I am off the mountain to let the elk rest for the weekend. The first week has been promising, but no arrows have been drawn, excepting a few hapless stumps. The area that I hunt has been plagued by moo cows the past few seasons, but this year they were moved out early, and the results are promising. A small stream is the basic watershed for the area, and it looks like this:
I saw elk every day of the 5 days I hunted, which is a big improvement over years past. My closest call was on day 3, when I was hunting a relatively flat area that is lodgepole forest. A typical trail..
Sneaking along in predator mode, I got up on 6 feeding elk, and had a cow at under 20 yards, but needed those all important 'two more steps' when I felt a breeze on the back of my neck. Didn't take the elk long to leave. That same afternoon, I got up on 4 elk, and once again, the wind got me as it continued to swirl through the trees.
The rut has not yet hit its stride, but in the last day I did hear a couple of bugles, and the wallows are starting to be used. I took this photo yesterday; the day before, the wallow had not been touched. Now, it stinks of elk, and whoever used it threw mud on trees 15 feet away. I sat on it Friday afternoon, but nothing showed up.
I have been seeing only cows, calves, and spikes until yesterday evening, when on my way back to camp, I saw a very good bull in a park where I have never seen an elk before. If I had been more awake, I might have been able to play with him, but he had me dead to rights when I entered the park.
Friday morning, I arrived at a very elky spot right at first light, and found a still steaming pile of elk poop.
This is in another lodgepole thicket, and the forest floor is noisy, and I managed to break a twig, which caused an elk exodus. Elk were everywhere, and they wanted no part of me, and made that plain. There were probably 20 or so elk in the herd that I stumbled into.
We are getting regular frosts now, and it is causing the wetter part of the forest floor to change color. The aspens are just starting to change, but in the marshy areas, there is already a look of fall.
Lots of elk sightings, a couple of 'almost' moments, and the promise of a rut that is ramping up makes me ready to head back next week. It is shaping up to be a good elk season.
Topic: Week 1 elk hunt synopsis (Read 1833 times)
