Better close you eyes, Mickey! HH, as beautiful as Wyoming is, even my son commented "how do you make a living here?". Gotta pay the bills and I would have a hard time doing so if I moved there. We probably took an extra 1/2 day going through the national parks, but it was worth it because there weren't many people and Daniel loved seeing the animals.
Part 2 - hunting the mountain tops:
We were located on top of a mountain range that wasn't easy to reach, which helped explain the lack of other hunters. There were basically 2 large drainages that met and flowed north into a foothill area, thousands of feet lower. Last year I found elk in the east drainage, pretty close to the end of the road. I planned to bivy camp close to the elk and hunt for 4-5 days if the elk cooperated. I hadn't seen but a few deer last year and wasn't expecting much deer action, but we were pleasantly surprised to see some deer up high. Grizzlies are a problem in western Montana and we weren't too far from Bozeman and Gardner, where several bowhunters were attacked this fall. Every time we stopped for gas or food, we were warned "be careful with the bears". Both of us carried bear spray, but I left my pea-shooter pistol in the truck.
Since we only had several hour remaining, we loaded our packs, shot a few practice arrows and hiked up to a high point on the east ridge. It was snowing lightly and visibility was very limited, but we heard one bull bugling at the bottom of the east drainage. Returning to the truck in the dark, we knew where to head in the morning. Sleep did not com easy for me that night - we were finally bowhunting elk, my favorite animal.
Daniel usually isn't very easy to wake up, but he was up before the alarm. After a hot breakfast of grits and oatmeal, we were back up on the east ridge as dawn broke and the view was nice....
It didn't take long to spot a cow moose down in the willows, and 2 herds of 20+ elk way off on the far slope, about 3 miles away by foot...
I was hoping for some closer elk but got no responses to my calls. Later we would find out why those elk were pushed so far back.....
It took several hours to work our way to the elk. It was now September 30 and I didn't see a lot of rutting activity - mostly feeding with one herd bull in each group and several satellite bulls on the perimeter. As we drew near we could hear the bugling, and bumped into 2 smaller satellite bulls in the pines before reaching the open slopes. I saw 2 BIG bulls way up at the head of the drainage, but by now I was doubting that we could pack out one elk only 3 miles from the truck - adding another mile or two to the pack was out of the question, as Daniel was struggling a little in the snow, mud and pack. We searched without luck for the closer group, then headed for the second group which had moved into some thin pines and aspens. I spotted the herd bull sleeping near his cows and decided to stalk in silently for a shot, but swirling winds ruined that plan and they thundered off. Soon we found some cows and calves in the open so Daniel began his first stalk - he got to about 100 yards and ran out of cover, so he set up and began cow calling. This got the attention of a nice 5x5 bull who began bugling and raking a tree. Just when it looked like he was coming to collect this wayward cow, some mulie does spooked from Daniel to the elk and the spell was broken. Daniel was very excited! By now it was only 2 hours from dark and we had a 3 mile uphill hike bvack to the truck, so we headed out. Twice we had small mulie bucks within 30-40 yards but small mistakes spooked thise deer . We arrived at the truck tired, wet and hungry - a fun day!
Topic: Montana adventure for 12 yr old son (pics) (Read 1270 times)
