Since we had such good success last year., Harry, Bud, and I thought we should try the Banner Creek Summit campsite again for our 1975 elk hunt. However, when we started planning the trip during the summer. We had no idea at all how many guys would invite themselves along by the time fall came around. The season for elk usually opens in mid-October around the fifteenth. We try to plan the vacations to get there a day or two ahead of the opening to get camp set up and to get used to the change of altitude. Sometimes it does not work out but if we are too late in the month, we could get some deep snow in a hurry. Fall finally came and as we were working on the plans to go, we started getting the news of all the guys that were going along with us. We invited Uncle Lewie to come along, he is always welcome any year, but he just cannot make every trip because of his health. Uncle Charlie informed us that Tex and he will be going, they also invited some other in-laws along. We attract people like fleas on a dog. Of course, we would never tell someone invited along that they were not welcome. Tex Taylor is his son-in-law. Uncle Lewie brought along his pickup and camper. Uncle Charlie rode up in Tex’s Plymouth Wagon, Tex would sleep in the tent with us, and Uncle Charlie would bunk in with Uncle Lewie. The extra two guys would bring their own truck but would sleep in the tent also.
It looked like a convoy of campers headed for the hills when we left home. The weather was nice, and no one had any problems getting there. The rocks were still in place on the summit, so we knew the camp was not being used. We moved them so we could drive to the camp area. The frame for the cooking area was still in place. The tent was put in the same place as before to open out into the cooking area. Harry left the fireplace hood home this year, it really did not work too well for taking out the smoke. We put plastic around and over the cooking frame to make it warmer. Some of the smoke went Out through the hole in the top but we still got smokey and smelled bad. Everyone pitched in to do their part in making the camp comfortable. Some trees near camp were sawed down and cut up for firewood. It was split and stacked beside the cooking area and covered to keep it dry. The tent was large enough for everyone to be comfortable. The sleeping bags were put on air mattresses to take the hardness out of the ground. Six guys snoring at the same time in such a small area made quite a racket, but we usually are used to it. When everything was done and in place, a big fire in the center of the cooking area, we were ready to enjoy the hunt. There were eight people to cook for, so meals had to be planned in time. We brought along plenty of groceries for the week and enough to stay two Weeks or more, if necessary. If we were snowed in at least we could eat.
The first night l cooked hamburgers and warmed up a couple cans of pork and beans, we also had several bags of potato chips to go with the meal. Everyone ate as much as they wanted and when the dishes were washed, we had nothing else to do but sit around the smokey fire chatting. Soon it was time for bed. We were all tired.
The next morning everyone was up early, breakfast was made of bacon and eggs. Soon everyone was ready to head out hunting hoping to find an elk. Each group of hunters picked a different direction to go. We want to find out where the elk were hanging out. As the groups came back to camp, the reports were the same, very few tracks were found anywhere.
The second night snow started coming down hard. When it quit, we had about six inches everywhere. We were up most of the night knocking snow off the tent and cooking area. We did not want everything to break down from the weight of the snow. The snow was a welcome sight and we hoped it would make the hunting better. Now if we could find a fresh track, we might be able to run the maker down. In the evenings with so many people around we did not try to play our usual games of Pinochle. We just sat around telling stories and jokes or whatever came to mind. Most of the time the talk was shooting the bull with everyone taking a turn. This evening, while spinning yarns and whatever, Tex kept butting in wanting to talk about Texas where he grew up. Now none of us cared a bit about what he did in Texas or why. Finally, after many interruptions Harry had had enough of Tex. He walked right up into his face and told him if he did not shut up, he would be thrown out through the side of c○○king area on his butt in the snow. Tex was a large man so I figured there may be trouble brewing but when I told him that he best does what he was told, he stomped off to bed with a pout on his face. There were no more problems with Tex, and his Texas, the rest of the trip. This was his first trip with us, and he learned our ways fast. After a few days the extra guys had to head for home, they were running out of vacation time. We enjoyed their company, and they had a g○○d time. They would like to come back again some time. They would be welcome anytime.
After hunting a few days near camp, we decided to try several miles down Canyon Creek. Harry, Bud, and I set out early in the morning to check out some large timber pockets on the hillside. Uncle Lewie was going to stay at camp, while Uncle Charlie and Tex went off in another direction. We covered the mountain well for a couple of miles, finding little more than a track or two. The elk had to be there somewhere if we could find them.
Deep within some thick timber, Bud was farther up the hill with Harry in between us. When Harry tried to walk a log but fell off. He almost landed on a cow elk that was bedded down beside the log. Suddenly there were elk running in all directions. A whole herd was laying in the brush near the log. The cow barked a warning and away they went in different directions. One cow and calf ran past Bud through the thick brush. All he had time to do was to use his pistol on her. He always carries his .357 caliber pistol for just this reason. He hit the cow through the head, the first shot, and down she went. The calf disappeared into the brush and was not seen again. None of the elk came our way. The cow was very large having been around for a long time. She was hard to clean out because of her size. We were up hill about a half a mile from the main road. The plan was to take her straight downhill to the highway. She was too large to drag downhill, therefore the best thing to do was to cut her in half. Many years ago, I helped take out some deer using a litter drag. We fashioned two out of some strong poles and tied half the elk on each one. Bud’s half seemed to be the largest, by a little bit, but not much. Harry and I would take the back half down, while Bud managed the front part.
All was going well, making enjoyable time, when Bud stepped in a ground nest of yellow jackets. Now, Bud is allergic to bee stings, he manually picked up the litter, the half elk and threw it downhill, running after it as hard as he could. There were bees everywhere, but we were lucky, no one was stung. The bees were really upset about being disturbed. After calming down and letting the bees settle back in their nest, we proceeded on down the hill. The elk was hidden on the hill above the road to be out of sight of the highway traffic, until we could get back with a truck. We had a good walk up the highway, it was at least a couple of miles. Uncle Lewie had set his camper off his truck when we first arrived at the camp. It was easier to get in and out of down on the ground. We told him of having an elk down the highway and he was quick to volunteer to get her. We loaded it into the back of his truck and away he went. We had marked the highway where the elk was hidden. While he was turning around, we had the elk ready to be loaded. By the time he was stopped, and shut off the truck, we were loaded up and ready to go to camp. The rest of the day was spent skinning, cleaning, and getting the elk hung on the meat racks to cool out. We picked up a lot of dirt dragging her downhill so far. It is hard not to get the exposed meat dirty the way we had to do it. We felt fairly good having gotten an elk, when they were very scarce this year. We celebrated with a can of pop and a pat on the back. That was the strongest drink in camp. An early supper was fixed of steak and potatoes. We wanted to play a couple of games of Pinochle in the evening. There were two less hunters in camp, so we could play a game or two to unwind after a grueling day. We have found that this is the best way to rest before going to bed.
Everyone was in bed asleep, all was quiet, there was not a sound anywhere. Sometime in the wee hours of the night, we heard a loud twang outside somewhere. There were still several inches of snow on the ground from the earlier snowstorm, but the sound was not snow dropping from the trees. I was sleeping closest to the door, so it was up to me to get up and look around. We did not want a bear getting into our elk. I took the flashlight out into the cooking area to look around. Nothing wrong out there and there was no more noise and with little clothes on I was getting cold. I went back to bed in a hurry. We soon were back to sleep. We were still tired. The next morning, we were up at our usual time, about seven. While fixing breakfast we talked about the noise in the night. We had no clue what it was. One of the guys happened to walk outside the cooking area to look at the sky, to see what the weather would be like that day. He started hollering for us to come and have a look. We found out what the noise was, a herd of elk had walked all around the camp during the night. One big bull had hooked an antler on a tree limb and that made the twang we heard. There must have been six or seven cows and calves with the bull. Had I looked out through the plastic, I would have seen them in the moonlight. The law would not let us shoot an elk at night, but we could have watched them feeding around camp.
We hunted, visited, cooked, and enjoyed the next few days. We checked out all the looking places to find an elk, but nothing could be found. There were not any fresh tracks in the area where we had gotten the cow earlier in the week, they were all gone. Time was running out on our vacation. We must think about packing up the camp and heading for home・ We had been there more than a week already. The next morning after a final breakfast of pancakes, bacon, and eggs, we started taking the camp apart. The frame for the cooking area was left in place in case we ever need it again. The tent and everything else we had along was packed.
While the rest of the guys were finishing the packing, Uncle Charlie and I wanted to make one quicker trip before completely giving up. We went down Canyon Creek to where a feeder creek comes down the hill. There did not seem to be any sign of any elk around. We had already turned around to go back to camp, when a young cow elk came running over the hill towards us. She saw me standing there and stopped in her tracks. L put a bullet right under her ear and that was as far as she went. We were less than a half a mile from camp. While I started dressing her out, Uncle Charlie headed for camp to get some help. All the guys came back with him with meat saws and sacks. We skinned her, quartered her, and put each quarter in a sack. Each of us grabbed up a quarter then headed up the hill to camp. I had a hind quarter with Tex carrying the other, Harry and Bud each had a front quarter. The hill was not very steep, but there were some patches of snow still on the ground. We were back at camp when we missed Tex. He was not anywhere in sight. I went back to look for him, he had slipped on one of those patches and lost his load. Alone, he could not get his quarter back on his shoulders and was having trouble getting on his feet again. I took it from him and quickly walked on into camp. The quarter proved to be more than he could handle as big as he was. The camp was nearly loaded up and there was no time to let her c○○I out, before heading for home. We laid her in some snow patches for a while to help a little. It was getting on towards noon, time to fix a sandwich before starting out for home. Everyone sat down to a pile sandwiches and cans of pop. Soon it was time to leave. We enjoyed the week and had two nice fat elk to show for it.
On the way home I rode with Uncle Lewie and we put the last elk I shot in the back of his camper shell. We had to go through a Fish and Game Check Station on the way home. They had to check the tag to see if it was legal and found that the elk was still warm. They accused us of shooting it in a closed area and everything of which they could think. We had driven ninety miles just to get there, but the young checkers would not believe us. About then an old veteran Game Warden came out to see what the problem was. We told him where we had been hunting for a week. He checked the temperature of the meat and said it had cooled about right for the distance we had traveled. He told us to take our elk and go home, we were fine.
Both elk were hung in Harry’s garage until we could get them both cooled out. A couple of days later they were ready to cut into steaks for the freezer. Everyone shared in the wrapped packages. Both animals were really tasty. Everything was cleaned up and put away to be ready for next year. We will work out a place to go next year. We did not know if Canyon Creek would be the place, but we were lucky there.