Hairy Beasts and Smell Korns

[NDGuy]

That’s an awesome hunt

 

[Caseknife]

That is a stud goat, congrats. I did a Euro on mine also and had the hide soft tanned.

 

[Stone_Ice_1]

Congrats on a great hunt. How's the Billy for table fare?

It is actually pretty good. I think the flavor is good. You do get a good workout chewing it though. I make my own summer sausage and am planning to make some more of that with some of my goat. He had a ton of fat on him, probably from eating all those huckleberries! I have no idea if he was actually eating the berries or not but he was definitely feeding through a great huckleberry patch.

 

[Stone_Ice_1]

I got back home on Wednesday night and with Archery season for elk starting that saturday I was in a rush getting things wrapped up. I process my own game so I took care of the goat, got the head to the taxidermist and had a number of other things that needed my attention so I didn't actually get out for the opener. I did have a backpacking archery hunt scheduled in a couple weeks with another buddy that I was looking forward to.

Day 1 - On Sunday afternoon I had all my errands wrapped up. So I took both of my son's out and we went to a BMA that wasn't far from my house. I wasn't expecting much as it was hot and dry but this BMA was right below one of the spots I had a camera with some decent results. We hiked to the back of the property and went into public lands a bit. A nice area with some water that I thought we might see something just before dark, but it didn't happen. No elk spotted

Day 2 - After work I drove into a spot I had seen on google earth. It looked promising and was a short drive and hike in. The first mile was just getting in there but after that it looked like it would be good. On the hike in I could smell elk but didn't see anything except a couple deer. Its amazing how much light you have this early in archery season and how much country you can cover on just a hike after work. I hiked around 4 miles. This area certainly had some promise. There were stretches of old growth douglas fir with grass underneath everywhere that you could see 120 yards or so in with an opening in the bottom of the valley that ran along the small creek. Bugled a bit and did get a reply. The reply came from the neighboring private land and I knew there was a house up there a ways. At one point I could hear voices up above me where the bugling came from so I think it might have been people but one never knows. No elk spotted, not a great start to the season but neither hunts were serious affairs either.

 

[Stone_Ice_1]

Day 3 - The next day I checked out another area after work that I had seen some bulls while scouting in the summer. It is a fairly well known area so was pleased when I got to the trailhead and nobody was there. I hiked in a ways and was seeing some fresh sign and rubs. The trail then drops a bit in elevation and follows a creek. this was the area I was interested in since it was still hot and there appeared to be plenty of water around. Walking down the trail I hadn't seen anything when I looked across the creek and there was a bush that was going back and forth. Something on the other side of it was taking out its agression on this bush. I walked a bit further and could see that the culprit was cattle. I got pretty excited at first because it happened to be a cow that was similar in color to an elk. But then before long I see cattle come walking out and around all over the creek bottom. This isn't good as I know the elk won't be right in this same area. I head further down the trail and bugle a few times. No responses but then shortly after I can hear something coming up the trail towards me. I step off the trail a bit and get ready. Out comes some more cattle. Not sure if they came to me because of the bugling or what. I have always been of the belief that cattle should be off of public lands during the season, especially rifle but I think even for archery.

I headed back to the truck. Once at the top I had to hike back down to the truck and there was a little creek that the trail crossed and ran down towards where the truck was parked. I knew there was a clearing down there with water in it. With it being later in the evening I headed down the creek through this trail, probably from cattle. It was super thick in here and I realized that the breeze was going downhill now and anything down here would smell me coming. I went back up to the main trail and walked around so I could get to the sides. I was about 200 yards from the truck when I could see a cow and calf elk standing in the meadow below me. They were about 300 yards down below me but if I had continued down that creek they would have smelled and probably heard me coming. After watching them a bit I figured there was probably more down there since I could only see one little area. I walked aroudn the side of them and when I finally got to where I could see down there again I could see aobut 6 elk, one was a bull. I used my rangefinder to get a better look at him. He was a small 6 point. I kept to the side of them and needed to get ahead of them a bit since the downhill breeze would get me busted. I got off the trail and hiked down this ridge. I only made it about 40 yards when I got busted by a group of whitetail deer. Was about 6 of them. They kept snorting and making all kinds of racket at me. I figured it was game over but by now I was ahead of the elk and they couldn't smell me. They knew the deer were alarmed but didn't know what at. The cow and calf went by me about 40 yards and continued on. I was lined up waiting for the bull to come by but he never did. I could see him below me about 80 yards. He was not a shooter but it was good for the spirit to finally see some elk. It was too dark to shoot by now so i headed back towards the truck and ended up busting that same bull when I got back up to the ridge.