A few months back, I wrote about an opportunity for hunters to show their conservation roots and experience a rare chance to hunt the Theodore Roosevelt National Park’s elk.  The big picture is to reduce the herd significantly with volunteer hunters.   This first season, the target is 275 elk. 

The hunts are underway, and it looks like things are going pretty well, at least as I have read in this article from the Bismark Tribune.  It’s not an easy hunt, apparently, and the participants have to be willing and able to pass the tests both of hunting skills and marksmanship, as well as of the rugged Badlands environment. 

It looks like the effort will be ongoing for a couple of years.  Check out my last post on this topic for details, and if you’re interested, it would be worthwhile to contact the good folks in North Dakota and get yourself added to the list.   It’s a great opportunity to make your hunting count for more than just a personal experience.

Big thanks to my friend, Jim Petterson from the National Park Service for the heads up and early info on this.

Like many bloggers, I’ve put myself on a bunch of mailing lists.  Many of them send irrelevant stuff that I pretty much send right to the trash bin.  Others are always worth a closer look, and Jerry Springer’s (no, not that Jerry Springer) Western Hunter was one of those.  Unfortunately, he stopped the regular distribution of the email newsletter and only sends one out now if there’s a particularly newsworthy event or issue… which is why the email in my box yesterday caught my eye. 

Along with some other news, he included a link to a piece on the Theodore Roosevelt National Park’s call for volunteers to help thin the elk herd  in the TRNP.  Apparently the herd in the park is almost twice the recommended carrying capacity, and park officials have determined that the best way to manage this is to have volunteer hunters come in and kill them.  Selected volunteers will be expected to commit to five days in the park (volunteers select a week between 11/01/2010 – 01/21/2011), during which time they’ll shoot several of the elk.  In exchange for participation, each hunter will be allowed to take home the meat of one elk (depending on total harvest during the week).  The remainder of the meat will go to food pantries. 

According to the site, the requirements for participation include the physical ability to hunt the North Dakota back country (steep, rugged, and unpredictable weather).  Volunteers must also be able to demonstrate proficiency at the 200 yard range with their chosen rifle (.25 cal or better with bottle-necked cartridges loaded with lead-free bullets), must be able to pass a background check to show that they can legally possess a firearm, and the ability to commit to the full time of the hunt. 

The website also offers a list of FAQs which describe the requirements, the application process, and most importantly, the hunt itself.  The FAQ makes clear that this is not a recreational hunt, and will not necessarily be conducted according to normal sporting standards.  Elk will be located using collared animals, and the hunting teams will be dispatched to those locations.  When the allotted number of animals are killed, the hunt will end for the year. 

It sounds like a good opportunity for hunters interested in helping out to get involved.  I know no one will say, but I can’t help wondering… if this hunt is successful, will it open the doors for similar hunts at other National Parks?  I’m constantly hearing from hunters about how they would like to be called on when the states or Feds are trying to manage game populations… this is the opportunity to put your money where your mouth is (and the cost to the hunters will really only be the travel and lodging expenses). 

Check it out, but if you’re interested, move fast!  The application deadline is August 09 (coming Monday). 

• Main website
• FAQ
• Application Information

They’re also looking for packers with their own stock to help with the effort.

But I didn’t… my friend, Dave Allen, did it instead.

Due to the serious lack of work over the first six months of this year, I decided in June to cancel my CO elk hunt with my friend Rick at Dark Timber Outfitters this year.  It was a hard choice, in large part because this is one of those things I have been looking forward to for well over a year.   

The plan was for myself and my brother to go, and we were going to have a couple of friends, including Dave, along with us.  By June, only Dave was left in the hunt… and he was damned if he’d cancel!  I guess now he’s glad he went!   

According to Dave, the first couple of days were pretty much blown out, with strong winds screaming through the mountains.  On the third day, the weather gave them a break, and he and his guide headed down a creek bottom. 

He spotted this bruiser running the ridgeline with a couple of cows, and in fairly short order his 30-06 put the bull down. 

Here’s his bull, a really nice 280 class animal, and his first bull elk.  Congrats, Dave!  And yeah, I’m jealous!

Well, life and the economy conspired against me this year, and I’ve had to cancel my elk hunt for this coming fall.  I know, shed no tears for me… I’ve shed enough already.  Wah wah wah and all that…

But for those of you heading out for elk, particularly those who may be horsepacking for the first time this season, the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation has release a simple list of tips to keep your trip safe and enjoyable.  Take a look at this list, and if you feel like it, share some of your own tips and recommendations for neophyte and experienced wapiti hunters alike! 

Horse Riding, Packing Tips for Greenhorn Elk Hunters

MISSOULA, Mont.—If you’re a tenderfoot looking to use horses for your elk hunt this fall, do yourself—and your horse—a favor. Follow these 10 tips from the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and longtime supporter Smoke Elser, who’s been guiding and outfitting in Montana’s Bob Marshall Wilderness for more than 50 years.

1. Consider taking a riding lesson before your hunt. Learn the basics of mounting and dismounting, reins, leg cues, proper balance and body position. A horse is not an easy chair—a little preparation and skill are required.
2. Be realistic. Even though your horse can carry you over difficult terrain, it cannot carry you over impossible terrain. You’ll need to hike across the steepest, roughest areas. Hopefully, you’re in shape.
3. Stirrup length should be adjusted at the trailhead. Don’t be bashful about insisting on a comfortable fit that allows you to stand up slightly in the stirrups. Having your knees hunched up can be miserable for you and your horse.
4. Horses are a means of transportation from point A to point B, not to the elk. Don’t expect to shoot from atop your pony like Buffalo Bill. In fact, firing a rifle anywhere near horses can be disastrous. Your actual hunt will need to be on foot.
5. Think about clothing. Bring boots that fit easily into stirrups and wear clothing that allows you to mount and dismount easily. For example, coveralls constrict motion and should be avoided. Keeping quiet and warm are factors, too, and wool clothing is both even when wet. Also bring a broad-brimmed hat to help ward off branches to the face and snow down the neck.
6. Let your guide do the saddling and unsaddling. Often hunters want to help but end up improperly cinching, dragging saddles through mud, disassembling bridles down to the last buckle, etc., causing extra work for the guide. Don’t pretend knowledge of horses and tack if you have none.
7. Always let your guide tie up your horse for you. Improper tying can result in a dead or injured horse if they get choked or tangled. More commonly, hunters return to find only the guide’s horse still there. That could mean a long hike back for one of you.
8. Bring a rifle that fits easily into a scabbard. Oversized scopes or bipods will require disassembly and are impractical. If in doubt, ask your outfitter to recommend appropriate rifles and other gear.
9. Bring what you need, but you don’t need the kitchen sink. Nearly every elk outfitter has funny stories about hunters who insisted on packing things like ice skates, bowling balls, bathrobes, business suits and other nonessentials. But it’s really not funny—overloading is hard on a horse’s loins and kidneys.
10. Wallets in pants pockets tend to work themselves out when you’re riding a horse. Keep your elk tags and personal identification inside your shirt pocket.

Information and tips about elk hunting are regular features inside the Elk Foundation’s bi-monthly member magazine, Bugle. An annual membership, which includes a subscription and base-level support for RMEF habitat conservation efforts, is $35. To join, call 800-CALL ELK or visit www.rmef.org.

About the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation:
Snowy peaks, dark timber basins and grassy meadows. RMEF is leading an elk country initiative that has conserved or enhanced habitat on over 5.6 million acres—a land area equivalent to a swath three miles wide and stretching along the entire Continental Divide from Canada to Mexico. RMEF also works to open, secure and improve public access for hunting, fishing and other recreation. Get involved at http://www.rmef.orgor 800-CALL ELK.

Good stuff, I think.  Horses are wonderful animals, and I don’t think anything compares to the experience of riding horseback through elk country.  However, lack of preparation can make a horsepacking trip into pure, physical torture.  It’s not quite as simple as it looks on TV.  Physical and mental preparation are requisite, or you’ll be aching in places you didn’t even know you had. 

It can also be dangerous.  They seem sweet and gentle, but horses are still 1000 pounds of bone and muscle, driven by a prey animal’s brain.  Stuff happens fast, and a little prep time in a local arena can help prepare you for those sudden, trailside rodeos.  Your guide or wrangler can help avoid the worst problems, but it’s also up to you to pay attention and do what they tell you.

A key point is to ask your outfitter BEFORE you go, and then pay attention to what he/she tells you!  NEVER GUIDE THE GUIDE!  They are the experts, and that’s what you’re paying your hard-earned money for… their expertise. 

Good luck to all you wapiti hunters this year.  I look forward to reading your stories and seeing your pictures, so please don’t be shy… send them to me here at the Hog Blog, and maybe I’ll even make you famous.

Yeah, this is a real short one, but I’ve absolutely gotta spout off…

I have got a SERIOUS elk jones right now.  I’ve been reading the reports on Jesse’s Hunting and Outdoors from the guys coming in, as archery season passes and rifle seasons are getting underway.  I’ve also been glued to MyOutdoorTV a lot lately, whenever I can get a break from work. 

I didn’t get my elk last year, and didn’t get a chance to elk hunt this year with everything else going on.  What makes it even worse is that I now have this Mathews Drenalin, and I’ve totally changed my attitude toward bowhunting…  the memory of that bull bugling in my face last year has me totally flashing back to that Colorado scrub oak last September. 

Anyway, I have no choice but wait until next fall.  At this time next year, I should be wrapping up a CO rifle hunt with my brother and a couple of friends back at Dark Timber Outfitters in Montrose.  But man… that sure seems an awful long ways off! 

I probably mentioned, at least in passing, that I had some issues during my recent archery elk hunt in Colorado.  The outfitter, Rick Webb of Dark Timber Outfitters is a great guy, and runs a top notch operation.  But even the best companies sometimes hire bad help.

During the first three days of the seven day hunt, my brother, Scott, and I hunted with guide, Chad Kleebes (I probably slaughtered the spelling of that).  Chad is a relatively young fella, in his early 20′s, but I think he’s got what it takes to be a successful big game guide.  He’s quiet and unassuming, but there’s a competence there that belies his youth.  He did a great job with my brother and me, and with a couple more years’ experience I can see him being a real champion elk guide. 

Unfortunately, on the fourth day of the hunt, on the way out of the field, Chad stepped off of a rock at a bad angle, and next thing we knew, he was rolling on the ground in agony.  Turns out he did some significant damage to the ligaments in his ankle.  Bottom line, though, he was out of the game.  Scott and I had broken our guide! 

Rick tries to keep all of his hunts to a two-on-one hunter to guide ratio, and his other guide, Chad’s brother Grant, was occupied with the other archery hunters in camp.  Rick’s other top guide was unavailable for the hunt.  Rick, himself, would be spending the next day helping a successful hunter pack out his bull.  Rick had to call in the reserves, a new guide on his team who we’ll call, “Wild William”.

Wild William is an experienced fishing and rafting guide, and has spent a lot of time in the field hunting elk, but he was brand new to guiding elk hunters.  As we were all about to find out, putting weekend tourists on a raft and sending them downriver is not quite the same as trying to put a pair of bowhunters within archery range of an elk. 

To cut to the chase…

I learned a lot of things during those last couple of days with Wild William that I will definitely take to heart in my own guiding practice.  I don’t know how many readers here are hunting guides, but these lessons might be helpful to you as well… especially if you value that tip after a long week of hard hunting.  I wrote a long article on this topic for the JHO Journal, so I won’t reprint it or rehash it here, but it comes down to a couple of key things.

First of all, treat the clients with the utmost respect.  They are paying a lot of money to be there.  Some of that money goes into your paycheck.  You are working for the client, not the other way around.  You don’t have to like them, or even be particularly social, but you have to show respect. 

If the client makes an error, contain yourself.  Manage your criticism, and more importantly, control your tone.  Never speak down to a paying client, and never, ever raise your voice at a customer (unless there is an immediate safety issue). 

Wild William made that mistake twice during our hunt.  Once wasn’t so bad, the second time was unforgiveable… especially when it turns out that he was the one at fault. 

Secondly, remember that you are working FOR the client (mentioned this a second ago).  It is the client’s hunt, NOT YOUR’S.  If the client doesn’t want to run headlong through the oakbrush in pursuit of ghost elk, then you don’t go running headlong through the oakbrush in pursuit of ghost elk.  You may suggest that your experience shows that running through the oakbrush is the best plan of attack, but it’s the client’s call about whether to go or not.

Likewise, if your client tells you that he’s not trophy hunting, and will be very happy with any legal animal, then don’t try to second-guess the client and go blowing through “raghorns” in order to pursue a “toad”. 

My brother and I were both meat hunting on this trip, both carrying either-sex tags, and both very clear about our goals for the hunt… elk on the ground.  Imagine our surprise, and disappointment, when Wild William charged right through prime hunting ground, spooking elk along the way, in his single-minded quest for the trophy animal we’d spotted previously.  We practically ran over one bull, and pushed out countless others simply trying to keep up as he raced down into a canyon and up the other side. 

This all ended in a fairly tense conversation as I explained “the facts of life” to our guide.  It boiled over in the bottom of a steep draw, after he pretty much ignored my suggestion that we stop the mad chase and make an attempt on a bull that was bugling less than 100 yards away, as opposed to climbing another 2000 vertical feet in hopes of setting up on HIS trophy.  This bull was bugling.  The other wasn’t.  This bull was close.  The other had disappeared into the timber over two hours earlier. 

His final mistake was telling ME what a shame it would be to shoot this “raghorn” and miss the chance to kill the “toad” up in the timber.  He had forgotten whose hunt this was. 

Properly chastened, he set up and called the smaller bull.  It came close, but we never got a shot.  It was still exciting, and what I had come for… but at that point the hunt was pretty much ruined.  I had lost all confidence in the guide, and worse, the remainder of the hunt became a matter of going through the actions as my enthusiasm was totally shot. 

We went out the morning of our last hunt in pretty low spirits.  I should have told Rick about the experience the previous night, and ask about switching guides.  Grant’s hunters were leaving early, as it turns out, so he was going to join us anyway.  We could have left Wild William behind.  But at that point, I really didn’t even care any more.  We called the hunt at about 10 in the morning on our last day and returned to the lodge to prepare for the homeward trip.

This is not a totally sad ending, though.  After returning to camp, we had the opportunity to speak, at length, with Rick.  My brother and I both related our experiences and our feelings about this guide.  Rick felt responsible, and offered to make it good with a discounted hunt in the future.  I couldn’t have asked for more, and since I don’t think our experience is typical for his operation we made arrangements then and there for a return hunt in 2009… as soon as Scott has time to acquire a preference point.

So I’ll definitely be returning to Dark Timber Outfitters.  I’m not so sure Wild William will, though. 

Wow, these videos take a lot more time and effort than still photos… but it’s fun.

Thanks for bearing with me as I learn my way around video creation and editing… and I did promise to complete the elk hunt series, so, here goes…  Part 3 is now available.

One thing I’ve learned so far… you gotta either hunt or film.  You can’t do both well, especially when you’re bowhunting. 

The other thing I’ve learned that kinda goes with that first lesson is that you can’t get good footage if the camcorder is stowed in your pack. 

Anyway, here’s part 3.  As soon as I can, I’ll try to get the next part online.

Well, the first part was fun, so may as well add part deux.

 If anyone missed it earlier, the hunt was with Rick Webb’s Dark Timber Outfitters, out of Montrose, CO.  It was a Unit 62 archery hunt.  Rick runs a great outfit, and the lodge is a wonderful, comfortable place to come back to in the evening. 

OK, so I’m no Realtree Roadtrips or anything like that, and you won’t likely see my work on MyOutdoorTV, but I have a good time doing it.

Here’s part 1 of my Colorado elk hunting trip.  Remember, getting there is half the fun!

The other parts will come soon. 

As you may have noticed, I put up a new poll this morning. 

The old poll definitely generated some interesting responses.  Seems like opinions were pretty evenly split, with about half of you agreeing that it’s OK to take a kid on a “guaranteed” hunt for a taste of success, versus the other half who thought a kid should have a “real” hunting experience and learn that killing something is a rare reward.  The final tally, for those who like numbers, was 23 in favor vs 22 against. 

As I said before, I am still a little ambivalent.  I’d hoped for some overwhelmingly convincing argument one way or another, but there ya go… that’s what makes it fun. 

I don’t think the new question is quite as tricky… more of a personal preference.  Do you “hunt horns”, or are you just out to fill the freezer?  Shoot the little ones or let them grow?  I’d love to hear if someone has an ethics aspect to their argument, one way or the other, though.  That should be interesting. 

As usual, I’ll let the poll run a while before I chime in with my own opinions.  Thanks, in advance, to all who participate!