Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire 2020 wasn't so bad

We did take the canoe out one more time after buying the real boat, borrowing a cabin and the in laws got to come out for some civilized camping. Katie also had elk and deer licenses here so she got to spend a little time scouting.






Now, on to hunting season. We only really had one tag to get excited about, and that was my muzzleloader tag. I spent two overnighters in the unit on scouting trips, and the bulls were screaming all over the place on the second one in the backcountry. I only took three goats on that one and the elk barely noticed them. I went back to that same place two weeks later after a big snowstorm. We saw that the weather would warm up quickly, so we skipped the opener and headed up a day later with all 7 kids loaded down moderately for as much as ten days if needed. After passing up close to a dozen bulls, I got this one at 90 yards quartering towards with the .54 cal muzzleloader. Unfortunately it was a liver shot and I was alone when I shot him, so I couldn't tell which direction he ran when I fired and there was no blood trail. I didn't find him until the next day, but thankfully he was salvageable. It was a great hunt, we were in elk daily, even if they weren't screaming constantly like a few weeks prior. Even had numerous moose encounters at close range. The goats did great packing for us and even acted as decoys several times. The elk weren't universally concerned by them, and if laying down, the goats really allowed the elk to come in close. Thankful for a great hunting buddy and 7 cooperative goats.


















more to come...