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ElkNut True Believer Opening Day (Long post)

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ElkNut True Believer Opening Day (Long post)

Postby Losefreeze » 08 27, 2018 •  [Post 1]

First off I would like to say I have always believed in ElkNut's ability to pull in elk and all of the knowledge he shares on here as well as his app is priceless. Mostly this is in regards to MY ability to perform these "moves" as he describes to success. :P

I was only able to get away for opening day this early in the season but i wasn't about to turn my nose up to a day in the elk woods. Got to camp Friday night just before dark, setup my car camping situation, since I only needed one night, back of the SUV would do. Have not hunted this specific area before but did a large amount of e-scouting, talking to DOW and reading forums about this specific drainage/mountain range. Hit it early, on the trail at 4:15 and got to my glassing spot at 5:30 on the top of the continental divide with plenty of time to wait and listen, hoping for some early season bugling, to no avail. No action in the valleys below but i wasn't surprised as this is a heavily pressured area with not only hunters but hikers and mountain bikers alike. Gotta love CO public land.

Once shooting light came around I unfortunately made it a bit tough on myself as I had to now swing around the long way in order to not blow any opportunity I had on a neighboring mountain side with the down flowing morning thermals. Made it to the mid-lower section of the hill about 7:30 and off I went to look for sign and hopefully the possible sighting of those elusive giant ghosts. Over the course of a half hour I found a few marshy areas, a solid bedding area and some definite sign that was at best a couple days old. That is when I decided to check out a small aspen grove in the middle of the dark timber that looked promising from my e-scouting.

When I got in there I saw a decent amount of fresh sign that most likely was from earlier that morning so I decided this was my best chance to test out some ElkNut knowledge. I found an area that had multiple shooting lanes, setup IN FRONT of cover in the shadows and began using my range finder to pan areas I thought would be good travel lanes for elk to pass through. Once I was setup I began a cold calling sequence with soft mews and calf chatter, on and off for a few minutes. I would then pause for another few minutes and start again amping it up a bit with some contact buzzes and whines as if something needing to be checked out was worth coming over to see. All of this went on and off for about 15 minutes. As I continued to scan the area to my left, up the hill, out of the corner of my right eye I caught movement. Up the hill, further than I had scanned or expected, I see a cow with a calf trailing close behind at a slow walk quite as can be full broadside at what I assumed was out of my shooting ability/distance. I was a bit amazed and shocked that WOW this is actually working. I prepared to see more of a heard come through, hoping that they would chose a lane I had previously expected, closer to me, so I would have an opportunity. As another cow slowly made her way through on the same trail I thought, well maybe I need to give it a go although it was out of my 40 yards and in expectation. But as the elk woods always prove to be confusing so went the situation. That was it, 2 cows and a calf, no more. No trailing small herd or spike to accompany them and I was left scratching my head.

As I stand there with adrenaline pumping from the encounter and the bit of amazement I still had that this ACUTALLY WORKED, I decided lets see how far they really were outside of my expected distance. To my disappointment the tree nearest I could tell where they passed through was only 51 yards out, playing about 60 taking slope into consideration (my range finder is for golf so it gives slope). And as I have become accustomed in my very short career of big game/archery hunting I traveled through the forest for the next few hours with a smile on my face but also giving myself a bit of "Monday quarterbacking" that next time do a better preparation job so you can actually release and arrow.

The jist of this whole post is first off, THANK YOU, Paul for your wisdom and willingness to share with those of us that are trying to pick this up as a first generation hunter. They way you walk through the information is easy to consume and put into practice and I couldn't be more grateful. Secondly, for anyone out there, any advice is always much appreciated. I know this was opening day and the elk woods are very quite, usually, at this time of year but I am always willing to learn. I can't wait till I get back out there this weekend and hopefully the 3rd week of September.
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Losefreeze
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Re: ElkNut True Believer Opening Day (Long post)

Postby CurlyTail » 08 27, 2018 •  [Post 2]

Congrats on the close encounter. It is rather amazing when animals actually respond to your calling. I hope you get one this season because in another few days those cows will not be unattended.
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Re: ElkNut True Believer Opening Day (Long post)

Postby ElkNut1 » 08 27, 2018 •  [Post 3]

Oh man so close! Great story & I could read your excitement, thanks a bunch for sharing sir!

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Re: ElkNut True Believer Opening Day (Long post)

Postby cohunter » 08 28, 2018 •  [Post 4]

Pretty much the same kind of story here except gave calls in response to a bugle... Had a great set-up, waited a couple minutes and then thought "maybe I should move up just a little more" I took 5 steps and got busted by a cow and a big bull at 30 yards just behind some thick brush. WHEN will I learn to sit still!? :oops:
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Re: ElkNut True Believer Opening Day (Long post)

Postby Joe Schmo » 08 28, 2018 •  [Post 5]

Oh man I’m getting stoked...keep up the stories guys!!!
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Re: ElkNut True Believer Opening Day (Long post)

Postby Elkhunttoo » 08 29, 2018 •  [Post 6]

Nice write up, good luck, keep after em!!
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Re: ElkNut True Believer Opening Day (Long post)

Postby Lefty » 08 29, 2018 •  [Post 7]

Great story.


I expect Elknuts info to help us out too. Our big change will be calling from inside thick and nasty and more social talk early.
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Re: ElkNut True Believer Opening Day (Long post)

Postby nrocchio » 08 30, 2018 •  [Post 8]

Great write up. A day one encounter is still exciting! Looking forward to getting after them with you this weekend.
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Re: ElkNut True Believer Opening Day (Long post)

Postby Roosiebull » 09 06, 2018 •  [Post 9]

Paul knows his stuff, and is very good people! He went out of his way trying to help me last week, but I just couldn't get the information he offered soon enough, but the gesture was awesome, and the info will be beneficial now.

A buddy and I had a canyon full of big bills, one true giant, and no cows, tons of calling action, but just couldn't close the last few yards.

We finally fine tuned our program, but the info Paul was trying to get to me would have likely been game changing.

He looks at things different than most, and that is a total compliment, most cannot separate the key little details like Paul has.
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