Idaho OTC elk hunt, Nov. 2015 near Salmon, Idaho

Back in November 2015, this hunt involved me and my good friend, Doug, who was on his first ever elk hunt and our first ever hunt of any kind in Idaho. It started out rough with an ATV accident causing me to get a significant concussion with brain swelling. Was actually very lucky my sore neck didn't get broken while cartwheeling down the hill with the ATV.

In spite of this, we continued the hunt a couple days later after I recovered enough to know where we were and what we were doing. Doug was able to harvest his first elk 5 miles into the backcountry and with a 3000 foot elevation climb above the trailhead. The elk pack out with all of our winter gear required 3 trips and was rough. Had nerve damage in my big toe causing it to go numb for a month and a half. But, the experience with wolf encounters and sleeping in sub-zero temperatures for 5 nights in a tent, all after a bad ATV accident, culminating in a successful harvest for Doug of his 1st elk (6-point bull, no less) was pretty epic.