Successful scouting trip this weekend
Contributors to this thread:Elk
From: jordanathome
16-Jul-17
Long story short.....before the long story......I found water. LOTS of water. Lots of rubs. Beds. Feed and shelter. Wallow. Walked up on a bull moose. And 2 nice 6x6 bull elk. And glassed a lone cow who was too far to get a pic.....so I tried sneaking down closer for a better pic....got busted....and she spent from 9 pm until 2 am barking at me in my camp up above from the meadow below. Dumb biatch! LOL Put in 9 miles with my camp on my back and clocked well over 2000' in elevation change. I am beat but very optimistic about these spots for September. Game cams are redeployed. One had 3 pics in 2 weeks in the old spot and the other had 250 some odd pics in the same time. I didn't have my computer and my camera takes xd not sd so I don't know what is on them yet. Will be back next weekend to pull the cards and put in fresh ones and check out another spot close by.
From: jordanathome
16-Jul-17
I parked the truck and headed down to where I left a game cam to pull it. Within site of the truck I found super fresh elk tracks.....cow in this case.
From: jordanathome
16-Jul-17
nice
nice
This went on for 100' or more.
This went on for 100' or more.
From: jordanathome
16-Jul-17
Found water....although this is a ridge or 3 over from where I was going after I retrieved my game cam.
Found water....although this is a ridge or 3 over from where I was going after I retrieved my game cam.
From: jordanathome
16-Jul-17
Then I crossed a fresh bull track.....nice size too. This was starting to look good.
From: jordanathome
16-Jul-17
From: jordanathome
16-Jul-17
Time to embrace the suck. My plan was to set up cams in a drainage then drive to another area with a creek to follow down hoping to get into an spot that OTCwill turned me on to....lots of miles back one way....he had posted pics of a huge bull in that area but it is a BIATCH to get into.......lots of private blocking access and gnarly crap no sane person wants to cover much less haul an elk back out through. Turns out I don't even need to go back that far to get into bulls. Not as big as the one Will found but good 'nuf for me. :)
From: jordanathome
16-Jul-17
I ran into a nice big rub....with a nice patch of aspen and some open ponderosa next to it. I hope you enjoy pics of rubs because I am posting a bunch.....and only those I came across directly in my path. I imagine there are 2-3 times that many at least in this area. Heavy rutting area. Sweeeeet!
From: jordanathome
16-Jul-17
Another innocent victim.
Another innocent victim.
Finally a meadow I was aiming to access. Seeps everywhere. The lower end is just swamp with 3" of water from one side to the other hidden by 2' high grass. There are spots where it drops off and even the drop offs are full of grass and water. Choked in willow down there. The upper end here in this pic is full of amazing feed and not full of standing water although it is soft with water just below the surface.
From: jordanathome
16-Jul-17
Lots of paths where animals had previously walked through the grass.
From: jordanathome
16-Jul-17
Elk vertebra. Well.....the pic didn't stick.
From: jordanathome
16-Jul-17
Nothing but these vertebra was left.
From: jordanathome
16-Jul-17
From: jordanathome
16-Jul-17
An old wallow....there were several in this area in side drainages feeding into and out of the meadow with seeps coming out of a rock outcroppings. These seeps were not active so most were dry and this was just mossy muck.
From: jordanathome
16-Jul-17
Elk bed
From: jordanathome
16-Jul-17
water hole
water hole
Rub near a small water pocket. Not far below this the creek emerges as the meadow drops into a wide and dense aspen choked drainage.
From: Ucsdryder
16-Jul-17
Never get tired of seeing rubs!!!
From: jordanathome
16-Jul-17
Another rub. I set up one cam here near where the creek formed.
From: jordanathome
16-Jul-17
Bears be here.....this log had recently been rolled then mauled to get at the ants.
From: jordanathome
16-Jul-17
Creekside rub. Not sure where he stood while he thrashed this tree. Had to be awkward.
Creekside rub. Not sure where he stood while he thrashed this tree. Had to be awkward.
Good water. Took a couple "baths" to wash off the salt and sweat. Nice and cold.
Good water. Took a couple "baths" to wash off the salt and sweat. Nice and cold.
Really nice down here. Wide flat bottom with tons of willow. I walked up on and busted out a bull moose. Not huge but decent. I did not know at the time...but as I eased down this creek focused on finding my way I had two nice bulls following me who I would intercept later that afternoon around 2 pm.
From: jordanathome
16-Jul-17
Rub fest
From: jordanathome
16-Jul-17
It is really cool down here. This is about 4 miles down..
From: jordanathome
16-Jul-17
Bear scat. Didn't see a bear though. Had spray and if that didn't work I was packing the 10mm.
From: jordanathome
16-Jul-17
rough territory
rough territory
Here is my return leg, I took a detour off the creek which had a rather nasty section choked with deadfall I didn't want to climb up. I came up through this nice meadow headed for a saddle to another area above. I was blasted at this point...tank near empty.....just wanted to get safely back up so I could find a camp site and relax. Focus was on one foot in front of the other. Then I hear a snap crackle pop off to my right......keep trudging along.....then more noise. I finally awake from my embrace of the suck....look right.....6x dashing off followed by his identical brother. Nice bulls. Not sure how much growth is left but I'd say 250" or better. Like the young bulls you see at RMNP. Hell Yeah! Now that is better. But wtf are they doing up on a sunny slope at 2pm instead of down in the cool shaded creek bottom? Like me...probably by passing the nasty section of creek.
From: jordanathome
16-Jul-17
I'm pretty wiped here......can't seek the sweat cascading off my nose, face, hat. I hate me. Embrace the suck you fat ass!
From: jordanathome
16-Jul-17
So after I busted the bulls......I find a little something something they left behind. Fresh poo. It was a little crusty on top but gooey underneath. It was not here earlier. Turns out I followed the tracks of those bulls I busted all the way back up. I am hoping they wandered past the game cam I left.
From: jordanathome
16-Jul-17
Small aspen glade heavily chewed.
From: jordanathome
16-Jul-17
Time to rest before the last climb then off to find camp. Actually I did several of these. By the point I turned around I had a lot of miles on the day with a bunch of elevation change. I had miles of more steeply dropping creek bottom to cover before hitting my original target area. I said F it. I had started down at 11 am and it was 2 pm. I got back up by 3:30. Plenty of time to find and pitch camp, pump water, take a nap, glass a nearby meadow for the evening, then cook my Shepards Pie by Backcountry Pantry (it sucked).
From: jordanathome
16-Jul-17
My new NEMO Spike 2p tent. Needed more stakes......that was annoying. But that is why we do test runs to work out the bugs. 1 lb 15 oz. Yes, I didn't want to kill the baby pine tree so we kept each other company.
From: jordanathome
16-Jul-17
Went to get water from where a creek started at a spring head. NICE. Prolly could have drunk it safely straight but I ran it through my First Need water filter anyway. No need to mess with bad water bugs. Hell no.
From: jordanathome
16-Jul-17
another rub.......yawn
another rub.......yawn
Another meadow. Looks like great feed. I can imagine it full of elk.........
From: jordanathome
16-Jul-17
So camp set up, water pumped.....damn it was sweet and cold......should guzzled several bottles at the spring.....it was time to find a vantage point for glassing that evening. Check!
From: jordanathome
16-Jul-17
Looky here.....an elk. One lonely cow elk. Nothing else came out. She was so far away at first I couldn't get focus so I crept down off my spot and lower. She heard me in the dry pine needles and cones and started barking at me. This went on from 9 pm to 2 am. She did not want this mystery interloper spying on her. Not surprising, no elk this morning after all that....she must have barked a couple hundred times. I hope her throat is sore.
From: jordanathome
16-Jul-17
My view from camp. Of course I won't camp here in September. I will camp further back. Found some good spots to try.
From: jordanathome
16-Jul-17
Hiking out this morning.....ran across this small pool. No lack of water, food, and shelter.
From: jordanathome
16-Jul-17
From: jordanathome
16-Jul-17
From: LBshooter
16-Jul-17
Very nice. Curious what 10 mm do you carry? Thinking about getting one.
From: elkman52
16-Jul-17
Thanks Jordan never get tired of looking at places where elk live. especially this time of the year.......counting the days
From: Charlie Rehor
16-Jul-17
Won't be long! Glad you posted!
From: jordanathome
16-Jul-17
Glock G20sf
From: Brotsky
16-Jul-17
Awesome trip Jordan! Thanks for sharing it! Best of luck in September!
From: Jaquomo
16-Jul-17
Looks like good elk country! Thanks for posting this up!
From: jordanathome
16-Jul-17
Disclaimer.......Will has never hunted these areas. I only found them after deciding I needed to find another route into a spot he suggested. I still have no idea what lies there but I hope to find out soon.
From: SBH
16-Jul-17
Cool stuff man. Keep us posted when after you check those SD cards. Looks like fun.
From: Irishman
16-Jul-17
Cool photos, thanks for posting. Looks like it was a fun trip. Nice looking area for hunting. I like the rubs - you don't need to find bulls, just evidence of where they are come September.
From: otcWill
17-Jul-17
Good deal! As I said, your slump ends this September. Don't shoot a dink on day one :)
From: Amoebus
17-Jul-17
"Embrace the suck you fat ass!"
Good line - hehe.
From: jordanathome
17-Jul-17
I sure hope so Will........These are pretty cool areas but I've been in lots of areas as cool or cooler and encountered plenty of elk without gettin' 'er done. Good news....I didn't see any dinks to shoot so perhaps that will save me from that mistake. LOLOLOL
I plan to make it happen then call your cell to bail me out packing out. :)
From: JohnB
17-Jul-17
Thanks for the pics the season is getting closer and this flat lander loves the views good luck!
From: otcWill
18-Jul-17
I'd be glad to help but you better kill opening week or I'll be MIA ;)
From: LaughingWater
19-Jul-17
great report! i'm a newbie - can some of you more experienced guys talk about playing the wind on a saddle? i would think it would be swirling all around, making it a real tough to set up an ambush.... am i wrong?
From: Paul@thefort
20-Jul-17
1. be above the saddle (down wind) after 9-10 am when the winds and warmer air currents start to rise. No doubt, depending the intensity and direction of the winds, there sure can be swirling winds.
2. Be below the saddle in the early am,(again (down wind) ie, first two hours or so, and then also the last hour of the day as the cooler air descends the mountain or your hide.