Vanish's Archery Elk Log - Season 3 (Weekend Two Banzai!)

[Vanish]

Preface

Each year I try to log most of what I remember from that year's season. For me, I love reading about elk hunting, not just elk killing. So, this is my attempt to give back.

Previous Seasons

Season 1 - http://driskelfamily.com/index.php/2011 ... lk-part-1/
Season 2 - viewtopic.php?t=692

2013 Scouting

This year was a bust. The National Forest closed down the roads into the area we've been hunting the past two years, with a projected opening date of end of August. Since we had finally felt we understood the area, I didn't do much scouting. I would have scouted a Plan B area, but we also bought a house, so that took up much of my August! As I write this, my wife is finishing painting the downstairs office.

It is Friday morning and I have a half day of work. Earlier this week I "virtual scouted" an area about 15 miles from our usual camp. I figure this will give us more flexibility in the future and would be a better idea than trying somewhere 100 miles away. My father is retired, so I sent him up this morning to stake our claim to a camping spot. I'm hoping the drainage won't have too much attention as there are more notable places not terribly far away. If I was him, I would have been up there already!

[Lefty]

I try to keep a weekly journal. Hunting and scouting activities are just part what I write,

Its always intresting wha tI forget year to year.
I figure it will be a gift to my kids and grandkids

[Vanish]

Friday Night

Dad ran into a traffic accident and was barely an hour ahead of us as we arrived at 4:00PM. Luckily, there wasn't anyone set up near the drainage I had picked as Plan B and finding a spot for base camp was not a problem. Normally I would think it was great we had the area to ourselves, but could it be that nobody was here because there weren't elk here?



We set up camp, had a brew or two and some BBQ chicken and potato salad for dinner. Took a walk into the bottom to see just what we were dealing with and found a LOT of cattle. Well, that's not exactly my favorite to find where I want to be hunting, but as we got a bit higher things started to look more promising. We watched a big meadow until dark, but did not see anything.



Two camps had set up at the drainage by the time we had returned, but it appeared only one of them would be hunting, and just a couple folks. Not bad compared to sharing the trailhead with a dozen other vehicles last year. I was expecting a friend of ours to join us, but he did not show up Friday night. Cell service was 95% non-existent, but I had managed to send him a text of our coordinates for camp.

Saturday, Opening Day

Up at 4:50am ... this was too late, but we didn't really know where we were headed past the first mile. Our friend still had not shown so we went on without him. We reached the meadow just as the sun was showing but there was no sign of elk, just cowpies. We pushed onward and upward, with F and I eventually splitting from my father, B. We heard a bugle or two in one direction so we headed that way. Not far from the split, I saw a HUGE set of antlers rise from behind a bush, but F was 10 yards ahead of me, closer to the animal and did not see it. It turned to move away and I realized it wasn't an elk, but the widest mule deer I have ever seen. It actually looked kind of silly, still in velvet.

We sat for awhile, can't remember if I tried cold calling or not. I was not expecting to call this early in the season, as it has had no effect in the past. The weather was the definition of bluebird and just being in the woods was enjoyable. Suddenly, I heard thumping. I told F to get ready, but a doe materialized 30 yards in front of us. How do they do that?

The rest of the morning was uneventful, but we got a call on the radio from my Dad saying the area he explored was full of tons of sign. There were LOTS of rubs, and they looked to be elk rubs by their height, but F was not impressed. There wasn't a lot of positive energy at this point, as we were a good 3 miles from camp and just now finding our first signs of elk.

We headed back to camp for lunch around 11am. Not exactly the opening morning we were hoping for, but at least we learned where we would need to be later. Some ham sandwiches and a nap were on order. J showed up around 3pm with his lady T ( not hunting ), in the middle of a storm. No longer bluebird, we were watching the hail pile up. It slowed and I prepped to head back out, but nobody else looked like they wanted to go. Then it stormed again, and I was convinced to stay at camp and cook up the venison steaks I had prepped. I wanted to do them on the campfire, but the weather was not going to allow for that. Reluctantly, we closed up for the night, with a 4:20am wake up call.





Oatmeal for breakfast this day. Everyone seemed well rested and ready to tackle some elk. We headed back to the place we left the day before and pushed in farther. At one point we managed to walk into J and T.



We left them to continue where I had heard the bugles the day before, when we started hearing bugles once again. We moved towards them, but they slacked off. There was a nice looking meadow where we figure they might have been earlier. We maneuvered into a position on the side of the meadow the bugles had been coming from, about 50 yards into the timber and set up to try some calling. F was about 40 yards in front of me, but there was a slight rise between us, so any elk coming in wouldn't be able to see me calling.

10 minutes later I hear it ... Thump, Thump

Thump

Thump

THUD THUD THUD THUD THUD THUD THUD.....

Well ... I know what that was, but I don't have any idea what happened. F gets me on the radio.

"There were three or four cows. I was just getting ready to draw on the lead cow when I saw a good bull like the one from last year ( small 6x6 ). The lead cow got to 10 yards or so and when I drew my bow something seemed to squeak a bit from being wet. I don't think they saw me but they sure busted out of there fast!"

Ah ... many of us have been there before. She even admitted that had she not seen antlers she would have drawn sooner and would have had a chip shot at the lead cow. But this was great ... there are elk here, including a good bull! This is F's third year archery hunting elk and this was the first time she had a legit chance to draw on an elk in range.



There was some more bugling going on so we worked in that direction, but it stopped. We tried another cold call setup but no dice. We met back up with J and T at about 10:30am and they told us they had a bull move by at 50 yards and J had followed for almost an hour before the bull finally gave him the slip. We met back up with B (he had two cows at 80 yards) and headed back to camp for lunch. We could already tell this was a mistake... we should be up here all day. It was one of those dreary, dark days where it seemed like it could rain at any time but never did, and we usually do well in those conditions. However, we were not prepared for an all day stay as it is traditional for us to head back to camp for lunch.



While lunch was good, I couldn't do much napping. I was getting excited from seeing elk that morning, but I was also dreading hiking back up there again. It was about an 8 mile long trip, and doing it twice in a day was NOT going to be the smart choice. But we did it anyway...

Around 5:30pm we decided to try some cold calling by one of the meadows we had found earlier in the day. We didn't really have any better place to try, as we had yet to find any bedding areas, and it was one of those days where the elk wouldn't be so hot, so why not. J took the south side of the rectangular meadow, and F set up on the North side, both near the east corners. The idea was that the elk would prefer to stay in the timber as they searched for my calls, and thus even if they came from the west (headed downhill) they would go around the meadow towards where I was set up, about 60 yards off the edge of the meadow in thick cover not visible from anywhere on the meadow itself.

Not 5 minutes after my first sequence I heard thumping. Nothing came of it, however (or so I thought). 10 minutes later I heard the thumping again, coming from right by F but headed my way, fast. I gave one last mew and clicked on my release. It is amazing how you think you can see through the timber yet an elk appears within 30 yards without you having seen them sooner. She trotted right up to 15 yards and stopped, staring me down. I stood stone still and won the battle, as she turned and searched for the cow. I had a shot but couldn't draw as she had turned the opposite way I had expected. It was pretty thick as she worked her way across, so I figured now was a better time to draw than any. She won the war by deciding she didn't see what she wanted to see any trotted straight away from me. Damn ... If only I had drawn when I heard the thumping there would be meat to pack...

I would later find out that same cow had passed within 10 yards of F, who was also caught off guard and never drew. She was kicking herself as much as me, having had her second close encounter for the day!

The real excitement would start at almost 7pm on the button. I started another cold calling sequence when a bugle blasted out 1/4 mile above us. He was totally into my calls, and we could hear him coming our way. I knew he was getting close, but I didn't know how close, being way back in the thick. After a awhile I could tell he wasn't coming any closer, as he started chuckling at me to come to him. I moved laterally and got a glimpse of him standing in the wide open meadow... well I'll be ... but why wasn't J shooting?!

I moved towards J more and away from the bull. He still wasn't buying it. I was about 90 yards from the bull, and J couldn't have been more than 30. Out of ideas, I tried a introducing another bull, bugling and raking with my whiny cow, thrashing around, but he didn't budge. He just stood there, raking the ground with his antlers and chuckling. Eventually he had enough and retreated. F snagged a short video but didn't get most of the good action.



We regrouped a few minutes later, and before I could say anything, F burst out "J, why didn't you shoot!?!?!" ... which were pretty much the exact words I was going to use. F didn't want to push in to shoot because she knew J was in the better position, and also, with the bull being semi between them, didn't want to take chances shooting at J. She tried to nab the bull on his way out but couldn't catch him.

As for J ... I think he got a bit of Elk Fever. This was his first bull bugling within range of him. The video doesn't really do it justice, because the bull got VERY upset that this cow was not coming to him and was making some great demanding sounds. J says there was a big pine tree between him and the bull and he didn't want to move because he thought he might spook the bull, he just need the bull to come 10 more feet ... even though the bull had his head buried in the grass thrashing half the time.

I think J got enough razzing over that one that he's probably going to throw himself at the next elk ... which probably won't help either. This wasn't the only bull bugling this night, but he was the only one we saw.



Monday

Realizing that walking 8 miles just to get in/out of the elk woods TWICE each day probably not the way to go, we packed lunch and minds to hunt all day Monday. We were ready to go 10 minutes earlier, as well ... this was serious. The weather, however, had cleared over night and the sun rose to blue skies and breezes. We tried to get on a bull headed up the mountain by following his bugles, but one every 10 minutes was not enough. There were a handful of other bugles as well.

Up to this point we had not seen another hunter. I was super excited about that. As the morning wore on, with very little action, two guys with big packs showed up right where we were taking a break. The night before, while we were working that bull, they had shot a bull less than 300 yards from us. Amazing that we had no idea they were there, and disappointing that we were not alone, but hopefully they're done now and I know there are plenty more elk on the mountain.



F and B preferred to just sit in the woods, but I took to exploring. I figured we're more hunting a transitional area where most of the elk pass through rather than stay at night or in the morning, and I wanted to see if I could figure out where they might be headed. Also, I had yet to see a wallow, and thought I'd be better off spending my time sitting at one rather than some random spot with no purpose. So I hiked and hiked, pushing to the edge of "will I really want to pack an elk out from here?" Just when I got there ... I saw an elk moving up the mountain in front of me, not more than 40 yards away. Knocking an arrow, I went into stealth mode and crept forward, keeping eyes peeled. They weren't working, I could not find this elk (had not seen its head). Did it go uphill before I could see it?

I threw out a single mew in hopes of catching some movement ... well once again the elk amazed me with its ability to materialize. 25 yards in front of me I now had a 4x bull coming straight my way. My setup was good, thick stuff at 20 yards, cover behind me, but he managed to walk that one straight path where I never had a chance to draw ( in my mind ). I was hoping he would cross behind any of the big pines between us so I could draw while his eyes were shielded, but of course that did not happen. To 10 yards and then turning broadside, he had his eyes locked on to my direction the whole time. He didn't see an elk, so out of there he went. Damn again ...

Right below us, not 50 yards away, I found this:



I didn't think elk would be hitting a wallow that exposed in the middle of the day but he had been moving uphill right above here ... it just connects the dots.

Eventually F got lonely and told me to come keep her company, so I ended my exploration and joined her. We did some cold call setups but I think we were probably wasting our time as I didn't find any great bedding areas nearby. The timber is about 85% dead from pine beetles and so there isn't any great shade. Need to explore more!

We had more bugles that evening and once again it sounded like one was coming to the meadow, but then it just stopped. I thought I heard a nervous grunt, but I couldn't be sure. F and B disagreed with me about the wind being the issue (as storm was moving through right next to us) as they did not believe there had been any elk anywhere close enough to smell us. I don't know if I agree.

There was one bull I dubbed the chuckler who was still sounding off, but only about once every 15 minutes. I decided to take a gamble and essentially run to where I last heard him. It sort of worked. After a bit he sounded off again and it sounded like I was within 200 yards. I even heard several different cow sounds. Then everything went quiet. Made me wonder if the cow sounds were another hunter who stopped when he found out I was headed his way. I doubt the chuckling was him, but if it was, props, you sounded really convincing to me!



Lessons

How does that cheer go? Be Aggressive, B E Aggressive! I don't think we're pursuing enough, instead relying on calls to bring them to us. I hadn't gone into the weekend expecting to call ... heck, the cow calls you hear me making in the video aren't even done with my diaphragms, I hadn't put them in my day pack :/ But it worked, more than once, and then we fell into the rut of relying on them. Also, J should have just worked up and shot that damn bull.

Hunt as much of the day as you can handle! The bull by the wallow was at 11am. My companions didn't see any elk that day because while they were in the woods, they weren't hunting.

Draw! This one I actually still struggle with, as I bet many do ... deciding when to draw. Between us, there were four "close encounters" where had we drawn as soon as we knew elk were near, would have been shots. I'm not saying its always wise to draw early, but elk move quickly!

If you look closely, you can see the playbook sitting in my lap.



------------------------------------------------

This upcoming weekend will just be F and I, so we're going to spike camp up there Friday night and cut off three miles of the hike in the morning.

[BRazz]

Vanish - love it! Thanks for the detailed account, I really enjoyed reading through it.

Sounds like you had some great action. Maybe your Plan B spot should maybe become a Plan A spot next year...

[Herb]

Not a bad start to Plan B!!! Good luck on the next outing.

[twinkieman]

Great narrative, I only hope my plan B works out so well.

[ctdad]

Fun read for those of us waiting to go still

[mtnmutt]

Your detailed accounts are very educational for me. Thanks for sharing. Good luck!

[Vanish]

Friday Night

The tone of the weekend started off poorly. F and I were set to leave at 4:30, but traffic and the like caused J to meet up with us almost an hour late. After an hours worth of driving, we hit a random road closed sign and the detour cost us another hour. It was going to be a late night, but when we arrived at the trailhead, we were feeling energized and exicted. Strapping our packs on, we humped up the trail in windy conditions. As we passed the aspens and hit pines, all went quiet. Very surreal conditions change. We got camp set up and finally hit the sack somewhere around 11:30pm

Saturday

It would be an early wake up call, but not as early as starting from basecamp. We would save almost an hour oh our morning hike by spike camping up here. Soem quick oatmeal and we were headed to our first destination before 6 am. Before we could get there we bumped animals, twice. It wasn't shooting light just yet, so not much to be done except slow down. It was a good thing we did, because as I rounded a corner I saw an elk ahead of us at about 80 yards. F had drawn first stalk and she crept ahead while Joe and I hung back to watch. With the visibile elk almost straight ahead, the all too easy mistake of becoming tunnel visioned happened. The majority of the herd was actually closer, and just off to the left. They busted out of there but the lone elk did not immediately follow. It was a young bull and F got within 40 yards but could not tell if he was legal in the early morning light, shaded by the darkness of the thick pines. Eventually, he was feeling lonely and moved off to rejoin the herd.

We moved on to our next location, and without any morning bugles, decided to try some cold calling. It didn't take long before we heard that familiar crunch crunch as an elk moved down the hill near us. F signalled that she had an elk near her, so I stayed out of sight and gave a few more mews. I heard the sound of a bow release followed by thuds so I jumped on the call again. A few minutes later I got a call on the radio "I shot a cow. She's not down but she's still in range ... I left my quiver at the last tree! I might have shot low." Some time goes by and I hold tight. Eventually F calls that the elk has moved off.

This was F's first time releasing an arrow at a big game animal, and it almost seemed like she had blacked out. Where did you shoot from? Uh.. there by that tree, no maybe it was that one ... ok definitely here. Where was the elk? Up there, by that downed log, on the left. Wait, no, that's not right. Hmm... Meanwhile J and I were looking for sign or an arrow. Finally, F points and we see the arrow, a good 60 degrees from where we were looking. Buried deep in a tree, the arrow is clean but the broadhead is there to stay. Dang!



A bugle echoes out to the South, not too far from where we are standing. After unscrewing the arrow, we take off in the bugle's direction. Closing the distance, but we're nearing a creek and things are starting to warm up. The wind is pushing uphill on the hill, but down near the creek. I explain how if we just jump across straight to him we're really taking our chances with the wind, so we circle below. He has bugled a good dozen times in as many minutes, so we have high hopes. As soon as we cross the creek, silence sets in. Bugger.

At this point we're pushing into mid-morning and feel as if the elk are probably nearing their bedding areas. We split up, and I'm headed up high to check out several north facing benches I had marked on my gps app (yes, I'm still using Motion-X GPS on my iPhone with sim lock) during the week. As I check out each area, they looks very elky to me, but alas I did not find any hanging in them on this day. I did find sign from that morning, and 5 wallows on my search, with only one of them looking like it had been murked up recently. There was a good spring running through most of them, so it was hard to know how quickly they cleared up.



While taking a nap near our base camp, I heard a strange sound headed in our direction. As it neared, I recognized the sound ... horses. Son of a gun, somebody else is headed up here. Sure enough, a party of 3 with a couple horses are headed to camp/hunt right in the middle of where we've been hunting, literally less than 100 yards from where F missed the cow earlier. This has me totally bummed, not because they are going to be hunting the same area, but because I don't know how the elk are going react to a camp right in the middle of their territory.



The afternoon/evening we decide to stake out a few of the wallows I had found earlier in the day. The weather decided it wanted to rain, which was annoying. There was little sign of elk until just before dark. We heard a few bugles headed down the mountain to the north of us and we were on our way. Naturally, a few minutes after we had left the wallows, we heard bugles coming down the mountain in that draw. Balls. It was too late to pursue them, but we now had a better idea of what was happening.

We just couldn't pinpoint any of the elk that evening and retreated back to our camp with headlamps. Elk bugles rang out parallel to us the whole way. It was like they knew we wouldn't be able to do anything about them bugling in the dark. We cooked some chicken and rice for dinner and dried our clothes by the fireside. The sky cleared up and the bugles kept us company until bedtime.



Sunday

Having heard bugles at all times during the night, we knew exactly where some elk would be come morning. We hadn't even finished our morning oatmeal when we heard the herd bull start gathering up his cows. I've heard that elk may not start moving from their morning feeding area until an hour or two after daybreak, but the elk here were moving well before. We gulped down our remaining breakfast and charged up the ridge, paralelling the herd. They were down in the bottom of the basin next to where we had been hunting, but we had a good idea were they were headed.

As we closed in, we disagreed a bit on where the elk were, or had some sort of miscommunication. The ridge ran out and I dropped down into the basin, and the elk were very close.I threw out a couple cow calls and moved up 20 yards. Bugles rang back at me, so I repeated one more time. I was on the edge of a small meadow, about 15 yards into the trees. I knocked an arrow and clipped on my release. There was no indication that an elk was coming, but I could feel it. Sure enough, 50 yards from me a good bull came out from the pines and turned in my direction. The herd bull bugled just inside the pines, so I knew this was a satellite bull, but he was plenty big enough for me. I didn't count points, just looked at his big brow tines and knew he was legal. His head crossed behind the one pine tree behind us and I drew. He kept coming and turned to stop just in front on that pine tree. 20 yards. I settled my top pin on the V and released, no elk fever here, I was ready. As he swung around, my heart dropped, as I could see almost my entire arrow. I had hit the shoulder blade and got almost no penetration.

To make matters worse, I couldn't see the elk at all once he turned, as it was very thick to my left. I cow called and heard him stop. A few minutes went by and I heard a crash, which had me skeptical, but curious and excited. J had found me and the herd bull was still somewhere within 100 yards, so I had J set up and continued to call hoping the herd bill might come in. Eventually the elk slipped away and we regrouped. I almost panicked at first because there were so many trails going through the meadow and tons of tracks too, but mostly from cattle, not elk. It took awhile, but I found blood, and then F found where he had left the meadow. It was before 7am when I shot, and next thing I knew it was after 11am. There was only one spot where there was more than a small bit of blood, and I know why. It was where he had stopped when I cow called. The crash was from him jumping into a dry creek bed, not toppling over. It was here the aluminum arrow had broken off with about 4 inches missing. We followed the blood uphill about 1/4 mile, but the only blood we were finding was up high where he brushed against tall grasses or pine trees, hardly any was making it to the ground. And then it just ended. We spent until that evening searching for more blood from that last point, but did not find any. We stayed in that area the rest of the day, hoping to come across him, to no avail. I hate when this happens. I left a note with the other hunters with the horses.



That evening the bugles did not start until after 7pm. We set up on one, and it sounded like we had him coming in, but he just stopped returning our calls. We could hear elk returning to the area we had been that morning, and I was kicking myself for not being there. We eventually ran out of light and could see and hear elk on the way out, but nothing was to be done. While I wish the hunters up there the best of luck on their out of state trip, part of me also hopes they don't mess up the elk patterns too much!

We packed up camp in a light rain and took little time in heading down the mountain. We made it out in record time. Made some quick dinner at the trailhead as the rain had stopped and drove home, arriving at 1:30am.

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Honestly, I don't know what I did wrong. All the studying I have done on shot placement on elk had me convinced I had been aiming too far back (from my whitetail days). Even where the arrow was sticking out, in the glimpse I had, looked like it was in the right spot. My arrows aren't exactly light either, 29" aluminum with 125g heads.

[Vanish]

One thing I forgot to mention...

Last year when watching several videos of successful people hunting elk I noticed they weren't hiding behind anything, and they were standing, not kneeling. I had always assumed being lower would give me a better chance of not being seen. I asked about it and the response was, if you don't move it doesn't matter, and its generally easier to shoot/reposition while standing.

Now, that doesn't mean I'll always stand, but so far this year I have, and I have not had any problems at all with elk seeing me, with 3 elk closer than 20 yards and literally nothing between us. I do always make sure there is something very near next to or behind me.

To top it off, I've also been wearing flat khaki colored hiking pants because they dry out faster than all my camo.

[BRazz]

Sounds like an awesome hunt!!! Is this all still in your Plan B area?

Sorry about the wounded elk - that is a rotten feeling. But it sounds like you did the right thing by taking a responsible shot and tracking your heart out.

I usually kneel too. It's just reflex most of the time, and I don't even think about it. And I have hunted with plain khaki pants often. My feeling is that people have hunted elk successfully long before camoflage clothing ever arrived. Comfortable (and in 2013, dry) is my motto.

[Vanish]

Sounds like an awesome hunt!!! Is this all still in your Plan B area?
...
Comfortable (and in 2013, dry) is my motto.

Essentially, yes. We're just hiking in farther than I had originally anticipated. Hence the reason we spike camped this past weekend instead of base camping. I met an old guy opening weekend that said he'd hunted there for 25 years and confirmed with me that the easier to access area traditionally held elk, but they just weren't there at the moment. At the moment I don't mind hiking in farther if the elk hunting is going to be this exciting , but I wonder how I'll feel when we're finally packing one out.

...

The weather, what a difference from last year. I think I had only been rained on three times during the last two seasons, and this year it has rained almost every day. I love it when its mostly cloudy, but I could do without getting wet.

[Vanish]

No hunting this weekend! All roads from our house are closed. I'm living on an island at the moment.

[mtnmutt]

Vanish if you want to hunt, I am up in leadville now. I am going out tomorrow morning. I need to go home tomorrow after my morning hunt. I can give you some spots if you want to come up from bv.

There were virtually no hunters up here. There may be more locals here tomorrow.

[Vanish]

Vanish if you want to hunt, I am up in leadville now. I am going out tomorrow morning. I need to go home tomorrow after my morning hunt. I can give you some spots if you want to come up from bv.

There were virtually no hunters up here. There may be more locals here tomorrow.

Hey mtnmutt,

Looks like some of my posts got crossed. We had tried to buy a house in BV, but the deal fell through. We're currently living in Longmont.

Thanks for the offer of help!

[mtnmutt]

Thanks for the clarification. Now I am not as worried about getting home tomorrow.

[Vanish]

Funny story from that weekend ...

As we were prepping our backpacks, mine got knocked over and fell straight onto my bow, breaking one of my arrows (suck...). I took my small game arrow and swapped the broadhead onto it, putting the small game head into my pants pocket, as the car was locked, I was ready to leave and I didn't want to mess around.

Flash forward to Sunday, we were tracking that bull, and I finally realized nature had been calling for awhile. As I loosened my belt, I reached into my underpants, and what do I find in there nestled in my junk? The small game broadhead...

[BRazz]

That's the sort of story that is funny because it ended well... Sounds like it could have ended quite differently, and not so funny!!

[Vanish]

TLDR: For those of you looking for success stories, this isn't one of them.

I need to get this down before I forget everything. I've already forgotten some days! I don't think I had ever been so excited about a hunt before. "Our spot" had been providing more chances than I had ever had in years past. However, it had been two weeks since we had been up there due to the flood, and we had no idea if any body else was up there. It was important to know because it was muzzleloader week.

We arrived late Friday evening as it took 5 hours to to the 3.5 hour drive. It didn't help that I was not feeling so hot, nauseated and cold. Originally, we were planning to take spike camp up after having dinner with my father, but since it was already after 9 we elected to do it in the morning.

Saturday



After a dull morning, we regrouped for the afternoon hunt and set up near some wallows. This didn't work out and we started working our way back to camp. Absolutely nothing was happening. It was around 7pm when I through out a locator bugle from right near our way out and a bull bugled back from atop the ridge, most likely headed our way. We were very short on time so I told Forrest to go after him and I would try to keep him vocal.

My dad calls me on the radio and says there is a moo cow in the meadow near me. A few minutes later it starts grunting and he realizes its a moose. Well, that moose ruined everything. He came to check out my cow calling, then went right to F, spooking the bull elk that was at 25 yards. The bull elk went over to J (who I didn't even know was here!) and as he was drawing, the moose ran over to him and pushed the elk out again!



We don't know if it was the same bull or a different one, but a good bull walked out into the meadow my dad was watching right at last light. He missed at 40 yards.

We went back to camp in the dark. F was staying the night at spike camp, while I was going to join the boys at base camp. I got all the way back to base camp (3 miles) and realized my key to my car, where I'm supposed to be sleeping, is in my day pack, at spike camp. So we hang out and they go to bed and I take a load of water and food up to spike camp and sleep there. Oh well, guess it had to be done, but that was a lot of walking that day.

Sunday

Little to no bugling again this morning. Gee what happened? We noticed there were fairly fresh horse tracks headed out of the area. Maybe there was a second horse camp up here during Muzzy week? We'll never know. J and I decide to really do some hiking. We get way up and back and are sitting there having a sandwich. I give a locator bugle from our perch and straight below us a bugle rings out. Well, we're going after that! But, holy cow, was it steep. We almost cliffed out a couple of times.



The bull was down here somewhere. We never found him.



Annnnd.... that was that for Sunday.

Monday

It was sleeting out when we woke up (and snowing at spike camp, which I would have actually preferred). I'm not that hardcore. F didn't hear any bugles from spike camp.

That evening we were trying to get on a bull but couldn't find him. A bugle every 15 minutes when you've only got half an hour before dark just isn't enough. While we were doing that I listened to another bull work down into a meadow and I put my money on him being there in the morning. I'd be sleeping at spike camp this night, and trying to get there before light.

Tuesday

I was up and out well before light. F had planned on going with me, but she said she was sick. The night before a herd had moved through camp between 12 and 2am ( I thought they were supposed to stay in one spot at night? ) All their commotion certainly reduced my sleep. Unfortunately, my navigational skills for cross country in the dark were sub par, and I wound up at the wrong meadow, even with gps help. I got to where I wanted to be an hour after I wanted to be there, and the elk I was expecting were already moved up.

I decided I was going up, too. While working my way back into the canyon, I gave a locator bugle and got a response back in the direction I had come, but up higher. Game on. We went back and forth a couple of times as I got higher. I clawed my way up a tight spot and 15 minutes later tried to locate again. No response. I'm on top and a real vantage point now, and I decide maybe a cow call. Sure enough, he bugles back, the other direction (west) this time. He's not far, maybe 300 yards. I work my way 100 yards, then cow call and move toward. Bugles back. 30 yards and cow call, move up 15 yards. Bugle's back. I get to what I feel is about 100 yards and call, and a different bugle rings out to the south of me. This really pisses off the first bull, who turns from squealy to pissed and growly. I don't think I need to call anymore.

I move up 20 yards and set up, clip on release and wait. I didn't take long and the first bull was bearing down on me. As soon as I saw legs I drew back. 40, 25, 15 yards and he stops, with his vitals obscurred by a little pine tree. I can squeeze it through there ... right? He's slightly quartered to, and remembering the last shot I took, I hold. I'm not going to wound another bull. Well, right then the wind hit my neck and it was over. He bolted right into the other bull and they both were gone.

At least now I had a better idea of where they were during the day. I had gained almost 2000ft from base camp. I would have stayed here all day except I had told F I would see how she was feeling. She wasn't good and so I walked her down to base camp.

Dad and I hunted that evening ( yeah, I walked back up there AGAIN... ) with no results. We did run into two guys hunting who had set up a tent right in the middle of our evening hunting grounds. They had come form the top, saying the elk had moved out of there and they were looking for them down lower. We countered with them having moved out of lower and we thought they went higher. We should have packed up right then.

Wednesday

Now we're all sick. Aching, Can't Breathe, Sneezing and if only nausea with the issue... Day Off. I try some fishing in the creek and can't even catch the brookies. Got one little brown below base camp.

Thursday

Not feeling great, but I feel like if I hunt hard this day I can get a bull up high. I prepare for a full day and I put in my all. Luckily I am feeling better on this day, though the toilet paper in my pack ran thin. I can honestly say this is the first day I have ever felt like I really hunted elk. I covered a TON of ground, probably three times as much as I had ever done up there before.



I had a good feeling elk would be at the back of a canyon I knew about. No luck there. So I just kept working it. Trying locator bugle once in awhile, nothing. Finally at NOON I crossed a spring and there were quite a few tracks there, so I sat down and pulled out a sandwich, figuring I would wait for a couple of hours. Halfway through my sandwich, I decide what the heck, lets give a few cow calls.

Sandwich back in baggie! There's a bull less than 200 yards down the spring from me. Now, here is a conundrum. I have good wind right now, but if the wind stops blowing, the thermal will pull my scent the other way. I decide to go down while the wind is good, sounds like he is slightly to my left. Wrong... its the sound of his bugle echoing up to me, and he was bedded 30 yards to my right, I see as the wind switches and he jumps up and bombs down the hill. Crap...



I couldn't stop and sit on this day. I just kept hunting. I'd come to big obstacles and just be like ... ok I'll climb it / cross it whatever!



It didn't seem to matter. The elk just weren't in the area except the one bull. There was all kinds of sign, but mostly a week or more old. I don't know if there had been camps in the area that pushed the elk out, or if they just moved somewhere else to rut, but they weren't there.

The evening was dead quiet. I packed out part of spike camp as I had a feeling F was done due to sickness.



Friday

It rained, snowed, hailed all day. My cold had come back with a vengeance. I should have sucked it up and packed out spike camp this day and just gone home, but we spent the whole day in the car.



Saturday

This day probably would have been a great day for hunting. I forgot to mention, on that Thursday where I really hunted my ass off, I blew out my right boot. By the time I got to camp, I was able to pull the sole off and stick my toes through the bottom. My sock was shredded. I have no idea how I didn't get blisters.

That being said, there was now 2-6 inches of snow on the ground, and I was bootless and still sick. It was a gorgeous hike up to spike camp, and I hate to say we wimped out early, but I think it was necessary.




Well, our season ended with a total flop. Had we been healthy, I think I would have tried somewhere, anywhere else on Wednesday. Of course, this was already our plan B area and plan A is still closed, so I wouldn't have had a clue where to go. I really feel like I learned on a ton on that epic Thursday, even with only one elk sighting. I learned just how far I can go if I want to, and I finally found a spot where elk hole up, to give me an idea of what to look for in the future.

Lots up in the air for next year! Dad likes Plan A area, especially since he only saw 3 elk all season. F likes Plan B area, since she had never had any chances at Plan A and had FOUR at plan B. I feel like there were more elk at Plan A, but more cooperative elk at Plan B ... so I don't know!