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29 October 2008

Days 2-4 Elk Hunting - NM Unit 16C with Wade Johnson Outfitters

Posted by Darrell under: Elk .

 

Day 2

If you followed my account of day 1, you can just imagine how dissapointed I was to miss a big 6×6 on opening day. On the other side of the emotional spectrum, I was very excited to have seen so many elk and to have had an opportunity at a big bull.

I awoke at 4am looking forward to the very difficult hike in the dark to the finger which we would glass from. Caleb was completely worn out from the previous day and decided to rest up in preparation for day 3. Naturally, I was concerned that the elk would not show back up and was afraid that I’d spooked them the day before with my errant shot. We arrived in our spot before first light and rested for a few minutes before the first rays of sunlight became visible behind the mountain peaks. It was another glorious day in the mountains!

Unfortunately, though, our elk weren’t around. There were no elk on any of the burn peaks that we were glassing. I began wondering if I had missed the only opportunity I would get at a bull on this hunt. The forest was silent. The bugling elk of yesterday were long gone. Man, was I dissapointed.

We spent a couple hours glassing and waiting and slowly moving from spot to spot in order to thoroughly glass the three major mountainsides that were visible from our position. The elk were gone! Butch, my guide, suggested that we climb up and over one of the mountains that we were glassing (the same one we had seen 50 cows and 3 bulls on yesterday). I told him I was definitely game. So, we began the long and tedious hike/climb. Butch told me that there was another burned mountainside on the back side and opposite the mountain we were climbing. It was several miles from any roads and was not visible from any roads so it would be highly unlikely that any adventurous hunters had hiked into this area and/or spoiled the spot.

Butch, was again right. There were elk on the opposite mountainside. We moved into position across from them and set up about 250 yards away. Several cows, a 4×4, and a 5×5 bull were grazing on the mountainside. The bulls were pretty quiet. We watched and waited, hoping that a big bull would come in. None ever did. I did get to watch all of the cows and a couple of calves bed down on the mountainside. They must have felt pretty safe because they basically bedded down right out in the open where they were vulnerable.

After assuring ourselves that no big bulls were close by, we began the hike back to the truck. We had seen a few elk and even some bulls, but it was a totally different ‘feel’ than the previous day. I couldn’t shake the feeling that I might have missed my only opportunity.

We went back to camp and rested for a couple hours. I made good use of the time by falling fast asleep. I awoke feeling rested and ready to go find some elk. Butch suggested that we go to a different area that he was familiar with and make a long hike and long climb to another remote burned mountaintop that wasn’t visible from any roads or trails.

The road that we took into this area was terrible with huge rocks and holes. I’m sure I hit the windshield with my face a few times on the drive in. We would be hiking about 2 1/2 miles from this “road”. I couldn’t help but thinking that the elk probably didn’t pay too much attention to the road as very few sane people would ever attempt to traverse it. But, it was Butch’s truck and he didn’t seem concerned in the least about the state of the “road” we were travelling.

When we finally parked the truck I felt like I had been in the ring with a heavyweight boxer. My body was beat up. I was eager to get out and begin our hike! After about 1.5 miles of climbing UP we heard the beautiful sound of a bugle. The sound was coming from below us and we begin making tracks toward it. I couldn’t help but think about if we didn’t catch up with it we were going to have to re-climb the mountain we’d been climbing on for the past hour and a half. It was sure taking a lot less time to go down the mountain than it took to climb up it.

We ended up in a beautiful wooded valley. It had nice grass and Butch informed me that it eventually led down to a big dirt water tank. He thought the elk might be working their way towards the tank. All of a sudden, Butch, dropped to the ground. I quickly followed. Than I watched in amazement as several cows came in just up the valley from us. They were completely obvlivious to us, even though we were basically out in the open. We had no cover at all! Yet, we sat there watching the cows and their calves play together. The bull continued to bugle periodically from somewhere behind them, although we could both tell that he was on the move.

We watched the cows and calves play for nearly 30 minutes. The calves would chase each other in circles and the cows would occassionally jump up and touch heads with one another. It was awesome to just sit there and watch. All the while, we could hear our bull moving away from this group of cows. Butch told me it was time to move and we again began quickly making our way towards the last bugle we had heard. The bull was moving away from us and moving fast (covering 200+ yards between bugles), so we had to really pick up the pace. We weren’t quite running, but were as close as you can be without actually doing it. Well, Butch wasn’t technically running, but I was in order to keep up with him.

We caught up with the bull. He was standing in a brushy area about 12o yards directly in front of us and a big cow was with him. We both dropped to the ground and Butch quickly set up his shooting sticks for me. I had a little trouble finding the bull in the scope because of the brush and since he was directly facing us. My only shot was straight on at his chest.

I waited a few moments to see if he would turn and show me a shoulder, but he never did. Butch whispered that I needed to take the shot because the cow was getting ready to run and he would follow. Just as the cow started to leap, I pulled the trigger on the bull. My shot, amazingly, was excellent. It looked like a solid hit and he went just a few yards before piling up dead. The .325 WSM did it’s job incredibly well.

My elk was down and I was thrilled. This, though, is when the real work begins. After taking pictures, Butch suggested that we field dress the elk rather than quarter it. He said that it was only about 1.5 miles from the road and he could drive up the mountain to retrieve it and we could then throw it in the back of his truck. I laughed because I thought he was joking. He wasn’t!

Butch field dressed the elk. I remembered hearing a story of a mountain man crawling inside an elk in order to survive a brutally cold storm. I could definitely see how it would be possible. These animals are huge. I still couldn’t imagine how we could get the truck up the mountain to where the elk was or how we could load it without a cherry picker.

Anyway, after we got the elk field dressed and tagged we hiked back down to the truck. It was well past dark by the time we made it to the truck. Butch had flagged a path on the way down. I still thought he was crazy as the path included trees that were quite close together and enormous rocks and boulders. I kept thinking that maybe he was playing some kind of joke on me. I was wrong.

Anyway, we returned to camp, driving down the worse road I’ve ever been on. Then after a good meal, Caleb, Butch and I returned to the mountain to retrieve my elk. The road was just as bad the 3rd time and I kept imagining breaking an axle on the side of the mountain and hiking the several miles back to camp. When we got to the end of the road, Butch true to his word, started following his flags back to the elk. I still can’t believe that he drove his truck through and over some of the obstacles that we traversed. I’d say that Butch has a lot more faith than I do.

We made it to my elk and I waited for Butch to unload a pulley system or a come-along or something with which to load the elk. He didn’t. He simply tied a short piece of rope between the two back legs and told Caleb to get into the back of the truck. Butch and I then lifted the two back legs up until we had them resting on the tailgate. At this point Caleb was told to grab the rope and keep on pulling. As Caleb pulled, Butch and I both bent our knees, reached under the elk, and locked our arms together. We would lift up with legs and as we inched the elk up, Caleb would pull it up into the truck. I would have never guessed that two guys and a kid could load a 800 lb animal into the back of a pickup truck, but we did and it wasn’t really that hard. Butch told me that him and his wife can load an adult elk into the back of a truck - by themselves. I believe him.

We all survived the ride back to camp. I still find the pack out of our elk hard to believe and I was there!

Day 3

We slept in on day 3 and spent the bulk of the day working on the elk. While Butch caped and quartered it, Caleb and I de-boned it and washed the meat. I put it in coolers with ice and salt water. We drove back to the lodge in the afternoon and put the cape in Wade’s freezer. After showers, we made our way back to camp - secure knowing that the cape was well cared for.  Wade and Andrea came out to Camp and had dinner with us - ribeyes and homemade Jalapeno poppers (which were amazingly good).

Day 4

We got up early again and Butch fixed a big breakfast. Wade, Butch, Caleb and I were going bear hunting! We spent the morning moving and glassing for bears and the afternoon watching a waterhole where Butch had been seeing a big bruiser. Unfortunately, we never saw a bear. However, we saw several cow elk, over a dozen mule deer, and even some antelope - so the day was another great day in the mountains.

Caleb and I decided to pack up and start back home this evening. Caleb wanted me to take him to Carlsbad Caverns on the way home and I agreed that it would be fun. We took our time on the way home and we both enjoyed visiting Carlsbad. I spent the entire day after we got back processing the elk meat and I must say that it is some of the best meat I’ve eaten.

Our trip with Wade Johnson was a tremendous amount of fun and I can’t wait to hunt in New Mexico again. I will definitely use Wade Johnson and crew again in the future!

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