my buddy from WY and I got our unit 7 cow tags just to get our foot in the door of elk hunting. I took some time off and dropped my wife off with his and we left the next day, after fueling up with gas and grub we headed out to an area my buddy had hunted for deer two years prior. He has never killed a big game animal but is a hiking machine, I on the other hand have killed 20+ deer all within 3/4 mile of a vehicle in kansas (some 25 feet from the road) and am not in as good of shape as he is. We saw alot of deer hunters heading out as we went in and they had all probably glassed from thier trucks in the twilight and were heading home 3 hours after sunup. we found an area that looked like it would have alot of gully's to be overlooked and hiked in. what we didnt realize was that the gully's were straight up and down and after going only 1/2 mile we were starting to wear ourselves out. we reached an open area where there was a valley and on the other valley top public ended. I told my buddy to glass a shaded area that looked like a dead animal and after some adjusting we realized we were viewing an elk carcass. good news was we found an area elk had been, butt they were long gone and we were out of public to view. we got back in the truck and drove many more miles looking for "elky" areas but never found anything that good. we decided to go to an area I had googled for days and on our way gor lost but via onxmaps found a superb looking piece of public all to ourselves. we glassed a picturesc valley and then made camp. after a frigid night in a 3 season tent from walmart (my Wiggie kept me alive) I woke up made mtn house on the msr and off we were, we glasses the valley as the sun rose and saw/heard nothing. we decided to slowly hunt through some blow down/timber and found more elk sign than I had ever seen but never caught that "smell" everyone on here talks about. we assumed it wasnt fresh and made our way back to camp. one hunter stopped by and said he had glassed the other part of the valley and didnt see squat. we refilled on water and hiked the other side of a mountain and found our first elk wallows and bones but still no "smell". we left that afternoon, found the place I had googled and about 15 hunters at the trail head, they all had cow tags too and said the saw a few bulls but the cows "had vanished". they mocked the game warden and tag quotas and we left not knowing what to do. I had another area googled but figured it was covered in people but we didnt know what else to do so off we went. we got to the trail head met a guy, hiked in a mile and glasses just before sundown just to get a lay of the land. 3 people hiked out with a bull tag and said they were glassing a cow and two calves feeding but were not wasting a type 1 on a cow. we were giddy as school girls, pounded some mtn house and passed out to another cold night. we hunted the area they said the cows were and saw nothing, we then tried some dark timber "stalking" and soon found out why that was a bad idea so we went back to hiking,glassing open areas. at the end of the day we were on our way back to camp and saw a nice 5X5 at 200 yards.
there wasn't alot of water in the area and we were low and had not told our wives when we would be back so that night we headed back to home to regroup. we got back out and hunted the same area 2 more days only seeing 2 spikes and 2 raghorns all within 100 yards. we drove alot more country the third day and found 0 sign of elk anywhere.
I drove home stoked to have been in elk country for the first time but bummed we saw no cows, all in all my favorite hunt yet and I cant wait to get back out but I will change alot of things. 5.5 days of hunting just isnt enough. I could hunt with a bow yet for sure in such big country. we need to be less aggressive when going through possible bedding areas and more aggressive at changing spots when we had hiked most of it and saw no fresh sign aside from the bulls. I later talked to the warden and he said there were many people having the same issues, he told me the cows were already grouped up in hers of 700 in some areas and in others they were by themselves. Also weather was 60s during the day, high 20s at night.
Cons The tent was bad, it was full of frost after all the condensation froze.
Mtn hose about killed us both, on the trip back we swore never to eat another mtn house breakfast again, the diners were fine but twice a day could result in a hospital visit.
Onxmaps on my andriod was terrible with pre dowloaded maps, only worked one night when i was lost on the way back to camp thank God.
Needed a sleeping pad.
should have had a way to contact my wife/emergency phone.
should have gone after after october.
Pros I had a model 7 308 that was super light compared to what im used to and that saved alot.
Kelty framed back pack. awesome, im no back country expert and didnt have to Cary an elk but the back was great for the day hikes and ill keep it until it breaks.
Wiggy mummy saved my life.
msr pocket is awesome.
I used some asics trail runners for all the hiking with darn tough socks and my feet were doing great the whole time, the shoes are almost shot but no blisters. my buddys Frankenstein boots did him well but my hip flexors would have been begging gor mercy had I been wearing them.
Cabelas icebreaker merino kept me warm an smelling good. cheep fleece pullover and some truspec pants were the ticket.
OnXmaps on GPS was great.
Thank you to all who give advice and info on this forum, i appreciate it all and want to shout out to ssliger for his help and getting me setup with a backpack. Elk hunting Roks.
there wasn't alot of water in the area and we were low and had not told our wives when we would be back so that night we headed back to home to regroup. we got back out and hunted the same area 2 more days only seeing 2 spikes and 2 raghorns all within 100 yards. we drove alot more country the third day and found 0 sign of elk anywhere.
I drove home stoked to have been in elk country for the first time but bummed we saw no cows, all in all my favorite hunt yet and I cant wait to get back out but I will change alot of things. 5.5 days of hunting just isnt enough. I could hunt with a bow yet for sure in such big country. we need to be less aggressive when going through possible bedding areas and more aggressive at changing spots when we had hiked most of it and saw no fresh sign aside from the bulls. I later talked to the warden and he said there were many people having the same issues, he told me the cows were already grouped up in hers of 700 in some areas and in others they were by themselves. Also weather was 60s during the day, high 20s at night.
Cons The tent was bad, it was full of frost after all the condensation froze.
Mtn hose about killed us both, on the trip back we swore never to eat another mtn house breakfast again, the diners were fine but twice a day could result in a hospital visit.
Onxmaps on my andriod was terrible with pre dowloaded maps, only worked one night when i was lost on the way back to camp thank God.
Needed a sleeping pad.
should have had a way to contact my wife/emergency phone.
should have gone after after october.
Pros I had a model 7 308 that was super light compared to what im used to and that saved alot.
Kelty framed back pack. awesome, im no back country expert and didnt have to Cary an elk but the back was great for the day hikes and ill keep it until it breaks.
Wiggy mummy saved my life.
msr pocket is awesome.
I used some asics trail runners for all the hiking with darn tough socks and my feet were doing great the whole time, the shoes are almost shot but no blisters. my buddys Frankenstein boots did him well but my hip flexors would have been begging gor mercy had I been wearing them.
Cabelas icebreaker merino kept me warm an smelling good. cheep fleece pullover and some truspec pants were the ticket.
OnXmaps on GPS was great.
Thank you to all who give advice and info on this forum, i appreciate it all and want to shout out to ssliger for his help and getting me setup with a backpack. Elk hunting Roks.
