Idaho Elk Hunt Journal
Day 1 – September 15, 2006Today started early with a 4:30 alarm clock to catch the 7:00 flight to Denver and then to Boise. My kids made me promise to wake them for a goodbye and I did. They gave me a groggy send-off and I kissed and hugged the wife goodbye for 9 days. My Dad picked me up for the ride over to the airport. I had high hopes.
The flight departed as planned and the sun rose as the plane did. It was a little cloudy but as we got over the clouds a pink morning arrived. The westward trip helped to prolong the beauty of this sunrise.
As we descended into Denver, we skirted a couple thunderstorms where lightning was visible now and again. The forecast for a small town in a valley near our hunting location was lows in the 30’s and highs in the 50s and 60s; partly cloudy for the weekend and midweek. No major precipitation anticipated. However we came to find that partly cloudy down low means mostly snowy up high.
The flight to Boise from Denver was uneventful and I landed to cooler temps than I expected. Somewhere in the low 40s would be a good guess. No matter though, Steve was there to greet me and we rapidly recovered my backup bow and headed east to the hunting grounds.
As we got closer to the mountains, my spirits soared. It had been 4 years since my last elk hunt and I missed it desperately.
The 4 hour ride allowed Steve and I to catch up a bit.
As we passed through the small town we stopped for a last “civilized” meal and a couple things at the grocery and were on our way.
We had a particularly harrowing pass through snowy roads through a river valley. One false move on that road and you’d be getting picked up in pieces all the way down into the river. Steve didn’t seem concerned so I should have just closed my eyes and trusted in the Lord.
Our plan for tonight was to hunt the canyons leading into the river valley we drove up. On Sunday, our other hunting companion, Jeremiah would join us for the hike over the mountain into an adjacent valley for the real hunt. When we got to the area though, we found at least one RV or tent at each spot. Sometimes up to 5 or even 6 crowded the pull offs. We had to drive way up to the head of the valley before finding a spot that seemed less pressured. As we did, the snow began to fall in earnest.
By the time we made our decision on where to go, it was 5:00 and it was about 6:00 before we got the packs on and headed up a ways to a flat area we had located on topo maps to camp and hunt. The snow was falling all the way up and we set up in it.
Still, we were serenaded by a few elk bugles before falling asleep. We were stoked for the morning’s hunt.
This is how we awoke.
Idaho Elk Hunt Journal
Day 2 – September 16, 2006
As you saw from the day one entry, it snowed. Not a whole lot but still...
And it pretty much never let up all day. Squalls would blow in and dump a few quarters of an inch. Just enough to keep slightly ahead of whatever solar melting occurred. And of course, continue to test the water proof linings of our boots .
We started by slowly moving through the bench we camped on. It terminated in a sweet saddle that just had to be a passageway from where we heard the bugling to some north slope bedding areas on the other side.
We indeed found evidence of elk movement but the fresh snow told us it wasn't in the past few hours. Rubs were all over the place and elk droppings were commom.
Only a few fresh tracks all day though. We never did find a concentration of elk sign in the area we heard the bugling. A hiking trail to a nearby alpine lake even had a group of 4 hikers and a dog pass through. We found abundant fresh deer sign and lots of bunny tracks. The animals themselves were not seen though.
After a morning of hunting the bench and saddle, we packed camp onto our backs and tried up higher.
Again, no fresh sign was found and we decided that we weren't in the right place for a productive evening hunt. We covered a few miles and a bunch of elevation but never found what looked good enough to stay on.
Lots of sweet looking meadows certainly hold elk at times but not right now.
In the end, we succumbed to the warmer looking valley and returned to the truck for a spot closer to where we were to meet Jeremiah the next day.
This turned out to be at the base of a beautiful canyon that would be a nice sojourn in the morning. We weren't completely committed to the morning hunt though and the wolves howling in the canyon just past bedtime sealed our decision to spend the morning drying out and conserving energy for our hike to the top the next day for the best part of the week.
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