Ollin Magnetic Digiscoping System

Hairy Beasts and Smell Korns

Jbotto said:
If I was the one writing this story, it would be the longest post in the history of HuntTalk to let you all know I didn’t fill the tag. 🤣I’d have all you fooled.

I’m full captivated though and throughly enjoying this great off season hunting story!
Click to expand...

With that much time invested I would want the reader to experience as much disappointment over an unfilled tag as I would have.
 
Day 32 - SNOW! Finally! It snowed in the afternoon while I was at work. I was super excited to have some tracking snow. After work I grabbed my youngest and we headed out to the private ranch I had access to. We parked in the usual spot that the landowner had requested and headed down to the creek bottom, which is the direction I had seen a sizable herd during archery. It was still snowing some, so any tracks would be extremely fresh. By this time of year there isn't a whole lot of light or time after work to hunt so it would be a short hike. We made it all the way down to the creek without any sign of elk, we did spot a couple of mule deer.

The creek at the bottom is near the property boundary and I didn't have access for the other side. We followed the creek a bit upstream and started heading a slightly uphill and before long I saw tracks up ahead. They were smoking fresh and it looked like about 5 or 6 elk had just come through here. Looking at the tracks I was surprised we didn't see them. Unfortunately they were heading downhill and across the stream. We followed them for a bit and one track was quite a bit bigger than the others. We walked down to the creek and I could see where they crossed and headed back up the other side. No good for us. I am guessing they smelled us at some point. They were not running or anything but they weren't feeding or anything and were headed out of that spot. We headed back to the truck from here as it was already starting to get dark.

Day 33 - The next day I took off from work. This was a thursday and we had a good 6 inches of snow even in the valley so I wasn't going to miss this opportunity. I planned an all day hunt that would have me walking all the way around the private sections we hiked around during archery when we had lots of action. At first light I spotted a big herd way up the mountain, I would guess about 70-80 elk. After the snow yesterday it was a sunny day and you could probably see this herd from space. They were too far off at the moment to see about any bulls but I was eventually headed around to them and they looked in no hurry to leave.

In the foothills I ran into another small herd. At first it was just a cow and a calf. I sat down and ranged them at just over 450 yards from me. They didn't know I was there and slowly fed up the hill. I kept watching and was able to locate 3 more, one being a spike. The fed up and over the hill so I continued up the mountain towards the big herd. I came up over the next hill and spotted elk below me. After a little evaluation I deduced that this was the same 5, with a spike, from earlier. They were closer this time and I watched them feed up a drainage into the trees, most likely to bed down for the day.

I spent all morning hiking around and the only tracks I saw was the herd of 5. Finally just after noon I was getting closer to the big herd. I had been keeping an eye on them all day to make sure they were still there. This hike took me in and out of the trees and around several valley's so I would lose sight of them and then locate them again as I came out of the next valley. My plan was to get to a big rock outcropping that I had been on during archery. I knew from there I could get a good view of this herd. I eventually got to the outcropping in mid afternoon and the elk were still there, scattered all across the opening and bedded down. I could only see about 30 of them as I figured some had fed and bedded in the trees next to that. It was about 550 yards (farther than I am willing to shoot) off and I could see there were only a couple of small bulls of the elk I could see. The biggest being a small raghorn. As I was trying to figure out what to do next I spotted a cow coming up over the hill, and then another, and another... I kept expecting a bull but after 12 cows/calves came over the hill there were no more.

So I would need to get closer to locate the rest. The only way to get closer is to go into the next valley (completely covered in trees) and try and spot them first as I get closer to the edge of the opening. As soon as I got off the rock outcropping and headed to them, there was tracks everywhere. They were obviously in this area. I went super slow. Checking my steps every step of the way. I should mention this hike was mostly sidehilling on very steep and wet snow. It was a bitch and I fell down several times.

Eventually I was getting close to the opening and I looked in between the trees and could see a bull standing there looking at me from about 120 yards off. CRAP! It was a small raghorn and he took off taking the whole herd with him. The hillside came alive and they were all gone in no time. I didn't see every single elk but the biggest bull I saw was the small raghorn that I spotted in between the trees. I actually wasn't surprised as usually this late in the year the bigger bulls aren't with the big herds.

Later in the day as I was making my way around the private I stopped for a sandwich about dinner time. I could hear something below me and couldn't figure out what it was. Then a mule deer popped out below me and bounded off in the way that only mule deer do. I couldn't figure out what spooked it. After I finished my sandwhich and walked down there a big mountain lion came screaming out of a tree when he saw me and ran off. He was following the deer.

Later that evening I got around the private and had a little time left. I finally found another set of tracks and decided to sit down and wait with a nice opening in front of me. It wasn't long and I could hear something coming as it was super loud in the rocks. A cow and calf came up the hill and walked by me at about 30 yards. They never saw me or spooked until they got past me and I moved trying to get a better look at them. I had seen 2 hunters on the hill above me and the elk headed that way and I heard a shot, pretty sure the cow got killed.

It was a long day of hunting but it was nice to finally get to hunt in the snow. As a bonus I saw all the elk I saw tracks off. There wasn't any random tracks during the day that I didn't lay eyes on the elk.
 
Day 34 - Getting down to one of the final weekends of the rifle season. My plan for Saturday was to hunt an area that I had hunted quite a few times over the season. I wanted to time my hike in correctly as twice on this hunt we had bumped elk in the dark, right before first light. So this time I wanted to be in that area right at first light. I left the truck in the dark and headed up the hill. The area I wanted to be at for first light is at the top, where it is mostly open country, and I would drop down and hunt the other side during the day which was mostly forested. There was still some snow in the trees so I had tracking snow in there. I jumped a mule deer on the way up, it was still pretty dark and mostly I just saw movement and it looked like a big body. I found tracks and confirmed it was deer and was probably a buck.

I continued up the hill and realized I would be getting to my starting point at just the right time. Before I got to the top I went a little to the left because I knew there was some open stuff to the left that I could see before I got to the top. As I crested the ridge I could see the open country in front of me and the far ridge. One the far ridge there were two elk skylined against the sunrise. I could tell they were both bulls. I crept forward a little farther and got my pack on the ground using it as a rest. It was still fairly steep here so laying down in grass and snow with the pack under my gun was comfortable. I put the scope on one of them and he was a good 6 point. I went to the other one and he was also a good 6 point. Both of them were feeding and oblivious to me a little over 200 yards away. I looked around for other elk and did not see any so I went back to the first six point and asked myself which one was bigger. After going back and forth between them I determined the first one I spotted was probably a little bigger. Pressure was mounting by the time of this hunt and I had told myself that I was going to take a decent 6 point if the opportunity presented itself. This was that opportunity. I clicked off the safety and put the crosshairs just behind the shoulder as he was feeding perfectly broadside to me. I squeezed off a round and the bull disappeared. He had been standing right on the ridgetop so he only needed a step or two to be out of view. I looked over at the other one with him and he was just standing there looking in the direction of the one I had just shot at. I waited for something to happen and after a bit of standing around the 2nd one turned and ran off to my left. I waited a bit longer and a bull came up over the ridge I was looking at. My first thought was "There he is!" but I quickly realized this could be a different bull so I didn't shoot again. In looking at the antlers on this one, it appeared to be a 5 point. He then ran off with his buddy off to the left. After a bit of waiting to see if anything else would come over the hill I gathered my things and mentally marked the exact spot he had been standing.

One thing I struggle with in hunting is finding blood. I am red/green colorblind and while I can see it, it certainly doesn't stick out to me like it does others. On the walk over I was going through my head on how I felt about the shot and that there would be snow just on the other side of that ridge to do any tracking I might need to do. I hoped to just get to that ridgetop and peak over and find him. I was hoping at that point that the 2nd one had stood there looking that way because the one I shot at had dropped. I have seen animals do this many times when one of their buddies just randomly drops. When I got to the spot he was standing there was no snow, just grass and I didn't see any blood. I peaked over the ridge and didn't see him anywhere. This was getting me nervous. There were tracks all over the place, the snow was old and these bulls had obviously been here for a bit. I headed over the ridge a bit because that is the direction he had to have gone. I made it about 5 steps and saw antlers sticking up. I would have been able to see them from the original spot but he had died right up against a rock and it was difficult to see.

Elkhorns bull.jpg

I was relieved to have found him easily. He was about a mile from the truck and it would be mostly downhill in open country to pack him out. I was both happy and sad at the same time. I was happy to have gotten a bull and sad that the hunting had to end. It was a fast hunt that happened before the sun had even crested the mountains yet. A little bit of a bittersweet ending to my elk season.
 
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