My Turn at a WY elk thread....

[steadman]

[Duckbutt]

We watched the bulls bugle and parade from a perch we climbed to in some rimrock below the elk. After about 20 minutes, the elk started to break apart and move in several directions.  The large 6X6 moved off to our right, never giving us an opportunity to move in on him and he eventually dissapeared over a ridge.  The smaller bull bedded on the hillside 50 yards below the ridge line they had been on.  He was in plain view in the sparse burnt timber so we decided he was the best opportunity for a stalk.  We did a wide around to use the terrain and wind to our advantage so we could get as close as possible to him hoping to keep some ridge between us while we worked as close as possible.  As we are getting into the 100 yard range, my buddy whispers excitedly that he's on his feet 60 yards ahead.  We freeze and notice he's thashing a small pine to pieces and is facing directly away from us.  Wind is perfect, so I immediately knock an arrow and start sneaking deliberately straight at him.  I tried to keep a burnt timber trunk between us at all times and would freeze when he'd lift his head to look around.  When I got to forty yards, a raghorn showed up from my left and began feeding between me and the bull.  I was pinned by this raghorn for a good ten minutes and the 6x6 just thrashed away, never knowing I was in the world.  If that raghorn hadn't been there, I could have walked straight to that bull and popped him square on the butt.  But, the raghorn finally moved into my scent line and boogered the opportunity.  My buddy got to watch the whole stalk up close and personal.  We were both jacked with adrenaline.  An hour into the first morning.....we didn't know whether it would be like this until we got an elk or if we'd just been handed the best chance we'd get.  

This was the little pine....

 

[Doc Nock]

DB,

Like others, those early pics really got me going!!

Question: My eyes are not what they were, but is that a Delaney Poundcake dangling from your backpack I see?          :rolleyes:

[Jeff D. Holchin]

I've been waiting for the story of your hunt, and so far, so good.  Don't leave out ANY details!

[Duckbutt]

quote:Originally posted by Doc Nock:
DB,

Like others, those early pics really got me going!!

Question: My eyes are not what they were, but is that a Delaney Poundcake dangling from your backpack I see?    

[Duckbutt]

I don't remember too much about the rest of the morning but about lunch time, we noticed one of the herds had gathered around a wallow that was only about 150 yards from our rimrock perch down in the bottom of the canyon.  We felt like we could get up in there without getting busted so off we went.  We sat for about two hours and watched probably a 100 elk just be elk.  We didn't have a choice but to wait and just enjoy the show through 10 power glass.  The biggest herd bull had to be over 350 and just an unbelievable thing to witness as he bugled, licked cows, chased satellite bulls, layed that massive rack down on the ground to nap etc etc.  Finally, they started to break up in smaller groups and move around.....

and so did we.

[Over&Under]

Hot and heavy elk action the first morning out...thats what I'm talking bout!!

Looking forward to the rest.

[BoonRoto]

Awesome and thanks!

[NO SIGHTS]

Heck yeah!!!
i love sneaking up on rubbing bulls. my heart usually jumps out of my chest though everytime.
Keep it coming

[Duckbutt]

We made our way up slowly into the burnt timber hillside that was the downwind side of the basin. We needed to stay at a safe distance from the elk but also be in a better striking position than the rimrock perch offered if an opportunity arose. About 6:30pm, we spot a lone bull on a ridge to our left. He's a good 6x6 and moving in our direction. As he covers a few hundred yards, we realize we better start angling in on his line. He was obviously headed somewhere with a purpose. I continued to move down the hill hoping to cut him off as he went buy us and finally ran out of cover as he passed at about 50 yards. He stopped at a wallow and proceeded roll around, flipping and flopping on his back like a silly yard dog rolling on a dead fish. It would have been laugh out loud funny had it not been a bull elk that I couldn't get any closer to. After about 5 minutes of his sillyness, he started to move away from us. I darted wide to the right and got the rimrock perch between us. Then sprinted into some cover and hoped I'd catch him on the other side. Not fast enough. I was in some relatively thick stuff, so I thought I'd hit him with some cow calls. He stopped and bugled at me but never would come closer to investigate. We finally just let him move away unspooked.
Our thoughts at the end of the first full day...THIS IS INCREDIBLE!
But more importantly, we were learning to get aggressive at the right times and be patient at the right times, hopefully keeping them from feeling the pressure of our presence in the area.  We figured if we could average two good opportunities a day like we just had, our chances were good with 10 days to hunt.

I'm not sure if this is the bull from that encounter, but it is a pic my buddy snapped of a bull in that wallow to give you an idea....

 

[NO SIGHTS]

that is an INCREDIBLE first day. And with 10 to go. This is gonna get good. Cant wait to hear the rest.

[Duckbutt]

The next morning when we crawled out of the tent, a front was moving in on us. Much cooler weather, misty rain, clouds etc. The wind direction had also done a 180 so our approach to the basin and our formerly safe glassing perches would have to change. We were relieved to hear bugles filling the canyon when we arrived but nothing was very close to our starting point. As the sun revealed the landscape, the bad news was that the elk were herded up big time clear across the canyon, in the wide open and dangerously close to the private ground. Nothing to do but keep them in the glass and hope something might change to our favor. We sat for a few hours with the cold wind pounding us in the face on our high vantage just below the ridge line opposite the elk herd. The elk were bedded on the opposite side of the canyon on a hillside totally blocked from the hard cold wind. Dang animals are smart some times. They didn't seem interested in activity and the temps were dropping so we decided to go check out some new ground for a couple of hours. Warm up a bit and start to develop a plan B just in case our honey hole started turning sour.

After we killed a couple of hours exploring more of our area, we came back to find the big herd still hunkered down on the same hillside. A dense fog rolled in and though the bugling kept us clued in to their location, we started to lose visibility. After we were frozen to the bone and the fog had settled in solid, we cut out for camp about 5pm. A little time to make calls to the family before they were in bed and get some general camp/gear/hygene chores knocked out (a necessary time out on hunts like these.) Full day number two turned out to be a sobering experience. Two opps a day just went to a one a day average. A couple more dry days could make the odds begin to look like a fold'em scenario. Doubt started to creep in...

[Duckbutt]

The fog was thick I tell ya.  Well, when it was time for supper, I pulled out a couple cans of my favorite Bush's Baked Beans with brown sugar and bacon.  Figured I might be able to create some of my own atmospheric chemistry that might suffice as a viable fog deterrant.  Almost lost my hunting partner that night though....

 

[Duckbutt]

As I mentioned earlier, I had been educated on the reality that the early part of the week would be best as the end of the week and especially during the weekend, local hunters would join the fun and the elk feeling the pressure would head to the sanctuary of private ground.  On day three, we notice a truck sitting in our normal parking spot when we arrive at the basin.  When we tried to make polite conversation, the guy was visibly agitated by our existance so we just drove up a bit and parked.  Well, he proceeded to then drive on by us so we just started walking back and decided to enter the canyon lower than any day previously.  The wind direction made it a good choice as well but we were really just trying to create some space from the other guy.  At daylight, we are hearing the other hunter cut off every bull's bugle with his own and then we see a big herd hightailing out of the canyon and over the mountain top.  Oh boy...here we go.

We are fortunately on the opposite side of the basin from the other hunter and luckily for us, we have a bull bugling pretty darn close.  We drop down into a draw so we can travel closer to his bugling without getting skylined and finally work our way as close as we can until we run out of cover.  This was the scene when I peaked up over the edge of the draw.

   

While I didn't get him in the picture, there was an awesome herd bull that was on this little hill with these cows.

[Autumnarcher]

I'm gonna hafta go get me a drooling towel. Great story so far.....

[Duckbutt]

Unfortunately, this bull and his harem decided to move in the opposite direction.  Once this group was at a safe distance, we got high again to see if we could locate more elk.  The other hunter was still going strong and we discover that most of the elk are now way out on the flats which is probably private ground.  Not good.  We study the elk and the surrounding topography through the glass for a while.  We study the GPS screen to try to determine if there's enough public ground to even justify the hike way way out there to the herd which is now basically in pasture land.  We see a small group close to a hillside which looks like it may be public ground.  So, with no better options at this point, off we go.

An hour or so later, we make our way up to a group that has a large herd bull, a few shooter satellite bulls and many a cow and raghorn.

 

There is really no way to make a move on them but we feel like we need to stay as a close as possible, just in case.  Here's a photo from our spy session on this group.  This satellite bull bedded about 200 yards away and we caught him bugling on camera.

 

[Duckbutt]

30 minutes into our spy session, we feel the wind hit the back of our neck.  Our little bugling buddy blows out of his bed and the next thing we know, 100 or so elk are moving briskly away from us and much further out onto public ground, bunched up tight like nervous animals do and legally out of reach for us.  We lick our wounds and start to head back towards our traditional stomping grounds, wondering if between our blunder and the other hunter's presence, there will be any elk left to hunt.  Here's a pic of me after sounding a location bugle, trying to see if we can get a response in our canyon before we go barging back in blindfolded.

 

[Duckbutt]

An aside...Though I didn't realize it at the time, (I didn't carry my cell phone out of camp), but at this very time of day my wife sent me a text message from Delaney saying she felt today would be the day.  She also wanted to make sure I had the good luck charm.

[Duckbutt]

We didn't get any responses to my calling and the reality of our situation started to affect our spirits.  The elk were moving to private ground and it wasn't even the weekend yet.  What would this mean for the next several days?  We were whooped from the extra long hike so we decided to climb into our now comfy rimrock perch to rest and glass a while.  As we climbed, we noticed a herd bunched up in the burnt timber on the opposite side of the basin, probably a 1000 yards away.  While they were bunched up tight and all on their feet, atleast they were still in our basin.  Hope creeps back in just a bit.  But just a moment later, my buddy plops down in the rimrock, only to have a bull and three cows explode from their beds right under us.  They take off running across the middle of the canyon.  The already nervous elk across the basin notice, take the cue, then start their own stampede and dissapear over the ridge, bee lining for the sanctuary.

[elkken]

     

Just like being there, keep it coming