- Thread Starter
- #81
OP
sn.outdoors
WKR
Luck was not on my side today.
The morning started out promising, as I awoke to a light layer of frost on the ground and the wind was steady out of the north. Which was perfect for where I wanted to be for the morning sit. I heard a bugle in the direction I was going to hunt, which made it even better.
As I was almost to the spot, I heard a quiet bugle and some twigs and branches breaking just up the hill from me. "Perfect," I thought. I was sure they would walk down the same trail we watched them use before, but, like every other time here in this god forsaken place, the elk had other plans.
It just so happened that their other plans were to hit a wallow 150 yards away and out of sight from me.
Once the winds started to get squirrelly, I decided to get out of there before I spooked everything. I wanted to check out a wallow near a bedding area we'd seen the last time we were here. The wind was perfect and consistent to walk into the spot (something that has never happened in my time here).
At 1130 I had about 500 yards to go to get to the wallow when a strong elk stink hit me. I decided to do some quiet, but long cow calls. A bull responded with a low and quiet bugle after my second call. He was close! I called again and he responded again, still very quiet.
After 2ish minutes of me breaking a few small twigs and scratching the ground, I heard him stand up. He let out a full bugle, and raked a tree. I moved a little closer, he bugled again, and started moving toward me.
I finally saw him when he was 100yds away. He was a big bull; 6x6, had great mass, dark horns, and long tines. He was everything an elk hunter dreams about.
I kept lightly cow calling, and he kept bugling. I thought it was a slam dunk. But..... Some other hunter decided he wanted in on the action and started blowing his bugle tube. He sounded terrible, and was not in a good position with the wind. The bull bugled back, but chuckled and started nudging his 4 cows (he might have had more, but I could only see four of them.)
As I heard the hunter crashing in on the bull, I watched as the elk made their way to the top of the ridge and out of my life.
The other hunter, who was higher on the ridge, bugled frantically and chased after them. The wind was at his back. It couldn't have gone any worse. It was a real head scratcher.
So I hiked out of there and back to spike meadow for the remainder of the afternoon. The only thing I heard was a pair of wolves howling far off in the distance.
As soon as I zipped the door closed on my tent, the cows and calves started mewing all around me. I'm currently listening to wolves howling way far away, and elk bugling and mewing, and making all kinds of ruckus.... Where the heck were they when the sun was up?
The weather is suppose to be crappy tomorrow, so hopefully the hunting is good.
"Never follow your passion, but always bring it with you." ~Mike Rowe
The morning started out promising, as I awoke to a light layer of frost on the ground and the wind was steady out of the north. Which was perfect for where I wanted to be for the morning sit. I heard a bugle in the direction I was going to hunt, which made it even better.
As I was almost to the spot, I heard a quiet bugle and some twigs and branches breaking just up the hill from me. "Perfect," I thought. I was sure they would walk down the same trail we watched them use before, but, like every other time here in this god forsaken place, the elk had other plans.
It just so happened that their other plans were to hit a wallow 150 yards away and out of sight from me.
Once the winds started to get squirrelly, I decided to get out of there before I spooked everything. I wanted to check out a wallow near a bedding area we'd seen the last time we were here. The wind was perfect and consistent to walk into the spot (something that has never happened in my time here).
At 1130 I had about 500 yards to go to get to the wallow when a strong elk stink hit me. I decided to do some quiet, but long cow calls. A bull responded with a low and quiet bugle after my second call. He was close! I called again and he responded again, still very quiet.
After 2ish minutes of me breaking a few small twigs and scratching the ground, I heard him stand up. He let out a full bugle, and raked a tree. I moved a little closer, he bugled again, and started moving toward me.
I finally saw him when he was 100yds away. He was a big bull; 6x6, had great mass, dark horns, and long tines. He was everything an elk hunter dreams about.
I kept lightly cow calling, and he kept bugling. I thought it was a slam dunk. But..... Some other hunter decided he wanted in on the action and started blowing his bugle tube. He sounded terrible, and was not in a good position with the wind. The bull bugled back, but chuckled and started nudging his 4 cows (he might have had more, but I could only see four of them.)
As I heard the hunter crashing in on the bull, I watched as the elk made their way to the top of the ridge and out of my life.
The other hunter, who was higher on the ridge, bugled frantically and chased after them. The wind was at his back. It couldn't have gone any worse. It was a real head scratcher.
So I hiked out of there and back to spike meadow for the remainder of the afternoon. The only thing I heard was a pair of wolves howling far off in the distance.
As soon as I zipped the door closed on my tent, the cows and calves started mewing all around me. I'm currently listening to wolves howling way far away, and elk bugling and mewing, and making all kinds of ruckus.... Where the heck were they when the sun was up?
The weather is suppose to be crappy tomorrow, so hopefully the hunting is good.
"Never follow your passion, but always bring it with you." ~Mike Rowe
