Holy Smokes, WHAT just Happened! FLINTLOCK Elk Hunting 2023 Part 2

Last week Xander Budnick and I snuck in on a big elk herd but, with the limitations of my flintlock rifle, they were just a bit out of range. This week, we’re back in the mountains for part 2 of our late season flintlock #muzzleloader elk hunt. Late season hunting can be a challenge. The weather this time of year can be nasty, with temperatures dropping well below 0. Add to that the wind wide open country and you might be facing some miserable winter weather. But there’s plenty of elk around and a wall tent with a wood stove makes winter camping pretty comfortable. But when there’s a flintlock involved, anything can happen. Join us on our winter camping and elk hunting adventure to see how things turned out.

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The late season Big Country big herds Flint steel and black powder ingredients for one of North America’s most unique hunting Adventures the closest one was 180 I need I need them to be about 100 last week I was joined by Xander Budnick fellow Adventurer content creator and new Hunter this is probably

One of like top 10 coolest things I’ve ever done in my life We snuck in on a big herd of but with the limitations of my flint lock rifle they were just a little bit out of range so this week we’re back for another round W 0° Fahrenheit and 69% humidity Oh What a Beautiful Day it’s gorgeous I got some pressure underwear on I’m a new man let’s go it’s amazing what that makes you feel like what is this day four day three four four all right day four getting back after it not sure what

We’re going to do today I think we’re just going to drive over there and see if we can find that that herd I they’ll probably wrap around be on the other side of the Mountain we didn’t get back to the truck till about 7:00 last night and I don’t think we were even back at Camp till 8 or 9 who knows it was a it was a Hefty day asleep right after food and then right up this morning and back out the

Door honestly I love it it’s like if this isn’t living with intention I don’t know what it is cuz we’ve been at it for a few days now Non-Stop and it’s just it’s real living it’s great I’m enjoying myself thoroughly the flint lock rifle a weapon as uniquely American as apple pie well

I’m not actually sure that apple pie is uniquely American but I sure know the flint lock rifle is muzzle loers in general can be a bit finicky but the flint lock is especially so primarily because the ignition mechanism the lock which is made up of

The hammer the frizen and the pan are on the outside of the weapon and fully exposed to the weather this can wre havoc on getting the thing to go off if you’re not especially careful about protecting it from the weather and as the saying goes keeping your powdered

Dry add to this the fact that there can sometimes be a lengthy delay between the time you pull the trigger and the time the rifle actually goes off and you’ve got a weapon that adds a few more layers of difficulty to a hunt that’s already challenging so there’s there’s the big

Herd right over here there’s another seven or eight head over here um thinking probably the wind for that one if we come around this way is not going to be good so we’re going to need to come in from this way so I think we might find this where this Ridge comes

Down and try to work in on these and then if that doesn’t work it’s probably another mile and a half to these over here just on the ridge but there is no cover up there it is wide open there’s not a tree in sight maybe some rocks feeling

Optimistic I think we’re in a good position to approach these elk got a good wind hopefully I think we’ve got a good wind up there um so the El on the other side of this mountain I think we can work our way right up this Ridge right up this

Spine and should end up on top of the first group that we saw uh and if we end up messing that up there’s another group that’s pretty significant hike but there’s a another big big herd a little farther down the ridge so got a couple options and plenty of

Time yeah Clay we have to get them today why because I’m on my last pack of jelly beans when the sun comes up it heats up real quick around here it just went from God uh what Fahrenheit or Celsius like -10 Celsius up to you know

0° we just went from all our uh gear on to right down to our hiking stuff hiking stuff don’t use this my brain’s not functioning all right yeah oh that’s we’ll be in our underwear before long Yeah made it to this first set of rocks we got to make it I think to that next set up there and the elk I think should be off the back side of that so that’s our Target we’ll get up there just be as slick and Sly as we can up on

Those rocks so we don’t get Skyline and just kind of peak down but I want to Glass this base first just to make sure there’s nothing on The Ridges all right I think we’re good keep trucking maybe maybe turn your lens Hood around it might help it with the

Reflection a little bit what’s up turn your lens H around just it might cut through just hair it all right so we’ve made it that second group of rocks the cows that we saw I think they were right over here I don’t know if they’re still there or not

But we’re just going to kind of ease around here and look just look down sander I want you to just kind of give me a little bit of space until I get eyes on them just kind of keep on this side of the Rocks just a little bit and

I’ll ease my way out there so I can look down so just a couple tips for you here anywhere you can step on rock of course but then if you have to step in snow if you turn your foot and just walk on the edge of your foot

Do contact with the snow and it’s a little bit quieter so just like walking on the edges of your feet so they’re beded in that patched shrubs right there so I think if we we’re going to have to go up and around the backs side

Of that Ridge and we should be able to pop out right on top of them the only problem is that is being able to see them through that stuff oh yeah I think I see him how the how the heck did you spot that well I I suspected it was they

Needed to be beded somewhere this time of day they’re not they not usually going to be out on the slopes feeding but uh I don’t know it’s just a good spot look it’s a likely Bing spot so we’ll just ease up get on the backside kind of come down the wind

Should be coming up so we we should be good for a couple hours on that that’s it I’m officially out of jelly beans better get this elk today so they so they should be maybe 200 yard just down this Ridge on the other side so we’ll just keep working down this way

Till I think I can pop over and see one the problem with this type of situation the only problem really is that they bed on the downhill side of these mahoganies and so there’s usually just a ton of cover around them so I’m just going to try to ease up here and

Get in position and just see what I can see maybe I get a clear shot at one maybe I have to wait there for a little while for one to stand up just have to see once we get there got uphill thermal for the most part it’s game time we’re on the Final

Approach they’re I think they’re only about 70 80 yards just over this thing so we’re going to just ease that way and hope we can get on them before they see us wish us luck for for for in [ __ ] Justs me up were they right here yeah did I make too much noise it was just that last little bit I knew it was pushing it but when you’re that close to them it’s it’s like I mean you’re almost like melting across the landscape um got within probably 60

Yards of a a an elk but I couldn’t and I could see its vital through the hole in the brush I just couldn’t tell if it was a cow or not had ample opportunity to shoot I just couldn’t tell um tried to get Xander up a little closer so he

Could get some footage and just they picked this up made them nervous got up and started away from us and but it’s all right we’re getting close every day we know where there’s more elk so there’s a giant herd over here on this open Ridge uh no

Cover again but we’re going to head that way and see if we can get close some to something look like there’s oh there’s a there’s 300 head elk over there is just a giant herd I think that’s every elk in the valley it’s right there from when we put

Our bags down to we when we got close to the elk it was probably like 2 and 1 half hours of slow movement andin that last like I think I think both of us made some pretty awkward noises clay dropped his bi nose by accident I accidentally let out a fart and we

Thought both of those led to it being over but uh it was until like the last little bit when honestly I I thought I was like a stealthy ninja but it was just not enough just not enough when you when you think you’re going slow enough you need

To go about three times slower maybe 10 times slower that’s it was yeah mind blowing all right next next uh next Mountain see go across the ridge we got a long way back to the truck uh well um we were trying to get in on this

Big herd and got up over on the back side of this got another 300 y to go and the wind’s just going right to them and they’re all standing there on the roid looking at us they’re heading down so that’s that for that herd oh well that’s that 300 head elk

They were there 5 minutes ago no they’re not the wind just could not be any more wrong but I didn’t know it until we got right here and it was too late all right so we uh just working our way back to the truck we still got a long way to go but

We see the elk they went off of this they didn’t go too awful far maybe a mile but they’re all camped out on this another big hill down there so they’ll be around there somewhere in the morning I think they uh I think they enjoy it just they see us coming they probably

See us coming from a long ways away and they wait till we get almost there and then they say ah run away they keep they they go just far enough they like I think we can get to them again and then you go a little bit farther and a little bit farther and

Before you know you’re 10 miles from the truck and the sun’s going down and the temperature is dropping that’s the price we pay what fun what’s for dinner not elk right you have garlic on here good I’m Teague te Xander nice to meet you good to meet yeah too

It’s perfect come home from hunting and te’s got a fire going and it’s cooking good stuff honestly it was a pretty great day today um spotting those elk and getting real close to them I think it was like within the last like 100 yards that it

Took us about 2 and 1/2 hours to inch forward I was following in clay and I was in my socks and just making as little noise as possible and following his instructions and just being absolutely as silent as I could and it wasn’t until we’re within 50 or 60 yards

Of them that Clay’s movement slowed down even more dramatically I think at one point he dropped his binoculars by accident but he stood still for about 10 minutes and I think that like he told me that that’s how you can make a little bit of noise but you have to like Let It

Settle down and there’s a point where we’re getting real close to the clay was already up there and uh he motioned me to come forward to like you know film but he’s like be very very quiet be very very still as I came up and I was as quiet as

I thought I could possibly be dodged every single leaf and Branch but made just enough noise and it was just a bit too quick that the elk got uh alerted and I bumped him I bumped him today and uh that was a lesson learned you you have to if you make noise you

Got to let them settle down so uh that’s what clay was doing earlier he made some noise and he put 10 minutes on his timer and he let him settle down and then he made Moves again and I was just a bit too hasty and that was a lesson learn pretty cool experience

Though hope clay still likes me as a friend wao what in God’s it’s fro they’re frozen chili bean cans of beans I had the uh the regulator was frozen so I had to put the torch on that to thaw it out so the dam fire would go go ahead holy

Macaroni all that like loud fooy that I’ve been all that bungling through the woods and scaring the ALK away I deserve this I think we topped off thank you looks good oh my God it’s so good it’s like so cheesy and Meaty done it again all right this is this is the part

Where we eat our food and pretend like we’re enjoying each other’s Company you got a 50 cal yeah 50 cal in line TVA o gotcha later nerd he’s like a pancake oh man living the dream today’s the day I like the optimism all right we’re back to where we were on day one chasing the big herd that we’ve been chasing

Since we’ve seen them on day one they’re in a new spot but uh we think we have a good way to get up to them let the fun begin all right finally getting some snow um we’ve got a the big herd of elk up off on this Ridge here and they’re kind

Of strung out all the way up and down this Ridge and they’re fairly close to it and it’s a it’s kind of a steep like a a knife Ridge so I I think we should be able to come around the back side of it and just kind of ease up and um we

Should be able to get in range with them of them coming over the backside if the wind is going to cooperate with it today you never know till you get over there so we got a long hike just even to get around the back side of that Ridge so um

We’re going to get started give it a [Applause] try check where the edges first eh cuz uh cuz it kind of just dropped yeah nice that was all I had we’re working our way up this this side of the hill we believe the elker just on the other side of this

Unfortunate part is the wind is not in our favor so we’re still plucking along need hopeful so the the lower elk that we saw are still down there 3 400 yard but I I can smell elk I think there’s one I think there’s right below us there’s a couple beded facing this way

I’m afraid if I get too far over there they going see me unless I can get into some rock somewhere so we’re sitting on top of this right now there’s a bunch of elk just below us and the wind just switched and start blowing up over the mountain

Probably grabbing more scent and pushing it towards the which is not good there’s that fog Bank move in I don’t know how long it’s going it last but it’s shielding us from those elk down there so I think we can move around here just have to go slow

For we’re just slowly trying to sneak down to get this next Ridge in between us and the elk because there’s no more fog rolling in the elk are right here this Ridge line they’re just behind it we’re getting really close you can really smell them it’s a very strong smell sh

200 200 oh for something spooked Up From Below run over there oh my God there’s a lot of them they seem pretty relaxed too oh come on go go go go back here go use S it ever [ __ ] how the [ __ ] Mo so quick they’re still just feeding down

There do it go up around there’s the other part of the up oh yeah God that was so close something I don’t know what it was something Spooks him from the bottom they were all they ran back up the hill and they were all looking down at the bottom

God everything going right till the but that was so close I had one at 150 and I wanted to get closer I thought that was it what I thought we had it once we got to that Ridge I thought we had it too we were just a little bit

Too late too slow yeah just a little too late should have started sooner but [ __ ] one more day one more freaking day that that was pretty cool though when we were sneaking up and then the The Fog was like with the fog and the fog went away we were stuck there with

All those elk we had to sneak down that was pretty cool man hoping for another half hog B yeah just didn’t happen we were there for like 45 minutes that was exciting and we have to climb that whole like scre field which took like 2 and 1/2

Hours yeah we we didn’t get a outk but that was a good day that was a good day when that herd went when that part of the herd went behind that corner me and Clay ran up to go get real close we didn’t realize that there was the other

Half of the herd way up higher higher in some uh some other Hills other mountains so what clay guessed is that they started running which alerted the her that we just chased down and then and then all of a sudden we were another half mile away from them yeah they cover

Ground a lot quicker than we did yeah that’s all we got for the day it’s almost 5 time to head down I was going to have you go on that but maybe it’s too windy thumnails hope you’re hungry oh we are what you got going on here we’re going to make pulled pork

Sliders some smitties beard sauce Scotch bonnet it’s good stuff I’m going to have to let that heat up for a little bit I reckon see if we got that’s see right how does that look that looks fantastic I’m pumped that’s so good you must like

It I grew a boob on the side of my water bottle it’s going to be some flavorful water I guess it’ll still hold water more water water now nobody else has a water bottle shape like that cold one today it’s windy and cold that’s the way it’s supposed to be here we go

Right all right last day and she’s a cold one so we’ve got some elk spotted um look like just a few maybe six or seven could be the other one that we pushed from around the other side of the mountain but they’re right up underneath those rocks where we were watching that

Big herd the other day so we’re going to just like back up that Ridge climb up on those rocks and shoot one hopefully that’s the way it’s supposed to work so every day when when we start off these going up the hills like this I I

Focus a lot on the the negative kind of pessimistic uh and people have commented on that before how I talk about all the things that could go wrong because there are a thousand ways that things could go wrong when you start something like that and just a

Small handful of ways that they could go right I heard Rella say once that when when it comes to hunting it’s okay to be a pessimist in your mind but not in your boots and I I like that because all you got to do is just keep going keep going

Every day we’re getting close every day and every day that we go out our odds go up just a little bit just got to keep after it we at the top and we’re getting close to where we saw them it’s just a matter of getting in a good position we’re not

Sure if they’re still there though so those elk are not bedded there um there’s some fresh tracks that go up and I kind of lose track of them in the Rocks up there but they’re not on this face they’re on the other side of the ridge somewhere so I’ll just EAS down

There and check those tracks out see where they go maybe get up to that Ridge and look down the other side it’s always really fun to watch clay because he’s so careful to check every single angle to make sure that he’s not bumping elk I would just charge in there at guns

Blazing that’s why I got a lot to learn and it’s great to hang out with somebody like him patience all right so we just picked these Elks tracks up I think they’re going to be uh across this Ridge in this other saddle so best thing to do might be

To just ease up to these rocks so we can look back down see the big herd I don’t know what I I think this small herd may have went over there and um joined up with them but they are maybe we can get in position to get

A shot at them it’s going to be I don’t know if they’re going to be within range of the Rimrock up there but we can go around the back side of that Ridge we should have a good wind boosting up that face not to few

Far so on the first day we spotted this group of VK on the second day we chase them up this hill and then across to the hill that we’re on now and now on the last day we’re doing it backwards so this is our last

Attempt we got a I don’t know mile hike up and down a saddle and then uh we’ll be in this milk hopefully hopefully can’t feel my face made the hike just from over that mountain there it’s freezing the wind is chilly time to lay back up because alar just on the

Other side of this Ridge the wind’s coming up over this Ridge and oh my God can you ever smell the elk very very strong smell I’m going to try to creep over by these rocks just keep these rocks behind you okay out sky behind you see yeah how far too far for I just freaking missed Oh I clean freak just clean this I cannot understand that oh my God what is going on with me this year I can’t catch a freaking break man now I’d love to be able to blame these misses on my weapon but the truth is I just flat out screwed up for some

Reason I had it in my head that I needed to aim high even though I knew my rifle was shooting dead on at 100 yards why I had that in my head I have no idea I don’t know she was 110 yard that shot that I should be able to make that

Shot no problem now getting a second chance with a muzzle loader is a rare thing but getting a third is dang near unheard of but that’s exactly what happened when we came around the ridge we found that same herd and they were only 60 yard away Now by this time my confidence was

Thoroughly rattled and without a steady rest I just didn’t feel comfortable taking another shot and so I just had to let him go and so for the first time in a long time I end the elk season with a tag in my pocket a humbling reminder of our respective roles as predator and

Prey and the fact that things don’t always and shouldn’t always work out in our favor well that’s it for this trip more chasing out through the mountains all in all that was a pretty incredible experience learned a lot get to spend time with clay and I know he’s

A little disappointed that he was unable to make a shot and I know he’s a good shot but uh things didn’t line up this trip but overall I think things worked out perfectly all right time to show clay how it’s done so you you’ll [ __ ] it back

Okay so the back Trigg that’s a it’s a double trigger so the back trigger makes the front trigger a hair trigger so you pull the back trigger first and then the front trigger is just a very light touch and it’ll go off okay okay oh that’s so cool

Wow we’ll go see if you killed it from like 15 yards yeah we did it dang right there done did it man wish I had have done that on an elk jeez sweet thanks that was a lot of fun I have to get me one of These come back come on come come come oh you almost got in the door we go all right that’s uh that’s going to be a wrap for this one um this I don’t this is the first time I’ve finished the elk season with a tag in my pocket and I don’t remember I

Don’t remember the last season maybe ever um so it’s a little bit of a stinger uh but you can bet that I’ll have the shooting figured out before I come back out here next year um I don’t know what was going on I don’t know if I

Was flinching if I just wasn’t a counting for the downhill angle or what but anyway it’s the way it goes sometimes but we still got the White Tail season coming up we’re basically going straight from this to the the late Whit tail camp and with the weather moving in it looks

Like we might have a a pretty good season so appreciate you watching and we’ll see you on the next one