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The Elk Hunters are back in towwwwnnnn, The Boys are back in Tooowwwwwnnnnnn... Daaaa Daaa DDaaaaaaavvee Dave your killin me with the anticipation of Da Checkbuck Camp Elk Hunting Run Dowwwwnnn..

Good to see ya back Dave!!!!

Dave saw the post on Wapiti forum, dude get some sleep already 40 hours awake is not a good thing..

You know, it's getting to be a yearly thing now where I have to log onto to this 24 Hour Campfire place and check out this thread. I think it started a couple two or three years ago. Suddenly the weather starts changing, the leaves start turning color, you get that certain itch that can only be quelled by being out at camp. You're not quite at camp yet, but you can get a quick fix just by realizing that there's other people with that same need that you have. You may not know them, but you can definitely relate with them.

Just thought I'd jump in finally and say "Hey!" to you guys. A few more weeks and I'll be off to a little 16' x 24' shack on a forty in northeast Wisconsin. Sitting up in a tree holding a bow and hoping to see the brother of Ol' Forky Toes, but enjoying every minute just the same.

Good luck to all of you in your hunts coming up.

Yeah, I get the same way this time of year. I'm on the 'Fire every day, unless I'm "in country" but the tone of the postings takes on a different vibe this time of year. Everyone's just counting down the days till it's time to hit the woods. The non hunters ain't got a clue what this time of year means to us, or does for us. 'Time to go clean the rifles again. My deer season's still a few weeks off, but boy am I getting pumped up!

Had to laugh last night my boys almost 9-10 were making up lists of to do's for deer camp. The youngest was walking around in my new orange coat and the oldest in my old coat telling everybody he had the old seasoned one.

All I can say is enjoy your kids. They seem to grow up, move out and get married. Hard to get them out hunting at the same time you are out when they get married. Enjoy the hunting with the kids while you can.

Hey craigs...where do you hunt? Top O WI, makes me thing Bayfield Co. We are in southern Ashland Co and norhtern Price Co.

BD,

My mini-man asked me today if he could go to deer camp this am. I think we got another one.

And of course since it was snowing when we left today, he wanted his blaze coat. Sure makes a dad smile.

LMAO at work, my daughter just IM'ed me that the boys had broken into the shed and dragging out decoys and layout blinds (kids are off for MEA weekend).

I think I know what I will be doing this weekend.

Things have been long this past year and I am thankful that it is these kids who are keeping me going. I was really close to not even going out hunting this year.

Funny!

Still snowing here, but not sticking. Sure am getting the itch to get into the woods. Ordered the material to make the platform for my new blind yesterday.

What are you using Bill? Did you order those angle brackets made for those stands, or are you "winging" it?

Just winging it Tom. Treated 4" X 4"s and 2" x 6"s. Will cut the pieces up here at home and then assemble on site, Platform will be 4' x 4' x 3'. Will lag screw the legs and sides and deck screws for the top.

that is how I build my stands for hunting on the Range in MN too. Build them in my garage, and take them at least partialy apart, and re assemble in the woods.

I live in Bayfield Co. and do some hunting here. Most of my time deer hunting is spent in Marinette Co. at deer camp.

Here we go guys, as promised.

Last Wed oct 7th 4 MN hunters ranging in age from 12 yrs old on up into the mid 60�s piled into a crew cab truck hitched to a small enclosed trailer and headed south west to Colorado for 1st rifle season with 4 brand new antlerless elk tags.

We drove as far as Craig Co and got a room for the night, thurs morning we got our groceries at city market, picked up beer, ice, pop & water, then headed to our hunting area to set up base camp.

Here�s what our travel rig looked like, in this picture we are unhooking the trailer because from this spot down to our base camp it is not safe to pull a trailer like this.



Well here�s a couple of shots of our base camp.





Here�s a shot of the boys eating some supper inside the tent the first night at camp.



Here�s my buddy the wood stove, I kept it loaded at nights. It was good for about a 3 � hr burn per load.



Friday, the day before opener the boys goofed around base camp & we managed to catch a couple of these little cut throat out of the creek next to camp.



We decided against our usual method of making a spike camp up away from base camp as it turned out the gear was just more than we could carry without a horse. So, opening morning was to be a hunt from base camp. Me & the boys Went scouting Friday evening & did find some elk not far from base camp so that inflated the enthusiasm levels a bit.

Scouting.

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Opening morning me & my boy �RWS� (runswithscissors) headed up the hill & settled in to our first spot of what would end up being many by days end.

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View from our first hunt stop.

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We eventually moved on up higher & explored a few areas I thought would be worth checking. Here�s a shot of my boy next to an old rub we found.

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Another spot we stopped at.





My boy got hold of the camera now & then, another rub we found.



Various shots of the country we explored later that day.







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A tired out little hunter..

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Heading back to base camp, enough for the day.

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Our supper for Saturday night, fried chicken with rice.



Back at camp after the days hunt all 4 hunters shared their findings & experiences from the day, some elk were seen but no shooting opportunities were found.

Day 2 the boys & I decided to turn it up a notch, there is a place my normal group likes to hunt a lot, our favorite place in the area. But this place is hard to get to, a lot of work getting to it & a lot more work getting elk out of. We were up for the challenge, Dusty also suggested that he would likely hunt that direction & may very well find us later in the day.

So me & the boys headed up the mountain to explore the area I had told them so much about. When we got into the area we split up, my nephew went on up the hill further to find an area I had talked about in the past while my boy & I hunted the low end of the slope watching down an aspen hillside.

Me & my boy set up on a hillside where I rigged a shooting rest with a dead tree, I gave him a thermal seat to sit on & opened my day pack to pull out a stack of game bags for myself to sit on. It was then that RWS spotted a big can of campbells chunky beef soup in my daypack. That made his day, apparently the little guy was pretty hungry. He says �dad, what are we going to do with that?� pointing at the big soup can. I said �oh that? I dunno, figured we might get hungry, but we don�t have to eat it if you don�t want to� Then I explained my plan of lighting a tiny fire to heat the soup in the can & I produced 2 plastic spoons from the day pack. I got a pretty good smile out of him with that, this was good news on a cold day so far away from base camp.

I peeled the paper wrapper from the can & used it to help start our little fire. Nuthin fancy about Dave�s hillside meals, no high dollar dried goods for these guys. I�ve found that in the end by the time you add the water to an expensive light weight packaged meal you have the same weight as what you would have with something like this. Plus the can is a tough package, it isn�t going to break open in your pack & I don�t mind packing the empty can off the hill with me.

I just love these pictures.







After our hillside feast I revealed a stash of candy bars for desert, we snuffed our little fire after warming up a bit & we decided to hunt further up the slope.

We stopped along the infamous cat knoll, I showed my boy where I was sitting last year when a mountain lion nearly ran me over. We actually set up there for about 20 minutes then I decided to take him up a bit further. We heard shooting from the direction CBF (captainbangflop) my nephew was headed earlier. We hoped it was him shooting. Soon after a lone cow busted out of the timber & up onto the ridge we stood on & ran on down the slope. I tried to slow her down with a cow call, she heard it, but didn�t slow down much. She didn�t give any real shooting opportunity for RWS but now we had a hunter with an adrenalin heart rate

We continued up the slope thinking we might find CBF with a victorious grin, and we did.

He told us how he had shot himself a bull calf & although he displayed the normal humility with dropping a less than mature animal his excitement level was still pegged out, he was very happy to have shot his first elk.

He led us up the slope & across into the area where he shot his elk, along the way I stopped him & pointed out to him that we were standing in our normal spike camp spot. He had found our spike camp & didn�t even realize it. I took my camera out & snapped a picture of our empty camp spot so I could show my dad back home who could not make this year�s trip. I told the boys how often times elk would run right through our spike camp & sometimes even trip our tent strings. Just then as if on queue a spike bull broke out over a ledge & trotted down into the spot I had just taken a picture of, right there where a pair of 2 man dome tents would normally be set up

He looked up & saw us then exploded out of there & ran down the hill.



After a few �holy cow� and �that was the coolest thing I�ve ever seen!� we pressed on to find the elk that CBF had shot.



At the kill site, a very happy and successful hunter smiles like heck.

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Well, I went to work on the elk with CBF�s help and I advised my boy to not set his rifle down as I have had many elk run through while I was cutting on one in the past. Shortly into the job we heard some shooting down from us, I told RWS to be ready, explaining how an elk�s best defense or escape is to climb and they very well may be a group heading up our way. I went back to cutting & me & CBF nearly had the first quarter loose when CBF looked over my shoulder down the hill & announced to my boy �here they come!�.

Here they came indeed, I think there were 4 of them, a mix of cows & calves. RWS was ready for them, they were going to cross broadside in front of us at a bow hunters distance moving at a tired uphill pace. I instructed my boy �the last one, shoot the last one�. This I felt gave him time to observe the pace as they filed through plus she was a good sized cow. He shouldered his M70 fwt 30-06 & touched it off as the last cow filed past. Boom! And she rolled like a wrecking ball had hit her! She fell into a small gully she was skirting as she tried to run past, we couldn�t see her and I was afraid we would see her pop out one of the ends. I stood flustered with the hunting knife still in my left hand, my boy was ahead of me, my rifle was behind me. I needed to scurry him over to the ledge of the gully to see down to the bottom in case we needed a quick follow up shot. I grabbed my rifle & started towards my boy to help get him into position to see his elk, just the CBF says to me �Dave! Shoot that big cow she�s getting away!�

Well yeah, the lead cow was up the hill from us & she sure as hell was getting away. I was so focused on my boy�s first elk that I forgot I had a tag in my pocket as well

With Jelky�s stag handled 2009 campfire creation still in my left hand I raised my rifle & took aim at the lead cow about a hundred yds up the hill where she had paused behind some good cover. It was good cover, except for the open shot window that displayed her left shoulder. Boom! The M70 300wby barked & she hunched hard then lunged ahead out of the cover. She ascended the hill now at a switchback angle on 3 legs, she switched angles to continue her failing climb. This exposed the other shoulder, Boom! The whole time I�m trying to keep an eye on RWS�s gully for an elk to emerge from and CBF is my shot guide jumping quickly back & forth behind me & calling clear shots for me �here dave! Here! Clear shot from right here!�

With both shoulders out she was down in the front with her hind legs still trying to drive her up the hill. One final shot to the neck ended it, she must have rolled 50 yds back towards us down the hill before she came to rest.

Now to the mystery of RWS�s gully diver, we hurried to the ledge & found that although still alive she wasn�t going anywhere. CBF & I instructed my boy on his finishing shot and soon after that the high 5�s & �oh my god!� and �holy chit!� and �that was the coolest thing I�ve ever seen!� sort of thing erupted on the hillside where 3 elk were down now in close proximity to each other. We had done it! We filled our tags!! The excitement level from the boys fueled me leading into what was going to be a pile of work, followed by the impossible task ahead of us (getting all that meat back to base camp)

Here�s my boy�s first elk.



Proud hunter & a very proud dad.



Here�s my big rubber nose.





Some of you already viewed a teaser photo sent from my cell phone earlier this week and I�ve read the questions about RWS�s elk �how they gonna get that thing out of there?�

Well, I�ll get to that.

The 3 happy hunters returned to cutting on the first elk, we decided to try to pack this one out that day so we quartered & boned it out so we might have a chance at packing it out that day.

Next was my boy�s elk, the �how they gonna get that out of there?� elk. Well the only knife I had with me that day was Jelky�s campfire knife that he sent along with me just as he did with a knife he made last year which was recently auctioned off by Jeff with funds going towards the efforts of our friend muledeer.

It�s a fine knife, but I was concerned as to how much we could expect out of one knife on 3 elk. Especially after quartering & deboning the first one. Plus the day was getting away from us, we had to try to get back down to base camp preferably before dark.

I told the boys �we�re going to do things a little different on these other 2 elk in order to save us some time & get the most out of what this knife has left to it�s edge.�

I quartered the 2 cows leaving the hide on the quarters, removed the back straps & tenderloins & we planned to get it all hung up to cool overnight then pack CBF�s elk back to base camp.

Here are some photo�s of those efforts.

CBF dragging one of my boy�s quarters clear from the cutting area.



Northerndave liberating a shoulder from said cow.



Coming apart nicely.

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A little teamwork on the back meat.

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I just love this picture, yeah sure it may be an evil smile on my face but doesn�t the combined expressions just scream �victory�?

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The knife that did all 3 that day, sorry Jeff, I got it dirty

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My cow received the same efforts & soon we were decorating a tree with the spoils of the day.



I gotta thank my boy for taking these action photos of a lot of this work, good job kid, you got some great pictures up there.



We then packed ourselves down the mountain back to base camp with CBF�s elk. We carried it out without packs, good thing we had nice strong cotton game bags. We balanced out the meat in 2 bags, we (me & CBF) each took a bag. I tied a stick to the ends of the bags so we could sling the bag over our shoulder & hold the stick under one arm pit, this allowed us to still sling our rifles over the other shoulder & it was fairly comfortable.

CBF ahead of me heading down the hill.



Down at base camp we joined Dusty & we all shared our stories of the day. We told our story & we learned from Dusty that he had quite a day as well. He was hunting our direction but was stopped short by a cow he had hit and was certain of the kill but the hillside it went down on, rolled down on actually was covered in the most awful wiry brown buck brush you�ve ever seen. Finding an elk in it would be like finding a goose or duck that went down in the cat tails. He did his best to find it which involved many repeated climbs from his shooting spot up to where he believed she should be laying, spent every bit of energy he had but had to postpone his efforts as the day was growing dark and he simply needed to recharge with some rest & a good meal.

Dusty�s efforts would continue the next day as we also would continue with our efforts to get our meat off the mountain & back into our camp freezer so we could cool it down.

Monday morning came Dusty continued his hunt & I went to visit a neighboring camp that had horses. This camp is a good group from Kansas, our 2 camps have shared laughs, beer, chili & campfires many times over the years. We�ve also helped each other out when the other was in a bind.

Well I was in a bind with all of that meat 5 miles from base camp & only myself & CBF to pack it out.

It turned out they needed a little help as well, they had hauled a trailer down into the valley & they were worried they couldn�t get it back out with their truck. Well I had truckzilla down there with chains on all 4 & hell, I woulda hauled there trailer out for them even if I didn�t need help myself. It was a good trade.

Plus I gave them a bottle of whisky just to help sweeten the deal a bit & really show my appreciation��. Well, that and I also had a lot of fun giving away my uncle Dusty�s bottle of whisky when he wasn�t around

On our way up to pack our elk off the mountain we had a close encounter with this small group of wapiti.



Up half way to our elk tree with our borrowed horse for the day. I brought my own panniers along (my dad�s) just in case and I was glad they were a big set.



Up at the meat tree we set out a hillside butcher shop. We laid out 2 game bags to work on so we could keep the meat clean, we had a skinning station & a deboning station. CBF would skin & I�d take the bones out. (I�ve never put 2 elk on a horse before so I figured the only way to pull this off in one trip was to get rid of the bones & me & CBF still carried what we could on our pack frames)



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Soon we had the quarters done & all that was left was the shoulders & the back straps/tenders (which were already bagged from the day before)

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