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I’m packed up and heading out tomorrow morning to our favorite elk area when my buddy Tim shows up at my house. The weather is looking great for killing elk. I’ll post updates Monday or Tuesday when I get back.
We both have elk tags, and about 20 days of hunting planned over the next month, so hard to say how long or short this thread might be. We’ve both been tagged out as early as September 9th, and other years we are hunting until the very last second of light on the last day, trying to fill a remaining tag one of us has.
I’ll post the link below to last years thread if anyone want to read about some elk hunting!
Hope you guys enjoy the thread.
I always love this view as we make the long hike out to camp.
It was almost 10pm when we reached out camp spot. A large tree had fallen down where we always set up our tent. It was late, and we were tired, so we just threw our sleeping bags down, got our packs ready for the morning, and went to bed.
Our plan was to head up out of the timber to the more open top of the ridge. Right at first light opening morning this has been a pretty good plan for us.
We waited on the edge of the timber of the first opening waiting for a little more daylight so we could see better. The woods seems extremely quiet this morning as it started to get light.
We were sneaking through a strip of timber, and could start to see the next big open area. Opening morning last year I almost shot a bull from this exact spot. The wind switched before he fed out from behind a little tree blocking his vitals.
As we stood there looking around for any elk I heard some clinking noise. It was the sounds of horns hitting each other. Somewhere ahead of us there were a couple bulls playfully locking horns.
I was calling just loud enuff to try to get their attention. Just a few calls and then silence. I was hoping to get them curious, but not have them knowing exactly where I was.
The bulls slowly made their way over. They hung up at about 70 yards. After a minute or so the just slowly walked off downhill towards some timber where they were going to bed.
Tim said they were acting like they were very nervous the whole time they made their way to the calls. Even the sound of a pine cone hitting a stick made the 6 point bull freeze in his tracks when he was on his way to the calls. Seemed like kind of odd behavior for unpressed bulls opening morning.
Close but no cigar!
Unfortunately as we snuck along the trail, we saw a tent near the small meadow, and 3 llamas tied up in the trees.
We saw the guy was still in camp so we talked to him a few minutes.
He’s a really nice guy we had ram into last year a few miles away from this spot. He was planning on hunting north and east from his camp the next few days. We would just hunt South and west if his camp.
That worked out great to communicate. This gave us both tons of country to hunt, without running into each other again on the trip.
As we got back into the big open meadow where we had just called in the two bulls that hung up at 70 yards 30 minutes before, we could see the back half of a really big bodied elk feeding right where Tim had set up to shoot earlier!
I stayed put at the treeline. Tim snuck ahead to a small patch of trees about a 100 yards from the nice 6 point.
Unfortunately right before I started cow calling, a second bull that neither of us had seen caught a little bit of movement from Tim through the trees.
As I was doing some quiet cow calls, both bulls just walked down hill into the timber.
Another close call!
It’s really nice being able to shoot if we are at camp during day light.
Saturday night it pissed rain until about 330 am.
Sunday we covered a ton of area setting up and calling in spots we have got into elk before. We never saw an elk or heard an elk. About 4 pm it started to piss rain again. By the time we got to camp Sunday night everything was drenched.
This storm caught us completely by surprise, we hadn’t trenched around the tent or anything. When we last had service before heading out it was supposed to be mid 70’s and mostly sunny Saturday, Sunday, and Monday!
On the hike out we just did some locate bugles in different areas we have got on bulls before. We didn’t have anything respond.
About 10 minutes before we made it back to the truck the rain stopped and the sun popped out.
We are heading back out Friday Morning, and staying through Monday again.
We saw lots of really fresh rubs, and lots of elk sign all over on this first trip, so we’re we’re pretty excited for the next trip.
Tim got to my house Friday morning, and we hit the road.
We needed to make good time on the drive to maybe get an hour or so hunting in on our hike out to camp.
After hiking down about a mile and an half we reached the bottom of the drainage. This was the start of where we have gotten bulls to respond in the past.
For the next 2.5 miles we would be in the bottom of the drainage, and going through some prime areas for locating bulls when they are talking.
With the short amount of daylight left, we needed to cover ground hoping to find a vocal bull not to far away.
We were still a week or so away from when the bulls in this area get going for the most part.
We started the steep climb high up onto the ridge above where we had left all our gear at camp the trip before.
When we got up Tim and I both had a gut feeling we should go hunt some of our spots down below where we ran into the guy camped with the lamas the weekend before. With the bulls not being vocal, we figured he probably move off to the next drainage by Monday.
We usually never hunt were we think others may have been recently, but the area is thick and nasty so plenty of areas for elk to not be pressured.
Not far from his camp we cut several fresh bull tracks. The father down the ridge we went, the more fresh tracks and rubs we found.
It was apparent this area was hunted much, and we made the right choice to hunt here.
This ridge heads down hill at a pretty good slope. The right side of the ridge is almost vertical. Lots of cliffs, and extremely steep terrain. The left isn’t nearly as steep, but has lots of blow down. In previous seasons we’ve called bulls in from both sides, but we always hope they come from the left side.
Not far from his camp we cut several fresh bull tracks. The father down the ridge we went, the more fresh tracks and rubs we found.
It was apparent this area was hunted much, and we made the right choice to hunt here.
This ridge heads down hill at a pretty good slope. The right side of the ridge is almost vertical. Lots of cliffs, and extremely steep terrain. The left isn’t nearly as steep, but has lots of blow down. In previous seasons we’ve called bulls in from both sides, but we always hope they come from the left side.
We still weren’t hearing any bugles, so we were just calling and slowly moving along listening for the sounds of elk moving in the timber. Before the middle of September most of the elk we kill either come In silent when we set up to call, or we hear a stick break or a rock get kicked as we slowly move cow calling through the woods.
We still weren’t hearing any bugles, so we were just calling and slowly moving along listening for the sounds of elk moving in the timber. Before the middle of September most of the elk we kill either come In silent when we set up to call, or we hear a stick break or a rock get kicked as we slowly move cow calling through the woods.
I just finished taking this photo of the rubs, and heard the unmistakable sound of an elk breaking sticks as he walked in the timber straight below us.
Tim nocked an arrow, and I backed off just out of sight. I did three light cow calls, and could hear the bull instantly change direction heading to me. There was enuff blow down the bull couldn’t head right to me, he had to come up the hill about 20 yards. He popped out into the opening, giving Tim a close frontal shot.
Tim’s shot, and it sounded like the bull only ran 60-70 yards and stopped.
We decided to wait a couple hours before looking for the bull. There was no downside to waiting. If we bumped the bull the situation would just get worse.
After waiting a couple hours we hiked back down to where the bull was standing and followed blood and tracks down to where Tim saw the bull last. We walked about 20 more yards and I spotted some tan.
The bull had bedded down and died right where we heard the last sounds of him walking after the shot!
We were able to get a text out to him at the top of the ridge. He said he could meet us at the bottom of the ridge below our camp at 9am Sunday morning.
From 11am Saturday when we found the bull, until 9 am Sunday we were pretty busy getting the elk boned out and packed out to the spot we would meet Troy with the llamas 3.5 miles away. Saturday afternoon we got soaked in a rainstorm that lasted 3-4 hours.
Sunday we got up at 430am to get the meat packed down to the bottom of the drainage Where Troy was meeting us with the llamas.
Heading back out Saturday for a 9 day trip.
Hope to have some more fun elk hunting stories to share after that!
We started this trip back where we did the last two trips. We left our tent and all our sleep stuff/clothes at camp when we packed the bull out on the last hunt.
We could see boot tracks in a lot of the off the beaten path spots we like out there. There was also a tipi tent with a bunch of gear hanging in the trees, down in an area that we have shot several bulls. This area is almost 2/3 of a mile off any trail, and has some really great bedding feeding areas. The guys this year were camped about 200 yards above where i shot a bull. Last year 2 guys camped a little further down the hill. They had their tent right where i have called 2 bulls for Tim to shoot. I have no clue why people would camp where these guys did last year and this year. It makes no sense at all.
We also heard the wolves again the first night.
The second evening we ran into a couple guys on horseback, they were hearing the wolves as well.
So far this year we have seen a ton more guys out in this area. Between all the hunters, and the wolves, we decided it was time to break camp and hike back to the truck so we could relocate to a different area.
We were going to head to my buddy Toyota house, load up the llamas, and head out to another area we like.
We were hoping for less people and no wolves.
Our excitement was pretty high on the hike out.
It looked like we could have rain and snow over the week.
We didn’t hear a bull bugle for a couple days after the wolves left, but they would only bugle once or twice.
We hunted our butts off the rest of the week, never seeing an elk. We only heard a few bugles.
It appears that the areas I have done really well elk hunting the last 10-12 years, now have multiple packs of wolves living in them this year.
There was still lots of fresh sign in some areas, but we never saw or even bumped an elk on the rest of the hunt.
We stayed positive, had a fun trip, but the amount of new packs of wolves where we never have encountered them definitely seemed to have impacted the hunting this year.
My other main area we kill bulls is in between the two areas we ran into the wolves, so it’s probably impacted as well.
Troy had also hunted some of his best spots for the last 20 years to the south, and there was hardly any elk, and wolves howling in the evenings.
It looks like we will have to learn how to be successful with these new packs of predators in the drainages, ridges we like to hunt.
