Ha! Ok, well I was going to wait to fill my deer tag till the late rifle season. But, I had a few days open the last week of the general season. I had done a ton of scouting and had a spot A and B ready, one any buck unit, and the other any deer. Area A was flooded with hunters, so went to B about 10Am. This area is zigzagged with private land and most people think it’s shotgun and archery only because it’s right on the line. Anyway walked in about a mile and got on top of a clearcut. After about an hour the wind changed and blew right over where I was glassing. A young black tail buck stood up at 200 yards. Tag filled.
My elk tag was filled in 560. About 5 days into the gen rifle season. After getting there a day early and doing the recommended glass as much as you can. And, try to be where the other hunters push them. I was only seeing sign that was from the previous night/early morning. Only hearing one shot per day, with the exception of opening day (3). Considering there were literally like 200 hunters in the area I knew I had to change something. So I crossed tracks from that morning on a road then chased. Caught the herd three times the first day but never had a shot on the bull. Walked 8 miles day one. Picked them back up in the next canyon the next morning about 10 Am. Same thing, caught them twice and made a shot on the bull about 1630. Came to 12 total miles after day two including the pack outs. It was rough.
Took my buddy out a few days later to fill his tag. Chased a few bulls but never had that perfect shot.
I learned so much about tracking, and that area. After looking at all my onX intersecting tracks and pins, locating next year will be much easier. Some observations: the more it snows the more they move. 12-30” of snow isn’t enough to push them down to lower elevations, 10 days in and they were still up high. Don’t go back to camp till it’s dark, (the mtn was swamped in the morning then empty come noon), they moved a lot late morning. Don’t let big cat tracks distract you LOL I chased two lions only to see the tracks circle back where they were watching me.
Time to start planning multi state hunts for next season.
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