Royal Outfitters Montana Elk Hunting

October 11, 2009

I knocked an arrow and on my knees did a mock draw a couple times and decided I was ready.  I had several recently, well used trails down in front of me and had picked out some  lanes and was thinking it could be an exciting evening.  Cold but exciting!  I had been watching a squirrel gather cones and had been listening to some coyotes off in the distance when I heard a muffled sound off to my left.

 I had noticed an old mine back behind me that had a nice hole and started to wonder if she was coming to check out this spot again for a den.  I stayed there and watched for her and her cub for about 15 minutes and decided that I was not going to walk out in the dark without any form of self – defense so I started up the hill that I was on and looked down into the old mine. It would be an ideal spot for her and her cub to den.   I plan to go back with my bear spray and my new Judge pistol-it shoots a 45 long colt and a .410, to see if there are any tracks around that old mine.  It would be pretty cool, if I am right.  Maybe not but it will be fun to see.

 On my way back to the vehicle,  I stopped and watched 6 mule deer browsing.  The wind was just right and they were only about 70 yards away.  They never saw me, so I just watched them.  It was pretty cool!

The experience of a life time! And many more to come, I hope! Darren ,Greg Raff and I headed out to go archery hunting in an area that had been hot! We parked our green coloonga ( Toyota land cruiser) before the meadow and hiked across the bottom and because of the breeze and other factors we decided to head to our left.
Right away, we spooked off an elk and it took off to the right of us. There is no way it had smelled us but it did see our movement and it was out of there. After hiking another 7 minutes or so, another elk down wind of us caught our scent and off it went. We were definitely in the elk, and there was sign all over. Very cool! Exciting!
We then heard some wolves howling off in the distance, they have such a unique sound but we were elk hunting and when Darren suggested that we try and call them in , I was not very impressed. ? We listened to them for while, Greg R tried to get the video camera to pick up their howl but it was too low of a pitch and nothing audible was on the video when we later listened to it. Darren was pretty excited about the wolves and suggested again that we try and call them in, by then I was thinking, oh great, so much for elk hunting.
I told him that we were here to hunt the wily elk not the wolves, our season here for wolves had not opened yet. He grinned and looked a little irritated at me and we started hiking again. I had to make a stop, so Darren and Greg R. went ahead a ways and I then heard a moose calling. They sound so funny, they sound like they are sick to me but I could hear it as it moved off. I always like to hear or see any kind of wildlife, it is what makes being in the woods so great.
The wolves continued to howl off and on during this whole time, they were pretty cool to listen to. The terrain was pretty thick but there were lanes for shooting and I was always trying to think of what I would do if we had a bull come in.
I am not sure how it all went, exactly, but Darren decided he should bugled and we heard an elk off in the distance answer us back and he sounded very interested so Darren told me to go up about 60 yards from them and to get set up. It was a tough spot to set up and I wasn’t sure if my position was right or not but Darren bugled again and I heard some cracking off to my left about 60 yards or so. I knew that this one was one of those satellite bulls that I had heard so much about back at hunting camp and my heart was pumping so hard that I was sure if anyone had been even half way close to me that they would have heard my heart beat.
I saw movement behind a clump of aspens or some type of brush or trees and saw the body of an elk coming and knew that I had better pull back my bow. I didn’t know how much time I had and after listening to all the stories I have heard at hunting camp, I knew that I needed to be in full draw while I had the chance or I wouldn’t get another opportunity. I went to pull back and I couldn’t do it, I was shaking like a leaf. I tried again and still couldn’t pull back the darn bow. I couldn’t believe this was happening to me. Panic set in and I knew I had to get a hold of myself, so I did and then remembered that because of a shoulder injury that I had in my 20’s, that I had to pull back a certain way . I relaxed and pulled back to full draw without a problem. Boy, was I relieved!
About 17 yards ahead of me, I could see the antlers of this elk coming towards me , it had a lot of points and I knew it was a legal bull so I now changed my focus to the kill zone or tired to anyway. He was incredible to watch, he stepped forward into my lane but he was facing me and stopped and stood there looking down the path.

The sun was shining off to my right and he was looking and looking. I was hoping that Darren would call again but it was silent in that direction. I kept thinking give me a broad side shot, step forward and to your left you big beautiful animal… step forward….. As I was looking for the kill zone, I realized that I wasn’t looking correctly through my peep site so I did. I only had a frontal shot and I knew that it wasn’t a good shot so I waited and at that moment his head came forward and the elk spun and was out of my view in a matter of seconds. I could see him back behind the brush, trees or whatever they were again and he stood for awhile but there was too much brush and small trees in front of me to have any kind of a shot. He was probably 25 -30 yards away and he slowly walked off.

The adrenaline rush was amazing! It felt like there was something coming out my ears. It was probably the most exciting thing that has happened to me since my close encounter with a grizzly bear in Alaska back in 1987. All I can say now is that I am hooked and it was an awesome experience.

Deb Dunham

Mick’s First with a bow

Originally uploaded by royal.outfitters

The morning stillness was shattered by the bull’s bugle. Pat, Dave and I glanced at each other. That bugle sounded too perfect. Was it man-made? It came from a direction we didn’t expect! Pat turned and bugled back, almost imediately the bull answered. As we searched for any sign of movement, Pat hissed, “It’s a bull. He’s coming. Get ready!”. The bull angled his way toward our set-up. Pat (our guide) and the bull screamed at each other, dueling back and forth, raising my heartbeat and adrenaline level. “Take a couple of deep breaths.” I told myself. I drew as the bull passed behind a small pine, hoping he would be drawn into one of the shooting lanes we had ranged. The dueling continued, loud then soft—cow calls—calf mews—–bugles———Pat used his years of experience and dozens of hunts to coax the bull closer. As the bull walked through a narrow lane, I thought about shooting——– but remembering one of the guides advice, “ Be patient, a lot of hunters hurry their shot.” —I held my draw The bull passed thru one more lane without stopping———my arms were quivering from the strain of full draw————he disappeared behind some blowdown and pines———I let-off—–whew! I regrouped and redrew just before he reappeared. “Now concentrate on a spot ———don’t look at the horns————concentrate!” As the bull circled to the down wind side, he stepped into a wider opening. I knew this was going to be my best opportunity for a shot. When the bull was centered in the shooting lane, Pat cow-called stopping him perfectly just as my 20 yd. pin settled. In an instant the arrow was released and a milli-second later hit “the spot”. Now it was time for my knees to quiver (shake is more like it)———Pat whispered, ”Good shot!”—-Dave added his congratulations, and I thought to myself, “WE DID IT!”. After a 30 min. wait, we followed the short blood trail and I got to lay my hands on my first bow-killed elk.

The older I get and the longer I hunt the more I realize that my best hunting memories & experiences all included good people. It has less to do about being “successful”—more about who you shared it with— the friends gained —- stories told —experiences shared—there is a bond. So thank-you Darren & Deb, Dave (hunting partner—-brother-in-law), Pat, Ben, Sonny, Bob, Kim, Dave, Russ, Tim, Dean and hopefully the future of Royal Outfitters Adair, Dawson , Dexter , and Drew. I can truly say there is nothing quite like sharing the experience of bow hunting elk. Thanks again to Darren & Deb, and Royal Outfitters.

Mick

Deb, Adair, and I were out elk hunting last weekend on a hot windy day.  We began our evening hunt by setting up by a water hole in an area that Deb and Adair had heard a bull bugle earlier in the day while riding horse.   Deb circled around the left side of the water hole on the up hill side, and I instructed Adair to sneak below the pond on to our right, and sit about 8 yards from the pond in some bushes and we would listen for any elk.  

Adair had not left for more than a few seconds.  I turned and looked toward the pond from the cover of some small fir trees, and could not believe what I saw.  A very large, I mean VERY large black bear was sort of waddling toward the water from an aspen thicket to my left.   I figured Deb could not see the bear from her location, and then thought “holy cow, Adair is heading right for the bear and when she emerges from the brush, she will be less than ten yards from the bear. ” 

I tried to call to Adair in a loud whisper thinking she may still be able to hear me, but in the loud wind she could not.  Not knowing for sure how the bear would react to an 85# girl popping out of the brush at such close range, I decided to try to scare him off.  I figured 230lb dad might have a better shot at bluffing the bruin into running off.  I knew I had only seconds before Adair came out, so I decided to act. 

As I stepped out of the brush I grabbed a fist size rock and lofted it underhand into the water.  The bear only turned to look at the splash.  I then raised my bow over my head and took a couple of quick steps toward the bear while yelling “Hey… Hey!!!”   The bear saw me, was startled and hesitated for a second or two.  Now this is the second or two that you hear about in lots of stories.  They are the ones that “seem like minutes” or “seem like time stands still”.   I think God has blessed us with these special slow seconds to give us time to ponder the possible scenerios that could possibly come to pass.  In this situation there were many options to ponder.  Of course high on the list was: Run away….. knowing that facing a black bear would be a better option than what I would later face from Adair and her mother, I chose against the “run” option.  

My other options now depended on the bears reaction to my bluff charge and yelling.  I had calculated that this black bear while no doubt clever, would not know that the vast majority of human charges are only bluff charges.   Many of you can probably attest to the fact that although humans often charge, they very seldom attack.   In my lifetime I have only encountered one human that actually attacks more often than bluffs.  We have been happlily married now for over 19 years.   I of course knew that my charge was a bluff, because I had no intention of attacking a 500lb black bear.  

The bear on the other hand was using this special “slow” seconds to weigh his options.  He had been on a relaxing walk to the old water hole probably after gorging himself on some late season Oregon grapes, choke cherries, and perhaps a gut pile.  His belly full, and his mind wandering to possible denning sites for the winter, he begins to partake of cool refreshing stagnant pond water when BAM!!  Out of nowhere some middleaged lunatic in camo, throwing rocks and waving some sort of primative weapon over his head comes bolting from the bushes not 15 yards from him.  His first option might be: kill and eat the camo clad lunatic.  He obviously is a little on the chunky side and would top off the tank nicely before the long winters nap.  On the other hand, the camo clad lunatic seems to be a bit on the aggressive side and is charging me, and while it likely is a bluff charge (as of course most human charges are) it may not be a bluff.  This type of aggressive behavior may also be indicative of stress brought on by disease or some sort of poisoning.  The lunatic may have eaten the wrong mushrooms.  It would be awful to go into the den with an upset stomach.  Maybe a bite or two wouldn’t hurt, especially if I wash it down with stagnant pond water.

Now up until this moment (the end of the “long” seconds) the bear and Adair were oblivious to one another’s presence.  The bear and I were engaged in our battle of wits which was about to come to a head.  As the bear began to shift his weight ever so slightly, indicating to me that he was about to call my bluff, he caught a slight movement out of the corner of his eye, then another.  Was it another lunatic?   No….this was more serious.  This one moves with the stealth and deliberate nature of a fierce predator.  Eyes sparkling with deadly intention, and powerful legs coiled and ready to spring for the kill at any second (these are the fast seconds now).  It was Adair, the mountain huntress. 

 Now, knowing that he is in mortal danger, the bear turned and lumbered off, passing by Adair at a mere 8 yards as he gains speed on his departure.  In a flash of shimmering black fur over flopping blubber, the big bear is gone.  

Adair, Deb, and I conferred, and discussed the exciting occurrence, then decided to continue with the hunt as planned.  So we continued as planned, other than the occasional glance over our shoulders to check for mr. bear.

September is drawing to a close.  We have had nine hunters in camp so far this year with more to come.  To this point in archery season we are at 7 bulls killed out of 9 hunters.  This in itself is just fantastic elk hunting success, but what I am most pleased with is that all 7 were clean quick kills, and we wounded 0 elk.  Congratulations to our clients and staff on great start to the 09 elk season.

Late this morning we were visiting with a friend in our backyard.  As we visited we heard a squawling bawling noise from across the creek in the woods.  It sounded to me like a young bear.  Then an eagle flew out from behind the trees and landed in a cottonwood tree along the creek.  Then another eagle emerged, and another, and yet another.   At least 4 eagles that looked like immature balds landed in the tree.  They sat for a few minutes and then flew down the creek, leaving whatever was in the woods alone. 

We discussed what possibly could have happened.  Perhaps a bear had come upon the eagles eating a carcass by following his nose, and had chased them off to claim it for himself. 

 Deb and I decided to go across the creek and check it out for outselves.   Grabbing our video camera, and a rifle, we headed for the creek.  We waded across and into the thicket on the other side.  We pushed through the brush as quietly as we could and finally emerged in some more open timber that allowed us about 75 yards of visibility through the trees.  We glassed the area repeatedly as we slowly made our way through the area expectig at any time to see a bear feeding on whatever it had taken from the eagles.   We spent 45 minutes slowly creeping through the thick brush looking and listening.  But in the end we found nothing, no bear, no eagles, and no sign of a struggle, no blood or hair.

Deb, Adair, and I were out this evening scouting and listening for early season bugles.  We climbed a steep timbered incline about 1000 vertical feet to the top of the mountain, seeing some scattered elk sign as we ascended.  Reaching the top at just before sunset we decided to follow the ridge to some large meadows.  As we emerged from the timber and the meadow became more visible a familiar shape caught my eye.  A large 6 pt bull was standing on the meadow about 300 yards from us.  Well to make a long story short, he was not in a real fighting mood.  He did let out a low growling bugle or two with little enthusiasm.  We tried our best to sound like a couple of cow elk that wanted to join up with his herd.  He watched with interest in our direction, but would not get fired up about a chase.  As the twilight came, we watched the elk on the skyline and said so long til another day.  Great evening with the family. 

 Darren

Deb and I have been out scouting almost every night this week.  Every evening that we have been out we have seen elk, sometimes lots of elk.  Weather is warm this week with temps in the 80s, but it is supposed to cool off significantly over the weekend. 

Last Saturday night we watched a grizzly bear tipping rocks in search of grubs.  We were fortunate to see him with binoculars from about a half mile.  Nice and safe.  It was interesting to see a nice bull elk walk across the meadow shortly after the bear left. 

Some bugling going on, but not too serious as of yet.  I will keep you posted.

One year ago today…..

Nevada border.  I knew he was in hot dry country and thought that the talk of cool Montana weather and elk hunting would be welcome.  I also figured he would be busy flying and that I would not be able to get a hold of him until later that evening.

It was a busy day, I had to run some errands in town, and then meet with a new guide to show him some of hunting country. 

It was a tough day to show someone the area because of the new snow and heavy cloud cover.  There was a good 8” of fresh snow on the meadows at 7000 feet, and visibility was very limited by the clouds and silent falling snow.  But the new guide was no stranger to the woods, and with the help of a topo map he caught on very quickly.

It was early evening when I returned home.

I was in the office when the phone rang.  Deb came into the office obviously shaken, and told me that Greg’s plane had crashed and there was no word about whether there were survivors.  She then left the house to go over to the lodge to tell Ben and LeAnn.  We all feared the worst, and prayed for the best, that the crew was hospitalized, and that there was hope for recovery, we knew the odds were slim.  Moments later the phone rang again, it was Charlie. Between my interruptions he was able to say that the plane had crashed shortly after takeoff, and that there were no survivors.

Deb was still out of the house.  I was numb.  I went to the living room, gathered the kids around.  Deb walked in to find the kids gathered on the sofa, with me on my knees in front of them trying to find a way to tell them the awful news.  She joined us and I shared the news that there were no survivors.  

Then, through tears and sobs, we prayed, we held on to one another, all of us in shock.  Prayed for Kim and the kids, Jean and Jerry, whose pain must be so much more acute than ours, and that in itself is hard to imagine. 

It has been a year now and there is still pain in the space left in our lives.  We continue to grieve. 

California, and I think about Greg.  I head into the woods to go scouting or hunting and I remember Greg.  I work on making my cow call better and I think about Greg.  I take my family camping and I think about Greg.  I see something special in the outdoors, and wish I could call Greg to share it.  As we go on with our lives, there are so many instances that he comes to mind. 

He is missed in so many ways by so many people too numerous to list.  

I find a lot more meaning and hope in looking at how Greg lived his life than looking at how he died.  He is greatly missed because of the way he lived his life. 

I think about the fruits of the Holy Spirit as described in Galatians 5:22-26 

            But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.  And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.  If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.  Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.   

Greg did a very good job of living out or bearing these fruits.

Was he loving?……yep

Was he Joyful?……no doubt

Was he peaceful?…. certainly

Was he longsuffering?…. he was no quitter

Was he kind?……very

Was he good?…..yep

Was he Faithful?…..you bet

Was he gentle?…….he was, and this was only made more dramatic when you consider his size and physical strength.

Was he self controlled?…..I never saw him lose his temper, drink too much, eat too much, etc….  OK, OK I know he took a deer or antelope out of season, but that was probably my influence.  (Long, long time ago, we were young and used all of the meat)

If you knew him, you know that what I am saying is the truth.  This is not me blowing smoke up your coveralls.  He didn’t seem to make a great effort or struggle to bear these fruits.  It just seemed to be a part of him.  I think Greg would point out that it wasn’t him, it was Christ in him. 

I am challenged today to work harder to bear the same fruits, to be a faithful follower of Christ.  Not just to talk about it, but to live it.  I am inspired by the courage that Kim has shown this year, the unbelievable God given strength that she has, and the tremendous ways that she and the kids continue to bear these fruits as they struggle forward.

I probably think about Greg most when I am with his lovely widowed wife Kim, and his children.  I fight the tears and a lump in my throat when I build a bow with his boys, or play catch, go fishing or hunting. I am blown away by the light in a boy’s eyes and the puff in his chest when I tell him, “Good job, your Dad would be so proud of you.” I keep thinking he should be here, and would be in a great way if he was able.  I am heartbroken that he cannot be here for the kids, and honored that Kim is allowing me to be a part of showing them the great outdoors, and instilling in them the values that their father held dear. 

We continue to lift Kim, Gabriel, Grady, and Grace (the Doodlebug) in prayer.  My prayer for them is that they live a life full and rich in the fruits of the

Spirit, full of adventure as they pursue their God-given passions. 

May God Bless and Keep you.

Darren Dunham

 Please share your memories of Greg here, hunting or otherwise.  I will compile them with photos in a book form at some point in the future for his family.  Thanks  DD

OSK in action

Originally uploaded by royal.outfitters

Actual documentation of the OSK in action.