Matt Brimmer
Well folks the first stage of this years Elk hunt is over and done. North Eastern Oregon started off a bit different for my family and myself than in years past. With 5 days to hunt my wife and I took a Brown It’s Down attitude in hopes of putting some meat in the freezer.
Our daughter starts school this year so we decided to go the First week of season in Oregon. Kailee(our daughter) loves camping and Elk hunting as much as we do and we did not want her to miss out.
Hunting started early on Saturday the 28th. We decided to go out early and listen for a potential bull sounding off in the early mourning hours. Unfortunately not a was heard. After 3-4 blind call sets the silence was broken, not by a bugle but by the sounds of 4 Wolfs howling and barking within 100 yards of our set up. Agitated and angry with the ODFW I decided we would hunt were the Wolf pack wasn’t.
On Sunday the 29th at approx 0800 my friend Richard Bigham and I were walking down a ridge line when we heard commotion coming from our left. As we peeked over the edge there were two smaller bulls raking trees and stomping the ground. As the bulls worked the trees over Richard and I separatedand moved in to position in an attempt to possible get two shots. The bull he was set up on bolted rapidly down the hill and the bull I was set up on turned broadside at 60 yds. As the arrow took flight I did not see it hit it’s mark and figured I ad missed and shot a bit low. As Richard and I searched for my Arrow we found a “Large” amount of blood spray a few feet of were the bull was standing. Not feeling good about the shot we sat down for an hour and had a Wilderness Athlete Bar and a Hydrate and Recovery Drink. After an hour we started following the blood trail… I’ll let the pictures do the talking for a bit!
Taken out of the Seacat book of photography…
A positive feeling seeing Arterial blood on the “Blood Sample Here” arrow wraps from Born and Raised Outdoors.
After a short 80-100 yard track we found my bull. A nice 2 1/2 – 3 1/2 year old 5X5.
Being able to go back to camp and get my family to share in the events of the mourning was priceless! Having a wife and child whom are willing to be there in camp, hunt, and help out when needed causes me to be speachless!
The work is almost over for the mourning!
As you can tell by the pictures, season is starting off very well. The pictures also show something I am not accustomed too. A dead Elk laying on the edge of a road. As my bull took off down the hill he had the courtesy of expiring on the edge of a main road. I sure wish someone would have driven by during the hour of nausea and honked!
After the meat was hung and we were clened up we were back at it again! We were not able to get Toni’s or Richard’s tags filled but the memories will last a lifetime.
Back at it! She got here first response of the year right here! To bad it was at the bottom and her little legs arn’t ready for that torture yet.
Well now it’s off to Montana on Tuesday. That is of course after Toni and I get Kailee off to her first day of Kindergarten that is! I wouldn’t miss that for the world, not even a 380+ bull broadside at 20 yds.
I would like to thank the following companies and individuals for supporting me in my addiction with Elk hunting. Primos Hunting Calls, Sitka Mountain Gear, Wilderness Athlete, Elk 101, Winners Choice Custom Bowstrings, Schnees, Kim Creel (Primos Hunting Calls), AMA Archery in Klamath Falls, my Dad for taking care of the house and yard, and mostly my wife Toni.
Every year during Elk Seminars, this seems to be a repeated question. Switching to the Ascent 14 last year for day hunts forced me to compact my gear. Below is a list and photos of the equipment and gear I keep in my day pack. On “Going in Deep” day hunts I will grab the Bivy 30 so I can at least get one load of meat out if needed. By keeping most of my pack contents in stuff sacks it makes it very easy to switch packs before leaving camp.
- Water Bladder (One for each pack)
- Head Lamp with fresh batteries
- Extra Release*
- First Aid Kit (1/4 role of cloth tape or duct tape, 2-3 bandages, quick clot, butterfly bandages, space blanket, small tube of Neosporin a Maxie Pad ” Don’t laugh they are supper absorbing”, Inhaler, Epipen, Benadryl, and Ibuprofen.)*
- Iodine Water Tabs with 1-2 packs of WA Drink Mix
- 2-3 WA Bars
- Parachute Cord (50-100 ft)*
- Rain Gear (Sitka Storm Front Lite)
- Gloves
- 10 latex free gloves
- 4-5 extra mouth reeds
- GPS
- Havalon Piratna knife with 5 extra blades
- Extra Broadhead with blades*
- Batteries ( 4 AA and 1 3V for rangefinder)
- Lighter or flint*
- Allen Wrench set*
- D-loop material (my Range Finder is tied to my pack with 2 ft of quality D-loop material).*
- Flagging/Marking Tape
- One large black contractors garbage bag (Bivy 30 only)
- 5 - Alaskan Game Bags that are vacuum sealed. (one set in each pack)
- 2 – One Gallon Zip locks (1 – for those Grouse Breasts and 1 – to keep the TP dry)
- 1/2 Roll of TP with 5-10 unscented baby wipes.
- 1/4 tube of string wax*
- Pepper*
- License and tags
Items with a * behind them all fit into a small stuff sack.
Everything layed out
Main Compartment minus SF lite and Water Bladder
Outside compartment. TP, WA Bars and Drink mix are placed into the water bottle pockes on the outside of the pack.
It amazes me that it all fits in such a small pack, but it does with room to spare.
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