I was very blessed to be able to hunt again in western Montana for my favorite big game animal, elk, in a general area that I have been hunting a few days every fall in the rifle season. I have taken three elk in the past four years from this general area. I got to hunt with a old friend that I had not seen in several years. It was a great time, but the early winter weather made for tough camping conditions. We seen a total of four elk in four hard days of hunting, but they were all bulls. We had one bull cross the road in front us that was pushing 700-800 lbs, and looked to be a 6 or 7 point that would score in the 310-340 range. These elk were some of the original elk from the first transplants and contained native blood from the northern Rockies herd, and their body size seems to be larger than the bulls I shot in Colorado that were similar age.
Hunting pressure seems to increase every year; which I think makes the elk nocturnal, unless you get winter weather that forces them to move more. Even areas far from the road had boot prints from the previous days. This area has lots of wolves, so the elk mainly stick to heavy timber and move in small groups.
The second day we set up along a timber saddle that elk sometimes pass through, but no elk had traveled through during the night hours. I climbed up to the top of the ridge and found a very fresh set of bull tracks that heading in a direction we could hunt with the wind blowing very hard. I hiked back down and found my buddy and we climbed back up the ridge and followed the tracks for 300-400 yards down along the spine of the ridge. We crossed a second bull track at 400 yards or so, and the bull tracks split. We each started following a set of tracks and mine lead to a large open park, so I figured my bull traveled through the park before daylight and probably heading to the opposite mountain that I have tracked elk to before.
As I enter into the park, I look down to my left a see a bull crossing the park at a fast walk, I get ready to shoot and my scope was completely weathered, so I'm quickly begin cleaning the scope and the bull was making quick progress across the open park. He stops at the tree line about 300 yards and starts looking back and a second bull steps out in sight at 250 yards where the first bull had walked through. I took a quick off-hand shot at the second closer bull and the bull drops. My buddy had jumped the two bulls at 40 yards along the ridge we had been walking and pushed them to me. My friend told me after we split another set of elk tracks joined up with the bull he was tracking and he jumped the bulls close range, but they were going to fast for a shot.
It was a fairly easy area to get a sled into and we had to chainsaw through about 50 pine snags to create a sled trail. I use sleds every season and I'm a firm believer in waiting until there is snow to allow usage. I am very thankful to get to hunt, and sometimes be successful and enjoy some good eating elk meat. This bull was a gift from the Lord. I hope others are successful, and be safe this weather seems more like Dec/Jan than early November.
Hunting pressure seems to increase every year; which I think makes the elk nocturnal, unless you get winter weather that forces them to move more. Even areas far from the road had boot prints from the previous days. This area has lots of wolves, so the elk mainly stick to heavy timber and move in small groups.
The second day we set up along a timber saddle that elk sometimes pass through, but no elk had traveled through during the night hours. I climbed up to the top of the ridge and found a very fresh set of bull tracks that heading in a direction we could hunt with the wind blowing very hard. I hiked back down and found my buddy and we climbed back up the ridge and followed the tracks for 300-400 yards down along the spine of the ridge. We crossed a second bull track at 400 yards or so, and the bull tracks split. We each started following a set of tracks and mine lead to a large open park, so I figured my bull traveled through the park before daylight and probably heading to the opposite mountain that I have tracked elk to before.
As I enter into the park, I look down to my left a see a bull crossing the park at a fast walk, I get ready to shoot and my scope was completely weathered, so I'm quickly begin cleaning the scope and the bull was making quick progress across the open park. He stops at the tree line about 300 yards and starts looking back and a second bull steps out in sight at 250 yards where the first bull had walked through. I took a quick off-hand shot at the second closer bull and the bull drops. My buddy had jumped the two bulls at 40 yards along the ridge we had been walking and pushed them to me. My friend told me after we split another set of elk tracks joined up with the bull he was tracking and he jumped the bulls close range, but they were going to fast for a shot.
It was a fairly easy area to get a sled into and we had to chainsaw through about 50 pine snags to create a sled trail. I use sleds every season and I'm a firm believer in waiting until there is snow to allow usage. I am very thankful to get to hunt, and sometimes be successful and enjoy some good eating elk meat. This bull was a gift from the Lord. I hope others are successful, and be safe this weather seems more like Dec/Jan than early November.
