Well the 2nd round to fill the wife's tag was unsuccessful, but she did have a shot at a small 6x6 she missed and passed on a spike she coulda shot from the road. First day had us racing the winter storm down on Friday and we got camp all set up before it hit. It dumped! we were at 2,000'and woke to 12-14" and knew going up roads out of bottom was a no go. We took quad up to 3,250' and was pushing snow and into radiator. Rest of the week had us hunting from the main road and hiking up 1-2k feet. We saw elk 7 days in a row in the road going to and from spots. One day we found a ridge to walk up from looking at maps without a trail that looked good. We get to ridgeline about 1 mile up and I cow call and immediately a bull bugles back! wow this is good. He bugled every time I called and if I didn't call he would bugle. He wasn't moving towards us after about a hour of back and forth and trying to see him. I marked his location on a map and we decided to go after him. This turned out to be a very wrong decision and one Ill never forget. We made our way over to where I marked on phone and cut his tracks he was alone and appeared from tracks a big bull. there was several small fingers on this hill side, so we would peer over into each one glassing and listening, then i would call. Did this 3 times and nothing followed his track all the way over to where I thought he bedded which he did and moved. Was getting late and had to get out. The amount of down trees in this area was staggering, with brush, steep and 4-12" of snow made for the most treacherous hike I have ever done. I thought one of us was going to tear a knee up or break a bone. I was using trekking poles to check to see if I could step where I was going for hours never knowing if I was on a log or ground. I fell more times then I could count and snapped 1 pole. I fell 3' off a tree into a hole I thought I was standing on the ground and almost tore knee up. Leg is black and blue from calf to thigh. All in all we walked 3.8 mi in 11 hours! Ill never walk back in there again.
We found a herd of 8-9 elk with what appeared to be with a bull from the tracks, but wolves were running them. This area was found on our second to last day and looked to be promising as we found tracks from 2 bulls together and lone bull in the area, but ran out of time. Our final night at camp the wife and I were awakened to the sound of a landslide within 200 yards from camp! that will get your blood going at midnight in the pitch black and fog. A rock hit the ground so hard we could feel the ground shake. I was pretty confident the road was blocked and we would have to leave another way. Loaded truck and hit the road and to my surprise there was nothing it must have stopped above the road. Its now off to chase whitetails. some pics of hunt
