Gonna be Dumb? You'd better be Tough!
Elk
Bear with me here, I’m going to try and go through my ‘23 season, with the lions share of it being another DIY backcountry hunt in MT, but you’ve got to listen to some other nonsense first. This won’t be as impressive as Zach’s, but I’ll do my best.
I didn’t get to head west in 2022, with another baby on the way my priorities were at home last year. I was rooting for a girl and as luck would have it on my birthday I got what I wished for. I happily traded a year out west to be around home, I did chase some whitetails and shot some pheasants, but 22 was uneventful for the most part on the outdoor side.
I went into the draw hoping to draw a WY elk tag but knew I would likely be in the random and odds were tough. May came around and no dice but I had a backup plan North of that and that’s what we did. I made contact with a buddy that’s helped me in the past and we had a plan in place.
Spring of 23 turkey hunting came and went. I did shoot a tom, but it was slower than it has been the last couple years, we had a horrible winter (worst in my lifetime), and it seemed to show up in the turkey population. Had a gong show turkey hunt with my new shotgun. Had a buddy talk me into TSS loads and I didn’t think to pattern them, for 15 dollars a shell who the hell does that? Long story short, I hit a wing, a leg, and nothing on my 3 loads and had to throw the gun. He could kind of fly, just enough to stay out of my arms reach. After running 150 yards his feet landed and I speared my first turkey. After throwing up a patterning board with turkey loads my shotgun was 20” low at 20 yards…no good. Retay replaced it under warranty and said the machining was off with where the receiver met the barrel. Knock on wood it’s patterning well now.
Congrats Beautiful Girl ! I have three girls and one boy all out of the house now. enjoyed every minute
Few brown bears at the wildlife sanctuary, always stop from Anchorage.
Few brown bears at the wildlife sanctuary, always stop from Anchorage.
Niko driving the boat with my buddy Josh.
Niko driving the boat with my buddy Josh.
Birthday Girl!
Birthday Girl!
Summer came and our big trip was back to Alaska which is quickly becoming an annual thing. My side-gig is rental properties, and in the summer of 22 I purchased 4 single family homes in Homer with my buddy that owns a charter company up there. We went up when I was on paternity leave in 22 to get everything ready and 23 was our first full year in business there. It’s a cool property with 4 single family houses, 2 we rent long term and 2 we rent on Airbnb (both a 2 and 3 bedroom unit). If anyone ever wants to book one just shoot me a PM instead of booking through the Airbnb link.
My in-laws were coming for week 1 and some of my family was coming for week 2. I booked my buddy out for 6 days to make sure everyone got to see why we come up here.
https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/699991896461654340?guests=1&adults=1&s=67&unique_share_id=794f5342-620d-4c5d-8bb5-3b94ff53218b
Congrats on the new addition! No matter how '23 went, I'd argue '22 was about as good as it gets!
Nice 80# halibut!
Nice 80# halibut!
Giant old yellow eye!
Giant old yellow eye!
Silvers were in!
Silvers were in!
First week of fishing was great with the in-laws, with both BIL’s leaving with around 300#s of fish each. We caught some giant yelloweye’s, some nice king’s and of course the halibut fishing was great. Spent some great time on beach walks and just enjoying being outside in AK in July.
One of these days bowsite will update to 2024 and make this a bit easier, but this will have to work for now. I'll keep working on it but likely won't finish today d/t time constraints.
Yelloweye that’ll be going inside “Rockfish Retreat”
Yelloweye that’ll be going inside “Rockfish Retreat”
My brothers first halibut
My brothers first halibut
Nephew with a 55# Ling
Nephew with a 55# Ling
Week 2 of fishing was awesome as well, 6 days of fishing and we dropped 1300 pounds off at the processor. Even had a great ling cod day which was a first for me, but more giant yelloweyes and nice halibut were caught too. Including one we’re getting a replica of to put in “Rockfish Retreat”.
My dad hooking into a Ling.
My dad hooking into a Ling.
My mom even got in on the action.
My mom even got in on the action.
My wife with a 49# Ling
My wife with a 49# Ling
My dad and nephew with a pair of kings
My dad and nephew with a pair of kings
My dad had never been to AK and this was on his bucket list, it’s not really my mom’s thing but she sucked it up for my dad. Future trips I would guess my dad will just fly into Homer and meet us for a few days.
27# Yelloweye
27# Yelloweye
Other nephew with a nice king.
Other nephew with a nice king.
Silvers were in!!
Silvers were in!!
Tough to beat AK
Tough to beat AK
Final day was spent chasing salmon and yelloweye, all in all a great trip. Plenty of beer drank and family time.
Little ice cream on his birthday before dad leaves.
Little ice cream on his birthday before dad leaves.
F Cancer
F Cancer
The plan was to leave on the 15th. My eldest’s birthday is the 14th and I try to be around for that if possible. I had a fun last day with him and took the day off. Did my final arrow drawings, this year my grandpa would be first in the queue with my kids on the other side, he died shortly after my 1st was born. Cancer is a bitch.
A lot of this.
A lot of this.
The alarm hit early, we loaded the truck up. Waited until shortly after 6 when the family was up and said my goodbye’s. little man had a few tears shed but made it clear I was to come home with an elk. We made the trek across the country which I generally enjoy, but getting into the mountains was another story.
We were hunting an area I had been in 2 years previously, but a little different spot to make sure I wasn’t stepping on any toes with my previous info. I looked at OnX and some forest service maps thinking it wouldn’t be so bad getting in since the first spot was a breeze. I was very much wrong. We had a 3 hour death-defying roundabout drive to get to where I wanted to camp, I was glad it was dark. I was to the point of no return several times and hated every second of it. We got camp setup about 1 am and hit the bag with an early alarm planned.
Unbelievable country.
Unbelievable country.
Pringles were a real game changer.
Pringles were a real game changer.
Day 1 Alarm hit early and we were up and ready. The plan was to hike down a spine together and spit and hunt/scout different drainages to get the lay of the land and see what the elk were doing (or if they were even there). My day was pretty uneventful, I didn’t cut much of any old elk sign and I also didn’t hear any bugling for most of the day. I dropped down about 1600 feet and did about 10 miles on the day without much to show for it…but towards twilight I heard ‘em. 2-3 bulls were cranking way in the bottom of the canyon 2k feet below us.
Absolutely gorgeous country. Jake had more luck, he hadn’t heard any elk but he had a small raghorn sneak into 55 but offered no shot. We decided that night we would get up early and bring camp way down to the bottom of the canyon for day 2 and planned on spiking in for 3-4 days so we weren’t wasting so much time climbing out of the canyons everyday.
Day 2 We got up early and hiked down into the canyon. In past trips it’s always a blast with Jake, because something always….happens.
On our way down he was dragging ass, to the point I was stopping every 30’. It got to a point where I had to ask what’s going on, are you hurt or something? He kept shrugging me off before he let me in on his discomfort. He was getting some severe chaffing in a more…shall we say sensitive area. I started laughing and said you’re going to have to put some leukotape on your balls. He thought I was kidding.
I’ll spare you the picture I took from my back laughing but he gave in and we were off and he was comfortable for now.
Last thing I see before I draw
Last thing I see before I draw
Reminds me of Hawaii with the rainbow Eucolyptis.
Reminds me of Hawaii with the rainbow Eucolyptis.
Day 2 We got camp setup and we hunted together that afternoon, we heard one faint distant bugle late in the day but it didn’t seem a whole lot was going on. Very little sign and elk weren’t talking, we figured we’d give it another full day hiking before we’d pop into a different canyon. I inreached my buddy and he had the same sentiment, give it a day and then go somewhere else.
Jake at the end of the day had a come to Jesus moment deciding whether to take the leukotape off or let it ride. In my humble medical opinion I told him it should really come off. He’s outside screaming as if a mountain lion were tearing into him and he came to the conclusion his balls were bleeding, but he couldn’t see it and he needed a friend to let him know how much trouble he’s in.
Now we’re good buddies, but this was right up to the line for me. I had to look through tears of laughter but I told him all is well, one small blood spot won’t kill ya buddy.
Way too much of this
Way too much of this
Day 3 One hell of a hiking trip, I have nothing to report on day 3 other than I hate blowdowns. I spent all day getting through them checking out north facing slopes without a bugle or so much a fresh elk track. Jake took an easier route but had the same report, they weren’t in here and we needed to move. Our plan as we went to bed that night was to hike about 4.5 miles to a new area, spike again and hunt a few days before planning anything else. The stage was set.
All smiles headed to a new spot.
All smiles headed to a new spot.
Cute little guy
Cute little guy
Day 4
We made the 4.5 mile trek early that morning and were in a different drainage with some new oomph to our step. There was a big outfitter camp, but not a soul around so we were guessing it was mostly a rifle setup. There were a few cabins in the bottom that can only be accessed via the private but we weren’t that lucky. We found a great spot to camp and would be a good base-camp for the next couple days.
We started our trek up the spine right above camp, we had about an 800’ climb before I figured we could potentially be into elk. We were slowly walking up the trail when we stopped for a quick breather. I heard a rock fall about 100 yards away across the valley, Jake heard it too. I spotted a big brown spot and Jake immediately snuck over the small rise behind us.
I couldn’t see the elk but could hear it walking. I got settled into a spot where I had a couple nice lanes out to 40 in each direction and the thermals were straight up, I liked the setup. Jake started with some cow calling and raking and all was quiet for 2-3 minutes. Eventually I could hear some raking so I at least knew it was a bull, I just couldn’t see him.
Jake kept with the slow play cow calling and raking. Eventually I can see antlers headed directly at me at 70 yards. I get a good look at him and it’s not a rag, but a really nice 5 point bull. I quickly begin scanning at where my opening should be. He’s headed at me and he’s either going to give me a 15 yard chip shot or if he veers off a bit I still have a broadside 35 yarder.
He veers a bit and I get to full draw, but Jake hadn’t called in a minute or two. He takes the wider path up the hill and I can already see my arrow sinking into his lungs…but then he stopped 5 feet short of my lane. He’s looking up the hill for confirmation of the calling (Jake was just over the rise).
I’m screaming in my head for Jake to make any kind of sound, kick a rock, bark, please god just any noise will do and he’ll commit. He’s not spooked but he needs to hear or see something for the last couple steps to put the nail in his coffin.
Unfortunately this is all I can get to today, I'll keep picking at it and should finish up next week, hang in there!
What a fun and happy thread man.
Good luck, Robb
Young man, you are living the dream ! You have a beautiful family, good health, you’re obviously in great physical condition, and the wherewithal to enjoy your desires. Having said that, I’m heavily invested in this thread and like the serials I watched at the movies as a kid, you are gonna make us wait until next week ? What in the hell ? ;-))
Man can I relate to having the caller just back enough out of sight.... Just one little squeak and the bull will move into position! helpless feeling. Great fishing! would love to experience that someday..
Awesome stuff! Keep it coming!
Great thread, Luke! But you'd better mix in some politics or the thread might get pulled... :-)
Unless there’s a dead 180” bighorn at the end of this thread, you need to post faster! Keep it coming, Luke!
I'm hooked. Keep it coming!
Keep it comin!!! Haha Lou!
Waiting for the rest of this story is almost as bad as waiting for a bull to take those last couple steps.
It's officially next week, c'mon man!
Sorry Fellas- patients had to be seen, I’ll try and get most of the rest done today (too busy nursing that hangover from the Packers kicking the snot out of the Cowboys at Jerryworld, where they now have more playoff wins than the Cowboys :).
He hangs out a minute or two looking for the elk and slowly turns around and trots out of my life and that’s it. I couldn’t cow call, I was completely exposed, and the gig would’ve been up, I thought we could maybe call him back in a different spot so I let him sneak out thinking we’d meet back up with him as he was clearly callable.
Jake came back over the hill and had no idea he was coming in, he never bugled and he couldn’t hear him raking. It was an awesome elk encounter, but it didn’t end with a punched tag. I was still having fun though, a nice bull within 40 isn’t something that happens everyday.
The rest of the day we snuck around trying to turn him up, but we never did. We did have at least 4-5 different bulls screaming in different spots, there was some nasty blowdown country but other areas weren’t too bad. We had a large bench above camp where they had to be bedding at. The plan was to head there first thing in the morning.
Home sweet home, great spot.
Home sweet home, great spot.
The bench above camp is below in this pic.
The bench above camp is below in this pic.
We wake bright and early with a renewed sense of hope, we were into the elk finally. We make the 800’ hike up before first light and we’re met with 2 bulls blasting on the big bench above camp…Game on! Jake’s the shooter this time and we’re able to get within 100 yards of the first bull with nice consistent thermals. I begin talking back and forth with him for a bit before he eventually rounds his herd up and moves off. We take a seat and let the herd settle down a bit. I’m sitting to the left of Jake, and he’s left handed which is important.
I’m just about to grab into my backpack for a snack when he whispers, “Elk at 40, staring at us”. I ask if I can knock an arrow and he says go for it, I grab an arrow get it knocked and have tension on the string.
Bloody arrows are usually good.
Bloody arrows are usually good.
I’m scanning the trees and see the big cow staring at us, she begins to bark and I bark back, she begins to sneak a hair closer confused as to what we are. I’m looking for a hole and I can see one in front of her if she can reach it. I begin drawing and ask Jake for a distance, “43”. She stops shy of my shooting lane.
I’m sitting flat on my butt at full draw, not an ideal archery scenario. She begins to get a hair spooky and turns around, but I see about a 10” opening and decide if she hits that I’m gong to let it fly. She gets there and I stop her and I release the arrow, but she moves as I release after stopping.
From that point I’m not really sure what happens, I hear a big crack assuming I had hit the tree. I look at Jake and asked if he saw where my arrow went and he didn’t either. About a minute after the shot we hear a big crash and the whole herd blew out of the canyon. We talk for a bit and think man that’d be neat if that’s her but I highly doubt it, that sure sounded like a tree.
As she lay (after we rolled her off a tree)
As she lay (after we rolled her off a tree)
All smiles before the breakdown.
All smiles before the breakdown.
Another punched tag
Another punched tag
Unfortunately, jake and myself are both colorblind; I have him sit where I was and I go down to where I thought the elk was. I’m looking around for blood, arrow, anything to give me an indication on what the hell just happened. Eventually he comes down to where I was at and I mark where she was standing. I was expecting to see an arrow in a tree but it wasn’t there.
We walk forward about 60 yards with downward thermals and we both get hit with a freight train of a smell of an elk. I look at him and say that’s got to be her, we look up and look at that! A dead elk!!
We give a quick high five and can’t believe that it actually worked. She didn’t make it 80 yards, the crash we heard was what we thought it was. At this point however reality set in, why in god’s earth did I kill a cow down here? Oh well, can’t eat elk if you don’t kill an elk so here we are.
Brought one hell of a smile to my face.
Brought one hell of a smile to my face.
Jake lives in Kentucky so we pack just a bit of bourbon.
Jake lives in Kentucky so we pack just a bit of bourbon.
Loins!
Loins!
Oddly enough the arrow entered in the back, just in front of the pelvis, but was nowhere to be found. There were 2 holes but no arrow anywhere. Once we got to breaking her down, the arrow was along the pelvis running forward towards her chest with the last 6” broken off. Only thing I can figure out is it went through and busted off when she tipped over and flung forward. You can see what was looking at me when I opened her back hip up, it gave me a nice smile thinking about those early hunts with my grandpa in an old wooden stand in Wisconsin.
I’m fully aware this was a lucky shot and one that could’ve ended up much worse. But I’m not going to apologize for killing the elk, a little luck helps once in a while, I felt confident on the shot and think she moved forward as the arrow was released, things happen in bowhunting and if they’ve never happened to you- you haven’t hunted long enough.
First of 3 loads up, one step at a time!
First of 3 loads up, one step at a time!
Load 2
Load 2
So based on where we’re at I can either drop about 800 feet to get to camp and climb another 2400 to the truck, or I can pack it up the opposite way (2300 feet up) to a different trailhead and drive the truck around. Jake still had a tag and elk were still screaming so I told him to take off. We still had a few days if needed and we could figure it out if he shot one.
My plan is to get it up about 1.3 miles and 1100 feet up in elevation towards the 2nd trailhead today and then we’d pack camp out tomorrow and finish the packout by driving to the other trailhead. Or if he wants to keep hunting I’ll just keep working on getting it over to the other trailhead tomorrow, but it was his choice.
Last load up, getting heavy!
Last load up, getting heavy!
Views are tough to beat.
Views are tough to beat.
Nice spot for a meat cache.
Nice spot for a meat cache.
I spent a majority of the rest of the day doing 3 trips up the 1100 feet to get the elk closer to a truck (just not my truck yet). I find a nice spot on top that has the wind whipping through and drop a pin and we will drive around and get the rest tomorrow.
I was pretty spent but spent a half hour on top just enjoying the weather and how lucky we are to get to do this. Elk are screaming in a couple different canyons and I had seen one other hunter in 5 days, life is good.
Little notes from home help.
Little notes from home help.
All in a days work.
All in a days work.
I dropped the 2000 feet back down into camp and I was pretty sore, but knew that today was nothing compared to what I had in store for tomorrow. Jake had a good hunt, he got within 50 yards of a couple different elk but it didn’t happen. I knew tomorrow was going to be one of those type 2 kind of days. I choked down some MH and into my sack I went knowing what was waiting for me in the morning.
Calm before the storm.
Calm before the storm.
Weather rolling in.
Weather rolling in.
I wake up at about 5 am to the sound of sleet hitting the tent, hip-hip hooray. The alarm’s go off and we break down camp in the rain and told Jake this is going to be a long one, buckle up partner. Our first trek is to get back to the truck with camp, which is about 4 miles, but it’s 2400 feet up. We slog away at the 30 degree sleety, crappy weather and make it to the truck around noon. I had some brats in the truck and we fired up the blackstone and ate something decent. Amazing what something non-freeze dried does to a guy’s morale.
We drove around to the other trailhead and left about 1:30 pm for the first load of meat. We had to drop just shy of 1300 feet and almost 4 miles, I knew we had 16 miles of hiking still ahead of us with all of the uphill being with weight.
I’m in a little better shape than jake so I’m going at his pace, when we get to the meat cache I ask him if he thinks he could handle at least getting a part of the way with ½ the elk, every step we take with a big load is one we don’t have to take again; we give it a go. We made it around 300 yards before he taps out and we drop half the load.
My feet are soaked and had had enough already but it didn’t matter, we needed to get out. We shuttled it out and the last climb was close to 600’ over a mile and that was the real dagger. You couldn’t see more than 10 feet with your headlamp, so I’d just hear some random curse words behind me that let me know Jake was still alive. We got back to the truck with the final load around 1 AM, we were both toast. The weather didn't relent at all, it was pretty miserable all day, but my 5th archery elk in 6 trips was in the truck headed East!
One hell of a day
One hell of a day
For you foot lovers out there.
For you foot lovers out there.
I gave him the option to sneak into town for a night and come back, but his exact quote was , “Get me the F off this mountain”. 51k steps, about 5k of elevation gain all with weight, 35, raining, sleeting, can't see, windy, wet feet; hell of a use of PTO if you ask me. If you’re going to be dumb, you’d better be tough. I’ve ran marathons but that was child’s play to what I just did. Don’t forget the important part of this story…this was for a cow.
Aged for 10 days before cutting, turned out marvelous.
Aged for 10 days before cutting, turned out marvelous.
Just can’t hold her liquor like she used to.
Just can’t hold her liquor like she used to.
Niko getting some knife work in.
Niko getting some knife work in.
We limp our way out of the mountains and find a random spot to sleep for a couple hours before making the trek back. We find a gas station shower and my god does it hit the spot, but my feet are in pretty damn tough shape. We get cleaned up and eat as much greasy food as possible on the way home. When I get home I hung my half of the meat in our refrigerated trailer and process it the following weekend. My daughter can be a bit of a sauce head with the new beer trailer.
It’s hard to find a great friend that you truly look forward to hunting with. Jake takes off the next morning and he’s back to his wife and soon to be new baby. It’s always something with him, but it’s always something fun. I can’t wait to get back to the mountains with him.
If you only want to hear about elk hunting stop reading, but I’ll chat a bit about hunting when I got back too.
Nice double to start our SD trip.
Nice double to start our SD trip.
20 minute limit on opening day!
20 minute limit on opening day!
Pheasant hunting is my other passion, I may even like it more than elk (probably even). I had a great fall hunting with my 5 year old, was able to bring him to SD and he did pretty damn well walking most of the way. It helped there were plenty of birds and lots of easy shooting.
Easy retrieve on a dead one.
Easy retrieve on a dead one.
WI limit
WI limit
Career rooster #200
Career rooster #200
We screwed around hunting pheasants around home, numbers were better than I expected with our terrible winter. We ended up killing 29, 15 of those in WI and 14 in SD. Lambeau got his 200th career rooster and was the stud to a great litter of puppies. I gave my stud fee to a patient that hunts and she’s been an absolute predator. He’s planning on doing the same litter in 2025 and I’ll be taking one then. Lambeau just turned 8 and more gray keeps showing up everyday. We had some nicks and injuries this year including an ACL scare (turns out he’s just a wuss), but we ended the year beating cattails for 3 days in SD and he was a champ, so I think we’ve still got a couple more years killing birds.
5 minutes in the blind.
5 minutes in the blind.
I took my 5 year old bowhunting whitetails a few times and we saw a bunch of bucks but not the right one. I did see a high 130’s 10 pointer 2 days in a row but just couldn’t seal the deal. All in all a really fun fall and one I wish wasn’t done. Luckily I’ll finally be able to repay my MT buddy back and he’s planning on hunting my WY spot for 2024 and I know I sure as hell wouldn’t want to be an elk in that canyon this year. If I ever head back into that area I may get a packer lined up, it's just a colossal waste of time to kill one down there as it takes 2 days to get one out.
Fortunately or Unfortunately depending on how you look at it this will be my last recap until 2025 when I can hopefully get back to WY again. The grand finale will be arriving in mid-August and it’s probably safest for me to stick around WI again for 2024 if I want to stay married; pheasants and whitetails it is.
Have a great new years and I hope you enjoyed following along. Hopefully this is a nice break from what seems like the non-stop political banter that keeps clogging my feed here.
Luke
Good stuff Luke.
I know first hand how bad that climb out of that hole is! Strong Work!!
Congrats on the season and the new addition to the family! Hope Wy gives me a ticket to play. Hunt
Great read, enjoyed the ride - the scenery pics are always fun to look at. I pretty much stopped talking them, as the pics just don't do the "in person" view. Thanks again Luke.
Congrats on a very successful year and getting to do it with good friends and family!
Ya got a full freezer and happy kids!!
Congrats man,
Robb
Way to get it done! Thanks for sharing it!
Holy crap that's a lot of steps! Wow, congrats on the great year.
Congrats on a great season and great write up!
Good stuff, man! Thanks for the great write up!
Great write up Luke! You are doing it right!!
A little bump for some taxidermy. I got my WI rooster from December 2022 back this week. Turned out pretty well I think, what do guys think?
I’ve shot 200 pheasants over my golden, but this one crossed all the boxes for the most part of what I wanted (plan to get one over each dog mounted). Color was ok, shot around home on my a public wild spot, late season bird and a tail feather crossing 26”, long 60 yard blind retrieve in the cattails, wasn’t shot to shit, had to pull the trigger on making a memory with my buddy.
Nice Rooster mount and long tail !
Outstanding thread all the way around!
Congratulations and thanks for taking us along!
He’s up in his final resting spot. Couldn’t be happier, if you’re in NW Wisconsin and need a bird done Taylor at River Point Taxidermy does a great job with waterfowl, turkeys, or upland.
Great stuff Luke! Thanks for sharing!
Excellent, Luke! Thanks for a great thread!
