No story would be complete without the “complete” rest of the story!  Right?

So, the big boy is finally on the ground and safe to be around.  Well, as safe as the guys moving around it that is.  Think about the guy that almost died when he slipped and fell on his elk’s antlers earlier this season.  In our turn I think we each backed into this guys rack at least once.

With this guy down, we new we had to get him processed as quickly as we could in order to save the meat, after all that was why we were here.  We had discussed with Night Fisher how he and his dad and brothers processed their elk once they were down and he said that most often they would do it “the gutless method”.  That is, they would skin back the hide and take the meat off the bones without opening up the belly and removing the guts first.  So, that is how we were going to do this elk.

I had watched several videos over the last three months and saw exactly how it was done in them.  I was very confident to be able to do it for real right now.  I had also watched videos on how to cape a big bull while it was laying on the ground as well.  So, not only are we going to take off the hide, we are going to take all the meat too.  Including the tenderloins and the liver.

Here is the big animal.  How much does it weigh?  Heaven only knows, but I’m guessing 800 pounds.  That is a lot of hide, meat and bones right there.  What are we going to need to get all the meat off the bones?

I have brought four, very sharp knives for this project.  Tracker and Weasel both have knives as well.  Tracker has brought out a roll of paper towels and I have my hydration pack for drinks.  We also have several cloth bags in which we can put the meat for packing it out….or….in this case we can put the meat right into the cooler.  I mean, after all, how far do you usually shoot a big old bull elk from a road?

My first cut of the hide is from the mid point of his back, right behind the shoulder and down toward its belly.  And then from that same mid point on the back, down to its rear end.  Continuing that cut around his butt and down the inside of the up side rear leg.

Skinning the lower portion of the elk first will allow Weasel to begin taking off meat from the hind quarters, while I skin the cape.  My cape cuts will be from that same mid point on the back, up to the base of the skull and then an angle cut from a point at mid chest over to the back of the up side front leg and then down the backside of that leg to below the knee.

I was too busy cutting meat to take a picture of the front half of the animal skinned back, but you get the idea.  In the picture above, Weasel can begin taking big chunks of meat off the bones.  Our goal here is to take all the meat we can and leave very little for the crows and coyotes.

Weasel is doing a great job of removing the back straps from this animal.  Next would be a “careful” cut just behind the last rib and down toward the rear of the animal, being very careful not to puncture the insides.  And then reaching in and cutting out the tenderloins.  When this is all done and everyone is happy about the removal of all the meat from this side, the animal is flipped over and the whole process is repeated on the other side.

When we were done this is what it looked like after we re-constructed where the parts used to belong.

We ended up with a very large cooler full of meat and a smaller one full as well.

The little red lid bucket holds the liver.  In order to get to the liver, we actually ended up opening up the gut cavity and pulling the skeleton away from them.  We managed to cleanly cut away the tenderloins this way as well.  Why?  Well, because by the time we got all the meat off the bones, the animals stomach had swollen so big, it was almost scary to think about the possibility of puncturing them.  Actually, I tried to carefully do that and got a face full of ugly stinky stuff, nuff said.

It took two of us to handle each of the coolers, with the larger of the two being quite a task.

It took the three of us to get that cooler lifted and put into the back of the truck.  I figure about 200 pounds of meat in that cooler.

The other cooler was much smaller and weighed in the neighborhood of 100 pounds.

I have to commend the men and women who like to hunt 5 miles away from any road and insist on backpacking their elk meat back to camp or the vehicle.  20 yards was enough for us old guys.  Besides, the beer was very cold in the back of the truck.

On the way back to camp, Tracker had to make sure he had some special effects video’s and we did not mind at all.  We had the rest of the day to goof off and didn’t have to go to town for re-supplies….YAAAAAAA!!!!

But, Weasel and I were getting worried that maybe 42 beers would not be enough for this party that was going on!

Back at camp we unloaded all the meat and put it in the shade of a nice big cedar.  Opened up another drink and toasted “Bull Down”!!!!  And then I opened up the 30 pack of Keystone and what to my surprise…one of their special orange beer cans…the prize sought throughout the land!

That just added a little more party to the party!

Better clean off some of this dried blood.

Then we had to get some more special effects going on.  So we loaded the head and hide onto Trackers pack frame and I hauled it around the camp.

What a fun ending to a perfect hunt!  But wait it’s not over…the sun is still up!

And for supper…what better than to clean out the fridge and have whatever is in there, along with some good old fresh elk steaks!

Elk steaks, hash browns and garlic toast!  I have to say, “IT JUST DOESN’T GET ANY BETTER THAN THAT”!!!!

Good job guys!  And THANKS AGAIN!

Bears Butt

November 22, 2013

We came home Friday, Nov. 15, 2013, without incident.  Left camp at 7:30 a.m. and were home in Willard at 4 p.m.

The End of my Elk Dream Hunt!

As has happened every morning for a full week, the alarm clock goes off directly as it is set to do.  The coffee is tasting good, as usual, and I for one am getting anxious for a good hot shower.  Today we have to go to town and restock on supplies and none of us are looking forward to that.  Maybe while we are in town we should look for a truck stop that offers showers…sounds good to me.

I am sitting there drinking my coffee and thinking about the hunt as it has played out so far and wishing I could go back to last Saturday and refine my aim.  But that isn’t going to happen.  My mind races to all the preparation for this hunt and what one of my mentors said to me:  It’s a tough hunt, both physically and mentally so prepare yourself for both of those things (Thanks Blanding Boy).

Physically I’m in pretty good shape.  I worked hard at that for over three months.  Mentally?  Well, I thought I had prepared well for that and my attitude has been pretty positive so far.  Even right now I feel pretty UP, but with a trip to town on the horizon, I’m not ready for that, but if we are going to stay any longer, we have to go in for some beer at least.  I have a 12 pack left and Weasel has a 30 pack.  I suppose we could make it a couple more days with 42 beers, but no food.  Beer is the all food drink, but some food would be good.  Besides Tracker needs some Whiskey too.  We have to go to town, there are no two ways about it.

I remember in one of my stories leading up to this trip that I could hardly wait to get up into the San Juan Mountains and look up at the stars…200 billion and six, or something like that, is what I said.  And right now would be a good time to go out and see if my camera can take a picture of the early morning night sky.

It’s pretty hard to see what with the dust specs and all, but you can see Orions belt and that means Taurus is in there somewhere too.  Taurus is the Bull (elk in my case) and looking around I think I could count 200 billion and six stars.  The sky is clear and bright and visibility is way past as far as you can see.  It’s going to be a beautiful day.  No wind at all.

So, what is the plan?  Well, I want to be up near where we saw the two bulls yesterday morning.  They might be out in the clearing and working their way toward where we saw them climbing the mountain.  If we can catch them near the road I might have a chance.  You never know.  Then Tracker reminded me that where we saw them yesterday was Not Hammer Camp, but rather Sleigh Camp.  It was one road down from Hammer Camp, closer to our camp.

I don’t know how he keeps all of this straight as I had it in my head that we had gone all the way to the end of the mesa and then up to the end of a side road and that it was Hammer camp, the place I found a miners hammer.  But he said no, we went up a side road that ended with a stump of a tree that looked like something Santa Claus would ride and had me sit on it and pretend to be whipping the crap out of Rudolph.  He is exactly right.

Well, there is where I want to be this morning at first light and that means we have to leave camp about a half hour before light.

That being said, we all put a bit of a hustle on to get ready.  We managed to leave right on time and bounced up the road in the dark of an early morning day.  The sky getting brighter every second.

As we approached the Sleigh road that branched off the main one, Weasel went past it.  I had him stop and back up and pull over to the side so others could get by if anyone came along.  We had not seen nor heard another vehicle for two days, but you never know.

We got out of the truck and carefully closed the doors without slamming them.  I put a shell in the chamber (as a good muzzleloader man would say, I put a suppository up the rear of the gun) and slung the rifle over my shoulder.  It was a beautiful morning unfolding before us and with the sun going to be at our backs any elk that might be up on the hill above would have the sun it its face.  Tracker was ready with his equipment and Weasel with his binoculars.  We already knew we had to go slow, quiet, and glass everywhere. We didn’t want to get busted like we did yesterday or the day before or whenever it was that that happened.  We hadn’t gone even 100 yards up the dirt road when Weasel excitedly whispered “DAD…ELK OVER HERE”!!!!  I looked to my right and quickly saw three elk on the hillside about 500 yards or so out.  My binoculars verified all three were bulls.  How big?  Who cares!  They are bulls and now is my chance to drop one!  But not at that range.  We have to get closer.

We quickly backtracked and then angled their way and got in the cover of a finger of cedar and pinion trees that would afford us plenty of cover to close the distance by at least half.  We moved quickly and quietly.  My heart was pounding like it has never pounded in all my life.  I could feel the rush of adrenaline pumping through my veins and my breath became weak.  I had to stop once inside the trees and stand upright and take a deep breath.  I looked at the other two and the grins on their faces told me they were feeling the same way I was.  We moved closer to the end of the finger of trees.  The opening the bulls were in extended from the end of this line of trees up to the edge of the mesa.  Back from the end of the cedar line we were sneaking through about 50 yards or maybe even more, I could see an elk standing high up on the ridge, maybe 300 yards distance.  I stopped and glassed it.  I could not see all of its antlers but I could see it was a nice big mature bull for sure.  I bent down and picked up some dirt to check the wind.  There was little to no breeze but what there was went from our right to our left.  This is a good direction for it to be going as the elk are feeding from our right to our left.

As we continued to move slowly forward I kept thinking about all the things that go into a well placed shot using a scope.  The scope has to be level and not canted to one side or another.  The rifle has to be placed into the shoulder in such a way as to give the shooter a full field of view through the scope, no amount of “black” ring around the outside edges of the scope.  With my short arms, I know I have to really pull the rifle in and lean slightly forward in order to have a full field of view with this rifle and scope set up.  I’m thinking about breath control and squeezing my whole hand rather than just my trigger finger while holding the cross hairs on the exact spot I want the bullet to hit.

My heart is pounding uncontrollably and we are nearing the end of the finger of trees.  I see movement in front of and  slightly to our right through the tree branches and I know this is the end of the line for us.  I have to get set up and set up fast and now!  Right here and no closer to the open hillside.

I sit down and quarter myself so my rifle will be almost at a ninety degree angle to my body and pointing toward the opening between two cedar trees that are about 30 yards in front of us and are about 20 yards apart.  I hold the rifle up and go through all the same thought process’ about level scope, pull the rifle in, breath control etc. etc. etc. and then I realize my heart is pumping so hard the scope is jumping almost a full inch with each pump.  I look around and see a single cedar stick laying on the ground.  I whisper to Weasel to hand it to me, which he does.  I poke the small end into the ground hard without making any noise and then rest the gun barrel on top of the stick and the clinched fist of my left hand.  I consciously wrap my index finger up and over the barrel to make sure it’s going to stay in place.  Looking through the scope my heart is still causing the view through the scope to jump, but only a fraction of what it was without the stick.  It will have to do.

I look up from the scope and take another deep breath.  It’s almost show time and I want to be ready, but I sure could use a nap right now to get the nerves calmed down some.  Another deep breath and then I see movement through the cedar tree on the right.  From that cedar tree to the next one going left I have about a 70 yard opening in which to shoot.  If the bull is not running I might have a chance.  If it’s running I’ll have a “hope I can do it” shot.  My heart is pounding harder than ever now, and the bull is about to come into full view.

I settle down on the rifle stock and pull it in for a full field of view.  I’m holding my breath as the big animal comes into full view…feeding along without a care in the world.  I count the points…1,2,3,4,5…A nice 5X5 and it’s mine if I want it.  Without putting my finger on the trigger, I put the cross hairs on its shoulder and followed it through the entire 70 yard lane and watch it disappear behind the cedar on the left side of my lane.

I’m thinking to myself, “Wynn, What did you just do?!  You let a giant bull elk walk right in front of you and now it’s down wind!  What if it smells you and busts and takes the rest of the herd with it?!!!  You dummy”!!!

Just then I caught another animal’s movement behind the right side cedar.  I settle into the scope once more and the bull steps out feeding just like the first one.  Another 5X5, maybe slightly larger than the first.  My cross hairs are on the shoulder as it continues its trek across the opening between the cedars and then it’s gone just like the first one!  My thoughts return to the wind and the very real possibility of those two elk smelling us…two bulls crossed within shooting distance and I didn’t shoot.

Then more movement behind the cedar and out steps a smallish 4X4 bull.  It too takes the same path as its brothers before and I in turn follow with the scope and practice some control of shooting without actually shooting.  I’m getting pretty good at this.  But what about the breeze…now there are three of them down wind!

I came up off the scope and took a deep breath.  I looked towards Weasel who is now looking through his binoculars with them turned up on their side, his head cocked accordingly.  He is trying to view the animal between cedar trees as it fed calmly along.  I can see the animal coming and I can see part of its antlers.  I whisper to him, “Is this my bull”?  He does not respond.  I whisper a bit louder, “Is this my bull”?  No response again.  And then I can see the bull is about to come into view.  I’m back on the scope with all the thoughts as before, I want to hear Weasel tell me this is the “big one”, but he doesn’t and even though the bull has just about to come into full view I whisper once again… “Brandon!  Is this my bull”?  I have the scope on his shoulder when I hear Weasel whisper back, “I don’t know if it’s the biggest, but it is a nice bull and if you want to take it you better”!

With that, I took a short quick breath and concentrated on the cross hair placement and pulled the trigger!  BOOOOMMM!  And through the scope I saw it drop like a ton of bricks and didn’t kick a leg or try and get up or nothing.  It just fell and stayed down.

Weasel yelled “He’s down!  He’s Down!  Great job dad”!!!!

My body collapsed and I fell backwards onto my back with the rifle laying across my chest.  My head was reeling from the adrenaline rush and I had to lay there a second to catch my breath.  I took a very deep breath and thought to myself….It’s over…Thank God it’s over…What a RUSH!  And as I sat back up I could see more elk running through the opening farther out and could see they too were bulls.  Eight total in my count.  I was slow to stand and Tracker made me sit back down and re-enact the shot and falling backwards.  I think he does that sort of thing to make sure the hunter has all his faculties and at that moment I’m not sure I had all of mine.  Standing back up the second time, I looked out across the open sage and grass flat and could see the bull had not moved so much as an eye brow since I pulled the trigger.  Wherever that bullet hit was the perfect place to kill a big bull elk instantly and I’m certain it had nothing to do with how I was aiming.  I’ve never shot a bull elk before and where I was aiming was just plain and simply the biggest part of its chest.  My heart was pounding so hard at that time the bullet could have gone almost anywhere.  I’m just very happy it put him down for the count and he didn’t run off and down in some God forsaken deep hell hole where we would have had to try and get on him for a follow up shot and then have to pack him out.  THANK YOU GOD!

And so, with the big bull on the ground we started our slow walk up toward him.  I had chambered another round in the Ruger Number One that I was carrying, put the rifle on safe and was moving toward what was the biggest animal I have ever shot in all my 64 years of life.  As I got closer, it got bigger and bigger and bigger.  Ground shrinkage is something that just didn’t happen with this animal and when I put my foot against its rump and pushed and there was no push back, I knew then and there he was mine and that I could relax and say, “Cross that one off your bucket list Bears Butt!  He’s yours”!

My life long dream of shooting such a magnificent animal was over.  Sure, it’s not the biggest and baddest animal on the planet, nor was it the biggest in this bachelor group, but it is the one I shot and it’s the biggest and baddest one I will ever shoot.  I’m so very happy my grin goes from one side of my face to the other and then it wraps around a couple of times.  Everything that went into the preparation, planning, travel, extra work and effort paid off in spades.

A hearty THANK YOU TO WINEMAKER!  When I decided to accept the offer to take this tag, she said she would take on extra hours at work to help pay for it and she did thanks in part to her boss and the Smith and Edwards Company.

And a hearty THANK YOU TO TRACKER AND WEASEL for sticking it out with me and not giving up!  To go as long as we did and then plan on extending until the sun goes down on the last day is a very big commitment.

Not to forget the wives and loved ones of those few who actually got to go on this hunt.  The ones that stayed home to keep the home fires burning and tending to their jobs and families.  The support I had on this dream hunt has been phenomenal and I want you all to know I have not forgotten and will never forget the sacrifices that were made.  THANK YOU!

I wish EVERYONE; Winemaker,  Wapiti, Softball, Edjukateer, Night Fisher, Dennis and Uncle Bob could have been here at this finale!  I hope this story helps to bring you into it and to know just what it was to have been there.

I have enjoyed many a goose and duck hunt, where proper decoy placement and calling had them coming in with their wings cupped and their feet down.  I’ve shot several amazing deer.  But there will NEVER be a hunt with the drama that this one ended with.  Thanks again!

THANK YOU AGAIN GOD!

For the record folks, I was wearing my blaze orange hat and vest during this hunt.

And for the PETA folks, Only one animal was harmed in the taking of this fine bull elk.

Bears Butt

November 20, 2013

BEEP!  BEEP!  BEEP!  BEEP!  GOOD MORNING VIETNAM!!!!!

Well, not quite, but we did discuss some of what occurred over there last night while sitting around the camp fire.  It’s Wednesday morning and the coffee is tasting very good again today.  What is the plan?  Well, to kill an elk is always the plan, but we only heard elk yesterday and the direction they were running makes you wonder if maybe they didn’t go back into the area where I got my shot the first evening of the hunt.  Maybe we should go over and look in their again today.  But then Weasel did stomp through there last night right after dark and he did say he heard something running.  I don’t know for sure what to do right now.

We know there are elk still around us and with the moon being almost full, we could have had more move in while we were sleeping.  Let’s go up the road and this time sneak in to look at that clearing where we spooked them yesterday morning.  Maybe we will see them this time.  If not, we will continue up the road to the last road branching off (Hammer camp), take a look in there and then work back down and go for a walk to the watering hole that Weasel saw last night while up on the side of the butte.  We have not seen that water hole up close yet.  Is today the day?

Our spirits are pretty high still and we have lots of days left to hunt.  The sign is still in the area and it’s pretty much all fresh.  We have even seen elk hoof prints in some of our own boot tracks.  This is good stuff.  There is no sense leaving camp until we can see our sights as the elk could be right around the corner.  After all we are camped next to a big watering hole but the only animals visiting it are domestic cows.  We have even dusted off the trails leading to it and only seeing domestic cow tracks when we check them.  Are these cattle keeping the “real animals” away?  We don’t know for sure, but we do know there are lots of watering holes around here and the elk don’t seem to mind the cattle.

At first light we are in the truck and putting up the road at a snails pace, hoping and wishing a big bull elk would show itself.  We make it all the way up to Hammer Camp road and don’t see anything except more tracks.  Tracker wants to video us coming out of there and so Weasel and I sit in the truck and wait for his signal.  Then too our right and up on the side of a butte, I see movement.  I bail out of the truck and put the glasses on it…a bull elk!  And there is another behind it!  Wholly crap, look at the size of that thing!  It almost dwarfed the first one.  Both of them are traversing the side of a very steep butte and going around the end of a finger of the hill and out of sight.  Dang nice bulls right there!  Well at least we saw some today!  No way for a shot as they were 6 or 700 yards out and up, but we saw them!

We radio Tracker who comes back to the truck hoping to get some footage of the beasts, but they were long gone by then.  So, down the road we went, stopping once to try and get another view of them from the other side of that finger…no luck.  From their angle they could be anywhere over on that side and a mile from our position.  Just like Night Fisher said, they like to find the deepest and nastiest stuff to hold up in during the day and those two brutes were headed right into the thick of it!  Not something for the faint of heart I assure you…did I tell you I was feeling faint?

Well, we slowly drove down to the place we spooked them yesterday and made a slow and quiet walk out to where we could glass the opening.  We used the trees for cover and did not just walk down the road like we did yesterday.  Nothing.  So, now is the time to walk down to the second water hole, the one Weasel saw while high on the side of the bluff last night.

Our hike didn’t take too long and we saw a ton of elk tracks along the way.  In the water laid a wheeled devise used to help a hunter get a critter out of the back country.  Apparently it developed a flat tire and the hunter decided he had had enough of it and pushed it into the pond.

Most of the tracks we saw around this pond were domestic cattle, in fact as we cautiously approached the pond a group of them got up quickly and stampeded off…Tracker said, “Hell we can’t even sneak up on tame cows”!  I think they smelled us…heck we haven’t had a bath since last Thursday!

Continuing to explorer the area around this pond, we went to the edge of the mesa and the view was spectacular, like always.

You know beyond all doubt the elk are down in there.  We glass a while but my heart wasn’t into going down into there to look around, what if we nailed one down in that hole?  Would it really be worth it?  I know that Night Fisher would go down in there in a heart beat!  We decided to look somewhere else and turned around and went toward the backside of Cathedral Butte.

The saddle that connects Cathedral Butte and the next one on the South (I’m going to call that one Night Fisher Butte, just because he was the one who spotted the first elk of the hunt on the side of it), was where we thought Whitey had taken his herd over last Sunday.  Now we are on the back side of it and I wanted to go and see just by chance if that herd of elk might be coming in this direction again.  It’s very possible if they were out in the clearing all night, they might be coming our way.

So we decided to take a little hike and see if we could find their trail.  It didn’t take us long at all to find the trail…four feet wide and tore all to heck with elk tracks.  Sure enough, Whitey had lead his entire herd up and over this saddle just like we thought he had.  We continued to follow the trail and all the while I was hoping we would see that big cuss coming our direction.  It didn’t happen.

We found a way cool wash that was quiet to walk down and that was a big part of the trail the elk had used.

We stayed on their trail, all the while keeping a close watch for movement and being as quiet as we possibly could.  At times we had to take off layers as the sun was getting up in the air and it was a pretty warm day.

We are standing in the trail right here and with all the trees around us, we would have had to of been right on top of an elk to see it.  I’d call this “Thick”!

Well, our short jaunt to see the pond ended up with us hiking all the way around Cathedral Butte, past camp and eventually back to where we parked the pickup….6 miles.  None of us felt the worst for wear, but it did devour the day.  We went back into camp to cook up our hot dogs and decide what to do for the evening.

While at camp getting the hot dogs ready we talked about “tomorrow”.  Tomorrow is Thursday and we had planned our stay through today, Wednesday.  Our evening meal of burgers tonight will exhaust our provisions.  We needed to take an inventory of our supplies and plan a trip to town tomorrow to stock up.  Weasel got out his inventory computer and began to input our grocery list.  We made up a menu to include more steak, burgers, hot dogs, bread, whiskey and beer.  We had some left over chicken from the Rabbit Chicken night that would do us as a noon meal tomorrow on our way into town.  If we made it part of the plan to be on the road off Salt Creek Mesa by 10 a.m., we could make the 2 hour trip to Monticello, spend an hour shopping and the 2 hour trip back and be back for an evening hunt by 3 pm.  That’s the plan for tomorrow.  What about this evening?

The plan was made to go back up as far as Hammer Camp and then slowly come back down past camp and down to the lower road we had seen and been on briefly a couple of day ago.  This will take us past the clearing where I had gotten my shot last Saturday as well and in fact would completely cover the road through Salt Creek Mesa from end to end.  How could an evening drive be any better?

We went up to Hammer camp and turned around and started our slow drive back down the road.  Suddenly Tracker calls out ” STOP THE TRUCK”!!!!!!  He bails out and picks up a really nice drop horn!  Right off the side of the road!

How much better does it get?!!!  Good eye Tracker!  A fine drop horn if ever I have seen one!  A fine thing to find as the day is coming to a close.  You would expect to find something like that on a six mile hike, but never right next to a main dirt road.

We continue to travel down the road and take the last side road that took us out and across a flat and very close to the base of Bridger Jack Mesa, East of our camp.  There we decided the day was over.  The sunset behind Cathedral Butte was a show to be seen.

And as the sun continued to set it just got prettier!

What a nice place to be on such a beautiful day!  Thank you God for sharing this with us.

And just like all the nights before, it got dark quickly and we found our way back at camp once more.  Tracker put his fine find under the beaver sharns and we went back to camp living!

Tonight’s meal is a simple one and basically the last of our food…burgers on buns, with a slice of onion and lots of chips and beer.  YUMMY!

And by the looks of this picture the troops were very hungry!

After that 6 mile hike we  were all very much ready for bed by nine and so it was lights out!

Alarm set for 5:15 a.m.?  Check!

Bears Butt

Nov. 20, 2013