Idaho Elk Hunt (not just camping)

Kurtr

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Year five came and it was time to take off and meet my brother for our elk hunt out in Idaho. This year we changed up units and where hunting with a friend of my brothers who has hunted the area before. Also coming with were three lamas Blaze, Winchester and Aspen.

lama.jpg

We hiked in the day before opening day and set up camp at an old mining site. Its amazing all the stuff they had in there and to think of the history and how tough those guys were back then i kinda crazy.

Opening morning and we took off up a ridge to glass an area Reuben had seen bulls earlier in the year. No more than i get set up looking one way and my brother comes running over and says grab your stuff with some other colorful language which had to mean they saw something . I grab my stuff run over there and in the spotter stands a nice branch bull and a spike.

We put a plan together and get to moving to try and cut the distance. There are only 2 directions in Idaho up and down and it seems like both take forever. We get to another opening across the ridge and they are right at 1000 yards across the other side of the ravine. Now i am starting to get excited.

We get to the end of the ridge its now or never time we cant get any closer and there is not a breath of wind. It was a far shot but i didnt lug this 13 pound rifle around the last 4 years and practice all summer to pass it up. After calming my self down getting a rock solid rest I shot. First shot with the 143 eldx went right through the heart but he didnt even budge next one hit high shoulder found bullet just under spine. He ran up hill then did a back flip and down the hill he slid. Next was the longest 2 hours of my life it seemed as thats what it took to get to him. He would have kept sliding but his horns dug in.

elk1.jpgsteep2.jpg
steep1.jpg


Now the work start my brother went back to camp and got the lamas which are amazing animals and i will never pack in again with out them. We got the elk quartered out took pictures(had to have one long arm one haha) and boned and he showed up about six hours later with the lamas. We made it half way back to camp and in the dark it was just to dangerous with all that weight on us and the lamas so we stashed the meat half way back to camp. Shot the elk at 10 am and got back to camp that night at 10:30 pm it wasnt hard to sleep that night.

elkbrother.jpgelk2.jpglongarm.jpg
lama train.jpg
sunset.jpg

We went back the next morning got the meat and took the rest of the day to rest at camp and heal up. For supper that night we had some elk fajitas which i dont think could have been any better. Cooked them on old iron from the mining camp with a make shift grill. out of the old piping laying around.

elk fajita.jpg


We hunted the next 3 days but didnt find any thing else so we packed up camp and headed back to star to cut up the elk and split up the meat.

Overall it was a trip of lifetime I was shaking like a 12 year old shooting their first deer when i first walked up to the elk. I learned more about elk hunting that week than the last 4 years Reuben was a wealth of knowledge and a hell of a good guy to hang out with. Learned that lamas are cool animals and they were a joy to have around camp and when it came time to work they loved it. Reuben has never shot a whitetail so i am hoping he can draw here next year and i can help him with that.
 


LOV2HNT

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Great story Kurt and congrats on an awesome hunt. Elk hunting is always fun, but coming home with an elk makes all the preparing worth it.
 

fireone

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Great story Kurt, congrats! Lamas, who'd a thunk it.

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Great story Kurt, congrats! Lamas, who'd a thunk it. I've heard of donkeys and pack goats but not lamas.
 

JMF

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Awesome story, congrats. Did you rent the lamas? If so, were they from Beau?
 


BrokenBackJack

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Congrats Kurt and i agree once the elk is down the fun is over and the work starts.
Been around plenty of Llama's but never used them to pack for hunting. Only thing or complaint i ever heard is they can be some spitting fools! Seen them used many times to fix trails by packing in rock and gravel in Wilderness areas.
 

Kurtr

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Congrats on the elk! So how far was that shot?!

this might ruffle some feathers so I was debating on putting it out there. It was 753. With no wind and perfect conditions I was very confident. Along with the other 2 with me being very proficient if something went side ways.

Awesome story, congrats. Did you rent the lamas? If so, were they from Beau?

we got them from thunder creek lamas. They are just down from my brothers house and great people.

something else I learned is horse hate lamas but lamas don’t even care about them. Had a little rodeo at the trail head.
 


BrokenBackJack

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I concur that horses hate Llama's. When we had our place in Montana the next door neighbor had some Llama's in his pasture occasionally. Anyway when my buddy brought his horses to put in our pasture, the horses wouldn't go next to our bordering fence when the Llama's were by it. The horses hated those goofy looking suckers.
Was funny as heck watching those horses and Llama's.
 

Kurtr

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That was enjoyable reading. So Kurt was that factory or H4350, or did you get your hands on some R26? Oh and yes nice elk for sure.

42.5 h4350 at 2880 FPS. I have some rl to try along with some stabal 6.5 my brother has had great results with and it meters super nice.
 


SDMF

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Great story! Hit the repeat button on that trip as soon and often as time and $$ allow.
 

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