Well It's been a while, but it's better late than never i suppose! I wrote up a little story on my fantastic hunt in the Tuchodi region with my son (Taylor329), and one of my longtime hunting partners. Pictures to follow.
It's funny how one hunting adventure ends, and you already start planning the next one. On the way home from a successful elk hunt in 2015 with my long time hunting partner, we decided we would return to the same area in 2016, and this time my son would join us. As time seems to fly by, before we knew it, the 3 of us were driving north to start another hunt.
We met up with Kevin of River Jet Adventures, loaded up the boat, and were on our way. The excitement grew as the miles slipped by and the mountains got closer and closer. When we finally arrived, we wasted no time setting up camp. With lots of daylight left when we were done, we grabbed out guns and headed out for a quick look around. The hills were full of color, and glistened with the brilliant reds and yellows of falling leaves. Some of the taller mountains had snow covering the peaks. It didn't take long for us to get into some bugling elk, but they were hanging tight in the heavy timber and we could not coax them out. There's nothing quite like laying in your tent in the pitch black and listening to elk scream at each other, and hear their hooves as they run past your tent. They sound so close, like you could reach out the tent and grab one!
The next morning, no motivation was needed to get up and start following the bugles. As the elk were bugling consistently, we were able to locate them in short time. We crossed a small river, and came to an area where the trees opened up a bit offering more visibility. There were several cow elk directly ahead of us, so we moved slowly to try and catch a glimpse of the bull. All of a sudden off to our right we heard the bull sound off, a quick look through the binoculars confirmed a legal bull, and my son connected with our first elk of the trip. We tried the gutless method for the first time to break down our elk, and I must say it works great! With the 3 of us it didn't take long to get everything back to camp.
The next few days were spent chasing elk, that for one reason or another were always able to give us the slip. We covered a lot of ground, and soon enough knew the hills like the back of our hands. Another early morning bugling session had us up and on our way before the sun came up. This time we decided to split up to cover more ground, so I was on my own. It didn't take long for my cow calls to entice a bull into bugling and crashing his way through the trees towards me. Even after all these years of hunting my heart was racing as I watched the bull through the trees. Head low, neck stretched out, nostrils flared, and eyes wide, bugling back to every cow call I made. Everything was perfect and at 75 yards, my 338 Mag barked, and our second elk of the trip was down. We spent the rest of the trip trying for the 3rd elk, but it was not meant to be. The fishing was good and we explored lots of great country, many nights were spent eating freshly caught grayling and telling stories around the fire.
As the trip was coming to an end and the 3 of us were sitting around the fire one evening, I looked over at my son and could see my past in him. He is now where I was 30 years ago, eager and willing. No mountain is too tall for him, and he learns from his mistakes. And when I look at my hunting partner of over 30 years, (he is now 81 years old), I can see my future. An undying love for hunting and the outdoors, a mind that says you can do it, but a body that is trying to tell you otherwise. Hopefully I can still pack out an elk's hind quarter when I am in my 80's!
It was that time again, we packed up camp, and it wasn't long before we heard the drone of the jet boat coming to pick us up. It was a great trip out with Kevin of River Jet Adventures, he is an outstanding operator and I can highly recommend him and his services, as I do every year. Next years hunt is already in the planning stages, and I can't wait to return to the mountains.
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