8/30/10 Opening Morning Idaho Archery Elk Hunt Little Weiser River Unit

"Idaho Archery 2010 Elk Season": Little Weiser River Unit

CLICK ON PHOTOS TO ENLARGE!
Idaho Archery Elk Hunt 2010, Fair Chase, Public Land, Solo-Hunt!

Bow In Hand Ahhh-Yeahhhh!

The evening before opening day of the 2010 Idaho Archery Elk Season I took this picture of the little weiser river sign on the way to my hunting camp. Needless to say I was very excited to be able to archery hunt this year. I was not able to hunt the 2009 season due to finances which is just part of life :). "Its taken alot of working saturdays this year to be able to go but I pulled it."

Idaho archery elk hunting is one of my favorite things to do period. I enjoy scouting around and checking out gametrails, rubs, and foraging habbits. As I prepared my pack for opening morning I did a double triple check on my gear since I was hunting this year solo. In my elk pack I carry my kershaw combo which includes the saw, skinner, and gut hook. I carry a second cabela's guide series knife for a back up. You will find traditional calls in my pack such as the primo's hoochie mama, the cow estrus, the primos cowgirl, wayne carlton's sceery and a few reeds. I also carry a wind scent bottle which puffs a small amount of talc in the air for a quick wind check, and a new addition to my pack this year is a cow estrus scent spray. Then i pack a few small food items triple bagged in ziplocks. Usually some beef jerky, granola, almonds, dried fruit, and a few pb/j sandwichs. This is enough to get me by all day without going back to camp. Last in my pack you will find a spare pair of wool socks a small fleece and elk canvas bags for meat.

Opening morning August 30th at 6:05 mountain time I woke up. I got together my pack, bow, scot release, arm guard and put on my camouflage. I wear max-1 with a face mask, max-1 camo pack, a army camo camelbak for water, and of course my hoyt vortec bow that is camouflage in God's Country LS. I left the truck at about 7 am to hike out the first ridge to go get set up for the morning hunt. As I get about 100 yards from the truck I see a small heard of cattle grazing on the ridge in front of me at about 150 yards. I didn't think much about it and started hiking faster toward where I wanted to set up out of opening day excitement. As I approached a small group of 10 or 12 pines on the ridge (now about 175 yards from the truck) I suddenly saw a spike bull elk and because I was walking so fast he immediately turned and started to run. I crouched down and hit my call. I then moved up to the pines in front of me to try and get a look through the brush at the elk. I had a feeling the call stopped him and I was right. As I peered through the pine at him I then noticed out of the corner of my eye that there were two more spike bulls so I sprayed a small amount of estrus on the ground next to me and hit my call again. (Elk are so curious as long as they are not spooked). The last bull to come up the ridge was a nice forked bull. Well let me tell you if you have been live in the moment archery hunting elk you know my heart was pounding. I set out from the beginning to get a good eating elk for my family and here was my chance and its only 20 minutes into opening morning. I then checked windage with my talc powder and noticed it of course was swirling on the ridge. I decided to spray the cow estrus spray again, I then moved to the south side of this group of trees. I went into draw as I knew they were not spooked and would come over the ridge if I just hung tight. The three bulls stepped out in the clearing and I decided on the bull with the fork as he was the largest bodied of the three. As I was getting set they saw me and started a trot. I lined up with the bulls front leg and let it fly at 43 yards. The bull veared to the right as the other two continued over the ridge. I waited about an hour and then went to look for my arrow. I couldn't find it and was puzzled as I felt really confident about my shot. No blood trail no arrow. It was time to go see if he was down where he ran towards. Sure enough I got him with a double lung shot I can really be proud of.

"I was truly blessed on this elk hunt. On public land fair chase to take my elk opening morning 20 minutes into the hunt was surreal. Then the fun part. The pack. I tagged his ear, gutted and quartered the elk where he laid. Total distance to the truck was only about 300 yards but he ran down about 250-300 ft. of vertical as well which definately made it a more difficult pack especially alone. I packed him out and made it home at 6 pm opening day. My grandparents let us use their food saver so we could vacuum pack and seal the meat to freeze (see photo). Now our family has a freezer full of great free range organic elk. Yum.."

Elk Stew Recipe- See Below:

"Fresh Elk Stew":

Idaho Free Range Elk Stew Recipe:

Cube 2 lbs. elk into bite size squares then toss in a frying pan. Then add 1 table spoon salt, 1 tea spoon pepper, 1/2 table spoon season salt, turn heat to medium/high to brown the elk.

Take a croc pot and add 5 cups water, the browned elk, 1- 32 oz. carton of beef broth, Turn on high and cook for 2 hours. Then add 1 1/2 cups carrots chopped, 1 1/2 cups potatoes chopped, 1 jar stewed tomatoes, 1 large onion chopped, 1 tea spoon of garlic salt, 1 tea spoon of onion powder, 2 table spoons wichestershire sauce. Cook for 2 hours in croc pot on high or until meat is very tender.

Enjoy!

KEYWORDS CONTENT="Idaho,elk,hunting,rut,bugle,hunts,mountain lion,hound,whitetail,mule,deer,Selway,Bitterroot,Wilderness,Sawtooth,Salmon,Challis,National forest,area,horseback,riding,horse,trips,Elk Hunting Idaho,packtrip,wildlife,trophy,information,big game,northwest,rockies,mountains,remote,outdoor,recreation,adventure,rifle,archery,license,tag,tent,camp,wapiti,cougar,moose.