Finally saw some elk!

[Jaguigui]

It's my first season ever bow hunting in Montana. Been striking out lately with going to different places that hold more hunters than elk. Been getting disappointed and discouraged with all the time in the field not seeing anything.

I made it out with one of my fellow Air Force members yesterday. He decided to go up to a ridge to glass while I stay along the adjacent creek to see if he jumped any elk on the way to the ridge. It was around 6:30pm when we finally met up. He was talking to me while I noticed something on the opposite ridge. We both glassed it and found a nice 6x6 with 5 cows! My hunting partner put on a stalk but they were feeding in the open with no cover around. It was definitely exciting to see and motivated us to put in more work both scouting, hiking, and training.

Just thought I'd share my experience. No pics because it was 600 yards away and we didn't have a spotting scope with a digiscoping kit...yet.

 

[airlocksniffer]

Good stuff. This is my second year bowhiking and haven't put anything down yet but have seen many more elk this year and even close to some shots. I keep feeling like I'm close to cracking the code which keeps me motivated to keep heading out. Good luck to you. Still two more weekends of archery (we are pretty damn lucky here in MT with long archery and rifle seasons).

 

[zman]

Good stuff. This is my second year bowhiking and haven't put anything down yet but have seen many more elk this year and even close to some shots. I keep feeling like I'm close to cracking the code which keeps me motivated to keep heading out. Good luck to you. Still two more weekends of archery (we are pretty damn lucky here in MT with long archery and rifle seasons).

Love the "bowhiking" term. I bowhiked about 30 miles over the course of six days this season... had three bulls come in but none close enough and couldn't close the deal. Dreaming of next season already.

 

[mdog]

Here's my take after 5 years of backpack archery hunting. The first year I interpolated from the 10% success that I would need 10 encounters with elk before things went my way and I got a decent shot. This crazy formula has held true over the last four years. This year was 8 encounters with the third day of the third week required to seal the deal. This year I hunted a OTC Idaho zone that was entirely new to me as I did not draw the Wyoming Gen tag for the area I usually hunt. I feel that if I am not seeing elk at least once a day that I need to move or that I need more hunting time to score. I'm 3 elk for 5 years and consider myself an advanced beginner. Take this with a grain of salt as it comes from a beginner. Find more time to hunt, find a better area, or find a mentor. Most of the time the elk will win the encounter.