My 2007 Idaho ELK --the long version (x2) with pics

Last Thursday evening, my wife, my 19 month old son and I loaded into the Nissan Titan and headed for my families lake cabin which is located on Lake Cascade in South Central Idaho. For the past two years (the only two years we've owned the cabin) we have made the final weekend of the elk hunt a family adventure and my parents, my sister, my nephews and my wife and son and I have all called the cabin "base camp". From there, we spread out in various directions and hunt. The only issue is that we usually get tags for the Weiser River area, which is not the unit where the cabin is located...It is at least an hour drive to get into unit 32A which begins at the ridge atop West Mountain (aptly named as it runs the full length of Lake Cascade along the Western shore). So, we usually hunt casually from the cabin, we get up late, eat a breakfast as a family and take our time and enjoy the memories that are being made. This year I had a hot tip from my wife's uncle as to where a herd of elk had been seen several evenings in a row at about 6:00 each night. I wanted to make sure that there was no reason that I wouldn't be sitting in that spot at 6:00 on Friday evening. So, my dad and I (who were both feeling rather sick, me with a stomach bug and my dad with sinus/head cold) left the cabin earlier than usual. We drove for approximately 2 and a half hours to get to the parking spot where we would begin hiking.

The parking spot is at the end of a logging road which stops on a point where you can see for hundreds of breath taking miles. The sky was clear and the forecast was for sun and a light breeze. At about 10:00 in the morning we devised our plan. There were two other vehicles at the end of this road and we didn't know which direction they had traveled. Odds were they had gone down, because from this point, almost everything was down.

Following my wife's uncle's instructions, "you want to make sure you are sitting in the saddle at 4:00 and just stay there until shooting light is past" we decided to go ahead and walk to the saddle which was about a mile down from the suburban. The terrain was very steep and rugged with lots of loose rock, but the trail along the ridge was well traveled and completely covered in elk tracks. Across the draw I noticed some movement and upon glassing, I could see that a small mule deer buck had began to feed into a grassy opening in the timber across the draw.

I knew we were in the right spot, when I saw the numerous sets of fresh tracks that had come over the saddle the night before. I got very excited in anticipation of what might happen that afternoon. My dad and I had made a pact that we would sit more than we walked, which is a difficult task for both of us, but we were determined not to leave the spot for fear of missing our opportunity. After all, this was Nov. 2nd and the hunt ended the next day. This was our last real shot at taking an elk because we had to be back to town by 3 pm on Saturday for my wife's grandparent’s 50th anniversary party.

So, dad and I found a vantage point where we felt like we could survey most of the surrounding area and settled in at about 12:00. We were there for the duration...at least that was the intent. After 2 hours of sitting/napping/glassing and snacking my legs got the urge to bust some brush. I decided that I would drop down into the deep dark draw that was situated just south of the ridge we were seated on. I started down into the brush and across the small stream, as I began to climb out of the other side and into the timber I heard the sound of elk running through the brush. I radioed to my dad that I thought I had spooked a few elk and to keep his eyes open. I continued to hear them as they worked their way out of the draw, but I never got to see them.

My dad saw them and it was just a cow and a calf, so no shooting for him.

I took my time and worked along the ridge that paralleled our ridge and then dropped back into the bottom where I found a variety of scrapes and rubs as well as a couple of wallows. I climbed for what seemed like hours to get back out of the bottom and back to my place on the ridge to rejoin my dad who never left. We decided that we had better settle in for the afternoon and get comfortable. I suggested that we move up the hill about 200 yards so that it would be easier to walk out in the dark when we were leaving. So, we moved up and sat down, ate a sandwich (at least my dad did, my stomach still wasn’t cooperating with me), and began to glass the hills around us. At about 5:30 we began to see a few deer feeding on the hill below us, but nothing in the way of elk.

My dad was seated about 40 feet to the east of me on a rock and we both were watching intently. At about 6:00 I thought I heard the low rumble of elk hooves on the rocky hillside above me. I strained my neck to see what could be making the noise, but saw nothing. My dad, who hates to walk in the dark in the mountains stood up five minutes later as the sun was settling in to the distant mountain pass and walked over to me. He coughed loudly and then apologized and suggested that we call it a day and head back before it got dark on us. Everything in me said, wait 5 more minutes…this is PRIMETIME. I drug my feet and glassed a little more and told my dad about the deer I had spotted, all in hopes of giving the elk a few more minutes to stick their necks out of the timber on the far side of the ridge.

Dad gave up waiting on me and started to ease his way back over to his seat to get his pack when he suddenly made a low PPSSSTTT noise. I turned quickly to see him hunched over motioning me his way. I quickly gathered my rifle and sneaked my way to him. I could see two elk heads around a large rock formation approximately 110 yards away and then I noticed three more above them and two more below. The last light of the evening was fading when all of the sudden a shot rang out two ridges over. All of the elk jerked their heads up, ears perked forward, then another shot and another. I could see the elk were getting nervous so I raised my rifle and saw that there was a spike in my view. I placed the crosshairs high on his shoulder where it meets the neck and pulled the trigger. The bull dropped and rolled twice before coming to rest on the steep hillside. “Good shot” my dad said!

I watched as the elk moved about in confusion, not really spooked, just slightly disoriented. I could see that there was another spike in the group so I said to my dad, “There is another spike going up the hill, if you want him, take him!” My dad shot and the bull turned and started down the hill, dragging his back legs, it was a hit. My dad shot again, but the bull still tried to pull itself down the hill. Finally, with another shot to the neck two spike elk lay within 15 feet of each other and my dad and I stood there giving congratulations to each other as the light quickly faded. We had a lot of work ahead of us and very little time, so we quickly snapped a photo or two and then got to the work of field dressing and opening the animals up to cool them out for the night. We knew that we would have to come back in the morning to get them out. A night pack in this terrain would have been suicide.

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I made a quick phone call to my buddy who was more excited for us and was willing to come meet us in the morning to help us pack them out.

My dad and I still had 2 and a half hours worth of driving to do. We were back at the rig at 8:00 and to the cabin by 10:30. We didn’t get to bed until nearly midnight and then we were back up at 4:45 to make sure we got to the bulls at first light to begin the pack.

We arrived at the scene at 8:00 on Saturday, morning, a little later than planned due to my buddy getting a ticket on his way to help us pack the meat (just an insurance ticket which he can get waived, which sure beats a speeding ticket for doing 73 in a 55 which was the officer’s other option). We took a few more celebratory photos and then began the work of quartering and boning the two elk. We made two trips with my dad, my friend and I carrying the majority of the meat, but I have to give credit to my mountain-goat of a wife and my sister for their strength as my wife packed a front quarter out and my sister carried a head/horns out for us. If it hadn’t been for the girls we would have had to make another trip which I am certain would have killed us. Both elk were packed out and we were back at the car by 4:00 pm. My first trip out I carried a hind quarter and a front shoulder which was a heavy load (I estimate 120 lbs with hide and bone still in). The second trip was lighter (thanks to my wife) and I only had to pack a hind quarter. It was about a 1-1/2 hike with about 500 feet elevation change but most of it was in the first 100 and the last 200 yards which were nearly straight up.

Looking forward to some good freezer meet, but I am looking even more forward to my mule deer hunt which starts next weekend. Those things weigh a whole lot less!

Sorry it was so long just to tell the story of two spikes, but my wife (who is my editor) went to bed.

Gregg
AKA GPWDeer

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Sorry I don't have any pictures of the other bull yet, they are on my dad's camera. I will post them soon, but the bull is very similar in size except he broke off one beam about 1/2 way up.