You're right, that is Sibley Lake, but is not where we are camped. Just another pretty WY scene. We are camped about 15 miles west of Burgess Junction off FR15.
A little frustration was starting to set in. Or maybe just confusion. I hunted the AM before picking Ohne up and saw nothing. We both hunted hard in different spots yesterday morning and evening. Nothing. Not a thing. No bugles, no fresh tracks, droppings were all hard and black on the outside. It was like the elk rent was past due and they had been evicted from everywhere we looked two weeks before we got there.
Oh, there was sign. Droppings galore, but like I said all old. Trees everywhere were tore to shreds by bulls, some as big as my thigh. The elk had definitely been here, but they were no longer.
Hunting pressure seems pretty low, considering. I've certainly seen much worse that didn't drive the elk out. Just can't figure it out. So our plan for this morning was to do some driving, hit high spots, and cover as much area as we could with binoculars.
The elk gods got up early though and changed our plans. They threw the switch, and right from the tent we could hear bulls above us. We're not stupid - we stayed right there. Ohne walked up right from camp while I drove down the road and came at it from the other side.
Right from the truck I could hear 3 bulls above me. I headed toward the one a bit to my left and worked my way up the mountain. Not a bad hike as mountain hunting goes. Maybe 1/2 mile and 7-800 feet in elevation.
Just as it was breaking daylight I got to the opening on top. A nice 6x6 was sky lined and bugling up a storm with a couple of cows between me and him. A couple more bulls bugled from my right and eventually a big 5x5 walked toward the cows. The big boy promptly ran him off.
I had the big one within 100 yds at one point, but that was as close as he came. At least 4 different bulls bugled back and forth pretty much continuously until 9am. I tried to get in front of them while keeping the wind in my favor all morning. But they were up and down and back and forth through the bowl we were in all morning and I always seemed to zig when I should have zagged. So close, but oh so far.
All in all of course, it was a great morning. No shots fired, but I'll take that kind of action any day. All I can hope is that this isn't a fluke and is now the start of what I had been hoping to find.
Not sure how often I'll be able to post. And it's hard to type on this stupid phone. But I'll update when I can.
Topic: Whip heading to Wyoming/ Updates Added (Read 4100 times)
