2018 season...Boot leather and backpacks

[Karl Blanchard]

2018 was an important season for me.  The 2017 season was haunted by tough hunts and a nagging knee injury that prevented me from taking on the mountain like I knew I needed to in order to kill the class of animal I was looking for.  2016 season was not much better with only a big dumb elk and one good buck taken.

With a tuned up knee and the prior seasons haunting my dreams, I vowed to make 2018 the year of the deer!  No distractions, lots of tags, and NO ELK!!!!!!!

After the dust settled from all the draws I had 2 otc idaho deer tags, a Nevada muzzy tag, a 4th season CO tag, and of course I pulled another stinking elk tag here in WA.  So much for no elk and so much for my plans of hitting the WA high hunt for deer.

Summer came and went and the season was finally upon us!  First hunt of the year was to meet my buddy Dioni in Idaho over labor day weekend.  Weather was fantastic and I was seeing lots of deer.  One buck in particular with big back forks that had my eye.  Thick match stick timber was his home and he never offered a stalk opportunity.  Coming home from the long weekend with nothing to show but sore legs and dusty gear complicated things.  With only 5 days to hunt the general rifle season in Idaho, I needed to fill one of my two idaho tags early.

[Pathfinder101]

Tagging along...

[JakeLand]

 

[mburrows]

tag

[Karl Blanchard]

The following weekend my deer hunting was interrupted by this stinking bull tag!  How do you have a year of the deer when you have to elk hunt!  I couldn't get any time off from work for this tag because I used my September week for NV so I was a weekend warrior/every night after work kind of guy.  It was an action packed hunt.  While I knew the top end potential for this unit was relatively low, I was still gonna set my standards on a better than average bull for the unit. 

Opening weekend produced 3 shot opportunities, 2 of which were 6pt bulls.  All week it was a mad dash to get home, strap up, and race to the hills.  Multiple bull encounters every evening of the hunt and endless bugling action but nothing I wanted to hang a tag on.  Last day found me and a couple side kicks back to where it all started.  There was a very large herd of elk that had finally been broken up and multiple bulls had moved in.  Big problem that morning was a few folks must have realized they had been driving past 50 elk every morning and everything we were trying was getting blown up by other hunters who dont know what wind and thermals are.

As we dumped onto an old two track to make an aggressive move on one of the small herds, I caught movement ahead of me in the road.  It was a lonely ol spike.  He bolted at the sight of us but some aggressive cow talk had him slamming on the breaks.  A million thoughts ran through my head.  Do I want to shoot a spike? No.  Am i out of time to hunt this tag? Yes.  Can I see the bottom of the freezer?  Yes.  Will killing this elk afford me the luxury of being picky on my deer tags? Yes.  3 to 1 means a bad day to be a stupid spike elk. 

He fully knew we were there but just couldn't help himself.  The cow talk was too sweet.  When the rangefinder read 50 on the nose I drew, anchored, and pulled through my shot.  Arrow arced over the yellow grass and looked perfectly perfect.  He spun and started to run but more cow sounds slowed him to an uneasy walk.  I could see my arrow hung up by the fletchings.  It was right on the crease and exactly half way up the body.  Couldn't be more perfect.....so I thought.  For 9 more hours and 3.2 miles we ran, climbed, crawled.  Had to hunker under a tree to get out of the rain and then dawn puffy's to help cut the gale force winds.  Tiny specks of blood were lost and then found again.  Finally it was hoof strikes only and then what all hunters fear, a cold trail. 

We ended up on a series of cliffs and rock slides.  In an act of desperation I climbed out onto a rock shelf between cliff bands to see if I could see him moving along the rim rock.  As I was looking down for footing I noticed a small spot of blood!  You have got to be kidding me!?!?!  Then another spot.  And another!  I move another 10 yards and I can see antler tips over the edge!

[Karl Blanchard]

He had moved along this shelf and snuck out onto a cliff face like a damn mountain goat!  The wind was blowing 30mph+ and he was 64 yards.  Too far to shoot in this wind and I wasnt even certain I could retrieve him.  I backed out, got the guys, and found a different vantage point that put me 41 yards (30 yard shot with the cut).  I was mentally relieved at finding him but now I had a different concern. Can I retrieve him if I killed him where he stands? And if I shoot him is he going to die where he is or take a step in the wrong direction? I I'm not accustomed to wounded animals and my immense desire to end his suffering drove me to make the decision to take the shot. I stepped out above him on a rock pinnacle, leaned into the wind, and took my shot. The arrow found its mark and miraculously he did not move.  Within seconds he fell over dead.  I got very lucky as a basketball sized rock jammed in his ribs when he piled up.  This kept him from a 90ft fall! 

The retrieval is something my little brother would refer to as "interesting".  With a few attempts we got down to him, got him into pieces, and got him on to Safe ground.  Upon closer inspection I found my shot had it very low.  It entered bottom of brisket, ricocheted up, taking out the offside lung and exiting mid body.  When we got back to the truck and the spot of the shot we ranged back from where he was standing to where I shot from and it was 63 yards.  I had hit the tops of the grass that were in front of him when I ranged.  Archery is a game of inches and a small error such as an inaccurate range made for a nightmare of a day.

 To say that I was relieved that we found him after all of that would be an understatement.  It's a sickening feeling knowing you have wounded an animal and my expectation with the sign we were following was that we would not find this elk. I'm not proud of how it all went down and it was a good reminder that just when you think you've exhausted all options, just keep searching.

[Karl Blanchard]

It was a sporty climb up and down 

[Karl Blanchard]

I'm doing all this on my phone so be patient

[Antlershed]

You know there’s much easier places to kill Spikes, right? 

Following along, and thanks for deciding to share your adventures.

[bracer40]

Wow! Seriously! That's some steep goat looking country!
Thanks for sharing the good AND the not so good. Looking forward to the rest of the season's stories.

[Karl Blanchard]

You know there’s much easier places to kill Spikes, right? 

Following along, and thanks for deciding to share your adventures.

I'm so painfully aware   if I had made a better shot he would have died within 50 yards of a drivable road

Josh is to thank for me posting.  He's an immense contribution to the forum both on and off the computer screen

[Karl Blanchard]

Wow! Seriously! That's some steep goat looking country!
Thanks for sharing the good AND the not so good. Looking forward to the rest of the season's stories.

I'm not a fan of heights    I wish I'd taken pictures of the route he took to get to where he was. It was literally some straight up mountain goat stuff. I am still in awe where he ended up and I'm still so very thankful that I was able to finish the job that I had started and that he died somewhere where I could get him.

[slowhand]

Tag

[Karl Blanchard]

Some randoms from summer idaho scouting.  First is a demonstration of our ultra light sleep system we used on a weekend kamikaze trip! It's called the fetal position and it is very versatile

[Karl Blanchard]

Second is Dioni multi tasking.  Being able to snack while glassing  is a learned skill and should not be attempted without practice