Elkhunter24
Well-known member
Good luck!
Wy unit 40-9
- Thread starter Jacack
- Start date
wyoelkfan15
Well-known member
Good luck! I have been seeing elk at least twice a week up there for the last month. Last week they were thick. PM if you have any questions.
NYyotekiller
Well-known member
Good luck on your hunt!
Are you down in FL? Our guys have it going up the east coast, but they are saying it should get blown apart when it goes through the Dominican.
Yes southwest fl, hoping it gets broken apart or stays way to the east. Hard enough to get the wife to not be pissed when I leave for 3weeks but telling her to be prepared for a possible hurricane that may or may not be on the way as I walk out the door is pushing it. we stayed for irma and had no power for 3 weeks and no cell service for about two and that changed her thinking
I am also a boat captain here for a wealthy guy so I have to move the boat if needed
I am also a boat captain here for a wealthy guy so I have to move the boat if needed
Roger that. Smart move. I went through Katrina. I evacuated but had work entry passes to be back into the city right after the storm passed. It was wild for a few days. I’m in the marine biz as well and we were pushing the get the mighty miss opened back up for traffic. I will PM you if I get anything noteworthy from our weather team. We have a global weather briefing each day at 8 a.m. one of the meteorologists is a close friend so I ask him about temps and forecasts in SK and MT for up coming hunting trips
Well this blows, sitting in a hotel in Sioux falls SD watching this storm trying to figure out where it's headed. Think I will be paying a ton of money to leave my truck here at a old navy buddies place that's not to far and fly back to Florida to wait it out. Hard to decide when they have the entire state in the path.
I’m really hoping to see a nice bull in this thread. I’m gunning for a 38-9 tag as you mentioned previously. I hope the hurricane misses your place, I really do. But what can you actually do, if everything is prepped and ready why not go hunting. I fully understand the dog house you could be in. We have insurance for a reason. By the looks of it the hurricanes come more often than good elk tags. You’ll get no judgement either way from me, I just want to see an elk from the bighorns. Good luck man, I hope everything works out and the storm misses.
Zach
Zach
I hear ya. Good luck with your decision. I don’t envy you
Zach
Western Traveler1
Well-known member
Life of a mariner, when given the chance, Family First, but this is coming from one that was gone 6 months a year...You will still have time to go stick one.
ignorethefringes
Well-known member
- Joined
- Sep 19, 2016
- Messages
- 3,062
I have to agree with the above. Family first. Hopefully you'll be back on the road towards hunting quickly.
I can't help but wonder WWBFD? @Big Fin
I can't help but wonder WWBFD? @Big Fin
cmbbulldog
Active member
- Joined
- Aug 24, 2017
- Messages
- 117
Good Luck!
gutshootem
Active member
- Joined
- Nov 19, 2014
- Messages
- 162
In for the bull pics. Good luck today.
How'd your hunt turn out? Hope all was ok back home.
been reluctant to post as its still stings a bit.
I arrived in the unit one day before season opened and spent the day scouting, pretty uneventful found some old sign in the first two areas i planned to hunt but nothing great.
opening day i hiked into a area i hadn't scouted and it turned out to be a bust also, some sign but again all very old. no elk spotted or heard all day.
day two and three was pretty much the same as day one.,
i was surprised to see so many people in the unit with only 100 tags and the majority where using atvs anywhere they could get them. seriously if felt like there where 500 people in the unit.
day 4 i moved to another part of the unit and walked in to a meadow in the dark and as light came up there where 5-6 bulls in it one very nice one and a few 4x5 5x5 and i spike if i remember correctly, no way to get ahead of them so i watched where they exited the meadow and went to look around, found where they went up the ridge and worked my way up there, lots of fresh sign. there was a smaller meadow up on top so i worked my way there. glassed out in the meadow and see a guy standing over a dead elk. went to talk to him and he had shot it the night before, he was alone so i offered to help him and after a few times he took me up and we got it broke down and he gave me some areas to look around. this area looked great with tons of rubs and sign and 4 wallows over a 1/4 mile area. figured i was on them at this point. still hadn't heard a single bugle other than some really bad callers, i am not very good and some of what i heard was pretty bad. i found a area i liked and stayed there until dark and had a 5x5 come by at about 45 yards and as i was debating the wind shifted a bit and he got nervous and bolted
day 5 and 6 i stayed in the same area and hunted around the wallows and again just heard nothing, did see a group of bulls again a few hundred yards off in a meadow, all bulls and just feeding together , no sign of any rutting or any cows at this point.
the next week gets confusing but long of it was more of the same, not much happening and very few elk around. I did move again and did have encounters with some bulls but they just had no interest in calling or raking, a few times i was within 60 or 70 yards and would cow call and they would look my way then just walk off or sometimes run the other way. I have never seen elk act like these elk did. I took a ride one day and saw a nice bull off the side of the road with some cows up a hill side, i stopped and grabbed my binos to look closer and they took of running and these elk where easily 1000 yards away but they acted like they had been harassed all year.
one rainy night i ran into a few guys from Minnesota and was able to get a ride back to my rig rather than the walk in the rain and ended up talking with them a few times while i was there and had some coffee and a sandwich at thier camp ( nice guys they offered to help me pack one out if i got one) and they said they where having the same thing as me. wish i had gotten there info before i left.
sept 11th i went to town after dark and got a room with snow and heavy rain predicted overnight and then next day, i needed to get a few things and recharge a bit .
went back up the 12th i think and went back where i had started and bumped a group of bulls again, think there where 6 total and all of them where decent with one big 6x7. again same thing no interest in calling or raking, i have still not heard a single bugle at this point, not even in the dark. was pretty frustrated at this time as i think i had covered about 70 miles by this time and god knows how much vertical ( this unit is a steep bitch with crazy amounts of blow down ) thinking the cold would get them going i hunted two more days with about the same results.
the moon was huge and that wasn't helping any so i decided to head to my buddies in south dakota on the 14th and leave my truck and gear and fly home and come back the last 5 days of the season.
flew back on the 26th and hunted hard and had some bugling finally but still slow to me with them going quiet right after sun up and if you did find one they just weren't aggressive at all. I have killed my share of elk in a few states and this was the first time i hunted the bighorns and i was humbled to say the least, the elk i encountered where playing by other rules and would just simply leave in a hurry if you tried to get aggressive
all and all i did pass on two small bulls towards the end but i was ok with it at that point. that said its stings to think i burned 9 points on that unit. I had a good time for the most part and it sure is a pretty area , covered 90 something miles total and lost about 12lbs, my wife got mad as usual and i told her the same thing i always do, i wont stay as long next year, god i hate to lie to her.
if the guys from Minnesota are on here shoot me a pm, wondering if you ended up filling your tag?
this was the most expensive ellk hunt to come home with the same amount of elk meat i left with. drove over 5k miles and flew back once and still had to eat that tag.
lots to plan for next year
Jared
I arrived in the unit one day before season opened and spent the day scouting, pretty uneventful found some old sign in the first two areas i planned to hunt but nothing great.
opening day i hiked into a area i hadn't scouted and it turned out to be a bust also, some sign but again all very old. no elk spotted or heard all day.
day two and three was pretty much the same as day one.,
i was surprised to see so many people in the unit with only 100 tags and the majority where using atvs anywhere they could get them. seriously if felt like there where 500 people in the unit.
day 4 i moved to another part of the unit and walked in to a meadow in the dark and as light came up there where 5-6 bulls in it one very nice one and a few 4x5 5x5 and i spike if i remember correctly, no way to get ahead of them so i watched where they exited the meadow and went to look around, found where they went up the ridge and worked my way up there, lots of fresh sign. there was a smaller meadow up on top so i worked my way there. glassed out in the meadow and see a guy standing over a dead elk. went to talk to him and he had shot it the night before, he was alone so i offered to help him and after a few times he took me up and we got it broke down and he gave me some areas to look around. this area looked great with tons of rubs and sign and 4 wallows over a 1/4 mile area. figured i was on them at this point. still hadn't heard a single bugle other than some really bad callers, i am not very good and some of what i heard was pretty bad. i found a area i liked and stayed there until dark and had a 5x5 come by at about 45 yards and as i was debating the wind shifted a bit and he got nervous and bolted
day 5 and 6 i stayed in the same area and hunted around the wallows and again just heard nothing, did see a group of bulls again a few hundred yards off in a meadow, all bulls and just feeding together , no sign of any rutting or any cows at this point.
the next week gets confusing but long of it was more of the same, not much happening and very few elk around. I did move again and did have encounters with some bulls but they just had no interest in calling or raking, a few times i was within 60 or 70 yards and would cow call and they would look my way then just walk off or sometimes run the other way. I have never seen elk act like these elk did. I took a ride one day and saw a nice bull off the side of the road with some cows up a hill side, i stopped and grabbed my binos to look closer and they took of running and these elk where easily 1000 yards away but they acted like they had been harassed all year.
one rainy night i ran into a few guys from Minnesota and was able to get a ride back to my rig rather than the walk in the rain and ended up talking with them a few times while i was there and had some coffee and a sandwich at thier camp ( nice guys they offered to help me pack one out if i got one) and they said they where having the same thing as me. wish i had gotten there info before i left.
sept 11th i went to town after dark and got a room with snow and heavy rain predicted overnight and then next day, i needed to get a few things and recharge a bit .
went back up the 12th i think and went back where i had started and bumped a group of bulls again, think there where 6 total and all of them where decent with one big 6x7. again same thing no interest in calling or raking, i have still not heard a single bugle at this point, not even in the dark. was pretty frustrated at this time as i think i had covered about 70 miles by this time and god knows how much vertical ( this unit is a steep bitch with crazy amounts of blow down ) thinking the cold would get them going i hunted two more days with about the same results.
the moon was huge and that wasn't helping any so i decided to head to my buddies in south dakota on the 14th and leave my truck and gear and fly home and come back the last 5 days of the season.
flew back on the 26th and hunted hard and had some bugling finally but still slow to me with them going quiet right after sun up and if you did find one they just weren't aggressive at all. I have killed my share of elk in a few states and this was the first time i hunted the bighorns and i was humbled to say the least, the elk i encountered where playing by other rules and would just simply leave in a hurry if you tried to get aggressive
all and all i did pass on two small bulls towards the end but i was ok with it at that point. that said its stings to think i burned 9 points on that unit. I had a good time for the most part and it sure is a pretty area , covered 90 something miles total and lost about 12lbs, my wife got mad as usual and i told her the same thing i always do, i wont stay as long next year, god i hate to lie to her.
if the guys from Minnesota are on here shoot me a pm, wondering if you ended up filling your tag?
this was the most expensive ellk hunt to come home with the same amount of elk meat i left with. drove over 5k miles and flew back once and still had to eat that tag.
lots to plan for next year
Jared
Tough break, that’s huntin though. Thanks for the update.
Seems like traffic, people and pressure is a common denominator in the big horn units. I know that was a factor when I was there, if will.think twice before ever drawing another tag there. Also I agree, units with a type 9 tag followed buy archery hunting on general tag with stamp arrangements shit show.
