Back in around ’03 or ’04 we headed up to the Gilmore ranch for an elk hunt. Now, hunting the Gilmore’s place is probably about the most frustrating elk hunting a guy could ever experience.

You first have to understand that the muzzy elk hunt is in November, and the elk are on the move from their high summer ground to lower elevations for the winter.

It just so happens that a herd of 400 or so animals favorite wintering spot is the next door ranch to the Gilmore’s… No hunting is allowed in the neighbor’s ranch, and the elk know it. So when they pass through the Gilmore’s place, about your only chance is to be directly in their path!

We learned a lot from Edjukateer. We learned that it’s easier to roll a 4 wheeler on a straight, dry patch of road than it is on a slick, windy one.

We learned that it’s a bad idea to try and cross a barbed wire fence while wearing a Tyvek suit… Barbed wire’s favorite snack is Tyvek.

The most valuable thing Edjukateer taught us, I heard from an old farmer many years ago… the story goes like this:

We’d been hunting for days, and hadn’t seen a single elk on our side of the fence. We hunted high and low, but to no avail. The only elk to be seen were down in the “forbidden valley”.

For no apparent reason, we decided to take a ride up to the top of a ridge… mostly just to see what we might see.

Standing on this ridge, eating some Kippers, what do my eyes spy? But a heard of about 50 head laying on a hillside about 800 yards away from where we stand… and they’re on OUR side of the mountain!

Now the question is, how do we get on them? Well, it just so happens I’m a tech geek, so I pull out my trusty GPS, and proceed to map out a plan of attack.

Edjukateer and I will drive to the top of the ridge above the elk, he’ll come down a drainage on one side of where the herd is laying, and I’ll come down the other side. When we reach where the herd is, we’ll converge together, and hopefully one of us will get a shot.

Bears Butt will stay back where he can see the herd and radio us if they skeedaddle.

The plan is set in motion, and off we go… almost perfectly to plan.

It’s time for Edjukateer to begin moving in towards the bedded herd… no sooner does his head crest a small rise, but he spots a spike bull elk just 20 yards away!

He decides this is the animal that he’ll take. The hammer is cocked, gun pointed in the air as he squeezes the set trigger… KABOOM! (Oops, that wasn’t the set trigger) Elk scatter in all directions, never to be seen again.

See, the problem here is, when you’re wearing big, thick gloves… you can’t really feel which trigger your finger is on… and the old farmer’s saying stays true.

“The only thing you can do with gloves on is piss your pants”

– Manysteps –