Dear Diary, in late Sept, I went on the adventure of a lifetime: a deepwoods elk hunt in northern Idaho with Flying B Ranch Outfitters. There is no way the pictures, or retelling, will do the experience justice, but here goes. This post will be the day-to-day story; I'll comment with posts on gear and preparation you might find useful.
FLY-IN DAY: Delta DFW-SLC-Lewiston ID. I have never flown with a gun before, so I get to DFW super early. It was VERY easy. Gun checked and through security in 20 minutes. Cake. Flight to SLC is uneventful.
In SLC, I notice 3 girls all in the their mid-20s, all good looking, waiting on the flight to Lewiston as well. "That's odd" I thought. Turns out, I sat by one on the flight. She is a PR rep for Browning; the other two are "Instagram Influencers" that Browning was bringing to Flying B Ranch for a publicity wingshooting event. Cool.
We land, a Ranch rep picks up me and the other hunter, a guy from California who doesn't want his picture on social media because of the crazies there, and we head to Flying B. Get checked in, sight in the rifle (perfect at 300 yards), and head to the lodge. Outside is the Browning PR girl, the "Influencers", the publisher of Gray's Sporting Journal, and a couple more Browning folks. "Hey, it's my friend from the flight! Want to go shoot skeet with us? Using our shotguns and ammo? For free?"
Sure, why not?
I chatted up the girls a bit and was impressed with how down-to-earth and business like they were about the whole Instagram game. Really nice folks. @outdoors_allie and @britt_jill_. They aren't skin showers if that is what you want.
Flying B Lodge
Lion my fellow hunter took a couple years back
Rough afternoon
PACK-IN DAY: Here I get the first real taste of what was coming up. Wake up is 0400, left the lodge at 0430. Arby, the other guy's guide, drove. Arby is character. Drive up the Clearwater/Selway River for 1.5 hours. Hit a parking area, with tons of other trucks, at 0600 and meet up with my guide, Corey. Corey and I are quite the pair, with me at 6'6" and him around 5'8". Corey is quiet, but is an expert at these mountains and our quarry.
Load up our gear on 4-wheelers and proceed up for 16 miles. Lots of fog, but beautiful. At the top, there is a good size "stock camp", with various outfitters with their base camps and animals. The guides and our mule-skinner, Trent, get the gear wrapped and loaded on the horse, and we are off at 0900.
For 17 miles. Walk a while, ride a while, walk a while, repeat. The country is steep, unforgiving, and beautiful. About half-way in, we leave the Nez Perce National Forest and enter the Selway Bitterroot WIlderness. I ride a big Appaloosa named Patch. Patch and I got along famously this part (foreshadowing!). Unfortunately, a Paint named Clyde wasn't doing so well. He was impacted, and despite best efforts, couldn't recover. Corey had to put him down...and didn't speak of it again.
Made it to camp, where we met up with Jeremi. Jeremi is the Flying B General Manager, and played the part of camp boss and cook this trip. Jeremi is a big guy, almost as big as me, and big hearted as well. He said of Clyde, "In all my years, never had that happens. Makes me sick honestly." That exchange describes these men well. They are tough, strong, true woodsmen, and care. I cannot recommend Flying B highly enough.
Corey and me
Patch thinking "I drew him???"
Pictures don't do it justice
Enter the wild. The sign is a favor bear back rub.
Home Sweet Home.
Told you it was a full service camp!
HUNTING DAY 1 THE SUCK & 2 DOWN EQUALS UP: 0415 and Jeremi opens our tent with cups of coffee, as he'll do everyday for the next 7. "Rise and shine boys". We wake, have breakfast, pack lunch, and mentally prepare for the day. Corey and I head out around 0600. I'm ready.
Whoa boy. This country is insane. And, as Jeremi likes to joke, my guide approaches it as "Corey's Mountain Gym". Up, down, glass, listen, up, around, up, glass, down. It is intense. My back and leg muscles were ready and performed well. My lungs did their best; darn better than they would have without a ton of cardio work beforehand. But my knees and ankles?? Well, doing stairs and walking about Dallas with a heavy bag didn't have them too ready. As Log warned me, I entitled Day 1 "The Suck" and Day 2 as "Down = Up".
But the country. Beautiful. This area of the Selway Bitterroot has burned a number of times, including 4 years ago, yielding all sorts of different vegetation. Giant evergreens, burned giants too, pretty bushes, tangled messes of "devil vines", and crazy "melted" trees.
Over these two days, we cover miles and miles, thousands of vertical feet, get blisters
, see tons and tons of sign, but no elk seen or heard. Such is hunting in the backcountry.
Standard view
Tree "melted" in a complete circle
Spruce Grouse
Burned Thicket
HUNTING DAY 3--THE ELK GROVE: Joints and blisters aching, Corey and I head out again. We go straight bloody down to one of his favorite glassing points, Tim's Rock. Hear a wolf howling in a gulch, but no sight of it. The wolves have hit Idaho hard. The elk are recovering, but the moose and sheep are all but gone. I'm not a predator hunter by nature, but would have taken one if the opportunity arose (spoiler: it didn't).
Corey moves around to the back side of the Rock, and in a few comes around excited. "Bull chasing two cows a couple ridges over." We get geared up and start the trek. Zero way we can catch them, but Corey has their scent now. We side-hill around, which is crazy hard, for about an hour. When we near a little draw, a bull bugles. We freeze, and Corey and he exchange a few bugles, then nothing. Wait a while, nothing. Elk hunting in a nutshell.
We proceed along to burned-out section I call "the haunted forest". Have lunch and grab a little shut-eye in the sun. Corey is snoring and I'm about out when I hear some crashing. Unlike our familiar little white tails, elk aren't quiet. I look up and there is cow running up the hill 10 yards from us. Nap time over!
We hike down into what I named the "elk grove". Corey bugles, and it is immediately returned. We set up, and proceed to bugle back and forth with the big boy for 45 minutes. But he stays in his thicket and after 45 minutes of singing, shuts up. We wait for a while, and then make the long hike back to camp.
Tim's Rock
Corey watching
Elk Grove
HUNTING DAY 4--VICTORY!: Morning of Hunting Day 4 and my knee is a disaster. I couldn't sleep that night, despite Advil. As much as I hated to, I said lets delay until 0900 to go. Ate breakfast, went back to sleep. Corey and I left camp at 0900 on the dot, and headed to the Elk Grove.
We set up about 50 yards from the thicket. Corey bugles and was IMMEDIATELY answered!! Corey motions to get ready, and slides downhill a bit to continue the conversation. A 3rd player starts bulging for a distant ridge, making quite the choir. Our boy quieted down, but Corey chirped with a cow call and he fired back up.
I'm scanning the thicket for anything. "Tree, tree, tree, bush, tree, hey that tree looks different....ELK!!!" There he was. I didn't have a lane, but two more steps, and I would. I get a good look at one antler and that's all I need. "Two steps big boy. Two steps. I just need two steps..." And he does. BAM! 1130 on the nose.
--Aside...if you are elk hunting, are shooting a 300 Win Mag with a break, and have a big flat rock on your immediate left, might I suggest hearing protection. My left ear is still ringing a week later.--
He startles, shuffles, runs, crash. There was never a doubt in my mind. I hear a loud wheezing for about 10 seconds, then nothing. Corey comes over and after an extremely long 5 minutes, we head over. No blood. Interesting. We hunt around, and then I see him. About 5 yards into the thicket, crashed out.
He's a beast, and a beautiful 6x6. He was a 7x6, but he liked to fight on broke the small 7th. Corey guessed 700-800 lbs. Caping, quartering, find the entry and some of the bullet. Double lung shot, but didn't exit. Did its job and didn't mess up the meat. The work takes several hours. Once we, and by we, I mean 90% Corey, are done, Corey throws the head over his shoulders, and we make the 1.5 hour walk back to camp, with him never breathing hard one. Victory!
VICTORY
Huge Beast
Heart, brined and pan fried for breakfast
The meat was 240 pounds deboned
Obligatory
Celebration
HUNTING DAY 5--REST: My goal was elk. My goal was met. Corey and Jeremi with some horses head down to debone and bring in the meat. I rested. It was glorious. The other hunter took a nice 6x5.
Knee wrap coordination is important
There are worse places to enjoy a book.
Other hunter's elk
HUNTING DAY 6--GLASSING, HORSES, AND DINING: Get up normal time, enjoy heart and eggs breakfast, and head 5 miles down to Weasle Point to glass for deer/wolf/bear. Don't see or hear a thing. Doesn't bother me at all. Just enjoyed the beauty of this country. We took some horses, including Patch, down to get us back up.
That night, Jeremi cooked up one of my tenderloins and some venison burgers. Outstanding.
Corey glassing
Me pretending to know what I'm doing
Good eats!
The Team: Jeremi--GM and Cook, Arby--Guide, Corey--Guide, yours truly, Trent--mule skinner. A+ team in every way.
PACK-OUT DAY: Our glorious weather finally starts to turn, but the horses are packed and ready by 0730. Make the reverse of the long trip in...horses then 4-wheelers then truck. Tired doesn't begin to do it justice, but it was still good. Only challenge was Patch the horse decided he was a bit tired of my 250 lb self, and tired to brush me off a couple times. Arby moved his saddle up a bit and he was begrudgingly content.
Heading out
Terrible views....
Easy does it
Success
WRAP-UP: Simply amazing adventure. Our success rate was unusually good, but speaks to the quality of Flying B. Also, important to note the none of this would have been possible without Doc Jock's support and all of the help our family provided while I was gone.
Hope you enjoyed!
FLY-IN DAY: Delta DFW-SLC-Lewiston ID. I have never flown with a gun before, so I get to DFW super early. It was VERY easy. Gun checked and through security in 20 minutes. Cake. Flight to SLC is uneventful.
In SLC, I notice 3 girls all in the their mid-20s, all good looking, waiting on the flight to Lewiston as well. "That's odd" I thought. Turns out, I sat by one on the flight. She is a PR rep for Browning; the other two are "Instagram Influencers" that Browning was bringing to Flying B Ranch for a publicity wingshooting event. Cool.
We land, a Ranch rep picks up me and the other hunter, a guy from California who doesn't want his picture on social media because of the crazies there, and we head to Flying B. Get checked in, sight in the rifle (perfect at 300 yards), and head to the lodge. Outside is the Browning PR girl, the "Influencers", the publisher of Gray's Sporting Journal, and a couple more Browning folks. "Hey, it's my friend from the flight! Want to go shoot skeet with us? Using our shotguns and ammo? For free?"
Sure, why not?
I chatted up the girls a bit and was impressed with how down-to-earth and business like they were about the whole Instagram game. Really nice folks. @outdoors_allie and @britt_jill_. They aren't skin showers if that is what you want.Flying B Lodge
Lion my fellow hunter took a couple years back
Rough afternoon
PACK-IN DAY: Here I get the first real taste of what was coming up. Wake up is 0400, left the lodge at 0430. Arby, the other guy's guide, drove. Arby is character. Drive up the Clearwater/Selway River for 1.5 hours. Hit a parking area, with tons of other trucks, at 0600 and meet up with my guide, Corey. Corey and I are quite the pair, with me at 6'6" and him around 5'8". Corey is quiet, but is an expert at these mountains and our quarry.
Load up our gear on 4-wheelers and proceed up for 16 miles. Lots of fog, but beautiful. At the top, there is a good size "stock camp", with various outfitters with their base camps and animals. The guides and our mule-skinner, Trent, get the gear wrapped and loaded on the horse, and we are off at 0900.
For 17 miles. Walk a while, ride a while, walk a while, repeat. The country is steep, unforgiving, and beautiful. About half-way in, we leave the Nez Perce National Forest and enter the Selway Bitterroot WIlderness. I ride a big Appaloosa named Patch. Patch and I got along famously this part (foreshadowing!). Unfortunately, a Paint named Clyde wasn't doing so well. He was impacted, and despite best efforts, couldn't recover. Corey had to put him down...and didn't speak of it again.
Made it to camp, where we met up with Jeremi. Jeremi is the Flying B General Manager, and played the part of camp boss and cook this trip. Jeremi is a big guy, almost as big as me, and big hearted as well. He said of Clyde, "In all my years, never had that happens. Makes me sick honestly." That exchange describes these men well. They are tough, strong, true woodsmen, and care. I cannot recommend Flying B highly enough.
Corey and me
Patch thinking "I drew him???"
Pictures don't do it justice
Enter the wild. The sign is a favor bear back rub.
Home Sweet Home.
Told you it was a full service camp!
HUNTING DAY 1 THE SUCK & 2 DOWN EQUALS UP: 0415 and Jeremi opens our tent with cups of coffee, as he'll do everyday for the next 7. "Rise and shine boys". We wake, have breakfast, pack lunch, and mentally prepare for the day. Corey and I head out around 0600. I'm ready.
Whoa boy. This country is insane. And, as Jeremi likes to joke, my guide approaches it as "Corey's Mountain Gym". Up, down, glass, listen, up, around, up, glass, down. It is intense. My back and leg muscles were ready and performed well. My lungs did their best; darn better than they would have without a ton of cardio work beforehand. But my knees and ankles?? Well, doing stairs and walking about Dallas with a heavy bag didn't have them too ready. As Log warned me, I entitled Day 1 "The Suck" and Day 2 as "Down = Up".
But the country. Beautiful. This area of the Selway Bitterroot has burned a number of times, including 4 years ago, yielding all sorts of different vegetation. Giant evergreens, burned giants too, pretty bushes, tangled messes of "devil vines", and crazy "melted" trees.
Over these two days, we cover miles and miles, thousands of vertical feet, get blisters
, see tons and tons of sign, but no elk seen or heard. Such is hunting in the backcountry.Standard view
Tree "melted" in a complete circle
Spruce Grouse
Burned Thicket
HUNTING DAY 3--THE ELK GROVE: Joints and blisters aching, Corey and I head out again. We go straight bloody down to one of his favorite glassing points, Tim's Rock. Hear a wolf howling in a gulch, but no sight of it. The wolves have hit Idaho hard. The elk are recovering, but the moose and sheep are all but gone. I'm not a predator hunter by nature, but would have taken one if the opportunity arose (spoiler: it didn't).
Corey moves around to the back side of the Rock, and in a few comes around excited. "Bull chasing two cows a couple ridges over." We get geared up and start the trek. Zero way we can catch them, but Corey has their scent now. We side-hill around, which is crazy hard, for about an hour. When we near a little draw, a bull bugles. We freeze, and Corey and he exchange a few bugles, then nothing. Wait a while, nothing. Elk hunting in a nutshell.
We proceed along to burned-out section I call "the haunted forest". Have lunch and grab a little shut-eye in the sun. Corey is snoring and I'm about out when I hear some crashing. Unlike our familiar little white tails, elk aren't quiet. I look up and there is cow running up the hill 10 yards from us. Nap time over!
We hike down into what I named the "elk grove". Corey bugles, and it is immediately returned. We set up, and proceed to bugle back and forth with the big boy for 45 minutes. But he stays in his thicket and after 45 minutes of singing, shuts up. We wait for a while, and then make the long hike back to camp.
Tim's Rock
Corey watching
Elk Grove
HUNTING DAY 4--VICTORY!: Morning of Hunting Day 4 and my knee is a disaster. I couldn't sleep that night, despite Advil. As much as I hated to, I said lets delay until 0900 to go. Ate breakfast, went back to sleep. Corey and I left camp at 0900 on the dot, and headed to the Elk Grove.
We set up about 50 yards from the thicket. Corey bugles and was IMMEDIATELY answered!! Corey motions to get ready, and slides downhill a bit to continue the conversation. A 3rd player starts bulging for a distant ridge, making quite the choir. Our boy quieted down, but Corey chirped with a cow call and he fired back up.
I'm scanning the thicket for anything. "Tree, tree, tree, bush, tree, hey that tree looks different....ELK!!!" There he was. I didn't have a lane, but two more steps, and I would. I get a good look at one antler and that's all I need. "Two steps big boy. Two steps. I just need two steps..." And he does. BAM! 1130 on the nose.
--Aside...if you are elk hunting, are shooting a 300 Win Mag with a break, and have a big flat rock on your immediate left, might I suggest hearing protection. My left ear is still ringing a week later.--
He startles, shuffles, runs, crash. There was never a doubt in my mind. I hear a loud wheezing for about 10 seconds, then nothing. Corey comes over and after an extremely long 5 minutes, we head over. No blood. Interesting. We hunt around, and then I see him. About 5 yards into the thicket, crashed out.
He's a beast, and a beautiful 6x6. He was a 7x6, but he liked to fight on broke the small 7th. Corey guessed 700-800 lbs. Caping, quartering, find the entry and some of the bullet. Double lung shot, but didn't exit. Did its job and didn't mess up the meat. The work takes several hours. Once we, and by we, I mean 90% Corey, are done, Corey throws the head over his shoulders, and we make the 1.5 hour walk back to camp, with him never breathing hard one. Victory!
VICTORY
Huge Beast
Heart, brined and pan fried for breakfast
The meat was 240 pounds deboned
Obligatory
Celebration
HUNTING DAY 5--REST: My goal was elk. My goal was met. Corey and Jeremi with some horses head down to debone and bring in the meat. I rested. It was glorious. The other hunter took a nice 6x5.
Knee wrap coordination is important
There are worse places to enjoy a book.
Other hunter's elk
HUNTING DAY 6--GLASSING, HORSES, AND DINING: Get up normal time, enjoy heart and eggs breakfast, and head 5 miles down to Weasle Point to glass for deer/wolf/bear. Don't see or hear a thing. Doesn't bother me at all. Just enjoyed the beauty of this country. We took some horses, including Patch, down to get us back up.
That night, Jeremi cooked up one of my tenderloins and some venison burgers. Outstanding.
Corey glassing
Me pretending to know what I'm doing
Good eats!
The Team: Jeremi--GM and Cook, Arby--Guide, Corey--Guide, yours truly, Trent--mule skinner. A+ team in every way.
PACK-OUT DAY: Our glorious weather finally starts to turn, but the horses are packed and ready by 0730. Make the reverse of the long trip in...horses then 4-wheelers then truck. Tired doesn't begin to do it justice, but it was still good. Only challenge was Patch the horse decided he was a bit tired of my 250 lb self, and tired to brush me off a couple times. Arby moved his saddle up a bit and he was begrudgingly content.
Heading out
Terrible views....
Easy does it
Success
WRAP-UP: Simply amazing adventure. Our success rate was unusually good, but speaks to the quality of Flying B. Also, important to note the none of this would have been possible without Doc Jock's support and all of the help our family provided while I was gone.
Hope you enjoyed!
