Jack Ballard - Creating a Traditional Elk Camp: Where the Heart of the Hunt Is Found

Copyright 2006 by Jack Ballard

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, except as may be expressly permitted in writing from the publisher. Requests for permission should be addressed to The Lyons Press, Attn: Rights and Permissions Department, P.O. Box 480, Guilford, CT 06437.

The Lyons Press is an imprint of The Globe Pequot Press

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Printed in the United States of America

ISBN-13: 978-1-59228-821-2

ISBN-10: 1-59228-821-9

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

This book is dedicated to the Ballard brothers: George Dudley, Jr., Jack, and Tom. George, my father, who gave me life. Jack, my uncle, who lent me his good name and many hours laughter. And Tom, who is the living patriarch and soul of our family elk camp.

This work bears my name, but many others share equal credit for its words. My uncle, Tom, has taught me more about elk hunting and woodcraft than he will ever realize. Leroy, my older brother, is the best big-game hunter I know. Weve pitched many tents together, each adventure yielding more knowledge of hunting and camping in elk country.

Priscilla Cunningham of Yellowstone Baptist College taught me to write. Her merciful evaluation of my freshman prose and her encouragement at several key junctures in my development as a writer have enabled me to make a living with words.

Producing photos to illustrate this text became a major challenge, even though I view myself as much a photographer as a writer. The technical and creative abilities of my friend Brad Johnson are behind most of the images.

Fran, my wife, also deserves much credit. She is my best editor and best friend.

Finally, I am infinitely indebted to the Creator of the eternal blue sky whose breath stirs life in all things, wild and human. May we respect the Earth and one another as His handiwork.

In one sense, the title of this book is misleading, because camps of the type described here have applications far beyond elk hunting. Ive pitched my wall tent in the Black Hills of South Dakota while hunting whitetail deer. My wife, two sons of preschool age, and I have camped in Montanas Beartooth Mountains in the dead of winter in a wall tent to sled, ski, and revel in the wild solitude. Weve even made elk camp in the backyardjust last weekend my four-year-old daughter hosted two bright-eyed friends and her older brothers in a wall-tent sleepover.

The attractions of a traditional elk camp are comfort and portability. Sure, you can hunt from a backpackers tent, as Ive done many times, but if the temperature plummets below zero and you awaken to six inches of snow on the ground, youre not likely to stay long at the game. By contrast, such conditions just make for finer hunting and happier camping when theres a fire crackling in the wood stove of a wall tent.

Dont like the area youre hunting? If youve booked a room in a local motel, you cant hook your pickup to the front desk and drag your accommodations to the next drainage. With a traditional elk camp, though, youre free to move pretty much wherever your heart desires.

The information in this book is a collection of lore gleaned from my familys fifty-plus years of experience in an elk camp near the headwaters of the Ruby River in southwest Montana. This is how we do it. Thats not to say its the only way or necessarily the best way. But I believe youll find enough information to point you in the right directionand a few good stories to brighten the way.

from the ROCKY MOUNTAIN ELK FOUNDATION

Part of the mystique of elk and elk hunting comes from the fundamentally large nature of the experience: Big cagey animals. Big beguiling country. Big weather. Big excitement. And big camps. An extended backcountry elk-hunt party can seem almost like an expeditionary force, armed and mounted. The logistics can be overwhelming. This book is the answer. Jack Ballard offers elk huntersand anyone else contemplating a prolonged stay in wild countrya handbook for maximizing ease, comfort, and success.

Proper planning prevents poor performance might be Ballards motto.

The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation is proud to partner with The Lyons Press in producing an informative and well-written resource for our members, and for all who have known, or may come to know, the pleasures of a good camp. All the essential ingredients of a traditional elk hunting party are here. You can almost see, smell, hear, and feel the heavy canvas, wood heat and woodsmoke, lantern light, good food, and good company.

Ballards voice is clearly one of both experience and expertise. His economy of words matches the economy of effort that his book will bring to outdoorsmen and women seeking the optimal outdoor experiencethe keys to a camp of comfort, safety, and confidence.

This is an essential book for a very rare and special breed of person: the tent-camp elk hunter. Wall tents, wood stoves, and gas lanternsthe classic camp for the classic elk hunt. This title is destined to be a classic on the subjectdefinitive, comprehensive, comprehensible, and sure to be a welcome gift and resource for elk hunters, those new to camp, and those who have traversed many miles in search of a trophy bull. This book will help you appreciate a good camp not only for the comfort it may provide, but also for the skill, wisdom, logic, and love of it.

J. DART

President

Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation

A half-mile before cresting the rise that opens into a broad, long clearing, I catch a whiff of smoke in the twisting thermals that curl down the trail Im ascending. The smoke, I know, is rising lazily from stovepipes poking from the tents that house my familys elk camp.

The sun disappeared nearly an hour ago, but I havent reached for my flashlight until nowI know this trail well enough to navigate in the dim light of the fading glow on the western horizon. Casting the beam of my light here and there, I look for the smoke. The smell is there, distinct and sharp in the crisp evening air. But try as I might, I cant see the hazy-blue emissions creating the odor.

My pace quickens. The scent of the smoke has brought to mind an enticing picture of what lies ahead. In ten minutes Ill be at camp in the meadow. Ill pull back the tent flap and leave behind the intensifying chill for an atmosphere as warm and inviting as my living room back home. From a warm seat, Ill pull my feet from damp boots and turn my toes toward the wood stove in the corner. Some kind soul will succor me with a cup of steaming cocoa, or a plum glass of merlot. Then Ill regale my companions with a tale of the days hunt. Afterward well eat dinner. Ending the evening with a rousing match of cribbage or a mellow sojourn with a book, Ill nestle into a cozy bed of flannel and fall fast asleep.

The structure that makes such comfort possible at an 8,000-foot elevation, deep in the mountains of southwestern Montana, is a canvas wall tent. Some of the finest nights of my life have passed within such shelters. Fond memories, a few reaching nearly three decades into the recesses of my mind, come to consciousness when I catch the pungent odor of treated canvas: images of my deceased father and uncle laughing, hunting, or lounging about camp.