At the BOW banquet in Riverton. My son was lucky enough to get anew near bow from Dan Pickard after a question and answer session. The bow was 60-70 and has a really sharp break over. My son struggled to shoot and it was obvious that for his 4th competitions we need to work out way up. So we spoke with the Owner at Absolute archery and told him the story and we were going to order a set of 50-69 limbs.
The owner is an awesome guy made a cal to the Bear rep. and three days later we had new limbs installed on the bow.
Lucky turd…
Well in the draw we threw a Hail Mary at some sheep tags and my boy age 13 drew one of 4 ewe tags in Ana tea we love.
So here we all with all the lucky on our side.
Last night we leave the house and drive up a nasty roughy 2 track. We have hunted from this spot several times never even seen an atv go up. Well last night in the dark, there was a truck and 2 tents. Obviously other sheep hunters. They had the best access point and the best camp etc.
It was already 9:30 and just getting back down the country to a new area would be hours.
So we decided to slip back down the canyon 1/2 mile and find a spot flat enough to camp on.
We have an air mattress in the truck bed under the stars for the night. By 10:30 William is hard asleep I am worried about rain, about the other hunters etc.
I just slip into sleep when I am startled awake. 2 headlamps and voice bobbing up the road.
Turns out a guy and gal. She also had a ewe tag and they had been hunting all week, but tagged out in the next big drainage over just before dark.
They packed the meat etc. down to the closest road and we’re headed to go get the truck pick up everything. So at 1ish they drive back past, then 3ish drive back past again up to camp. William slept through it all and I did not sleep at all.
The good news they are leaving today. They never saw another person or vehicle all week and there are sheep in about every draw.
Our last scouting trip we ran into a group of 120…
This am we get up late. Leave the truck at 7:00 and start lower trying to make sure they get to sleep in. Damn they worked hard, major respect.
So we start in lower than we want and just was we crest our first glassing spot we see a group of sheep above us. A good mile up, we close the distance to about 800 yards and get out the spotter. There are a couple rams and like 6 ewes and one baby. They are feeding in a wide open area no cover but are working up. So we decide to make a big loop and get above them hoping they feed up through a saddle.
We made the move and are sitting above them in a perfect bush spot. Sadly they all bedded about 100 yards to too low. So now we are sitting waiting and hoping they make a mistake. Already the rams have both gotten up and moved up the hill 20 yard but then bedded thy are toying with our emotions…
He also has a lope archery tag that overlaps the sheep tag so that might be a distraction .
Good luck, Robb
He also has a lope archery tag that overlaps the sheep tag so that might be a distraction .
Day one total 5.83 miles total elevation gain was just over 3200 feet. A lot of up and down. The sheep were all in the mid range, walking side hill was hard too much loose scree, hunting elk before in this area I knew the issue but it was less of an issue as the elk would head to bedding areas, feeding areas and water daily.
We sat on the first group of sheep for almost 4 hours. Thinking they would feed up. Instead they bedded 90-100 yards straight down. When they did get up it was only to move around and lay back down. Eventually a couple ewes figured us out and went on the rocks to sentinel us…
After leaving that group we walked 4 miles glassing and looking not seeing and sheep until late in afternoon as we started to lop back to the truck…
At last light we worked into 2 groups, one with 12, and the other with 17. He went for the first group getting in range, but was shaking too bad to get a range. Those sheep bumped around the point. So he switched back to the other group. He snuck into that group and was with 40 yards for 30 minutes.
While in that group he got off one shot, missed low, then spent another 20 minutes trying to sort out a ewe vs a yearling ram etc.
So we decided to switch it up for the afternoon. We ran into Casper grabbed a blind and set up for an evening sit on a water hole. Of course when we got to the water hole there were 17 lopes there and 3 good bucks. They eventually move off and we set up the blind. We sat from 4ish to dark. Only hard 4 little bucks come in that evening. 2 were babies the others were last years babies…
It was a nice but hot break from the sheep hunt. We left the area at last light and have a better plan for next week.
Pick-a-Spot young fella-------->
Good luck, Robb
They head up and out over the North ridge.
We gather our stuff and look up the south ridge and see a ewe looking over the rocks at us… she is watching us watching the rams leave. She goes back over the top, and out of sight. So instead of a long gradual climb to the top. We are now turned and going straight up to the south.
We climb straight up and when we crest there are 4 different groups of sheep we can see.
Of course one group was in the bottom just 509 yards of the creek from where we turned up.
We watch the groups and none of them are ina really good spot for a stalk and all but the one in the bottom has seen us.
William makes a move on the one group and as soon as he leaves me we have a ewe pole her head over at me at like 40 yards. She watched me until he come back. He only got to 80 yards before they took off.
We watch all the sheep feed up into the rocks, and then spot a ewe on our ridge only about 100 yards out, and feeding up in front of us. We sneak up and set up at around 80 yards. As she feed to us it soon becomes clear she has a lamb. She and the lamb cross in front of us and go over to the larger group to our south.
We are about 120 yards from that group and as we sit and watch we get to hear the sheep talk. The lambs and ewes were pretty vocal this morning.
The bad part is as we sat I started getting floaters in my eyes. Spots where I couldn’t see because of how bright it was. That progressed into the start of a migraine and before I knew it I felt like crap. We laid in the shade on the hill with my eyes closed for over an hours listening to the sheep and watching them.
I ended having to back down and out.
By the time I got to the truck, I had to stop twice to crap my guts out and then a 3rd one hit at the truck. I hammer some meds, drink a ton of water and am currently trying to get better. It is hot again, dry and steep.
Right now I am going to try and eat something light and keep hydrating. We might be stuck in the lope blind for the evening as my gut is making more noise than Ramaswamy at a debate.
I will update tonight on how it goes.
Nice Rams.
Good luck, Robb
Scouting they were all 2 canyons south, then last weekend about 1/2 were south, 1/2 were in the canyon to the north.
Yesterday they were kind of all in the main canyon so we went up it this morning and did not see a single sheep, despite seeing 60 the day before and really only bumping one group of 8. We are finding beds every where and there are 3 streams for water, plus 2 seeps and a water tank.
We have a month and a half left of season and with weather we are hoping it might get better.
Just to prove how unpredictable things are. We are all the way up on top and this anteleope Came charging in. He was about 80 yards out when he stopped… the hill Side he was on was where we had stalked a group of sheep the day before…
We named this tree gum tree as the last time we sat here my some said I bet hardly anyone has ever sat here before. Then he looks over and sees someone freshly deposited gum stuck to a branch.
We are hoping that some how we ended up above and past all the sheep. We have about 3 miles down to the truck and hopefully there are a few tucked away in one of the holes.
Good luck, Robb
As we sat under gum tree we talked a bit and made a plan for the afternoon. Our 6 mile trek so far did not produce even one sheep sighting. We had covered grounds where last week we had seen 80+ sheep a day, Today nothing not one. We had one more decent canyon to check before dropping back to the truck.
We were pretty beat, 6 miles around 2800 feet elevation gain and hot dry weather with tons of bugs.
We go to check one last canyon and as we crest a ridge I spot a ewe on he rocks about 100 yards out. She has no idea we are there... So we make a plan. No way for a stock given her location. So instead William would slip in behind the sheep and I would become a herder and hopefully push them past him through a saddle.
So we give it try. I give him about 10 minutes to slip in and then I circle around and below and try and move them up.
We learned a great deal from this... I went slow towards the sheep as I did not want them to run out but just move out. My son set up too high and was sky-lined.
I walked directly at the sheep on the same level or from slightly below. Moving slow but with intention I went from 150 yards to 100, then to 60. They were up and feeding with some watching me closely. There were 5 ewes and 3 rams in the group. I moved closer and closer, at 28 yards the were just starting to group up to move. Then my son who was 80 yards away and above them was spotted. Instantly they bolted across the canyon... But only into the rocks and then stood there...
I met my demoralized son at the saddle. Our plan would have worked but he got impatient and decide to shift locations and when he did they saw him and spooked.
I told him how I walked slowly and was able to walk right up to the herd. The sheep were only 90 yards away and still hanging out...
Maybe just maybe they will stay if he went slow.
He closed the distance as I watch. I was excited. No way could it work, but since it was the last spot before dropping to the truck we had to try. So he went, 60 yards out, knocks arrow, 50 yard grabs a range, 40 yard ranges again, 30 yards ranges. Yes 3 ewes all broad side at 30 yards but he does not draw, tries to take one more step and the young ram had enough and they all bolt. So close. When asked why he did not shoot, he said I don't know thought I could get even better shot.
Right after that the clouds gather and it begins booming thunder, and rain is dumping. We decide to mad-dash down to the truck.
Once at the truck we recoup. Talk about everything. It has been an awesome day. We decide to take and scout some different areas and different approaches for the afternoon.
We originally thought about setting a blind and waiting the evening for pronghorn, but the rains ruined that hop. By 3:30 the rain stopped and things started to dry out. We still could not figure out where the sheep we had been seeing went. From 80+ to 8 is just weird.
We decide to make one last push into a canyon as the sun set. We leave the truck and walk into a canyon where we found a few sheep the first day. Well the entire bottom of the canyon was full of sheep. A quick count and 76 sheep were there.
It is a wide open old burn the sheep are spread out over a couple hundred yards. We decided to deploy FRED (a decoy that passed onto my son by a friend and CBA member). I believe his handle is Grasshopper her on Bowsite. So with Fred deployed we sneak up, I hang back at about 220 yard and watch Fred move in. Just like earlier, the sheep move away a bit but do not spook. My son is getting close the sun is setting and he moves into a final position and take the shot. I hear a whack and the entire heard freaks into a ball. They stand there in a group and a few second later a single ewe leave the herd and heads up hill.
As she goes I can see an arrow hanging out her side. Perfect shot left and right, behind the shoulder but from 200+ yards it look low. I watch her run up stand on a rock for bit then take off up hill again. The rest of the herd hangs out... She runs all the way over the top and out of sight. I grab the gear and go to catch up with the boy. Tears... Take a second to calm him down. 30 yards he said the shot felt great... He said there was only about 6-8" of the fletch out and a good chunk of arrow out the back side.
From my spot I could see the fletch was to the skin and the arrow was sticking out the back side a good 18".
We gather stuff and start following the blood. There is not much for blood, where she stood looking down was right behind a rock. Easy spot to start the trail. We get there and despite her standing there all we find is one spot about 50 cent piece in size. We follow the track up the hill and on top find where she crossed. Minimal blood.
After going up, she went straight back down a 30 foot cliff. Where she went down hill blood picked up a bit... But she wrapped around the bottom of the cliff and then headed straight down hill. steep nasty barely able to keep footing. Sparse blood about ever 15-20 yards a drop the size of dime. We go down the bottom and she turned back straight up. We go over another ridge and back down and back up. Just over 700 yards and minimal blood. The first ridge she gained over 700 feet, dropped about 500, then went up 850, back down 200 and then up 400... After making the second ridge she went side hill on a scree that was beyond scary and there was no way for us to follow. We never did find the arrow, she never bedded...
Sunday night we followed her until 11:45 then went back up and spent another couple hours today. I am convinced, my son is convinced, that he hit her low right in the brisket. Front and back was perfect but just low.
We have a break in the season as the Rifle Ram hunters get the 1st-15th. We start our sheep hunt again on the 15th. We are both so tired and beat it is unreal.
Yesterday started out at 5:30, our first hike was a 6 miles round trip with just over 3200 feet elevation gain. The evening hunt, was just over 1.7 miles with a total of around 2000 in elevation gains.
He tried so hard and was so dedicated to finding the blood but it was just not meant to be... Hard lessons, for such a young one. We will see how he bounces back.
So am I to understand that you guys have deduced that the Ewe he shot will live through the shot and will be ok. And you guys are going to try for another one??
Unless we find out otherwise we are planning to keep hunting when the season reopened again.
Sounds like it’s been a tuff hunt.
Good luck when you guys get to head back up there.
Hopefully a great update is in the works
He did hit a ewe really low and despite looking for nearly 15 hours total we never found her. We heard from a ram hunter that he had seen a ewe 2 drainages over that had swollen section on her brisket that looked like an old wound, but was not close nough to tell. The ewe he shot was really light in color and the guy said this ewe was not dark or grey but brown, but could not say if she was light in color. Ours was a light brown/tan. SO a good chance it was the same ewe, but cant confirm.
I am just behind on updating. We have tried a little for lopes.
September 1st our EWE hunt was shut down for 15 days so that the ram sheep hunters were not competing with ewe hunters. As a result we had to make other plans. Earlier this summer we had done some scouting for deer and found a couple bucks we would not mind chasing... We also have general archery elk on the 1st and we have cow elk tags in another unit and we have a couple antelope tags. Kind of all spread around. So we had to make a decision.
My son had spotted a mule deer buck that instantly made his stomach fall and his heart race. Other than the ewe it has been all he has spoken about. So the decision was made to go hunt the general deer and elk hunt.
Friday the 1st we load up the camper and drive the 3.5 hours to our normal family camp spot and set up for the opening weekend.
Saturday morning we get up early and with first light we are exploring one of our honey holes for elk and deer. The deer numbers are horrible as are the antelope numbers. The only upside is nearly every doe we are finding up in the "Deer Factory" has twins. They are all healthy looking and all are looking good for fall.
We make our way out from the truck making a loop. As the sun rose we are on a bare open knob glassing a group of elk about 1000 yards away on the opposite ridge. All 7 were bulls. Smaller bulls but bulls. We sit and watch with wind in our favor and decide it is worth trying to call them in.
We sit and cow call. At first they all look up and then just keep feeding. I keep after the call and about 20-30 minutes later the one bull has turned and is heading our way slowly, feeding... Just enough to think the calls were working but also not enough to know. A few minutes later an other series of cow call and bull decides he cant play it cool any longer and is coming on a string. As he comes a smaller spike from up the hill joins. When they are in the bottom of the creek and can not see us on the knob we move back into the little sage cover we have available. My son just about 20 yards from the edge in a taller patch of sage and I am about 60 yards back in another set of larger sage. Will has like 3 trails including an old 2 track all with in his shooting range. All the bulls needed to do was take on of the 3. Sadly the bulls wrap around the point and come up just out of his range at like 47 yards. right as they pop over they catch me by surprise and catch my switching my direction. They freeze at 50 yards from me and 48 from will and just hang. THey decide things dont feel right and both proceed to make a big loop around us at 80 yards eventually catching our wind.
After that encounter (not bas opening morning called in 2 bulls and were really close to getting a shot). We finished our loop that morning checkiing out another 3 canyone and covering about 3 miles on foot. Never had another elk encounter and only stirred up like 3 deer. Usually this place is loaded with deer and the same loop we would have found around 40 doe and fawns and like 10 buck. INstead we had 4 doe/fawn and one little buck... Lunch finds us back at camp and making plans for the evening hunt. We have a ton of options, close to camp, far, forest or desert, elk, deer, antelope, bear??? What to do?
Well the thoughts of that big muley buck my son spotted scouting is eating him up... SO the decision was made... We make the 60 mile drive, after eating, out to the areas where he found his buck. On the way out we glass a few spots and look over a few water holes etc. No luck. As we near the area we spot a dirt bick rider out hauling balls across the open sage. He is driving the creek bottoms, driving the ridges, chasing the horses around. Running antelope etc. We see all this from our look out. Pissed off we head that direction in the truck. We get down into a spot where he is going to cross and when he sees us he takes off the other direction. We head the same direction hoping to run him further away from our hunting areas and to send a message... We don't see him for a bit. AS we head into our favorite hunting area he show back up. This time we found him as he was running the wild horses down a trail and they were kicking up a ton of dust. Again we move into a position on the road to block his direction into our preferred hunting areas. We watch as the wild horses are ran for about a mile before he turn off their tails and head back our way. When he gets near the spot we wait and he comes out on a creek bottom right in front of us. There is no stickers on the bike, no plate etc. He see us and immediately starts hauling balls the other way. we follow him the oil and gas roads and luckily he turns down an older beat up road. Luckily we have a picture of his set up, his bike, helmet and now proof of him driving across country. We go to the nearest cell service and call the local game and fish, of course they are no help because "it is not a wildlife" violation. But they also say that for the last several years they have been fighting the issue of dirt bikes and atvs running all over the country hunting, shed hunting etc. I try calling to reach a blm officer and have no luck. Eventually turning all the information later in an email to the BLM. a Phone call later and still no follow up. The guy was riding in a travel restricted area, means established roads only, he was also in and out of a Wilderness study... The problem is the country and the deer can not handle such pressures. It is wide open and anyone willing to drive can take a take about anywhere. After all that chaos we ended up with an hour or so to hunt before dark. We hit the glassing spots and start looking. As the sun was setting I finally turn up a buck. He is a long way out and the wind is wrong for his bed but at least we turned up a good buck.
Morning of the second day we get up a little late. Not bad but bad enough that we relinquish any chance of hiking into elk. So we decide to run and gun from the truck a bit and check out some deer areas and try and call some elk. No elk but we do see a few deer and my son ended up stalking within 30 yards of al ittle buck. He was just not fast enough to draw and shoot. AS we drove we noticed that when I hit bumps/dips the power steering would whine a little. We figured out it was just a touch low on fluid and every dip was sucking some are. Well guess we have to head into town... We top off the PS fluid and fuel and head back up the mountain to a spot we call big ridge. Every time we have hunted big ridge we find the elk right near dark. Always really high and always right as we need to head back to the truck... Since it was early our plan was to be up the ridge early and waiting for the sun to set. Well as we head into big ridge things are not looking promising. The forest service road into the area has been widened and there is a big orange sign warning about logging operations. Not good. But we are already here... Then as we pull into the big meadow at the base of big ridge a huge pile of sheep. Dang. The sheep are usually just out of the area when we hunt, but this year they are a little late leaving. We decide to hunt anyways. Hiking up and up getting above the sheep and the logging chaos. Sadly we end up not seeing any elk at all, hardly any sign and the only elk action we get are 2 bugles just at dark. We stay up the mountain until after dark hiking out with out headlamps. It is 10:30 by the time we hit the truck.
Monday morning we get up and head back out looking for deer. We glass and glass until lunch time and only turn up a few doe and fawns. We also spend a little time and effort trying to fill my lope tag. I had one really good stalk and missed getting my lope spot and stalk by inches... Monday afternoon the storms roll in and we pack camp early and head home...
So 11:30 pm and we crawl back into bed for the second time.
The next morning we wake up and head to our spot for the am. I am going to break for a bit and harp on my pet peeve. If you are driving dirt country roads, Forest roads etc. where there are no passing lanes etc. When someone catches you from behind take the 2 seconds pull over and let em pass. They are obviously travelling faster than you and likely know the roads way better etc. We catch up to a little truck driving 20mph. On a road that is posted 30 and most people drive well over 40. Needless to say we behind this truck for several miles. I was not riding his tail, but with my headlights and the dark he definitely knew we were there. Once we hit a longer straight awya I finally get to pass the guy and can drive the actual speed limit. Of course when I pass the guy he honks, flips me off etc.
We make it to our AM spot as the sun rises we sit high and glass and listen. On the ridge to our east we see a truck and a couple guys heading down into the aspen. As we sit I hear something below and and we set up. Before the sun was up I called a cow into 30 yards for William. He thought about shooting but wants bull so he passed. That cow eventually leaves the way she came. We then glass some more spot a couple decent buck and form a plan. AS we get up to go chase the bucks we spot an elk below us and between us and the deer. Its a lone spike...
Meanwhile as we descend the hill and head towards the bucks the ridge to the east if firing up with bugles. I figured it was just the hunters. That was until the one bugle went from the east ridge to right above us in seconds. Even after the big move I still thought it might be a hunter. We bugle and cow call with "Doug Fluttie" not getting him to move and not seeing anything. We decide to keep after the deer and get up to leave. ASs we leave we look up and see a cow elk by the bugle. Oh man it is elk and they are less than 150 yards away. So we adjust and set back up to call in a bull. Right as I am showing William where to go we see the bugling bull running hard our direction I set William up and move back to call. I see William draw and hold, let down and then draw again. The bull came into 30 yards. Will drew early and the bull stopped eventually turning away when he let down. But a few cow calls turned the bull and around. He was 30 yards broadside the second time and William was busted as he raised his bow. We never did locate the bucks. We ended up seeing about 20 elk and had a great morning with bugles etc.
THat evening we went to over the top spot. A long not very steep hike across an old burn and up a ridge. On the back side there are aspen stands and water. We got up there around 5:30. Sat up to glass and listen. About 39 minutes in we hear branched breaking below. We set up and call. No bugles, no cow calls back more breaking etc. We ended up all night playing cat and mouse with a silent bull in the aspen at time getting within 15 yards and not being able to see him. At last light we finally see him exit out the aspen. But not before is shred and aspen to death.
Sunday morning we hit a newer area as we drive in we spot a big group of elk a long ways away. It will take us at least an hour, maybe longer just to get on the same ridge with the truck. But a bird in the hand etc. So we take the truck and head that way. Just over an hour later with the sun high and hot we are beginning our stalk into the location the elk were feeding. We get about 20 yards from the truck and are distracted by a bugle in the opposite direction. The opposite direction is wide open except for a little draw with snow berry and sarvice berry bushes and tall sage. We decide to go after the bugle because again a bird in the bush.
As we drop into the canyon the bugle moves down and away from us, but we spot a couple cows so we slowly start heading that way. 1/2 down the canyon we find a wallow. as we are looking at the wallow a small bull shows up. We are just in the open and have no chance to close the distance on the bull. I wish I would have pulled out my camera. The bull ended up rolling and covering himself completely. Jet black head to tail. There was nothing not covered in mud. When he gets up and leaves the wallow we slip into position and set up. I am going to call him back with a couple cow calls. Set up and the bull does exactly what we want turns right around and heads our way. 60 yards out 50 yards out... Then I look up and see a cow and calf staring us down from above. They may have seen us move into position or not but she knew we were there...
Just before the bull walked broad side to Will at 28 yards the cow barks and spins away with her calf the bull sees her and his slow walk past will turns into a sprint up and over the ridge, no shot... We find the other bugling bull later be he is bedded and provides us no chance before heading out for the heat of the day.
Sunday evening we decide to hunt and not head home early, however I had a plan to take the camper about an hour closer to home so we could short-cut with the truck out of our camp and save ourselves an hour of rough bumpy crappy roads. So after moving the camper we head into our hunting area for then ight. It is a new area that I have never hunted and the last time I was in the area was when my daughter who is 17 was still in diapers.
As we get to where we want to hunt. A large thunder head is forming and making the squirrely. We are at the mouth of a fairly large canyon with several aspen stands. We have a glassing knob lower and we are watching and listening for indication elk are around. As we sit the storm grows and threatens a little rain but not bad. Again the wind is pretty bad for stalking but if the storm moves through we should have a really good wind.
After a few minutes we hear cow calls in the aspen about 800 yards due south of us. We get excited, load up our pack and grab out bows. The wind as we got out would have been a cross wind. good enough I htough. We go about 5 minutes from the truck and the storm let loose. The wind was straight over our back. Totally wrong, so we run back to the turck to wait out the rain and then see what the wind does. From the truck we see 5 different bulls, a couple cows etc. But the bad news is the wind is set coming from the NE which is exactly opposite of what we need. We try to make a couple moves into the canyon but eventually the wind ends all our hope. My son was visibly upset. There were several bulls nd elk all over and we just could not make it work. So I tell him we just have to hunt the way the wind wants and not our way. To our North there were a couple smaller areas that might hold deer or elk... So we head that way with just over an hour of day light left.
We get about 3/4 of the way up the hill and start working towards the aspen. As we get to our first aspen stand I let out a bugle and immediately get a response. Then I hit the cow calls and again the bull fires off. We set up and move back to call. The next hour was one of the coolest hours in my sons life. The bigger bull a 290 6x6 comes into the sage/sarvice berry flate where will is set up. Also there are 2 smaller rag horn bulls that show up as well. The bull is bugling nonstop. The little bulls are running around like teenagers, and for an hour it was chaos for William, with the bigger bull into range then chasing the smaller bulls then the smaller bulls moving into range only to trigger the larger bull. Regardless they just did not want to come up to my calls and stayed below with William.
As it was nearing dark the bigger bull stops and lays into a bush thrashing it up. William sees an opportunity and slides down hill toward the bull. He ranges the bull comes to full draw and centers the pin and fires. Low again. At that the bulls both the little and the big all know William is there and they move off. Dang... We find the arrow it is clean and we go back and look at everything. He must have ranged the bush in front of the bull. The bull was 32 yards the one bush was 20. He ranged 20 and shot 20... Dang so close.
We get back to the truck just as the sky opens up a second time and this time it really dumps. I have not swapped out my tires on the truck yet. I have my highway tires on. They are decent all terrain but the road we were going to short cut out is just a sloppy mess and there is no chance we are going to make it out that way. So we are stuck going like 2 hours the wrong way to get the camper again. Monday Morning we get home at 1:30 am and crawl in bed... It was a great weekend. Into several elk every day and a lot of close encounters for William. Oh and we also have had 2 bears spotted but no shots on them yet.
This weekend was nearly the exact opposite of last. Last weekend every where we went we got into elk bulls calling etc. Every where we went this weekend silence and despite finding elk they were not having anything to do with calling. We ended up seeing more guys in the field than elk. Every where we went we went further and deeper than normal and every time we found guys that said, I have never seen anyone in here before lol...
Sunday evening things to change for the better. We went back to where we had action the weekend before and as the sunset we found ourselves surrounded by elk. Some talking but minimal and they were very slow to respond to the call. The first stand we called we snuck into about 80 yards of 2 spikes. We set up. My son could just barely see the bulls and I was back just over the edge. I called and nothing called again. The spikes would look up but not come at all. The wind was perfect, the light was perfect any other day and those spikes would have came like a puppy dog for treats. Eventually both wandered off in different directions. As we worked the spikes we heard a few faint bugle up the canyon. So we made out way up and found a bunch of elk(at least for this country).
There was a herd bull with 8 cows. There were like 5-6 other scattered cows and like 9 rag-horns/spikes etc. We light fading we made a move to get into the same general area and set up. After a 45minutes to an hour we finally convinced a raghorn, spike and little better 5 point to come up and check us out. Unfortunately at the last second they circled wide and out of range at 60 yards.
Not a bad way to finish off the weekend. We have a little more time dedicated to elk then it will be back to sheep after the opening weekend of deer.
This weekend would have been the opening weekend of Rifle ewe sheep we are hoping that most people got after it and tagged out leaving us the month of October to archery hunt with no other pressure.
