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The Making of a Solid Partner 2019 Hunt Recap

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The Making of a Solid Partner 2019 Hunt Recap

Postby Indian Summer » 03 10, 2020 •  [Post 1]

I live in Pa. My western hunting partners are different than the ones at home. The ones at home are family or old time friends. Friends of friends.

My elk hunting partners are different. One guided for me in Montana when I was outfitting. He’s from Ohio. A great guy and a solid partner for sure. He knows from his guide days that the mountains are where it’s at. Another was also one of my former guides. Originally from Georgia he lives in Wyoming now. They are both in their 30s and I’m mid 50s. I’m young at heart and we’ve become good friends.

My Ohio partner was my regular go to. But he got married, bought a house, and started having kids. Couldn’t go every year. So I had my eye out for a new one for the years he couldn’t make it.

My criteria: #1 Integrity! No guys who didn’t know the meaning of the word commitment! No guys who would learn my proven areas only to come back with their friends.

#2 Steady job and with hunting a priority in their life which means not afraid to spend some money to hunt.

#3 Similar personalities and interests.

One of my interests is riding my Harleys. Each year I do several fund raising benefit rides. The biggest is called the Ride for Homeless Vets. They raise about 50 grand in one day. They auction signed guitars from Ted Nugent, Charlie Daniels etc. The guy who runs the whole thing was also the president of his bike club. A leader among his peers but also very humble and family oriented. A rare combination. We had enough in common so I sent him a friend request on Facebook. That’s a good way to get to know someone. Come to find out he spends nearly every weekend at his camp in northern Pa.... Tionesta. Hunts his ass off. So far so good.... and he was booking bear hunts up in Maine every year. He had all the ingredients. So I asked him if he was interested in elk hunting in Wyoming. He jumped on it without hesitation. A good sign. But a rookie elk hunt is more of a test than anything. As with most newbies he got his butt thoroughly kicked. Haha. His deer hunting clothes and gear got destroyed. He could barely keep up with me and he didn’t kill anything. Perfect because if a guy comes back after that he just might have what it takes. He was standing beside me when I killed my elk that year. That motivated him. He was hooked. During the off season he was obsessed. I’ve been hunting elk for over 35 years but I am still as obsessed as I was the first year. So I was totally cool with his thousand questions. He was all in! Bought a new rifle and scope, a pile of Sitka clothes so he could dress in layers, he lost like 30 pounds. The list goes on. He had watched every thing I did, looked over my gear, made notes and vowed to be prepared and damn sure was when the time came.

Last year was his second hunt. No more babysitting. I got him up the hill on opening morning and immediately showed him elk. We heard at least 50 bugles and I sent him after a nice herd bull, wished him luck... and went my own way. Of course prior to that I went over the map with him. He was as prepared as any greenhorn could be.

He didn’t kill that bull. I told him that I enjoy a camp partner but that I hunt alone. I’m super focused on killing my bulls but one of the reasons is because I am all about my partner killing an elk and so the sooner I can punch my tag the better his odds would get. On day two we went up the mountain together and split up in the dark. He saw some elk but learned some tough lessons. He missed a turn on some directions I gave him and dropped too low. He paid the price for that! Haha. But that’s how you learn and he got familiar with some country that day. I didn’t see much that morning and went high that afternoon. I know my area well and later that day I glassed about 35 elk included two 6 points, a 5 point, a small raghorn bull and about half a dozen spikes. They were way up high on the other side of the drainage. It was only day 2 so I just observed what they were doing, where they popped out of the timber and how they acted. I left my gun and daypack in my spike tent that night.

The next morning I wanted to show my partner, Tom, a spot I call the glassing tree. From there he could look over all of the stuff he has been hunting the first two days. We got there before first light and set up to glass. We saw a few elk but pretty quick heard a cow call behind us to the right. We repositioned and after a few minutes 5-6 cows showed up feeding along the edge of the timber. And then.... bull! A really big 5 point was in the back of the herd taking his time feeding. They were just under 500 yards out. Tom wasn’t comfortable shooting that far and besides there was a really heavy elk trail leading from them straight to within 75 yards of us. They didn’t take the trail but kept moving in the same direction. We decided that he best get moving to try to intercept them. I watched as he made his move like a good Pennsylvania deer hunter: Way too slow! Haha. I told him I was heading up high but if I heard a shot I’d turn around and come back down. That shot never came.

There was a front moving in so I figured (hoped) the elk would come out to feed early. Maybe by 3:30. My plan was to hike up the other side to a spot I’d carefully picked out the day before and wait for them to pop out. I got to the edge of the timber where I’d been glassing the night before around 1:30. Not soon enough! There were already elk out feeding and they were right on the route I needed to use to get to the other side. There was nothing I could do but sit and watch. Then more elk appeared out of the timber, and more and more. They were strung out from top to bottom of a grassy avalanche chute. I saw the raghorn and several spikes. They were from 900 to 600 yards away. Then some cows worked there way into the open down low at 300 yards. Hmm. Next thing I know the 6 point comes trotting out of the timber above them. He’s at 500 yards. He feeds a little and turns straight downhill to the cows. 475... 450.... at 405 he stops and turns broadside with his head on the uphill side and starts feeding again. That would be his last meal. I squeezed the trigger and he dropped in his tracks and slid into the gut of the draw and never kicked a hoof. I quartered him up in a light snow and retreated back to spike camp. A small 4x5 stood and watched me work on that elk while feeding at only 125 yards for about 10 minutes before finally walking off. I was wishing my partner was there!!!

By the time I got to base camp the next day Tom was gone. The weather was plenty cold enough up at 8500 feet to let the elk hang so I took a long nap before getting up to do some camp chores and have a couple bourbon and Cokes to celebrate. Tom knew before he came into the tent that smoke from the stove pipe meant I was back 2 days ahead of schedule and that could only mean one thing.

The next day we both headed up to pack my bull out. I was also anxious to show my partner my high country honey hole. The place is elk paradise and he was staying up there for the next 3-4 days. We got to the bull, did some more work on the quarters, skinned out the skull and got everything loaded up and headed back toward camp. I stopped for a bit and gave Tom a pep talk before dropping off the mountain.

The weather blew in with a vengeance that night. Snowed about 6 inches and the wind blew like hell. I could see the next morning that it was fogged in up top. Not good. The high country stayed ugly for the next 3 days straight. Each night I wondered if my partner would come trudging into camp. But every night he didn’t I thought to myself “This guy is going to make the cut!” After 4 days and 3 nights he finally showed up. He was all fired up about the elk he’d seen. He had been in the middle of a herd and had elk at 10 feet. No bulls though. He was pretty beat up but as determined as ever to keep giving it hell. After that I had a friend stop by camp. Another rookie on his first ever elk hunt. I had sent him and 2 other guys to an area south of us. I took him out for the next couple days and Tom hunted on his own. Then it was time for me to pack out spike camp. I went up the mountain with Tom and we split up in the dark again. At 4:17 I was on my knees packing some gear up and I heard it. Kpowwwww. Straight from Tom’s direction. Nobody else was around. Excited is an understatement. I got to camp a little before dark. Hours went by. I knew there was a rookie up there cutting up an elk for the first time. At about 9:00 he rolled in. By then I had already commenced celebrations. He told me his story with wide eyes like a 12 year old who just shot his first deer. How cool! The next morning we went up the mountain and packed his bull out. 2 for 2!

We’re going back to the same spot this year. My partner from Ohio is joining us. The last time he was there he shot his first bull from high camp and his uncle killed a big 6 point only a half hour into the first morning. I’m looking forward to those two meeting each other. Tom is getting twice as prepared as he was last season. He’s officially an elkcoholic now. We have a bear hunt for monster blackies way up in Saskatchewan next May. Back to Wyoming next fall. In 2022 we’re booked for a diy moose and caribou hunt in northern Alaska.

I love telling this story. It’s as good as any successful hunting story gets because it’s not about punching tags. It’s about lining up a solid partner. That’s priceless. You can do it too if you put your mind to it. There are guys like me who have experienced and realize the value of a dependable partner. If you can’t find one maybe you can be the guy with the master plan. I can help you with that. If you’re interested shoot me a PM and we can talk. I love teaching. Good luck to you! There’s still time to apply in Montana!
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Indian Summer
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Re: The Making of a Solid Partner 2019 Hunt Recap

Postby Swede » 03 10, 2020 •  [Post 2]

Great story Joe. I see why you like those flat shooting magnums. If I ever go to a place like that, I will have the 338WM.
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Re: The Making of a Solid Partner 2019 Hunt Recap

Postby Indian Summer » 03 10, 2020 •  [Post 3]

405 isn’t that far Swede. They shoot pretty flat out to 600. After that they really start to drop off. But holding a gun steady at 500 plus on some type of portable rest with several CCs of adrenaline in your veins is never a gimme. I’m actually thinking about building a solid shooting bench out of lodgepole pines in a spot where I can spot bulls from 300-1000 yards nearly every day. But then wind comes into play.
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