About five years ago, I decided to change my hunting priorities. My kids were becoming older teenagers, and I was traveling a lot for work. Although four of our five kids have an interest in hunting, most of them probably won’t grow up to be diehard hunters. Still, I envisioned shared experiences we could look back on in the years to come. In addition, the goal wasn’t just to hunt together now. I wanted them to enjoy hunting so much that they would want to do it with me again and again.
I decided to spend my hunting time and money focused on them. The challenge was to have meaningful, and ideally, successful hunts with each kid in a few short years. Compounding the scheduling problem was five family birthdays and at least one major trade show in October and November. This made planning hunting trips, or anything else, difficult. We did have a few things going for us. We live in Idaho and there are good over-the-counter opportunities and the resident draw odds are quite good for a number of units. One year, my then 12-year-old daughter, Clarissa, drew an either-sex youth elk tag in the Payette National Forest area.
I planned the hunt, and we camped in a tent. We did see a very small cow elk the first day at 40 yards, but I wouldn’t let her shoot it. We had all week to hunt! The next three days, we got snowed and rained on. We never got close to another elk and went home empty-handed.
I’ve subscribed to Huntin’ Fool for many years but hadn’t really used the Hunt Advisor service. A few years ago, I called Huntin’ Fool and asked for elk hunting recommendations for in-state outfitters who would be good with kids and had higher draw odds. Trophy quality was not a consideration; the quality of the experience was most important. As we talked it over, they asked if we were interested in horseback hunts. We were, and the Hunt Advisor gave me two outfitters to research and call. White Cloud Outfitters stood out. The owner, Jerrod Farr, was friendly and welcomed hunting with kids. They are very experienced, and they were within a three and a half-hour drive. I trialed the outfitter by doing a cow elk hunt with a new hunter from work. The guides were patient, and the horses were tame.
In 2021, I started putting all my family in the draw for elk in the Pioneer zone, unit 36A. The first year, my two older boys both drew bull tags and we had wonderful, successful hunts. Jerrod guided us himself. In 2023, my then 13-year-old daughter, Elise, and my then 15-year-old daughter, Clarissa, both drew bull elk tags. When I called Jerrod to talk about dates, only the end of October was available, and the dates happened to include Elise’s birthday. We booked the hunt and decided that we would all hunt together.
Right before our hunt, a big snowstorm came through. Conditions were perfect, and the elk were starting to migrate. The first day of the hunt was Elise’s 14th birthday, so she got the first opportunity that day. We agreed that Clarissa would get first shot the second day and then we would alternate. The first day, we hunted hard and saw a small groups of cow elk. The second day, we glassed up a large herd of elk on top of a mountain. We rode up to around 10,000 feet, and as we were rounding a steep mountain, we spooked six or seven stray cow elk that then alerted a large herd with many bulls. There wasn’t anything we could do, but it was frustrating.
On the morning of the third day, we rode up a different mountain and glassed up three bulls. We dismounted and hiked about a mile and a half. Below them was a grove of aspens. As we snuck our way up through them, we flushed about a dozen noisy grouse. Fortunately, the bulls had fed up to our left and gone around a hill. As we started to follow where they had gone, a 5x5 bull came out behind us. We all immediately sat down in the open sagebrush. After a few minutes, we set up the tripod for a shot, dialed the scope, and Elise hit the bull in the vitals three times at 407 yards. The elk was hit well the first time, but the guide wanted us to keep shooting until the bull fell over. I was proud, and Elise was relieved, then elated. It was a fun experience quartering the animal with her and with Jerrod’s help. It was an even better experience putting those quarters on a pack horse.
Clarissa, Jerrod, and I hunted that afternoon but didn’t see anything. Generally, we were seeing elk every day but usually only small groups. It had been cold but pretty calm.
The fourth day turned out to be an elk rodeo. We had about a 75-minute ride to the first glassing spot, and we started out in the dark. An hour in, I really had to go the bathroom. Jerrod told me to hang on, we were almost there. It got to the point where every step of the horse was jarring. As soon as we stopped, I jumped off my horse and raced around a big tree. Five minutes later, I sauntered back, feeling great. I was completely oblivious to what was going on. Jerrod had spotted a nice solitary bull across the canyon about 350 yards away in open sagebrush. He was hissing at me to be quiet and move slowly.
I started to wake up and tried to get Clarissa set up. We found a place to sit, got the tripod up, and I told her to take off her mittens as I ranged the animal. The elk noticed us and started to move. I fumbled the rifle, Clarissa couldn’t find the animal in the scope, Jerrod told us to hurry, and I re-ranged and re-dialed the scope for a 400-yard shot. Somewhere around then, I realized it was a big 7x7. She barely missed, and the elk started to trot. At 600 yards, he disappeared around the mountain. I looked down, and Clarissa’s hands were blue with cold. We had practiced shooting on tripods out to 500 yards, and I was confident in her shooting ability. That being said, we had not practiced shooting at 0°F.
Honestly, it was frustrating for the guide and depressing for me, but Clarissa was not too bothered and was happy to get her mittens on with hand warmers. We stood up, and Jerrod kindly mentioned that it was good we didn’t get that bull as every elk thereafter for the rest of our lives would be smaller. Even though the sun was barely up, emotionally, it felt like the day was over. We didn’t know then that we would see elk all day and that big bull would be the first of four we would try and put our sights on.
As we walked back to the horses, we looked up and there was large herd of elk on top of the mountain. We saddled up quickly for the five-mile ride to get in front of them. As we rode down the canyon, I started to think about the shot and realized my rangefinding binoculars were programmed with Elise’s rifle ballistics. I hadn’t switched ballistic profiles. Her miss was very likely my fault. At the next stop, I told Clarissa and could see the immediate relief.
We saw more elk that day than the rest of the hunt combined. We encountered three other groups of elk and another nice lone bull in some heavy trees. We could not get in on the first two groups; there were problems with wind, fences, and cover. In the evening, we were hiking several miles back to the horses and a group of elk started to pop over a low ridge 500 yards away. The sage was chest high, and we snuck closer, hunched over in single file. At 275 yards, we stopped and set up the tripod at standing height. Clarissa center-punched a 6x5 at 275 yards, and the bull went down immediately. We were all tired, but Clarissa was ecstatic. Jerrod and I were relieved. We cleaned, quartered, and loaded the elk on the pack horse. We walked down the mountain for two miles, leading our horses into the sunset.
I sincerely appreciate the effort from Jerrod and his staff at White Cloud Outfitters to make this hunt such a success. Jerrod is thoughtful, patient, and a great teacher. This hunt was the most satisfying hunt I’ve ever been on. It was satisfying for my kids to see that practice and preparation pay off. The biggest success isn’t the trophies hanging on the wall, but the fact that my 14-year-old socialite daughter tells boys at school that she is a hunter.
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