Chasing Elk in the EK With Elmer Fudd

[markathome]

Hey Everyone - got back from our first EK elk hunt and wow. Steeeeeeeeeeeeep learning curve. Our crew was originally scheduled to head to the Spatz with Caribou and Moose LEH but the First Nations blockade crushed those plans - don't get me started.

Anyway plan b was jump on board with some Island friends and head to the EK and areas with vehicle restrictions. All in all had a fantastic time, lots of WT on the meat pole (One teenager brought home a huge 3 pointer). Lots of wildlife and lots of hunters.

Really special country and we all loved the access and huge view lines. It seemed all the Elk were in the valley bottom, I hiked to 2100 m and there was old sign, a few fresh tracks but few and far between compared to the herds down below. Close to our camp a six point wandered out onto private land and I'd guess there were at least 10-15 hunters all lined up waiting for him to step onto Crown. Bit of a turn-off for me and my crew where we're use to seeing very few hunters for our moose hunts. Is what it is I guess. We're planning a return trip next year - we have lots of youths with us so it'll be around October 10th again (Doe's are open).

Is there any history of six pointers being taken from elevation in October or are they all low with the cows?

Also: shame on the quad driving asshats who field dressed their deer and then left the site like their mother was going to come and clean up behind them. Used surgical gloves, rags, an adult depends (wtf) paper towel all strewn around the kill site. Pack out what you pack in. All of my field dressing garbage fits into a zip lock sandwich bag (gloves and few wet wipes).

[sawmill]

My favorite time of the season is now, when all the LML guys get cold and pack up their 35 foot travel trailers and go home. Every wide spot on the road has motor homes and trailers parked.Quads and pickups everywhere. OH, and GARBAGE!!!!! Timmy cups all over the ditches and Bud cans and cases and piles of garbage and broken glass at every camp spot. AND every asshat has set up a shooting range in the roadside camps. So ,glad you had fun, glad you are all gone till next years rodeo. Don`t break a leg getting back.

[markathome]

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k102/Mark_Robichaud/IMG_0051_zpsnsgitnbx.jpg (http://s86.photobucket.com/user/Mark_Robichaud/media/IMG_0051_zpsnsgitnbx.jpg.html)

[markathome]

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k102/Mark_Robichaud/IMG_0055_zpsjtgbzgc7.jpg (http://s86.photobucket.com/user/Mark_Robichaud/media/IMG_0055_zpsjtgbzgc7.jpg.html)

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k102/Mark_Robichaud/IMG_0045_zpsyrkdwtpg.jpg (http://s86.photobucket.com/user/Mark_Robichaud/media/IMG_0045_zpsyrkdwtpg.jpg.html)


http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k102/Mark_Robichaud/IMG_0041_zpsi2rgys5p.jpg (http://s86.photobucket.com/user/Mark_Robichaud/media/IMG_0041_zpsi2rgys5p.jpg.html)

Couple does taken by teenagers heading back to camp, both excellent shots.

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k102/Mark_Robichaud/IMG_0035_zpsoajtohjf.jpg (http://s86.photobucket.com/user/Mark_Robichaud/media/IMG_0035_zpsoajtohjf.jpg.html)

Home sweet home

[Cyrus]

My favorite time of the season is now, when all the LML guys get cold and pack up their 35 foot travel trailers and go home. Every wide spot on the road has motor homes and trailers parked.Quads and pickups everywhere. OH, and GARBAGE!!!!! Timmy cups all over the ditches and Bud cans and cases and piles of garbage and broken glass at every camp spot. AND every asshat has set up a shooting range in the roadside camps. So ,glad you had fun, glad you are all gone till next years rodeo. Don`t break a leg getting back.

gotta love HUNTERS! No wonder why we have zero support.....adult diapers wtf? are they truckers or something?

[Cyrus]

impressive haul on the venison!!

[markathome]

My favorite time of the season is now, when all the LML guys get cold and pack up their 35 foot travel trailers and go home. Every wide spot on the road has motor homes and trailers parked.Quads and pickups everywhere. OH, and GARBAGE!!!!! Timmy cups all over the ditches and Bud cans and cases and piles of garbage and broken glass at every camp spot. AND every asshat has set up a shooting range in the roadside camps. So ,glad you had fun, glad you are all gone till next years rodeo. Don`t break a leg getting back.


Yeah - we were not prepared for how busy it was - I'm buying a hunter blaze hat for next year. Plus a winter of research I hope will take us out of the shooting gallery a bit. Not knowing the area all that well, we ended up with everyone else. Is what it is I suppose. Until Elk are introduced to Stanley Park - we're all heading your way Sawmill!

[allan]

My favorite time of the season is now, when all the LML guys get cold and pack up their 35 foot travel trailers and go home. Every wide spot on the road has motor homes and trailers parked.Quads and pickups everywhere. OH, and GARBAGE!!!!! Timmy cups all over the ditches and Bud cans and cases and piles of garbage and broken glass at every camp spot. AND every asshat has set up a shooting range in the roadside camps. So ,glad you had fun, glad you are all gone till next years rodeo. Don`t break a leg getting back.
Not all the LML guys have 35 foot travel trailers, mines only 24. We also strive to bring everything out that we bring in. We try to find out of the way spots and its important to us that someone never knows we were there so we don't advertise that we were hunting or camping there. We don't leave ANY trace evidence that we were there. That means no garbage, logs, or anything that could have been moved by a person. If we push a few downed trees out of the way to set up camp, when we pull out we put all the branches back to cover up our spot the way it was before hand.
Its unfortunate that there are so many slobs out there. However not everyone out there are slobs. I was out hunting but you would never know.....

[RiverOtter]

Impressive, 6 deer in one day, musta been a lot of grins around camp.

[hoochie]

where are guys going that there is all this garbage and lots of people? I was there for a week, and saw a few people, but it was not even close to the pressure in kamloops area.

[Wagonmaster]

Sawmill. There are dumb slobs as well as good ethical hunters in all areas of the province. Quite possible a few EK beer cans and garbage bags have been left in the EK woods over the years. Also quite possible LM hunters have less connection to the land and may be among the worst offenders, but your broad generalization is inappropriate and offensive to those of us who are not interior residents and do respect BC's wilderness.

[RadHimself]

ever seen someone puttin along in there truck bugling for elk?

saw that this year in the koots....

[smallfry14]

Holy WT batman. Nice post:lol:

[358mag]

ever seen someone puttin along in there truck bugling for elk?

saw that this year in the koots....
Yes more this year for sure and guys driving around on quads bugling elk with the motor still running ... but that was in Region 8 maybe they were just getting in practice before the headed east to the koots ..

[huckleberry]

I've met lots of LML, Okanogan hunters and have seen their camps. the majority are good guys that do respect the land, as with locals, there are some that think the bush is their own private dump. This time of the year I aways pack garbage bags with me, one for empties that I cash in and some for other peoples garbage local and out of towners. I've hunted this area for 50 plus years and the last 20 or so I've seen a major increase in out of area hunters. The locals have an advantage in that if there in the bush at all they know where the best elk hunting is at any given time. I like the road hunting bugling every two minutes hunters, they stay on the roads and stay out of the bush where the elk are.

[Taylor69]

6 deer in one day!!!!
thats a good day!!

[Ddog]

Sawmill. There are dumb slobs as well as good ethical hunters in all areas of the province. Quite possible a few EK beer cans and garbage bags have been left in the EK woods over the years. Also quite possible LM hunters have less connection to the land and may be among the worst offenders, but your broad generalization is inappropriate and offensive to those of us who are not interior residents and do respect BC's wilderness.

i agree with sawmill,, if you take offence to the post then grow a thicker skin, the fact is totally true. Perhaps you arent in the "broad generalization" but what was left behind was from out of town hunters. Its disgusting.
sorry for hijacking.

[Thunderstix]

Yeah we see the same in the Peace Region as well.....years of shit left everywhere. We brought garbage out this year including an old broken table and some other steel. We left our kitchen tarp up for a group of bison hunters with the promise that they take it down and with them when they left as it was ripped from the high winds....couple guys from this site but not sure of their handles here. Hopefully they post bison pics.

[bang flop]

I was in that area as well. Some garbage for sure, but no more than any other area I hunt. Lots of hunters, yes... but also lots of area. I found it to be a great place to hunt. Bumped into and chatted with some other hunters that were very pleasant.
Not saying it's ok, but cans in the ditch see to be common no matter where you go.

Thanks to those that clean up and keep with back 9 clean!

[Weatherby Fan]

When we were up hunting up the bull last year, a group of locals from Cranbrook showed up by our camp, lit a fire, pulled out a cpl flats of beer and some 22s, started shooting, after two hours they buggered off leaving their fire going and a pile of beer cans and pizza boxes, so like good people we went over and cleaned there shit up and put the fire out.......

[Fisher-Dude]

When we were up hunting up the bull last year, a group of locals from Cranbrook showed up by our camp, lit a fire, pulled out a cpl flats of beer and some 22s, started shooting, after two hours they buggered off leaving their fire going and a pile of beer cans and pizza boxes, so like good people we went over and cleaned there shit up and put the fire out.......

They must have been from the LML and just recently moved to the Kootenays.

Once they drink enough of that "special" water and have some kids with their first cousin, they'll be able to call themselves "Kootenay locals."

[rocksteady]

Arseholes in every area locals or not. Price we pay for our outdoor adventures

[Rob Chipman]

Jeez, didn't know you guys felt that way about garbage. And here all these years I've been saving mine up to dump in the woods during a hunting trip (don't get me started on how heavy that makes my pack in trips!)

[fuzzy 63]

lots of people are aholes ,long before they arrived were you are, and will still be aholes long after they leave . Nothing will ever change that !
Leaders lead , and followers fade away .
Who do you want to be in life .
Nice work Markathome and great attitude .The kids will go a long way in life .

[markathome]

Over all 10/10 experience - great weather, we saw tons of wildlife, we pretended we knew how to bugle, big days and covered lots of ground. Everyone we met were sharing, open and smiling. I've cleaned up garbage in my backyard (2-6) and in the Chilcotins, and Gang Ranch and now the EK. It's a fact and we don't let it bother us too much - kids are usually more disappointed than the old farts.

I do have to say we hiked to a alpine hut on our EK trip and the hut was in exceptional shape - clean, tidy, wood to spare. I made a comment to my partner that this would be unlikely on the coast - where every accessible hut is loved to death.

I just got back from a day hunt in my region (2) and more or less the same experience - totally awesome! My Girls had an awesome time, we packed out a few beers cans, we connected with spiker, they helped with the drag (2hrs - ugh) and we ran into only happy hunters. A good day by any measure.

M

[Linksman313]

Had a weekend hunt in 4-8 and found 5 of Nelson's garbage dumps in the woods, for a community that pride's itself in nature (sic veggy eating/animal nature lovin) there sure is a lot of trash in the nearby wilderness!

[Mikey Rafiki]

If you stay on the roads that the trailers and motorhomes can't physically access you don't see nearly as much garbage.

I hunted elk a lot locally this year with some great action. Only drove by one or two camps and didn't bugle in a single hunter. My quiet spots have been producing nicely :)

[HarryToolips]

Way to Markathome, 6 deer is awesome! Instead of dragging a whole deer out next time I suggest cutting it in half and synch it tightly to your pack..depending on the hike I usually find it's easier to just go back twice..if there's two of ya that can each carry a half out its easy!

[HarryToolips]

So, is there anywhere in regions 1, 2, or 3 that could support a 6 pt bull elk season?? Even a short one? Maybe we could put some pressure on our Provincial Government since there's an election coming up? I know they're in the pockets of the guides who would not want that, but having a greater chance at getting re-elected may just appeal more to them than staying in the 'good-books' of the guides? I'm sure this would help greatly with the heavy hunting pressure in the Koots that many of you are complaining about..