seeth07
Well-known member
Yes sir. We don't ever really see any whitetails so not really counting that
Seeth's 2020 Hunting Log
- Thread starter seeth07
- Start date
seeth07
Well-known member
One thing that I promise to do in this hunting log is to share everything...the good, the bad and the ugly. I'm going to start off with the weekend recap out of order because I want to first start off with the downright ugly which will explain the photo I left in my last message.
Sunday evening, almost at dark (about 30 minutes of legal shooting light left but in the dense canopy of the woods it was practically dark) I ran across a doe and two fawns and at 20 yards, one of the fawns presented me with a perfect shot. Shooting uphill at probably a 45 degree angle, I put my 20 yard pin on its back and watched my arrow sail under her. The doe and other fawn spooked in my direction and stopped only 10 yards from me. Another arrow knocked and at full draw for probably 90 seconds, the doe finally turned broadside and I let go sending the arrow right into her. She didn't run off but instead just trotted away, tail down. I could see my arrow had entered behind the shoulder slightly above mid section. On the opposite side, I could see the broad head sticking out a few inches likely just below its loin (so about 6-8 inches from the center of its back). I sat down, got the headlamp out of my pack, ate something quick and waited maybe 15 minutes tops before I went to look at the blood trail. It was a small trickle of blood and I found the back 2/3rds of my arrow on the trail maybe 50 yards from the shot. With the arrow out of the wound, blood was just pouring out of her. I decided after walking 20 yards of just a ridiculous blood trail that I didn't need to wait and I should just be able to walk up on her and find her dead here in the next 50 yards tops. From the blood, I could tell it was bright red and foaming lung blood. I could tell it was coming out of her on both sides. I could tell she was walking as the blood on the ground was a steady line as if someone took a paint can and punctured the bottom with a screw driver and it was a steady drizzle out as she was walking. The vegetation was thick and I could see she was struggling getting through based on the smear marks on the brush. During my tracking, she never bedded down.
I was at a point thinking "damn how is she going for this long" and opened up my track I had going on ONx to find out I had been trailing her for 230 yards from the shot. I was amazed I hadn't found her dead yet. Quarts, if not a gallon plus of blood have left the body at this point and I was confused (the image I posted wasn't just a one time display of the blood trail - it was like that the entire way). A moment afterwards, I look up with the headlight and see her just creeping forward ahead of me at 8 yards and crawled into some super thick raspberry and tall grasses/weeds. She was weak and barely moving but still alive. I had no choice but to hike out and wait until morning. Just like Randy does, I recorded on my tag the kill of this animal and with blood drawn, this was my harvest, recovered or not.
I came back in at first light to a super heavy dew that washed away just about all blood. I went to the spot I last saw her and grid searched for 2 hours and never found anything. No blood, no tracks, no deer. Where she crawled into at my last sight of her, it was so thick in cover I literally was searching it like you would for a duck in cattails, pushing the grasses/weeds out of the way to uncover whats below just hoping to find her. This section was maybe 50 yards wide by 100 yards long on the side of a steep hill. I'm almost positive she had to of died in there somewhere and I just wasn't good enough to find her. I also circled this area twice and didn't turn up any evidence that she would have left it. I'm sure some of you are thinking - well damn its not that big of an area and if you grid searched it, you should have found her. It's really hard to explain just how thick this vegetation is and believe me, I spent over an hour crossing back and forth, knocking down and searching what I thought was every inch of that patch but its just so thick that it is very possible there is a hole somewhere that I just never got to. I don't know, it obviously drastically bothered me and if I had the ability, I would have searched that area all day till I found her but unfortunately, 2 hours was all I could give it until I had to leave to head back home. This deer is 100% dead and nothing is worse to feel as a hunter than to know that you had a great shot, killed an animal but don't end up recovering it.
I know my mistake was not allowing enough time from my shot until I started to track. I always say and force myself at least 1 hour until I start. I've experienced bow kills before where the animal expires within 100 yards and you see it die literally within minutes. This blood trail represented that type of kill and I let the inconvenience of having to sit in the middle of the woods in the dark for an hour get the better of my decision making process (I wasn't by the truck or anything where I could easily hike out and then back in as it would take an hour just to do that). This experience will just further teach myself, and hopefully others that read this, that no matter what you witness or discover right after making a shot with archery equipment that waiting at least an hour is required...no matter what. I'm almost positive that during my tracking, she didn't want to bed down because I was following right behind her. She could hear me and I was probably just behind her keeping her moving forward. If I wasn't there to do that, she was hurting so bad that I'm positive she would have bedded down and expired with a massive blood trail easy to follow right to her. This would have probably then only been a 100 yard track.
Sunday evening, almost at dark (about 30 minutes of legal shooting light left but in the dense canopy of the woods it was practically dark) I ran across a doe and two fawns and at 20 yards, one of the fawns presented me with a perfect shot. Shooting uphill at probably a 45 degree angle, I put my 20 yard pin on its back and watched my arrow sail under her. The doe and other fawn spooked in my direction and stopped only 10 yards from me. Another arrow knocked and at full draw for probably 90 seconds, the doe finally turned broadside and I let go sending the arrow right into her. She didn't run off but instead just trotted away, tail down. I could see my arrow had entered behind the shoulder slightly above mid section. On the opposite side, I could see the broad head sticking out a few inches likely just below its loin (so about 6-8 inches from the center of its back). I sat down, got the headlamp out of my pack, ate something quick and waited maybe 15 minutes tops before I went to look at the blood trail. It was a small trickle of blood and I found the back 2/3rds of my arrow on the trail maybe 50 yards from the shot. With the arrow out of the wound, blood was just pouring out of her. I decided after walking 20 yards of just a ridiculous blood trail that I didn't need to wait and I should just be able to walk up on her and find her dead here in the next 50 yards tops. From the blood, I could tell it was bright red and foaming lung blood. I could tell it was coming out of her on both sides. I could tell she was walking as the blood on the ground was a steady line as if someone took a paint can and punctured the bottom with a screw driver and it was a steady drizzle out as she was walking. The vegetation was thick and I could see she was struggling getting through based on the smear marks on the brush. During my tracking, she never bedded down.
I was at a point thinking "damn how is she going for this long" and opened up my track I had going on ONx to find out I had been trailing her for 230 yards from the shot. I was amazed I hadn't found her dead yet. Quarts, if not a gallon plus of blood have left the body at this point and I was confused (the image I posted wasn't just a one time display of the blood trail - it was like that the entire way). A moment afterwards, I look up with the headlight and see her just creeping forward ahead of me at 8 yards and crawled into some super thick raspberry and tall grasses/weeds. She was weak and barely moving but still alive. I had no choice but to hike out and wait until morning. Just like Randy does, I recorded on my tag the kill of this animal and with blood drawn, this was my harvest, recovered or not.
I came back in at first light to a super heavy dew that washed away just about all blood. I went to the spot I last saw her and grid searched for 2 hours and never found anything. No blood, no tracks, no deer. Where she crawled into at my last sight of her, it was so thick in cover I literally was searching it like you would for a duck in cattails, pushing the grasses/weeds out of the way to uncover whats below just hoping to find her. This section was maybe 50 yards wide by 100 yards long on the side of a steep hill. I'm almost positive she had to of died in there somewhere and I just wasn't good enough to find her. I also circled this area twice and didn't turn up any evidence that she would have left it. I'm sure some of you are thinking - well damn its not that big of an area and if you grid searched it, you should have found her. It's really hard to explain just how thick this vegetation is and believe me, I spent over an hour crossing back and forth, knocking down and searching what I thought was every inch of that patch but its just so thick that it is very possible there is a hole somewhere that I just never got to. I don't know, it obviously drastically bothered me and if I had the ability, I would have searched that area all day till I found her but unfortunately, 2 hours was all I could give it until I had to leave to head back home. This deer is 100% dead and nothing is worse to feel as a hunter than to know that you had a great shot, killed an animal but don't end up recovering it.
I know my mistake was not allowing enough time from my shot until I started to track. I always say and force myself at least 1 hour until I start. I've experienced bow kills before where the animal expires within 100 yards and you see it die literally within minutes. This blood trail represented that type of kill and I let the inconvenience of having to sit in the middle of the woods in the dark for an hour get the better of my decision making process (I wasn't by the truck or anything where I could easily hike out and then back in as it would take an hour just to do that). This experience will just further teach myself, and hopefully others that read this, that no matter what you witness or discover right after making a shot with archery equipment that waiting at least an hour is required...no matter what. I'm almost positive that during my tracking, she didn't want to bed down because I was following right behind her. She could hear me and I was probably just behind her keeping her moving forward. If I wasn't there to do that, she was hurting so bad that I'm positive she would have bedded down and expired with a massive blood trail easy to follow right to her. This would have probably then only been a 100 yard track.
Mtnhunter1
Well-known member
Damn shame about the doe and your probably right about pushing her. Sounds like a one lung hit that allows for a longer distance travelled.
All hunters will experience loosing an animal throughout their hunting years, shit just happens sometimes! But knowing that never seems to cure that sick feeling when it happens.
All hunters will experience loosing an animal throughout their hunting years, shit just happens sometimes! But knowing that never seems to cure that sick feeling when it happens.
seeth07
Well-known member
Continuing with the full weekend recap:
I didn't get into KY until very early morning Saturday. When I got to the location I wanted to check out first, it was about 2 AM so I just parked, slept in the Truck for a few hours and at 6 AM geared up and started hiking. I wasn't even 100 yards into the forest and I cut a relatively fresh elk track with some scat! Man was I pumped to already see sign. However, it was very shortly lived as the remaining almost 2 miles of hiking, I didn't find anything else elk related, not even something really old. Up on top of the ridge I hiked to, I did find a few piles of horse poop which I thought was odd - more on that later.
I went onward to spot number 2. This was just a short 1 mile hike I had planned and it produced what ended up being the most productive area. I cut across at least 5 different sets of elk tracks and 4 scat piles all likely within a week old. It was a cool spot with some dense dark timber (only spot I found with dense dark timber) and it was clearly a travel corridor for some elk.
Next spot, I gave up on the hike about 400 yards in because it was such dense vegetation and vines that it was damn near impassible.
Next spot I had some major ambitions to complete what ended up being about a 4 mile hike with a lot of elevation change from 1500 to 2200 feet. At the very top of this ridge I made it too, I found a few beds fresh elk beds in some grasses with small scrubs providing ample shade. About 200 yards from this area I found a wallow that had some very cloudy, mudded up water with elk tracks and scat. I was excited and placed one of my trail cameras at this location. I'll jump out of order here a little bit to show what I found when I came back to check it and what I found. I had over 200 photos and was super excited to see some elk on camera already. Put the mini SD into my phone and this is what I discovered....
I didn't realize there were wild horse herds in KY! I still have some high hopes for this location but the horses sure do put a damper on it.
The last spot for the day was this location that looked really good for an evening glassing session. I made my way up there with the truck and from where I parked, it was only about a 400 yard walk to get up on this ridge where it provided the best view by far from what I've seen so far. Google earth time and viewing a 3D map really paid off as this spot was spectacular!
About 30 minutes before dark, I caught a dark brown object that sure resembled a cow elk head. It was 1050 yards away per my Fury rangefinder and with those being 10x binos, I could not be 100% positive it was an elk and all I could see what the object that appeared to be a head above the vegetation. I starred at it for well over a minute and then gave up and moved onto glassing other areas. I came back to that potential elk twice more and I saw the same thing. The third time I came back to it, it was gone! So I can't state for 100% certain it was a cow elk but it very likely was.
The next day, I started off with a big plan. I wanted to make this big 6 mile or so loop starting from 1400' and it was just over 2400' up at the top. After a couple 100 yards of hiking up this ridge, I spooked my first deer of the trip - a doe. A little further up, I got into this area some really big mature oaks and there was a lot of old elk sign in there, but nothing fresh. The rest of my hike I didn't even see another single elk track until the end, it was depressing. Lots of deer sign though. On the way back down to the truck, I chose to go down a ridge that was further west of the one I went up. As I started to dip down from the top and got into some denser forest canopy, it all of a sudden opened up and I found myself inside a burn area! It was probably 3 years old or so and numerous new growth trees were 3-8 feet tall and all kinds of grasses, weeds, etc. were lush green on this south slope. I was licking my chops thinking I found something special but I only cut one elk track. Maybe this is a spot they will hit later in the season as feed gets more scarce, idk. It was a pretty big area of burn, looked to be almost the entire western side of this ridge as it dipped down from 2000' to 1600'. I can't find the burn on any satellite images so its definitely pretty recent. I also found this:
I'm not 100% positive but I'm pretty sure its a Red Wolf track. I saw numerous coyote tracks on my trip and this set was drastically larger than any coyote track I saw and also drastically bigger than any coyote track I've see around my neck of the woods. Using my hand as a reference, when I got back I measured this track at slightly over 3" wide and over 4" long. The pad itself would be close to 2" wide. Unless someone wants to drastically refute my claim here, I'm going to go with it was a Red Wolf Track in my mind as the tell the story of this adventure.
On this hike I also stumbled across a lot of these:
Does anyone know what kind of fungus/mushroom it is? I have next to no knowledge about mushroom hunting and this trip really made me regret it. I saw probably over 2 dozen different types of mushrooms and this one in particular just really caught my eye.
The next hike I had planned was going to be in a more wooded area on a long ridge that ran west to east and my focus was going to be on the north slope. This 5 mile hike was just about a complete bust as I never really cut any good elk sign and although I found some amazing looking puddles in the middle of no where in the woods, no elk using it. I did walk up on a doe and got within 60 yards so that was cool. I also saw this little guy:
and this big guy in one of those random puddles:
From here we get to the hike where I had the encounter with the doe and two fawns. Not going to relive that again....
Later I'll post some general overview comments about what I experienced, just wanted to get the recap out of the way. Summary of the trip is basically that I potentially saw 1 elk, found a few areas with some light elk use but nothing that really got me super excited and I hiked a total of 25.5 miles per ONx tracks with a vast majority of that through areas with no elk sign at all (although ample deer sign almost everywhere I went). Either I was just hiking in complete the wrong areas or elk densities are just super low.
I didn't get into KY until very early morning Saturday. When I got to the location I wanted to check out first, it was about 2 AM so I just parked, slept in the Truck for a few hours and at 6 AM geared up and started hiking. I wasn't even 100 yards into the forest and I cut a relatively fresh elk track with some scat! Man was I pumped to already see sign. However, it was very shortly lived as the remaining almost 2 miles of hiking, I didn't find anything else elk related, not even something really old. Up on top of the ridge I hiked to, I did find a few piles of horse poop which I thought was odd - more on that later.
I went onward to spot number 2. This was just a short 1 mile hike I had planned and it produced what ended up being the most productive area. I cut across at least 5 different sets of elk tracks and 4 scat piles all likely within a week old. It was a cool spot with some dense dark timber (only spot I found with dense dark timber) and it was clearly a travel corridor for some elk.
Next spot, I gave up on the hike about 400 yards in because it was such dense vegetation and vines that it was damn near impassible.
Next spot I had some major ambitions to complete what ended up being about a 4 mile hike with a lot of elevation change from 1500 to 2200 feet. At the very top of this ridge I made it too, I found a few beds fresh elk beds in some grasses with small scrubs providing ample shade. About 200 yards from this area I found a wallow that had some very cloudy, mudded up water with elk tracks and scat. I was excited and placed one of my trail cameras at this location. I'll jump out of order here a little bit to show what I found when I came back to check it and what I found. I had over 200 photos and was super excited to see some elk on camera already. Put the mini SD into my phone and this is what I discovered....
I didn't realize there were wild horse herds in KY! I still have some high hopes for this location but the horses sure do put a damper on it.
The last spot for the day was this location that looked really good for an evening glassing session. I made my way up there with the truck and from where I parked, it was only about a 400 yard walk to get up on this ridge where it provided the best view by far from what I've seen so far. Google earth time and viewing a 3D map really paid off as this spot was spectacular!
About 30 minutes before dark, I caught a dark brown object that sure resembled a cow elk head. It was 1050 yards away per my Fury rangefinder and with those being 10x binos, I could not be 100% positive it was an elk and all I could see what the object that appeared to be a head above the vegetation. I starred at it for well over a minute and then gave up and moved onto glassing other areas. I came back to that potential elk twice more and I saw the same thing. The third time I came back to it, it was gone! So I can't state for 100% certain it was a cow elk but it very likely was.
The next day, I started off with a big plan. I wanted to make this big 6 mile or so loop starting from 1400' and it was just over 2400' up at the top. After a couple 100 yards of hiking up this ridge, I spooked my first deer of the trip - a doe. A little further up, I got into this area some really big mature oaks and there was a lot of old elk sign in there, but nothing fresh. The rest of my hike I didn't even see another single elk track until the end, it was depressing. Lots of deer sign though. On the way back down to the truck, I chose to go down a ridge that was further west of the one I went up. As I started to dip down from the top and got into some denser forest canopy, it all of a sudden opened up and I found myself inside a burn area! It was probably 3 years old or so and numerous new growth trees were 3-8 feet tall and all kinds of grasses, weeds, etc. were lush green on this south slope. I was licking my chops thinking I found something special but I only cut one elk track. Maybe this is a spot they will hit later in the season as feed gets more scarce, idk. It was a pretty big area of burn, looked to be almost the entire western side of this ridge as it dipped down from 2000' to 1600'. I can't find the burn on any satellite images so its definitely pretty recent. I also found this:
I'm not 100% positive but I'm pretty sure its a Red Wolf track. I saw numerous coyote tracks on my trip and this set was drastically larger than any coyote track I saw and also drastically bigger than any coyote track I've see around my neck of the woods. Using my hand as a reference, when I got back I measured this track at slightly over 3" wide and over 4" long. The pad itself would be close to 2" wide. Unless someone wants to drastically refute my claim here, I'm going to go with it was a Red Wolf Track in my mind as the tell the story of this adventure.
On this hike I also stumbled across a lot of these:
Does anyone know what kind of fungus/mushroom it is? I have next to no knowledge about mushroom hunting and this trip really made me regret it. I saw probably over 2 dozen different types of mushrooms and this one in particular just really caught my eye.
The next hike I had planned was going to be in a more wooded area on a long ridge that ran west to east and my focus was going to be on the north slope. This 5 mile hike was just about a complete bust as I never really cut any good elk sign and although I found some amazing looking puddles in the middle of no where in the woods, no elk using it. I did walk up on a doe and got within 60 yards so that was cool. I also saw this little guy:
and this big guy in one of those random puddles:
From here we get to the hike where I had the encounter with the doe and two fawns. Not going to relive that again....
Later I'll post some general overview comments about what I experienced, just wanted to get the recap out of the way. Summary of the trip is basically that I potentially saw 1 elk, found a few areas with some light elk use but nothing that really got me super excited and I hiked a total of 25.5 miles per ONx tracks with a vast majority of that through areas with no elk sign at all (although ample deer sign almost everywhere I went). Either I was just hiking in complete the wrong areas or elk densities are just super low.
seeth07
Well-known member
seeth07
Well-known member
Got my new rifle back from the gunsmith! If it ever stops raining its time to start finding what she likes as I leave next Friday and want to use it!
-Firstlite camo Weatherby Vanguard in .308
-Vortex viper 4.5x20 rifle scope
-Custom mounting plate installed at base of forearm for direct attachment to hunting tripod
-Scope, mounting plate and suppressor (not shown as papers haven't been approved yet) cerakoted to match rifle cerakoting.
-Firstlite camo Weatherby Vanguard in .308
-Vortex viper 4.5x20 rifle scope
-Custom mounting plate installed at base of forearm for direct attachment to hunting tripod
-Scope, mounting plate and suppressor (not shown as papers haven't been approved yet) cerakoted to match rifle cerakoting.
seeth07
Well-known member
In the goose blind. Marcie is making sure continuously That no decoys are actually live ones
seeth07
Well-known member
And the results...
JShane
Well-known member
Nice work.
seeth07
Well-known member
Holy smokes, today is the day! Leave for ID as soon as this 8 hour work shift is over!!!
seeth07
Well-known member
Bull Moose down! More to come!
MarvB
Well-known member
Waiting!!
seeth07
Well-known member
Alright so lets start the day by day recap. With practically no cell service and limited phone battery power I wasn't able to do it as it happened so sorry for that and I'll do the best I can to recap it all.
Saturday:
We hit the Idaho border around 4pm or so and filled up the truck, utv and two gas cans in Alpine before making the final 1.5 hour or so trek down the gravel natural forest roads into our desired base camp location. The camp selection spot turned out to be perfect so we parked the trailer, unloaded the utv and all three of us (my buddy, wife and I) headed out in different directions to a few glassing spots we e-scouted to check things out for the last two hours of light we had left. I made it to my spot and immediately heard a cow moose moan. Then another 5 minutes later and another again 5 minutes later. Did not spot her. As this was going on I could see a storm was rolling in from the West with an impressive display of lightning. After about 30 minutues, the lightning was getting super close and I decided to book it back up the ridge to camp. I was too late and ended up getting soaked along with some lightning strikes sounding to be way too close for comfort as I could feel the electricity practically in my body!
Wet and cold now with it raining and muddy outside, we regathered in the trailer, ate some supper and went to bed.
Saturday:
We hit the Idaho border around 4pm or so and filled up the truck, utv and two gas cans in Alpine before making the final 1.5 hour or so trek down the gravel natural forest roads into our desired base camp location. The camp selection spot turned out to be perfect so we parked the trailer, unloaded the utv and all three of us (my buddy, wife and I) headed out in different directions to a few glassing spots we e-scouted to check things out for the last two hours of light we had left. I made it to my spot and immediately heard a cow moose moan. Then another 5 minutes later and another again 5 minutes later. Did not spot her. As this was going on I could see a storm was rolling in from the West with an impressive display of lightning. After about 30 minutues, the lightning was getting super close and I decided to book it back up the ridge to camp. I was too late and ended up getting soaked along with some lightning strikes sounding to be way too close for comfort as I could feel the electricity practically in my body!
Wet and cold now with it raining and muddy outside, we regathered in the trailer, ate some supper and went to bed.
Last edited:
seeth07
Well-known member
Sunday:
We woke up and when I went outside the rain had stopped and everything was covered in ice! It was a chilly 30 degrees out and excitement brewed knowing what cold mornings do to animal movements!
My wife liked her glassing spot that was 4 miles down the road and further down the main drainage so the game plan was to get to that spot and start glassing and then work our way up the drainage with downward thermals back to camp.
The glassing spot was about 3/4 of a mile hike in and we timed it just right to make it there before shooting light. We get comfy, get the coffee out and enjoy the cold but beautiful morning. We actually sat in different locations by about 200 yards to get a few different angles of the creek bottom hoping to spot a moose down there. All we found down there were moo cows. Then just as the sun was hitting to the top of the adjacent ridge to our west, I could see some movement while glassing...elk. Many elk. I counted at least 5 All of which looked like bulls but at 1300 yards, I can't say for certain other than 1 was for sure a nice bull. Excited, I ran over to my wife and had her come over by me and we watched them feed up on top of this ridge for a few minutes before heading down the ridge and into some timber.
Then a bugle ripped out...and then another...and then that bugle you dream about, you know the one, that deep, knarly, long one with 6 plus grunts to finish it off. I look at my wife and smile and say "that's the bull we want to see, he's a beast". These bugles were mostly coming come the dark timber that was directly across from us, about 800 yards away or so on a straight shot. There was also a bugle on our side up valley a bit and glassing over there turned up some elk, headed through a finger ridge saddle. 3 of them, all cows I think. Then two more, both small bulls. Then a few minutes later and a bugle later, out pops a bigger bull but no monster, 5x5 maybe. We begin heading that way.
We dip down into a deep cut and immediately start finding fresh sign in what's a patch of dark timber on the north slope of this cut. In the bottom, we hit a creek with quite a few small beaver ponds and I notice right away a big track...a moose track! Then willows...stripped clean. Then fresh moose scat. Ok so there are some moose in here.
We get up the finger ridge beyond this cut and look over into the dark timber and I spot a cow elk feeding in a tiny clearing. All this while, elk are bugling like crazy over there including Mr. Deep Baller. I'm jacked up and ready to just jump on over into the dark timber with these guys but a check of the wind and I start to second guess that thought. It was blowing straight up the drainage from the strong prevailing winds that morning. Then it would blow down due to the thermals. I didn't want to mess this spot up on the first day with at least three bulls going nuts in there. We decide to just continue the plan of exploring up the drainage on our side and come up with a tactical early morning approach on these bulls.
The hike out was up and over a series of 2 more finger ridges. We never heard or saw any of those elk that headed that way but did come across a muley doe. Having a deer tag in pocket, I grabbed my wife's bow and trying for a shot and never got one. All the while in our hike out, those elk in the dark timber never stopped bugling.
We also ran into our first group of grouse. Three chances resulted in my wife releasing one arrow and a miss.
We made it back to camp and it was already 2pm. My wife was beat and realized she wasn't in good enough elk shape so I told her to rest up while I went and checked out this area a few miles northwest that looked good for moose. I drove the utv on a forest road clearly marked and noted as a two track truck road which I have no clue how as at both creek crossings I almost buried and got my UTV stuck. Note to self: don't use that road again!
I made it to the area and started this short hike up and over this 200 foot knob that would then take me down into this creek bottom. I get to the top of the knob and find quite a bit of elk sign. Then, about 1/2 way back down, I hear a branch break. Then another. My heart is now pounding, I chamber a round, set scope down to low and 50 yard focus. I move a bit to get a little better view. I wait. I hear branches again. I see a flicker of black. Omg there is a moose. I get the bino up and look to find horns. Aww wtf seriously...a damn moo cow!!!
I get down to the creek bottom to be brutually frustrated and annoyed with what I find. There is a damn atv, unlicensed, unmarked parked right along the creek without there even being any kind of trail. I'll post the picture of it here and if anyone knows this person, call and shame them for ignoring the rules!
To make it even worse, as I hike out, I find a truck illegally on a road that isn't open to travel. Two hunters, one spot illegally in there. I head back to camp very disappointed. Wife still wants to just relax so I head to the same glassing ridge from the night before. I hear about 5 bugles, again across in the dark timber and then nothing for the last 30 minutes of light. Nothing spotted. Probably heard over 50 bugles this day and saw 16 elk. Solid day, can't wait for full day two!
We woke up and when I went outside the rain had stopped and everything was covered in ice! It was a chilly 30 degrees out and excitement brewed knowing what cold mornings do to animal movements!
My wife liked her glassing spot that was 4 miles down the road and further down the main drainage so the game plan was to get to that spot and start glassing and then work our way up the drainage with downward thermals back to camp.
The glassing spot was about 3/4 of a mile hike in and we timed it just right to make it there before shooting light. We get comfy, get the coffee out and enjoy the cold but beautiful morning. We actually sat in different locations by about 200 yards to get a few different angles of the creek bottom hoping to spot a moose down there. All we found down there were moo cows. Then just as the sun was hitting to the top of the adjacent ridge to our west, I could see some movement while glassing...elk. Many elk. I counted at least 5 All of which looked like bulls but at 1300 yards, I can't say for certain other than 1 was for sure a nice bull. Excited, I ran over to my wife and had her come over by me and we watched them feed up on top of this ridge for a few minutes before heading down the ridge and into some timber.
Then a bugle ripped out...and then another...and then that bugle you dream about, you know the one, that deep, knarly, long one with 6 plus grunts to finish it off. I look at my wife and smile and say "that's the bull we want to see, he's a beast". These bugles were mostly coming come the dark timber that was directly across from us, about 800 yards away or so on a straight shot. There was also a bugle on our side up valley a bit and glassing over there turned up some elk, headed through a finger ridge saddle. 3 of them, all cows I think. Then two more, both small bulls. Then a few minutes later and a bugle later, out pops a bigger bull but no monster, 5x5 maybe. We begin heading that way.
We dip down into a deep cut and immediately start finding fresh sign in what's a patch of dark timber on the north slope of this cut. In the bottom, we hit a creek with quite a few small beaver ponds and I notice right away a big track...a moose track! Then willows...stripped clean. Then fresh moose scat. Ok so there are some moose in here.
We get up the finger ridge beyond this cut and look over into the dark timber and I spot a cow elk feeding in a tiny clearing. All this while, elk are bugling like crazy over there including Mr. Deep Baller. I'm jacked up and ready to just jump on over into the dark timber with these guys but a check of the wind and I start to second guess that thought. It was blowing straight up the drainage from the strong prevailing winds that morning. Then it would blow down due to the thermals. I didn't want to mess this spot up on the first day with at least three bulls going nuts in there. We decide to just continue the plan of exploring up the drainage on our side and come up with a tactical early morning approach on these bulls.
The hike out was up and over a series of 2 more finger ridges. We never heard or saw any of those elk that headed that way but did come across a muley doe. Having a deer tag in pocket, I grabbed my wife's bow and trying for a shot and never got one. All the while in our hike out, those elk in the dark timber never stopped bugling.
We also ran into our first group of grouse. Three chances resulted in my wife releasing one arrow and a miss.
We made it back to camp and it was already 2pm. My wife was beat and realized she wasn't in good enough elk shape so I told her to rest up while I went and checked out this area a few miles northwest that looked good for moose. I drove the utv on a forest road clearly marked and noted as a two track truck road which I have no clue how as at both creek crossings I almost buried and got my UTV stuck. Note to self: don't use that road again!
I made it to the area and started this short hike up and over this 200 foot knob that would then take me down into this creek bottom. I get to the top of the knob and find quite a bit of elk sign. Then, about 1/2 way back down, I hear a branch break. Then another. My heart is now pounding, I chamber a round, set scope down to low and 50 yard focus. I move a bit to get a little better view. I wait. I hear branches again. I see a flicker of black. Omg there is a moose. I get the bino up and look to find horns. Aww wtf seriously...a damn moo cow!!!
I get down to the creek bottom to be brutually frustrated and annoyed with what I find. There is a damn atv, unlicensed, unmarked parked right along the creek without there even being any kind of trail. I'll post the picture of it here and if anyone knows this person, call and shame them for ignoring the rules!
To make it even worse, as I hike out, I find a truck illegally on a road that isn't open to travel. Two hunters, one spot illegally in there. I head back to camp very disappointed. Wife still wants to just relax so I head to the same glassing ridge from the night before. I hear about 5 bugles, again across in the dark timber and then nothing for the last 30 minutes of light. Nothing spotted. Probably heard over 50 bugles this day and saw 16 elk. Solid day, can't wait for full day two!
Last edited:
seeth07
Well-known member
Monday:
So with all the elk in that dark timber bugling all day on Sunday and the moose sign we saw along that line of beaver ponds, the plan was to hike down the finger ridge in the dark and set up on the edge of it where we could look down on those beaver ponds in rifle range while waiting for elk to bugle and then giving us the chance to get in on them by following the cut to the main creek and running either up or down the main creek under the elk (and under the downward thermals) to create an approach from below them. My buddy was going to glass from the spot I've been at and if elk were bugling in the dark timber up there, he would do the same.
We got in there plenty early and again got comfy and drank coffee. Just as we could start to see good, a pair of small bull elk appeared in front of us 400 yards away. They went behind some timber and I told my wife to grab her bow and run to see if she can hit that timber line below us and maybe catch them walking through. 15 minutes later I head down there myself to find they never came through.
I also got news from my wife that she got a message from my buddy that he spotted a big bull moose by him! Finally, moose in the drainage to hunt!
Right at that same time, Mr. Deep Baller let's one rip across from us. Lets go!!! We start hiking down the cut and after only a few hundred yards, I pull up my bino to find those two bulls from earlier feeding down in some short aspens. We make a closer approach to them and look at them again. 240 yards away. I ask my wife what we should do. How about a cow call? Ok why not. I let a few rip and they immediately start trotting towards us. Crap, our set up is horrible here..We gotta move and fast! The next 15 minutes is a game of cat and mouse in some really thick short aspens and the closest we got was 80 yards. It was a little spike bull and a 3x3 but with the bow for my wife, any elk was going to be in trouble at 30 yards.
At this time, we had heard about maybe 20 bugles including the one we wanted to check out down the valley from us a bit. The sun was already hitting the face of the dark timber and I was worried our approach plan using downward thermals wouldn't work as it would be switching on that slope Probably within the hour (it was past 9am at this point). We hike down into the creek bottom, well above where the bugles were coming from and on the way spot a cow and a calf running through little openings in the dark timber headed down valley. 300 yards from us, it was a promising event because they never spooked or smelled us.
We hiked straight up in the dark timber. I wanted to get half way up the 1000 foot slope and then side hill down into the bugles and Then plan on upwind thermals to make our approach. We get up that high and side hill a bit down and holy smokes, man was there the elk sign. Rubs, heavily used trails, fresh scat galore, hell it smelled like elk. We found the bedroom. Now time to get into bed with them. Only problem: they shut up...not a bugle for the last 30 minutes. We stop and sit down. We wait. 10am. And wait. 11am. And wait. 12pm. And wait. 1pm. Nothing, except a grouse that landed 10 feet from us. My turn. Grab my wife's bow. I miss.
Ok time to make something happen. I bugle. Nothing. We side hill a few hundred yards. Setup, cow call. Nothing. Side hill a few hundred yards more. Setup, cow call. Nothing. Man I've never been so disappointed hunting in my entire life I think. They are here, I know they are, what's going on?
We go a while further down and by this point we are quite a ways down the drainage and know we need to cut out of the dark timber soon in order to cut back across and get on out of there. We were a long ways away from the road and it was a brutal hike uphill to get out of there. We start cutting down still sidehilling a bit and once we get about 200 yards from the creek bottom it finally happens. A weak bugle! Close, very very close to us. I tell my wife to get an arrow ready and we need to hike towards him a bit because at our current position, a 10 yard shot is all that existed. We need it to open up a bit. I let out a bugle and he immediately cuts me off with a strong bugle. We work our way a bit down and now have maybe 20 yard shots. I hear a few branches break. I bugle. Nothing for 20 seconds then he bugles. Weakly. Very ummm human like. 10 second pause. Then 5 grunts. Cow calls. Hmmm never experienced this before. Sounds like a Hunter. I walk to my wife.
"I think it's a hunter, just doesn't sound right"
"Yes. I agree and was thinking the same thing"
He bugles again and sounds pathetic. Almost like a blown call. Yup totally a Hunter. We side hill out to the creek, sit down, talk about it, eat a snack. 15 minutes go by. Ok let's start this brutal 2 mile hike up out of here. Get my pack on. LOAD IMPRESSIVE BUGLE! Like 100 yards just above us. Really? Cow calls going off like crazy, dozens of them. Branches breaking everywhere. Seriously? Did we really just get fooled by elk like that? We try to approach them but now they are on the move. Up the hill they go and not a chance for us to catch them. Man what a bummer. What I think happened was when we hiked down to these elk, they were bedded and they heard us walking. The bull bugled telling us to stay away from his cows but remained bedded with his group the whole time. We never caused a threat so they stayed put and then at some time they probably got nervous and he pushed his cows up the hill and away from us. If we would have continued our approach and I just continued to bugle at him, he likely would have eventually gave us the shot.
We didn't get back up to camp until after 6pm. We were beat and defeated. Time for a good meal and then early bedtime.
So with all the elk in that dark timber bugling all day on Sunday and the moose sign we saw along that line of beaver ponds, the plan was to hike down the finger ridge in the dark and set up on the edge of it where we could look down on those beaver ponds in rifle range while waiting for elk to bugle and then giving us the chance to get in on them by following the cut to the main creek and running either up or down the main creek under the elk (and under the downward thermals) to create an approach from below them. My buddy was going to glass from the spot I've been at and if elk were bugling in the dark timber up there, he would do the same.
We got in there plenty early and again got comfy and drank coffee. Just as we could start to see good, a pair of small bull elk appeared in front of us 400 yards away. They went behind some timber and I told my wife to grab her bow and run to see if she can hit that timber line below us and maybe catch them walking through. 15 minutes later I head down there myself to find they never came through.
I also got news from my wife that she got a message from my buddy that he spotted a big bull moose by him! Finally, moose in the drainage to hunt!
Right at that same time, Mr. Deep Baller let's one rip across from us. Lets go!!! We start hiking down the cut and after only a few hundred yards, I pull up my bino to find those two bulls from earlier feeding down in some short aspens. We make a closer approach to them and look at them again. 240 yards away. I ask my wife what we should do. How about a cow call? Ok why not. I let a few rip and they immediately start trotting towards us. Crap, our set up is horrible here..We gotta move and fast! The next 15 minutes is a game of cat and mouse in some really thick short aspens and the closest we got was 80 yards. It was a little spike bull and a 3x3 but with the bow for my wife, any elk was going to be in trouble at 30 yards.
At this time, we had heard about maybe 20 bugles including the one we wanted to check out down the valley from us a bit. The sun was already hitting the face of the dark timber and I was worried our approach plan using downward thermals wouldn't work as it would be switching on that slope Probably within the hour (it was past 9am at this point). We hike down into the creek bottom, well above where the bugles were coming from and on the way spot a cow and a calf running through little openings in the dark timber headed down valley. 300 yards from us, it was a promising event because they never spooked or smelled us.
We hiked straight up in the dark timber. I wanted to get half way up the 1000 foot slope and then side hill down into the bugles and Then plan on upwind thermals to make our approach. We get up that high and side hill a bit down and holy smokes, man was there the elk sign. Rubs, heavily used trails, fresh scat galore, hell it smelled like elk. We found the bedroom. Now time to get into bed with them. Only problem: they shut up...not a bugle for the last 30 minutes. We stop and sit down. We wait. 10am. And wait. 11am. And wait. 12pm. And wait. 1pm. Nothing, except a grouse that landed 10 feet from us. My turn. Grab my wife's bow. I miss.
Ok time to make something happen. I bugle. Nothing. We side hill a few hundred yards. Setup, cow call. Nothing. Side hill a few hundred yards more. Setup, cow call. Nothing. Man I've never been so disappointed hunting in my entire life I think. They are here, I know they are, what's going on?
We go a while further down and by this point we are quite a ways down the drainage and know we need to cut out of the dark timber soon in order to cut back across and get on out of there. We were a long ways away from the road and it was a brutal hike uphill to get out of there. We start cutting down still sidehilling a bit and once we get about 200 yards from the creek bottom it finally happens. A weak bugle! Close, very very close to us. I tell my wife to get an arrow ready and we need to hike towards him a bit because at our current position, a 10 yard shot is all that existed. We need it to open up a bit. I let out a bugle and he immediately cuts me off with a strong bugle. We work our way a bit down and now have maybe 20 yard shots. I hear a few branches break. I bugle. Nothing for 20 seconds then he bugles. Weakly. Very ummm human like. 10 second pause. Then 5 grunts. Cow calls. Hmmm never experienced this before. Sounds like a Hunter. I walk to my wife.
"I think it's a hunter, just doesn't sound right"
"Yes. I agree and was thinking the same thing"
He bugles again and sounds pathetic. Almost like a blown call. Yup totally a Hunter. We side hill out to the creek, sit down, talk about it, eat a snack. 15 minutes go by. Ok let's start this brutal 2 mile hike up out of here. Get my pack on. LOAD IMPRESSIVE BUGLE! Like 100 yards just above us. Really? Cow calls going off like crazy, dozens of them. Branches breaking everywhere. Seriously? Did we really just get fooled by elk like that? We try to approach them but now they are on the move. Up the hill they go and not a chance for us to catch them. Man what a bummer. What I think happened was when we hiked down to these elk, they were bedded and they heard us walking. The bull bugled telling us to stay away from his cows but remained bedded with his group the whole time. We never caused a threat so they stayed put and then at some time they probably got nervous and he pushed his cows up the hill and away from us. If we would have continued our approach and I just continued to bugle at him, he likely would have eventually gave us the shot.
We didn't get back up to camp until after 6pm. We were beat and defeated. Time for a good meal and then early bedtime.
Last edited:
seeth07
Well-known member
Tuesday:
My buddy had a pin of where he saw that bull moose so all three of us were going to head in there and from a few different vantage points, hopefully someone would respot him. Sun comes up and it's completely dead. A bit of rain was falling. No bugles. No moose seen. I go on a hike down into the creek bottom only to find moo cows, lots of them and very little other sign. 2 hours wasted hiking and looking in this area, where did that bull moose go? We get back to camp by 11am and my wife at this point is running on E. We have now hiked over 15 miles and it wasn't an easy 15 miles either. Our plan was to use Wednesday as a recoup day and do some drive scouting in our moose unit but being that I was defeated by the animals in this drainage and seeing very little moose sign, I decided we needed to do that today now.
We get in the truck and start driving around. We make notes of really just one good area that looked like good moose habitat on our way into Idaho Falls where we refuel. We then head back into the northern end of our unit (we've been in the south) and I wanted to get to this high glassing spot that looked over this basin that looked really good. I also had a few tips from others that this area was worth checking out. On the way in there we find this sign, the best kind of sign I think you can find as a moose Hunter :
We continue down the road and all of a sudden my wife goes, "hey stop, I see tracks down along that beaver dam". We stop and get out and look and sure enough, moose tracks everywhere along this creek. As we are examining them, a father and son drive and stop and yell out
"hey are you moose hunting?"
"Yes we are"
"I can tell you right where to go. I just shot my moose and it's not even where we saw a whole bunch of them this morning including two really nice bulls."
These two fellow hunters were so nice, got their onx out for us and showed us exactly where they went and all of their waypoints where they saw moose that day which was like over 8 of them! We chat for a bit, we thank them and they drive away. We get our truck, decide to still check out the glassing spot and find where they parked their truck and see them walking in the woods to their moose. Feeling so lucky and glad for this intel, my wife and I decide we owe it to them to help them butcher and haul it out. We catch up with them and spend a few hours there getting to know these two nice gentlemen from Boise. We grab a picture of myself with the bull to mess with my buddy back at camp that night.
On the way back to camp, we head down a road to check out one more spot quick and right at the trailhead is standing a bull moose! I look him over and although this is the very first legal moose we spot on hoof, I decide that with over a dozen planned hunt days left, he wasn't quite what I'd be happy with as a mature bull. It was a very awkward moment for myself in that it was the first time in my life that I had the opportunity to harvest a mature male specimen of a species and I didn't do it. I almost felt guilt. Am I a trophy Hunter now? Idk how to describe it but it was a very uncomfortable feeling.
Along our way back to camp, we see a grouse near the edge of a road and it only flys off a little ways. My wife gets out, grabs her bow and takes off. She comes back with supper
We made it back to camp, which was almost a 2 hour drive back and got to mess with my buddy real good having both of those photos. Excited for what was to potentially come in the next few days, it was hard to sleep.
My buddy had a pin of where he saw that bull moose so all three of us were going to head in there and from a few different vantage points, hopefully someone would respot him. Sun comes up and it's completely dead. A bit of rain was falling. No bugles. No moose seen. I go on a hike down into the creek bottom only to find moo cows, lots of them and very little other sign. 2 hours wasted hiking and looking in this area, where did that bull moose go? We get back to camp by 11am and my wife at this point is running on E. We have now hiked over 15 miles and it wasn't an easy 15 miles either. Our plan was to use Wednesday as a recoup day and do some drive scouting in our moose unit but being that I was defeated by the animals in this drainage and seeing very little moose sign, I decided we needed to do that today now.
We get in the truck and start driving around. We make notes of really just one good area that looked like good moose habitat on our way into Idaho Falls where we refuel. We then head back into the northern end of our unit (we've been in the south) and I wanted to get to this high glassing spot that looked over this basin that looked really good. I also had a few tips from others that this area was worth checking out. On the way in there we find this sign, the best kind of sign I think you can find as a moose Hunter
:We continue down the road and all of a sudden my wife goes, "hey stop, I see tracks down along that beaver dam". We stop and get out and look and sure enough, moose tracks everywhere along this creek. As we are examining them, a father and son drive and stop and yell out
"hey are you moose hunting?"
"Yes we are"
"I can tell you right where to go. I just shot my moose and it's not even where we saw a whole bunch of them this morning including two really nice bulls."
These two fellow hunters were so nice, got their onx out for us and showed us exactly where they went and all of their waypoints where they saw moose that day which was like over 8 of them! We chat for a bit, we thank them and they drive away. We get our truck, decide to still check out the glassing spot and find where they parked their truck and see them walking in the woods to their moose. Feeling so lucky and glad for this intel, my wife and I decide we owe it to them to help them butcher and haul it out. We catch up with them and spend a few hours there getting to know these two nice gentlemen from Boise. We grab a picture of myself with the bull to mess with my buddy back at camp that night.
On the way back to camp, we head down a road to check out one more spot quick and right at the trailhead is standing a bull moose! I look him over and although this is the very first legal moose we spot on hoof, I decide that with over a dozen planned hunt days left, he wasn't quite what I'd be happy with as a mature bull. It was a very awkward moment for myself in that it was the first time in my life that I had the opportunity to harvest a mature male specimen of a species and I didn't do it. I almost felt guilt. Am I a trophy Hunter now? Idk how to describe it but it was a very uncomfortable feeling.
Along our way back to camp, we see a grouse near the edge of a road and it only flys off a little ways. My wife gets out, grabs her bow and takes off. She comes back with supper
We made it back to camp, which was almost a 2 hour drive back and got to mess with my buddy real good having both of those photos. Excited for what was to potentially come in the next few days, it was hard to sleep.
Last edited:
seeth07
Well-known member
Wednesday:
The plan for today is to give these elk one final chance to play ball. Neither us nor my buddy nor any other hunters we talked to (btw met a father and son from Utah that were fun to chat with, if you guys happen to read this make sure to hit me up with a PM!) have really heard any bugles at all since Monday morning. Maybe this morning they will go at it again. All three of us come into this main drainage from a different way by walking directly up from the bottom about 3/4 of a mile and find a place to sit on the East side facing the dark timber to the west. Morning sun comes and all we spot is a small bull going up the ridge. I bugle and he turns and comes down a bit to us then heads back and up over the top of the ridge. We hear nothing. 830am hits and the sun is hitting the dark timber now. We head across and start doing some set ups with cow calling and a bugle or two mixed in as We work up the drainage. We go maybe a mile before running into a group of hunters that came down from the top. They looks so upset when we popped out of the dark timber after just blowing a bugle from our setup in there. I'm 99 percent positive we called them to us given we were the only bugle in that whole drainage all morning...poor fellas knowing the brutal hike I know they now had to make going out. We found their truck later way the hell up top, probably 4 miles away from where we saw them deep down in there.
We hiked out and went back to camp. My wife and I packed up, left my buddy and his gear/tent with our UTV and we hitched up the trailer and headed North to focus on moose hunting in that new area. We got down there and camp setup by 4pm giving us time to go sit in that area for the evening.
We went to the trailhead where we were supposed to walk in and much to our surprise, there was two trucks parked there. I should point out that this was a surprise because up until this point, we haven't seen a single hunter anywhere near this area until now except those other moose hunters. This area is primarily winter range for big game animals so it didn't seem like there should be much for archery hunters. Therefore, the thought that crossed our mind was maybe this was another moose hunter and maybe they had downed a bull and it was his buddy there as well to help pack it out. We parked and continued as planned knowing that there were a few good bull moose in the area and even if it was a moose hunter killing a bull, there was still at least another one worth shooting back in there.
It was about a mile or so hike in of relatively easy terrain up this drainage and we hit our target glassing knob. Along the way we saw ample moose sign and our excitement was high that we would see moose tonight. We sit and glass for a few hours and finally, about 30 minutes before dark we spot a moose, 750 yards away. We both get our bino on the moose and after only being able to see him for about 5-10 seconds, we conquer that we spotted a good bull moose. The window to look at him was really short but we both could tell he had solid wide paddles and plenty of overall width. Unfortunately, with the limited light left and the fact that he was on the move and heading away from us, there was nothing we could do. On the hike out, we ran across 3 mule deer does getting a drink from one of the small beaver ponds we passed.
Once at the trailhead, one truck had left and the other was still there with a nice older gentleman named Mike sitting there waiting to get our hunting report. We talked with him for quite a while and he was very open sharing information about this drainage with us. He even pulled out his card viewer and showed us numerous pictures of moose on his trail camera including an absolute giant from a few weeks ago. This bull looked like an Alaskan-Yukon moose its horns were so impressive. Paddle widths were probably over 12" wide, just crazy mass. Tines out of the paddles were over 10" long and knowing that this bull was living in this drainage absolutely got my blood flowing with excitement!
The plan for today is to give these elk one final chance to play ball. Neither us nor my buddy nor any other hunters we talked to (btw met a father and son from Utah that were fun to chat with, if you guys happen to read this make sure to hit me up with a PM!) have really heard any bugles at all since Monday morning. Maybe this morning they will go at it again. All three of us come into this main drainage from a different way by walking directly up from the bottom about 3/4 of a mile and find a place to sit on the East side facing the dark timber to the west. Morning sun comes and all we spot is a small bull going up the ridge. I bugle and he turns and comes down a bit to us then heads back and up over the top of the ridge. We hear nothing. 830am hits and the sun is hitting the dark timber now. We head across and start doing some set ups with cow calling and a bugle or two mixed in as We work up the drainage. We go maybe a mile before running into a group of hunters that came down from the top. They looks so upset when we popped out of the dark timber after just blowing a bugle from our setup in there. I'm 99 percent positive we called them to us given we were the only bugle in that whole drainage all morning...poor fellas knowing the brutal hike I know they now had to make going out. We found their truck later way the hell up top, probably 4 miles away from where we saw them deep down in there.
We hiked out and went back to camp. My wife and I packed up, left my buddy and his gear/tent with our UTV and we hitched up the trailer and headed North to focus on moose hunting in that new area. We got down there and camp setup by 4pm giving us time to go sit in that area for the evening.
We went to the trailhead where we were supposed to walk in and much to our surprise, there was two trucks parked there. I should point out that this was a surprise because up until this point, we haven't seen a single hunter anywhere near this area until now except those other moose hunters. This area is primarily winter range for big game animals so it didn't seem like there should be much for archery hunters. Therefore, the thought that crossed our mind was maybe this was another moose hunter and maybe they had downed a bull and it was his buddy there as well to help pack it out. We parked and continued as planned knowing that there were a few good bull moose in the area and even if it was a moose hunter killing a bull, there was still at least another one worth shooting back in there.
It was about a mile or so hike in of relatively easy terrain up this drainage and we hit our target glassing knob. Along the way we saw ample moose sign and our excitement was high that we would see moose tonight. We sit and glass for a few hours and finally, about 30 minutes before dark we spot a moose, 750 yards away. We both get our bino on the moose and after only being able to see him for about 5-10 seconds, we conquer that we spotted a good bull moose. The window to look at him was really short but we both could tell he had solid wide paddles and plenty of overall width. Unfortunately, with the limited light left and the fact that he was on the move and heading away from us, there was nothing we could do. On the hike out, we ran across 3 mule deer does getting a drink from one of the small beaver ponds we passed.
Once at the trailhead, one truck had left and the other was still there with a nice older gentleman named Mike sitting there waiting to get our hunting report. We talked with him for quite a while and he was very open sharing information about this drainage with us. He even pulled out his card viewer and showed us numerous pictures of moose on his trail camera including an absolute giant from a few weeks ago. This bull looked like an Alaskan-Yukon moose its horns were so impressive. Paddle widths were probably over 12" wide, just crazy mass. Tines out of the paddles were over 10" long and knowing that this bull was living in this drainage absolutely got my blood flowing with excitement!
Last edited:
seeth07
Well-known member
Thursday:
We hiked back into the same spot nice and early and got there well before sunup. We waited patiently well until the sun was getting hot on our faces without spotting a single moose. We did have 3 muley bucks walk in front of us just 190 yards away. The biggest was a really nice 4x4, 150" class or so buck and just taunted us. Standing broadside numerous times, looking our way almost as if he knew we were there and couldn't shoot him yet!
We decided to go for a hike as deep into the drainage as we could. The trail we walked in on and then diverted from was a marked hiking trail on this state land and we could see that it continued almost 2 miles up the drainage. Along our hike, we continued to find moose sign as well as two good wallows that appeared to be used by all three species (moose, deer and elk). I set a trail camera on one of them to see if I could collect any first hand knowledge of what is currently in the area.
We were about 3/4 of the way up the drainage along this trail when we stopped for a snack break. While sitting down we heard ahead of us a little bit of noise (branches moving/maybe some even breaking) and we just dismissed it as likely a red squirrel of which there seems to be one every 10 feet in this area. We leave our rest area and only a couple footsteps into our continued hike we hear a noise that is awkward but similar to a cow moose. We hear it again...and again. Its not a cow mating moan but certainly sounds like its coming from a moose. I get the rifle off my pack, load a round and we start very carefully stalking forward down the trail. About 50 yards later down the trail, we can tell the sound has to be coming from less than 100 yards in front of us but with the thick short aspens and choke cherry brush (at least I think that's what you call it) we can only see maybe 20-25 yards in front of us. We creep forward and all of a sudden a calf moose gets up, 15 yards away and slowly trots off toward the noise. We continue pursuit in case there is a bull nearby but never get a glimpse of them again.
A bit further and we reach the end of the trail and there are a couple of small open grassy meadows (maybe 50 yards across each). These grassy meadows are covered in moose sign including beds and scrapes (interesting thing is I actually didn't know that bull moose made scraps but these were most definitely made by bull moose as there is no mistaking a moose hoof from a bull and the branches destroyed around these scraps can only be made by something with some impressive antlers and strength).
From this point we made a loop and hiked our way on out without much more excitement other than continuing to find more moose sign and a potential really good spot to glass from the next morning.
Back at camp now, it was 1pm or so and for the first time we decided to rest up a bit and take a nap. 3 hours later we woke up and headed back to the same spot from the morning. Sooner or later we should spot some moose in that area right? Nope, we sit all evening and never catch a single moose there, just one muley doe. I guess the 75-80 degree midday heat has the moose pretty well bedded up most of the day.
We hiked back into the same spot nice and early and got there well before sunup. We waited patiently well until the sun was getting hot on our faces without spotting a single moose. We did have 3 muley bucks walk in front of us just 190 yards away. The biggest was a really nice 4x4, 150" class or so buck and just taunted us. Standing broadside numerous times, looking our way almost as if he knew we were there and couldn't shoot him yet!
We decided to go for a hike as deep into the drainage as we could. The trail we walked in on and then diverted from was a marked hiking trail on this state land and we could see that it continued almost 2 miles up the drainage. Along our hike, we continued to find moose sign as well as two good wallows that appeared to be used by all three species (moose, deer and elk). I set a trail camera on one of them to see if I could collect any first hand knowledge of what is currently in the area.
We were about 3/4 of the way up the drainage along this trail when we stopped for a snack break. While sitting down we heard ahead of us a little bit of noise (branches moving/maybe some even breaking) and we just dismissed it as likely a red squirrel of which there seems to be one every 10 feet in this area. We leave our rest area and only a couple footsteps into our continued hike we hear a noise that is awkward but similar to a cow moose. We hear it again...and again. Its not a cow mating moan but certainly sounds like its coming from a moose. I get the rifle off my pack, load a round and we start very carefully stalking forward down the trail. About 50 yards later down the trail, we can tell the sound has to be coming from less than 100 yards in front of us but with the thick short aspens and choke cherry brush (at least I think that's what you call it) we can only see maybe 20-25 yards in front of us. We creep forward and all of a sudden a calf moose gets up, 15 yards away and slowly trots off toward the noise. We continue pursuit in case there is a bull nearby but never get a glimpse of them again.
A bit further and we reach the end of the trail and there are a couple of small open grassy meadows (maybe 50 yards across each). These grassy meadows are covered in moose sign including beds and scrapes (interesting thing is I actually didn't know that bull moose made scraps but these were most definitely made by bull moose as there is no mistaking a moose hoof from a bull and the branches destroyed around these scraps can only be made by something with some impressive antlers and strength).
From this point we made a loop and hiked our way on out without much more excitement other than continuing to find more moose sign and a potential really good spot to glass from the next morning.
Back at camp now, it was 1pm or so and for the first time we decided to rest up a bit and take a nap. 3 hours later we woke up and headed back to the same spot from the morning. Sooner or later we should spot some moose in that area right? Nope, we sit all evening and never catch a single moose there, just one muley doe. I guess the 75-80 degree midday heat has the moose pretty well bedded up most of the day.
TheJason
Well-known member
- Joined
- Oct 21, 2024
- Messages
- 18,609
Hopefully you took pictures of the plates and turned those guys in?
