Good Luck- Gatekeeper- Chris Kinslow- Gary Norris (pics added)

[Missouri CK]

[Missouri CK]

This last picture is my father-in-law Gary Norris.  Some of you may remember a couple of bear hunting stories Gary and Charlie Lamb have shared from the past.

Gary is really the reason why I started shooting traditional.  He took me on my first elk hunt and like a crack addict I was hooked.  He spent the last morning hunting with Tom and I and it was good to be back with my first elk hunting partner.  

Gary has kept on hunting despite two total knees and now a total shoulder replacement.  The dude is a walking bionic man.  Gary's dad passed away about three weeks ago after fighting with multiple medical conditions for several years.  

Here's to Gary for putting together a great hunting group and continuing to push on despite his recent loss.  A lot of guys would have hung it up a long time ago.  Gary was still diving off into the brush with his Sunbear bow in hand.  

I'm looking forward to sitting in a double bull blind this fall with Gary and my son Charlie.

Thanks for getting me started with trad, Gary.  Its been a great journey and has allowed me to meet a lot of great people.

Chris

[bowhunterfrompast]

Great pics, thanks for sharing.

bhfp

[Gatekeeper]

Thanks buddy!

I'll add stories and pictures tomorrow. Dial up is a little slow for picture transfers. It will be fun sharing our trip with the gang.

[John3]

     

great story and pics... Trips are all about memories.


JDSIII

[Charlie Lamb]

Looking forward to more!! Great stuff so far Chris.
 

[BMOELLER]

More More More boys!!  Hey didn't I say I wasn't in the mood for any excuses!!

[Dave Bulla]

We're waaaaaaiiiiiittttttiiiiiinnnnnngggggggg!!!!!!

[Gatekeeper]

This is my story of the 2008 elk hunt that I shared with Chris Kinslow, Gary Norris, Tim Taylor, Bill Ford and David Johnson.

How we met

I met Chris through Trad Gang when a group of Kansas City guys decided to meet in February of this year to talk about forming a club in our area. Other then that meeting Chris and I had not spent any time together. Then one day out of the blue I got a call from Chris which I missed so I contacted him through email. He asked me if I would be interested in joining him, his father in-law and a few other guys, whom I had never met, for an elk hunt in Idaho. Of course this didn't require too much thought on my part. What an opportunity and what a huge chance these guys were taking to invite me into their camp. They didn't really know me or my personality. The last thing anybody wants to do is spend a week in camp with a person that gets on everyone's nerves but this guys were willing to roll the dice and take that chance.

Preparing for the Hunt

I was already trying to keep my archery skills sharp my shooting at local 3D shoots with Trad Gang members Ben Saye, Brian Moller, Robert Goodwin, Bret Eisman, Kevin Symes and a few other KC guys. All of them I met through the February meeting. Once I committed myself to the Idaho elk hunt Chris and Gary invited me over to shoot with them at Gary's house. I refer to this first time of shooting together as my audition. They had a few targets setup in the backyard where we began our shooting. Then they said lets go inside and shoot at our indoor redneck shooting range. Okay was my answer of course but I was not sure what they had in mind. What they showed me in the basement was really very clever. They have a large backstop setup with a white sheet covering it and in front of the backstop is a projector. Chris inserted a disc, Gary dimmed the lights and they begin to tell me that they shoot at the elk that had been filmed in the elk hunting videos that they own. Ha ha ha... pretty cool and great fun!

Our summer was also spent shooting 3D targets in my wife's indoor riding arena during bad weather and 3D targets in our back yard. Then one day I invited Chris over (Gary was also invited but we can't seem to get him to stop working) to shoot the walk through range that I had setup in our timber. This quickly became our training center and we would gather on Thursdays and occasionally Sundays to practice our shooting and get to know each other better. Along with Chris came his 3 year old son who wants to shoot his bow and be one of the guys. This went on most of the summer and was something I looked forward to throughout the week.

Along with practicing our shooting came the gathering of gear. Which required a few trips to Cabela's and the Nocking Point and these proved to be dangerous missions!

Here are a few pictures from the range that we shoot at.

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

[Gatekeeper]

The Trip to Missoula

Our trip began on 9/10/08 at 5:20 PM. I had sent the guys an Excel file that counted down the time that was left until our trip. This file broke the time that we had left until takeoff into days, hours, minutes and seconds. When we began the countdown I think we had 8 million seconds to go.        We were so worried about our gear getting to it's destination but we almost didn't make it. Yeah we're on top of things. Chris and I agreed that we would be okay with not hearing our names over the intercom anymore during this trip.        We would of felt like a couple of heals standing at the window with our mouths hanging open watching our plane take off. Then trying to figure out how we were going to explain to our wives the reason we missed our plane.    :rolleyes:

[Gatekeeper]

Day 1

Chris and I meet the rest of the group in the cafeteria the next morning at 6:00. There are four traditional shooters and two shooters that use the "C" word.

 

The ride to the Kelly Creek trail head is three hours from Missoula.

 

At the trail head we are assigned our horses. The horse that I am assigned is named Cammy.
 

 

I climb on her with bow in hand and notice that she has a hard time standing still. She is prancing around everywhere. I dismount and wait until everyone else is ready before I mount her again. When it is time to ride I get on my horse again and she immediately tries to get to the head of the train. Jake the guide asked me to hold her back. Ha ha... as if I didn't notice my horses head next to his leg. As we ride the road to the entrance of the suspension bridge I continue to try to figure out how to control my over eager horse. At the ramp of the bridge I dismount the mare and walk her across the swaying bridge.

 

As we begin our 3.5 hour accent on the trail to our spike camp, Jake looks back at me a couple of times with an uneasy look on his face. At the first switchback Jake asked me if I would like to switch horses with him and I graciously except his offer. My new ride is named Skits. Skits has his own set of problems, he is a nibbler and I had to fight to keep his head up but at least I didn't feel as if he was going to take me unexpectedly down the trail-less mountain side.

The biggest challenge we encountered while headed to camp was bees. Along the trail were holes in the dirt where the bees lived. Jake was equipped with wasp and hornet spray and he was on the lookout for the buggards but sometimes they would not get rieled up until the third or fourth horse went by. For me, there were no bee incidence, thank goodness.

We arrived in camp around 6:30 and are greeted by Denny one of the ranglers and Trail one of the camp dogs.

 

 

The mule train that carried, our gear and food was about 3 hours behind us. Chris, Gary and I use this time to stump shoot in the meadow while there was light then we build a fire and waited for the mule train. The mule train arrived around 10:00 we ate and then we were off to bed.

 

[BMN]

Great start guys! Keep it coming.  

[Gatekeeper]

Day 2

This is our first day to hunt. My hunting partner is Chris and our guide is Jake. Jake is an 18 year old young man from Wisconsin. Jake put the hunting party that was in the week prior on a 5 x 5 bull that they worked for 5 hours. Jake has grown up hunting elk with his father in Colorado and has spent his whole life on the elk ranch that his family owns in Wisconsin. Chris and I thought that we might be taking a chance on someone so young but we felt he had a very good understanding of elk and how they would behave and we thought his youth and energy level would be best suited for us. I am pleased to say we were right!

Our first trip out was to Switchback Mountain. We rode the Junction trail with Gary, Tim and their guide Rich.

 

At the Switchback Mountain trail we parted from the other three.

 

Our horses plodded along and Jake began to cow call. He used the combination of a handheld mew call and mouth lost cow call. Within minutes of departing from the others Jake stops and lets out a musical bugle that echoed through the mountains and with in seconds there is a response! The response was faint but it sounded great!

We continue on the trail Jake continues with repetitive cow calls. Within a few yards there is movement. Chris saw a few cows ahead of us. Cows are off limits but this looked very promising! Jake bugles again and this time the response is closer. We tied up our horse and positioned ourselves for the hunt. I could hear movement ahead and to my right but I didn't have a visual. Chris later told me he saw a 4 x 4 rise up from the foliage but he didn't have a shot at him. This is Chris's third hunt for elk and his motto is "if it's brown it's down." So had the bull offered him a shot I am sure Chris would have made good on the opportunity.

We continue our hunt on foot with Jake calling to the bull lower on the mountain. His tolerance of the unknown bull (us) in his territory is short lived. After a few calls we hear the bull crashing through the timber headed our way! We scrabble down the mountain to get into position. Chris is lower on the mountain and in the point position. I am higher incase the bull tries to circle us and come in from above. The bull is matching Jakes bugles and is beginning to chuckle. Ha ha... he is not happy!


We can hear him moving in the timber and we expect to get a visual on him at anytime but, as quick as it all started the action stopped. This sounded like a mature bull with deep base like bugles. Needless to say we were all grinning from ear to ear and excited with the morning's action.

No more action occurred this morning and we spent the afternoon on the peak of Switchback Hill getting to know our guide, glassing the meadows below, eating lunch and enjoying the peace of the mountains.

 

The temperature for our trip was not good for elk hunting. The days were 70 to 80 degrees. This was great temperature for outdoor activities but way too hot for elk movement.

 

 

 

 

In the late afternoon we returned to our horses and find two where there use to be three. Ha ha. Chris's horse knocked off work early and headed back to camp. I laughed and gave Chris a high five for a job well done.

 

On our return journey to camp Jake continues his series on cow calls and bull bugles. At around 7:00 we get two responses. One is ahead of us in an area known as Barnard Creek (more on this hell hole later) the other sounded closer and came from behind us. So we tie the horses up and ran back up the trail we had ridden down on. We ran a few hundred yards and Jake bugles again and we got another response so we continue running back up the trail trying to close the gap on this bull. We stop, Jake bugles and just like this morning as fast as the action started...it was over. Silence was the reply that we got.

We return to camp after dark where we find Jazz, Chris's horse. We meet up with the others in camp exchange stories, eat and call it a day at 11:00. Wake call is to be 5:00.

[Gatekeeper]

Day 3

Our plan for this day is to hunt the same area that we hunted yesterday with hopes of stirring up the bull that we heard yesterday. Within minutes of arriving in the area that we heard the bull form day 2 we had a response from Jake's bugle. The response we get is a great sounding bugle followed by a series of chuckles! He is not happy! We dismount, tie up and scurry down the mountain. The wind is not in our favor so we try to get far enough down the mountain to get the wind on our side. Once in position Jake bugles but there is not call back. After a few minutes of working this area we head back up the mountain. We mount up and ride the horse up the trail with Jake continuing to call. Within a few minutes the bull bugles again and this time he is close! We dismount in a rush, scrabble down the mountain and setup in haste! We can hear him crashing through the timber over all the noise we were making to get in position.

I'm on point and Chris is to my right about 30 yards away. The spot I really want to be in is another 15 yards down the mountain in a cluster of four trees but there wasn't time to get there. Within seconds of getting setup the bull appears. I see him emerge form the brush 75 yards away where he stops and surveys the area ahead of him. Jake continues to cow call and the bull moves towards us. Wow... he's coming right to me! I stand ready with my split fingered grip putting tension on the string of my 56" 55# Centaur longbow. My mind is way ahead of the moment at hand. I have already decided where I will let my 660 grain (total weight), 31.5", white fletch and crested, Carbon Express Heritage 250 arrow, setup with a 130 grain STOS broadhead, fly when the bull enters the area. The bull continues to cautiously close the gap between us. He stops again at 50 yards. I am excited and in ah! He is huge! I can see that he is a dark racked 5 x 5. From this point on I block out the rack and shift my attention to his body to pick a spot. He begins to move again coming straight for me. "Come on" I say to myself. I need him to turn to his right and move another 15 to 20 yards to offer me a broadside shot. The Bull advances to with 35 yards of me and stops again. At this point he is facing me head on and a tree is blocking his eyes from mine. If I would have been able to make it to the small clusters of trees below me I would be setup perfectly to make take a shot. The bull stands 35 yards from me for what seemed like and eternity and then as if he has a 6th sense he turned and within seconds disappeared in to the forest. Jake tries to calm him down and get him to return but to no avail. He is gone and the only sound on the mountain side now is the noise that we make when we move.

I look back to Chris and Jake with a big smile only to be out done by the grins on their faces. We were all riding on an adrenaline high at the moment. After some discussion of the event that just unfolded we laugh and head back up to the horses to continue our hunt.

One of the greatest advantages to the horses, besides not walking everywhere, are the sounds of their hooves plodding along the trail. They have proven to be a great asset for this purpose.

We ride up to the meadow that lies at the top of Switchback Hill where we tie up our horses and continue on foot. The areas that we like to hunt are not horse and rider friendly so it is to our advantage to leave the horse behind while we bush-wack through the forest.



At the steep edge of Switchback Hill Jake sounds off with a few bugles and naturally from the distant valley floor we hear a faint return bugle. The decision, of course, is to head downhill and try to intercept the bull on his way up. After a 20 minute +- decent Jake lets out another bugle and holy macral the bull is almost on top of us. Here we go again running around like three chickens with our heads cut off. The bull is down wind (not good) Jake scrabbles up the mountain past Chris and I rush down and diagonally from Chris. The setup is poor. I have a spider's web beside me and I can see the slight breeze is coming from behind but there is no time the change. I hear the bull below me and to my right. Chris is above me and to my left. I feel bad because I know no matter what Chris will not have an opportunity at this bull and it is because of my position and the direction of the wind.

I watch the web and then scan the forest below me looking for the bull's movement. Then the hand of fate was dealt to us... The wind shifted and the fat lady was about to sing. The web angled away straight to the area that the bull was in. Seconds later the forest exploded with the thudding noise of hooves leaving the area! I turn and look down the mountain and see what looked to be a herd of 6 elk showing us their backsides. We remain in position and Jake continues to call hoping the bull will calm down and return but deep inside I know he is gone for good.

A short time later we decided to side-hill our way into some big dark timber that looked to be very promising elk bedding ground.



We made our way across the mountain's terrain trying to keep three points of contact on the mountain at all times. This adventure proved to be fruitless. What looked to be prime elk habitat was void of all elk signs. Dark timber and a ridge that was constantly shaded but the elk were not using the area. Frustrating! Now the challenge was to get out of this hole! Jake and Chris bound up the mountain as if gravity had no effect on them while I am huffing and puffing hoping to make it to my next waypoint. Our ascent was straight up the mountain no diagonally but straight up. I was placing my hands in the very spot that my boots would soon be occupying in the next couple of steps and I wasn't bending over very much to reach these locations. I think I am getting old. Later I find out they were racing. Ha ha.



The afternoon is spent eating lunch, napping and stump shooting until 3:00 when we begin our decent.





For our decent we side-hill our way down the mountain calling, listening and looking for elk signs until we reach the horses.





We ride the horses on the trail to an area called Barnard Creek. This is where we heard a bull bulge in the distance last night. From the ridge where we tie up the horses Jake sends out a bugle and we get no return bugles. It's around five o'clock and we decide to descend into the drainage and look for signs.

This is an area that Chris has hunted in the past with his brother Andrew and he seemed very anxious to return to this area. Because the last time he was here it proved to be a hot spot. He warned us that the brush was thick in this area and it was difficult to maneuver through. This was the understatement of the year! Descending into the drainage was challenging but very doable. We stumbled a few time and slipped more then once but we made it to the upper waters of Barnard Creek. After crossing we thought it wise to ascend a few yards to get away from the noise of the creek so we could hear any return bugles. This is where hell began! Climbing up the mountain and through the vegetation took every bit of balance, strength and energy that we could muster. The brush that gave us the most trouble is known as False Huckleberry (FH). The FH grows to about 6' or 7' tall and can best be described as looking like a large azalea bush. The problem is the plant grows out from the mountain horizontally which make descending much easier then ascending. The only way to get up the mountain is to thread our way through all of this vegetation.

We pulled, clawed, crawled, pushed, fell and slid fighting for each inch of ground that we gained. Once we made our way through the worst of the FH Jake sounded off with a bugle. To our surprise a bull bugled right above us. Here we go again running to get into position! I am running on adrenalin! I am breathing hard, heart pounding as if my chest will explode while I try to overcome gravity, slipping and tearing at the mountain side trying to get myself to the front line in a good shooting position. We all reach the same area at once Jake says wait! Chris is to my right and Jake is behind Chris. Jake says to me "cover what's in front of you and to the left side." I whisper back "I don't have shooting lane." I have a wall of brush in front of me and to my left and I can't see squat! Chris is about 3 to 5 yards to my right. Then I hear Jake Whisper intensely "wait!" "He is right there looking at us" Jake whispers. I repeat to my hunting party that no matter what happens I will not have a shot. I am unsure of Chris's position because of the vegetation the separates us. I want to be next to the tree that stands 20 yards above me to my left. Had I made it to that spot I would have felt confident about my position. Then something happens and the bull turns and bolts up the mountain. I later find out that the bull stood 50 yards up the mountain looking down on us. Both Chris and Jake had visual on the 5 x 5.

We regroup and continue up the mountain. We hear movement and know that the 5 x 5 is still in the area along with what sounds like three other bulls. Oh yeah baby we're in the thick of it here! The wind is on our side this time and the sun is to our backs. We start to form a new shooting line, Chris is to my right Jake is behind me. The plan is for me to boogie up the mountain about 20 yards to my left and get into the shadows of a few larger trees. Just as I am about to begin my sprint up the hill Jake intensely whispers "get down!" I drop to the ground like a limp marionette doll only moving my eyes to scan the area ahead of me looking for movement. I am too low all I see is brush. Jake whispers "don't move he is looking right at us."  Again with the looking right at us stuff! Ha ha. This elk also scenes trouble and retreats. We wait a few minutes letting Jake call. The action in this area is intense! All of the bulls are still in the area. The 5 x 5 can still be heard along with two or three other bulls.

We advance again into a darker patch of timber. Again we hear a bull ahead and we cautiously advance up the mountain. I have point Chris is to my right about 20 yards away and Jake is down hill calling between us. We hear the bull but no sightings. We hold this position for a while working the bulls ahead of us. I catch movement out of the corner of my left eye! I slowly turn my head and silently laugh at the small ground squirrel that has climbed up the seed head stalk that grew out of a Bear Grass clump. Ha ha both legs and one arm are rapped around the stalk and the other arm is free. As he sways back and forth it looks as if he is waving at me. Funny.

We are down to working two bulls now and we advance towards them cautiously. Chris takes point in the timber and I setup to his right at a meadows edge. Jake positions himself below us and works the gap that separates Chris and me. We hear a few calls and like an actor behind the stage curtain I catch a glimpse of an elk moving in the timber behind the meadow. The tan body flashes in the sunlight and then all is quiet. Jake continues to call but the replies have stopped.

We regroup smile and laugh about the exciting hunt that we had experienced. As the light begins to fade we explore the mountain side and find beds, rubs and lots of scat in the area. Interesting we thought. These bulls remained silent until we got in their face.

The challenging climb out of the Barnard drainage was compounded due to the lack of light. Once again we find ourselves grappling with the forces of the False Huckleberry bush and the steepness of the terrain. In the cloak of darkness after some wandering around, we found our way back to our horses and made our way back to camp. At camp we find out that we were the only group to encounter elk all day! The camp was anxious to hear our day's tales and we were happy to share our day and anxious to plan for the next.

[BMN]

       

[Gatekeeper]

Day 4

Our plan is to go in on foot today and begin by dropping down into the Barnard Creek Like we did last night. Oh yeah... have I mentioned that we're nuts?!

Our destination is the saddle above Barnard Creek where we will find a salt lick. The decent and ascent into out of Barnard Creek is much the same as yesterday except we don't encounter any elk. We arrive at the saddle faster then we expected and we explore the area as we wait for the thermals on the back of the mountain to start moving upwards.



As the thermals begin to move up we begin our descent down. We hunt the mountain's side at a shallow downward angle. Mostly side-hilling the mountain face. The elk signs are slim pickens. We see signs from deer but very few elk signs. We continue down the mountain zig zagging the face. As we work our way down we cross a small spring and head to the backside of Switchback Hill. Here we find ourselves in another tangled jungle of False Huckleberries. And we begin the familiar struggle up the mountain. Still there are no signs of elk. Once we distance ourselves from the low moist areas of the mountain side the false huckleberries thin out and the climb up becomes easier.





Within two or three hours of our descent from the saddle above Barnard we reach a high meadow on Switchback Hill. Here we take a break, eat drink and sun ourselves. Then Jake says "there are grouse in the middle of the meadow and they are moving to the tree line." No one had to repeat that to Chris! He sprung to his feet and slinked into the tree's shadows and began his stock on the grouse. It was great fun to stand back and watch as he worked to get into position for his shot. Both Jake and I keep our eyes focused on the large bird in the meadow waiting for an arrow to streak from the trees and drop the grouse. A few seconds later Chris's arrow punches through the shadows of the trees and sails towards the grounded grouse. The El Grande, Grizzly broadhead slams into the rocky meadow stirring up a cloud of dust and sending the wary grouse into the treetops. That was fun!



Jake bugles from the high meadow and we think we hear a faint bugle but are unsure of the location. He try's to stimulate the phantom bull again but the only reply is the wind through the pine needles.


Bear Track

It is time to get back to putting boot tread to the mountain. We descend Switchback Hill and point ourselves towards the saddle above Barnard Creek. We reach the saddle in the early afternoon. We have been walking the ridge top scouting and grazing on huckleberries as we moved. We crossed the saddle and climbed the ridge to the west where we knocked off for the afternoon, ate lunch, kicked off our boots and napped in the shade until around 4:00.



In the late afternoon we started our descent down into Barnard Creek meadow. We hunt this side of the mountain face the same as we hunted the backside that morning. Then Chris hears movement! Chris takes point and I stay up high. Chris and I are separated by a distance of about 25 yards and Jake is 20 yards behind Chris. Cow calls and bugles are coming from Jake but the calls do not invoke a response from mystery guest in the bush. We all wait with anticipation but nothing emerges from the brush. We slowly advance forward and the area comes alive with the sound of beating hooves. We gather contemplating whether the creature was an elk. Then Jake catches sight of a four point Mule Deer bounding up the mountain away from us.

We make our way into the wet meadow of Barnard Creek. The ground is soft like peat moss and we walk past an unused wallow.
No bugles, no elk signs, no elk action for this day. We decide to knock off early this night get back to camp cleanup prepare for the next day. The climb out of Barnard Creek...well...you've read this part enough to know we went through hell. Ha ha.

[Gatekeeper]

Day 5

On this day we switched guides. Our guide's name is Phil. Phil will be taking Chris and me to a ridge that has been unofficially named after him. Our plan is to bivy out on the ridge and hunt the surrounding area in the morning then hunt our way back to camp. I find Phil to be interesting but a lot less intense then our eager 18 year old guide. Phil is 59 and proves to be very fit. His style of hunting is very laid back and I find myself fighting the urge to say "come on man lets hunt I don't want to go for a nature walk!"

We spend the morning hunting a drainage named Windy Bill. This area was within short easy walking distance from camp so getting up early and humping it to get to our starting point was not needed.

The three of us casually (in comparison to the past few days) walked the drainage. Phil would bugle once and then wait.

     

Then we would move a few hundred yards and repeat.

     

We did this through the whole Windy Bill drainage.

     

We did hear a bugle at one point but my gut told me we were hearing one of the other hunting groups on a different ridge. We made our way up to a high meadow where we glassed for awhile, admired the views and Chris and I quizzed Phil about different landmarks, plants and animals in the area. The morning was not a waste as far as time well spent in a beautiful place but I sure didn't feel like I was hunting.

While we were in the high meadow I broke away from Phil and played the wind, sleeked through the shadows of the trees lining the meadow and explored the saddle that lay a few hundred yards away. In the saddle was a huge salt lick that was over 30 years old.

     

After my short romp I returned to Phil and we walked our way back to camp. At one point Chris and I took a shot at a grouse sitting on a branch only 3 to 4 yards away and we both missed! Sad...sad...sad. Minutes later we were in camp and its not even 11:00 yet.

Feeling like we were given a basket of lemons, Chris and I decided to turn it into lemon-aid. Chris and I spent the day in camp stump shooting. We made up a game were we shot at targets 30 to 50 yards away but to add to the difficulty we had to run from our shooting position to our arrows and shoot while we were out of breath. This is one thing we didn't practice back home and something that we continue to encounter throughout this trip. During this game I had a mishap to put it nicely. One of the wooded small game arrows that I brought on the trip, somehow slipped of the bow string right as I let go of the string. What an ugly sound!!! I looked down to see a broken bowstring! In panic mode I go over my bow looking for damage. Thankfully my bow came out of it without harm. I hurried back to my pack and grabbed one of the three backup strings that I brought along and within minutes I was back to shooting minus the wood arrows! It is really scary to pull back to full draw after something like that happens but I needed to get back on that horse as fast as possible to insure by bow was setup right and to get my confidence back.

At 4:00 we were on horseback and headed to Phil's Ridge for our overnight adventure.

     

We were excited to say the least! Phil had built this place up to be the utopia of elk activity. I had vision of wading through elk tiring to pick out the one I wanted. Ha ha only kidding.
We arrive on Phil's ridge around 6:30 and Phil calls into the drainage to our right and low an behold we get an answer! We tell Phil "there's a bull down there!" "How far down?" he replies. "He's a ways down there but we should try to get him to move" was my answer. Phil appeared not to be eager to plunge into the drainage to chase this bull. Reluctantly we follow the lead of our guide and abandon the distant bull. Hine sight says we should have nosed dived into the drainage.

We hike our way down the ridge in the twilight hours of dusk. The trip down is beautiful.

     

The place has all the potential that Phil described and Chris and I are pumped up for tomorrow's hunt. We setup camp and lay in the meadow talking under the bright full moon watching shooting stars and spotting satellites streaking by in the night sky. It's hard to have a bad time in the mountains as long as you're not struggling for your life. We ate our dinner cold and lay in the grass enjoying our surroundings.

During the night we had a visitor. An elk ventured to the edge of the meadow and barked for a while at our presents. I took this as a good omen for tomorrow's hunt.

[Gatekeeper]

Day 6

We are to awake at 5:00 and get things started. At 5:00 I am out of my tent and Chris is emerging from his. I tell Phil "its 5:00." He replies "okay 5 more minutes.... Maybe 10." Hmmm.


We eat strap on our packs and begin to move at the beginning of shooting light. Call, wait, move a few hundred feet, repeat. All the way up to the top of the ridge. The path we follow up the ridge is an well worn elk trail and we see evidence that elk cows had used it very recently. I keep waiting for us to hunt the fingers that lead up to the ridge but all we do is walk the high points. At the highest point overlooking the meadow where we camped we stopped to admire the view. It was an absolutely spectacular view!

 

 

 

Before we know it we're back to the horses. On our way to out camp the night before and that morning we passed by a gigantic salt lick! Chris and I stop to pose for pictures and then saddle our horses.

 

By 8:30 we are off of Phil's Ridge and looking down into Bugle Basin which is another made up name for an area in the forest. Kind of catchy I thought. Phil makes a few bugles we sit and over look the drainage then and we move on. Next thing we know we are on the trail back to camp.

 

By 10:30 we are in camp! This was not what we signed up for! So Chris and I took matters into our own hands! We spent the afternoon formulating a plan for our evening hunt. We gathered the supplies we would need and prepared and checked our gear and waited for late afternoon to arrive. Then with map and compass on hand we head off to guide ourselves on a hunt.

What fun! We borrowed a cow call and a bugle tub and away we went. Guess where we're going... Have I ever told you about Barnard Creek? Yep we are head to the other end of the area. Chris knows of an old abandoned trail so our goal is to find the trail and hunt down the ridge.

On our journey we encounter a coyote. Chris spotted it first but the dog hasn't seen us yet. He is a good 40 to 45 yards away. The wind is crossing between the dog and us and the sun is to our backs. I begin to do mouse squeaks on the back of my hand and toy with the yote for about 3 minutes. He starts to work his way down wind of us, naturally, so we abandon him for bigger game but it was fun to watch him try and figure us out.
We eventually find the old trail and start working our way down the mountain. The further we went the steeper the trail became. I'm cow calling (following Jakes example) and Chris.... Well Chris is bugling. I figured if we don't attract any elk surely we will get the attention of a predator looking for a sick bull. Ha ha. I know I couldn't do any better.

Along the way came across the remnants of the lost hunter!

 

We never heard a elk call and we didn't see any fresh signs of elk in the area but I would not trade that hunt for anything! We had a fun time!

 

We returned to camp in the dark packing back the ripped up bibs to show the guys and we begin talking to Jake about going to the BULL HOLE the next day!

[BMOELLER]

This is awesome.  Too bad you had to switch up guides, sounds like he was a bummer.  YOU guys missed at three to four yards on a grouse??? Come on!!!

[Irish]

Great pictures!!!