My Elk Hunt...The Good...The Bad...And The Ugly

[Nighthawk]

Hey man, look at it this way. You may not have gotten an elk, but at least you were out in the woods with a weapon.

yup... she is a warm one this year... still pretty warm here in NW Wyo.... the migration of the Mulies has just begun .. it is 3 weeks late this year because of the weather...

When I moved here 7 years ago.. I was suprized to see that no one really did much in the realms of LR Hunting.. hell most had no concept of how to shoot over 150 ( like you mentioned ) I have done my share of shooting at the local range and now a few of the regulards think they are into the LR thing.... hell I bet some are on this board... ( got tired of explaining things so I gave them this addy ) just the other day I was there.. I saw a guy shooting a 300WM and he had his much less knowledgable friend with him... so he was showing off.... he was calling out to his buddy that his 300WM needs 45 MOA up to hit a target at 500 yards... what he meant was 45 clicks... he obviosly has trouble grasping the whole click thing...

anywho....

the weather has been real bad the last few years for hunting.. and I don't see it getting any better in the future... the Elk I have see are way high ... I don't even see many on the private ranchs yet...

[budlight]

I feel your pain also. A few years back I had the Elk tag for South Dakota. They were all still hanging out in the national parks. I know because we drove through and saw them.

The day I had to fly out was such a blizzard that my flight was delayed 6 hours out of Rapid City.

I also have enough friends in various states that I have never had to pay for a guided hunt. I've also had very good luck over the years and just arriving at some place that I have never been before and going into the local bar and talking to the locals.

You can buy allot of drinks for locals instead of that $5000 to some guide. My buddy got a 9'6" griz in Alaska the day after flying and renting a 4x4 two days later he had a nice bull moose.

[COBrad]

Ian M, sure got a laugh out of your post, probably because it was too close to home, sort of. The first camp I was hired to run was supposed to have 7 guys. It was cabins on a leased ranch, and the clients drove in. At the end of the day before the first hunt, I had 16, yes 16, very uptight hunters in camp. To make matters worse, previous scouting had indicated there wasn't a deer or elk on the place, not even an old track. When the outfitter finally showed up, the next day, there was nearly a lynching. Fortunately no one took it out on me. Then there was the redneck cook from louisiana I hired years later for my own camp. He was squatted down in the dirt in front of the cook tent stirring a pot of stew with absolutely filthy hands, repeatedly sticking his finger into it to taste it. One of my guides and I were watching him from across camp. He tried to lie when I called him on it, and really squealed when I made him throw it out and start over, after washing his hands. I fired him before any clients showed up.

[Ian M]

Brad,
What is it about camp cooks [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] Seems to attract a lot of strange personalities. Also have been in many camps where the cooks saved the day - a good meal sure makes up for a crappy day in the field. Now a bad day in the field, followed by a meal that the dogs wouldn't eat - that is not my idea of fun.

[LDHunter]

Ian M,

After THAT list of nightmares I doubt I'll book a guided hunt for several years now... [img]images/icons/frown.gif[/img]

Incredible!!! [img]images/icons/shocked.gif[/img]

$bob$

[COBrad]

Ian M, camp cooks have been some of the quirkiest folks I have ever met. I did have one the last several years I outfitted that was just a lifesaver. He was an old packer himself that was tired of guiding, and a bit past the point that he wanted to run a pack string full time. No matter how tough things got or how tired we all were, he could be counted on. He never drank in camp, but spent the rest of the year making up for opportunity missed [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] One night I pulled into camp after midnight, a regular occurance, with a string of eight pack horses to unload. Mike came out of the cook tent with eyes not quite open yet, but a hot cup of coffee just the same. As I took a drink I thought it was bubbly looking coffee, and it sure was! He had heated the wrong pot and poured me a cup of the dirty dish water. :eek