Elk hunting with Bear Creek Outfitters - "Trip of a Lifetime"
[caption id="attachment_34" align="aligncenter" width="450"] Ken Francisco BBQ's some fresh elk back straps after a client harvested a 6x6 bull elk in the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness this year.[/caption]
We woke up around 6 a.m., as usual, drank some coffee and hot chocolate in the heated wall tent, and saddled up the horses to go hunting. It was just starting to get light as we rode out of camp on Oct. 25, with snow falling ever-so-quietly in the cedar trees surrounding our camp.
We rode for an hour, tied up the horses and started walking up a meadow. It had snowed several inches overnight, and it was still snowing, making it easy to walk quietly. We hadn't walked more than 50 yards when my guide, Jim, whispered, "Did you hear that? I just heard a bull bugle."
We hid behind a scrawny tree and noticed that at least 5-6 cow elk were bedded down low on the mountainside about 150 yards in front of us. Whoa-baby! My big chance! We figured there might be a bull among the group, bedded down out of view. "Get down by that rock, and get ready to shoot," Jim said.
[caption id="attachment_35" align="aligncenter" width="584"] The Bear Creek drainage is rugged and heavily forested in the bottom of the canyon. The elk were hanging out in the higher elevations during our hunt in late October.[/caption]
I laid flat in the snow, got my rifle balanced on top of the big rock slab, and looked into the scope to line up the shot. I was excited. Heavy breathing fogged up my scope. I took a deep breath off to the side, wiped the scope clean with my bandanna, and lined up the shot on one of the cows lying there in the brush. I was ready. We waited. And waited ... for more than an hour. Finally, one of the cows stood up, shook the snow off her tan-colored winter coat, and started to amble up the mountain.
"Get ready," Jim whispered. I had my eye trained in the scope, and watched as about a dozen cows and calves got in a line and walked up the slope. I was ready to fire at the first bull I saw, but I never saw a rack. They were all cows and calves. Dang!
In a week-long elk and deer hunt with Bear Creek Outfitters in the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness in Idaho, that morning was my closest moment to pulling the trigger on a trophy bull. We saw quite a few cows and calves, and numerous deer tracks, but we never saw a bull during our hunt in late October.
[caption id="attachment_37" align="aligncenter" width="166"] Curtis Coonce of Missouri got his bull during a late September rifle hunt. Guide Jim Daine is on the left.[/caption]
In a late-September rifle hunt during the rut, Todd Ward from Jackson, Mo., had a different experience. "We saw or heard bulls every day," Ward said. "On the third day, my hunting partner shot a 6x6, and on the last day, my guide Jesse bugled in a 4-point bull. It was the closest shot I've ever had in my life. We were in the brush, and he was 10 yards away. The hardest thing was finding him in my scope."
Ward and his friend, Curtis Coonce, were hunting the first time with Bear Creek Outfitters. They had researched 15 different outfitters in several western states, and settled on Ken and Barb Francisco's outfit after checking multiple references. "These guys are the real deal," Ward says. "Our trip was everything I expected and then some. It was a trip of a lifetime for me."
[caption id="attachment_42" align="aligncenter" width="600"] The Selway River country produces some nice bull elk.[/caption]
Idaho's reputation as a premium elk hunting destination has been hurt in recent years because of concerns about Rocky Mountain gray wolves preying on the state's elk herds. But Francisco and his guides continue to deliver for clients. Francisco hasn't seen any wolves or wolf tracks this year. The walls of Ken and Barb's log cabin, and the walls of their bunkhouse for hunters are crammed full of framed pictures of trophy bull elk harvested in the Selway River country, as well as bull moose, mountain lions, black bears and even a few wolves taken in recent years.
"As long as you have the good-quality elk habitat, the elk will take care of themselves," Ken Francisco says. "We provide trophy elk hunts in a wilderness setting. You're pursuing them on their own ground in a truly wild environment. It's as sporting as it comes."
[caption id="attachment_43" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Photos of bull elk taken by clients with Bear Creek Outfitters on the "wall of fame" in the hunters' bunkhouse really get you psyched before the hunt.[/caption]
After 30+ years of guiding hunters in his 200,000-acre hunting area in the 1.3-million-acre wilderness, Francisco and his guides know where the animals are likely to be hiding and hanging out, and when they come across a set of fresh tracks, they become totally focused on hot pursuit. "Ken and his guides are almost like professional athletes. Those guys are in such good shape," Ward notes.
For $4,500 per person, Bear Creek takes hunters into the backcountry on horseback, with a number of pack mules carrying their gear, and shuttles them into one of several base camps for 8 days of hunting. Bear Creek offers one-on-one hunts -- one guide for each hunter -- or two-on-one hunts, one guide for two hunters. The hunting guides wear multiple hats -- they cook, handle the horses and pack stock, tell jokes, and take care of hunters' every need.
The best hunting camp locations depend on the weather and the year. Typically, Francisco has numerous camp locations to choose from.
This year, however, the 14,500-acre Pettibone wildfire burned over the top of their normal base camp location at the junction of Cub Creek and Bear Creek, a couple of miles from the Selway River. Numerous burned trees fell down over the Bear Creek trail during and after the fire, making it impossible for Francisco to even reach his base camp. The Pettibone fire didn't get extinguished until rain and snow storms arrived in mid- to late-October. "The fires came pretty close to shutting us down," he says.
[caption id="attachment_44" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Hunters ride horseback into the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness to hunting camp, and then most of the hunting is done on foot.[/caption]
But because Bear Creek has a large operating area permitted through the U.S. Forest Service, Francisco had options farther up the Bear Creek drainage. He set up camps next to Granite Creek and Wahoo Creek, and hunted those areas instead. During our week in the area, we never saw another hunter. Pretty much the classic "private Idaho" experience.
Two hunters from Pennsylvania stayed in the Wahoo Creek base camp the week I was hunting with Bear Creek, and they were wowed by the whole experience. "Just being here was absolutely fantastic," said Bob Herrold of Spring Mills, Pa. "The food was fantastic. It's impressive what these guys go through to let us hunt in this country." "I can't wait to get back home and show my friend some of my pictures," adds Larry Lingle of Bellefont, Pa. "We hiked a couple of thousand feet into the mountains every day, looking for elk and deer. The cowboy thing riding into camp was really cool, and the heated tent-camping was a lot of fun. This is the real deal!" [caption id="attachment_49" align="aligncenter" width="421"] In fall hunts in the Selway-Bitterroot, hunters can buy tags to harvest an elk, deer, mountain lion, black bear and wolves. That provides lots of options for hunters.[/caption] Larry and Bob didn't get a chance to shoot an elk this year. Bob had a cow elk and a calf walk right up to him while he was hiding out, watching for a bull or a buck. "She came up to within about 10 feet of me, trying to figure out what I was," Bob said. "I was hoping that a bull might come up behind her." "We saw a lot of tracks, but it just wasn't meant to be this time," Lingle says. "But it wasn't for lack of effort. It was the ultimate hunting experience." Bear Creek also offers mountain lion hunts in the winter, spring black bear hunts and summer trail rides. For more information on hunting with Bear Creek Outfitters, go to https://www.bearcreekoutfittersonline.com/ For more information on big game hunting in Idaho, go to the Idaho Outfitter and Guides Association hunting page: https://ioga.org/hunting/