Hairy Beasts and Smell Korns

[Stone_Ice_1]

Day 14 - A couple days later I took my son out with me after work. I headed into the private ranch I had access to for the first time. It was a warm day but mostly I wanted to explore the ranch. The owner had given me a few tips and with my 8 year old with me we would see what we could find. We parked at the gate I was told to park at, there was a truck already there. I assume it was one of the individuals that had access to hunt spikes but am not sure as I never saw the person or the truck again. We hiked around a while, it was a pretty leisurely hike with my youngest. Mostly we walked the old ranch road in a ways, there was a drainage I had spotted on google earth that I wanted to get to but it was a ways in. I bugled a few times with no responses but then as we were next to an opening I saw a 5 point moving around about 120 yards from us. It was obvious he was looking for where those bugles were coming from. I bugled a few more times while we were behind a big rock and he couldn't see us. He kept wandering around but eventually left in the opposite direction without ever making a sound. He wasn't what I was interested in but it was fun to see one and be able to watch his reaction every time I made any noises. My son enjoyed watching it too.

The following weekend my kids all had fall sports so I attended all of that. We were able to get away on Sunday to get a duck hunt in and all 3 came along with me. We usually do this trip as an entire weekend but this year it would just have to be a day trip.



Day 15 - 3 days later I went back to the ranch by myself. It was a very warm day but I would just be hunting the evening. I parked at the same spot and started slowly walking down towards the creek that was at the bottom of the property. I didn't get 100 yards from the truck and spotted 2 deer moving through the trees. 100 yards later I spotted a bull that stood up out of his bed and was looking at me. He was a small raghorn and ran off to the left. Before long he came running back and a whole herd busted off with him. They had been bedded on a ridge that was about 200 yards from the truck. One of the elk that busted off with the herd I saw antler between the trees. It looked like it could have been a good one but I will never know. I followed the herd and they evnetually ran onto the neighboring property that I didn't have access to.

 

[Nick87]

Day 14 - A couple days later I took my son out with me after work. I headed into the private ranch I had access to for the first time. It was a warm day but mostly I wanted to explore the ranch. The owner had given me a few tips and with my 8 year old with me we would see what we could find. We parked at the gate I was told to park at, there was a truck already there. I assume it was one of the individuals that had access to hunt spikes but am not sure as I never saw the person or the truck again. We hiked around a while, it was a pretty leisurely hike with my youngest. Mostly we walked the old ranch road in a ways, there was a drainage I had spotted on google earth that I wanted to get to but it was a ways in. I bugled a few times with no responses but then as we were next to an opening I saw a 5 point moving around about 120 yards from us. It was obvious he was looking for where those bugles were coming from. I bugled a few more times while we were behind a big rock and he couldn't see us. He kept wandering around but eventually left in the opposite direction without ever making a sound. He wasn't what I was interested in but it was fun to see one and be able to watch his reaction every time I made any noises. My son enjoyed watching it too.

The following weekend my kids all had fall sports so I attended all of that. We were able to get away on Sunday to get a duck hunt in and all 3 came along with me. We usually do this trip as an entire weekend but this year it would just have to be a day trip.

View attachment 362881

Day 15 - 3 days later I went back to the ranch by myself. It was a very warm day but I would just be hunting the evening. I parked at the same spot and started slowly walking down towards the creek that was at the bottom of the property. I didn't get 100 yards from the truck and spotted 2 deer moving through the trees. 100 yards later I spotted a bull that stood up out of his bed and was looking at me. He was a small raghorn and ran off to the left. Before long he came running back and a whole herd busted off with him. They had been bedded on a ridge that was about 200 yards from the truck. One of the elk that busted off with the herd I saw antler between the trees. It looked like it could have been a good one but I will never know. I followed the herd and they evnetually ran onto the neighboring property that I didn't have access to.

Love that picture.

 

[Stone_Ice_1]

Day 16 - After receiving a tip I had a new area I wanted to check out. After work I headed out and brought my buddies spotting scope with me (remember I had not made it out of my goat hunt with my own) as it is a 2 mile or so hike into the area but you can see it from a vantage point. I arrived and there was one vehicle already parked there. Before long I could see the hunter hiking out. I wasn't seeing much with the spotting scope but it was early and I planned to just hang out at the truck for the night as I just wanted to see what was out there. I watched the hunter walk the 2 miles back to the truck and when she got there I talked to her a bit. She was a tag holder and she said there were elk bugling everywhere and she had been chasing them all day but had not gotten close enough for a shot. This was Oct 2 and she said this would probably be here last archery hunt before she would pick up the rifle once that season started. I'm always shocked at how many people don't hunt arhcery in October and in my experience the last few years the rut has been later and later (my theory is that it is partially weather related as the last few years have been warmer).

She went on her way and about the time the sun went behind the hill I started spotting some elk up on the mountain I was glassing. It was fairly easy to pick out the bulls in each herd because of their color, size, and I could faintly see the antlers. Then I spotted a herd near the base of the hills in the alders. Looking at the time and the distance I thought I could make it to them so I quickly got all my gear rounded together and headed towards them. I was busting my balls to get there before it got dark and about 3/4 of the way I realized I wasn't going to make it to the herd I was watching on the hill. Then I spotted another herd about .25 mile in front of me. Using a coulee I was able to sneak to under 200 yards. The herd bull was a typical 6 point, a nice bull, but not what I was looking for. I bugled, watched for reactions. The bull was certainly interested in me but he was more interested in moving his herd of 25 or so cows along.

Day 17 - This was a friday after work. The same buddy that had done the backpacking hunt for elk earlier was coming into town but wouldn't make it until after dark. I was at the same spot I had been 2 days prior for day 16. I mostly wanted to find the exact location of the herds so we could go in before dark and hunt them. When I got to the parking spot I couldn't see very well because the sun was right in my face. After the sun went behidn the hill I spotted a herd of 6 that had what looked to be a smaller bull with them. Shortly after that some wind blew in some terrible smoke and I couldn't see anything. I left before dark because I couldn't even see the hill anymore, it was amazing how fast it blew in.

 

[Stone_Ice_1]

Day 18 - We hiked into the spot I had been watching the last 2 times out. We got to the area with the aspens right after first light. ON the hike out we could hear bulls bugling in the distance in that direction. We spotted a herd up on the hill where I had spotted the 6 the night before, there was 2 bulls in that herd. First thing when we got there a bull was bugling in front of us towards the aspens away from the herd on the hill. We bugled a couple times and he responded immediately every time. He was FIRED up. We could hear him moving around in the rocks and before long I got a glimpse of him through the brush at about 60 yards. He was a 6 point, but once again not what I was looking for. He busted us and headed up the hill so we changed diretions and started toward the herd on the hill. When we got up to the bottom of opening they were in we could see the herd bull, a 6 points but not a big one, was bugling every 3 minutes or so. We didn't even respond as we could see and hear him and started going in quiet. Just then a bigger 6 point came over the hill and charged towards the herd. We couldn't see the herd but this bull was one I wanted to get a closer look at. After he went over the hill we started towards them (they were only about 200 yards away at this point even though we couldn't see them). We took about 3 steps and found another bull feeding in front of us. This one was close, about 30 yards, but was a raghorn. The big problem was I didn't want to bust him out of there and scare the rest of the herd. Eventually he fed downhill and we were able to get around him. By the time we got over to the herd they had moved out of the opening and down into the trees below it. We sidehilled towards them and tried cow calling. We coudl hear elk moving around in front of us but oculdn't see them. They had to be within 50 yards but we couldn't see them. Then I saw an antler stick up over a bush about 40 yards away. it was the smaller 6 point. My buddy cow called from about 50 yards behind me and they started towards us but at some point the wind switched directions and they winded us and off they went. We spent some time chasing them but couldn't catch up to them.

By this time it was mid morning and the hills were going silent. We headed up the hill farther and just as we were cresting the top I spotted a bull that went over the next ridge. I only saw him for a split second but I could have sworn he was a big 6 point with a big whale tail in the back. This was the kind of bull I was after. We got up to the ridge he disappeared over and watched as 12 cows were down below us. We couldn't spot the bull as they were going in and out of the trees but I told my buddy I think they are going in the trees to bed down. We waited and they disappeared in the trees and never came out the other side. There were trees going up over the top of this so they could potentially sneak out without us knowing but I was fairly certain they were in there. It was mid day and I didn't like our chances of going in after them while bedded, especially since we didn't know exactly where they were. We picked some open roudn on the hill we were on and started waiting for evening. While waiting an army or national guard helicopter flew RIGHT over us, not once but twice. We coudl hear it coming both times but didn't know where it was. The reason we couldn't see it was it was so low to the ground. There was a saddle below us to the left and the chopper went over the saddle lower to the ground than where we were and was probably only 100 yards from us. One of the occupants pointed at us as they went by. Pretty sure it was a training exercise but it was cool to watch. Wish I would have gotten video of it the 2nd time it came around because we knew what it was and knew it was coming.

During our wait we saw one cow get up and feed out to the edge of the trees. All in all we waited about 3 hours here. We watched her for about an hour and then finally a few more started coming out, 1 by 1. No bull to be seen. As we are plotting our strategy to go over there my buddy says he hears something below us. Before long we hear these strange grunt noises. I have never heard an elk make them, I can't even explain it, but before long we could hear the distinct sound of antlers hitting each other in the trees just below us about 100 yards. We grabbed our stuff and headed down there. When we got down there the entire area just reeked of elk. We could hear one elk bugling as it headed up the hill away from us. The other one was still down in the trees with us. I moved forward slowly, we were close. My buddy bugled a couple times behind me and before long I saw elk on the hill above me. Another hered of about 8 with another 6 point with them. This was another 6 point that was a nice bull but just not what I was looking for (I would guess a 280-290 bull). They spotted me and went off to our left.

After all this excitement we went back to the original herd we had been watching. They were still there feeding across the hill and we could now see the bull. He was not as huge as I thought he had been, but he was the biggest one we had seen. We bugled back and forth and while he would bugle and come back down the hill a ways after each bugle, he would then head back up to his herd. He was a nice bull but it was getting dark and we let them be for the night. As we were walking away he actually started coming in a bit but he was still several hundred yards up the hill.

This was probably the most jam packed day of bulls/elk I had all season. It was surely a fun day of hunting but no success.

 

[Stone_Ice_1]

Day 19 - The next day we decided to try the next drainage over. Our plan was to spot them from the truck and hike to them in that drainage. We got there at first light and didn't seen any elk on the hillside. Finally I spotted two bulls fighting over a herd about 3 or 4 miles away. I just know they were fighting by their posture and all the running and chasing around they were doing. Unfortunately they were in the drainage we had hunted the day before. So we drove around and hiked all the way in there but by the time we were able to get there all was silent and they were gone. Wasn't nearly as much action on this day as the day before.


Sunrise over the Belts in the morning.