Days 2-4 (Necessity Breeds Opportunity)
Tuesday, October 13, 2020 - Day 2 (First Blood)
Wow, long three days. Dan and I left the house around 2pm and arrived at the base of a ridge Dan calls Gun Sight Vista, just West of Gunsight, around 3pm. To get there you drive down the Gros Ventre and take a left on to a side road with about a 2ft lip (to the right is Goosewing Ranch). When facing GSV you see a steep finger, almost a continuation of the ridge on your far right. This ridge is separated by a large bowl, mainly treeless, a finger, another bowl filled with mainly dead, burned wood, and a second finger.
We took the middle (right) finger. The first 3/4 of the finger were pretty muddy and relatively steep but not too gruesome. The final 1/4 is incredibly steep and muddy with the final 100ish feet requiring sidehilling across the bowl to the right to access the ride. We arrived at the ridge at 4:15pm.
The North/East facing ridge was covered in about 2ish inches of snow. There is visibility to the North and East of higher ridge lines and faces. On GSV itself there was views of at least two draws that feed up from Gun Sight to GSV. We glassed from the edge of a clearing and then advanced into a small clump of trees with good visibility of the two draws and the NorthEast faces.
We glassed from that little clump of trees for 2+ hours and saw nothing. At around 6:45 (sunset 6:43) four mule deer meandered out of the draw about 150 yards from our location. After a few minutes the deer were spooked and jumped out of the draw. We were worried they heard us or got our scent. Wrong.
Following right on the heels of the deer, three elk poked their noses out of the draw. They paused for a few seconds before continuing to filter out. The three cows filtered out together and then were followed by another two cows and then the bull. We both clocked it as a big, but not huge 5x5.
The bull appeared out of the draw long enough that we could see his rack and get a read on him but then passed behind a few pines. Daniel initially reached to set up the V shooter thing but quickly abandoned that and went prone. The elk popped out from behind the pines and took four or five slow steps. Literally couldn’t have been a more perfect shot. Exactly the draw we had been glassing all afternoon, unobstructed, 150 yards, broadside. Dan pulled the trigger and the bull was stunned briefly but then ambled about ten steps forward. We lost sight of him behind a tree right near the ridgeline so we gathered our stuff and went to find him.
We found blood and tracks leading straight to the ridge. At this point it was getting pretty dark and was there was a ridiculous constant thermal wind coming up the South face of GSV. No sight of the elk and no snow on that side of the ridge so no trail to follow. We searched the rest of the North side of the ridge for more tracks and found some though they seemed a bit old.
We decided the only option was to search the bowl where we assumed the elk filtered down off the ridge. At this point it was pitch black and we were operating by headlamp only in 70 mph winds, 20 degree temps, and on a 60 degree slope. We slowly criss crossed our way down the bowl but didn’t see any blood, clear sign, or elk. Eventually we made it back down to the finger we took up and followed this back down to the car.
On the drive home saw a giant Grizzly in the road. Looked fat and athletic and healthy. Made us glad we had the Glock with us when we were wandering around in the dark.
Alice had lasagna in the oven when we got home, good lady.
Notes:
Make a small noise to get the elk to pause and look before shooting
Spotter should be more vocal to shooter after the shot to help him find the elk and take a second shot
Ignore the common knowledge and get up and chase after the shot, need to follow and see where elk went. This is especially crucial if the view is unobstructed.
Wednesday, October 14, 2020 - Day 3 (Search Part I)
Woke up at 5:30 to go continue the search. The Gros Ventre access road was muddy from rain last night. When we turned off the main road onto the GSV the road got worse. The 4Runner was handling it pretty well until a steep hill which Dan managed to navigate us up but then things got bad on the downhill. The road is pretty rutted and the mud just wouldn’t allow the tires to gain any traction or get out of the ruts. Eventually the car was fully sliding. It stopped after about 110 degrees (facing partially back up the hill). We used our seating pads under the tires to give them some traction and managed to get the car off the muddy road onto the sage. We were about 1.5 miles from GSV and were on foot from then on. It was about 7:30.
Trekked over to GSV through the sage because the road was too muddy to even walk on. Glassed the ridge side hoping to see a large dead animal but saw nothing. Decided to try going up the left most bowl to see if we could find anything in there. Probably a mistake as the trees, willows, and underbrush were dense here which made hiking difficult and slow and made the chances we spotted a downed elk slim to none. Took about 1:45 to go up this route, including a particularly steep rise at the top of the bowl. No elk.
Returned to the blood trail but the whipping wind and the dusting of snow from the night before had eliminated all blood and only left the faintest hint of tracks. We retraced the herds path up to the shot sight and then to the ridge but couldn’t find any sign. We followed the elk tracks from the day before (one draw over) but they led nowhere. We stumbled upon more blood further down that draw which looked fresh but was also suspiciously close to a previous kill sight—spine and shin bone with fur still on it about ten feet away. We searched both forks of that draw but didn’t see any blood or fresh sign. Had lunch in a beautiful, silent, piney spot overlooking the little valley between GSV and GS. Saw a sage grouse on our way back up the ridge.
Walked the entire ridgeline back and forth. No sign, no blood, no elk. As a final attempt, we walked along a game trail that led from the Northernmost point on the ridge across both bowls and both fingers on the way down. We traversed the entire face of GSV and came down the dense forest on the rightmost (when facing GSV from the road) edge of GSV. No blood, no elk.
By the time we got back to the car it was 4:30. We had been awake for 11 hours and on our feet searching for last night’s elk for 8. Our theory is that the gun isn’t sighted correctly. It clearly hit the bull because there was a blood trail. But we are confident that if the bull went down it was many miles away and the shot clearly didn’t hit the vitals. Planning on sighting the rifle tomorrow to check.
Almost turned back but decided to head to Cottonwood to glass at sunset. Took a quick nap in the car before heading up a dirt path to find a glassing spot. Decided to settle in at the second rise on a ridgeline that allowed us to see several draws to our left, west, and our right, east. Very elk area where Dan previously killed a bull. Didn’t spot any elk this time but saw either a large coyote or a wolf one ridge over to the east. It hopped on to the backside of that ridge before we could get a look in the big spotter. Amazing sunset, then headed home.
Thursday, October 15, 2020 - Day 4 (Necessity Breeds Opportunity)
Decided to wake up late to give our bodies a bit of a rest. Headed into town to do some chores and then go up Curtis to sight the rifle. Took us a loong time to leave the house and do chores so decided to skip Curtis. Headed up Gros Ventre with Alice but the road was closed. Audibled and headed to Turpine Meadows to explore.
Parked at Clear Creek Trail and headed up. Found a good glassing spot where we could see a large field to our left (South), a series of ridges in front of us, a draw to our right, and another ridge further to our right. Very elky looking terrain.
Saw three elk two ridges away in a little bald spot. Noted the location to explore more.
Absolutely beautiful sunset with perfect views back at the Tetons. The clouds have finally lifted off the mountains and they were shining in all their snowcapped glory.
Saw several creepy muleys on the way down to the car. Saw about 30 elk on the road back to town. They were bugling like crazy. A cop stopped to check on us because we were pulled over and laughed that we were practicing our elk calls and talking with the herd.
Notes:
There are elk in this area—explore more.
Days 5-10 (A Week of Hunting - Mistakes Made, Lessons Learned, We’re Dumb)
Friday, October 16, 2020 - Day 5 (Lava/Turpine Glass x2)
Woke up at 5. Decided to go to Lava because of the giant herd we saw just past Moran Junction last night. On the drive in we almost hit another elk in roughly the same spot. Arrived at Lava when it was already light out (because we are dumb). Wandered the entire length but didn’t see or hear elk and barely saw any sign. Probably too early in the year for Lava although apparently Whit got a bull on this day so tbd. We ain’t coming back, doesn’t feel elky this year.
Grabbed breakfast at Six Heart Ranch Buffalo Valley Cafe. Looked cool and homey. Was not. Was expensive and weirdly resorty. A normal breakfast plate (eggs, hashbrowns, bacon, biscuits and gravy) was $18 and Dan’s chicken fried steak was a similar price, maybe more. With coffee & tip the entire meal was over 50. Despite the price, the food was genuinely cold. The gravy, the eggs, the bacon the hashbrowns, and the steak were all cold. Not warm, cold. v questionable but we crushed anyway because we are constantly hungry now.
Drove towards Turpine Meadows with no real plan. Stopped to glass the ridge we saw elk on yesterday and Trevor fell into a food coma. Ended up driving back (away from the ridge) to explore. There was some cool stuff back there but not particularly elky. We found a good glassing spot down a well-maintained road to an FAA observation station.
Glassed for a few hours without seeing anything. Dan briefly saw movement on the same ridge we saw elk on yesterday. We decided to stop glassing and head to the ridge for a sunset hunt. Quick easy hike up the ridge ended in an idyllic field. We settling in under a tree with good sight lines down the field. We both almost nodded off in the warmth of the windless field as a pink and orange sunset fell softly around us. Not a great spot, close to the road and lodgings, not worth coming back to unless specifically chasing elk here.
Saturday, October 17, 2020 - Day 6 (Sidehill Hell)
4 am wake up to make it Gunsight for sunset. Long drive in, dark cold hike up. Set up to glass in a really cold windy spot overlooking the Gunsight Valley and the Vista ridge across the way. Didn’t see any movement but heard a gunshot from up the valley. Got up from our spot and wandered the ridge line occasionally glassing through the trees but really not doing much. Eventually made our way back to the same morning glassing spot at 10.
Dan took a 30 minute nap while Trevor glassed and saw nada. Dan then woke up at 10:30 and almost immediately spotted a herd of about 9 elk in a triangular opening roughly halfway to three quarters up Vista. Decent 5x5 possibly the same herd we shot at on Vista.
Glassed the herd for about 20 minutes as they grazed and then decided to make a move. Found what must be a steep little creek/waterfall in the spring/summer and moved/slid down. Then traversed across a hill side to get a glimpse of the herd again. Still in the same spot but moving into the tree line. We watched them move into the treelike and hoped they would be bedded down closed to the edge, close enough for a shot. Maybe this was wishful thinking?
Headed down the hill to the valley floor. Another two hunters were cleaning a freshly killed elk about 50 yards away. This mornings shot. Had we set up in a slightly different spot this elk could have been ours….
Continued our move across the valley and then up the steep steep slope. Tried to go wide of the elk as the wind was coming up from the valley so we wanted to come from above the herd. Got to a good spot and peaked into their grazing patch but saw nothing. Slowly worked our way over to the treeline but heard and saw nothing until we were right where they entered the forest.
Started following a little trail through the forest with some recent sign. After about ten minutes almost stumbled on top of the herd. They bolted and we pursued but we had absolutely no shot. They move so damn fast.
Worked our way down through the forest and then across the valley floor on our way back to the car. Started heading back up Gunsight. This route sucked. Several false summits and we ended up sidehilling in hail and wind for maybe an hour (though it felt like more). It sucked, do not go up this route. Either walk the valley until you are at the car and then head up, even if it is steep it would be way better, or just retrace your steps back on to Gunsight and walk that ridge. The hourlong sidehill is horrible and led to what ended up being a deep blister on Trevor’s right heel.
Got back to the car extremely wiped and feasted on the pb&j’s and snacks we accidentally left behind. Discussed waiting around and heading up Vista hoping that herd filtered up there in the evening (which is what it looked like they would do). Decided against it because we were so tired and because we thought they might be spooked after seeing us in the forest. Probably the wrong decision, should’ve waited around and headed up Vista for an evening hunt.
Decided to drive to an area called Bacon to check it out. Took a wrong turn and ended up at a beautiful horse ranch deep in the GV. Probably costs $100M but realistically would never be sold. Eventually found the right turn and headed into Bacon. Trailhead comes after some rocky driving, a river crossing above the level of the door, and up a steep slope.
Arrived and a big horse camp was set up there. Multiple canvas tents, four four-wheelers, multiple horses, and four or five trucks. Talked to one of the guys and he said his dad had been coming to that spot for the last week of hunting for the last 40 years. Pretty annoying since it means they monopolize the entire area for a week. But they had a cowboy corgi which was pretty damn cute.
Sunday, October 18, 2020 - Day 7 (Turpine Meadows Discovery)
Woke up at 5. Moved slow and arrived at Turpine late. Headed up towards the ridge we glassed from a few days ago but opted for a trail around the ridge towards a field Dan glassed some muleys in. Ended up in a great meadow where we stumbled into some more muleys. While we were observing the deer we realized there was an elk about 100 feet past them. As we moved to hide behind a tree the cow bolted. Stalked over to where she had been but she (and any other elk there) were long gone.
Continued walking up the meadow towards what looked like a larger meadow on the hunting GPS app. Nice easy little trail between the two meadows. Ran into another group of muleys (and maybe an elk?) on this trail.
Arrived in the larger meadow and it is huge. About a mile long and 3/4 mile wide. Felt very elky. Set up on a ridge with good views of the entire meadow and glassed for a couple hours. Didn’t see anything but spot felt very good. Decided to head down because our plan was to hunt Turpine in the morning and Gunsight Vista for sunset (ha).
Tried to find some food but nothing was open around us so we ended up driving to Dornan’s. As we sat eating a Thor we realized our brains were not working at all. Driving from Turpine to Gunsight would take about 2:30 and driving out of the Gros Ventre would take another 1:30. We were planning on make this work (dumb on a normal day) and making an 8:30 dinner. First, decided to do a Turpine sunset hunt. Arrived at the trailhead and both passed out in the car with it running haha. Decided to head home early rather than go back to Turpine because we realized the timing would be tough and our brains clearly couldn’t do basic math.
LESSON: Choose one area and hunt it for the day. Too much driving to go between areas.
LESSON: Do the math. A sunset hike will be over at 7:30-8 earliest, then you will have to hike out, and then drive out. Just do the math when making plans.
LESSON: If you come down and have a meal a sunset hunt is almost for sure not going to happen.
Had a greeeeat dinner at Kitchen. Avery ordered for everyone and everything was amazing. We (Dan and Trevor) probably ate at least half of the food ordered for seven of us (Dan & Alice, Carrot & new bf Kevin/Zach, Avery, Coles, and Trevor). Great dinner followed by Avici dance party at the Hill.
Monday, October 19, 2020 - Day 8 (Turpine Meadows Herd Part I/the Wiles of Women)
Set our alarms for 4 am but didn’t get up until 4:30 or later since we were up past midnight drinking after Kitchen dinner. Got to the trailhead at 6ish (waaay too late). Zoomed up the trail and arrived at the Upper Meadow moving pretty quickly to try to set up on the same ridge as yesterday. About 50 yards after we exited the tree line into the beginning of the meadow a cow crested the ridge above us. We both froze. More cows started to work their way over the ridge. We both slowly lay down and tried not to move at all.
Eventually 20+ elk including a big bull crested the ridge (about 200 yards ahead of us) and made their way to within 150 maybe even 100 yards of where we were laying down. The bull was bugling which was amazing to hear. There was another mini crest between the ridge and where we were and when the elk reached this crest they spooked a little bit probably from our scent (the wind was unfortunately at our back.
When the last of the elk made it back over the ridge we got up and moved around to the left, below the ridge, to try to get a shot. Made it within ten feet of the top of the ridge and Dan army crawled forward and set up for a shot. He had a shot at a bull but it wasn’t a great shot so he decided not to take it. Once the herd moved just to the other side of a treeline we advanced again. Decided to try to flank them again instead of pursuing and possibly bumping them. Went back down the ridge and cut into the forest. Once we were in there we had no shot. We heard a few distant bugles but quickly realized wherever they were we weren’t going to find them.8:30 am.
Wandered down to the Lower Meadow to collect ourselves and try to sleep a bit. Too cold and wet to get much sleep but relaxed for an hour or two. Decided to go back up to the Upper Meadow and set up between where we thought they would come out in the evening and where they entered the trees in the morning.
Sat in this spot for about 4-5 hours sleeping and catching up about life. Probably should have moved to the tree island in the middle, which is where we discussed setting up the night before, but had a good time leaned up against a pine tree napping, talking, and glassing.
At around 5:30, after doing and seeing nothing for hours, we realized 30 elk were in the exact creek bed/willowy area we guessed they would filter out to. Our glassing had slacked a little but its unreal how one minute there are no elk and the next they’re filling an area up. Not the first time elk would just appear out of nowhere on us.
A herd of about 100 elk, with multiple shooters and one 7x7 Thoroughfare giant herd bull eventually filtered out of the trees and into the Valley. The entire herd was following behind a lead cow who looked totally different than the rest of the cows and was about 20 yards ahead of the rest of the herd. Two of the big bulls had their antlers locked and were battling and bugling incredibly loudly. It's amazing how elk hunting just goes from complete inaction and boredom to intense activity and adrenaline.
Despite the herd appearing exactly where we thought it would, we were still about 1000 yards from any elk and the herd was filtering across the meadow away from us. Packed up and backed out of our position under a ridge. Circled around behind the ridge and into the tree line on the left side of the meadow. Got as close as we could but were still about 200 yards from the herd bull.
When we got to the last tree and removed the rifle the lead cow and a few other elk picked their heads up and looked in our direction. They didn’t spook but they could clearly tell we were there. The whole herd started to slowly drift back to the far creek bed and out of our range. We considered making another move but we probably had about 15-20 minutes of light and didn’t want to be overly aggressive since we were confident we could get the herd again in the same place the next morning.
Headed back into the tree line and away from the herd motivated to wake up tomorrow and bag a monster. Things didn’t work out exactly as planned.
Tuesday, October 20, 2020 - Day 9 (Turpine Meadows Herd Part II/Expectations Breed Disappointment)
Woke up at 4am. Extremely (overly) confident that we were going to get a giant, epic Thoroughfare Herd Bull. Proceeded to walk 20 miles and make a series of idiot mistakes.
Got to the trail early and began hearing bugling from our left, where the Lower Meadow is, right before arriving at the one downhill through a steep gully on the trail. Continued forward to the Upper Meadow. Set up in the Upper Meadow despite hearing consistent bugling in the Lower Meadow and nothing in the Upper Meadow. We positioned ourselves at the end of the glassing ridge so that we could see the elk we assumed would start filtering up from the Lower Meadow.
After about an hour (7-8) of glassing without hearing or seeing anything in the Upper Meadow we finally decided to move to the Lower Meadow. We arrived at the edge of the tree line and the meadow and it sounded like the bugling bull was about 50 feet away but out of the meadow in the deep tress.
LESSON: Listen when the elk are telling you where they are. If you aren’t calling them in, you have to go to them, they will not just stumble into your scope’s view.
Instead of being smart and either calling or just cutting our losses, we charged into the deep ass forest after the bugling bull. Every 100 feet or so we would bump a handful of cows who would easily evade us. We kept hearing the bull bugling and were so intent on getting an elk that morning we stormed (trudged, tripped, trickled, toppled) towards his calls. He was extremely close, we never had a chance of getting a shot off. Had we got a shot off we couldn’t have found him. Had we found him we could barely have processed him. Had we managed that we would barely have been able to pack a load out. Had we done that we probably couldn’t have relocated the body. In short, we are idiots.
LESSON (x3): You have no chance pursuing through the forest, nothing good can come of this and you should never, ever do it.
After about an hour (8-9) of this wild elk chase Daniel almost had a heart attack and had to stop. Because he stopped and sat down Trevor couldn’t see him (camo works) or hear him and thought he was stranded in a deep forest gully with no map or GPS. We were about fifty feet from each other on an 8,600ft forest hill top we had sprinted up and that we had spooked several cows off of. Slowly (sloowly) we tiptoed our way through the forest, over downed trees, up a steep detritus laden slope, to the Upper Meadow. Debated trekking back down to the car for some food and warmth and returning for sunset but we’re too smoked to consider adding another 6 miles to the day so took out our puffys and mats and passed out for two hours (9-11) against/on/under a pine tree.
Woke up energized and decided to explore the meadow. Checked out some little clearings on the left edge of the meadow near where we guessed the elk were bedded down. Checked out the islandey tree stand that overlooks the creek bed. Hardish to get to bc surrounded by willows but great views of the entire meadow. We should have been here yesterday like we originally planned.Walked a couple miles down the Road to the Thoroughfare and had lunch in a big open field. Lots of black bear tracks back here.
LESSON: Midday lull should be used for exploration not just sitting doing nothing. Lots to learn and especially here absolutely no chance an elk appears between 8:30-4ish.
Returned and set up on the left edge with decent (but honestly not great because of the high grass and lip on the edge of the meadow) views of the meadow and of the opening from the clearings we explored earlier and the meadow. Beautiful sunny day and we just lay around from about 2:30-3:30 enjoying the sun.
Around 3:30 got set up with optics but were still just chatting assuming no elk would appear until at least 4:30. At 4, seven cows appeared 50 feet in front of us. Again, they just appear its baffling. Two mule deer were also about 50 feet away from us. Because of this we were a bit pinned down but could see the elk feeding in front of us. First a spike and then a 5x5 big but not giant bull appeared.
Dan thinks he could have gotten a shot off but he would’ve had to move into a kneeling shooting position which may have spooked the elk or deer. We also operating under the mindset that this was just the initial wave of the giant herd and that we would have an opportunity at another (read: bigger, better) bull when the rest of the herd caught up to the leaders. These eight elk fed and walked their way down into the creek bed on the opposite side of the meadow from where we were set up.
The rest of the herd never appeared and we didn’t hear any bugling…Around 5:45 we decided to make a push after what we now assume is a smaller independent herd. Moved to place the tree island between us and where we thought the elk would be and pushed up onto the island. Split to either side of the island glassing but the herd was long gone.
Walked down to the Lower Meadow to do our due diligence. Saw about 20 cow mule deer but no elk. Dan cow called several times (which he’s got down pretty reliably at this point, surprisingly high pitched) and got a faint bugle from down in the forest gully where we had been chasing earlier in the day.
LESSON: If you are trophy hunting, wait for the right bull. If you aren’t, take the shots you get, don’t assume a better shot will come later.
Took the Lower Meadow trail out. This trail sucks. Upper Meadow trail rulez.
Wednesday, October 21, 2020 - Day 10 (Turpine Meadows Part III/Never Chase in the Forest)
Woke up at 4 am. Motivated but definitely still feeling defeated from yesterday. Ripped up our favorite trail in an hour twenty (5:40-7) faster than usual somehow despite not feeling hot.
Arrived at the edge of the Upper Meadow and turned our headlamps off (just barely enough light to see the trail). We listened for bugling but heard nothing. Advanced up to the ridge and took a peek at the meadow but didn’t see or hear anything. Moved on to the ridge we glassed from on the 18th with views down into the gully separating the Upper and Lower Meadows and views of the Upper Meadow.
Dan cow called several times but got no response. Started glassing when there was enough light and saw a small herd, probably the same one from yesterday afternoon, about a mile away at the very far edge of the meadow, near the Road to the Thoroughfare. Decided not to make a move and hope the larger herd appeared. They did not….
Checked out the Lower Meadow just to do our diligence but we didn’t see or hear anything down there either. We probably spooked the herd pretty hard bc we are idiots…Walked down the Lower Meadow and worked over to the Upper Meadow trail (this route sucks, just go through the trail that already exists at the far end).
Trudged home defeated with sore feet, sad boiz.
Days 11-12 (Time is a Flat Circle - Gunsight Vista Part II)
Thursday, October 22, 2020 - Day 11 (First Blood Part II)
Took the morning off to rest our bodies and brains and then decided to head up Gunsight Vista for an afternoon hike. We hadn’t returned since Day 1 when we got a clean shot at a bull and have been meaning to return after letting the ridge air out a bit.
We are idiots so of course we left the house way too late (like 3). Arrived at GSV around 4:30 and started motoring up. We were feeling pretty good after the dayish of rest but the snow from this morning made it pretty hard work. There was probably about 6 inches accumulated on the finger. We stopped for a few minutes to watch two bald eagles fly by about exactly at eye height.
Around 5:30, when we were still on the finger because we are idiots, who can’t do math, we looked up and spotted 6 or 7 cows on the ridge and immediately froze. Eventually the cows moved off the ridge and Dan sprinted up the finger.
[Dan fill in]
Trevor slowly worked way to Daniel at the previous shooting spot in the middle of the field. Both a little bummed out that there was no bull in the little herd and were about ready to pack it in. It was about 6:45 and already getting dark. Decided to just stay through sunset and almost immediately after making this decision spotted another couple cows moving up the far draw. Took out the binoculars and realized a large herd was funneling up from Gunsight. Didn’t see a bull yet but because light was dying Dan had to make a move or risk not getting a shot. Dropped his bag and just took the rifle down into the tree line while Trevor glassed. Spotted at least one clear shooter and possibly two in the herd.
[Dan fill in stalk and track]
Met up on the shoulder and got back on the elks trail which led around the high point of the ridge along a well worn elk trail (moving away from the finger we climbed up). The path led to a finger heading straight down. After a few minutes on the trail (at 8:18) we spotted a big blood spot. A minute later we found another spot of blood. Kept on going down the trail and bumped a bull elk bedded down on the ridge 20 feet ahead of us. We couldn’t find any more blood but it had to be our elk and he had to be injured to just be bedded down right in front of us.
At this point it was well past sundown, there was decent visibility with the moon and stars and there was no wind which was nice. When we got back to the car it said it was 9 degrees in the valley so was likely even lower up top.
Continued to follow a trail we found heading down into the far draw. Did our best to follow it but there were multiple fresh elk tracks, it was incredibly steep, snowy, and dark. Lost it in the draw. Found a couple other ones and followed them as best we could but no elk.
Made it back to the car at 9:50 feeling incredibly defeated and frustrated. Feel like we’ve done this before. Pretty good shot at an elk. Multiple good shots. Quiet ride out. Discussed maybe sighting the rifle, changing out bullets, or even buying a different rifle. Really down and pessimistic.
Friday, October 23, 2020 - Day 12 (Search Part II) Gros Ventre Vista
Went to search for our elk. Slept in a bit which was a good decision, helped us recover from last night's disappointment a bit more and feel slightly more positive about hunting.
Drove past a car of hunters and chatted with them briefly. They said another group of hunters had fired between 8-20 shots earlier in the morning. They also said they saw a bull limping behind a big herd. It was unclear whether they saw the bull limping before or after the shots, we should have clarified.
Seemed likely that was our bull but we retraced our steps up to the spot on the finger where we bumped him. Didn’t see any new blood but saw a set of tracks we missed the night before. Followed the tracks down into a draw and up the next finger which overlooked a large meadow. We didn’t see anything and slowly worked out way back to the car pretty confident our bull was the one the hunters saw limping with the rest of the herd. Same location, same injury, same size herd, seems impossible its not the same elk.
Left pretty bummed out about how much we suck at hunting but at least we feel confident there was nothing else we could do to find him.
Days 13-14 (Into the Squall) Turpine/Cottonwood
Saturday, October 24, 2020 - Day 13 (Into the Squall)
Decided to head back to Turpine, set our alarms for 4. Got ready quickly, gear and prep are pretty dialed in at this point. Opened the garage door and saw for the first time that it was snowing pretty heavily outside. Note: check the weather before heading out idiots. Note: the apple weather app has sunrise and sunset times listed.
Hiked America’s Greatest Trail. Trevor’s blister is pretty gnarly which made the switchbacks slightly unpleasant but otherwise was fine. Arrived at the Upper Meadow in the dark, turned on red headlamps at the V exit from forest/start of clearing and then quickly went to no light.
Set up to glass the meadow from the glassing ridge. No bugle, no elk, snow quite heavy. Snow was heavy enough that the spotter couldn’t even really be used because it was so gray and fuzzy.
Stayed and glassed until 8ish then headed down to the lower meadow. Nothing down there either. We probably bumped the entire herd when we chased them. Or they are just bedded down because of the weather. Or they moved down into the valley because of the weather. Or none of the above. We have no idea but the elk were not here.
Headed home to warm up and dry off (puffys pretty wet in the wet snow and base layers pretty wet from sweat because we booked it up to the meadows.
Headed into the GV around 2:30, a little later than we wanted but decided to head out anyway because we are desperate at this point. Weather wasn’t as bad in the valley as it was up by Turpine so we had some hope that maybe the GV would be OK, though we both knew that was a long shot.
GV was not OK and by the time we made it to the turnoff to Vista the weather had increased. It clear there was no way we could make that drive. Decided since we had already driven back there we would check out Cottonwood, which is down an easier to manage road (though it still has multiple river crossings) and up an easier ridge. Made it to the Cottonwood parking lot and the weather was only getting worse. Could barely see the upper knobs on the ridge when we parked and as we sat there the two top most knobs disappeared.
As we sat there three horsey fuckers emerged from the whiteout looking pretty content on horseback. As much as we hate these hunters we both agreed that riding a horse in the snowy Wyoming backcountry would be pretty unbeatable.
While we were sitting in the parking lot building up the courage to head outside the “squall” grew into a genuine nuking to the point where we could barely see any of the ridge.
Eventually the weather abated (slightly) and we said fuck it and headed up the ridge fully acknowledging it seemed impossible we would see any elk and if we did see any that we could make a move/manage a pack out of any sort. But were desperate at this point so we headed into the squall anyway.
The hike up that ridge isn’t too bad at all and we made it to a tree stand near where Dan and Whit glassed Dan’s bull. We stayed for about 1/1.5 hours glassing but there was very limited visibility as the wind was blowing the snow sideways at this point. Scooted down the ridge back to the car and had a treacherous journey home on about 6-8 inches of snow.
There was no need to go to the GV today but we were desperate, probably dumb and unsafe.
Came home to peanut stew cooked by Alice. Derek and Avery came over for dinner and spent the night to avoid driving in the weather.
No elk today :(
Sunday, October 25, 2020 - Day 14 (Suffering for the Sake of Suffering)
Derek slept over and joined us in the morning. 5 am wake up to head to Lava. Arrived at Lava and there were already three pick-ups in the lot. We left a bit late but jesus. Note: weekends are notably busier than weekdays. If possible, try to stick to the weekdays.
We didn’t have a Plan B and ended up slowly working our way to Box Creek. Trevor was not in a good mood. Given that it was 5 degrees out, with 8 inches of fresh snow, past sunrise (because of the Lava delay), and a totally new area it seemed like there was zero chance of getting or even finding elk. The definition of “suffering for the sake of suffering.”
Saw some spots in the snow that looked like elk had been bedded down earlier and explored some meadows that seemed like they might have potential. Should explore up here next summer to be ready for next season. Otherwise pretty cold and miserable and definitely no elk.
On the way down Dan glassed a couple elk across the river in a bald spot near where we glassed on Rosie’s (not Josie’s) Ridge. Drove across the river and turned onto the FAA road. Parked and explored a series of bald spots and tree lines but didn’t see all that much sign and saw no elk. Hard work moving through the thick snow but at least it warmed up as the sun beamed down in the afternoon.
Got back to the car with severely mixed emotions. On the one hand we had an incredible hunting experience. We saw about 200 elk, took good sub 150 yard shots at two bulls, could possibly have taken 2-3 more shots at bulls, discovered turpine, confirmed vista is a great spot, and learned a huge amount so next year we will be super prepared. On the other hand, we didn’t get an elk and we made some incredibly stupid mistakes that possibly/probably kept us from success.
2020 Elk Hunt
Notes & Lessons (in no particular order)
Sight the rifle and practice in the summer, you aren’t going to do it instead of hunting so need it dialed in by the time the season starts
Do the math—there are small windows in the morning and evening and you need to have enough time to drive, hike and, set up on time for each window
Hike in zone 1 and don’t sweat, you’ll regret a wet base layer when you stop moving and the cold sets in
Have a plan but don’t let your preconceived notions of how the day will go determine your actions, be flexible and respond to what the elk are doing
If staying out all day, use the dead hours of midday to familiarize yourself with the area
If glassing, don’t just wander stopping to look occasionally. Find a good spot, set up, and glass—you’re not likely to spot elk that aren’t right in your path in your are moving.
DON’T chase into the forest, absolutely no shot for anything positive to happen, lots of potential negative scenarios
Learn to cow call and bugle, its a must
Possibly buy walkie-talkies? Sat phone?
Choose one area and hunt it for the day. Too much driving to go between areas
If you come down and have a meal a sunset hunt is almost for sure not going to happen
If you are trophy hunting, wait for the right bull. If you aren’t, take the shots you get, don’t assume a better shot will come later
Unsung hero of the trip was Alice who had dinner prepared or on the way almost every night. If she wasn’t doing that we would either have gone to bed hungry, had to stay up way later making crappy dinners, or stayed up way later driving into McDonalds or something. Really would need to think about how to handle the food situation if Alice hadn’t been there.
Don’t leave lunch in the car
PB&J’s > turkey sandwiches, just do PB&J’s or PB&Honey’s, nothing else hits the spot the same
Wavering on how we feel about this hunt. Extremely successful in lots of ways. We saw a huge number of elk, we had two great shots, we got extremely confident in our ability to navigate the terrain and make decisions quickly, and we identified two amazing locations that should produce elk in the years to come. As Dan says we have 40 more hunts ahead of us. All of these positives make it that much more painful that after fourteen days we didn’t have an elk…with a better shot we would have had an elk on Day 2, if we were patient and anticipated instead of chased we could have had an elk on Day 6, if we woke up on time or were more direct we would have had an elk on Day 8, if we were responsive to the elk and not overly confident we could have had an elk on Day 9, if we were OK with a 5x5 we would have had an elk Day 9, if we didn’t bump a hurt elk we would have had an elk on Day 11. So many chances, so many close calls.
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