I woke up at 2 am, on the road with coffee by 2:15.

Flight at 5:15, arrive at 9:00 MT. Picked up by Kevin T, then off to shoot rifles and do finish packing.

That afternoon we hiked in 3 miles and up 2500 or so feet to get to our camp, which is as high as you can go in this spot at 10,600 or so.

Hiking in we glassed a herd of 30 or so elk, with bulls bugling like crazy. Other hunters were glassing them as well, which got us strategizing for the next morning.

We had a bit of a snafu on water, not being able to find the secret seep we were depending on in the dark with 8" of snow...so we stayed up later than expected melting snow to get enough water for the next day. I was a tired puppy when we finally turned in.

It was high teens or low twenties the next morning, but you couldn't tell it in our tent with the stove cranked. It is so nice to wake up, warm up, drink coffee, and walk 100 yards from camp to start hunting, knowing that the other unlucky ones have been hiking in the dark for two hours to get where you are.

Starting on a short ridge not far from camp, I glassed and listened. A few minutes after first light I heard elk sounds behind me and lower, but I thought the guys from the camp below might be doing a calling set. I held still. More sounds, sticks breaking....finally a CRACK like a ball bat. It's got to be elk, they're the only thing that noisy. I hustle off the ridge and toward a hidden meadow, gaining vert to open up a lane through the aspens. I arrive just in time to see the lead cow coming out of the trees. A legal bull is third in line.



I think the hunters down lower may have bumped the herd, and we being higher were on the escape route. Shots were popping off that morning, and all elk had vacated the area by 9 am. I was lucky to fill my tag.

The rest of the day consisted of butchering and packing out, and drinking snowmelt water (with some added flavor).



The alarm blared all too early. We were now the unlucky ones who had to rise at 4:00 in order to climb through the muck and cold to arrive in the hunting area by daybreak.

Breakfast of Champions (and elk hunters)


The day was spent glassing does and fawns, then bumping into a herd of 6-10 smaller bucks at a higher elevation. Back at camp for midday, then a nap. The lack of sleep was catching up with me and I felt pretty ragged. Kevin made plans for a big loop that afternoon to try and fill his buck tag, but I was much less ambitious. I went back to the short ridge near camp to glass and rest up a bit so I could hit it hard the following morning.

From the ridge I slipped down to try and find my rifle brass from shooting the elk, went to look at my carcass to see if a bear had been on it, then decided to still hunt the lower edge of the meadow until dark. Basically just messing around, nothing too serious.

Very slowly stepping, glassing, stepping, glassing, I spotted a buck 130 yards or so downhill in the aspens. I was between steps with my left foot almost off the ground when I brought the binos up and instantly knew I'd be happy with this buck. Problem was he spotted my movement and pinned me.

Two minutes later, leg shaking from the awkward position I knew I had to make a move. This wasn't a staring contest I could win. So I quickly unslung my rifle and went to one knee. The buck's head came upright, ears fully forward. The shot cracked and he made it maybe 20 yards.

He was everything I wanted - a big, old, gnarly buck with character, and who cares what he scores?



Back to work butchering a deer, up late butchering a deer. I was all in when we got back to camp.



The next morning I went with Kevin still hunting the same route I took the night before, with a plan to go find the group of bucks we saw the morning before. We didn't make it that far. Resting on the tree that was holding my elk carcass on the hill, Kevin shot a nice 4x4.





Back to work.....





We were lucky to tag out early.

We ended up filling three tags in three days on a DIY, wilderness, public land, backpack hunt. We're both amazed at how this trip went down, and I fully expect I'll never duplicate the success we had. Everything lined up perfectly, and that just doesn't happen while hunting, and especially not on public ground.



NOTABLES:

We were both shooting Hornady's ELD-X bullets, and are both extremely impressed. They don't leave much of a blood trail, but you don't need much if the animal is laying within 30 yards. My elk went exactly nowhere, my buck went maybe 20 yards, and Kevin's went 30.

Laphroaig goes well with smokey tents and long days.

The weather turned to crap immediately after we got out. I went back up two days later to pull the remaining camp gear and walked through tall wet grass and muck, then fog, then mist, then drizzle, then rain, then freezing rain, then sleet with 30 mph sideways wind on an exposed ridge, then snow, then reverse order that coming down. Visibility was 50-75 yards at most.

Sounds like a great trip!

Going to bed warm and waking up to a warm tent are priceless. My SO BCS with the EdT Ti stove has seen many seasons now. I don’t see myself ever taking less for those Oct hunts in the Rockies.

Outstanding!!

That was a good hunt, thanks for sharing.

Very nicely done! Congrats and thanks for sharing!

Nice "gnarly" muley. I'd be really happy with one like that.

Very well done!

It also can not be overstated how important it is on a backpack hunt to have a partner that does not suck. I've heard a couple pretty bad stories this year from other folks. It certainly makes the grind and embracing the suck of heavy pack outs a lot easier.

Sometimes the good Lord smiles on us and it all lines up, other times his sense of humor will test you. Congrats on some fine animals.

Awesome work fellas and great write up & pics! Congrats on a wonderful trip that sounds just amazing!

That gnarly old trooper you shot RC30 is a cool buck!

Thanks for sharing!

Great critters and good times. Congrats guys!

Great job guys!

Great hunt, great read. Thanks for posting it for us.

I love you too!




Seriously, this can't be overstated. In a lot of ways you need to be more careful picking a hunting buddy than a spouse. I've had a couple hunting partners that had some quit in them and it didn't work out well.

Physical abilities, ambition, and tolerance for suffering need to mesh pretty closely.

Whoa now ..

LOL, I thought brokeback mountain was in Montana!

Seriously though, finding a good hunting partner for most kinds of hunting is tricky, backpacking kicks it up a notch.

Congrats guys!

Great pictures, thanks for posting.

Well done.
Awesome work.

Didn't see this earlier - but, great hunt! This shows preperation and willingness to do the work to make your planning successful. You will have memories for a long time. Thanks for sharing.

Sounds like too much fun

Lifetime memories. Congrats!

Too cool. Thanks for sharing.

great story, thanks for sharing.

What rifle and scope were you using.

thanks for the story

I used a 6.5 Creedmoore , Kimber Hunter I think . I actually initially bought it for my youngest, but liked it so much I decided to keep it. Scoped with a 4 - 18 Luepold CDS. I also got a cow elk a couple weeks later with same rig.

I think Nathan used a Tikka 7 mag ..

I used to be a 30-06 guy, but the 6.5 is an easy shooter, and the ELDX seem to have really good terminal performance.

Great trip and write up. Thanks for sharing the details that made it work. Sounds like a good team effort.

Great trip, I am jealous! What state?

I would love to get some tips and a story on how you packed them out. I have never backpack hunted , almost always day or overnight trips to and from camp, but next season I want to try elk hunting for a week but I am worried about packing it out.

Well, we backpacked out the elk that day and had a couple helpers come in. We hung one deer, and then the next day packed out both deer and my son came in and helped. Then we went back and got gear a couple days later.

It was just walking and carrying ... and physical abuse. Lucky we got a couple helpers but we still had heavy pack loads multiple times.

Missed this the first go round. Congrats guys. That's really getting it done, big time!
HD