Successful Stave LEH

[gonefishin21]

Thanks to everyone for the tips about the LEH up Stave Lake. We scouted for months prior and had a great idea of where the animals were and where to go. We had so many different bulls on camera that we figured we would have very good chances.

After a week of what felt like a nightmare hunting trip we came out successful. Big thanks to @KEMASI and @HunterMike for being great camp pals and their help hauling my bull out.

I don't think I've ever hunted in so much rain before but we did our best to push through. Night before opening day a massive storm came through and really shook things up. We realized our two wall tents were flooding... Dug a trench for 3 hours, everyone got soaked. Fast forward later in the middle of the night and the wind picks up... Our wall tent picked up off the ground and took off through the gravel pit hitting us on its way by. Good thing we were all camped together as it was a fun time trying to get camp back to where it should be.

The storm shut the bush down for alot of the week and we never saw any animals. When we felt like it was time to quit we powered through and Day 4 connected with my first Roosevelt Bull! Snuck in and heard the cows moving up through the opening and waited for this guy to show himself. Made my shot and he tipped over where he stood. I've elk hunted before but this was no comparison.

I hope the others with tags get to fill theirs. It was a crazy hunt but met some great people and had a wild experience.

https://i.imgur.com/OHnYOiO.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/PRXCSG4.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/JTWzEVA.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/u6w3IZp.jpg

[HarryToolips]

Beauty bull congrats, good on ya for pushing through, looks wet out there for sure....

[whitlers]

Wow what a stud! Well done. Sounds like you had a great time. I can relate to the wall tent flooding/taking flight. Been there haha. Good on yah!

Also like the mini jet boat!!

[tinhorse]

One day I hope to draw a tag and have an adventure like yours. Well done and way to stick with it. That's a trophy,
memories and freezer full of meat well earned! Congrats!

[Bigdoggdon]

Beauty bull, congrats on a job well done.

[Imdone]

Great your hard work paid off. Beauty. Congrats

[dru88]

Congrats on filling your tag and freezer .Nice bull and a great adventure it sounds like.

[Arctic Lake]

That’s a beautiful animal ! Sounds like you pushed through the negative weather and made the best of it , determined and look at the outcome ,Awesome !
Tell us a bit about the jet boat
Arctic Lake

[Ride Red]

Beauty bull for sure, congrats!!! The weather up there sure can be something else. Dead calm ride up and huge rollers/whitecaps coming out only within hours. The rain sure does make it a tough slog, but you persevered and got her done; awesome job.

[twoSevenO]

Congrats.. that is a great elk. Thanks for sharing.

How far off the river/lake were they?

[fearnodeer]

Oh wow what a great bull you got there, congrats.

[gonefishin21]

Wow what a stud! Well done. Sounds like you had a great time. I can relate to the wall tent flooding/taking flight. Been there haha. Good on yah!

Also like the mini jet boat!!


Can't say I've ever had my wall tent fly away but now I can 🤣 thanks the jet boat was a huge help in getting up there

[gonefishin21]

That’s a beautiful animal ! Sounds like you pushed through the negative weather and made the best of it , determined and look at the outcome ,Awesome !
Tell us a bit about the jet boat
Arctic Lake

We picked up the jet boat after finding out I got the draw. It's a 12 foot jetstream with a 300 supercharged Rotax engine. It was great to have for all the scouting trips we did. A little small to pack everything out in one trip though

[gonefishin21]

Beauty bull for sure, congrats!!! The weather up there sure can be something else. Dead calm ride up and huge rollers/whitecaps coming out only within hours. The rain sure does make it a tough slog, but you persevered and got her done; awesome job.

Thank you. That lake totally has a mind of its own. Packing out was the worst as it was multiple trips up and down with Whitecaps.

[gonefishin21]

Congrats.. that is a great elk. Thanks for sharing.

How far off the river/lake were they?

When we had scouted we had seen them on the river before but after the storm we never saw any sign again out in the open. I got mine further up the river past 15km

[Ron.C]

WOW, he's a beauty!!!!!! Congrats and good for you guys for toughing it out.

Your perseverance sure paid off big time.

[browningboy]

Reminds me of the crazy weather we had last year when we had the Pitt draw, never, ever seen rain like that, was ridiculous to say the least! It was one of our most memorable hunts for sure!
Congratulations on the bull!

[gonefishin21]

Reminds me of the crazy weather we had last year when we had the Pitt draw, never, ever seen rain like that, was ridiculous to say the least! It was one of our most memorable hunts for sure!
Congratulations on the bull!


Living in the lower mainland you'd think we'd be used to the rain but I swear Pitt and stave have their own weather systems. It'll be memories to last a lifetime. Thank you !

[BRvalley]

Congrats! That is a beauty bull, and sounds like one of those hunts you'll remember for a long time

[wideopenthrottle]

love the colour of the rack

[kennyj]

Congratulations!!
Thats beauty!
kenny

[Bubbacanuck]

Amazing!! Beauty bull, congrats! That is great you were able to fill your once-in-a-lifetime tag

[180grainer]

Wow, awesome elk.

[goatdancer]

Very nice bull. Congratulations.

[Knute]

Congrats, a hunt to remember. That’s a fine bull to say the least.

[browningboy]

Living in the lower mainland you'd think we'd be used to the rain but I swear Pitt and stave have their own weather systems. It'll be memories to last a lifetime. Thank you !


Unless one does that hunt, it's tough to explain, we were getting 100-150mm per day, two layers of rain gear and still soaked somehow! But what a cool hunt, for the upper Stave is there old roads or cut blocks up there or just hunt the river?

[IronNoggin]

Persistence paid off... In Spades!!

Congrats on a very fine bull, and some memories that will last forever!

Cheers,
Nog

[gonefishin21]

Thanks everyone. all the hard work definitely paid off. I couldn't believe how big he was when we walked up to him

[gonefishin21]

Unless one does that hunt, it's tough to explain, we were getting 100-150mm per day, two layers of rain gear and still soaked somehow! But what a cool hunt, for the upper Stave is there old roads or cut blocks up there or just hunt the river?

Totally. Not many hunting friends understood how bad the weather was. We had multiple layers of rain gear on and were soaked as soon as you walked in the bush. There is a road up there about 38kms long. There are some super old cuts that are pretty grown, it was hard to get high ground on any of them to see down in. We lucked out with one cut that had some higher ground and snuck in on the herd.

When we walked up into the cut to get the bull everything was well over both our heads. The river was a hard hunt too as after the storm most places you could get out onto beaches flooded your access

[jimzuk]

Beautiful bull. Great story. Did you use the bikes for recovery?

[browningboy]

Totally. Not many hunting friends understood how bad the weather was. We had multiple layers of rain gear on and were soaked as soon as you walked in the bush. There is a road up there about 38kms long. There are some super old cuts that are pretty grown, it was hard to get high ground on any of them to see down in. We lucked out with one cut that had some higher ground and snuck in on the herd.



When we walked up into the cut to get the bull everything was well over both our heads. The river was a hard hunt too as after the storm most places you could get out onto beaches flooded your access

I hear ya, once you get in the bush it seems like even the ferns were 6ft tall, tough area to say the least

[gonefishin21]

Beautiful bull. Great story. Did you use the bikes for recovery?

We were lucky enough to have someone help out and bring a quad up for us for the trip. Pack out was fairly light with the quad. We used the ebikes a few times to go down the roads. They are pretty handy

[ElectricDyck]

Way to go! I love that pic of the rack on the mini jet with the coastal clouds and the mountains in the background, awesome!

[bottles]

Congrats! Awesome bull.

[lovemywinchester]

What a slog. Good job and congrats. The older I get the less I can tolerate being wet.

[bchunter181]

wow amazing looks like a fun trip. great bull!

[Bugle M In]

Congrats, just seen the post.
Love those Rosie's antler colors!

[Spy]

Nice bull well done. :-)

[todbartell]

beautiful! congrats on a great elk

[nature girl]

Way to go on your beautiful elk you shot. Just awesome.
You sure deserved it. You had the boat the electric mountain bikes and borrowed a atv.
The lake sure can get wild some times.
And the river can come up fast.
By the way what are the brand names of your electric bikes.
And the thing that is most important is ahead of your elk hunt you did some scouting.

[gonefishin21]

Way to go on your beautiful elk you shot. Just awesome.
You sure deserved it. You had the boat the electric mountain bikes and borrowed a atv.
The lake sure can get wild some times.
And the river can come up fast.
By the way what are the brand names of your electric bikes.
And the thing that is most important is ahead of your elk hunt you did some scouting.

Thank you :) we definitely put alot of work into getting one. I'll get a brand name for the electric bikes for you. They were pretty handy for all the scouting we did.

[BrianS]

Congrats! What a great bull well worth suffering through the weather 👍

[gonefishin21]

Congrats! What a great bull well worth suffering through the weather 👍


Thank you. Definitely worth it

[Buckaroo]

The pics are familiar. I was in the Southern Interior and bumped into a guy on a mountain and he showed me these pics and was as proud asa Peacock. Think he said he was your dad? Small world and Congrats on a fine animal.

[gonefishin21]

The pics are familiar. I was in the Southern Interior and bumped into a guy on a mountain and he showed me these pics and was as proud asa Peacock. Think he said he was your dad? Small world and Congrats on a fine animal.

Kootenanys? I don't think it would of been my dad. Haha I guess small world !

[Buckaroo]

I have the same pics of your Elk and boat with the skull caped out. lol The guy there showed me them a day or two after you got it.

[srupp]

thank you for sharing..CONGRADULATIONS.
Srupp

[gonefishin21]

I have the same pics of your Elk and boat with the skull caped out. lol The guy there showed me them a day or two after you got it.

Oh wow.. I wonder who it was haha !

[gonefishin21]

thank you for sharing..CONGRADULATIONS.
Srupp

Thank you.. it was definitely hard work paid off

[white moose]

That's an awesome bull. Congrats

[john-brennan]

Very nice ending to that story, congrates