First off, I want to thank everyone that reached out. Especially, Firefowl and Ewoiwod, both of you are great guys and I wish that both you get bull tags next year.
I've been wanting to write up my hunting trip for a few days but just haven't had the time. Our trip went from Tuesday - Midday Friday. Once, I got drawn for the Taneum cow tag I had set some goals for myself and my son. First and foremost I wanted to have the best possible trip with my son and have him enjoy hunting with his dad as much as I enjoyed my time hunting with my dad. Second, Give it all we could, spend as much time hiking and pushing ourselves to get into elk as possible. Third, punch my tag and fill the freezer. Two of the three objectives were reached. Below is our trip in detail.
Tuesday - I wake up to two eyes about 6" from my face and breathing on me. Half startled and half wondering what the hell was going on, I blinked and cleared my head. It was my 14 year old blond son that was so excited that he couldn't sleep. Smiling, I said,"go turn on the coffee and let's get on the road." My pretty blond wife was not that thrilled that we were getting going an hour and a half before she was destined to wake up for work but she was a trooper. An hour later we were on the road. After dealing with traffic on I-5 and Hwy 18 it was free flowing all the way over the pass. We started at the east part of area 336 and about 2 miles up the road, we stopped and decided to start hunting. As we stepped out of the truck on the side of the road, we started up the steep hill (we had to go up this part of the hill to get to the opening that I wanted to scout, glass and hopefully make a play on some elk). Now, I'm 43, in good shape and my son is 14 and in great shape but this hill kicked our asses. Stopping multiple times to catch our breath and look at On-X to verify where were were. The weather was around freezing with snow flurries coming down and our elevation was around 4,500'. Once, got to the spot, it looked great and the wind was perfect. We sat on the clearcut for a while and then did some side hilling and looked out over a big canyon. No elk, a couple deer. We slowly and quietly, worked our way back to the truck. There was so much sign and scat that I'm surprised I didn't step on one. We ate a late lunch and put forth a plan for the rest of the day. We hiked a few more areas and tried to make a plan for first light the next morning. Luckily, we found a great spot and decided to call it a day. Total of 8.5 miles hiked and 3 other hunter seen or spoke with.
Wednesday - We parked the truck at the spot we wanted to be and it was only a 1/3 mile walk to a great look out. Damn, it was cold and dark on our way. Using our headlamps, we both got really excited as we saw lots or prints on the trail that weren't there the day before. Quietly, we sat on the spot where were had ranged was up to a 250 yard spot, which I feel comfortable with in that clearing, and a lot of area to glass on the opposite hills. A Prime spot. As the sun was starting to come up, there was movement at the bottom of the clearing. We couldn't figureout if it was elk or deer. They moved left to right probably 225 yards away. When it was light enough to see them they were going in the woods. We sat there for another 45 minutes then tried to figure out where they would have gone. We put forth a plan on how to intercept them. After about a mile we were at the spot that I thought they would be. Oddly enough, about 30 yards away we jumped a nice 4x3 mule deer and it ran them stood broadside at about 50 yards. If that season was open BANG, deer down. We continued around the bend and never caught up to the deer/elk, however the prints we found were elk and there was probably 3-4.
We worked that spot until 10am and decided to go to spot 2. More wooded but still had opening and felt like good elk country. We slowing and methodically made our way up. Taking a few steps and glassing under the trees, checking the wind and looking for movement. It took a while and after a solid 1.5 to 2 hours to clear the area we found a nice spot to have a snack and rest against a tree. After about 15 minutes, I looked over and my kid was out. Obviously, he was tired and needed a rest. I loved it as we were in a good spot and I’m not sure how many years I have left of my son wanting to lean on me and take a nap.
45 minutes later, we were back at it. We continued up a trail for another mile or so then turned around. On the way back we were quiet but wanted to go to spot 3 so we were not as stealthy and considerate of having elk at this spot, as we went through it an hour ago. Half way down the trail off to our left there was sudden movement and branches breaking. I swung to my left and saw 4-5 elk running quickly as the disappeared into the timber. My son was so excited. We dropped our packs and made a plan. We walked up the hill, followed the prints and they were obviously, gone. “Damn it!” I thought and how stupid can I be, to be so loud and don’t glass before we went down. After glassing and listening for another 30 minutes we walked back to the truck. When we got in the truck, I looked at my kid and he had a huge smile on his face. “Wow dad, that was awesome. Let’s do that again.” I responded that I hope we get the chance.
We arrived at spot 3 which is a tight little clearing with thick trees on the bottom. This was where we were going do the evening hunt. Shooting light ended at 6:15 pm and we got back to the truck and headed out. Total of 9.5 miles and 15-20 hunters and about half had cow tags and it was opening day for cows. I did run into a nice couple guys that had cow tags and saw a spike and passed on it. Personally, we were going to take the first legal elk we saw.
Thursday - After what we saw the day prior we wanted to have the same plan. Again, there were fresh tracks from overnight to the clearing. As the sun came up I saw movement 50 yards in front of me. Bringing up the binoculars, it was two coyotes. Probably, anytime other than the first light when I know elk are around, I would have done my duty and put them down. At first light and knowing there are elk around, I passed. Hoping to get a chance at them later on in the day. Ten minutes later, a stick cracked about 75 yard to my right in an area that I couldn’t see. Then another stick breaks. I tap my son on the shoulder and we starting rotating our bodies and using our binoculars we look. There were three……….. Three hunters walking right down the middle of the clearcut. Well *censored*, I guess we will go to spot 2. I can’t fault the other hunters as they were probably just going to a spot they wanted to hunt. We both waved and we drove off. Spot 2 had to rigs parked. Ok, spot 3. There was no one there. This is the area that we saw the elk. We went slow put in the time, glassed as much as we could and found a couple beds but no elk. That took a while as we were about 2-3 miles deep and the road hunters weren’t able to access. On the way back down it was lunch time. Once again, I look over and the kid is out. It was a pretty amazing feeling sitting with my rifle next to me, overlooking a beautiful clearing with my best friend sleeping on my shoulder. I had this hunch that everything was perfect. The wind, the shooting lanes and the area just was perfect. I was imagining a beautiful elk walking right in front of us….. But, it didn’t happen. We stayed there for about an hour and when he woke, we headed back to the truck. It was getting to be late afternoon and we found a spot to watch as the sun went down. No elk that day and the weekend hunters were showing up. As we transitioned from spot to spot there were lots of hunters and new camps. One camp was situated in the middle of a clearing that we hunted on Wednesday. Total 9.25 miles. Around 100 hunters and a lot new camps. While having dinner, we tried to devise a plan for the morning hunt as it was our last day.
Friday - The last morning was cold and clear. Sadly, we had to be back home around 1ish and it's a minimum 2 hr drive. We went straight to spot 2 and there was a truck already parked. However, there are 3 trails that diverge from that area so we went up the one that didn’t have any human tracks. We hiked up didn’t see much and jumped a couple does and a few grouse. Around 10 we called it. Getting back to the truck it was really clear that we were not going to be close to getting any land to ourselves. With that we headed back home. 3.5 miles that morning. We spoke a bit on the drive home but not too much as he was listening to his music and I was listening the radio.
The majority of the hunters I spoke to were great. All happy about the season and getting to hunt. I really enjoyed the two guys that gave my son knuckles and were very encouraging. Only one guy said, that since we live on the westside we should not hunt over on the Eastside. Ok, cool that was a brief conversation. There weren’t many gun shots over the days. Maybe 3 or 4 and that’s covering a lot of area.
Reflecting on our trip and the goals, that we set going into our hunt, it was successful. Goal number 1 - complete. Goal number 2 - complete. Goal number 3, I wouldn’t say it was a failure but a postponement for next year. But technically goal number 3 was a failure for this year. We had a great time. 9/10 is the rating I gave it and 10/10 is what my son rated it. We did over 30 miles over the ground in 4 days and push ourselves, smiled, laughed, hugged and dealt with sore legs. He did ask if we can go again and I explained all we had left was late deer season so absolutely we will go. And we will apply again for all the tags like we did this year but with 0 points for me now it’s going to be a tough one to get. He will have 5 youth tag points so that will be our best hope.
I hope you enjoyed reading this little debriefing as much as I enjoyed writing it. Best of luck for the remainder of this year and into next year.
