ELKampMaster

Here we are transitioning from hanging out in "base camp" (not shown here) to making the trip about 4 miles back into "spike" camp (Oct 8, 2004). Getting loaded up and ready to go is a bit of an operation....

Below: My son waiting with one pack horse (BTW, he's packing a ultralight 338WinMag, he weighs about 165 and about 6'1")....


Below: Waiting with two pack horses and a helper....


Below: Things start picking up a little bit...


Below: Action! Everyone is up to something!


Below: Working thru the timber....


Below: Travelling thru nice country, aspen leaves are falling fast....Good! You can shoot better in naked trees!


Below: Working our way thru some of the tighter little ravines.... One doesn't want to follow the one in front "right down in there" --- go thru one at a time --- if you are going to have a wreck you don't want immediate company!


Below: At last, our destination, spike camp, the tent is 17x18 and sleeps 8 with ease, woodstove with water jacket (wonderful) and warming shelf plus a 37,000 BTU burner for when we want something hot NOW! A basic, but warm and comfortable retreat right in the thick of the action.


Well, now that we are "back in there" it time to get settled in, fed, pickup some shut eye and "get on the attack" early in the morning. I hear bulls bugling in the distance.... cool!

What's your favorite strategy for getting away from the crowd, i.e. away from the road? Horses? Hike early early? Spike Camp?

EKM

charlie brown

Man, your spike camp is still bigger than what we have for a MAIN camp, LOL. Lets see, spike camp for me... A tree, a rain poncho, and if I could find some dry wood... a little fire. Now you know how to camp, and as I recall, the spike camp is much of an improvement over last year??

ELKampMaster

I've done a few of those overnight vigils, what we call a "woodsy". Personally, I find such "caveman bivoucs" leave me at less than optimum for the next day's demands and challenges and tend to dampen my "go get 'em spirit" but that may just be me.

As you noted it is a big improvement over last year. Last year, the pseudo-spike camp was a "safety valve" that got used in a pinch --- we were stacked like firewood and there was limited heat. This year the spike camp's use was planned right from the git go including "going in" the night before the opener which makes for a short walk to the action in the morning and if the opening day weather is severe, then warmth, food, and recharge is a short distance away instead of hiking out 4 miles and then once one is feeling better then hiking 4 miles back again --- wuff.

My "slot" was right next to the stove and the adjacent wood pile. I slept with my sleeping bag unzipped and about every 90 minutes or so I'd get cool enough to wake up and then without getting up or out of my bag I would open the stove door and pitch in some more aspen branches 2-3" by 16" or so, close the stove door and it would warm right back up. The waterjacket on the stove was boiling hot for breakfast --- coffee, cider, hot chocolate, etc. It all worked quite well!

Charlie Brown, thanks for the encouragement!

EKM

ELKampMaster

Hmmm, no strategies regarding this key element of elk hunting (aside from dumb luck):
It seems that there are very, very few actual elk hunters on this forum....

Lots of people thru the year with questions/arguments about guns, cartridges, and bullets for elk....
Lots of discussion thru the year where to shoot an elk (so called shot placement)....
Lots of questions thru the year about where to go for elk....
Lots of "planning questions" thru the course of the year seems to go on for hunting elk....
Lots of "talk" thru the year but not much "walk" (in the Fall) when it comes to elk....

For those here who actually hunt elk and share --- thanks for your input to date!
Moose (B-I-G) and antelope (F-A-R and fast) and caribou (exotic) stories are much appreciated too, though pretty darn scarce.

I guess deer huntin' (notice I didn't say B-P-ing) must be the "universal pacifier" for folks needing to satisfy their urge to pursue something called "big game".

EKM