I will try to keep it pretty short. Not quite Oak style though.
I will start out by thanking a few on here that helped me out, Dainer, Huntbux and one other that prefers to remain anonymous. Thanks guys.
This trip had a lot of issues, from my truck being in the shop and not getting out until 2 hours before I left, (and still not fixed), my father who was supposed to go with me having an aneurysm and needing a surgery a week before I left, so he was of course not able to go (he is recovering fine), to a trailer that the running lights would not work on it causing me to make a three day trip out of what should have been a two day trip (fixed them for the trip home). There were a few other smaller normal issues, that everybody has happen to them.
On to the story, got to camp two days before season opened, after setting up camp I made it out to do a little scouting and found a decent bull with a small group of cows/spikes (about 10 total), went back out the next morning, same group, same spot. I had a friend from Wyoming show up during the middle of the day to spend the rest of the hunt with me, we went back out that evening and saw a few of the same group again.
We then spent the first two days of the season scouting without seeing an elk.
Day three starts with us in a new area. Shortly after sunup I spotted a small group of elk about 2 miles away. As we made our way over towards them, we see a second group not far from them. Bulls in both groups. We parked on the back side of the mountain and see an absolute whopper of a mule deer, before stalking the elk.
We went around the mountain and over a small saddle when we spotted a few cows on a ridge and shortly after that a decent bull on the side of a hill (mountain to me) we sneak in and get to 560 yards of this broadside bull, with the cows being about 1000 yards away. As we set there studying the bull, we had two spikes come over the ridge behind us which effectively pinned us down. We set there for about 45 minutes before the wind changed and took our scent to the bull, who made a quick, but not spooked exit. During this time frame, a whole herd of cows & bulls (est. 75 - 100) joined the first group of cows on the ridge.
We were finally able to backout even though we did spook the two spikes. We then went back to the truck and circled further around them to get the wind in our favor. As we snuck up over the ridge to take a look, we found the first group bedded and feeding on the ridge, a second group of around 30 -50 bedded in an old burn, both of these about a mile from us, and then we could see two bulls alone about 1.5 miles away.
Of course, as circumstances dictated, the first ones we could check out would be the two bulls. We struck out after them around 10 or so, and finally got in position at about 12:30. They were both bedded down, the smaller raghorn was in plain veiw and the bigger one all we could see of it were it's antlers, that looked pretty nice. I got into position across the valley from them at a range of 353 yards and waited. About 45 minutes later the raghorn got up and started grazing. Still waiting. After a total of about 1 hour and 15 minutes the other one stood up, broadsided to us. About 30 seconds and one shot later, he laid back down for the final time.
We got over to him, gutted him and started back to the truck. On the way we did go through the big group, saw some nice bulls, but nothing spectacular, with one of them letting us walk right out in the open to within 250 yards. We ended up getting to the truck right at sundown.
Here are the pictures:
As he lay
A few more...
Notice the hole? Not mine.
I know it won't be the biggest posted on here, but after not seeing any the first two days, I am happy with it. It was a great hunt with a great friend. Just wish my dad could of been there. Hopefully he will be on the next trip.
I will start out by thanking a few on here that helped me out, Dainer, Huntbux and one other that prefers to remain anonymous. Thanks guys.
This trip had a lot of issues, from my truck being in the shop and not getting out until 2 hours before I left, (and still not fixed), my father who was supposed to go with me having an aneurysm and needing a surgery a week before I left, so he was of course not able to go (he is recovering fine), to a trailer that the running lights would not work on it causing me to make a three day trip out of what should have been a two day trip (fixed them for the trip home). There were a few other smaller normal issues, that everybody has happen to them.
On to the story, got to camp two days before season opened, after setting up camp I made it out to do a little scouting and found a decent bull with a small group of cows/spikes (about 10 total), went back out the next morning, same group, same spot. I had a friend from Wyoming show up during the middle of the day to spend the rest of the hunt with me, we went back out that evening and saw a few of the same group again.
We then spent the first two days of the season scouting without seeing an elk.
Day three starts with us in a new area. Shortly after sunup I spotted a small group of elk about 2 miles away. As we made our way over towards them, we see a second group not far from them. Bulls in both groups. We parked on the back side of the mountain and see an absolute whopper of a mule deer, before stalking the elk.
We went around the mountain and over a small saddle when we spotted a few cows on a ridge and shortly after that a decent bull on the side of a hill (mountain to me) we sneak in and get to 560 yards of this broadside bull, with the cows being about 1000 yards away. As we set there studying the bull, we had two spikes come over the ridge behind us which effectively pinned us down. We set there for about 45 minutes before the wind changed and took our scent to the bull, who made a quick, but not spooked exit. During this time frame, a whole herd of cows & bulls (est. 75 - 100) joined the first group of cows on the ridge.
We were finally able to backout even though we did spook the two spikes. We then went back to the truck and circled further around them to get the wind in our favor. As we snuck up over the ridge to take a look, we found the first group bedded and feeding on the ridge, a second group of around 30 -50 bedded in an old burn, both of these about a mile from us, and then we could see two bulls alone about 1.5 miles away.
Of course, as circumstances dictated, the first ones we could check out would be the two bulls. We struck out after them around 10 or so, and finally got in position at about 12:30. They were both bedded down, the smaller raghorn was in plain veiw and the bigger one all we could see of it were it's antlers, that looked pretty nice. I got into position across the valley from them at a range of 353 yards and waited. About 45 minutes later the raghorn got up and started grazing. Still waiting. After a total of about 1 hour and 15 minutes the other one stood up, broadsided to us. About 30 seconds and one shot later, he laid back down for the final time.
We got over to him, gutted him and started back to the truck. On the way we did go through the big group, saw some nice bulls, but nothing spectacular, with one of them letting us walk right out in the open to within 250 yards. We ended up getting to the truck right at sundown.
Here are the pictures:
As he lay
A few more...
Notice the hole? Not mine.
I know it won't be the biggest posted on here, but after not seeing any the first two days, I am happy with it. It was a great hunt with a great friend. Just wish my dad could of been there. Hopefully he will be on the next trip.
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