This backcountry float hunt had every little thing you’d want for in a backcountry journey. Between backcountry flying, whitewater rafting, and lots of mountaineering, it was nonstop motion. I used to be fortunate sufficient to go on this journey with the blokes from Limitless Outside who I’ve been wanting as much as for years. In the event you’re aware of Limitless Outside then you definitely already know what I’m speaking about, however in case you haven’t checked out their YouTube channel, you’re in for a deal with. Justin Gibbins, Colton Gibbins, and their good friend Joshua every had deer tags and I had an elk tag, so we knew there was a very good probability we’d be popping out of this journey with some animals.
We began off the journey by flying deep into the Idaho backcountry. Justin is a pilot and he, together with our good friend Tim Freeburg, discovered a small climate window to shuttle us and our gear to an airstrip alongside the river.
Finances-Pleasant Float
Early the following morning we hopped into our economical “Intex Mariner 4” raft bought from Amazon and set off for a six-mile whitewater journey to get into the world that we deliberate on searching. I had by no means whitewater rafted, so it was all new to me, and I used to be excited to attempt a brand new solution to discover the Idaho backcountry. The water was increased than regular for November, because of the three inches of rain the day earlier than.
Shortly after we started, Colton had one of many paddles get caught in some rocks and the paddle snapped off, leaving our raft with only a single paddle, which made issues a little bit trickier. With two paddles you possibly can sluggish your raft and steer by way of the obstacles, however with one paddle, you needed to cost quicker with hardly any management by way of the rapids. We had lots of laughs whereas we rafted downriver, soaking moist however excited for the journey. We needed to make many various stops to dump water from the rafts, so it ended up taking a number of hours to make it to the world we had deliberate on searching.
Welcome Distraction
Our authentic plan was for all 4 of us to go away the river and hike up round 3,000 vertical toes to arrange a spike camp, however plans rapidly modified after Justin noticed a giant group of cow elk with a single handsome bull proper after we had began mountaineering. Justin and Joshua pushed on up the mountain and Colton and I ditched most of our gear and began making our manner as much as the place we might get higher eyes on the elk.
I’ve made the error of ditching my pack many instances and ended up miles away with none of my gear. I knew there was a very good probability I’d remorse leaving my pack this time as nicely, however my focus on the time was attempting to get right into a place to shoot this bull as rapidly as doable. As steep as this nation was, I knew my pack and equipment would considerably sluggish me down, so I began to climb up towards the group of elk with only one trekking pole and my rifle.
Over in a Second
After a grueling 1,300-ft climb, we lastly received a very good have a look at the bull, and he was manner greater than I anticipated; we figured he was a mature 7×7. He was in a tricky spot to shut the space, and we took our time moving into the most effective spot we presumably might, which nonetheless left us 685 yards away. With the cows starting to stand up to feed, we knew we wouldn’t have a lot time to get into a distinct place; we knew this was our solely probability. So, we received settled in and prepared for the shot.
The rain and fog had been relentless, which made us notice we needed to make one thing occur earlier than the fog rolled again in. After taking a minute to discover a secure capturing place in a less-than-ideal spot on the mountain, I felt able to take the shot. I used to be positioned on a steep aspect hill and used my bipod on prime of my pack for a entrance relaxation and a glassing pad to assist help the again of the gun and proper arm. With Colton serving to on the spotter, I used to be in a position to place a 175-grain bullet from my 7PRC Seekins Precision Aspect into the bull.
After the primary shot, I had a lot steam billowing off the suppressor that I needed to take a second to blow it off to have the ability to see the bull by way of the scope. I used to be rapidly in a position to relocate the bull who was clearly hit nicely however nonetheless standing, so I put one other spherical into him which hit him completely behind the shoulder. He began to stumble down the hill however dropped right into a draw that was out of sight from us. The suppressed photographs had the remainder of the herd confused and so they couldn’t inform the place the photographs got here from, nor did they know why their large herd bull had fallen. The cows ended up standing round in the identical spot for over the following hour. That is one motive why I really like searching with suppressors, particularly SilcencerCo’s new Scythe-Ti suppressor.
I couldn’t imagine we made it occur on the primary day. This was the largest bull of my life. It took a second for it to set in that we had truly made it occur. I used to be ecstatic! The earlier month I had struggled rather a lot on an elk hunt, and I used to be picturing this hunt can be comparable. However there I used to be, not three hours into the precise hunt, and I already had a large bull down. Most hunts don’t go as deliberate, and after a few years of expertise, you be taught to not get too excited till the animal is down. I’ve by no means had a hunt go as completely to plan as this, and it took some time for it to really feel actual.
Chilly and Heavy
Getting the bull down was relieving, however we nonetheless had a lot work forward of us earlier than we might really feel relaxed. We headed again all the way down to the river after which a mile upriver to seize our packs, after which we went again downriver one mile after which up 2,000 vertical toes to the place the bull was down. Once we lastly reached the bull, we rapidly realized this 7×7 was actually an 8×8! This bull additionally had the most important physique any of us had ever seen on a Rocky Mountain bull elk. We nicknamed him the “Horse Bull” due to his horse-sized physique. After taking a while to admire the bull and the nation he lived in, we realized we had lots of work forward of us with some gnarly climate about to roll in.
We spent the following 5 hours chopping up the bull in some horrendous climate, together with a lightning storm with hail and snow! As a result of circumstances, we would have liked a hearth as a result of the wind was robust and the temps had been dropping. Every part was soaking moist, which made beginning a hearth practically inconceivable. Even with lots of fireplace starter, it was probably the most troublesome instances I’ve ever had attempting to begin a hearth and maintain it going. After nearly an hour, we had been lastly in a position to get a ripping fireplace and heat our numb fingers on occasion whereas laboring over the bull.
Late that night time, we lastly made it again all the way down to the river with the primary load of meat the place we hung the sport baggage below a tree. We nonetheless had an honest hike again to our gear, and we discovered a spot to arrange camp and begin one other fireplace, which took one other 45 minutes. We ate dinner after 1 AM that night time after which tucked into our sleeping baggage, the one dry piece of equipment we nonetheless had left. The subsequent day, we had two extra grueling journeys up the mountain to get the remainder of the bull again all the way down to camp.
The journey had many components of success. Across the similar time I killed my bull, Joshua ended up killing a pleasant four-point buck. It was his first ever mule deer buck, and he was pleased to get one down. The ultimate day of the hunt, nevertheless, was in all probability essentially the most memorable. The morning began off with Colton killing a monster buck proper earlier than we needed to head again all the way down to the rafts.
Sink or Swim
Whereas Colton was packing his buck all the way down to the river, Justin needed to head to the airplane. This meant he needed to go all the way down to the river after which make the eight-mile hike again upriver to the airstrip the place we began the float on day one. He flew his airplane to the following airstrip, about ten miles downriver from us. Joshua hiked the ten miles alongside the river all the way down to the place Justin would decide us up. Colton and I had been those tasked with floating all of the gear and animals all the way down to the identical airstrip.
We had an enormous bull elk, two large muleys, and an entire lot of drugs. Saying we had been overloaded can be an understatement. Colton and I every received into the rafts, and the very first thing we observed was how a lot the water degree had dropped through the week since we began searching. There have been rapids at nearly each bend within the river, and every set of rapids had many uncovered rocks. Within the space that we had been in, the river was filled with rocks that had been extra shale-like and sharp as a substitute of typical, spherical river rocks.
With shallow water and tremendous heavy rafts, we had been ping-ponging and scraping our manner down your entire manner. For the primary couple of hours, we had been taking our time to tug off the river and bail out the water after every fast. Every time we did this, we might each must unload and cargo lots of of kilos of meat and equipment, and it was very time-consuming. Ultimately, each rafts began tearing greater and greater holes, and so they had been taking up lots of water even with out us in them.
When our maps, we realized we had been taking manner an excessive amount of time getting down the river, and if we didn’t decide up the tempo we might be floating at midnight. By the midway level we had been each fully soaked head-to-toe and freezing. With darkness setting in, we needed to drive ourselves to only maintain going as a result of we needed to make it to the airstrip earlier than sunset. It was mentally exhausting and irritating navigating the river. With each rafts fully flooded, we had nearly zero management to paddle and we had been consistently getting excessive centered in the midst of nearly each set of rapids.
There have been a number of instances once we needed to get out of our rafts and dislodge them from a set of rocks whereas standing in freezing water as much as our waists. By the point we reached the airstrip, we had been each shaking from being within the water for thus many hours. We made it all the way down to the airstrip simply in time to seize what we might carry and fly out earlier than it was too darkish. Tim and Justin flew us about an hour to a city the place we had been in a position to get a lodge and a heat meal. That felt superb after a freezing and grueling day on the river. Each Colton and I had numbness in our toes even hours after the recent bathe, which was fairly telling of how chilly we had been. The subsequent day, we did a number of flights again in to shuttle out the meat and remaining gear we had left on the river the night time earlier than.
This hunt turned out to be nothing like I had anticipated. I nonetheless can’t imagine how this hunt labored out for us, and I couldn’t thank Justin and Colton sufficient for inviting me on this hunt. It can really be a hunt I’ll always remember.
You possibly can take a look at the total filmed hunt on the Limitless Outside YouTube channel.@LimitlessOutdoors
