Elk hunting in backcountry grizzly country is never boring. There’s never a moment of relaxation, whether you’re hiking, gathering firewood, climbing a tree to hang your food, or swiveling your head to and fro thinking about grizzly bears; let’s don’t forget looking for elk as well.
But would we want it any other way? This is the type of hunt that makes you feel vulnerable, yet strong. There is real danger in the backcountry and this is when you get to lean on your woodsman skills, along with the strengths your camp partners possess. You also learn to work with each others weaknesses and help each other out when needed. This type of hunts forms brotherhoods and relationships that will never fade. Nope, never. Even if you might not see one of these buddies for years, the knot of friendship remains tight as a wet anchor rope.
I had the pleasure to be a part of this years hunt as merely a camp hand/ packer/ glasser. I have a special different bull tag this season, so I joined this group of friends that had general elk tags. What a “general” hunt it was!
My son Hunter, an old friend Jim Godfrey, Tyler Berry, and Brady Smith would all be on this hunt. Tyler, Hunter, and Jim had the tags.
This year’s weather was much warmer than last year’s weather on this hunt, but the elk hunting was still superb. I believe the biggest bulls had holed up in a post-rut behavior, but second tier bulls were up still running with the cows. It made for quite a bit of bugling action and lots of elk sighting throughout the trip.
We knew we were in for a treat when after packing in 6 miles and getting camp set-up, we spoked out different directions from camp to see if we could figure out the elevation bands the elk where at. After dark, we reconvened in the big tipi and figured we’d seen around 50 bulls. The feeling in the tipi was excitement for sure!
The hunters didn’t waste a lot of time and the next day all three hunters were sitting on bulls they were going to kill. Jim started that afternoon with a one-shot kill on a nice 6-point bull a couple miles north of camp in a deep canyon.
That same evening, an hour before dark, Tyler spotted a solid bull 2 miles further north than the 4 miles north we had already hiked that day. A quick run along the ridge, we snuck over the ridge to see Tyler’s bull bedded surrounded by cows at just over 300 yards.
Hunter worked hard to kill a bull in the thick timber but never could outsmart the bull in a day-long game of cat and mouse. His enthusiasm to get back in there the next day was strong! That night we celebrated our two kills back at the tipi.
I can’t emphasize enough how much I enjoy the evening part of these type of hunts. With all of us sitting around a wood stove with our food telling stories. It’s primitive and brings great comfort. We celebrate each others successes and we sympathize with our failures.
The following morning, Brady and Hunter left before light to where they had left the bull the evening before. The rest of us planned on resting our sore bones from the harvests and hiked the day before and getting some camp chores done.
It was first light and we were eating breakfast outside the tipi when we heard a couple of shots just above camp in the direction Hunter and Brady headed. We jumped into our binos and could see Hunter and Brady celebrating 1000 yards uphill from camp.
A day and a half on the mountain and all three elk hunters had filled their tags with respectable 6-point bulls. The rest of the crew headed up to help with Hunters bull as he recounted the story of calling this bull into short range in the morning grey light and killing it on the wide open ridge above camp.
The morning was perfect and the morning sun was warm. While we all sat around Hunter’s bull enjoying the moment, Tyler grabbed two horses to head off 5 miles north to pick up his elk. This is when the perfect morning began to unravel…
I heard the mixture of distressed voice and static come across my radio. Something about grizzlies and horses 2.5 miles away running. I climbed the ridge top and got the scoop from Tyler. A grizzly had visited his elk carcass and his horses decided they were gonna take a morning run. Before Tyler could snag the lead rope, they were on the run heading into a deep wilderness canyon. We had two horses tied together running towards a hell-hole.
Hunter and Jim stayed back to work on Hunter’s elk, while I climbed the canyon ridge where supposedly the horses had gone into. Brady headed for the horses back at camp and saddled them and was going to head my way. With the use of radios, Tyler and I looked into the big canyon without any horse sighting.
This big canyon happened to be the same canyon Jim had killed his bull in, so after a couple of hours we decided to take the horses Brady had saddled and all meet up at Jim’s bull. Tyler would then pack that elk out and check to see if the horses had made it to the trailhead 9 miles down the canyon.
The mood was somber as we assumed these rogue horses were tied up like a pretzel in the deep canyon somewhere in and amongst their reigns and lead ropes. After spooking a group of bears out of the canyon, we made it to Jim’s elk without any problems. Tyler was going to drop from the opposite canyon wall and meet us but would have to come through a big slope of timber.
I jumped on the radio and let Tyler know when he was close and we’d yell for him so he knew our location. His response was “I’m right below you guys and you won’t believe what I found!” Shortly after, the familiar sound of horse hooves on soft timber soil could be heard. Tyler lead the two rogue horses up to us. We were all in disbelief. He was blazing a trail through the heavy timber and looked to his side and found the two horses tied up like a pretzel 20 yards away.
What a miracle! But the horse rodeos weren’t over yet…
Jim and I packed a portion of his elk back to camp and to help Hunter hang his elk before dark. Brady and Tyler took the train of horses, along with Jim’s quarters to head back north to make another attempt at retrieving Tyler’s bull.
They were able to load the elk in the panniers but had multiple horse wrecks across icy slopes on the 5 mile trek back. Some of these wrecks involved horses tumbling downslope. Miraculously, the horses escaped with scrapes and bruises but nothing broke. It ended up being a long day for everyone involved but in the end, we had 3 6-point bulls hanging at camp!
We celebrated again that night and the next morning we cleaned up camp and hiked out with a heavy load! What a trip I’ll always remember with such special people. Rodeos, tree climbing, and elk. A combination that makes you feel alive and your age all at once!
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