During the summer of 1982, we again put in for the elk drawing in Area 14 up the Salmon River from Riggins. Montie could not go this year, so Harry’s son-in-law, Dean Morrison, Put in with me. We drew the permits, but Harry and Bud missed out. We had two permits, so we started planning the trip for the coming fall. We would be going into about the same area as last year. Harry and Bud could hunt deer, but they were along mostly to help get an elk out should we happen to shoot one. We like to hunt in teams most of the time, but on this trip, we would be hunting close together most of the time. Dean had not hunted much and was green at it.
We moved the campsite a couple of miles to the west on what was called Keating Ridge. A flat spot on a small ridge was found to set up or camp on. This flat was large enough for the trailer, the lean-to, and room for the trucks to be parked nearby. Some long poles were found to be used to prop up the lean-to. There were trees all around us to shelter us and function as a windbreak if a storm came up suddenly. We were told that there were numerous elk around Keating Ridge. This was the first time in many years for a different Person to join our hunting group. Dean was family and besides, he had one of the permits, so we had to take him along. He worked out fine, did his share of camp chores and had an enjoyable time. Everyone gave him a hard time, but it was all fun.
Keating Ridge was completely different than at Little Slate Creek Saddle, where we were last year. Here, there were mostly walking ridge tops and checking out timber pockets. The hills were steeper and overlooked the main river below us. No one was to go down that side of the hill for obvious reasons. The elk were mostly staying at the ridge tops. We were sure to find something if we were patient enough. The first couple of days, we hunted hard from the camp. The elk were there, but we could not flush them out for a Shot. Each day, there were more fresh tracks giving us hope of finding an elk. We were back to camp early each afternoon and discussed the hunt. We enjoyed the afternoon time at camp playing cards and resting. We fixed an early supper each evening, with last year’s elk steaks and pan-fried potatoes. Usually, I warm up a Vegetable of some kind to go with it. After supper we played Pinochle then had cookies and milk before turning in for the night.
The third day we were out on the mountain at first light. We wanted to catch them asleep. As we were going down the main ridge, we heard some shots ahead of us. Two hunters had jumped a small herd of elk and had shot a couple of times at a spike and a large bull. They did not know if they had hit either one, they could not find any blood around. We headed in the direction the elk had gone so we kept on going. Bud saw the large bull going through the timber. We knew we were close to them. The spike was standing about fifty yards away, seeming to be lost or bewildered. Why he was standing there, we had no idea at all. We walked up a little closer, then Dean put him down with a shot to the chest. A well-placed shot to the head finished him off. Now this was the first time for Dean to be around, when an elk was killed. We were going to make him clean it out. He was already squeamish from all the blood here and there. Harry was not helping much with his comments. Dean made a try at the cleaning job, but just could not take it. We finally pitched in and helped him finish it up, then cut him in half. Since this was only a spike his antlers were about a foot tall. It was necessary to take them out as a trophy as this was Dean’s first elk. Harry took a meat saw we had along and sawed them off quite easily. This exposed the brain, so Harry asked Dean if we should take the brains to camp for brains and eggs for supper. This was where Dean lost everything, he was one sick kid for a while. We finally managed to get Bean back together, because we had an elk to get over a small mountain and down to the truck. L carried the heart, liver, and the antlers in my backpack, Harry, and Bud each carried half the elk.
Dean struggled along trying to carry the extra rifles but soon pooped out. エ took them from him so all he had to pack was his own. He still had trouble keeping up. After several rest stops, we finally made it to the top of the hill. Even a spike is heavy and hard to carry because of being Warm and sloppy. The main road was not far below us in a straight line. Just before reaching the main road, Bud stubbed his toe on a tree root. Down the hill he ran trying to get his balance, but coming up was a swamp full of gooey mud. We just knew he was going to bury himself in the middle of it. Somehow, he found the strength to right himself, but by then he was standing in about six inches of mud. The rest of us cracked up watching him go down the hill headed for the mud. He did not think it was too funny, for Bud went down the road to retrieve the truck while we waited with the elk. We loaded the elk in and away we went for camp.
There was a lot of work to do to get him cleaned up. We got him dirty by packing him cut in half that way. With all of us working on him it did not take long to have him quartered, bagged, and hung up to cool. This was a prime piece of meat and very tasty. By the time we had the elk hanging on the meat rack it was too late to go out again. We will be fixing supper in a short while. The menu would be steak, boiled potatoes, Canned beets, and mushroom gravy. We were going to eat well tonight; we had earned it. Soon everyone was complaining about eating too much. They ate everything in sight. The furnace was turned up a little higher to warm up the trailer, so we could play Pinochle without having so many clothes on. We played several games then had some cookies and milk before turning in for the night. Having a satisfying meal and a warm place to sleep keeps us healthy. We pondered on what to do the next day. Sleep in a little extra seemed to win out over any other ideas. We would hunt one more day and if hunting were poor, we would head to Short’s Bar to fish for steelhead.
The next day, after breakfast, Harry, Bud, and I fixed some Sandwiches and candy bars then headed out early to look for another elk. We would be out most of the day. Dean decided to stay at camp to watch the elk. The camp was located close to the main road, and we do not trust anyone. We had a prime elk and did not want to lose it. The three of us hunted hard down the ridges, through the timbered draws and any other looking places. There were plenty of tracks, but we Could not find another elk anywhere we went. On our way back to camp we decided to pack up as s○○n as Possible and head for the river. We would need to hurry to get packed and headed out. We Wanted to fish for a while before dark. Our sights were set on staying at Short’s Bar for a couple of days, the same as we did last year. We arrived at the river in plenty of time to fish for a couple of hours before dark. We did not catch any fish but had fun trying, Steelhead were running in large numbers. That night we fixed an early supper and played pinochle until midnight. We had been hunting for five days and were getting gamey.
Someone pipes up about going swimming in the river to take a bath. Here it was midnight and in the middle of October, jumping in the river would qualify us for the nuthouse. Harry, Bud, and I grabbed our towels, Slippers, Clean underwear and headed for the river. Dean was not about to join us. It was too cold for him. We soaped up, then jumped in. Talk about cold, holy cow, now this was cold. We had to get wet to get the soap off and that did not take very long. This was an extremely fast bath, but it sure felt g○○d to be clean again. We dried off and ran to the trailer to warm up. We had a good sleep that night, being clean in body and mind.
After breakfast, we headed for the river to fish. Trying to get a steelhead to bite was a hard chore. The fish were there and all of them must go through Short’s Bar to get upriver to spawn. We threw everything at them but rocks all day long. We had a few strikes but did not hit any of them. Luck has a lot to do with catching a fish and luck did not seem to be with us that day. That evening we planned on fishing until around noon then packed up for home.
We had been gone a week now and it was time to leave. It only took a little while to load up, because we did not unload much, just enough to get by with for a couple of nights. The trip home took about four hours, without any problems at all. We hung the elk in Harry’s garage until we could get time to cut him up. Since he was not large in the first place, we only received a small box of steaks each. The elk was good eating, very tender and not strong at all. We talked about going back to the Salmon River country again, but up near Grangeville, somewhere near Adam’s work camp.