sn.outdoors
Well-known member
I have some decent 4g where I'm at so I figured I'd pay an update of this adventure I'm on.
---------
Day 0
I spent the morning of day zero at the bow shop doing some very last minute tuning that I would have done myself, but I don't have the right limb adapters for my new bow. Luckily the shop wasn't terribly busy and we were able to get it back to shooting lasers in no time.
I picked Ryan up at the airport early afternoon and we were headed for the mountains.
About an hour away from where we were planning to hunt, we spotted a cow elk off the side of the road in an area we can hunt. So we stopped the truck and tried to make a move on her, but she was gone before we could get close enough. The rest of the ride was uneventful.
------
Day 1
Since we'd never been to the area before, we made the decision to start hiking out of camp at sunrise so we could see what was around us. The plan was to hike in about 4 miles and setup in a spot that we thought would overlooked a lot of beautiful terrain. As I was picking up my bow and getting ready to head up the hill I started to say, "I really have zero expecta...." when I spotted 2 elk feeding in a meadow less than 1000yds from the tent. "...there's elk...... Right there."
I guess we weren't going to be hiking in to find elk. They were right outside camp!
By the time we got to where the elk were, they were deep into their sanctuary of thick new growth. They had a few sentries posted up, keeping an eye out for danger.
We saw a few spikes, a raghorn, and several cows feeding throughout the new growth, and watched them until the disappeared or bedded down for the day. Knowing that they were probably going to stay in that spot for the entire day, we decided to go explore a little bit of the area.
Around noon we sat down to take a break, eat some food, and swap socks after hiking a few miles. After sitting for 45 minutes, Ryan spotted an elk slowly moving down the ridge in front of us. The wind was perfect for a stalk, so we let the elk settle into it's spot, put our boots on, and slowly made our way into it's bedroom. The area was steep, thick with short new growth, and loaded with tons of deadfall.
When we got to what we thought was "the spot" we stood still for a few minutes to look, listen and smell. We knew the elk was close, but couldn't find it. We also had no clue if it was a cow, calf, or bull. After we didn't see or hear anything, we decided to move down the hill a few yards and wait again.
As soon as we took our first steps, the elk stood up and busted down the hill to the bottom of the drainage. He turned out to be a nice young 6 point. He stood at 100yds and looked back up at us, trying to figure out what the heck we were. After he calmed down a bit, we tried to move a little closer, but he wasn't having any of it. He trotted up the other side of the drainage and out of our lives. So close.
After the encounter, we hiked back to the drainage we saw the elk earlier that morning and glassed it for a few hours before we finally spotted the herd feeding. They were in a small meadow surrounded by re-prod and feeding uphill, into the wind. We decided to work parallel to the herd and hope they popped out on our side of the new growth before dark.
As last light was fleeting away, the sound of large animals started getting danger close. We could hear them feeding closer and closer to the edge, but couldn't see anything. We tried to make a move when, boom, there they were. 60yds away and staring right at us. We messed up.
They busted out of there and never gave us a shot. Again, so close.
We ran into another hunter when we got back to the road and offered to lend a hand if he needed it, since he was hunting solo and was going to be in the same area we were.
We hiked back to camp bewildered at how well the first day went. We couldn't believe we got into elk on day one, and had 2 separate opportunities. Even though we never drew back our bows, we counted the day as a success, but it also felt a little too good to be true.
---------
Day 0
I spent the morning of day zero at the bow shop doing some very last minute tuning that I would have done myself, but I don't have the right limb adapters for my new bow. Luckily the shop wasn't terribly busy and we were able to get it back to shooting lasers in no time.
I picked Ryan up at the airport early afternoon and we were headed for the mountains.
About an hour away from where we were planning to hunt, we spotted a cow elk off the side of the road in an area we can hunt. So we stopped the truck and tried to make a move on her, but she was gone before we could get close enough. The rest of the ride was uneventful.
------
Day 1
Since we'd never been to the area before, we made the decision to start hiking out of camp at sunrise so we could see what was around us. The plan was to hike in about 4 miles and setup in a spot that we thought would overlooked a lot of beautiful terrain. As I was picking up my bow and getting ready to head up the hill I started to say, "I really have zero expecta...." when I spotted 2 elk feeding in a meadow less than 1000yds from the tent. "...there's elk...... Right there."
I guess we weren't going to be hiking in to find elk. They were right outside camp!
By the time we got to where the elk were, they were deep into their sanctuary of thick new growth. They had a few sentries posted up, keeping an eye out for danger.
We saw a few spikes, a raghorn, and several cows feeding throughout the new growth, and watched them until the disappeared or bedded down for the day. Knowing that they were probably going to stay in that spot for the entire day, we decided to go explore a little bit of the area.
Around noon we sat down to take a break, eat some food, and swap socks after hiking a few miles. After sitting for 45 minutes, Ryan spotted an elk slowly moving down the ridge in front of us. The wind was perfect for a stalk, so we let the elk settle into it's spot, put our boots on, and slowly made our way into it's bedroom. The area was steep, thick with short new growth, and loaded with tons of deadfall.
When we got to what we thought was "the spot" we stood still for a few minutes to look, listen and smell. We knew the elk was close, but couldn't find it. We also had no clue if it was a cow, calf, or bull. After we didn't see or hear anything, we decided to move down the hill a few yards and wait again.
As soon as we took our first steps, the elk stood up and busted down the hill to the bottom of the drainage. He turned out to be a nice young 6 point. He stood at 100yds and looked back up at us, trying to figure out what the heck we were. After he calmed down a bit, we tried to move a little closer, but he wasn't having any of it. He trotted up the other side of the drainage and out of our lives. So close.
After the encounter, we hiked back to the drainage we saw the elk earlier that morning and glassed it for a few hours before we finally spotted the herd feeding. They were in a small meadow surrounded by re-prod and feeding uphill, into the wind. We decided to work parallel to the herd and hope they popped out on our side of the new growth before dark.
As last light was fleeting away, the sound of large animals started getting danger close. We could hear them feeding closer and closer to the edge, but couldn't see anything. We tried to make a move when, boom, there they were. 60yds away and staring right at us. We messed up.
They busted out of there and never gave us a shot. Again, so close.
We ran into another hunter when we got back to the road and offered to lend a hand if he needed it, since he was hunting solo and was going to be in the same area we were.
We hiked back to camp bewildered at how well the first day went. We couldn't believe we got into elk on day one, and had 2 separate opportunities. Even though we never drew back our bows, we counted the day as a success, but it also felt a little too good to be true.
