Harry, Bud, and I came to the realization that camping by the gate was not a particularly clever idea because we had to drive to the better hunting areas. This year would be another archery hunt. We were learning more about the area each year, so 1987 found us looking for a better place to camp. Above the Island Ridge was a road going up between two Valleys but dead ending after about a half a mile. We have been on this road several times in the past and there were some wide places to park the trailer house and put up the lean-to for the cooking area. There were plenty of mature Pine trees and many aspen groves for the elk to use for cover. The aspen trees were starting to turn yellow, but all the brush was still green. The frost had not caused them to change yet. We searched the place to find the widest spot to get off the road with room for the trailer house and lean-to, with enough room to park the trucks also. There were not any trees nearby to tie to but that was not a problem this year. During the summer we bought some conduit pipes to use for the frame. We could stretch plastic tarps over and around it with stakes into the ground to make it stand up in place. The pipes can be taken apart to be carried in the trailer house. This lets us put the campsite in places where the trees are rare. Actually, we do not need to make the outside room so large, but we do like the extra room for storage of all the stuff we take along.
Since this was September, the weather was still quite warm during the day. The nights were not cold enough to kill any of the bees or flies in the area, they were everywhere by the hundreds. The air hummed with yellow jackets in the pine trees. They came into the cooking area and were into everything. When we were in camp, we would sit around in the c○○king area with spatulas to smack them as they flew by. We were lucky that no one was stung during the trip. The bees were such a problem, we found their ground nest and poured some gas down it then covered it so the bees still inside would die. This killed off the bees in this nest, but there must have been many nests in the trees. We put a pan of soapy water out, with a meat baited stick across it. We had heard this would kill off the bees if the meat were kept fresh on the stick. Flies and all kinds of different bees came into the bait, falling into the water that was soapy. The soap would take the oil off their wings, and they would drown. Several times a day we would scoop the bees and flies off the water so more could fall in. There was a large pile of pests by the end of the trip. When we left, we could not hear a bee anywhere, so it worked pretty well. The camp was within easy walking distance of the Island Ridge. I had been down it a couple times in the past, so I would hunt it while Harry and Bud went to other places to hunt. l found elk on this ridge every day but could not get a clear shot at anything. My count was fourteen head during the week’s trip. About the third day, Harry and l started at the top of the ridge, while Bud took a truck down to the other end. Bud would climb up the hill a short way to wait for us to come through. We were about halfway through when we jumped some cow elks. We were unable to get a shot at them as they were gone in a flash. We sat down to rest a bit when a young cow barked down below us. We both had cow calls, so we answered her back. I guess we must have sounded fairly good because she came on the dead run barking back at us every few minutes. Suddenly she came into view about twenty yards away. I knew that would be the best chance to shoot I was going to get. I let an arrow fly at her, but she spun around and took off down the hill. Harry was behind some bushes where he could not see her to shoot. We went over to the place where she was standing when I shot. There was my arrow sticking in the ground covered with blood. The arrow went completely through her somewhere in the front end. Knowing the cow elk was hit and bleeding, we took off after her on the run. She had only gone a couple of blocks when we caught up with her. She was standing below us in a draw looking in our direction. Being a young cow, she seemed confused along with being hurt. We both took a shot at her standing still. I missed this time by shooting over the top of her. Harry’s arrow went through her high in the back and hip area. Away she went again, this was a wakeup call, and she got the message. After retrieving our arrows, the chase began, both of us took off following her on the dead run. We could follow her from the blood drops in the trails. With us right behind her she really took off. Occasionally she would stop to rest and there would be a large spot of blood, then away she would go again. She crossed three roads in her flight downhill then doubled back up hill. She recrossed the same roads going back up and was still bleeding badly. We finally lost her trail in some red colored huckleberry bushes. We went looking for Bud to help us, but he had gone back to camp looking for us. Since we were not at camp, he was driving back to where we were supposed to be looking for us. Finally, we got together then went looking for the cow elk again. The road was marked where she had last Crossed still dripping blood, but look as hard as we could, we could not follow her through those red bushes. An elk will not go up hill if hit bad enough, so we hoped she would survive the clean wounds. We covered the same area the next day but could not find any sign of her. If she died, she did it someplace else. The next few days passed by pretty much the same. We saw more elk, but we could not get a shot at them.
One day we found some grouse along the creek near camp. We managed to get several of them with arrows since we did not have any firearms along. Shooting grouse with a bow and arrows is not an easy thing to do. I fried them up for supper the next day. There is not much meat on a fool hen, which these grouses were, but we made a healthy meal of them with fried potatoes and other items on the side.
Time finally ran out; it was time to head for home. There was not any meat to take home, but we had plenty of memories to talk about. We almost scored on an elk, but Lady Luck was not with us this time. This new campsite seemed to be a good one, being centrally located in the heart of where the elk live most of the time. We decided to use this camp again next year if all went Well. All the equipment was cleaned up and put away for the next camping trip. We would look forward to getting back to Donnelly next year.