In December 2016, four cousins decided to go on an elk and ID mule deer hunting trip. This trip would put us in the middle of the Frank Church Wilderness in Idaho, 13 miles from cell phone service, 22 miles from paved roads, 30 miles from the closest town, and 1,700 miles from home. On Saturday, September 9, 2017, we started the 35-hour drive from our homes in Ohio to central Idaho. The elk season opened on Friday, September 15th, so we took our time driving out and enjoyed some sightseeing and national parks. We arrived to set up camp on Wednesday, and then on Thursday, we got all of our gear together and did some scouting.
Our hunt began on Friday morning, but when I opened the tent, we discovered it had snowed about two inches and was still snowing. We had about 100 yards of visibility. We spilt up into two hunting groups with Andrew and me going out one direction and Josh and Joel going out another direction. The first morning, we walked about five or six miles just to return to camp with nothing to show.
Saturday was much more eventful as we stalked three mule deer bucks but never got a shot. Later in the day, we got within 150 yards of a group of elk only to discover that they were all too small.
Monday morning began with more snow, but after about 45 minutes of glassing, we spotted a group of three mule deer bucks. I grabbed my rifle, and Andrew said, “285 yards.” I picked out the biggest one and pulled the trigger only to have him run out of sight. We quickly scrambled down and found blood. Thirty minutes later, I was holding my first mule deer! After skinning and packing him out, we decided a shower and bed would feel good, which we hadn’t had in a week.
On Tuesday, we tried to drive back up the trailhead to camp only to find that it was snowing like mad and we were stuck in the city away from camp and all our hunting equipment. Finally, on Sunday, we were able to drive within two miles of camp and hiked through knee-deep snow just to find our tents collapsed. At that point, we were starting to question our sanity as we had gotten about 40 inches of snow and were two miles from camp and our trailer with the truck. Monday and Tuesday were spent trying to hike around to find elk or mule deer in about three feet of snow and hiking 6-10 miles a day.
Wednesday was our last day to hunt and we were ready to go home, but we didn’t drive 35 hours to only fill one out of eight tags. We spilt up into three groups on our last day, and I was hunting alone. After about two and a half miles of walking, I spotted a cow about 40 yards below me. After I watched 13 cows and calves feed through, I spotted antlers coming through the timber at about 60 yards. There was about a five-inch hole in the brush that I put my crosshairs on, and as he stepped into that hole, I pulled the trigger and put a 150 grain bullet through both of his lungs. After a quick follow-up shot, I had a nice 5x5 elk dead at 40 yards.
After all the celebration of killing an elk on the last day, we still had to get the trailer out. I had to get home for a wedding, so the guys took me to Missoula, Montana to fly home. Four hours later, I was back in Ohio. The other three guys bought shovels, went back in, and shoveled snow for about six hours until they got to the trailer. They took down camp and then drove 35 hours straight and arrived home at 12:00 on Sunday night.
Thanks to God for keeping us safe and allowing us to have a blast. Huge thanks to all of our parents for putting up with our endless planning, rifle shooting, training, and just being supportive of a 21, 19, 16, and 14-year-old traveling out west. Most of all, thanks to my wonderful girlfriend for staying at home while I was pursuing my passions and for all the amazing support. We can’t wait to do it again next year!