I wasn't planning on elk hunting this weekend until literally last Wednesday. I was going to hunt deer closer to home, but I figured this weekend would be a good scouting trip for later this month. Thursday night I threw my pack together and got everything I needed set aside so I could grab and go after work.
I skipped out of the office early, and was able to make it to the mountain with enough time to setup my shelter and do some glassing before sunset.
The view from my shelter was pretty solid.
I only saw one elk (a young 5x5) Friday night, but he snuck past me at 50yds without giving me a good shot. I didn't hear any bugles or other elk sounds. There was absolutely zero wind, which made it eerily quiet. There weren't any bugs or birds making sounds either. With the almost full moon on top of the silence, it was one of the strangest nights I've ever slept outside.
I was up and at it around 5am, and I got to the spot I wanted to glass from 30 minutes before shooting light. I found several groups of elk, and tried making my way to the closest herd before the thermals switched. There was almost zero wind and you could hear a church mouse; moving in close was pretty much impossible. I made it to within 200yds before the elk showed me how important cardio is. They moved across the valley faster than I'd ever be able to, and they were gone.
Since it was so quiet I figured my best chance of killing something would be to sit in a pinch point that had 2 wallows and several trails skirting the edge of the meadow. It was also pretty warm, so you never know when something will come down to water.
Off to the right, and tucked away from the large meadow in the pic, was a nice thick patch of grass which had a lot of elk tracks and droppings in it. The wind was perfect for anything that would come into the large meadow or the opening to my right. So I nestled myself between 3 large spruces and got comfortable.
Sitting in one spot is not my favorite thing to do, so I spent the time playing with different settings on my camera. Around noon, while I was taking some long exposure shots of the flowing water next to me, a large bull with a split g3 came out on the other side of the meadow. He was the biggest bull I had on trail camera, and he looked a lot bigger in person. He was too far for a shot, and there was no way to sneak closer.
By the time I put my binos back in the harness, picked up the camera, realized after pressing the shutter I had the exposure set WAY too long, the bull was gone. He slurped some water, laid down in the wallow for a few seconds then left. I missed the shot with my camera. Rookie move.
Other than seeing the big bull, the day as a whole was utterly boring. The only sounds were the occasional squirrel dropping a pine cone or barking at me. I split my time between napping and snapping pics of everything around me.
I was happy to be in the woods. No emails to answer, no technology to distract me (other than my camera), and no sign of other people. I was alone with my thoughts, and enjoying the solitude. It was the most peaceful 8 hrs of my life....
Until I heard a branch break on the other side of the creek, and saw an antler through the trees.
Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
