Elk Hunting Chronicles - Part 7
October 13, 2022
Our last day of hunting.
Luke got all the horses saddled and we brought the black horse along incase we got something.
We headed off back west, through my favorite valley! Luke wanted to take me to this other waterfall he’d seen quite a few times that was roughly a 4-5 hour ride away!
Normally Luke leads the way wherever we go because he knows this country better than I do but this time I led the way for a while. For some reason the black horse was having issues with me riding behind him, he crow hopped a few times and bucked once. Feeling fresh maybe... who knows lol I had to be 2-3 horse lengths if I was riding behind him.
As we were riding along, I spotted some cat (cougar) tracks in the muddy bit along the rockslide exactly where the grizzly tracks were! And some wolf tracks too! Lots of predator movement!
It was sunny but again, because the valley didn’t get direct sunlight right away, she sure was chilly! It was so cold my eyelashes got icicles! My legs cramped up from being so cold and made it another miserable, painful ride.
I seriously need new joints from my hips down to my ankles…
Once we had some of that warm sunshine on us that warmed me up right away but the damage had been done.
We stopped briefly and Luke gave me the halter shank of the black horse to lead since we were riding through an area where we hadn’t been to. Just so if we did see some elk, he could view the animal(s) easier and assess the situation better without having 2 horses to worry about.
On the way to the waterfall, we saw a ton of wallows and another natural lick! This was another beautiful mountain valley with more open grassy meadows!
The waterfall is quite picturesque off in the distance when you're riding towards it! I wanted to get a picture but since I was leading the black horse, it made picture taking a lot more difficult.
We reached the falls and she was absolutely beautiful! The waterfall is glacier fed, the water in the pool below the falls was a turquoise/blue color and was SO cold!!
If we ever get back up there again, I’d really like to get up to see the glacier! Luke says it’s really impressive!
We spent an 1hr/1.5hr there, had some lunch and looked for rocks! lol
Such a beautiful day! Even though it hasn’t been the best hunting weather, it sure made for a beautiful week!
We made our way back to camp and got the horses unsaddled. We had a bit of a rest and we went back to the natural lick and meadow east of camp.
Even though this week has physically and mentally kicked the shit out of me, (I am seriously pooped out at this point) I gave this last little hike the best effort I could and was hopeful we would see something!
We got down past the lick, Luke used the cow elk call a few times but things were pretty darn quiet. I was digging out my water, when Luke whistled for me to come over. He had his spotting scope out!
Ooooooooh did something come out of the trees into the meadow?!!
I grabbed my gun and slowly but quickly made my way to him.
Luke did in fact spot a bull BUT the bull was on a grassy nole, beside a cliff, a couple miles away and actually not far from where we were on the 9th.
We only had about a half hour of daylight left and there no way we could get to him in time for a shot.
I watched this big, beautiful bull, with dark chocolate colored antlers, saunter off and disappear into the thick timber.
The first elk we had seen in 4 days. That sure was discouraging.
I’m not going to lie, I cried. 15 years I waited for this tag. In the back of my mind, I wish Luke hadn’t shown him to me, I was so gutted.
We headed back to camp, ate some dinner and started packing!
Home tomorrow!
