Huntchat ProStaff back from Montana!

[petey]

I sent the boys to Wild Skies Outfitters in Montana this year (a soon to be New Sponsor of Huntchat's by the way) and it just so happens that the one that takes my place shot a dandy mule deer. I'll let him tell the story though since I don't have the full details yet.

Anyhow, Congrats...not too shabby and sorry I missed out on all the fun.

[ol_spark]

Golly gee... what's all that white stuff on the ground??

[bigbrother]

As most of my hunts have been recently the start involved hopping on a plane and flying to parts to be determined. This time it happened to be the quaint little airport in Butte, MT. Upon arrival, Carl of Wild Skies Outfitters met Olspark and I coming off the plane. After helping us with our bags, loading up, meeting Larry our hunting companion from Utah and grabbing a burger; we headed toward base camp. We soon found about 6 to 8 inches of snow on the ground at base camp (elev. app 5500 ft) with more pouring out of the sky. We placed our gear in the wall tent, fired up the wood stove and all met in the cook tent to work out the game plan.

As it turned out the snow was coming so heavily that Carl needed to use his horses and mules to pull his high country camps before they became buried. That settled it. We would hunt from base camp on foot for at least the first 2 days. This was not to be a problem as elk were seen on the road within 1/2 mile from our tent.

DAY 1:
Snowing and about 20 deg. Our guide Scott pointed up the mountain and said lets go. Ol spark and I did our best to keep up with him as we climbed 1500 vertical feet in the first 3/4mile. Needless to say, our low country lungs were burning! At about 7000 feet we crossed a "scree" field. (this would be the treacherous rock fields that sheep hunters talk about with about 14" of snow covering it) After another 1/2 mile we had run out of elk sign, so we sidehilled back to lower elevations. Throughout the day we cut probably 7 fresh tracks and found 11 beds that were very fresh. We waited for the elk to come back to where they had fed earlier in the day to no avail.

DAY 2:
Lt snow and about 15 deg. We watched a willow bottom at first light for the nice mule deer buck that Larry and Mark (guide) had spotted the previous night. He never showed but Olspark passed on a whitetail buck and we found a bedded black bear with a huge head! Unfortunately, no tags in the group. We took a little hike (3 miles) and cut more fresh elk sign. Scott and I tryed to hook around them and move them into a shooting lane for Olspark but our hook was short. We retreated to the cooktent for lunch and a nap. During our afternoon hunt we ran into the buck we were looking for that morning with 11 does. Luckily the 11 does just stood and stared at us and he wasn't leaving. I would like to say the shot was hard but he stood at 70yds broadside and let me shoot him through the heart offhand. This buck was a toad! He was well over 250 live weight. The outfitter later told us after he was dressed, cape and had his head removed he still weighed over 200lbs! Our guide was ecstatic as this was the nicest buck taken this year.

DAY 3:
Clear and below 0. We hiked up the trail into the wilderness area, crossed the creek on 5" diameter pine log about 4' off the water, climbed a near vertical ridge and found ourselves in the middle of a boulder field about 1mile wide. After covering the boulder field (a monumental task) we again cut fresh tracks and found fresh beds. Alas, we hiked about 8 miles on day 3 and found not one elk. The coolest thing we saw was 3 bighorn rams pushing snow with there chests across the skyline. Yes we were hunting elk in sheep country! We did find a 3 point mulie about 18" wide right at last light. Scott and I were waiting for the shot when he finally says "I'm not shooting him, he's not big enough."

DAY 4 and 5:
Sun/rain 30-50 degrees. We watched some clearcuts and some parks in the mornings and evenings....saw 1 Shiras bull moose.

DAY 6:
Last morning to hunt: Cold and clear. This was saturday so we saw a ton of local hunters but no elk.

All in all, Olspark and I had a great trip. The staff, accomodations and food that Wild Skies Outfitters provided were better than most. This is a TRUE wilderness hunt. As Carl put it, you earn everything you harvest here. We hiked between 4 and 8 miles a day (even when watching clear cuts) up some of the steepest most rugged but beautiful terrain this country has to offer. The elk were there, no doubt. We saw fresh sign everyday. As with all hunts nothing is guaranteed. The week before, they put 3 hunters in front of branch antlered bulls and all missed! We truly had the weather that elk hunters dream of but still didn't connect. It was definitely not for the lack of trying on our guide or outfitter's part. They had us in the right area!

Wild Skies Outfitters gets 2 thumbs up from me.

[Evan03]

is that guide on the left?


great hunt.
thanks for shareing it with us

[ol_spark]

Yep..that's the guide on the left. He's holding the deer and me up so we don't roll downhill. Us flatlanders aren't used to that sidehillin'.

[Evan03]

do you know where hes from

you did hunt a stones throw from here you know???

[bigbrother]

He's originally from the U.P. (Wisconsin). Still a big Packers fan.

[Evan03]

cool