ebonnette0118
WKR
This was my 4th year elk hunting and my buddy's 2nd year. I've been to Idaho twice and Colorado twice. Gotten into elk both times in Colorado, but never even seen an elk in Idaho.
We drove 24 hours straight from Ohio. Got to the trailhead and were bummed to see A LOT of trucks. We had our plan and decided to stick with it. Slept in the truck that night and planned to get up a few hours before sunrise to head up the mountain.
Middle of the night my buddy gets up to take a leak and wakes me up. "Dude there are 2 bulls screaming right above us." We listen for a bit and go back to sleep. Definitely got the blood pumping.
Wake up at about 4AM and they are still hard at it. We throw our packs on and head up the mountain. Made a couple set ups on them, but they eventually shut up. The bulls led us a completely different direction than where we planned on setting up camp and were about 1,000' lower than we anticipated.
We waited them out for a while and didn't hear anymore bugles, so decided to head to our Plan A camp area and get set up. We had been in this same area 2 years ago and got into the elk from 11,500' to 11,800', so figured we would get up to that elevation again.
We had a long walk and a lot of elevation ahead of us so we started on our way. Knocked a good bit out by 10AM and I was getting hungry so I stopped to grab a bite. My buddy wasn't impressed and thought we shouldn't be stopping so early to eat, but I was needing some refueling after being up for 40+ hours and getting a few hours of restless "sleep" in the truck.
Wouldn't you know it, about 5 minutes after stopping a bull bugled right below us, maybe 300 yards away. My buddy ripped one at him and he answered immediately. We waited a few minutes and bugled again and he never said a word. Sat there another half hour or so and there was no sight nor sound of him. We weren't sure what to do next...I grabbed a stick and told him to rip another bugle off after I raked a tree.
This is the first time I've ever done this, so I was just winging it. I broke a couple dead limbs off a tree and started raking the side of the tree aggressively. My buddy ripped a bugle off and he answered right back and was way closer. He grabbed his bow and moved ahead about 20 yards and I stayed back.
He bugled 2 or 3 more times with the chuckles at the end and you could tell he was closer each time. Within a few minutes, I got eyes on him in a tiny opening at 70 yards. He started raking a 4" spruce and absolutely destroyed it! My buddy obviously can't see him cause he keeps glancing back at me. I whisper "I see him", then "shooter".
After a few minutes of this, he starts on a B line right to us. Wind is perfect, blowing straight up the hill. He gets to 40 yards and cuts to his right and gets behind a huge boulder. We lose sight of him for a couple minutes. At this point, I have my bow in hand because if he pops out on the left side of the boulder, I will have the shot. All of a sudden he comes out from behind the boulder the same way he went behind it (right side) and is heading straight at us.
I am in awe and it seemed like a dream. Just couldn't believe it was actually happening! He continues straight at us and my buddy draws. He starts to angle to the left and I can see my buddy won't be able to swing his bow due the tree right in front of him, so I get ready. Just as soon as I do, the bull cuts back to the right and my buddy is still at full draw. He is smack dab in the middle of my line of sight to the bull and I see him swinging his bow, following the bull and then THWACK. We watch the bull run about 80 yards out of sight and then meet each other with a fist bump and brotherly hug. He says "we just shot an elk!!". He is shaking so bad he couldn't even send a text out on his InReach. It was a moment of pure exhilaration and utter happiness.
We wait 1.5 hours or so and start tracking. No blood at all. He was getting pretty bummed about that but the thick spruce needles on the ground allowed us to follow his tracks somewhat. Found one tiny speck of blood about 150 yards in. The tracks led us to a cove with some big boulders. We pretty much lost the tracks and were scouring the ground for any sign when I looked up and saw about 12" of tine sticking above a rock. I said "I see your bull man!" He looked and couldn't see the tine and didn't believe me. I grabbed him by the shoulder and jerked him over into my line of sight and he took off for the bull. Was an awesome moment!
The bull went about 250 yards. We recapped the events, took some pictures and started quartering our first elk. Spent the rest of the day and the entire next day packing him off the mountain. What a humbling experience. Loved every minute of it though!
Spent the next several days trying to fill my tag. Called a silent bull into 60 yards, but no shot opportunity. Didn't hear anymore bugles, so we hiked up high to check for sign where we hunted a couple years ago and to catch a few trout.
What we learned from this trip: elk are where they are. 2 years prior we hunted them the same time period 1,000' higher. Also, a 3rd guy would come in handy for packouts!
Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk
We drove 24 hours straight from Ohio. Got to the trailhead and were bummed to see A LOT of trucks. We had our plan and decided to stick with it. Slept in the truck that night and planned to get up a few hours before sunrise to head up the mountain.
Middle of the night my buddy gets up to take a leak and wakes me up. "Dude there are 2 bulls screaming right above us." We listen for a bit and go back to sleep. Definitely got the blood pumping.
Wake up at about 4AM and they are still hard at it. We throw our packs on and head up the mountain. Made a couple set ups on them, but they eventually shut up. The bulls led us a completely different direction than where we planned on setting up camp and were about 1,000' lower than we anticipated.
We waited them out for a while and didn't hear anymore bugles, so decided to head to our Plan A camp area and get set up. We had been in this same area 2 years ago and got into the elk from 11,500' to 11,800', so figured we would get up to that elevation again.
We had a long walk and a lot of elevation ahead of us so we started on our way. Knocked a good bit out by 10AM and I was getting hungry so I stopped to grab a bite. My buddy wasn't impressed and thought we shouldn't be stopping so early to eat, but I was needing some refueling after being up for 40+ hours and getting a few hours of restless "sleep" in the truck.
Wouldn't you know it, about 5 minutes after stopping a bull bugled right below us, maybe 300 yards away. My buddy ripped one at him and he answered immediately. We waited a few minutes and bugled again and he never said a word. Sat there another half hour or so and there was no sight nor sound of him. We weren't sure what to do next...I grabbed a stick and told him to rip another bugle off after I raked a tree.
This is the first time I've ever done this, so I was just winging it. I broke a couple dead limbs off a tree and started raking the side of the tree aggressively. My buddy ripped a bugle off and he answered right back and was way closer. He grabbed his bow and moved ahead about 20 yards and I stayed back.
He bugled 2 or 3 more times with the chuckles at the end and you could tell he was closer each time. Within a few minutes, I got eyes on him in a tiny opening at 70 yards. He started raking a 4" spruce and absolutely destroyed it! My buddy obviously can't see him cause he keeps glancing back at me. I whisper "I see him", then "shooter".
After a few minutes of this, he starts on a B line right to us. Wind is perfect, blowing straight up the hill. He gets to 40 yards and cuts to his right and gets behind a huge boulder. We lose sight of him for a couple minutes. At this point, I have my bow in hand because if he pops out on the left side of the boulder, I will have the shot. All of a sudden he comes out from behind the boulder the same way he went behind it (right side) and is heading straight at us.
I am in awe and it seemed like a dream. Just couldn't believe it was actually happening! He continues straight at us and my buddy draws. He starts to angle to the left and I can see my buddy won't be able to swing his bow due the tree right in front of him, so I get ready. Just as soon as I do, the bull cuts back to the right and my buddy is still at full draw. He is smack dab in the middle of my line of sight to the bull and I see him swinging his bow, following the bull and then THWACK. We watch the bull run about 80 yards out of sight and then meet each other with a fist bump and brotherly hug. He says "we just shot an elk!!". He is shaking so bad he couldn't even send a text out on his InReach. It was a moment of pure exhilaration and utter happiness.
We wait 1.5 hours or so and start tracking. No blood at all. He was getting pretty bummed about that but the thick spruce needles on the ground allowed us to follow his tracks somewhat. Found one tiny speck of blood about 150 yards in. The tracks led us to a cove with some big boulders. We pretty much lost the tracks and were scouring the ground for any sign when I looked up and saw about 12" of tine sticking above a rock. I said "I see your bull man!" He looked and couldn't see the tine and didn't believe me. I grabbed him by the shoulder and jerked him over into my line of sight and he took off for the bull. Was an awesome moment!
The bull went about 250 yards. We recapped the events, took some pictures and started quartering our first elk. Spent the rest of the day and the entire next day packing him off the mountain. What a humbling experience. Loved every minute of it though!
Spent the next several days trying to fill my tag. Called a silent bull into 60 yards, but no shot opportunity. Didn't hear anymore bugles, so we hiked up high to check for sign where we hunted a couple years ago and to catch a few trout.
What we learned from this trip: elk are where they are. 2 years prior we hunted them the same time period 1,000' higher. Also, a 3rd guy would come in handy for packouts!
Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk
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