elk seasonn 2013... lots of big bulls!

[centaur]

:      

[huntnmuleys]

so we decided that Cory would go in where the elk did, me a mile and a half up and wed work these open canyons.  sure is a different elk terrain up there, but nice to spot and stalk in minus these dried, dead clover things. theyre everywhere and they are loud!  sign seemed abundant in the draws I was in though, and soon I found elk in a bedding area...

 

I thought for sure I was on to something here, as I was in bow range of this cow and her calf, but no bull was around. sure seems a weird time of year for that!  

I have to jump off topic for a minute here.  have you ever heard of ground tarantulas?  me neither.  but I guess that's what these are called. this land is crawling with these enormous spiders....

 

as well as snakes! never dealt with rattlesnakes while elk hunting before but up there you gotta watch yourself.  it is an amazing landscape too.

 

[huntnmuleys]

anyway, there was no bull with that cow and calf so I moved on, into the next draw.

and this is where this story gets real!

and the pics get really lousy for a second!

it was nearing dark and I heard a bugle.  from the sound of it I thought maybe I could get close enough before the day was over.  I was standing above a giant canyon (that I labeled the grand canyon), and the bull was across it. but, there was one spot where it really pinched up tight.  of course that meant steep but I went that direction and ended up right across from the bull and his harem of 9 cows and calves.  7 LONG tines on each LONG beam and a wide spread, this was the bull we've all dreamt about our whole lives. im not a score guru for sure, but I will say CONSERVATIVELY 400+.  his 6th tine was his short one, and they were easily over a foot each!  ive seen a lot of big bulls, but this guy was really THAT big.  and, I could see that I wasn't going to be able to get to him by dark.  I could see an easy path to what looked to be 50 yards (later in the hunt I verified this) but getting into my range was going to take a different route, more time, and I didn't have it.  too dark and far for good pics as well, I didn't want to chance the flash of the camera alerting em.  

I did take a couple pics, but they don't show much. one shows enormous thirds but other than that you cant see a tine. nothing to remember him by. my best plan there involved being back in the morning and killing him.  talk about a sleepless night!

I am still amazed by this terrain...

 

[elkken]

[huntnmuleys]

now id done it right the night before.  I watched him until complete dark.  I snuck out quietly, and without a flashlight somehow avoiding rattlesnakes and leg eating spiders. morning was gonna be exciting!

and I was in there well before day light (a snake about got me this time).  as I neared the spot along the grand canyon where id left him a bugle rang out in nearly the same place as last night.  game on!!!  I hustled across the canyon keeping a good wind and approached the bugling bull. due to the terrain, I couldn't even see him but I knew there was water above him the night before and it sounded like the herd had moved up there.  cresting the top, I heard him bugle again, they were going away from me into another canyon to bed. and I had a quiet path to walk.  this might just happen yet!

finally catching the herd, I was blown away by what I saw.  these were totally different elk. there were two bulls running the show, two small 6 points.  a handful of cows were around, but my big bull was gone.  where did he go??  I ran out of quiet sneaking as the breeze died on this particular group, and left em there hoping for a good evening hunt. walking away, I glassed and searched high and low for the big guy but found nothing, minus one that had died a while back.

the things you find a couple miles back in...

 

[steadman]

[huntnmuleys]

that night we decided to hunt the other side of the grand canyon, coming in from a completely different spot.  it was a marginal wind I thought walking in, kind of one of those "should be perfect when we get there but not so much right now" kind of breezes.  but sure enough it was a good breeze when we got there.  sneaking in, we got right on a herd bedded about 60 yards away.  we waited em out, but they didn't feed our way. heres what they looked like at 70 yards, before and after noticing us...

 

 

I guess they just weren't sure, because they didn't run away but they did end up feeding off, and our best efforts to chase em didn't pan out. that wasn't all bad though, as another group moved in behind us.  there was a smallish 5 point that had one side of his rack completely under his chin, another small raghorn, some cows and a dandy 6.  game on yet again!

we tried working him with calls but ran out of daylight, he just wouldn't get close enough.  I don't have pics of any of those elk, I was too busy hunting for photos.

[huntnmuleys]

the next morning we were back in the same general spot, but that big 7 was nowhere to be found.  in fact, elk in general were harder to come by.  more people in the area too. not good...

I hunted lower and saw one good bull in the distance..

 

but wasn't able to catch up to him. I did drop right in on a small 5 point and a cow, but he wasn't anything I was going to shoot with all these big bulls around..

 

I did run into a Montana hunter that shed some light on the problem though. seems I wasn't the only one who knew of the big 7.  3 guys from Michigan were hunting him hard, as well as this guy and a friend of his. bummer!  he did say that he thought my score guess of 400 was a tad low.  and, that big bull was never to be seen again, at least by me.  nice to be on a world class animal once in my life though.  however with all of the people around, Cory and I thought wed try a new spot for the evening.  a storm was supposed to be coming, maybe elk would be moving?

[VictoryHunter]

Great photos and story!

[huntnmuleys]

that night we tried a walk in area we saw on the map.  looked like a good spot where a guy could get back in a ways, and it was!  Cory dropped off the top first, and I was going to go another half mile or so and work in.  getting to a good looking bedding area I snuck in with a good wind, and not far into it I heard elk. well, I guess I heard Cory.  I mean, most of the cows up here are quiet, and these are going nuts. sounded like his call for sure.  then some estrus calling. yep, Cory for sure.....  then antlers cracking.  wait a minute, he don't carry rattling antlers!!!  I moved in in a hurry.

there were at least 3 bulls I could see, two raghorns and something bigger.  I didn't ever see the loser of the fight, but there were a bunch of cows there too.  an elk mecca!  somehow in all of this, I lost the entire herd except for the raghorns, and I played with them for awhile before moving on.

if you look close, you can see the second bulls rack low and in front of the one on skyline.

 

[huntnmuleys]

pressing on, I crossed a good looking drainage that had some canyons coming in with heavy timber.  prime bedding!  I chose one and started still hunting.  immediately I kicked up elk..

 

it was a cow and two yearlings.  they just kind of moved up and were watching me, and it was apparent that they were completely alone.  time to have some fun!  I put a call in my mouth, held my bow up like a rack, and did some light chuckles.  then walked the trail that was going to go right under them.

this part was incredible, one of the highlights of my month.

I chuckled and moved slow, kinda hunkered over with that damn bow over my head.  soon I was at 60 yards.  then 50, then 40, and so on until even thought they could see me clearly, I was about 22 yards directly below them.  took this pic with no zoom at all, its blurry cause I was moving.

 

have you ever had wild, pressured elk just watch you in the open like your not a person?  I sure haven't.  to see what I could get away with, I stopped, pocketed my camera, nocked an arrow, picked a spot on the now broadside cow, and..

let down. just couldn't do it, not only so many elk around, they seemed tame just standing there looking at me.  I mentally toasted myself for a great hunt and moved on, turning to look one last time at nearly 60 yards. they were still standing there just looking!

[huntnmuleys]

dang im having fun!  

so I hunted around until it was getting close to dark, finally finding a hidden water hole. elk tracks everywhere!  kind of thought this was a place that a guy could sit an afternoon and shoot something, I made a mental note of it and was walking out.  down below it in a field there was an old homestead site that was just cool. I snapped some pics..

 

the flash really lit things up, darkness wasn't too far off.  I turned and looked back towards the pond one last time, and was shocked to see an elk standing there looking at me!  I slowly raised the binos, and realized that it hadn't seen me at all, it was looking at the pond.  me in the open with a camera flash didn't even get its attention.  and, it was a bull.   only a five point, but heave horned and good size.  he was right on the border of what I would shoot. and he ambled right to the water, completely hidden from me behind the damn.

I eased up and took a look, and there he was, drinking. he was certainly in range. he was one step quartering away, with his head down.  do I or don't I?  this was a tough call, I was seeing lots of bulls but this was a good one, heck probably would be my 2nd best ever with a bow.  he stood there drinking for several minutes, and finally I.......

[huntnmuleys]

elected to pass. now, im an elk eater so this was tough to do, but I just couldn't convince myself that that elk needed an arrow. a content hunter made his way out of the woods and to the truck.  dang this is fun!!!

then the storm hit. we actually knew it was coming, and that area is tough to negotiate in wet weather, but hell this might fire the bulls up even more.  however, about two whole days were lost to a ton of rain and mud...

 

 


on the second day of the rain, Cory and I decided to drive the nearly 50 miles to town for gas and a hot meal.  that tent was seeming kinda small!   in town I got cell service and found out that I had to be home a couple days early, I had a land sale that I needed to attend to.

now the pressure was on, what started as a 10.5 day hunt, had, with weather and my early departure, turned into a 6.5 day hunt and me passing a nice bull!!!!!!    whoops lol.

[huntnmuleys]

the next morning I was on a new mission.  no more passing elk!  i hunted an area bordering where i had been before but new country to see.  early on, i saw a cow in a coulee and made a play to get in front of where it looked like she was going.  surely she wasn't alone??  easing up the point i had good cover and a nice breeze. even the fence was a quiet crossing!  just afterward,i heard elk coming before i could see them, but looking ahead through the trees i knew i was in trouble.  there was a cow and calf, and the cow was on a collision course with me.

at about 6 feet she realized this also.

both of the animals ran out to about 30 yards, paused, then left.  more cows and calves without a bull?  how could this be?  i hustled over the top to see where they were going to land, and was surprised to see that i had ran them right into a nice, lone 6 point who was doing his best to corral the fleeting pair.  i expect a thank you card from the bull anyday...

 

he finally got them reigned in in the next drainage, and i moved in. surely hed take one more lone cow?  after come calling back and forth, and another big move by me getting me in close, i set up to take him. i did some whiny cow calls, and then some weak sounding chuckles. i then raked a tree lightly and sat back, knowing it was a matter of time before he came to investigate.

then the breeze, that had been so constant all day, hit me in the back of my neck.  game over.

a sad walk out of the woods that morning. and i was about out of time.

[huntnmuleys]

that night we headed back to where i passed the five point, coming in from a different angle.  i have no pics of this evening, but right away i was onto elk in a bedding area, but they were moving toward Cory so i let them go.  he didn't get them either, maybe i should have pressed on?  anyway, i got to a high point and was glassing, and honestly not seeing much.  you know that depressing feeling you get in the pit of your stomach?  yep, i was feeling it.  suddenly i noticed two elk bedded not far below me. looked to be a cow and calf. how did they get there?  i hadn't seen them. i made a plan and then made a move, time to fill a freezer.

after about a 30 minute sneak, with a giant pointed hill between us i came out in the right spot. only one problem. the elk were gone. i got up high and glassed and have no clue what happened.  i was behind a hill for my whole sneak, with good wind. who knows?  stump shooting my way back to the truck was frustrating yet great. i could not miss!   if only i could get one more shot..

[TJK68]

   

[huntnmuleys]

i see i went over 800 posts during this story.  8 is my lucky number and elk my favorite animal by a mile.  cool.

the next morning we went back for one last ditch effort to locate the seven point.   Cory went in high and me low. now, i was walking before any kind of daylight, but when i got around the corner, thru the binos i could see a hunter crossing the bottom.  i had parked at the end of the road and there were no other vehicles around.  hmm... there are actually roads, but they are open only during mid day for game retrieval.  you don't suppose...

i went the other direction, and coming around a corner i found one of the things that makes me madder than all get out. a 4 wheeler.  an illegal 4 wheeler.  and worse, it was not where the guy that i saw came from.  no wonder the elk aren't moving!  damn i hate those things, and the cheating people that use em.

how could you want to abuse land that looks like this with one of those loud pieces of junk???

 

dejected, i actually gave up. walked back to the truck. i was honestly so mad, i was ready to go home.  sometimes things like that just get to me i guess. now i knew i had a long wait for Cory, so i kicked the seat back in the truck and napped, every half hour or so setting up to look around.

and the second time i sat up, there was an elk.

a smallish 7 point was not 100 yards from the truck, oblivious to my presence. i waited til he moved out of sight and grabbed my gear.  sneaking in i was able to stay within 100 yards easily, but dang he was moving out.  no doubt scared.  i followed for a couple drainages before losing him.  no pics of him, but dang it. if he'd had just slowed down any.  when Cory got to the truck he was in the same boat, tired of the people and in this case law breakers.  he hadn't had near the luck getting on animals that i had either, so we decided that wed hunt that evening where i passed the five point, and if nothing go home as i had only a day left anyway.

[huntnmuleys]

that evening we were on a mission.  i got on a small bull shortly after splitting up with Cory, but lost him somewhere and it was quiet until almost dark when a bull started sounding off.  i gave chase, but i finally got somewhat close at the same time as he got onto private land.  dang it!  i live for elk hunting, and didn't want to leave but it was about that time.  Cory had saw nothing, and was ready to go.  but that bugling bull gave us hope, and we decided to hunt one more morning.  any other time selling that land would have been a blessing, but it was biting me right now.

[huntnmuleys]

the next morning wasn't to be. the elk stayed on private land, and our hunt was over.  a 10.5 day hunt cut to barely over half of that. and no elk for me.  i will return though, dang that was fun.

kind of a weird year. taking off all of September, hunting elk everyday, but only carrying a bow for a few and never even taking a shot.  i did thoroughly enjoy the month however, and was close to soooo many big bulls.  i have more stories of course, but im already to three pages.  ill leave this with some more pics from the month that was.  i live for September!  

 

 

 

 

[huntnmuleys]

a few more....