Wyoming 2015 - pre-elk draw teaser
Elk
Contributors to this thread:
OK, for all you folks anxiously awaiting the Wyoming elk draw results, here is a photo recap of my 2015 hunt. This recap was originally posted on the Indiana forum and I caught some grief from my Western friends for not posting on the elk forum…so here you have it:
Bowhunting the Bighorn Mountain range in Wyoming has been on my bucket list for quite some time. Last February, I learned that dream would become reality when the WY limited entry elk draw results were posted.
The Bighorn range is quite unique. Basically, it is a mountain range sitting smack dab in the middle of the badlands. You will get a view similar to this photo from both the east and west faces of the Bighorns.
Love that country!
Good luck, Robb
The terrain can be extremely steep, with many deep canyons.
Surprisingly, I did not see a single aspen tree in my hunt area. Instead, the hunting area consisted of deadfall-choked dark timber ridges spotted with sage/grass meadows.
I left Indiana the morning of Sunday, 9/5 and arrived at camp Monday afternoon (Labor Day). The remainder of the day was spent setting up camp. This was the view from camp that first evening. (Yes, those are the Rocky Mountains you see in the distance. On a clear night, I could see the lights of Cody, WY....some 80 miles to the west.)
The first day of the hunt, I saw my first elk of the trip...a single cow crossing a sage/grass meadow. I should have snapped a photo of her in order not to forget what an elk looked like...as she would prove to be my only elk sighting for a week!
There was no shortage of mule deer in the area. I must have seen 150-200 head of mule deer on this trip. Had a deer tag in my pocket, but every deer I saw was either a doe, fawn or young buck. Never saw a single buck I considered stalking.
The elk hunting was extremely slow. No sightings, no bugling activity and no fresh elk sign was cause for concern. I talked to local game warden and he assured me the elk would show up when the weather turned.
Spent the first week of the hunt hiking many miles to get a feel for the area. I wanted to be ready if/when the elk made an appearance. This waterfall was a couple miles from camp and well worth the climb.
Excluding elk, there was no shortage of game in this area. Blue grouse were abundant. I often considered inviting one of these birds to dinner, but they exhibited little fear of humans. Guess I would compare shooting one of these grouse to walking into the barnyard and shooting a chicken. Oh well, I had plenty of food in camp anyway....
Of course, the trees were teeming with pesky piney squirrels... announcing my presence to any creature within earshot.
One good thing about the Bighorns is the fact there is no concern of grizzly bears. There are, however, black bear in the Bighorns. I walked up on this guy one morning as he fed under the fallen snag you see in the meadow. Unfortunately, he seemed a bit camera shy and all I got was the rear view.
My second favorite encounter of the hunt (hint, hint), was a face to face with a bull Shiras moose. We met one morning in a sage/grass meadow, traveling opposite directions on the exact same trail. At first, we both stopped and had a stare down. Thinking the bull would vacate the area at any moment, I snapped a quick photo.
I started walking towards the bull, but he did not yield. Wondering what he would do if I yielded...I continued towards him, but veered off the trail about 20 yards. That was all it took...he simply wanted me off that trail before proceeding!
With a human no longer blocking the trail, the bull strolled right past....well within bow range...as if he did not have a concern in the world.
As he passed by, the sun hit his antlers. I grunted in hopes he would stop and pose...and he obliged. What a great morning encounter. Thanks Bullwinkle!
Following a long, hot hike Saturday morning (9/12), I had exhausted the last of my target elk locations in the area....and still had turned up zero fresh elk sign.
I returned to camp for lunch and pulled out the maps. A closer look at the ridge directly behind camp revealed a small drainage splitting the ridge at the north end. I had somehow missed that on the map earlier....and that drainage became the focal point of the afternoon hunt.
Arriving at the drainage, I was faced with something completely new to this area....FRESH ELK SIGN! The ground was littered with fresh elk droppings, tracks galore and even a few fresh rubs. YES!
Sunday and Monday were unseasonably warm. The elk were not talking and I assumed they were held up in the dark timber attempting to stay cool.
I was now 100% focused on this drainage, but with plenty of time left in the hunt and a cold front forecast for Monday night, I kept my intrusions low impact....still hunting slowly through the timber and always with the wind in my face. Last thing I wanted was to blow these elk out of the drainage.
Tuesday morning dawned crisp and clear....with temps well below freezing. Anticipation was high as I left camp. Not a quarter mile into the hike, I bumped two cow elk with calves in a small meadow.
I stopped on the ridge above an extremely steep/deep canyon and heard two bull elk bugling back and forth in the bottom. My first bugles of the hunt on day eight...and those bulls were virtually unreachable. Still, this was a good sign the rut was coming together.
Reaching the drainage, all was quiet. I spent the next two hours still hunting the dark timer and glassing meadows. At 8:30am, it finally happened. A bull elk sounded off from the timber across the meadow above me.
I scrambled along the edge of the meadow towards the sounds as he bugled twice more. When I reached a small ravine at the top of that meadow, I stopped and waited for the bull to reveal his position again. The next bugle was close. The bull was coming my direction.
I stayed put in the timbered ravine, which split two small meadows above my location. The next bugle came from the meadow to my right. I could see the bull crossing into the ravine some 80-100 yards above me. He did not continue across the meadow to my left.
I was close to this bull and had the wind on him. I had not made a sound. He had no idea I was there. I dropped my pack, nocked an arrow, and began working my way up the left side of the ravine.
Maybe 50 yards into the stalk, I could hear cow elk talk close by and then spotted a cow some 50-60 yards up the drainage. I got on my knees in the shade of a pine tree and waited.
Less than a minute passed, and I spotted movement between me and the cow. It was the bull, feeding his way broadside into the meadow. I counted six points on each side and determined he was indeed a shooter. The rangefinder said 40.4 yards....and seconds later, the arrow struck home.
The hit was good and a complete pass through. The bull trotted maybe 15-20 yards in a semi circle and stood looking back into the ravine. He had no idea what had just happened. In no time, he started getting wobbly and went down on the spot. My Wyoming elk hunt was over.
The red arrow shows where the bull was standing when I shot. The green arrow is where he fell.
Walking up on the downed bull…he just kept getting bigger. This bull was everything I came to Wyoming for and more. He is a typical 6X6 with a devil point at the base of his left antler. What a turn of events compared to the previous week!
The remainder of the day and the entire day Wednesday were spent boning and hauling meat back to camp. There were six loads total, including the head. Each load was roughly two miles...one way...and then two miles back with an empty pack. What a workout. Definitely not as young as I used to be!
Of course, when it gets cold in Wyoming...it snows. No bowhunting trip to the mountains of Wyoming would be complete without snow, right?
I hung around for a couple more days and checked out a few more mule deer...to no avail. For the record, I only saw one more elk after punching my tag, a raghorn 5X5 at a water hole on Wednesday evening. Talked to a couple other elk bowhunters that were starting to see elk towards the end of the week though....and there was still a week and a half remaining in the season.
Friday evening, I broke camp and pointed the truck towards Indiana. Thanks for everything Wyoming. The Bighorns are even more incredible than imagined!
Great thread, thanks for sharing, and congrats on a great bull.
Congrats thanks for sharing.
That's what its all about. Great hunt. Congrats.
Gotta love it when it comes together. Congrats!
Well done! I can't get enough of these threads thanks for posting
pav, thank you for putting this thread on the elk forum. Beautiful pictures and a great success story. Good reading for an armchair elk hunter on a Sunday morning ! Great bull too !
Thanks for taking us along. I'm hoping to be hunting the bighorns this fall. I hope the experience is the same for me.
Thanks for posting. A great Sunday morning read. Congrats. Hunt
Yes sir, I enjoyed reading that story, very well done! Looks like you were blessed with a great bull, icing on the cake!! (grin)
ElkNut1
Thanks for sharing. What area/unit was this?
Sounds like an awesome experience. Congratulations.
Great story and write-up. Thanks for sharing. I expect to draw a tag for the Bighorns this year. Can't wait!
Paul, glad you finally posted this on the main forum. Congrats all around for a great story, great hunt, great bull! Rob
Well worth the wait, Paul....great bull, congrats!
Grats pav!
Great bull! Sounds like a great hunt. Thanx for posting it.
awesome hunt for you! Really gets me pumped might be hunting the bighorns this fall as well.
Paul, You sure know how to make a guy miss the ole stomping grounds. Again congrats on the hard won bull.
Congrats Paul and thanks for the write up.
Thanks and best of luck to all in 2016!
One last photo....the constant reminder of another "hunt of a lifetime" hanging in the staircase. A man just can't have too many of those!
PAV Thanks for sharing. I am pretty confident I will draw. Hope my experience is as good as yours was. How about sharing your bow setup and arrow specs.
Love those Euro mounts. Did you score him
I was shooting a Mathews Drenalin LD with a 29" draw and pulling 67 pounds. Gold tip 7595 arrow w/ 125gr Montec G5 for a total arrow weight of 485gr. The arrow was a complete pass through at 40 yards and stuck in the ground some 20 yards beyond the bull. I'm definitely a fan of heavy arrows. Shot completely through a Wyoming bull moose with the exact same setup in 2013.
I'm not an official scorer, but did put a tape on him. If my measurements are accurate, he will gross just over 330" and net mid 320's. Will have him officially scored at the Indiana Bowhunter Association banquet in March.
Great hunt and story!
Thanks for sharing
Great bull and story thanks for sharing
Thanks for sharing the story. Nice bull. Congrats. >>>>------>
Great story, I've got those same pics ha ha! Love that area!
Congrats! Thanks for sharing! maybe I should get my story together and get it posted up on here...
Great story! We may not have been too far apart. I too hunted the western side of the Bighorns last year. Beautiful country for sure!
Conrats!