Field Notes

Young has snowmobiled into the Cache Mountains and worked with houndsmen. She says they’re rough guys with gravel voices and old boots, but they are damned sharp. She claims they’re the best naturalists she’s met; one pegged a female’s age and last meal from a track, spot-on when they darted it. They are able to read the land, deer numbers, or bear signs like they’re books. She can’t study cougars without them; they tree ‘em clean, no traps to stress her out.

Father Stephen Gadberry went to Idaho in October, 2023 chasing elk. He didn’t get one. He found a whitetail carcass instead, half-eaten, scratched up, tucked under leaves on an elk trail. He dragged it out, left it in the open. Next morning, it was back under the tree, more meat gone. He pulled it again. Same thing next day, and the day after. Three mornings, three nights, something was out there, moving it back. A mountain lion, close, watching him. He never saw it, but he knew. Going in before sunrise, out after dark, he stopped packing his pistol in his bag. Held it instead. That’s the woods telling you, you’re not the top dog anymore.

If you ever want to see a hunter squirm, ask him where he shot his last buck. He’ll get shifty. Maybe scratch his beard, take a sip of beer. Then he’ll feed you a story about some “public land near the river,” or “a buddy’s farm out west.” Sounds believable, right?

It’s not.

Nobody gives up their best spot. Not your hunting buddy, not your uncle, not the guy who shakes your hand at church every Sunday. Spots are sacred. Because the second a location slips, the second it lands in the wrong hands, it’s over. A well-worn trail turns into a parade route. A quiet piece of the woods becomes a parking lot.

James: What's your approach when you first arrive in an elk hunting area?

Joe: "The first thing that I do when I walk into an area whether it's one that I know or I don't know is try to remind myself like it's been, it's September 15, I've been thinking about this for nine months, I've been geeked up about it. I try to just calm my craziness down a little bit because my internal gut is just going 'There, find them, kill them.'

But I've kind of learned over the years that if you back off on the gas a little bit, you get up in there and you just kind of watch the world unfold a little bit, you're a lot more deadly on that next morning which you've kind of digested the whole situation."

You’ve bought an elk tag and scouted out the area, now what do you need? How are you going to get there?

Welcome to the 4th of 8 episodes on Western Elk with Joe and James from The Fair Chase.

In this episode, we'll discuss flying vs driving to an elk hunt, what gear is important to take with you, and more importantly what you should leave at home.