Feeding the Rat (AKA GrantK's elk hunting obsession)
- Thread starter GrantK
- Start date
GrantK
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Saturday morning I woke up an hour earlier than I needed to make sure that I was first up the trail as it was the weekend and I wasn't sure what the local pressure was going to be.
I took it slow and tried to move just fast enough to stay warm while listening for bugles, things were quiet as I eased my way into place where I could ambush the herd if it took a similar path to bed as the day before, the stand of timber they had used the day before was only 120 yards wide so I figured if they went to bed in the same zone I had a really good chance... sure enough it was silent, I eased along hoping for a bugle to give me an indication I was in the right spot... nothing was making a sound, after about a half hour of easing through the timber I got to a large burned our bowl, at this point if I couldn't locate the elk in the next half hour my chances for the morning were pretty much done given what I had been seeing the last couple days so I fired off a locator bugle.
About a minute later I heard a very faint reply across the burn, I took off as fast as possible through the burned out deadfall and across an avalanche chute, as I was glassing in front of me I saw a cow crest a small ridge maybe 150 yards out heading straight towards me, I managed to get a small clump of live pine and aspen between us and ran to get set up at the edge of it, it was a pretty tiny clump, maybe 20 yards square, in a completely burned out flat.
No sooner had I got leaned against a tree and an arrow nocked than the first cow popped over the ridge, then a second cow with a calf came past like they had read the script, milling around on the slope feeding at about 50 yards, this was looking promising, at this point another cow popped up, which was odd, the bull had only had the two cows and a calf the night before? Unfortunately, this cow came straight toward my little patch of trees, I realized my situation was falling apart fast, I just hoped the bull was close behind, just then a faint bugle from way above me on the ridge rang out, and the bull screamed, he was maybe 80 yards out and on the exact opposite side of my little patch of trees, this was going to be close...
I took it slow and tried to move just fast enough to stay warm while listening for bugles, things were quiet as I eased my way into place where I could ambush the herd if it took a similar path to bed as the day before, the stand of timber they had used the day before was only 120 yards wide so I figured if they went to bed in the same zone I had a really good chance... sure enough it was silent, I eased along hoping for a bugle to give me an indication I was in the right spot... nothing was making a sound, after about a half hour of easing through the timber I got to a large burned our bowl, at this point if I couldn't locate the elk in the next half hour my chances for the morning were pretty much done given what I had been seeing the last couple days so I fired off a locator bugle.
About a minute later I heard a very faint reply across the burn, I took off as fast as possible through the burned out deadfall and across an avalanche chute, as I was glassing in front of me I saw a cow crest a small ridge maybe 150 yards out heading straight towards me, I managed to get a small clump of live pine and aspen between us and ran to get set up at the edge of it, it was a pretty tiny clump, maybe 20 yards square, in a completely burned out flat.
No sooner had I got leaned against a tree and an arrow nocked than the first cow popped over the ridge, then a second cow with a calf came past like they had read the script, milling around on the slope feeding at about 50 yards, this was looking promising, at this point another cow popped up, which was odd, the bull had only had the two cows and a calf the night before? Unfortunately, this cow came straight toward my little patch of trees, I realized my situation was falling apart fast, I just hoped the bull was close behind, just then a faint bugle from way above me on the ridge rang out, and the bull screamed, he was maybe 80 yards out and on the exact opposite side of my little patch of trees, this was going to be close...
GrantK
Well-known member
any unsold outfitter tags get turned in at a certain date and made available to the public.
GrantK
Well-known member
As I kept waiting and trying to split my vision between keeping tabs on the close cow and looking for the bull the 3 cows up above me decided to drop down and join the late arrival in my patch of trees, at this point I had 4 elk inside of 10 yards, where was the bull? He sounded off again, sounding like he was uphill, just out of sight, at this point I couldn't believe that I hadn't been winded, but the lowest cow had fed well past below me and I knew it was just a matter of time, I managed to get a call in my mouth and figured I'd hammer a bugle the second that the close cows winded me and hopefully convince the bull another bull was pushing his cows around, at this point I finally saw the bull, unfortunately, I realized he also had probably 20 cows, which explained why he wasn't keeping all that close to the ones within rock throwing distance of me, he was about 80 yards uphill in heavy cover when the cow below me finally winded me and blew out, I screamed as loud of a bugle as I could, and for a second he headed my way, but then more cows came down and he turned and followed them...
GrantK
Well-known member
After the close call I decided to climb up to the top of the adjacent drainage and see if I could glass up the herd, I had bumped them pretty hard but I felt like I had a decent view of all the ways they would have been able to leave the basin and I hadn't seen them leave so it was worth a look, I couldn't find them so I backed out and went to the ridge I had first spotted them from to try and find where they had gone, I had a very slow evening and couldn't relocate the herd, but I did glass up a solo bull that looked pretty big cruising way out in country I hadn't explored yet, I figured it was worth a look in the morning.
GrantK
Well-known member
Sunday morning I woke up a little later as the bull appeared to be pretty close to the trail in some extremely broken terrain, I wasn't exactly sure which drainage he was in and I wanted to be careful not to blow him out in the dark, I pretty quickly found the right basin, and quite a few day old tracks, I also found quite a bit of fresh wolf sign I decided to make a big loop and see if I could locate any promising sign, glassin up a few elk up above treeline near where I had seen the first bull I chased.
I was in the third drainage off of a major ridge wondering where the elk were, there was a lot of really fresh sign, but then I got my answer when a pack of wolves started howling at the head of the basin... at that point I figured I should move on and started a loop back to the truck, going out there were wolf tracks down the entire trail on top of day old dirt bike tracks... guess this zone wasn't going to be the one...
I was in the third drainage off of a major ridge wondering where the elk were, there was a lot of really fresh sign, but then I got my answer when a pack of wolves started howling at the head of the basin... at that point I figured I should move on and started a loop back to the truck, going out there were wolf tracks down the entire trail on top of day old dirt bike tracks... guess this zone wasn't going to be the one...
GrantK
Well-known member
Not exactly what I'm looking for...
GrantK
Well-known member
I decided for the evening to go look back in the drainage with the big bull and see if I could turn him up, at this point, I was leaning toward fully committing to killing that bull or going home empty-handed...
Easing up to my glassing knob through some thick burned out timber I cow called a couple times, waiting about a minute before getting impatient and hurrying to get glassing, I hadn't made it two steps before I blew out a small 6 point that had been coming right in...damn it! I need to stop doing that! I kicked myself and got to glassing, seeing nothing in the spots the herd had been feeding, I kept glassing higher and higher and finally turned up a cow and calf on the ridge across the basin, almost 2 miles out, as I kept watching more and more cows popped up, and finally the big guy, he even had a little satellite bull now, game is back on!
Easing up to my glassing knob through some thick burned out timber I cow called a couple times, waiting about a minute before getting impatient and hurrying to get glassing, I hadn't made it two steps before I blew out a small 6 point that had been coming right in...damn it! I need to stop doing that! I kicked myself and got to glassing, seeing nothing in the spots the herd had been feeding, I kept glassing higher and higher and finally turned up a cow and calf on the ridge across the basin, almost 2 miles out, as I kept watching more and more cows popped up, and finally the big guy, he even had a little satellite bull now, game is back on!
GrantK
Well-known member
Somewhat optimistic from having a good locate I started off early again the next morning in an attempt to keep the trailhead to myself, there's really not a side branch drainage for about 4.5 miles so it would be tough to have a second person in the drainage without messing it up, I hustled to about 300 yards from where I had left the elk the night before, just in time to hear a bugle just over the ridge, I tried to get on the same elevation countour as where it sounded like the elk were as there was a storm coming in and the wind had been super inconsistent, but pretty much never straight sidehill, I eased over the ridge and sure enough, the whole herd, which was now almost 20 cows, was feeding in the basin in front of me, unfortunately I was in an open burn so my options to get closer were limited, the wind was good and the elk were milling around inside of 200 yards though, patience and wait for a chance was the plan, there was also a decent 6 point satellite bull that I would happily shoot given the chance...
GrantK
Well-known member
the satellite bull was close enough to take a picture with my phone...
GrantK
Well-known member
The satellite bull kept harassing the herd and the big bull was getting agitated, as I was easing closer and hoping the bugle fest in front of me wouldn't attract too much attention the last thing I wanted to hear kicked off about 300 yards behind me, a very clearly fake bugle, followed by about 5 minutes straight of hot cow calls...the cows weren't having even a little bit of that and blew out over the ridge, taking the two bulls with them...
I followed as quickly as possible and managed to get over the ridge and relocate the herd just as they bedded, I was able to sneak to about 100 yards and had a perfect wind so I settled in to wait them out, any of the likely directions they would feed out I could get to unseen, and the most likely way out of the basin was a well used trail 40 yards below me, with my wind going down the back side of the ridge away from the elk, my situation was looking good, I just had to sit still until the elk moved, I was starting to nod off when one of the wildest microburst I've ever been in kicked off, there were 50-70 mph winds in every direction, burned out trees were falling everywhere, including one right in the elks bedding area... this got the herd up and running, fortunately they calmed down pretty quickly and started feeding, headed right toward me... unfortunately it also got the bull bugling trying to keep all the cows together, I could hear a really faint bugle in the bottom of the drainage, unfortunately my competition was back...
I watched in horror as over the course of 2 hours a lone guy crossed the entire basin and gained the ridge on the far side, bugling all the way, leaving from a pretty good calling setup and walking in plain sight of the herd, called in the satellite bull at one point and bumping it apparently without seeing it, and eventually, apparently intentionally? working his way to a point where the wind was straight at his back before dropping in and starting a calling sequence...
at this point I was overcommitted and couldn't back out, I had cows at 40 yards and the big guy at 80 when the whole herd winded him and blew out, also unfortunately going straight down the creekbed instead of using the escape trail I was sitting on...
I followed as quickly as possible and managed to get over the ridge and relocate the herd just as they bedded, I was able to sneak to about 100 yards and had a perfect wind so I settled in to wait them out, any of the likely directions they would feed out I could get to unseen, and the most likely way out of the basin was a well used trail 40 yards below me, with my wind going down the back side of the ridge away from the elk, my situation was looking good, I just had to sit still until the elk moved, I was starting to nod off when one of the wildest microburst I've ever been in kicked off, there were 50-70 mph winds in every direction, burned out trees were falling everywhere, including one right in the elks bedding area... this got the herd up and running, fortunately they calmed down pretty quickly and started feeding, headed right toward me... unfortunately it also got the bull bugling trying to keep all the cows together, I could hear a really faint bugle in the bottom of the drainage, unfortunately my competition was back...
I watched in horror as over the course of 2 hours a lone guy crossed the entire basin and gained the ridge on the far side, bugling all the way, leaving from a pretty good calling setup and walking in plain sight of the herd, called in the satellite bull at one point and bumping it apparently without seeing it, and eventually, apparently intentionally? working his way to a point where the wind was straight at his back before dropping in and starting a calling sequence...
at this point I was overcommitted and couldn't back out, I had cows at 40 yards and the big guy at 80 when the whole herd winded him and blew out, also unfortunately going straight down the creekbed instead of using the escape trail I was sitting on...
GrantK
Well-known member
Elk were bedded in the light tan standing burn, I was just downhill of the very bushy dead tree
GrantK
Well-known member
It was a frustrating walk back to the truck after that one, I watched the herd go into a basin I couldn’t really ethically hunt solo with the daytime temps, and the entire time I could hear the dude bugling and hot cow calling until I was out of the basin, really my only interaction in the field with another hunter, unfortunate timing on that...
At this point I had pretty much committed to getting the big guy or nothing, I spent that evening up high trying to relocate him, unfortunately I was able to turn up the cows but the big bull wasn’t with them, a small 6 point was running the herd.
The next morning I was up high again, and again located the cows and the small 6, the big guy was nowhere to be seen, I stuck it out until noon, glassing a ton of incredible elk country and not turning up a single bull...
I had a bit of a talk with myself and decided that I had pretty much accomplished the mission for this hunt, come to a new unit, find a big bull, and get in close, while I would have been really psyched about killing that bull it had been awesome to match wits with him and come oh so close more times than one usually gets on a bull of that caliber, I was at this point a couple days over what I had committed to as far as time on this one and was burning goodwill with my employer and my wife so I decided to cut my losses and head home. hunt one ended without an elk, and before the season ended, so I suppose I am indeed a quitter...
At this point I had pretty much committed to getting the big guy or nothing, I spent that evening up high trying to relocate him, unfortunately I was able to turn up the cows but the big bull wasn’t with them, a small 6 point was running the herd.
The next morning I was up high again, and again located the cows and the small 6, the big guy was nowhere to be seen, I stuck it out until noon, glassing a ton of incredible elk country and not turning up a single bull...
I had a bit of a talk with myself and decided that I had pretty much accomplished the mission for this hunt, come to a new unit, find a big bull, and get in close, while I would have been really psyched about killing that bull it had been awesome to match wits with him and come oh so close more times than one usually gets on a bull of that caliber, I was at this point a couple days over what I had committed to as far as time on this one and was burning goodwill with my employer and my wife so I decided to cut my losses and head home. hunt one ended without an elk, and before the season ended, so I suppose I am indeed a quitter...
Irrelevant
Well-known member
stop it. you burned more calories in this hunt than most people do in a year. helluvan effort
GrantK
Well-known member
Quitting is said a bit tongue-in-cheek...
It kills me a little to not take it down to the wire, even though in this case I was truly out of time...
thinking back after I read your story I was really considering my internal dialog, interestingly being solo I'm able to reach my best focus, after a couple days I was so immersed that I really didn't want it to end, all the day to day worries dissappear and I'm just in the moment...
Pure happiness, even if the hunting isn't going my way.
GrantK
Well-known member
Here's last year's recap...
No sleep until...
A little late in posting this year's adventures so far as a live hunt so here they are as one story… Disclaimer: There is a noticeable lack of photos, I’m terrible at remembering to take any while I’m hunting Day one: this year started out joining my brother on a UT Limited entry tag on my way...
www.hunttalk.com
i think this can be the problem for me and many. sometimes you just need to let yourself be there for a couple days and you'll just end up in the zone. weekend trips never let allow that to happen and of course, for rifle, i got done very quickly.
i battle with solo thing even more because even when i fall into my tortured state of mind, i'm often still going to be a better hunter than if the majority of hunting partner options i have were with me; between the differing physical capabilities, hunting styles and my preference for glassing, there is a reason I still mostly aim for solo missions that always torture my little brain.
i think battling myself is still better than endlessly arguing with a hunting partner about why i think sitting in a random meadow that you've never been to before in your life in an area you didn't even confirm have elk for 6 hours on end day in and day out is a bad idea lol
Deckerp
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- Joined
- Jul 5, 2020
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Sounded like a great hunt and clearly a serious physical effort that most probably couldn’t have matched.
