Spikes and Rags or we Pa-louse
- Thread starter seeth07
- Start date
BAKPAKR
Well-known member
Is that the “monster” muley?
seeth07
Well-known member
Lol nope, he didn't come back out. Sat on him twice more and only saw his does. Still trying
Pahoundsman
Well-known member
Waiting patiently.
jeremy.b
Well-known member
He gets another day and the memes will have to start...
BackofBeyond
Well-known member
I know there’s a non-neck bearded bull out there that some one is slow playing…
It’ll for sure break 300”.
jeremy.b
Well-known member
seeth07
Well-known member
Last day, can't refind that buck, elk are here but has been tough with not a good or as many encounters as last weekend. One more sit this morning and tonight before calling it.
Still loving every minute, even in the snow yesterday. Such a cool place to be in October.
Still loving every minute, even in the snow yesterday. Such a cool place to be in October.
seeth07
Well-known member
We are on our way home. Just past Billings, we left last night.
So rather than do a full day by day hunt story, I'm just going to do a general recap. Each hunting day was very similar and we were pretty stubborn just hunting the same general area (why leave elk to find elk right?). Would make for a boring day by day.
My cousin (second, in his mid 50s) moved out to this area a little over a decade ago and all he knew was whitetail tactics. Find good trails, put up a trail cam and sit long days waiting for something to show up. It has worked out well for him shooting a few good whitetails but he has never seen an elk in the fall while on public land. He has been asking me to come out and visit and hunt with him for awhile and last December I finally agreed to make the trip and visit.
All of that preamble to paint the picture that my expectations of this being a great hunt (elk wise) was extremely low. The region he is in is one of the last ones remaining during the NR December cap sale and everything you read online says it's an extremely difficult public land hunt and most success comes on private on the southern unit of the tag group.
I did not get any honey holes from anyone and although I got a few pointers from some generous people, it's such thick country that I knew it would hunt "big" in that you can't exactly check off spots by glassing. Work heavily went into reviewing topo maps and logging activity and I directed my cousin to some scouting to do over the summer. He got a few trips in but when he shared his locations of where he put up a few cameras, it became obvious that WI hiking was still in his blood as they weren't very far from a road.
He did get some photos of a few elk but every one at night. This didn't provide us with much of a preseason scouting advantage like I thought it would. So I asked him to drive the roads in the main area I felt I wanted to focus on and start talking with archery hunters in Sept. See what Intel they would share with a local that wasn't hunting. That didn't work out too well because everyone he talked to said they hadn't even seen an elk.
So needless to say, expectations were low. I kept joking to my two buddies coming along that I would be happy on this trip if one of the two any deer tags we had got filled and I at least saw an elk. Camp spot was selected with help from my cousin and then off we went with basically plan A thru D and my two buddies were going to hunt together with their own hunt ideas and plans.
Well Plan A very first day, right at first light and my wife and I bumped a small group of elk. Didn't see them but there was elk here and based on the amount of sign we saw, pretty steady use and/or a lot of them. About 30 minutes later and further up the ridge, we gently bumped another group that sent them in two directions and I was able to get two elk in my scope but no verification of a bull could be made. First day in and my expectations were met.
We never left plan A the entire trip. My cousin, wife and I hunted that area and got to learn it really well - knew exactly where they generally came from in the morning to head to their bedding area and found the feeding area they would go into every night from bedding. Had this area not been so thick with 50 yard shots being about the max, this would have been a slam dunk. However, when you can only cover a 100 yard area and the elk are generally not making any noise, it wasn't the case.
Sunday night my wife was in the feeding area and a group worked their way right past her at 20 yards and she got her bull. He ran to the otv trail, ran down the trail and then died 80 yards off of it. With every chain, rope and even a few ratchet straps we were able to just reach him to winch him back up and then get him winched into the sxs.
Every single day we at least heard elk while sitting. You can hear them walk through as it's extremely noisy in these thick woods but seeing them is a whole different story. Even when you do it's extremely difficult to verify it's a bull and find the correct body to shoot at in the group. I had elk in my scope a total of 3 times and never felt I could pull the trigger.
So rather than do a full day by day hunt story, I'm just going to do a general recap. Each hunting day was very similar and we were pretty stubborn just hunting the same general area (why leave elk to find elk right?). Would make for a boring day by day.
My cousin (second, in his mid 50s) moved out to this area a little over a decade ago and all he knew was whitetail tactics. Find good trails, put up a trail cam and sit long days waiting for something to show up. It has worked out well for him shooting a few good whitetails but he has never seen an elk in the fall while on public land. He has been asking me to come out and visit and hunt with him for awhile and last December I finally agreed to make the trip and visit.
All of that preamble to paint the picture that my expectations of this being a great hunt (elk wise) was extremely low. The region he is in is one of the last ones remaining during the NR December cap sale and everything you read online says it's an extremely difficult public land hunt and most success comes on private on the southern unit of the tag group.
I did not get any honey holes from anyone and although I got a few pointers from some generous people, it's such thick country that I knew it would hunt "big" in that you can't exactly check off spots by glassing. Work heavily went into reviewing topo maps and logging activity and I directed my cousin to some scouting to do over the summer. He got a few trips in but when he shared his locations of where he put up a few cameras, it became obvious that WI hiking was still in his blood as they weren't very far from a road.
He did get some photos of a few elk but every one at night. This didn't provide us with much of a preseason scouting advantage like I thought it would. So I asked him to drive the roads in the main area I felt I wanted to focus on and start talking with archery hunters in Sept. See what Intel they would share with a local that wasn't hunting. That didn't work out too well because everyone he talked to said they hadn't even seen an elk.
So needless to say, expectations were low. I kept joking to my two buddies coming along that I would be happy on this trip if one of the two any deer tags we had got filled and I at least saw an elk. Camp spot was selected with help from my cousin and then off we went with basically plan A thru D and my two buddies were going to hunt together with their own hunt ideas and plans.
Well Plan A very first day, right at first light and my wife and I bumped a small group of elk. Didn't see them but there was elk here and based on the amount of sign we saw, pretty steady use and/or a lot of them. About 30 minutes later and further up the ridge, we gently bumped another group that sent them in two directions and I was able to get two elk in my scope but no verification of a bull could be made. First day in and my expectations were met.
We never left plan A the entire trip. My cousin, wife and I hunted that area and got to learn it really well - knew exactly where they generally came from in the morning to head to their bedding area and found the feeding area they would go into every night from bedding. Had this area not been so thick with 50 yard shots being about the max, this would have been a slam dunk. However, when you can only cover a 100 yard area and the elk are generally not making any noise, it wasn't the case.
Sunday night my wife was in the feeding area and a group worked their way right past her at 20 yards and she got her bull. He ran to the otv trail, ran down the trail and then died 80 yards off of it. With every chain, rope and even a few ratchet straps we were able to just reach him to winch him back up and then get him winched into the sxs.
Every single day we at least heard elk while sitting. You can hear them walk through as it's extremely noisy in these thick woods but seeing them is a whole different story. Even when you do it's extremely difficult to verify it's a bull and find the correct body to shoot at in the group. I had elk in my scope a total of 3 times and never felt I could pull the trigger.
seeth07
Well-known member
A few observations:
The grouse were elusive. Extremely easy to spook and I was 0 for 15 in that I flushed 15 grouse without getting a chance to shoot one.
People are lazy. The lower elevations have way more timber cuts as they are owned by the timber companies and state land. Elevation and hiking is way easier due to all the logging roads. Hunting camps and pressure are probably around triple that of up on top in the national forest. My buddies wasted three days down there hunting with the masses driving roads and glassing clear cuts. They never saw or heard an elk.
Whereas where we were hunting, it's was thick, steep and mostly far from roads. The road in the bottom was .75 mile as the crow flies from the core area and elk sign didn't really start until .25 in and didn't get great until 1/2 mile up. It was almost 2000 feet of elevation to get to the top.
There was an OTV trail at the top and there was a spur that went down right to the top of the feeding area we found. This spur was not driven by anyone due to the thick cover and short distance. We didn't even drive and chose to just hike down it to keep in quiet near where the elk were.
Thermals were not the same I was used to. Thick cover and small tempature swings on most days made the the winds really swirl with the prevailing wind.
Not a single person we talked to had seen an elk. Maybe it's because over half the people were from Washington and Washington hunters aren't good at it?
If success is measured by the times had and memories made with good people than this trip is a 10 out of a 10. Even as just purely based on the hunt, we got an elk and had many opportunities so it's still scoring pretty high.
Winching an elk to the trail was a piece of cake for my sxs. I didn't actually think it would work out so slick. I already have 1000 feet of rope in my Amazon cart and a few pulleys as well. I'm done packing anything within 300 yards of a road.
The grouse were elusive. Extremely easy to spook and I was 0 for 15 in that I flushed 15 grouse without getting a chance to shoot one.
People are lazy. The lower elevations have way more timber cuts as they are owned by the timber companies and state land. Elevation and hiking is way easier due to all the logging roads. Hunting camps and pressure are probably around triple that of up on top in the national forest. My buddies wasted three days down there hunting with the masses driving roads and glassing clear cuts. They never saw or heard an elk.
Whereas where we were hunting, it's was thick, steep and mostly far from roads. The road in the bottom was .75 mile as the crow flies from the core area and elk sign didn't really start until .25 in and didn't get great until 1/2 mile up. It was almost 2000 feet of elevation to get to the top.
There was an OTV trail at the top and there was a spur that went down right to the top of the feeding area we found. This spur was not driven by anyone due to the thick cover and short distance. We didn't even drive and chose to just hike down it to keep in quiet near where the elk were.
Thermals were not the same I was used to. Thick cover and small tempature swings on most days made the the winds really swirl with the prevailing wind.
Not a single person we talked to had seen an elk. Maybe it's because over half the people were from Washington and Washington hunters aren't good at it?
If success is measured by the times had and memories made with good people than this trip is a 10 out of a 10. Even as just purely based on the hunt, we got an elk and had many opportunities so it's still scoring pretty high.
Winching an elk to the trail was a piece of cake for my sxs. I didn't actually think it would work out so slick. I already have 1000 feet of rope in my Amazon cart and a few pulleys as well. I'm done packing anything within 300 yards of a road.
jeremy.b
Well-known member
Sweet deal, you guys picked up some awesome experience that'll pay off next time your cousin decides to go chase them.
It's pretty amazing how easy it is to get away from people in the heavily populated units where there are few options for glassing.
Once elk are found in spots that give them what they need, it's all about being smart and waiting for the opportunity to present itself.
It's pretty amazing how easy it is to get away from people in the heavily populated units where there are few options for glassing.
Once elk are found in spots that give them what they need, it's all about being smart and waiting for the opportunity to present itself.
seeth07
Well-known member
Elk hunt camp - 2024
44hunter45
Well-known member
Congrats!
I keep hearing about winching you elk into the truck. I hope to someday.
That is a shooter bull here for sure.
You summed up the unit pretty well. Go deep to get lucky. I do know some guys who use WT tactics well on elk. Tree stands can be effective but you have to get place them specifically for a phase of the hunt. Pre-rut, Rut, Post rut, etc
Even with the ATV trail system, most hunters won’t get more than a couple hundred yards deep.
I keep hearing about winching you elk into the truck. I hope to someday.
That is a shooter bull here for sure.
You summed up the unit pretty well. Go deep to get lucky. I do know some guys who use WT tactics well on elk. Tree stands can be effective but you have to get place them specifically for a phase of the hunt. Pre-rut, Rut, Post rut, etc
Even with the ATV trail system, most hunters won’t get more than a couple hundred yards deep.
