Thursday Nov 10th
Rolled into our target area around 4pm just off Stoneman Lake road. Tons of hunters and about 4" of snow on the ground from the previous storm. Before we even set-up camp we did some wandering around to check out the local scene and quickly discovered 3 separate Mexican Grey Wolf tracks (forgot to take pics), although the FS claims they aren't in the area. After finding a nice campsite, setting up the tent, and locating firewood we nestled in for the night.
Friday Nov 11th (Opening Day)
Woke up at 5:30, had cold water in our cereal, and headed to one of the "prime locations". Right off the bat we saw lots of mule deer but nothing else. Eventually the loop we intended on finishing became much too narrow and rocky and I wasn't planning on tearing the truck up so we turned around to try a new location.
After some discussion we realized with all the hiking and long days we hadn't brought enough food, so it was off to Flagstaff before the evening hunt. On the way out I kept hearing a "whirring noise" which I mistakenly assumed was coming from the gears not being properly aligned in the t-case, after all I had never used 4lo before and was unsure of how well things had been cared for by the previous owner. Thinking nothing of it, we went to Walmart, and then the gas station. That's when things started to go south. I knew we had to get to an auto parts store fast. Literally 200 feet from an O'Reily's the clunking began, the power steering locked up, and the belt began to whine. I knew then it wasn't the tcase. Upon opening the hood I discovered the belt wrapped around the fan clutch and the idler pulley in pieces. We lucked out because there was only one pulley in town and within no time we were on the road again. We stopped off at another alleged honey hole on the way back to camp and after a little hiking became momentarily turned around. Luckily we found the truck after thinking about our situation logically and despite the delays made it back to camp just in time to watch a beautiful sunset.
Saturday Nov 12th
Slept right through all the alarms and the trucks and quads running right by our tent on the main road. Still, we lugged ourselves out of bed and posted up at a prime location. What a solid area! Tracks and scat everywhere, fresh too. After wasting most of the morning seeing nothing more than some mule deer and turkeys we headed north to check out another area. Despite being too snowy and cold to be of any use to us we enjoyed the change of scenery. We happened upon a nice frozen pond and tested our luck as we skidded out along its banks in our hunting boots. Eventually it was back south for some lunch and then some more investigating of new areas. We came upon another solid area and after talking with some other hunters who were also struggling to even locate the elk decide to hunt it first thing in the morning.
Sunday Nov 13th
Rain. All night long. Open up the zipper to discover the campsite is a mudpit and the fog inhibiting us from seeing the main road 30 yards away. We had been hoping it would be snowing instead of a steady drizzle. Still, we crawled out and did some road hunting. Our thinking was that with nobody out and about we could catch a heard crossing a road or find them bedded down in a canyon. After finding another good area we agreed we would return the next morning when we could see the valley that we knew existed somewhere in the foggy veil. With the weather supposed to be steady all day and knowing we could catch a thing we headed to Flagstaff once again, enjoyed some warm coffee and wifi, stopped in a couple cool antique stores and enjoyed a quick meal before returning to our dreary camp. Once at camp our plans changed and when loaded up our necessities (packs, sleeping bags, food and cooking supplies) and headed down the road to camp near closer to our intended hunting area. The night was clear and cold but the truck proved to be much warmer than our tent had been.
Monday Nov 14th
Up before the sun, but not before some desperate, diehard hunters. We happened to camp at a fork in the road that lead up the mountain toward Apache Maid Lookout Tower, the perfect place to glass the valleys for elk. Immediately as we began our hike into the valley we could see the other hunters who had driven by us on our way to the lookout were wasting their time, the mountain was shrouded in fog. Again our morning hunt came up empty handed so we decide to try something new. After looking at the map it was obvious there was a large area SE of us that was almost completely devoid of roads. With only very primitive roads leading deep into the area it meant two things: the masses would be much too lazy to explore them and the elk, if there, wouldn't be nearly as pressured. Right away the road got rough, rocky, and technical. Thankfully the Ram made up for my noobish wheeling abilities and we soon found ourselves miles back in nearly virgin territory.
Ever since finding an entire elk rack on our bear hunt last year my buddy and I always try to outdo each other when searching for shed antlers. He had already found an old spike earlier in the day and I was determined to beat him. I happened to noticed what looked like a nice size antler lying close to the tree line, so we stopped to investigate. Closer investigation revealed it to be yet another stick, but if we hadn't gotten out to investigate the stick we wouldn't have noticed the extremely fresh tracks and scat. It was obvious a heard had very recently moved through the area so we grabbed our packs and went for a hike. A couple hours later the trail went cold and we returned to the truck for lunch....although I returned with a decent 5 point shed antler. I won this year...again ;)
After another hike, with still no luck, we packed up camp in the dark and headed home, defeated. The saying should really be "you win some, you lose most." Despite going home empty handed I did enjoy exploring breathtaking new country and the flood of good memories one always seems to acquire sitting around a campfire. I’ll be back again next year to fill my freezer!
