Elk Hunting 2016
Day 1
I had planned to meet Jeff at around 10am at his house. I called him that morning and he told me he realized he had a water pump leak in his truck. He wanted to change it out before heading up the mountain. I took my time to finish getting ready as I knew I had a couple extra hours. It was a hectic morning anyway; Just the general preparing, guy came to wash our cars, builder was there waiting for inspector to show. I kind of got caught up in a lot of stuff. Not to mention, Donna had left early to take KK to skate and I wouldn’t see her if I left at 9am as planned. It was nice to be able to chat with her some before heading out. I left the house around 11:30 and got to Jeff’s about an hour later. He was just buttoning up the water pump and starting to make sure there were no leaks. He still had tools to pack and to finish organizing a few other items. Plus, he wanted to grab a shower before we headed out. We left his house and went to grab a bite to eat nearby. As there was no room in the parking lot for a 38-foot RV pulling an 18-foot trailer, I parked in a far-off area of the lot. Another guy and his wife were just parking in their fifth wheel also. We just pulled up side by side in the lane as nobody else was going to park that far away! LOL Jeff and I decided on Taco Bell as we had both recently had In and Out…still a hard decision though! ☺ After we finished, Jeff headed across the road to see if he could get a new bulb for his right tail light. He had no blinker. I walked back to the RV as the people in the fifth wheel were just backing up to head out. I got myself better situated at the exit of this part of the lot awaiting Jeff’s call for us to hit I-17. The fifth wheel started to pull out and then stopped abruptly in front of me. He got out and came around to my drivers window. I said hello and he said, ‘You must have been a corpsman’. I was quite shocked that he would know that and I asked him how he figured it out. He said he noticed the Navy plate on the front of the RV and had already seen the 3rd 5th plate on the back. His dad was a corpsman in WWII…with the 5th marines nonetheless! What a small world! He himself served in Vietnam. I’m sure he said 64-65. We chatted for about 15 minutes before we finally said our goodbyes. I asked him his name…Bud. Man, how I love meeting and chatting with fellow veterans! Especially when it is just so random! After they drove away with many waves and smiles, I had to laugh and think about what Donna and Caitlynn will say. I don’t go anywhere that I don’t meet someone I know, or make a new friend. Here’s to meeting up again soon Bud!
Jeff calls and we are headed north! It has managed to get late quickly. We head up the hill towards Williams. We stopped about halfway for gas for Jeff. Small town so nowhere for me to fuel anyway. We continue and finally get into Williams in the dark. We head through town and out onto the county road which will take us out into the woods. We only have to drive a couple of miles on a dirt road before Jeff pulls into a road. It doesn’t take him more than about 30 seconds to be fully stuck in the mud. UGH!! I stay out in the road and get out to help Jeff unhitch the trailer. He gets the truck out of the mud and comes at an angle to grab the trailer once again. Success on the first try! I get in my rig and Jeff has me make a wide swing and stay high in the grass. No problems and I pull right into a nice flat spot. We setup camp in short, had a bite to eat, chatted for a bit and then it was off to bed as we would be heading out at 0530 the next morning.
Day 1 in the books! Looking forward to morning!
Day 2
The 0400 alarm rings loud and the feeling of sleep envelopes me. I am very tired as we didn’t get to sleep until around 10:30 last night. It is COLD this morning. I’m sure it is sub 20 degrees. UGH! Time for long johns and many, many layers. Today Jeff and I will be out scouting as our hunt doesn’t open until tomorrow. I get all the gear I will need for the day and walk over to meet Jeff at his RZR. This will be our transportation for the next few days. We head to an area that Jeff and I had spoken about last night. We make our way in the dark, face shields and jackets in fully closed positions as the wind and weather are beyond chilly. Did I mention it is dark…I mean dark! We drive for about 15 minutes and scan for elk tracks in the snow. We see a fair amount of prints and decide it is time to ditch the vehicle and start our trek up the hill. The path is easy at first, a light snow to walk through and a small incline. It didn’t take much distance, however, for all of that to change! LOL It was steep and my out of shape body was letting me know! My gear became an anchor, cold disappeared, only to be replaced with my heavy breathing and trying to get my legs to continue. Jeff made a few courtesy stops for me up the hill. Thank goodness, I felt like I was about to die and then he would give us a short break. He asked me if my heart was letting me know it was alive. LOL The previous day at lunch, I had mentioned to Jeff that I was a little worried about my fitness level, he said he was worried about it too! HAHA He tried taking it back saying he meant himself. I’ve been ribbing him about if ever since! So I tell him his out of shape fat friend will manage and we tread on up the hill. He has found a spot on the map he liked and I see why. It was a rock outcrop ledge. About 20 feet down to the ground below us and a huge draw that came right up past us. It was still dark, but the sun was just starting to light the sky in the distance. I reached for my phone, realizing I would have to remove my gloves to get the screen to work, and took a few pics. I got a great shot of Jeff using his binoculars (glassing) out into the valley.
A couple more shots and then one panoramic of the amazing sunrise before I would text my honey. Of course, we have no cell service in camp. Go figure, it always works out that way. Just as I close the camera and get ready to switch over to text Donna, I get an alert from my phone, ‘battery critically low’, as it shuts down I think about where I had it plugged in last night. Guess that outlet doesn’t work on the inverter. LAME! No talking to my honey this morning. Despite the fact I could not send her the picture now, I know I will be able to share it with her later. I love sharing stories with my Honey!
The sunrise is amazing! I lose focus on searching for animals as I am in awe of God’s wonder! What a beautiful place this is. My own state and my first time sitting here on this mountain. My mind is quickly brought back to reality with the loud boom of a rifle shot! We had seen a guide and a client of his headed up the hill in front of us. We passed the guides truck when we were almost all the way to our lookout. Another thing that I will now use to pick on Jeff endlessly. ‘Wow, that guide drove his customer almost to the top of the mountain in a heated truck. I bet he even brought snacks and handwarmers for him’ This was only the beginning of how much I would use the ‘that other guide’ line! HAHA The guy missed his shot. It was a small spike elk and we watched him trot past us. In the end he came within about 75 yards of us. Dang not having a bull tag today! We watch him for a few minutes before he is finally out of site. He went up over the hill, so we decided to do the same. Here we go, more trudging up the hill. ‘I bet that other guide drove his guy up the hill’. Jeff laughed and asked if he should carry me. We work our way to the top of the peak and start to glass. The sun is in full swing and it is starting to warm up. The view down over the valley and into Williams is spectacular. I would post a picture but, oh snap…crackle…snap! Jeff and I halt and stare at each other. He is giving me the sound signal and pointing out the direction. I look again, see movement and let Jeff know this with a signal. We wait it out, Jeff is frantic with signal and my adrenaline is pounding. We realize the sound from the left is a hunter. There is a small window of clearing, and it is there we see a huge bull elk and a very large cow. Today is the last day to hunt for bulls and that is what the hunter on our left is looking to get. The shot is long. My guess was around 500 yards. The hunter is sitting down in front of us and trying to adjust for his shot. His shot will be across the saddle and halfway up the adjoining peak. He has plenty of time as the animals are not on the move. He tries to get set several times and just can’t find the right spot. He finally lays prone, gets his pack under himself and sets up that way. After what seems an eternity, he fires! Jeff is glassing and says he was high. The animals have yet to move and the guy adjusts his scope. BOOM! He injures the elk. He is now limping and they are trying to move away. They head over the edge of the hillside from us. We go over to tell the guy where the elk went over the hill as we had it marked. We waited as the guy had a friend on a different peak spotting for him also. He could see the animal still limping so we waited it out. Eventually both elk came back over the hill, so one last shot and he had his bull. His range was 545 yards. Crazy distance! We chatted with the guy as his friend was going to drive around and he would lead him up the hill to the animal. The guy introduces himself, “Hi, I’m Randy.” We do the cordials and chat but this guy sure seems familiar to me. Really, a random mountain up in the high country of Arizona and I run into someone I know?! Even I am a little baffled by this one! LOL Ends up our paths have crossed before. In our conversation, he talks of Washington and Oregon. I finally ask where he is from and he says he lives in Washington just north of Portland. Of course, I say, ‘Vancouver’? He is very shocked that I know this little town. We converse about my time there and what brought me there. We talk about hospitals and he asks me about some charities that I know well. He proceeds to tell me he founded one of those charities! I had spent lots of time with that charity in the hospitals I worked in. What a small world. Randy and I talk for about 45 minutes. Just crazy all the names we bring up and the people we both know. Come to find out, this Randy happens to be Randy Meyers the baseball player. The conversation with Randy was great! I told him that my wife and I write a blog and told him to be sure and visit so he could read about the rest of our journey. He wrote down the site address in his phone and I’m sure he will visit!
Jeff and I eventually say our goodbyes to our friend Randy and head down the hill. It is time to go back and get some lunch and warm-up a little. We decide on our way to drive around the mountain and see if we could find them with their bull. After about 20 minutes, here comes Randy with a full quarter on his back. We lead him to his friends’ truck, say goodbye again and head back to camp.
A quick tuna sandwich, thanks Honey, and some chips and water and I am good to go for our afternoon trip out. We stay in camp for a couple of hours before heading out to scout more. A different direction and a new area this time. We drive a little, walk a lot, my load, once again, becomes an anchor and I am short of breath. We see some beautiful forest, but very few tracks and absolutely no animals. Other than a really fast grey squirrel with freakishly large ears. HAHA We scout several areas and head back to the RZR just before dark. We follow the gas line road back to camp and see that Jeff’s other friend has just arrived! We exit the RZR to say hello to Armon. As I walk over to greet him, my hamstring cramps up and I can’t move. Jeff makes fun of me and Armon comes to shake my hand. Sorry I can’t stand very well, but nice to meet you. LOL After a good 10-minute cramp session, we go into Jeff’s camper. We have some dinner and beers and talk about tomorrow. Of course, Jeff decides that we got up the hill a little late today, so tomorrow we should be earlier. We have decided on being atop the mountain at 5:00am. UGH 4:30 leave time. Tomorrow will begin our hunt window.
I head back to the RV and prepare in anticipation for the morning! Off to bed as that 3:30 alarm is going to come fast…
Day 3
I wake up before the alarm. I’m sure it is probably time to get ready. I make a quick trip to the bathroom then up front to turn up the heater. I will jump back in bed until the alarm goes off. I check the clock and realize it is only 11:40pm. HAHA….back up to turn the heater back down so I don’t sweat myself out. Guess I am anxious for tomorrow. The alarm finally sounds and I follow my routine once again. I have laid everything out as to be a more prepared for the day. I put on my layers, double check my gear, double check my layers, triple check my gear, etc…I finally turn the heater down, shut off the generator and head out the door. Jeff is only a few paces away and he is outside with lights on. We say our good mornings and I load my gear into the RZR. Back to climb that dreaded hill this morning. A little earlier, a little colder, and a medium breeze this morning. I let Jeff know I will pay him $1.00 for every 100 yards further he drives up that hill! LOL As we park he says I owe him $5.00! HAHA He drove us right to the bottom of the steep part. Now I don’t even get a warm up walk, just straight to the climbing. We find our same outlook, grab a seat and bundle up waiting to hear movement. I finally send my wife the pic of the sunrise from the day before. ‘Good morning Sunshine’! I get in a small chat with my wife before the sun pokes out from behind the mountain. Time to go as I need to be alert. We watch, we wait, we glass more, we wait. Nothing. No sound. No movement. Nothing.
We decide to head up. Jeff is going to flank around to the left and wants Armon and I to head up the road. Armon and I trudge up the steepest part of the road, taking short breaks as needed. It is much colder today. We arrive at the top of the peak. We are in a small saddle between two peaks. We arrive just as the sun is starting to rise over this peak. The warmth feels good, but both of our toes are frozen this morning.
We wait there, looking, listening, looking, listening. Nothing. I snap a few photos. Some of the beautiful nature and one of Armon and I freezing on top of the mountain. We have some great conversation while waiting for Jeff to make his way around. He arrives to tell us the same…nothing. Seems this area is no good. We drive to one more spot before heading to camp. We find a nice open meadow with a small hill. We drive up the hill to glass around. Again, we see nothing. We drive down the hill and up the road a little further. I see something in the distance. I point it to Jeff and he glasses in that direction. A big buck deer just staring right back at us. I see motion again. Jeff pans back and sees about 20 deer roaming around eating. Too bad we don’t have a deer tag. We decide to head back to camp for lunch and a warming session. We will head out again around 2:00 to scout some new areas.
Lunch is quick and we head back into the cold. We drive a short distance from camp to a spot called Three Sisters. Again, we park and will now walk to the top of the peak. This hike starts out on flats, but the snow is a little deeper. Not a bad walk and I’m not dying as bad. My left leg is sore however and I complain and whine to Jeff just to get a rise out of him. ‘Bet that other guide didn’t make his guy walk 6 miles a day in the snow uphill’. I remind him he called me fat! Laughs and jokes ensue and we meander on. We make it to the base of the peak. Jeff wants to go up to the top. I will wait a minute for him. 5 minutes goes by so I head up the hill. I see Jeff taking a photo. I try to see what he sees but my view is blocked. A bull elk with huge antlers. Unfortunately, bull hunt ended yesterday and we have cow tags anyway. He comes into my view and we watch him meander away. He must have seen us. We follow him for a bit, hoping he will take us to others. We walk, we follow, we see LOTS of fresh tracks, we look, we listen. Nothing. This place looks like an elk super highway. Bed marks, tracks, elk droppings…all signs are good! We see nothing. We eventually head back to the RZR. Armon is nearby. We go over to chat with him. Lots of tracks, but no elk. Jeff is going to scout the other side of the road. Armon and I will wait as Jeff will be walking about another hour. I don’t think my legs can take it so I stay behind. Armon and I chat and have a few good laughs.
We have signal here so I check Facebook and chat with my Donna a little. I miss her dearly on this trip. We always travel together, and I like it that way. Guy trips are cool and everything, but I really miss her company. We just have so much fun together and I always want to share my journeys with her!
Jeff returns about 50 minutes later. Oddly, he is back on our side of the road. LOL He decides we should walk down near the water tank below us. At least the short walk is downhill. We walk the 1000 yards or so and find a great sitting spot. An old dead tree that has been blown over. It makes the perfect spot for Jeff and I to sit and hope to see some elk walk by. Armon is off to the other side of the road to watch from a distance and a different angle. I tell Jeff a few stories my brother Scott shared with me recently. He and I had driven to the gun show down in Tucson just a couple of weeks ago. On the way home, we talked about the hunt and he shared some of his stories of hunting antelope up in Montana. He had some hilarious stories of our dad and his brothers. I was laughing so hard I was crying. I was sharing these stories with Jeff on our tree and laughter ensued! Trying to be quiet and laughing…yea, not so much. Jeff knows my brother is a great story teller. I tell him one in full and then tell him Scott must tell him the other as it is so hilarious coming from him! We laugh and then try to quiet back down as not to scare away the non-existent elk we are hunting. It is starting to get to sunset so Jeff decides he will walk back, grab the RZR and come get Armon and I. I stay to watch for elk. As Jeff leaves he talks about it cooling down. The temperature has dropped quite a bit in the last few minutes. You can see snowflakes falling lightly. Bummer. I wait about another 20 minutes and decide I will head toward the road to find Armon as it is getting dark fast. The temperature has dropped quickly and it is getting very cold now. Jeff has been gone 25 minutes. I still don’t hear the RZR and there is no sign of Armon. Hmmm…. I wait a few more minutes and check my phone. I have signal so I call Jeff. He and Armon had just finished loading and they were headed my way. Good thing as I am now shivering from the cold. They pick me up and we bundle up for the short, but ice-cold ride back to the RV. Donna has supplied me with enough Jack Daniels Honey pulled pork to feed us all. On returning I fire up the generator and get the heater going for my dinner guests. I start looking at photos and time goes quickly. Jeff and Armon on here and I haven’t even started dinner. No big deal, we pulled out some chips, I fired up the microwave and dinner was ready in no time. The pork was delicious! Armon headed back to the trailer and Jeff and I sat and chatted about tomorrow. We looked at the map a hundred times and then decided on a game plan. We had a little more general conversation and more beer and then decided to call it a night. I quickly prep for the morning and then shut off the generator and lights, set the furnace temperature to comfortable but cool and tuck myself into my wonderful Sleep Number bed. How cozy it feels tonight. This trip has helped me to learn that my Sleep Number is 45. With my normal linens and my giant Marine Corps blanket and the furnace set at about 60 degrees, I tuck myself in and I am off to see the wizard.
The alarm will come early once again.
Day 4
I rise to my alarm. As I roll over I realize the pain in my left groin and the burning between my shoulder blades. The walking and weight of the pack have caught up to me. I move around, turn up the heater and start my morning routine. About 15 minutes in I realize that today is not going to happen for me. I am stuffy and cold, sore and tired. I bet that other guide didn’t make his guy get up so early every day.
I watch out the window as Jeff and Armon load up. Jeff drives right to my door for morning pickup. I tell him that I am out for today as my body aches. He asks if I’m sure and then gives into my wishes. I wish them the best and they are off. I decide to turn the heater back down and crawl back into that comfy bed! It doesn’t take long and I am snug as a bug. Warm and happy.
I wake around 6:30. My body is stiff as I fire up the generator a second time today. The heater is warming things nicely. I fire up the coffee maker. Something I haven’t done this trip as we are up and out so early. I bet that other guide carried coffee up the hill for his guy.
I find some pastries and warm them in the microwave. I sit and enjoy the view out the window in my nice heated space. I drink my coffee and eat my warm pastry and blueberry muffin. I have signal on my phone…AMAZING! I chat with the wife via messenger app. It is the only communication I can get to work. Good enough for me! I tell her I am staying in today and she is sad for me. No worries, my decision and I am happy to be sitting here this morning.
After a few back and forth on messenger, I decide on a second cup of coffee. It warms my insides nicely. I am content sitting here so I decide to write. Something my wife will be very happy about! Usually, I just tell her my story in whole and then she writes as I go through the story again and ‘dictate’ it to her. What a great woman!
It is now 12:30 and the boys are not back for lunch yet. Hmmm…hope they got into some elk! Maybe I will go out with them this afternoon. Or maybe I will just sit here and enjoy the rest of this wonderful day.
The guys got back late today. Rolled in around 1:45! They told me all the scouting they did, what they saw and what they didn’t. The biggest being that they didn’t see any elk. Same as previous days…just lots of tracks. We decide to heat up the chicken corn chowder my wife made! It is frozen so we sit and chat awhile while Jeff thaws and warms the soup. I also brought over a meat, cheese and cracker tray and we enjoy that while the soup warms. They got stuck on the wrong side of the train tracks for a couple of hours. That is what put them behind. Every road they tried to take had a locked gate so they back tracked to the original spot and just waited until the train finally moved again.
As we enjoy the delicious chowder, we talk about the afternoon plan. Armon wants to stay in as it is already past 3pm. I’m good with that today! But Jeff is steadfast and plans on heading to an area with an open plain. They leave around 4pm. They got back a about an hour after dark with a few stories. More tracks, talked to a ranger that said the elk are all bedded down due to the wind and cold, and they saw hunters in that area on virtually every hill. That sucks! We will try that area in the morning anyway.
Jeff’s wife has made some enchiladas and Jeff warms them for the evening meal. I bring over some salsa and we eat that with chips while we chat and watch some hunting channel on DirecTV. I guess if we can’t see them here, at least we can see them on tv! There was another guide joke and some laughter in there somewhere! LOL
After our delicious dinner and a couple of beers, we decide to call it a night. It is already 8:30 and the alarm will once again ring early.