We returned home a day early from our last elk hunt with.... drum roll please... AN ELK! Praise the LORD!! Levi got a lead cow on Friday night, we spent all day Saturday packing her out and have been BUSY butchering and preparing the nearly 200 pounds of meat and digging out of camping gear all day today. But I had to take a moment to blog the many wonders of elk camp for all to see and I have to caution that this post will contain some pictures of our elk but I will warn you before they come so if you don't want to look you can stop :0) So without further Ado;
We left Tuesday after a busy morning and headed to our favorite Smith River spot, the one we visit every year on the fourth of July. It was a nice retreat from the camping sites of the weeks prior where elk waist was every two inches and there was no water for about 5 miles and, and , and... I won't complain. We'll just say I was excited about camping at our home away from home up the Smith River. We arrived, set up camp, cooked a quick meal and headed to bed. Wednesday morning we finished setting up camp and Levi took off around 10 a.m. to return around 8 p.m., hunting his way through blow downs, up cliffs, and down into canyons. Over hills, across streams and through some VERY tough territory my wonderful hubby set out to fill our freezer and to avoid eating paper in the form of a Bow Elk Tag. He continued this pattern day after day while Linc and I held up camp, well Linc tried to destroy it but I tried to keep him safe in the process :0) It rained all day Wednesday so we stayed in the tent. I'd bathe Linc he would wallow in mud. I'd wipe his face, he'd eat dirt. I'd change his clothes, he'd find a mud hole, the creek, a pile of sand, anything to destroy what cleanliness I tried to provide.We continued like this day after day sleeping relatively well at night with the exception of one night and struggling through the days... my attitude was NOT joyful. As hard as I tried I wanted to go home and poor Levi would return to camp and, well I am sure he would have rather stayed the night in the woods ;0) Friday rolled around and Levi was narrowing in on a heard but still hadn't seen any animals so off he set in search of the heard he hunted last week. Our good friend Kris came buy that evening at around 8 and I told him Levi would be there any minute but after thirty minutes, and then an hour I began to get excited and finally around 9:30 Levi returned with blood on his hands, heart still racing and the excitement of a five year old boy with a pocket full of candy. He had called for help already as packing an 600 pound animal out of a ravine is not a task to be taken lightly and Saturday morning Bill, Kay and his uncle Bruce arrived bright and early knowing full well what the day held... I had NO idea!
I'll stop here and share some pics of our camp;
This is what mischief looks like with a middle name :0)
He split wood (He was in NO danger here, I promise)
He climbed in/on/around everything... again he is safe, remember I was watching him?
Okay.... I was running while shooting... he is getting quick!
His beloved dog kennel
"I wasn't doing anything!"
Back to the story;
So as we departed camp driving what seemed like an hour down a very windy road we finally hit gravel, then dirt, then the road ended and we kept going! Chain sawing our way through the "road" toward Levi's elk. Finally we came to the "trail" that Levi's elk was on. I loaded Linc onto my back and off we went. As I stopped to look around it passed through my mind many times that I in no way, shape or form could have imagined myself in this situation in my entire life but I was having a blast and the excitement had filled my soul too! Linc and I followed Kris who macheted his way through the engulfing brush and finally we reached the beautiful cow that gave her life for us. She was SMELLY! But beautiful. The guys took care of her while Linc and I watched intently. It was pretty amazing and there was no way I couldn't have felt all that excitement. Finally we loaded the animal in quarters and pieces onto the packs and the we headed out. It was truly a great experience and now I understand the reason for all of the hub bub and circumstance when it comes to hunting. These animals are spectacular and so magnificent. The way they are constructed to maneuver the area is unspeakable and to track this creature, get within 40 yards of her and make a perfect shot to kill is a feat to be proud of.
I thought it was getting a little dicey when they pulled out the chain saw but then...
It got worse!
Kris leading the way machete in hand
Reliving the hunt
Alright for those of you that are squeamish stop here!!
They packed her out in quarters, Kris took the brunt of the load
each quarter probably weighed about 60 pounds
Our crew, Thanks guys for all of your help!!
We left Tuesday after a busy morning and headed to our favorite Smith River spot, the one we visit every year on the fourth of July. It was a nice retreat from the camping sites of the weeks prior where elk waist was every two inches and there was no water for about 5 miles and, and , and... I won't complain. We'll just say I was excited about camping at our home away from home up the Smith River. We arrived, set up camp, cooked a quick meal and headed to bed. Wednesday morning we finished setting up camp and Levi took off around 10 a.m. to return around 8 p.m., hunting his way through blow downs, up cliffs, and down into canyons. Over hills, across streams and through some VERY tough territory my wonderful hubby set out to fill our freezer and to avoid eating paper in the form of a Bow Elk Tag. He continued this pattern day after day while Linc and I held up camp, well Linc tried to destroy it but I tried to keep him safe in the process :0) It rained all day Wednesday so we stayed in the tent. I'd bathe Linc he would wallow in mud. I'd wipe his face, he'd eat dirt. I'd change his clothes, he'd find a mud hole, the creek, a pile of sand, anything to destroy what cleanliness I tried to provide.We continued like this day after day sleeping relatively well at night with the exception of one night and struggling through the days... my attitude was NOT joyful. As hard as I tried I wanted to go home and poor Levi would return to camp and, well I am sure he would have rather stayed the night in the woods ;0) Friday rolled around and Levi was narrowing in on a heard but still hadn't seen any animals so off he set in search of the heard he hunted last week. Our good friend Kris came buy that evening at around 8 and I told him Levi would be there any minute but after thirty minutes, and then an hour I began to get excited and finally around 9:30 Levi returned with blood on his hands, heart still racing and the excitement of a five year old boy with a pocket full of candy. He had called for help already as packing an 600 pound animal out of a ravine is not a task to be taken lightly and Saturday morning Bill, Kay and his uncle Bruce arrived bright and early knowing full well what the day held... I had NO idea!
I'll stop here and share some pics of our camp;
This is what mischief looks like with a middle name :0)
He split wood (He was in NO danger here, I promise)
He climbed in/on/around everything... again he is safe, remember I was watching him?
Okay.... I was running while shooting... he is getting quick!
His beloved dog kennel
"I wasn't doing anything!"
Back to the story;
So as we departed camp driving what seemed like an hour down a very windy road we finally hit gravel, then dirt, then the road ended and we kept going! Chain sawing our way through the "road" toward Levi's elk. Finally we came to the "trail" that Levi's elk was on. I loaded Linc onto my back and off we went. As I stopped to look around it passed through my mind many times that I in no way, shape or form could have imagined myself in this situation in my entire life but I was having a blast and the excitement had filled my soul too! Linc and I followed Kris who macheted his way through the engulfing brush and finally we reached the beautiful cow that gave her life for us. She was SMELLY! But beautiful. The guys took care of her while Linc and I watched intently. It was pretty amazing and there was no way I couldn't have felt all that excitement. Finally we loaded the animal in quarters and pieces onto the packs and the we headed out. It was truly a great experience and now I understand the reason for all of the hub bub and circumstance when it comes to hunting. These animals are spectacular and so magnificent. The way they are constructed to maneuver the area is unspeakable and to track this creature, get within 40 yards of her and make a perfect shot to kill is a feat to be proud of.
I thought it was getting a little dicey when they pulled out the chain saw but then...
It got worse!
Kris leading the way machete in hand
Reliving the hunt
Alright for those of you that are squeamish stop here!!
They packed her out in quarters, Kris took the brunt of the load
each quarter probably weighed about 60 pounds
Our crew, Thanks guys for all of your help!!
We are now in the process of preparing the meat and my house looks like Camping World puked in it but the excitement from my first elk hunt lingers amidst my tired and recovering body. We are so very blessed; so, so very blessed!!
3 comments:
WOWZER. That is a TON of work!!! I really had no idea! What a good sport you are, girl! I love all the pics - my favorite one of Linc is the third one down, the black and white. He looks like such a little man! Nice work in full sun!
Oh my goodness!!!!!!! That is awesome!! If you need a freezer to "hold" your stuff in...we've got one up here! No guarentee there would be any left when you wanted it back! :) hehe! Oh, and love the shot of Brucy and Linc! - Cracked me up!
What an amazing account of Levi's elk hunt and all of the work ya'll did to bring it home. You are a far better woman than I for roughing it that long. I'm sure your minor griping was NOTHING compared to my whining in such a situation :) Enjoy your elk meat!
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