fall I knew he was done. I had done it and I was solo!

[CoryTDF]

My bull was down and there was no point in messing with the other bull that was coming into my calls. I abandoned any thought of seeing him and gathered my things. I had about 300 yards of ground to cover before I could get to my bull. I left behind my spotting scope, moose paddle, tripod, and a woobie that I mistakenly thought I would need. When I arrived in the clearing I was surprised to see how open it was. From my perch it appeared to be choked out with dead jack pine but in reality it was open and ideal for elk grazing. I weaved through the blow downs and dead burnt trees and when my bull came into view I was stunned. He was better than I thought he was!

I had a monumental task to complete and I got right to work. I had nearly taken off one whole hind quarter before I realized I hadn’t even gotten a photo. I spent the next five minutes or so trying to get a good picture and though I was not pleased with them I had work that needed done and what I had was going to have to be good enough. I hung the quarters in the trees tying each one to a different flimsy dead pine. When I finished quartering the bull I had blood from my knees to my nipples. I took the backstrap, tenderloin and the head and placed them on my pack. My pack was cinched up and I was ready to get back to my camp. It was just dark enough now that I needed my headlamp for the walk back to camp.

My walk back to camp was a bit sketchy and I am not afraid to admit that I was a bit creeped out. I had this strange feeling that something was paralleling me in the woods as I walked covered in blood with a pack full of delicious elk meat. I was happy to make it to my tipi without having to fend off a hungry beast. The night was not a peaceful one as I over estimated how cold it would be and thus spent most of the night sweating in my 0 degree sleeping bag. I also was sure I could hear a mouse or squirrel chewing on my bull’s horns and that was not a happy thought. Morning came and I was not well rested at all.

[lamrith]

Nice write-up and Congrats Cory!

[CoryTDF]

Day2
I had used a bicycle and a small child trailer that converts into a stroller to get all my gear into my camp. Those first 2 miles of trail/logging road are good enough to ride and I was able to bring in a comfortable camp. I converted the trailer into a stroller and pushed it for the next mile and a half. I fought through blow downs and overgrowth to get out to the area where my meat was hanging. I left the cart on the trail and hiked up to the bull and began to bone it out. The rain waited until my knife hit flesh and then it began to rain intermittently all day. I boned out the quarters and cut away the neck meat. In an act of complete foolishness I loaded all the meat into my pack and thought I would get it out in one trip. After several failed attempts at standing up I decided I would need at least two trips. After the second trip I loaded all the meat into the stroller and then had to hike back to the rock outcropping to get the things I had left there the night before. Once loaded I had a mile and a half walk back to camp and it was completely uphill through blowdowns and overgrowth.

 When my camp came into view I was completely exhausted. I had unloaded and loaded the cart more times than I could keep track of. I pulled it up over logs and pushed it through overgrowth. I was almost at my breaking point when I made it to camp. I decided to have a snack and drink some water while thinking about my next move. It was still raining but it was hot. I guess the temperature to be in the mid 50’s and I knew that I could not hang meat for long in that temperature. I needed to get the meat to a cooler and so the decision was made to continue on to my truck. I loaded the rest of the meat from the night before and the head into the stroller and also some of the camp items I did not think I needed to leave. The next 2 miles of uphill walking would prove to be the most physically challenging undertaking of my life. The road was soft with the fresh rain and I quit thinking about miles and started thinking about steps. I just need to get 20 steps I would tell myself and when I would get only 8 and need a break I began to feel this task was hopeless. This is where that mental toughness I hear so much about in the Army came into play. It was a road march and as much as it sucked I knew that there was an end to it if I just kept going.

Seeing the gate brought forth an overwhelming sensation of accomplishment. I stopped and took off my pack laying it next to the stroller. I had another 100 yards to walk until I made it to my truck and I was not going to carry anymore weight. The walk to my truck was surreal and I felt as though I might pass out. I backed down to the gate and loaded my truck. Sitting in my driver’s seat feeling as though it would swallow me I looked out the windsheild with a 1000 yard stare. Snapping back to life I used my SPOTX device to text my wife and have her locate a cooler for me. When I got cell service nearly two hours later I made a call and found a place for my meat to hang. Half way up the hill I realized that I had forgotten my wallet at camp so I had to have my wife call in and pay for a hotel room in town and then call me in a pizza. I ate, showered, washed my clothes after the nice desk lady let me use their washing machine and then I slept deeper than I may have ever slept before.

[CoryTDF]

Day 3
The morning came and I was triumphantly back up on the mountain to retrieve my camp. I had left my tipi, stove, sleeping system, bicycle, food sack, and some other random items at the camp. After 4 mile round trip I was back to the truck and after loading it up I was off to scout a new camp that would fit myself and the friends that would be showing up. I met up with one of the groups at about 4pm and we decided on a camp. They left to hunt and I stayed back to glass some areas that looked promising for mule deer. Pathfinder101 (Mark) showed up at around 11pm and we got to work setting up his wall tent. It was well after midnight before we got to sleep and it was a cold night. My body was sore and the shivering that plagued me every time the fire went out was less than pleasurable.

[CoryTDF]

Day 4
I hiked out of camp with the plan to work a loop. There was a motorcycle trail that went about 3 miles back and above that another trail that I could hike to and use it as my path back to camp. I estimated this whole loop to be around 9 miles.
When I hit the end of the first trail I found myself looking at a nice 6x6 bull walking leisurely past me at about 90 yards. This was the first of 7 bulls I would see that day 4 of which were in shooting range. Alas, I did not have a bull tag and my friends were not with or near me. I would have some great stories for them when I got back to camp.
Near the ¾ mark of my loop I headed up to a tall peak and when I got there I could see into the area that I had shot my bull. Mark was sitting on my perch and I got out my spotting scope to see if I could see him. ZZZZZZZZZZZ LOL there he was. Back at camp there was much resentment as I showed them the video I took of the bull at 90 yards. We also had a good laugh at the picture I took of Sleepy Bear.

[CoryTDF]

Day 5 
All 4 of us heading into the area that I had seen the bulls the day before. We decided to split up and post in the two areas that I had seen bulls and as Mark and I worked over the area we planned to sit we jumped a pair of mule deer bucks. I looked at the retreating deer and saw what I believed was a shooter.

The buck was moving into an area that I could not see him so I decided to move down the hill a bit for a better view. As I was getting into position I heard Mark shoot. I was watching the deer and they did not seem to flinch. When last I had seen them the larger of the two bucks was in front and after the shot I saw him come back over the rise and look downhill. I saw his large back fork and knowing I did not have time for contemplation I made the shot. He folded in place and began to roll down the hill and into some brush. I had just killed a great buck!

The hillside was steep. It was very steep in fact and it was a chore to get up to the buck. When I arrived at the deer I was instantly confused. This was no monster buck. This was not even a great buck. It was a pretty typical 4x4 and I was really confused. I had seen the other deer as it ran and I do not remember seeing an exponentially larger rack so I was very confused. Had I misjudged this deer that badly? Was this the worst case of ground shrinkage I have ever seen? Anyway you cut the pie the buck was dead and I had work to do.

Mark boned out the buck as I cut off quarters. Sadly Mark did not bring a pack that was capable of carrying any meat so he took what gear he could from me and I loaded the boned out buck into my pack. With my rifle, gear and the whole buck I estimate I had around 85-90 LBS. in my pack. We were almost exactly 3 miles from camp and it was again all up hill. I was wiped out beyond words by the time the wall tent came into view. I packed that whole buck myself save for a small reprieve when mark carried the heavy pack for about 4 or 500 yards.

I still just can’t get over the fact that I may have shot the wrong buck. That is not like me at all and lord knows I have given some friends a hard time for making this mistake in the past. Mark and I would spend the next day’s talking this back and forth with the end consensus being that there is a 50/50 chance that I shot the smaller buck or that there was a third deer we never knew was there. There is no way to tell for sure but in the end I am happy to have filled my tag.

[go4steelhd]

Nice work! Thanks for sharing with us

[blackveltbowhunter]

Nice animals and great adventure, can't ask for anymore than that.

[carpsniperg2]

  Way to go.

[bracer40]

Great writing! Thank you for sharing with us all!

[Dan-o]

Well done, Cory!

[elkrack]

Looks like an amazing hunt nice work 

[whacker1]

Well Done!

[full choke]

Thanks for sharing the story!

Congratulations on a great hunt!