North Dakota Bull Elk Hunt

[sdkhunter]

Looking forward to hearing how the hunt goes! Sounds like your going to be in great physical shape for the hunt, good luck!

 

[jo3hunter]

congrats

 

[brineal]

Its about 70 miles N-S and 40 Miles E-W about centered on Medora, a tich to the north.

Ok gotcha, you'll be pretty much in the heart of the badlands there near the painted canyon. Such a strange landscape, it's very open with little dense forest or vegetation but a maze of valleys and ripples. Good luck with the hunt, there are a lot of nice bulls out there! Do you have any leads on getting access to private land or are you going public only?

 

[iHunt]

I have no current contacts out there, but I am sure by the end of this journey I will have talked to plenty of landowners

 

[kineech]

What unit did you Draw for? I have 2 close friends that drew E2 Cow tags and another buddy that drew E3 either sex. I got voluntold for scouting both area's. Maybe we can compare notes.

 

[sharpshooter97]

Congrats and good luck, I hope to draw and elk and moose tag at somepoint.

 

[iHunt]

Hello All - Its been a busy Summer!

I made it out scouting one weekend in June, Did not find any elk and talking to people after the fact I realized I was a in the wrong area - especially for that time of year.

I did take a few pictures of other animals along my journey that weekend which I will post below.

I am heading back out there this weekend with a little better info on where to begin looking! I also plan to talk to ranchers and landowners during the middle of the day and ask if they have any information about elk that could help me, and hope the conversation leads to permission on their land!

Also, If anyone wants to give their opinion on the age/size of the mule deer bucks, especially those in the blurrier photo I would appreciate that! I think the three in the crisp photo are 2 year olds, but the ones in the blurry photo were taken on the same day in a bachelor group of 7 and have much better height.

 

[BlakeA]

Also, If anyone wants to give their opinion on the age/size of the mule deer bucks, especially those in the blurrier photo I would appreciate that! I think the three in the crisp photo are 2 year olds, but the ones in the blurry photo were taken on the same day in a bachelor group of 7 and have much better height.

One year olds.

 

[iHunt]

One year olds.

The close up of three blurry bucks? If those are one year olds I would love to see them at five!!

 

[iHunt]

Had a great scouting trip this weekend! Found 75-100 Cows, Calves, and spikes along with 2 140-150" mule deer and 3 shooter whitetails, one looked to be a huge heavy 10 pt. I didn't have my phoneskope adapter so pictures are limited this go around. No bulls yet, but finding that many cows is promising!

 

[C_Dick_Run]

What an awesome hunt. Will be following this one. No doubt covering ground that TR used to set foot on in his ranching days.

 

[Pucky Freak]

That's encouragement to carry you along to the opener. Happy hunting and hope this becomes a memory of a lifetime

 

[iHunt]

What an awesome hunt. Will be following this one. No doubt covering ground that TR used to set foot on in his ranching days.

There is a ranch privately owned out there that is called "The Elkhorn" which was Teddy's ranch back in the day. Part of it has been turned into a smaller part of TRNP, but the rest of the 16,000 acres are still being ranched. I talked to a ranch hand and he said the owner doesnt hunt at all, doesn't guide or outfit, doesn't let anyone hunt, but every year his son shoots a mule deer... I was impressed but that would be a heck of a ranch to hunt on!

 

[iHunt]

Quick update: Got back out to the badlands this last weekend and found some antler! The first night I saw a large framed bull (I am guessing a 325 class 6x6) from about two miles away. I got some video of him and a satellite bull.

The next morning I set up on a bluff that cut the distance in about half towards where I saw those bulls disappearing. At first, all I was seeing was deer - and lots of them! I looked back towards the spot I was at the night before and sure enough there is a big bull working his way across a small meadow. I pull up the binocs and almost fainted. It was the giant 8x7 bull I got a tip on! It was 15 seconds of mad-dashing to get the phone skope set up, and proceeded to get lots of video and pictures of him. (pics and video to follow)

That night, I wanted to move down the valley a little and see if I could spot any cows about a mile or two further down from where I saw him. It was a quiet evening with lots of deer again. I looked right below me (391 yards) at a water hole and sure enough, this big boy was working his way towards some green feed. I got a bunch more videos of him before he slipped in some cover. Didn't see any cows, which I would like to find so I can have an idea of where he will head once the rut starts up.

 

[Pucky Freak]

Those big bulls are going to be haunting your dreams for the next month+. Just wait until you hear them bugling!

 

[iHunt]

Here is the update you've been waiting for

 

[bigsky2]

Awesome bull, hope you can locate him again during the season.

 

[iHunt]

Me too, Me too...

 

[superdave450]

Any decent mule deer bucks kicking around. Got the archery tag this year and need some deer pics!!

 

[madtom]

There will never be enough threads like this on the forum. Great job and I’m looking forward to seeing the hunt recap.