Archery Elk hunt that should have been a Wolf hunt

[royinidaho]

Went archery hunting with son-in-law last week. Was a bust for elk. Went too high. It was too dry. Elk were lower. A scouting trip would have been a good thing.

Unit 51 along with its neighboring units, 37A and 29 used to be some of the best elk areas in the state. No more.

Of the many bad decisions I made was to leave my rifle in the camper. Who wants to carry a 14# LRH rig while hiking at 9400 +/- feet elevation?

Google Earth, Sawmill Canyon Idaho and Timber Creek Pass Idaho to see where we were.

We parked the ATV to the east of Timber Creek Pass and started a 6.5 mile hike to the west along the ridge top.

Guess what? Upon entering the first clearing after the pass in the very early light @ about 60 or so yards . . . . . a large wolf. Too dark to tell color but was large and darker front and lighter back. My first wolf sighting and the XD-9 was in the back pack. There would have been no time for a rifle shot.

Long story short, my son-in-law cow called a second wolf. I'm back in the shadows and he's jumping around like a school kid trying to get my attention. By the time he does and I sneak over to him and put up the bins, there's a young grey female looking at us.

And my rifle is at camp!!!

Never again! A rifle will be with me whenever I'm in the field in Idaho. Ya never know when you're gonna come across something that needs shootin'.

 

[kcebcj]

Well crap Roy you almost had fun right??

 

[HARPERC]

I'm just glad you're back in the game!

 

[jmden]

I wonder what they were doing up there if there were not any elk and it was super dry.

 

[ShooterMedic]

That is always the case. It might be time to start packing a light MT rifle in 6.5 cal.

I am hoping to to fill both my wolf tags this month.. Time will tell

 

[Clint Idaho]

I doubt the Feds or Fish and Game have any idea how many wolves we have now. I do a lot of coyote hunting, so I am getting reports of them all the time. We all need to make the effort to kill two a year. Right now I would rather shoot a wolf than a Elk or deer. Fish and Game says the deer and antelope are doing fine around here. But I am not seeing any fawns or very many of anything for that matter.

 

[royinidaho]

There are elk there. 3 bow hunters we met had just seen a bull and two cows. To of the fellas were puting the stalk on them. The third sat up hi on the trail waiting. I hope he stayed long enough as we saw where 3 elk came up and over the top about 30 feet from where here was sitting.

Except for a few the elk were down low. Pretty much just about the valley. Those that were successful were so because they hunted down low.

The 3 bow hunters had been there for 10 days and saw 10 elk. All in small groups of 2 or 3 or so.

The Indians across the Blackfoot River, on the res, are hunting the hell out of them. I sneaked up on 6 cows and calves about 500 yds behind the house yesterday morning. The rut is over here.

It was a real fun hunt. Never again will I be without a rifle while in the field.

@ 215 yards that little grey female would have been DRT with any rifle I own.

 

[threejones]

Bummer on the elk hunt. On the brighter side, at least you'll have a good idea of where to start mutt hunting.

 

[1/2 slam]

Roy, are the Indians from the 'res' hunting the wolves? It seems they should be if they like hunting elk that much. The reservations here are in support of them Maybe by the time we are overun with them they won't feel the same way. SSS