NoWiser's 2013 DIY Wyoming Archery Elk Hunt

[NoWiser]

This story really starts about 2 years ago. After my moose hunt in Minnesota I realized that, no matter how much I love it, there is more out there than whitetail deer hunting. I was looking for some new adventures. Something that could put my outside my comfort level a bit. I had been reading Scoot's stories for a few years and decided that this was the type of hunt I was looking for. I started it out by sending him a simple message, and 18 short months later I found my dad and I throwing our packs and bows into the truck, and pointing it towards Wyoming.

Before I get too far I just want to thank Scoot. I am 100% positive that this hunt would not have happened without his help and encouragement. Planning a hunt for an animal you have never seen, in a state you have never been, is a daunting task. He was there to offer advice and encouragement throughout all of the planning. He sent me videos to watch, calls to try, and replied to more emails full of questions than I care to admit. So, thanks Scoot!

Unlike Scoot, I came back with a camera severely lacking in pictures. This was for two reasons. 1. I got lazy and 2. It was like a monsoon out there with the rain. It is hard to motivate yourself to snap pictures when you are soaking wet and living out of a pup tent. So, to supplement my story, I will try to add to each day with a major item on my gear list and explain how it worked, what I liked about it, and what I didn't. Hopefully this can be helpful for those who are looking to do a similar hunt.

So, here it is. My 2013 DIY Wyoming Backpack Elk Hunt. I will try to update daily. Enjoy...

[Scoot]

Wahooo, I've been waiting for this! This should be fun!!! I'm glad I helped give the push to do it. You took lots of initiative on this deal and prepared well. I know you had a great time- looking forward to seeing the pics and taking part in the discussion.

[NoWiser]

The tag my dad and I had drawn was a General Elk Tag. This allowed us to hunt multiple areas throughout the state of Wyoming. These areas typically have a lower trophy potential than the draw areas of the state, and can see quite a bit of hunting pressure. Many hours of pouring over maps and researching over the internet had drawn me into a small area where I was confident I would find elk and solitude.

Unfortunately, Wyoming does not allow nonresidents to hunt federally designated wilderness areas without a guide. I am a DIY guy with limited funds, so this was out of the question and posed a challenge. The area I found was non-motorized, yet not wilderness either. A great find!

A call to the local game warden confirmed that there were plenty of elk in the area, but one comment he made had me mildly concerned. "The only people that hunt that country have horses. The last group that went down there said if they'd of had guns they would have rather shot themselves than have to hike out of there. The last person I heard of before that that hiked in had a heart attack and we had to helicopter his body out of there. Plenty of places have elk. I'd find an easier one if I were you"

Well, I'd never been to the mountains before but wasn't too concerned. After all, everyone I talked to said we couldn't get a moose out of the area we wanted to hunt and, honestly, it wasn't that bad. My dad, being older and wiser, was a little more apprehensive than me. He wanted to hunt some easier terrain first. But, eventually my youthful and foolish optimism persuaded him to dive right in and, after a long truck ride, we found ourselves at the trailhead.

It had rained the night before we got there, and hard. The mountain roads were muddy with waterholes all over. When we parked the truck the skies were threatening more rain, and a fog completely prevented us from seeing the valley floor below us. That valley bottom was our route to our first campsite, several miles up it. It didn't seem to be a problem. The bottom of the valley was probably right below the fog, we thought. We were wrong.

So, as we rehearsed in our preparations for the trip, we loaded up our packs with 7 days worth of gear and got ready to hit the trail. Our packs, fully loaded, weighed between 65 and 70 pounds. After getting mine on and adjusted I realized that I forgot to strap our elk decoy to the pack. I crouched down to take the pack off and immediately had a shooting pain up my back. It wasn't good. With some help I stood back up and put the pack back on. The injury was such that I could only take about 1/2 breath without very bad pain. This was going to be a problem at the elevation we were at, but it was something I'd have to deal with. Soon we were trudging down the wet, slippery trail towards the valley floor.

About an 1/2 hour into our hike the clouds either lifted or we got below them. Either way we got our first glimpse of just how vast of an area this was. It was an incredible feeling to see the mountains, but I think both of us were getting just a little knot in our stomachs. These "hills" were much steeper and bigger than what they looked like on Google Earth. We stopped for a real quick break, and then continued our journey.

Eventually we reached the creek in the valley floor. We were surprised to find that what we though was ankle high grass on the sides of the creek was actually 12' high brush. The creek was high from the rain and the steep mountainsides forced us to cross it many times. Soon our legs and feet were soaking wet. Thunder was rumbling and getting louder by the minute. We made it a couple miles up the valley and decided we had to find a campsite. Our map showed a shelf on the side of the mountain about 250 or 300' above the valley floor. We "sprinted" up to this shelf, set up the tent, and crawled inside just as it started to pour. We napped a bit until the rain let up, and then had to hike back down to the creek to fill up our water supply. By the time we were done it was getting dark and starting to rain again. We ate a quick supper and crawled into our sleeping bags for the night.

Here was our camp.

About 7 months prior to this hunt I bought myself a pair of Meindl Denali boots. This is a very stiff boot, is Gore-Tex, and uninsulated. This turned out to be one of my favorite purchases I made prior to the trip. They kept my feet feeling great, blister free, and relatively dry considering the conditions. I've never loved a boot so much. They did require a break in period, though. Boots are very subjective and I know a few people who could not stand these boots. It is well worth it to try many different pairs until you get one that fits your foot. Hiking up and down steep country is completely different than walking on flat ground in Minnesota. If your feet go, you are screwed. Beneath my boots I wore a very thin wicking sock along with a Smartwool sock. One thing I will never be without again, though, is a good pair of gaiters. In the rain and wet brush, my pants would get soaked and the water would wick down into my socks. I have already bought a pair in anticipation of my next trip.

My dad wore a pair of Cabelas Outfitter boots. They worked great for a day or two until they stretched out due to being soaking wet. After that he struggled to keep them tight enough and had to spend time each day applying mole skin and duct tape to prevent blisters.

My advice for anyone going on a trip like this is to not skimp on the boots. Try on a lot of pairs until you find the right one for yourself. I can't imagine dealing with blisters on a trip like this. Some brands that get good reviews are Lowa, Kennetrek, Hanwag, Meindl, Crispi, and Zamberlain. I'm sure I missed a few as well.

[NoWiser]

Wahooo, I've been waiting for this! This should be fun!!! I'm glad I helped give the push to do it. You took lots of initiative on this deal and prepared well. I know you had a great time- looking forward to seeing the pics and taking part in the discussion.

Scoot, If I miss anything important in my posts, feel free to add to them. I know there are a few people on here that are in the same shoes I was a year ago so, in addition to telling my story, I'd like to pack this thread with as much information as I can.

[frogtosser]

Did u get your boots from cabelas? I have been looking for some after reading the posts on how important boots are and I fully understand. My problem is I need a size 15 and it looks like my choices are limited, where is the best place to shop for boots where they might have some skis for a guy like me?

[stretch]

Great story NoWiser! I can't wait to read about the rest of your hunt!

Frogtosser, I have the same problem you do. I have size 15 feet and i have a hard time finding boots. But i bought a pair of uninsulated Meindl boots and couldn't be any happier. Just this fall i have logged over 200 miles wearing them and are in great shape still. They run larger than they say. So i bought a size 14 and they fit perfect.

[frogtosser]

Stretch, where did you find them?

[HooknHorns]

I once read a thread about what was the thing that helped most on an elk hunt. The one that struck me funny was learned how to tie his boots. I didn't know there was a different way. Well I you tubed it and there are different ways to get your boots to fit better by tying them. People that hike a lot might know what I'm talking about. I will be toying with this till it's time to go. Something to think about. Though maybe I didn't know as much as I thought.

Learn something new every day. Great start. No Wiser

[sticknstring]

Excellent NoWiser! Don't make us wait for more for as long as Scoot does!

[NoWiser]

Did u get your boots from cabelas? I have been looking for some after reading the posts on how important boots are and I fully understand. My problem is I need a size 15 and it looks like my choices are limited, where is the best place to shop for boots where they might have some skis for a guy like me?

Frogtosser, I did get my boots from Cabelas. I tried on a couple different pairs down there and the Denalis seemed to be the best for me. Unfortunately they do not carry a real good selection of mountain hunting boots. You could check out Lathrop & Sons, I know a lot of people go to them for footwear advice and they carry some top notch boots. I'd give them a call and see if they could point you in the right direction. You may have a challenge finding the right boot in a big enough size.

[Scoot]

Don't make us wait for more for as long as Scoot does!

SnS, I only do it to tick you off! Honestly, and people mostly can't appreciate this until they write a story with lots of pics, it takes a lot of time and effort to write these things up. I get a lot of heck for taking so long to post updates, but the truth is I usually write them as I post them and it takes a good bit of time and effort to get them done. I try to take lots of pics and I have to go through all the pics, write something that makes use of those pics, and tells the story of the day in the process. Not to mention that when I'm writing them up is often right after I get back from the trip, which means I'm swamped at both work and home.

I know you're just giving me a hard time, but I'm a slow writer and it takes me a while to get those suckers put together. Hopefully NoWiser will do a better job of updating everyone than I do. If he didn't take a ton of pics because of the weather it may be easier to get things put together than if he'd been able to take a lot of pictures. We'll see...

Any way you slice it, I'm looking forward to the rest of the story! ...and enough about me and my dumb stories- this is NoWiser's story! Looking forward to the next post, Jim!

[NoWiser]

Day 2 we woke up just before light. The rain had let up so we stretched out our sore muscles and got ready to hunt. As we threw down a quick breakfast bugles started to break the morning silence. They were distant, but there was no question what they were. A new and unanticipated problem soon presented itself. Which direction did that bugle come from?? This was a question that would repeat itself countless times over the next week. After some confused looks and a little arguing we finally agreed that there absolutely was a bull elk bugling in the canyon behind camp and it was time to go after him!

We quickly hiked a couple hundred yards up the valley but as quickly as it started, the bugling was over. No matter, we knew there were elk in our immediate area and we were determined to kill one. We came to a small clearing and I sent my dad to the far side as I stayed back and dropped some excited cow calls. I soon heard a twig snap, but assumed it was one of the 2 million squirrels that seemed to call this mountain home. I could tell from the look on Dad's face that he heard something too, and it was bigger than a squirrel. I snapped a few twigs and moved a few feet and cow called again. Minutes later Dad came walking back to me. He said that he heard the footsteps of something big after I called, but never got a look. The wind had swirled and whatever it was vanished. The whole encounter raised our spirits. The picture below is where the encounter took place, looking up the valley where we heard the bugles from.

As long as the thermals were still coming down, we decided to hike about 3/4 of the way up the mountain and continue hunting from there. We began our ascent and were stunned by the amount of elk sign. The tracks were absolutely thick, both old and fresh. We continued to climb and soon I realized I was missing a key piece of gear - a watch with an altimeter. Finding precisely where you are on a paper map is very difficult when you do not know your elevation. Constantly pulling a gps out and waiting for it to lock on is tedious. Anyways, when we figured we were getting close to where we wanted to hunt we slowed down (from a turtles pace to a snail's pace) and alternated glassing and stalking. Soon the unmistakable stench of elk filled our noses. We had never smelled this before but there was absolutely no question what it was. It reminded me of the barn where I used to watch Grandpa feed his cattle. The dirt around the elk tracks was still wet, and the bark on more than a few of the surrounding trees was rubbled clean off. There was a herd of elk, and they were close! With the thermals in the process of switching we quickly backed out to a place where our scent would not reach this north facing slope full of elk sign and ate a quick lunch. When the wind pulled steadily uphill we already had our game plan. We stood up, ready to put it into motion.

With high hopes we set up with me ahead and my dad calling. This slope was so steep that it was impossible to stand without holding onto trees, unless you were on an elk trail. After a few calls with no response we decided to slowly (turns out slow was the only speed we had in the mountains whether we liked it or not) work our way across the slope to try to locate a bull. We spent the next several hours sidehilling while dropping lost cow calls here and there.

For those not familiar with sidehilling it is a painful form of walking with your ankles bent in a manner that can bring tears to even the toughest of men. My favorite part of sidehilling was the "speed sticks". The slimy, slippery logs buried just far enough under the dropped foliage that you never see them coming. Imagine walking across your roof blindfolded and stepping on a baseball bat covered in Crisco. Then do this over and over, when your legs already feel like Jell-O.

While scanning the ground for these hidden buggers I happened to glance over at my dad to see him sloooowly drawing his bow back. My heart started racing. I watched him release and saw his arrow zip through the trees........and hit a stump. The ground erupted and a giant grouse busted out of there and promptly landed on a branch about 10' above my head. Dang!!! No elk!

After retrieving the arrow we continued to hunt our way along the slope which ended up bringing us across a small draw from camp. It was late afternoon and the rain was starting, so we headed back and took shelter in the tent. The rain let up about an hour before sunset so we headed out once again. Dad set up on a trail that led down to the steam with fresh elk tracks on it. I hiked up the mountain to where we smelled the elk earlier in the day and spent the evening glassing, trying to find a bull to go after the next morning. Soon elk started coming out of the woodwork and I picked out 6 separate animals before the sun set. Unfortunately they all may has well have been 100 miles away. None were in an area that we could physically get to from our campsite. They were all up high, and we were down low. It would take an entire day just to get up to them. I still enjoyed the evening and saw my first ever wild elk.

Soon a rainbow formed and heard the rumble of thunder. Another storm was headed our way so I hiked back down to the tent where we ate supper in the rain, and hit the sack. That night we heard a sound that we did not expect. 100's of sheep were being herded on the mountain above us and their bawling, along with the barking of the sheep dogs and hooting of the shepherds seemed to last all night. I had been warned before the trip that when the sheep move in, the elk move out. It was disappointing, but something we would just have to deal with.

Moving up from the boots, I'll list the clothes that I brought on this trip. For my pants I had Core4Element Element pants. These were absolutely awesome, and relatively affordable. The zippered vents kept you cool while hiking and the light fleece liner helped keep your legs warm on the frosty mornings. For my tops I always had on a 190 weight merino base layer. When it was warm I wore it alone. As it got cooler I could add any combination of a light fleece jacket, a puffy synthetic Cabelas vest, a Russel Outdoors outer layer, and a Cabelas rain jacket. Overall this system worked out very well. I did, after the trip, upgrade my raingear to Cabelas Space Rain rain gear. This stuff is much lighter and packs much smaller than what I had on the trip. It should be great for future trips. My dad skipped the fleece jacket and brought a Core4Element Element jacket. He couldn't say enough good about it and has been pressuring me to buy one for myself. For headwear I wore a baseball cap most of the time but also had a lightweight beanie that I threw on when it got chilly. Lastly, for gloves I had a light stretchy pair of polyester gloves. They were fine but I decided to get a pair of merino gloves before my next trip, which should keep my hand a bit warmer even if they get wet. Besides underwear and socks, I only took one set of clothes which, even with all the rain, worked out just fine.

There are a lot of great brands of clothing out there including Sitka, Kryptek, Cabelas, Kuiu, and many others. I chose mostly Core4Element because it was affordable for me. Overall I am very happy with it, although I'm sure I would be very happy with many of the other brands as well.

Below are a few of the articles of clothes that will be with me on my next hunt.

[HooknHorns]

The equipment touch to this thread is awesome. I've got some other questions that I hope you cover so I'll be patient. If not I'll ask later.

[PFUNK]

Really cool thread you have going here NoWiser. It's like a good book a guy can't set down. Making me count the days until September!

[paceman]

Awesome report and pictures! Can't wait for the next one....

[MNpurple]

Can't wait for the rest!

Boots are so important. As I've tried different pairs of boots recently, there's a whole world of good ( read much better) boots out there than what you can typically find at a cabela's and such. European boots really are top notch..Lowa, Mammut, Meindl, etc..

[stretch]

I got them from cabela's.

[NoWiser]

Day 3

This was an interesting day. It pretty much rained nonstop from midnight on. We had a discussion in the tent regarding something that we both had been thinking to ourselves since we go here. Were the two of us really capable of hunting this particular area?? We had spent the entire spring and summer getting into shape for this hunt including running, lifting weights, and climbing hills with loaded packs. We felt we were in the best shape either of us has been in many years. But, this terrain was just more than we had bargained for. A few of the challenges that presented themselves to us were:

1. There was zero water to be found on the mountains. The maps showed creeks all over the place but, even with the rain we were getting, they were all completely dry. Not even a seep coming out. This was a problem. The best elk hunting was about 1,000 vertical feet above our only water supply. Not only would getting water take a big chunk of time out of our day, we would be exhausted from the chore before we could even chase the elk.

2. The mountains in this area were steep!! On most of the north facing slopes, you either had to stay glued to an elk trail that was beat into the side of the mountain, or you had to hold on to trees and brush in order to not slide down. The wet conditions made it even tougher. Even if we did find a bull willing to come to our calls, getting into position for a shot was going to be a very tough and noisy proposition. I'm sure there are people who could hunt this area effectively, but we were not one of them. This was tough to admit to ourselves.

3. If we got an elk, there was absolutely no way we were getting it back to the truck on our own before it would spoil. We had a satellite phone and the number for two packers, but it was going to be a $600.00 minimum for someone to get an elk out for us. While we were willing to pay this if it meant saving the elk meat, it was not something we wanted to do.

After this discussion we decided we'd give it one last shot in this area and then make our final decision. There was one north facing slope that we had our eyes on all summer. Scoot initially pointed it out on the map and it just plain looked "elky". If we hunted it and then decided to move, I would not have any regrets.

It just so happened that as the sky was starting to lighten up we heard bugles coming from this exact area. We threw on our packs and headed down to the creek, which we'd follow to the base of the mountain that we wanted to hunt. By the time we got to the mountain we had crossed the creek 3 times and busted through 1/2 mile of tall, thick, dripping wet willows. We were soaked from head to toe. The mountain was steep, so we paced ourselves, slowly heading up it. What surprised us most were the horse tracks that we were following. Never in my dreams had I imagined a horse could climb such a steep slope. I was impressed. We kept climbing and climbing, expecting to see the top after every rise. Every once in a while we'd stop to fire off a locator bugle (also an excuse for a rest). Finally, we stopped to pull out our GPS to check our elevation. It turns out we'd only climbed about 500' from the creek. We had 4-500 feet more to get to where we needed to be to start hunting when the thermals started blowing up. Our morale was at an all time low. It didn't take long for us to decide that we were just wasting our time pretending we could hunt this country. We needed to move. So, reluctantly headed back down the same trail we just hiked up on, losing all of the precious elevation we had just gained.

Here are a couple quick shots of my dad and I heading back down, towards camp. Keep in mind that brush next to the creek was about 12' tall.

When we got back to camp we packed up the soaking wet tent and strapped everything to our packs. Our destination was an area straight south of where we were. It required a 1,200 foot climb but when we got up there we knew we would find some milder terrain, and hopefully a creek with drinking water. The problem was that we honestly didn't know if we could make the climb before dark. There was only one way to find out, though, so we tightened the laces on our boots, filled our water bottles, and started walking.

Soon we got to a very steep section of mountain. We had 3 choices. 1. Drop down below it and lose precious elevation, 2. Climb above the steep section, in which case we'd have to eventually drop down to meet the ridge that we needed to take up, or 3. Sidehill the flipping thing so that we didn't have to gain or lose any wasted elevation. There seemed to be a slight trail in this steep, loose shale, but a tumble would mean about a 150' fall to the bottom and a very expensive helicopter ride out. So precious is elevation in the mountains, though, that we decided to risk it.

About 1/2 way across the trail petered out and things started to get real hairy. Each step was calculated and tested before putting weight on it. Luckily we had hiking poles, which were invaluable for any hiking with a loaded pack, but especially for terrain like this. I decided to look back at one point but turning around gave me instant vertigo and threw off my balance. Not good. My dad had been leading but about 3/4 of the way across his mind and body were getting exhausted. I climbed and passed him, so that I could pack the trail the rest of the way. Slowly but surely, we ate up distance and eventually had the slope behind us. It was a relief.

We slowly started making our way up the ridge that would lead us to our destination. After about 200 vertical feet something didn't seem right and I realized I picked the wrong ridge. This was probably the low point of the day for me. We had to hike right back down it and head up the correct one. Without a pack this would have been a minor annoyance. With 70 pounds of soaking wet gear on your back, it was heartbreaking.

Slowly but surely we ascended the mountain. Soon our spirits were rising. We were doing it!! We weren't setting any speed record, but the creek below kept shrinking and shrinking every time we looked back down at it. When we figured we were about 3/4 of the way up the drizzle we had been hiking in turned into a hard rain and thunderstorm. We took shelter under some pines and ate lunch. The smell of elk filled the air, so we decided to do some calling, but got no response. We did see a cow elk trotting along the mountainside across the valley from us. My dad's first elk sighting for the trip. The rain let up and we continued our trek to the new hunting grounds, and finally reached it.

Here are two pictures, the first looking east and the second looking west from our new campsite.

Things were looking great. The terrain was much milder, there was a nice creek trickling about 250' below camp, and elk tracks covered the saddle that we set camp up in. We were feeling great about our accomplishment for the day. We headed down to the creek to replenish our water supply.

As we got back to the tent a NASTY storm hit. Torrential rain, lightening, and thunder. It was getting dark anyways and we were too exhausted to eat supper, so we took shelter in the tent, at a little bit of trail mix and granola bars, and went to sleep. Tomorrow, we had a feeling, we'd find elk!

**************************************************************************

As long as my last picture showed me getting water, I'll talk about that real quick.

There are a lot of options for filtering water out there. We had a pump style for our BWCA trips but the filter seemed to clog, it leaked, and it was not light by any means. I really didn't want to take it on this trip. My options were water purification tablets, which took time to do their job, a smaller expensive pump type filter or, the Sawyer Squeeze filter which is what I ended up going with.

This was an awesome piece of gear!!

The reviews said that the bags it comes with tended to be tough to fill up and leaked, so I got a big zippered platypus bag that the filter screwed right on to.

Basically you filled up this bag, zipped it shut, and squeezed the water through the filter and into our bladders, nalgene bottles, or our 2.5 gallon collapsible jug. The whole process took about 20 minutes to fill everything up, but was very easy. When I knew we needed water I would throw the filter inside the platypus bag, squeeze the air out, and stick it in my pack. On the way back to camp we would just fill everything up as we crossed the creek. There is a downfall to this filter in that it absolutely can't freeze. I just stuck it under my sleeping pad at night. It was small enough that I didn't notice it and safe from freezing there. There are plenty of good options for water filtration out there. This is one I'm sticking with, though.

[Scoot]

Jim, I'm sensing a theme here-- it rained, and when it got done raining, it rained some more. Rain on these trips is not very welcome to me. It makes everything semi-miserable and is unescapable. If it rains enough, not matter how good your raingear is, everything will get wet.

I'm curious- the area you tried to get to that you said looked elk that I had pointed out-- is that the "North facing V" we talked about? I can't remember what you told me. We'd talked about a number of other elky looking spots too...

[PFUNK]

Jim,

Curious what kind of pump filters you used in the BWCA? On our elk hunts we have used the katadyn hiker filters and they seem to work really well. At least I never had any complaints. Would you prefer the Sawyer squeeze over the Katadyn style?

[NoWiser]

I'm curious- the area you tried to get to that you said looked elk that I had pointed out-- is that the "North facing V" we talked about? I can't remember what you told me. We'd talked about a number of other elky looking spots too...

Yup, that's the spot! I really wanted to hunt it, but it just wasn't in the cards. I'll leave it for the guys with the horses.

I won't lie, the rain sucked. It wasn't 100% of the time, but it never quit long enough to dry off. Putting on soaking wet boots every morning is a drag.

[NoWiser]

Jim,Curious what kind of pump filters you used in the BWCA? On our elk hunts we have used the katadyn hiker filters and they seem to work really well. At least I never had any complaints. Would you prefer the Sawyer squeeze over the Katadyn style?

I believe the last filter we had was a Katadyn Vario filter. It seemed like it was always leaking water where it screws together. We also had one other one before that, but I can't remember the make or model. It seemed to plug up quite easily.

I was 100% happy with the Sawyer Squeeze. Both of us agreed that it was "The Cat's Pajamas" and would never go back to the pump style. The flow rate was much faster than the pumps, and by just crouching down and leaning on the bag, it filtered your water. No need for the monotonous pumping. I'd highly recommend it, unless you plan on using it on a trip where the temps stay consistently below freezing.

[sticknstring]

Tough conditions for sure... being wet is never fun, especially on a hunting trip. The new spot looks pretty conductive to hunting though!

[frogtosser]

what week did you go hunting

[NoWiser]

Froggy, we hiked in on September 12th.