This hunt starts back two years ago when I had enough points to draw the same tag I hit on the random this year. It really starts well prior to that when I emailed a now friend some questions about the different units I could draw and what his thoughts were about them. After deciding on the type of hunt I wanted, I picked a unit and drew the tag. That season I spent 10 days chasing bugles all over the mountain and had a great hunt that ended on my 10th and final day with a missed chip shot on a solid 6 point bull that I had called in.
That’s how elk hunting has been for me. Draw great tags, but just can’t seem to kill the darn things… I have been fortunate to draw some solid tags. Drew Gila the first time I applied, then took a couple years off to chase some other critters, then drew it again the next time I applied, took a couple years off so mamma didn’t have to stay home with 3 real young kids and now have drawn the Bighorns twice in three years. Mix in an Idaho OTC trip and I have over 40 days chasing elk in well above average areas and I have yet to kill one. Not necessarily the elks fault, I goofed up along the way and had passed several branch antler bulls as I had my goal set on a solid 6x6.
With all of that said, I still really wanted to kill an elk and wasn’t stopping until I got it done. So with about a week left in the WY draw, I changed my mind from adding a second point and decided to apply in the same unit I hunted two years ago, knowing I only had a shot at the random tag. Much to my surprise, I actually drew the darn thing and I was like a kid in a candy store! The only down side was I had 6 months to wait until the season gets here. So after all of the normal prep and list checking, it finally is departure day. So my buddy and I head off with elk on the brain!
After 26 hours of driving and over 1,500 miles, we finally made it to our camping spot. We get camp setup by 5 pm, so we have time to make a run over to a spot that I hunted several times two years ago and do some glassing.
Here’s camp
We climbed to the top of the mountain that has a great view of several meadows and glass until dark. We didn’t actually spot any elk but we ran into three guys from Minnesota that were mule deer hunting and we also spotted two guys down in the valley that were mule deer hunting as well.
This is a small part of the meadow, and we were glassing to the right of the picture.
Little did we know that this would turn out to be a common theme just about everywhere we would go. Two years ago, I never ran into a hunter on the side of the mountain and only bumped into a couple at the trail heads.
We started the day with a 5 am wake up and a chilly 30* morning. We planned to head over to the same mountain we were glassing at the night before because two years ago, we were into bulls non-stop there and it is actually a very easy mountain to hunt.
We are a little bit late leaving the trailhead, but this sunrise was worth it.
I headed out quickly with a goal of reaching a certain opening with a wallow and chase bugles from there. Wayne would catch up to me a little later. As I approached the opening, I spot two cows feeding about 80 yards away. So I drop my pack and ready for a bull in the area. About the time I settle in, I see antlers coming out from behind a wood pile right next to the cows. It’s a 7x5 bull (a definite shooter) and he walks out in the opening and bugles a couple times. The bull follows the cows that are starting to feed up the fire trail in the opposite direction. I’m just a little too far away for a shot, so I sneak over to the wood pile which cuts the distance to 60 yards. As the bull feeds behind some spruce, I move up to the next wood pile trying to cut the distance some more.
Here’s a pic of the meadow and the two wood piles. The cows fed up to the opening on the left with the bull in tow.
As I settled in to chuckle at the bull knowing he was only 60 yards away, I catch him turn and bound up the hill. He must’ve caught me moving somehow as the wind was steady and perfect. I let out a bugle with chuckles to see if the bull may return for his cows, but no luck. So, I continue to watch his cows feed in the opening and water at the water hole in the back.
After all the action moves on, Wayne catches up to me and I relay how close I was to ending it within the first 15 minutes of the hunt. We decide to continue along the logging road for the next four miles bugling along the way and don’t get any responses. Pretty unusual for this ridge based on our history here.
All I spotted were two coyotes about a mile away and Wayne saw a couple mule deer heading into a water hole at the top of the mountain but no elk. We also saw several hundred head of sheep being rounded up about a mile away.
We wake up a little earlier this am and push it out of camp to get back over to the spot where we ran into the bull yesterday. I leave the truck at 6 am trying to get to the meadow before shooting light. I arrive right around shooting light and wait for about 45 minutes hoping the bull from the day before would show or some of the other elk that normally feed in a large meadow on the other side of the mountain.
We decide to repeat the process that we did yesterday AM with pretty much the same results. As we hit the end of the road with no bugles, I decide that we are going to drop down half way to the bottom of this North facing mountain and work our way back to the truck thru the cover and send out some bugles along the way. We should either hear elk or bump them if they are here as we make our way. We find some nice wallows, water holes and rubs along the way, but no elk were seen or heard as we covered the four mile face.
We hunted this same ridge pretty heavy last time and we never went a day without chasing bugles somewhere along the mountain. So is elk, you have to go where they are and they aren’t on this mountain right now.
In the afternoon, we head over to a different drainage right close to camp. Wayne decides to sit on a meadow this evening to give his legs a break and look for elk. I am going to hike to the top of the drainage to see if there are any elk in this basin.
On my way to the top, I hear a couple bugles begin to fire up way at the top of the mountain. As I make my way, I’m having a hard time figuring out which side of the canyon the bulls are bugling from as they echo through the canyon. After 15-20 minutes and hearing the bulls bugle some more, I finally figure out where they are and I give chase all the way to the top only to run out of day light with the bulls bugling 150 yards away.
Since we left the bulls bugling at the top of the canyon last night, I figured no better place to start the day than back at the top. So I head to the top solo as Wayne is taking a break this am. I have about a mile and quarter hike from the truck and about 700 feet of elevation change to get to the top. About half way to the top, I notice the sun is just breaking over the horizon and is casting some pretty cool colors thru the clouds.
It takes until about 7 am this morning for a bull to bugle and he is in about the same spot as last night. I give chase and finish my climb up the mountain. I try a direct route towards him and the timber is just too thick to make any serious headway. I even thought about leaving him be for a minute as he had gone silent pretty quick and I didn’t want to push them out of this drainage.
I decide to find another way into his hiding area and start climbing. I stop for a break at a spot that looks like the elk have been using as a cattle fence crossing location to enter the bedding area. I wasn’t standing there much more than 5 minutes when I heard the rumbling of hoofs hitting the ground as I look in that direction, a jack rabbit takes off and instantly two cows appear out of nowhere. They spot me about the same time I spot them and they turn and head straight up the mountain taking the rest of the herd with them. I’m not sure if there is a bull in the herd, but there had to be at least 6-10 cows in this herd as they make their way up the mountain side.
During my reading, several guys have said that you should knock an arrow every time you call. I’d take that one step further and knock an arrow every time you stop in an “elky” area. There were a few times where I could’ve gotten close to killing if I would’ve just knocked an arrow sooner. I’ll point out the times as I continue the story.
After the ruckus settles down, I continue up the mountain heading to the drainage where the bugling was happening earlier. After 10 minutes of climbing, I hear a bugle from the very top. Shortly after, a second bull bugles. My guess is the herd I just bumped into has now just bumped into the earlier herd and neither bull is happy. But I am, because with every step I take, I am getting closer to two bulls that are now into an all out arguing match. If that doesn’t make you run up the mountain side, you better just go sit back at camp. I take off at a full sprint straight up the mountain trying to get close before the may lay is over. Within minutes, I am within 100 yards looking for the herd. The wind is still in my face and they are on the top rim of cover which is broken enough to provide perfect cover and also allow me to sneak in range.
Then it happens…
As I look for a place to move to for a better angle, I hear a bunch of crashing coming from my right and slightly downhill close to the herd. I look and as quick as this all started, another herd busts in and blows both herds out of the valley… I continue to chase the big bull around the timber as they only moved 2-300 yards because the other herd came crashing in. I move around the corner 100 yards and I see two other hunters following and circling around the top a couple hundred feet above me. It now comes to light that these two guys were chasing the bugles we were making and bumped into the other herd which blew them right on top of me.
I stop and talk with the guys, one has an elk tag, the other a deer tag. Both were pretty nice guys and were kinda sorry that they busted up my opportunity. Since the target bull has now moved into another valley, I decide to find a spot in this very active area to sit down, have a snack and wait for something else to present itself.
Hopefully something comes in to visit several of these in the immediate area…
I move down the valley 100 yards or so and I walk up on a spike and a cow not more than 20 yards away. The wind sorta swirls and they decide to move on. As do I, trying to find a more consistent wind and a spot to stop. I walk up on another spike and he is right between me and a growly bugle down the mountain 150 yards or so. I try moving without busting the spike out, but there is no way past him so I wait a few minutes until he decides to move along.
Just as I decide to chase the bugle, the two guys go walking by me, so I just decide to find a quieter place and head back to the truck as it is already 11 am anyways.
I decide to head back to the same drainage again this evening even knowing the guys might still be in there because there was so much sign in this drainage and I know the 6x6 didn’t go too far. As Wayne and I leave camp, it begins to really start pouring. So much so that we put the rain gear on expecting to be out in it for the entire evening.
We park the truck at the gate, climb the fence and start working our way down an old logging road that leads up the valley of this drainage. The drainage has ample grass meadows all throughout the bottom and makes a great place for elk to feed close to cover in the evenings. We make it 300 yards from the truck and nearly the same spot that Wayne sat on the valley meadow the night before and I spot fresh elk tracks that crossed the road. Knowing that it has been raining hard, these elk have to be really close. We move maybe 50 yards closer to the meadow and see a couple cows feeding. Wayne hangs back from the edge and I knock an arrow and stalk my way to the edge. I now have several cows feeding within 30 yards, but don’t see a bull in the area.
After 5-10 minutes, a bugle comes from the other side of the drainage not more than 200 yards away and the cows decide they need to move on and head directly to the herd bull. Looking back, we should’ve waited for the herd to clear the meadow and then crossed to work the herd bull. Not really sure why we didn’t…
We continue to work this side of the drainage with no luck until we run out of day light and make our way back to the truck.
I can't say I have a ton of experience with wall tents, but I can't see how you can really improve on the tent. I bought their angle kit, cut my own pipe and I can put it up myself in short order. I bought it two years ago before my Idaho hunt and have used it on two trips so far and have zero complaints. haven't used a stove in it yet. It's a palace for two guys!
Since I’ve been running into bulls, I head up to the same drainage. I head right up to the top of the mountain trying to get to the top before the elk do. Once I’m to the top, I circle around to get the wind in my favor and I find a seat to wait for the bugles to start. Unfortunately, no bugles follow and after a half hour or so, I see the same two guys again working the top of the timber as I sit and wait.
After not hearing anything all AM, I decide that I’m going to work my way over to a patch of timber that I stalked up on a herd mid-day two years ago. It is basically on the way back to the truck, so it makes good sense as the morning winds are settling down. I slowly zig-zag my way thru the dark timber patch that is no more than 300 yards wide and a half mile long but surrounded by great habitat on all sides. I take a couple hours to work thru the timber patch giving off a few bugles along the way, but the wind is blowing so hard, I can barely hear myself. The wind does make good stalking conditions, giving me lots of background noise as I move along. After taking a couple hours to work thru the timber, I pop out at the bottom and take the fire lane back to the truck. Back at the truck, I run into two resident hunters that were hunting the same drainage this AM. While chatting, they mention that two guys had killed an elk at the top of the drainage and were out in the meadow working on it. They couldn’t tell if it was a bull or a cow.
Glad to see two guys will be leaving the area, but now we have two new guys… The joys of public land hunting!
As the afternoon wears on back at camp, it starts raining really hard and a neighbor camping next to us stops by to chat. He is heading out to work for a week or so and wanted to see if we could keep an eye on his camp. As we talked, he gave us a bunch of good information and even pointed out a drainage where he had seen two “350” bulls in a couple days earlier. Although, I teased him a time or two, he wouldn’t give up the location of the “380” bull he was hunting. We had talked long enough that the rain had begun to pass and we all decided it would be a perfect time to go out and just glass the meadows.
So we load up the truck and start driving, stopping every so often to glass meadows that you could see from the roads. We hit one that was a mile or two from the road and we spot 4 different bulls out in this meadow and not one cow. Sorta surprised there weren’t any cows. We pulled out the spotting scope and see that two of the bulls are solid 6x6’s, but can’t really tell much more as the wind is blowing so hard from the passing storm. It was too late to make a play on those elk tonight, but it gave us options for the next day. We continued to drive around the unit well after dark and he pointed out several other spots that had held elk in the past. This was all a great gesture from another tag holder that we had only met a few hours earlier.
Since we saw those bulls in the meadow last night, we switched drainages to see if we can make a play on those bulls. As we approach the drainage, we follow another truck right to the same spot we were going to climb up. I’ve about had it with bumping into people at this point and turn back out and head for a new drainage arriving well after day light.
There is also a guy at this drainage getting ready to head out, but we chat a bit and it sounds like he is going to the opposite side of where I have intensions of going. So we start to work our way up the drainage and run into a bunch of bovine cows and one of the cows doesn’t like it that I’m between her and her calf, so she gets a little ornery with me but no harm no foul and we continue to make our way.
As we continue to make our way up the drainage about a mile from the truck, I spot a bull 200 feet above the valley floor feeding across an opening. We immediately give chase to get a closer look. I don’t believe he is a shooter, but he may be trailing a herd with a better bull and the ridge he is crossing is supposed to be very good.
We climb until we reach the meadow he was feeding in and begin to follow. We are about 30 minutes behind him, but he should be heading to bed and we will get the elk talking if they are there. We work our way down the mountain side and find several very good wallows, water holes, rubs and even a rag horn dead head.
We stop about every hundred yards and do a little calling as the wind is pretty good for us. After covering two miles of beautiful elk country, we reach some nice meadows at the top, but we never did run across any elk. Funny how elk hunting is more about finding the elk than it really is about hunting them…
Since it is well past Noon, we decide to have lunch next to this beautiful stream. After lunch, Wayne catches a quick nap and I practice shooting my bow on the hillsides to get some steep angle practice in. After lunch, we decide to work our way back to the truck so we can make it to the gas station for fuel and get back for an evening hunt in a different drainage as the elk aren’t here today.
After running for fuel, I decide to head to a small meadow close to the road and I figured I could hear elk bugling from the meadow that we glassed elk from the other night. I heard a bugle on my way up, so I headed over to that area and as I moved through, I walked within 25 yards of another hunter set up on a meadow. I slowly slipped out of the area and proceeded to another spot to wait out the last hour of daylight.
About 15 minutes later… another guy comes walking off this meadow and I can do nothing but laugh at the number of encounters. I decide I’m done with the evening hunt and walk back to the truck with this guy as he is camped right next to my truck. On our walk, I find out there are 4 or 5 different guys hunting this small area, so you can bet I won’t be back here again no matter how many bulls I see…
While this was all going on, Wayne was sitting down by the truck listening to bugles all night waiting for a mule deer buck to show its face…
After I get back to the truck, we decide to head to the local restaurant for dinner and maybe a cocktail... While eating dinner, I over hear a guy talking about having a moose tag and the day before we had bumped into a guy that had seen a TOAD of a bull. I struck up conversation with the guy and after about 15 minutes of talking, he tipped me off to a canyon that his buddy had killed a “320” bull in the day before and the bigger herd bull was still around bugling as he was working on packing it out.
28* and about two inches of snow this AM at wake up!
I head off solo to the canyon that was recommended the night before and as soon as I open my truck door, I hear a bugle 4-500 feet above me in an open meadow. It is still way to dark to see the bull, but it certainly is nice to hear bugles again and not have anyone at the trailhead.
I try to decide if the bull is coming or going based on its bugles and decide that it is heading away, so I continue along my route which will take me about two miles up the canyon to a distant meadow. After a half mile and 300 feet of elevation gain, while stopping to catch my wind and glass the opposite side of the drainage, I spot a bull feeding out in a meadow. I decide he is border line, but I want to take a closer look. So I drop back down in elevation and cross the drainage to trail him. I get to the area he was and give out several cow calls and a location bugle trying to get a response from the bull. He doesn’t respond at all, but the original bull that was bugling when I got out of the truck fires off again and this time I can tell he is definitely heading my direction. Since the one was border line, I decide I need to check out the one bugling on top of the canyon.
So I drop and climb again switching sides of the canyon a second time in the last 30 minutes… After climbing about 500 feet to get to the bugling bulls elevation, I enter the timber where he is bugling from. I am not much further than 200 yards from him. I work my way thru the timber as he keeps bugling giving me an easy trail. Then, I cut his track, making it even easier to pin point his location. Once I’m within 75 yards, I get a visual of him, but can’t see how big he is. As I’m working my way over, I begin to hear these grunting sounds coming just up the mountain. My previous experience tells me Moose and he is heading right towards the bull.
This is perfect, I now have a bugling bull and a rutting bull moose within 75 yards of me in the timber. The moose is crashing thru the timber making all kinds of noise, so I use it as cover to gain ground on the bull elk. As the bull moose passes the elk, the elk lets off a bugle and I’m now within 30 yards and have a great visual of him. He is a 5x, but I want to play with him for the experience. I hit him with a bugle and chuckles which gets me an immediate response. He works a little closer as I have to cross a dead fall, I rake a tree to cover some of my noise. We are now within 25 yards and he is closing slowly. I think he is scared to see how big of an elk I am at this point. We get about 20 yards apart, I scream at him and he has had enough and bounds away before he gets his butt kicked.
He never really knew what I was and had I not been so aggressive, I’m pretty confident he would’ve came right over even closer offering a chip shot. Oh well, that was fun and it was still only 7:30 am and I have fresh snow on the ground!
As I emerge from the timber heading back to my original destination, I am greeted by this view
As I side hill my way along, I spot elk about a mile away feeding across a meadow. There is a nice 6 point bull, a rag horn and ~25 cows and calves in the meadow. They are too far away to make a play on right now, but I make note of where they are heading and likely bedding spots for later in the day.
They were in the meadow that is just right of center with the island of trees in the middle and were feeding up and to the left of the picture.
As I continue my way back, I cut the track of a lone bull and know he is likely heading to bed and it is really fresh with this new snow. So I begin to follow him and he takes me on a journey thru some beautiful areas and is basically heading the same way I was intending to go anyways. Every time we approach areas that look like potential bedding areas, I will let off a location bugle looking for a response.
After a full 1.5 miles of trailing and bugling, I haven’t had one response, but we have approached the best looking spot so far. So once again I let off a location bugle and nothing… So after 10 minutes and as I have probably 20 times on this track, I start to move forward along the track only to have a bull jump from his bed not 20 yards away!! I can’t believe the bull didn’t move or make a sound when I bugled less than 50 yards from him.
After covering most of the bedding areas on this side of the drainage and the wind not really being right to make a play on the area I believe the feeding herd headed to, I decide to follow the stream back to my truck arriving about 11:30.
Very glad I followed the stream back as I was able to take some pretty cool pics with the snow.
Since he finally has his license in hand, Wayne decides he is going to mule deer hunt the bottom of the canyon that I’m going to elk hunt this evening, so he tags along. I head up to the meadow I spotted the elk in this AM, hoping they would sound off and give me a location where they were or feed back in this same area tonight.
I sit over this meadow for about an hour and don’t see or hear anything, so I decide to stalk thru the timber to an adjacent meadow that looks like it may be a more likely place as the elk drop down from their mid-day bedding.
As I’m approaching the second meadow, I spot an elk feeding thru the timber in route to the meadow about 60 yards in front of me. I see it is a bull, so as he moves behind a large spruce, I move quickly in his direction closing the distance to 35 yards or so. As he makes his way to the meadow, I see that he is smaller than I want and my heart really wasn’t into killing him as he entered the meadow 35 yards from my ambush location.
As he feeds across, I find a better ambush spot if the main herd is behind him and wait in this location.
The bull slowly fed into the meadow between the large spruce and my current location. This spot should put any elk within bow range that feeds down into this meadow. It would make a great tree stand location for someone that couldn’t cover the miles anymore.
I hold this spot out until dark, but only hear a couple bugles still way up the mountain during the last 20 minutes of daylight. When I make it back to my truck, Wayne tells me that he missed a decent buck at 40 yards. In two trips out here, he has had shots at a mule deer buck in really only a couple times trying as he has either tagged along with me or stayed at camp.
With another morning below freezing, it has been a pleasure waking up in the AM and hiking these beautiful mountains. I decide to head back to the same meadow as yesterday evening. Even though I covered the entire canyon on both sides, I never heard a bugle or got a response to mine. I did have an interesting encounter with a bull moose at 20 yards and found a nice wallow on the hillside.
If this was a bull elk, I wouldn’t have been able to shoot it as my bow was laying on the ground next to me as I took a break in the shade…
That evening, we decided to try another place that we had heard of, but it was several miles away which had deterred us from making the trip, but we were up for something new tonight. This spot is a long logging road that intersects with several openings that the elk will feed out into.
They look very nice and the area usually holds a lot of elk, but nothing tonight. We approached each opening carefully and bugled, but no responses. There were a lot of boot tracks and horse crap all along the trail, so I’d say they have been pretty pressured in this area. We only heard a lone bugle at least a mile away minutes before darkness set in. We did see an absolute monster Bull moose at less than 20 yards with a cow he was tending. That was well worth the trip over this evening.
Another wake up below freezing, but we had a slight alarm malfunction this AM and we didn’t wake up until 15 minutes before shooting light, so the race was on to get out of the tent and get to our spot. Since it has been a week since we had visited the area I saw the 7x5 the first day, we figured we would head back. This mountain side is too good to not hold elk for an extended time and in two weeks last time, we only ran into one guy, so we were off to the races.
It’s about a 20 minute drive over and then you head down a long two track that leads to the trailhead. As we make the turn on to the two track, we notice a truck just ahead of us, then a second one appears from a valley. The deer hunters like this area as well so we continue down the road until we see a third truck driving up the path! I mean does anyone ever get to their spot before daylight? It is late as heck if you ask me, but we now have four trucks and who knows how many hunters driving down the lane and maybe more parked at the trailhead. I’m the last one in line, so I bail!!
I decide we need to hit a close spot since it is getting late, so I head over to the creek where I had the close encounter with the 6x6 that was busted at the last minute. We make it to the trailhead and we are all alone it looks like. So I take off trying to cover ground hoping a bugle rains out and I can start the chase.
This spot where two bulls were fighting over night seems promising but nothing down low, so I continue up the mountain.
I make it to the top and drop into the bedding area and give off a couple bugles. I get an immediate response about 200 yards down the valley, so I drop to get a little closer. As I get close, I am slowly stalking my way thru the timber, looking for the herd, when I see a guy approaching… Here we go again!! I ask him if he just responded to my bugles and sure enough it was him. We have a nice chat and even though I am running into people, I’ve had a much better hunt so far as compared to him as he hasn’t even heard a bugle yet in 5 or 6 days.
I decide the AM is a bust, so I head to the meadow and follow the valley back to the truck. On my way, what else do you expect me to run into to?? A nice family of four out for a late morning walk. Lol!
Wayne and I depart the truck with a high meadow in mind. Wayne is going to sit on one leg of the meadow and I’m going to drop down in deeper and cover the other portion and hopefully chase some bugles.
Here’s a view of most of the meadow, Wayne is sitting around the corner to the right out of my sight.
I reach my viewing spot and within 30 minutes, I have a small rag horn walk out from behind me at 20 yards and proceeds to feed right out in front of me. Once again, I didn’t knock an arrow… My bow is laying on my lap, but no arrow is nocked and the bull is only at 20 yards feeding. Lucky for me and him, I’m not interested in shooting him.
A little while later a cow moose feeds her way to the top of the meadow.
And a closer look thru the binos
After a few minutes, this cow and calf feed into the meadow. They were followed by a rutting bull, but I didn’t take any pics of him. Only some video of him destroying one of the spruce trees in the pic. Wayne had the bull within 8 yards and has some great video that I’ll try to get uploaded.
With only two more hunting days left, I’m going to need a break somehow and seeing the undisturbed elk tonight was one heck of a confidence builder. As dark settles in, we make our way back to the truck and devise a plan for the morning.
I head out of camp with a plan to head up and over the opposite side of the mountain that I watched the herd from the night before. I needed to gain the elevation no matter which way I went, but this would be a little shorter and then I should be able to have a strong wind blowing in my face as I approached the herd.
I make it to the top of the mountain with about 30 minutes until shooting light and I immediately hear a bull bugling only a couple hundred yards away in the pitch black. The elk are in the same spot they were the evening before. About 10 minutes before shooting light, I am able to make out a couple cows bedded in the meadow. I now can see the solid 6x6 herd bull bugling and patrolling the area with a rag horn in tow.
As it passes legal shooting time, I start making a move through the broken timber on the edge of the meadow trying to work ahead of the herd. Or at least where I think they are going to go. I’m now within 50 yards of a feeding calf and cow with a good wind still. The herd bull is bugling on the other side of the herd and out of sight.
As I hear him bugle close by, I start to bugle trying to get him to come defend his herd. He responds and comes closer bugling, I cut him off as he is well within 100 yards. The cows are now watching in my direction as well, but no one is spooked. He bugles again and I cut him off again. And then it happens…
I needed this winter "hunt!"
Mark
As I approach the bottom, I start to hear more bugles and spot a small bull following the path the cow moose took the night before and climb to the top of the mountain. I am now at the bottom standing on the edge of the meadow and there are no less than 5 bulls bugling around me and I can’t see a one of them.
I then spot some elk right on the timber circling the bottom about 150 yards ahead of me. I start to make a move across the meadow floor when a bull bugles and makes his way out into the meadow bugling about every other step it seems. He is a definite shooter and only 80 yards away!! As his path takes him behind a large spruce, I run right up next to it and wait for him to pass by a rock at 35 yards.
So now I’m chasing the bugles up the other side of the mountain and the entire valley is filled with sweet September music. I don’t know which way to turn… I climb up chasing some and then drop back down going after others. It is an absolute riot and I’m still not even close to the elk! I give off a couple bugles trying to keep the elk talking so I can move in on them and they all are talking.
It is only 9 am and I have covered 5 miles running around this valley and hillside chasing bugles and it is only two square miles… As 10 am rolls around all the bugles have quieted down and I haven’t found one that wants to fight or defend his herd yet. Every time I get close, they move their herd a little further and I haven’t been able to quite sneak in on one yet. Right now, I wish I had a caller that could just stand still and locate bugle so I could sneak in and get close to the herd, but not today.
After some more failed attempts to move in on a herd, I head back to the camp to start getting things organized as we only have one day left before we have to make the trip back home. Boy what a morning hunt and I didn’t even come close really!
For the afternoon, Wayne and I are both down in the bottom vantage point hoping the elk return to this area tonight. We aren’t there 5 minutes and a bull chuckles in the timber to the right across the valley but out of frame of the above pic and then the bull moves up the hill to his herd all the way back up where they were last night. We may have just missed him coming in for a drink, but I really didn’t think there was a herd bedded in that location based on this morning’s action all being on the other side of the valley.
About 6:20 PM a 5x5 bull walks out at the very top of the mountain on the other side. If you look at the meadow pic above, he was all the way to the top along the tree line. It has to be a half mile across and 4 or 5 hundred feet above us and it is wide open. At first, I just watch the bull slowly feed in the meadow as it crosses. Then I think a minute…
I am on day 57 of my elk hunting career spread over 5 separate trips and I have yet to let the air out of a bull yet. I’ve had two shots at solid 6 point bulls that didn’t go my way, I’ve had many opportunities on smaller bulls and still have had a blast, but I haven’t killed yet and here is a respectable first bull right across the valley…
So I grab my bugle and let one out. It grabs his attention and he bugles back. I have now decided if I can bring this bull all the way across the valley into bow range, I am going to take him. So we continue to trade bugles and at first he ignores me a bit, but then I cut him off as he bugles and hit him with a scream. His whole demeanor really changes after that. I can now see he is committed and starts trotting my way. When he gets half way, he stops to look around, so I move back into the timber to bugle and muffle the sound, trying to give him a different look. Works like a charm and he starts trotting my way again and this time comes all the way to the bottom of the creek. When he drops down, I give another bugle knowing he can’t see and run up to the edge of the timber figuring he will come right in the timber looking for the herd.
I now see him climbing my side of the timber and he is heading right for an opening not 10 yards in front of me. I come to full draw…
I make my way over to Wayne and I think he was going to choke me for not shooting this bull as he was able to sit 30 yards away and watch the entire show. Wayne never really knew where I was, so he had thought I called the bull all the way across the meadow just to pass him at 20 yards…
Being able to see how that bull reacted to my calling was priceless! Different bugles, different tones, going into the woods, all of it was really cool and a blast! In hind sight, I should’ve known that he wasn’t going to enter the woods to pick a fight until he had a visual confirmation. I should’ve called from the woods and then moved off to the side and snuck right to the edge and shot him out in the open. Live and learn, we still have to kill an elk yet!! After that was over, the bulls began to bugle at the top of the mountain in the small meadow again, just like they did last night. Only difference tonight is I couldn’t see them and they ultimately fed over the top of the mountain and on to the other side.
I make my way over to Wayne and I think he was going to choke me for not shooting this bull as he was able to sit 30 yards away and watch the entire show. Wayne never really knew where I was, so he had thought I called the bull all the way across the meadow just to pass him at 20 yards…
Being able to see how that bull reacted to my calling was priceless! Different bugles, different tones, going into the woods, all of it was really cool and a blast! In hind sight, I should’ve known that he wasn’t going to enter the woods to pick a fight until he had a visual confirmation. I should’ve called from the woods and then moved off to the side and snuck right to the edge and shot him out in the open. Live and learn, we still have to kill an elk yet!! After that was over, the bulls began to bugle at the top of the mountain in the small meadow again, just like they did last night. Only difference tonight is I couldn’t see them and they ultimately fed over the top of the mountain and on to the other side.
With all of the action we have had in the past couple days, I wasn’t afraid of the last day one bit. Actually I embraced it, two years ago I had a shot at 9 am on the last day in this exact unit, I just blew the shot last time. I figured I’d basically make the same play this morning as I did yesterday and if I didn’t kill in the AM, I would search out why the bull left his herd the other day and bugled down by the water in the timber. I figured there must be water or a wallow buried in there and maybe I’d setup on it the entire afternoon waiting him out.
Back up on top in the saddle before daylight again waiting for the bugles to start. This time nothing happens. No worries, there were a ton of bugles down below yesterday, so I’ll work my way down to get a head start on them. On my way down, I work thru the timber looking for that water seep or wallow, etc, but can’t find one. Not really sure why that bull was so far away from his cows the other day.
It’s now well past 7 and I haven’t heard a bugle yet. I decide to climb into the areas where I heard bugles yesterday AM and take a look. Nothing, I work my way another mile around the face of the bedding area where I bumped the bull from his bed in the snow. Nothing!! Now doubt is starting to set in and I’m starting to believe the end of the trip is going to end as a dud. So I sit down on the side of the mountain and look my maps over. It is now 8:15 AM and I haven’t heard a thing all morning other than a horny cow moose.
After looking the maps and aerials over on my phone, I think about the handful of bulls that crossed the large meadow and went up and over the top. I think about the herd that fed over the saddle last night and didn’t return to this side. I already covered this side enough, there was really only one choice. And that was to climb the 500’ to the top of the meadow and cross over the top and hit the faces on the back side.
Knowing it is getting late in the day, this herd is probably settled in pretty well. I check the wind and it is coming from the elk to me and slightly up hill. So I just ease along step by step, watching for elk in the trees or a bedded bull. I do this for 30-40 minutes and there are no more bugles and I haven’t seen an elk.
I get the urge to make something happen, so I just let off a series of high pitched chuckles… And Nothing!! A minute or two later, I give a bugle followed by chuckles… That gets a growly bugle back right on que. This bull is well within 100 yards, so I move closer, 20 yards or so and chuckle again. Another growly response as I’m moving downhill 10 yards or so and inching closer. I catch his tops coming thru the timber no more than 50 yards away. Back and left of the picture below. I stay silent and find a spot that offers a couple decent shooting lanes and drop to my knees.
This time he stops right behind the trees and is only 15 yards away looking again. I’m still holding at full draw. I’m beginning to wonder if I should let down? Has he spotted me? What is the wind doing right now? What do I do if he turns back?
Then he continues along his route passing behind the cluster of trees at a mere 12 yards. He turns slightly towards me as he takes a few steps. He is now aggressively quartered to me. I look for a shot location and I find my pin settling on the front side of his right shoulder about a 1/3 up the body. He stops and the arrow takes flight. It impacts exactly where my pin was aimed and the bull busts out.
As he immediately retreats in a half moon circle crossing thru the 35 yard shooting lane again, I am letting out a bugle hoping to slow him down. No sooner than he crosses the window in the front again, he crashes branches like a derailed freight train and makes a ton of noise. I grab my phone to mark the shot location on GPS and see it is 9:57 AM and that I’ve covered 6.5 miles on my step counter this AM already.
I sit on my knees for a couple minutes not moving, just wondering if I have really accomplished what I know really has happened. I can’t see him from my location, but I saw him go down, right?
Arrow looks good and that is a ton of penetration. I peak over to where he crashed away and I don’t see him. Could this possibly be a repeat of last year’s elk? It was a tough angle shot again? But I was solid in front of the shoulder and got good penetration? Did I get both lungs? Heart? Or did I hit the shoulder and skip it down the outside of his ribs like last year?
Congrats on a well earned bull!!!
Mark
After a few hugs and cheers back at camp, Wayne and I hung up the first quarter and then headed back up the mountain for the rest of the work. Once there, we took a couple pics of him and I since he has joined me on three of my five elk trips, so he has certainly suffered thru the highs and lows right along with me. After the hero pics, I get right to work skinning and quartering the bull out.
Here’s the rest of my arrow. It had fully penetrated the chest cavity and was just under the skin right at the last couple ribs.
After getting the bull all broke down, we load the second hind in my pack and a front quarter in Wayne’s. I beat Wayne back to the truck, so I unload my quarter and head back to meet up with him a little past half way. I grab his loaded pack and head for the truck while he takes my empty pack back to the bull for another load. Now back at the bull, we have a front shoulder on Wayne’s pack and I load mine up with the head, horns, cape, back straps and misc. meat to get everything out and done tonight.
I make it about 150 yards and intentionally tip over like a turtle on my back against the mountain. I’m spent, I have to take some weight off, so I take the straps and misc. meat out of the pack and proceed ahead with just the bull. I haven’t weighed it, but I swear the bull weighed more than the hind quarters did according to my legs…
After we made it to the truck well after dark, I check my phone for the time and saw that I put on 18.75 miles today in total. Somehow when we made it back to camp, we still found the energy to break out the cocktails for a good victory celebration while listening to a bull bugle right in camp and enjoying a nice fire.
Thank you!
One thing I noticed in reading your story is you seem to call excessively. To each his own, but one thing I like to do when in the midst of all the bugles is stay quiet, and not call. If you know where they are, why tell them where your at? Calling is a ton of fun, but to me its easier to kill a bull when I'm quiet. That said you need vocal elk to assist in finding them. No offense intended, and again - congrats. That trip sounds fulfilling whether you drew blood or not.
Grats on your bull!
Congratulations!
Thanks for sharing!
ElkNut1
DJ
Would you mind listing the camera equipment you used to take photos you posted?
Congrats
Good luck, Robb
BagginBigguns, All the pics were just taken with my phone. A Samsung S5 Active. I now have the S6 and can't get it to take as good sunrise photos, but I'm guessing that is a settings issue.
Ron, I figured you would recognize every pic! ;) Thanks for all of your help buddy!
They do on my phone though...
Thanks for sharing
Thanks, Paul
What set up were you shooting?
--Mitch
I was shooting a 70lb Prodigy at 28.5" draw, CX Pile driver arrows with 125 Slick Trick Mags. My total arrow weight is a little over 500 grains.
You really captured the essence of elk hunting. (including all the encounters with other hunters;) Sounds like you earned this one, and those are the best kind.
Big congrats, and great bull! Than you very much for the story!
Ed
Like stated above, really liked your pics too, especially the tag notches with the bull in the background. I've seen a lot of tags notched pics, but that one was unique for sure!
Stories like this really help getting through until next Sept in Montana
It took me awhile to read it with everything else I've got going on, but I really enjoyed it.
We were rooting for you- way to go!!
Greg
Great pictures! Elk fever is suddenly kicking in. September can't get here soon enough.
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Why you so nervous, don't chew your fingernails!!!
