The DIY Hunter

DIY Archery Elk Hunting Adrenaline SX 2006
I set the camera on my day pack to take this photo. The photo was taken the morning after near hypothermia and I was rested up and back out looking for elk.

2006 proved to be a memorable archery elk hunting adventure for me. I changed hunting locations this year and other than using Google Earth and topo maps to learn the area it was my first time hunting the area. I had accompanied my father hunting this area as a young boy and I had a few childhood memories of the experience and area.

I planned a four to five day backpacking trip into the area. On the third day I moved my base camp in a couple of more miles and up a pretty substantial amount of vertical elevation. Shortly after dropping my pack, where I wanted to camp, it started to rain. The weather forecast before I left said that there might be a few sprinkles so I had not packed any full waterproof rain gear.

That evening I dropped down a beautiful canyon to look for elk while rain fell lightly all that evening. I had spotted a bull from above, way down in a steep dark canyon so I slowly worked my way through the timber cow calling every few minutes when all of the sudden I heard a stampede of hoof beats coming right at me from behind. I knew what it had to be so I quickly drew my bow and whirled around in one quick smooth motion. Just at I did, two rag horn bulls came sliding to a stop. They were about 15 yards from me but in heavy dead fall and under growth. I still remember one of the bulls lowering his head down near the ground to look through an opening at me, as I moved my sight pin from his nose to other small openings trying to find a way to slide an arrow through the timber. Then just a quickly as they came in they bolted out.

By the time I got back to my base camp I was totally soaked and physically drained. I setup a tent like bivy out of a couple of tarps, took off my wet clothing and crawled into my sleeping bag. It was at this time that my hamstrings in my legs went into full blown cramps that just hurt like no other. Now on top of that my body started to shake uncontrollably all the while I was desperately trying to get my legs straightened and the muscles to unlock from their horrific lock down cramping.

I distinctly remember thinking to myself, "so this is what it feels like as you are starting to get hypothermia." So I just kept trying to straighten my legs and stop shaking while I kept saying to myself  "stay calm, just stay calm." I was in my warm sleeping bag and out of the rain, so I just kept as calm as possible and after several minutes I was able to get the cramps and shaking to subside.

It was an eye opening experience for me and I have worked hard to be more prepared on my hunting adventures since that day by getting more technical clothing and other lightweight technical gear.

 

 Hammer Nutrition's Endurolytes Electrolyte Replacement Supplement 120 capsule bottle of Hammer Nutrition's Endurolytes Electrolyte Replacement Supplement
This is a sample packet and a 120 capsule bottle of Hammer Nutrition's Endurolytes Electrolyte Replacement Supplement.

One product that I have started using since that hunt has been Hammer Nutrition's Endurolytes Electrolyte Replacement Supplement. A friend who had been competing in triathlons suggested and offered me some trail packets of the Endurolytes. These pills have been amazing for me on my hunting adventures. Whenever I am about to make a serious hike I take one of the pills and if I am still hiking after three or so hours I'll take another pill. When using these pills my legs really feel like they have more strength and endurance. I also have never had any cramps in my legs when I have taken these pills during or after a prolonged hike.

I often take extended backpacking trips that require that I pump water while I am on the mountain. These Endurolytes Electrolyte Replacement Supplement pills work perfect for my style of hunting. I don't have to mess with mixing powder into my water or carry additional weight with bars and jell and the like. I just carry a handful of these capsules in my pack and take one or more when needed for a hike.

Another product that I set my sights on getting because of this hunting experience was a set of Browning Dry-Lite camo lightweight hunting jacket and pants. They are basically just the waterproof, taped outside layer from the insulated XPO hunting clothing Browning offers. I like the Dry-Lite pant and jacket because they are not as noisy as your traditional rain gear and all together they only weigh about a pound. So I can hunt in my camo cotton or fleece pants, shirts and jackets. If it starts to rain I can pull out the Dry-Lite and I'm going to stay warm and dry.

Turkey strutting on the hill minutes before I shot him.

My 2006 Turkey taken with a Browning 20g Superposed

My 2006 Turkey taken with a Browning 20g Superposed

Although I lived in Oklahoma for seven years where there are many turkeys, I just never got excited to go turkey hunting. I think the idea of sitting on the ground in the spring in a climate that has ticks and chiggars didn't help.  Although very fun to hunt with I have just not been as motivated of a shotgun guy.

In 2006 I had the opportunity to hunt turkeys in Utah with drawing a employee tag that Browning offered as a draw to the employees. The turkeys were transplanted here a number of years ago and are getting established pretty well. To hunt them requires a draw and with a few years of points you can draw a tag.

I hunted a couple of times in the limited areas I had to hunt with no real success in finding any turkeys. I tried the Browning property a couple of times and found that a few turkeys were periodically using the property.

On the 16th of May I was up on the dry farm hills before light hoping to hear a gobbler. As it got light I found a single hen with a gobbler in tow. I sneaked around the hill and set out a hen decoy and backed 10 yards further up the trail and into the edge of the brush. I worked the box call and boy did the tom start a gobbling and the hen got really mad. She cam running in ready to kick some butt. Unfortunately, the tom couldn't just run with her. He had to stop and strut every 10 feet and was a good 100 yards back when the hen got to my decoy and didn't like it. She bolted around the hill, lover boy back in tow.

I backed out and swung out and around the hill as quickly as I could. I figured on their current path that they would pass through a particular area and I setup in this spot with the decoy again. It took a good half hour and the two popped up on the ridge about 50 yards from me. This time I only made soft purring calls every so often, with a slate call. It looked as though the pair was going to come right past the spot I was setup in, but the hen apparently wanted all of the toms attention to herself and turned and went another direction. Can I shoot hens?!

Now I figured they were headed towards a natural funnel and I backed my way out and headed that direction. I had to hike a good mile out and around to stay out of sight from the turkeys. This time I was just going to try and ambush them. My calling stunk and the hen wanted the tom all to herself. Ambush time.

After a half hour or so I could see them working their way across the ridge line in my general direction. As they got nearer, they feed directly away from me and over the hill. If I couldn't see them, they couldn't see me, so I belly crawled straight in the direction I last saw them. As I neared the hill top I would peak up and look to see if the coast was clear then slide another foot or so. It didn't take long and I was within 30 yards of the pair. I slid the safety off the Superposed and raised up and let him have it .

The April 2007 wallpaper on browning.com is a photo of the tom I took just minutes before I belly crawled up and shot him. This also happens to be the first turkey ever killed on the Browning property in Morgan, Utah.

The turkey had a 10" beard, 1" spurs and weighed 20.0 lbs. All nice even measurements.

I hunted with a very sentimental shotgun of my dad's. It is a Browning Superposed in 20 Gauge that my mother ordered while she was working at Browning just before she quit to have me. The serial number of the Superposed dates to the year of my birth. With such a serial number the shotgun practically has my name on it. Wouldn't you think? Well my brothers don't think so.

In 1994 I wrecked while jumping a motorcycle. The wreck damaged my knee and tore my ACL. At the time I was a poor college student with no health insurance. I went almost a year after the injury trying to have an active lifestyle to no avail. I was unable to run, jog and even standing and walking would often result in my knee slipping out and cause me to catch my balance. To make a long story short I had my ACL replaced in 1995 and was told by the doctor that if I had not had the surgery I would have needed knee replacement as the bones were hitting each other when the knee was slipping out. This ACL surgery got me back walking and hiking pretty good but my knee never was solid enough for me to jog, run play basketball etc.

In 2004 I took my second mule deer buck in my second year of the dedicated hunter program so I was ineligible to hunt mule deer in 2005. I decided it was the year to try and get my knee fixed better. In June of 2005 I had a surgery to remove the screws and ACL and have cadaver bone inserted into the hollow areas of my leg bones. Then on the opening day of the archery elk season I had another surgery to take a tendon off the back of my leg and thread it through my knee at a more solid angle than the first ACL replacement.

The surgeries went well and I started rehab. With the back to back surgeries on my knee my right leg was in terrible shape not to mention my body. During this process the doctor told me that hunting was out of the question this fall. But sometimes I have a hard time listening. I was itching to hunt and I decided to try a muzzleloader elk in early November.

Spike elk taken with White muzzleloader in 2005. I was not happy with accuracy of my muzzleloader at the time so I borrowed my good friend Ryan's muzzleloader. It is nice looking White muzzleloader that he had the stock dipped in Mossy Oak Break-Up camo.

Opening day I hobbled around for a couple of hours trying to locate some elk. I started a little to high on the mountain and spotted a nice bull way below me. I worked my way down the maintain cow calling every once in a while. When I got the the general area where I saw the bull he was nowhere to be found. I started working my way around the mountain at this lower elevation and cow called at one point. Immediately something came crashing through the oak brush straight toward me. It was a spike elk, excellent tasting meat for the frying pan. He popped out of the brush at 20 yards and I gave him a face full of smoke and a hefty super slug to the chest.

I propped my camera on my pack and took a couple of photos. You can see in my photo that I'm heavily favoring my right leg. It was probably not the smartest thing to do on my leg and completely exhausted me doing so, but the experience and meat for the family was well worth it. Spike's make for tender and great tasting meat.