Journal of a New Elk Hunters First Season
- Thread starter hobbes
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- #62
November 2, 2012 (Friday) - Morning
We hunted a couple new gulches that are tributaries to the same gulch that we hunted last weekend. We hiked an ATV trail to the top in the dark so we could glass a lot of country at daylight. I don’t care for ATV trails anywhere near where I hunt and was aware that the ATV trail was open until December 1, but it offered the fastest route to a good vantage point where I could glass up to three miles. I feel like we are in scouting mode more than hunting mode.
There was quite a bit of early morning fog, so glassing conditions weren’t the best. I covered as much country as I could but couldn’t find any elk. If I had been serious about finding a deer I would have glassed slower and would have brought a spotting scope. I’m sure I could have missed an elk. It doesn’t take a lot to hide them and some of the country was a long way, but I was shocked that I couldn’t find an elk in that much country.
We decided to hike to the next vantage point so we could glass from another angle. We sat down about 20 yards off of the trail and started glassing. I should have known that we’d eventually hear an ATV, but I still didn’t like it. There was nothing illegal about the ATV being there, but there is something about a hunter crawling up the trail in “stealth mode” on an ATV looking for game that turns me off. We had to get away from the trail.
Isaac with an arrow w/Judo that he found near the trail
We hiked over the next ridge and tried to locate elk, but the only animals we could find were four Mule Deer does in an old burn that winded us from 500 yards. There were hidden areas that we couldn’t glass, but we weren’t finding anything to encourage us. We hiked out to the truck and planned an evening hunt in a different location. While hiking out we jumped a coyote that waited until we were 20 yards before he bolted from his bed. Isaac had mentioned that he’d like to get a shot at a good coyote, so we could tan the hide, but he froze when the coyote ran and stopped at 50 yards. I gave him a hard time about it, and warned him if he did that with a bull he’d have to watch me shoot it. We had no reason to shoot the coyote, and I was glad that Isaac was happy to just watch him. I didn’t want to spend the time necessary to skin him anyway.
We hunted a couple new gulches that are tributaries to the same gulch that we hunted last weekend. We hiked an ATV trail to the top in the dark so we could glass a lot of country at daylight. I don’t care for ATV trails anywhere near where I hunt and was aware that the ATV trail was open until December 1, but it offered the fastest route to a good vantage point where I could glass up to three miles. I feel like we are in scouting mode more than hunting mode.
There was quite a bit of early morning fog, so glassing conditions weren’t the best. I covered as much country as I could but couldn’t find any elk. If I had been serious about finding a deer I would have glassed slower and would have brought a spotting scope. I’m sure I could have missed an elk. It doesn’t take a lot to hide them and some of the country was a long way, but I was shocked that I couldn’t find an elk in that much country.
We decided to hike to the next vantage point so we could glass from another angle. We sat down about 20 yards off of the trail and started glassing. I should have known that we’d eventually hear an ATV, but I still didn’t like it. There was nothing illegal about the ATV being there, but there is something about a hunter crawling up the trail in “stealth mode” on an ATV looking for game that turns me off. We had to get away from the trail.
Isaac with an arrow w/Judo that he found near the trail
We hiked over the next ridge and tried to locate elk, but the only animals we could find were four Mule Deer does in an old burn that winded us from 500 yards. There were hidden areas that we couldn’t glass, but we weren’t finding anything to encourage us. We hiked out to the truck and planned an evening hunt in a different location. While hiking out we jumped a coyote that waited until we were 20 yards before he bolted from his bed. Isaac had mentioned that he’d like to get a shot at a good coyote, so we could tan the hide, but he froze when the coyote ran and stopped at 50 yards. I gave him a hard time about it, and warned him if he did that with a bull he’d have to watch me shoot it. We had no reason to shoot the coyote, and I was glad that Isaac was happy to just watch him. I didn’t want to spend the time necessary to skin him anyway.
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- Thread Starter
- #63
November 2, 2012 (Friday) - Evening
We were beat after hiking all the way back out to the truck. It was difficult to get going again after sitting on the couch for a couple hours, but we weren’t going to put meat in the freezer while sitting on the couch. We decided to switch areas and leave the old burn mixed with standing timber. We drove to an area that we found elk in early in the archery season and the ATV trails are closed.
The hike from the truck wasn’t terribly far before we were hunting. It was about 4:30 PM and we were side hilling toward the area we thought may hold elk. The previous snow and rain had left most of the ground soft, so we were immediately seeing fresh deer tracks and a few elk tracks that looked like they were a few days old. I had just urged Isaac to keep his eyes open because we would at least find some deer when we spotted deer slightly ahead and above us. We could see four does between 75 and 100 yards. I was shocked that they hadn’t bolted because two of them were staring intently at us. They knew something was up, but couldn’t quite convince themselves we were a threat.
The deer continued to mill around while I set the homemade tripod up for Isaac in case we spotted a buck. I watched the deer with the binos and noticed there were a couple more deer left of the four. One of the two was a doe, but the other had its head down and was behind a blow down. It finally raised its head and revealed that it was indeed a legal spike buck. I pointed the buck out and told Isaac it was his decision. I didn’t have a preference. Of course I had hoped we’d find a big buck, but If he was happy with it, he was free to shoot. If he wanted to pass, we’d keep hunting.
I think he had his mind made up before I finished my speech. It was a “you had me at legal” moment. There was a doe too close to the buck for a safe shot, so he had to wait. Isaac couldn’t see the vitals anyway because he had to kneel on the steep slope to use the tripod and that put the buck’s vitals behind the blow down. After ten minutes a shot was about to present itself when a doe charged at the young buck and he bolted uphill to the right. Another ten minutes went by and a shot was about to present itself but the buck moved behind a tree that was directly in front of Isaac. Isaac moved himself and the tripod 10 feet so he could see past the tree but the buck got behind a screen of blow down limbs again. I continued to talk to Isaac about staying calm and squeezing the trigger when he had a clear shot. After twenty five minutes of waiting, the buck finally took the final steps to give Isaac a clear shot.
I was startled at the shot and lost the buck in my binos for a moment. I was hoping he’d go straight down because he was uphill in the direction we needed to go. However, when I found him he was trying to keep up with the does and running down the steep slope toward our left. I spotted blood on the exit wound but the shot looked back farther than we’d like. The buck stopped about 50 yards from us in more blow downs. I could see his head, neck, and the top of his back. I was trying to get Isaac on him again for a follow up shot, but Isaac was having trouble locating him. Isaac spotted the buck but could only see his head and a small portion of neck. It was a hectic few seconds of trying to position him for a shot when the buck dropped below the blow downs.
I wasn’t sure if he lay down or dropped, but he definitely went to the ground. We watched and waited for a very long 30 minutes. The jitters set in for Isaac during the wait and he explained the shot to me several times as if I hadn’t been standing right next to him for the whole event. He was sick about the idea that he may have hit too far back. I was proud that he was that concerned about making a good shot. I tried to offer reassurance that the buck was more than likely dead, but he had heard the concern in my voice when I said “the shot looks back”.
Isaac had taken the shot at five minutes till five and at five thirty we started toward the last spot we saw the buck. We slowly made our way uphill and watched for any movement in case a follow up shot was needed. Our worries were quickly put to rest when I spotted the bucks white belly beneath us. He had never moved from the spot we had last seen him. We were both relieved that the shot had been a little better than I thought. The shot was back, but had destroyed the liver and the concussion had caused considerable bruising to the back of the lungs.
One happy hunter
Notching his deer license
"Try not to cut your finger off"
We decided to drag the buck out whole after gutting instead of quartering. He wasn’t a heavy deer and we weren’t far from the truck so it wasn’t supposed to be too bad. The drag was 100 yards uphill to the trail then up over the next hill in the trail and back down the long slope to the truck. The uphill was brutal but the downhill wasn’t too bad except we were already beat from the two uphill drags.
Isaac was ready to tell the story again when we got home. Mom, brother, and sister made a big deal about Isaac’s buck being our first meat from Montana and our first mule deer. He was quite proud of that accomplishment and had to text a couple buddies that night and call grandpa the next day. We hung the buck in the garage and skinned it that night. Except for the loins that were cut into steaks, we processed the entire deer into hamburger at the kitchen table on Sunday evening.
We were beat after hiking all the way back out to the truck. It was difficult to get going again after sitting on the couch for a couple hours, but we weren’t going to put meat in the freezer while sitting on the couch. We decided to switch areas and leave the old burn mixed with standing timber. We drove to an area that we found elk in early in the archery season and the ATV trails are closed.
The hike from the truck wasn’t terribly far before we were hunting. It was about 4:30 PM and we were side hilling toward the area we thought may hold elk. The previous snow and rain had left most of the ground soft, so we were immediately seeing fresh deer tracks and a few elk tracks that looked like they were a few days old. I had just urged Isaac to keep his eyes open because we would at least find some deer when we spotted deer slightly ahead and above us. We could see four does between 75 and 100 yards. I was shocked that they hadn’t bolted because two of them were staring intently at us. They knew something was up, but couldn’t quite convince themselves we were a threat.
The deer continued to mill around while I set the homemade tripod up for Isaac in case we spotted a buck. I watched the deer with the binos and noticed there were a couple more deer left of the four. One of the two was a doe, but the other had its head down and was behind a blow down. It finally raised its head and revealed that it was indeed a legal spike buck. I pointed the buck out and told Isaac it was his decision. I didn’t have a preference. Of course I had hoped we’d find a big buck, but If he was happy with it, he was free to shoot. If he wanted to pass, we’d keep hunting.
I think he had his mind made up before I finished my speech. It was a “you had me at legal” moment. There was a doe too close to the buck for a safe shot, so he had to wait. Isaac couldn’t see the vitals anyway because he had to kneel on the steep slope to use the tripod and that put the buck’s vitals behind the blow down. After ten minutes a shot was about to present itself when a doe charged at the young buck and he bolted uphill to the right. Another ten minutes went by and a shot was about to present itself but the buck moved behind a tree that was directly in front of Isaac. Isaac moved himself and the tripod 10 feet so he could see past the tree but the buck got behind a screen of blow down limbs again. I continued to talk to Isaac about staying calm and squeezing the trigger when he had a clear shot. After twenty five minutes of waiting, the buck finally took the final steps to give Isaac a clear shot.
I was startled at the shot and lost the buck in my binos for a moment. I was hoping he’d go straight down because he was uphill in the direction we needed to go. However, when I found him he was trying to keep up with the does and running down the steep slope toward our left. I spotted blood on the exit wound but the shot looked back farther than we’d like. The buck stopped about 50 yards from us in more blow downs. I could see his head, neck, and the top of his back. I was trying to get Isaac on him again for a follow up shot, but Isaac was having trouble locating him. Isaac spotted the buck but could only see his head and a small portion of neck. It was a hectic few seconds of trying to position him for a shot when the buck dropped below the blow downs.
I wasn’t sure if he lay down or dropped, but he definitely went to the ground. We watched and waited for a very long 30 minutes. The jitters set in for Isaac during the wait and he explained the shot to me several times as if I hadn’t been standing right next to him for the whole event. He was sick about the idea that he may have hit too far back. I was proud that he was that concerned about making a good shot. I tried to offer reassurance that the buck was more than likely dead, but he had heard the concern in my voice when I said “the shot looks back”.
Isaac had taken the shot at five minutes till five and at five thirty we started toward the last spot we saw the buck. We slowly made our way uphill and watched for any movement in case a follow up shot was needed. Our worries were quickly put to rest when I spotted the bucks white belly beneath us. He had never moved from the spot we had last seen him. We were both relieved that the shot had been a little better than I thought. The shot was back, but had destroyed the liver and the concussion had caused considerable bruising to the back of the lungs.
One happy hunter
Notching his deer license
"Try not to cut your finger off"
We decided to drag the buck out whole after gutting instead of quartering. He wasn’t a heavy deer and we weren’t far from the truck so it wasn’t supposed to be too bad. The drag was 100 yards uphill to the trail then up over the next hill in the trail and back down the long slope to the truck. The uphill was brutal but the downhill wasn’t too bad except we were already beat from the two uphill drags.
Isaac was ready to tell the story again when we got home. Mom, brother, and sister made a big deal about Isaac’s buck being our first meat from Montana and our first mule deer. He was quite proud of that accomplishment and had to text a couple buddies that night and call grandpa the next day. We hung the buck in the garage and skinned it that night. Except for the loins that were cut into steaks, we processed the entire deer into hamburger at the kitchen table on Sunday evening.
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Shrek
WKR
Way to go Iaac ! Congratulations. To keep yourself together that long while waiting for a shot is hard. There is many a grown man who would have fallen apart and blown the shot waiting like that. I love the old camo your grandfather is sporting. I have some myself.
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- #66
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- #67
- Thread Starter
- #69
November 10, 2012 (Saturday)
A storm had moved in to the region on Thursday the 8th. By Friday evening we had more than 12 inches of snow at our house. The storm was nasty enough on Friday that we did not go hunting.
It was still snowing when I went to bed Friday night and the forecast was calling for snow through midday Saturday. I set the alarm but planned to sleep until the storm let up. At 4 AM I looked out our front door and could see snow blowing sideways. At 6 AM I could still see snow blowing sideways. I should have gotten moving anyway, but I was struggling with an excuse to crawl back into bed. At 7 AM we were both awake and preparing for a late morning/midday hunt. The snow had finally stopped for the most part. It looked like another 3 inches had fallen during the night. The drifting made it difficult to tell but it looked like we had 15” plus in our yard.
We expected the elk to be on their feet most of the day once the storm let up. Everyone else must have had the same idea because I met at least ten trucks loaded with hunters that had either already quit for the morning or had decided to road hunt instead of hike through the snow. There were another six trucks at various trailheads throughout the gulch. So everyone didn’t sleep in and drive around in their trucks. We drove higher than we’ve been hunting in this area and hiked to a location that would give us a good vantage point to glass for tracks or feeding elk. I also suspected that all the commotion lower on the mountain may have pushed them up.
I was surprised to find that the snow wasn’t as deep here as it was in my yard. I think the deepest snow we found was approximately 8”. I’m sure it was deeper as the elevation increased, but I wasn’t seeing the kind of snow that forces elk to lower elevations. More elk may have moved down, but they can withstand a lot deeper snow than what we were seeing. Regardless, the only tracks we were finding were deer.
It was very cold and windy. I don’t think the temperature exceeded 10 degrees. That combined with the wind, and light snow from the clouds that had moved into the mountains made glassing from the ridge top miserable. At this point each hunt is more like a necessary job to fill the freezer than an enjoyable time in the mountains hunting elk. We have been hunting since September 1st, and we are beat and discouraged. However, the only thing to do is to work at pushing forward and hunt.
A storm had moved in to the region on Thursday the 8th. By Friday evening we had more than 12 inches of snow at our house. The storm was nasty enough on Friday that we did not go hunting.
It was still snowing when I went to bed Friday night and the forecast was calling for snow through midday Saturday. I set the alarm but planned to sleep until the storm let up. At 4 AM I looked out our front door and could see snow blowing sideways. At 6 AM I could still see snow blowing sideways. I should have gotten moving anyway, but I was struggling with an excuse to crawl back into bed. At 7 AM we were both awake and preparing for a late morning/midday hunt. The snow had finally stopped for the most part. It looked like another 3 inches had fallen during the night. The drifting made it difficult to tell but it looked like we had 15” plus in our yard.
We expected the elk to be on their feet most of the day once the storm let up. Everyone else must have had the same idea because I met at least ten trucks loaded with hunters that had either already quit for the morning or had decided to road hunt instead of hike through the snow. There were another six trucks at various trailheads throughout the gulch. So everyone didn’t sleep in and drive around in their trucks. We drove higher than we’ve been hunting in this area and hiked to a location that would give us a good vantage point to glass for tracks or feeding elk. I also suspected that all the commotion lower on the mountain may have pushed them up.
I was surprised to find that the snow wasn’t as deep here as it was in my yard. I think the deepest snow we found was approximately 8”. I’m sure it was deeper as the elevation increased, but I wasn’t seeing the kind of snow that forces elk to lower elevations. More elk may have moved down, but they can withstand a lot deeper snow than what we were seeing. Regardless, the only tracks we were finding were deer.
It was very cold and windy. I don’t think the temperature exceeded 10 degrees. That combined with the wind, and light snow from the clouds that had moved into the mountains made glassing from the ridge top miserable. At this point each hunt is more like a necessary job to fill the freezer than an enjoyable time in the mountains hunting elk. We have been hunting since September 1st, and we are beat and discouraged. However, the only thing to do is to work at pushing forward and hunt.
- Thread Starter
- #70
November 12, 2012 (Monday)
Monday’s plan was to hunt all day. We would start the day off from a vantage point where we could find elk and go from there. The plan wasn’t much different than most days during the rifle hunt, but the snow should make glassing more productive. It’s also become obvious that we aren’t going to make it into a treestand to hunt rutting whitetails, so I was willing to shoot a respectable mule deer buck also.
Isaac wasn’t easily awakened at 4 AM. When he finally came around he hesitated with his question, “Do I have to go this morning? Can I sleep in?” I was already forcing myself to keep hunting, but I wasn’t going to force him to go. I want him to know it can be difficult and understand the benefits of not giving up, but I don’t want to cross that line too far and make him wish he wasn’t hunting. The biggest drawback to not having him with me is I don’t have a cow tag. He can shoot two cows, one with his General tag and one with the ‘B’ tag he drew. That was also the only good side to him staying home……………It was a guarantee that I’d find elk.
As I hiked up through the timber and legal shooting light approached I crossed several sets of elk tracks that had been made that weekend, but none that looked like they were made that night. I also found a set of lion tracks.
The elk sign was giving me hope that there were elk here to be found, so I eased around some openings near the top of the ridge that could hold feeding elk. The top offered a great vantage point and I had to do a double take when I picked out a bedded elk silhouetted against the snow almost a mile away. Sure enough it was an elk and there were two more on their feet feeding. I decided to peek over the ridge I was on and quickly glass the area closest to me before I ran off after elk a mile away. There was nothing close, so I focused my binos on the far elk.
The elk were two ridges over from me approximately one mile away. I was able to pick out ten elk after several minutes of watching them. There were two bedded and eight on their feet feeding from right to left. I had previously been below the area where they were located and felt I could get within range undetected. I had already decided that I was going after them if I could see a legal bull in the herd. If not……….I was making a mad dash back to the truck to go get Isaac. I had a good view of them and they were clearly visible against the snow, but I could not make out an antler on any of them. I knew I’d find cows if Isaac stayed home.
I was concerned on the way out because I found another truck was parked along the road below me and I met three other trucks that appeared to have started late. I was hoping they were just road hunters and wouldn’t take advantage of the empty trailhead I was leaving behind. Isaac hadn’t even started his daily school work when I came through the door saying “get your clothes on, I’ve found elk”. I filled up on coffee, grabbed my small ice fishing sled to help transport quarters down the trail if needed, and we were back to the trailhead as fast as the snow and ice covered roads allowed.
My second hike in was less fun than the first. Then we had to hike up and over one ridge and down into a deep gulch before climbing back up to where the elk had been feeding. We glassed from the ridge top but were unable to locate the elk. It had been four hours since I had first located the elk, so they could have changed zip codes by then. I continued to glass while we slipped and slid down into the gulch, but was unable to locate the elk. We decided to hunt under the assumption that the elk had bedded in the narrow timbered draw that they were feeding towards. We would still hunt up towards them and do our best to keep the wind in our favor.
We slowed down as we hunted up through the timber and continued to pause and glass. We were just about to approach some bigger timber that opened up when I pointed out to Isaac where the elk had been feeding that morning on the opposite hillside. We hesitated and I glassed ahead and had to do another double take when I thought I could see elk colors with hair texture. Sure enough there was a cow standing 100 yards ahead behind a screen of trees. Isaac prepared for a shot as I started to pick out several elk.
Cows started to move left to right and I could see a clear lane to a cow through my binos. Isaac picked her out but she had moved her head behind a tree so that he wasn’t sure it was a cow. I was able to confirm it was a cow, but Isaac was having difficulty picking out the shoulder. I just about had him lined out on recognizing the dark hair where the neck ended when he noticed a calf had walked behind the cow. Then two more elk appeared. There were four elk bunched up and several scattered through the timber above them, but he couldn’t take the only shot offered due to the risk of hitting more than one elk. The four elk were two cows and two calves. One cow and calf was staring at us as we anxiously waited for the elk to break apart and offer a shot. It was clear that they knew something was up, but hadn’t determined what to do about it.
We had already agreed that he’d shoot the first of the four to offer a shot when a calf took several steps forward. However, one extra step and it was out of sight. This pegged my tension level when I realized they were all just a step or two away from disappearing from sight. I’m sure this was being passed directly from me to Isaac and wasn’t helping to calm Isaac’s nerves. The second calf took a step down the hill out of sight and I was just about to tell Isaac I’d stop one of the cows with a cow call if they took a step forward when I realized one of them had already stepped forward. She was open from her head to the back of her lungs and I asked Isaac if he had a clear shot. He confirmed that he had a clear shot and I told him to shoot. He didn’t waste much time and I had barely moved the binos back to my eyes when he shot. The cows spun to her left and disappeared. We could see several elk moving through the trees headed up the draw, but no additional shots were presented.
I was immediately concerned that I hadn’t noticed a reaction from the cow other than quickly turning away from us and out of sight. We took some time moving to where the elk had been standing. I was really hoping she had collapsed after disappearing, but we couldn’t see her laying anywhere from close by. We could see the two sets of tracks that had turned down into the draw and back uphill next to the tree she was beside but there was nothing to indicate she had been hit. We followed both sets of tracks for 50 yards or so but no blood. I already had a sinking feeling and I could tell Isaac was looking to me for some reassurance. I had him stay put and I circled back down the draw on the opposite face so I could clearly see the face she had been on to see if she had slid downhill out of site, but still no sign of a dead elk. The two sets of tracks merged and then merged with the rest of the elk, so we followed tracks up the draw. After several hundred yards of following tracks uphill without any blood and no indication of any missteps, we sat down for a break and ate a sandwich and a granola bar. I circled to the opposite face again so I could have a good view of the entire area, but there wasn’t anything to find. We circled again uphill to make certain she hadn’t slipped out another way, but the only tracks leaving the area were the tracks we had already been following. We reexamined the scene of the shot a couple more times to confirm the miss and even followed all tracks leaving the scene again. After two hours of searching for any indication of a hit, it was painfully clear that the shot had missed.
We were both disappointed. I wasn’t disappointed in Isaac, but instead that he had to experience a miss on the first elk he’d had an opportunity at. The fact that it had taken us so long to get that opportunity didn’t help either. I was also concerned that I may have rushed him and caused him to rush the shot. We also noted that there was some brush in the way that didn’t seem important at the time, but seemed more substantial after the excitement. It may have caused a deflection. However, I suspect he slapped the trigger when I said shoot. Whatever the cause, we didn’t want to do it again.
We were reluctant to start the hike back. The reluctance wasn’t just because of the hole we had to climb out of, but the start of the hike back signaled our final acceptance of the miss. I hoped against all odds that we would luck into another opportunity on our long hike out, but that didn’t happen. We arrived at the truck as darkness closed in. My legs were on fire and my feet were sore after the hike. I had been going since 4 AM and it was 5:30 PM. Most of that time was spent hiking up and down the snow covered mountain. We’ve done a lot of hiking since September but the snow really adds to the workout, especially on the climbs. I commented that we should be glad we didn’t have to pack an elk out or we’d be going back at least once more and probably would only be halfway done with the first hike out.
There are two weekends left in the season. This hunt definitely took the wind out of our sails, but we’ll continue to hunt until season runs out. I may look for a good mule deer buck this Friday for a change instead of looking for elk. Although, looking for a buck may result in finding elk. We won’t be opposed to either.
Monday’s plan was to hunt all day. We would start the day off from a vantage point where we could find elk and go from there. The plan wasn’t much different than most days during the rifle hunt, but the snow should make glassing more productive. It’s also become obvious that we aren’t going to make it into a treestand to hunt rutting whitetails, so I was willing to shoot a respectable mule deer buck also.
Isaac wasn’t easily awakened at 4 AM. When he finally came around he hesitated with his question, “Do I have to go this morning? Can I sleep in?” I was already forcing myself to keep hunting, but I wasn’t going to force him to go. I want him to know it can be difficult and understand the benefits of not giving up, but I don’t want to cross that line too far and make him wish he wasn’t hunting. The biggest drawback to not having him with me is I don’t have a cow tag. He can shoot two cows, one with his General tag and one with the ‘B’ tag he drew. That was also the only good side to him staying home……………It was a guarantee that I’d find elk.
As I hiked up through the timber and legal shooting light approached I crossed several sets of elk tracks that had been made that weekend, but none that looked like they were made that night. I also found a set of lion tracks.
The elk sign was giving me hope that there were elk here to be found, so I eased around some openings near the top of the ridge that could hold feeding elk. The top offered a great vantage point and I had to do a double take when I picked out a bedded elk silhouetted against the snow almost a mile away. Sure enough it was an elk and there were two more on their feet feeding. I decided to peek over the ridge I was on and quickly glass the area closest to me before I ran off after elk a mile away. There was nothing close, so I focused my binos on the far elk.
The elk were two ridges over from me approximately one mile away. I was able to pick out ten elk after several minutes of watching them. There were two bedded and eight on their feet feeding from right to left. I had previously been below the area where they were located and felt I could get within range undetected. I had already decided that I was going after them if I could see a legal bull in the herd. If not……….I was making a mad dash back to the truck to go get Isaac. I had a good view of them and they were clearly visible against the snow, but I could not make out an antler on any of them. I knew I’d find cows if Isaac stayed home.
I was concerned on the way out because I found another truck was parked along the road below me and I met three other trucks that appeared to have started late. I was hoping they were just road hunters and wouldn’t take advantage of the empty trailhead I was leaving behind. Isaac hadn’t even started his daily school work when I came through the door saying “get your clothes on, I’ve found elk”. I filled up on coffee, grabbed my small ice fishing sled to help transport quarters down the trail if needed, and we were back to the trailhead as fast as the snow and ice covered roads allowed.
My second hike in was less fun than the first. Then we had to hike up and over one ridge and down into a deep gulch before climbing back up to where the elk had been feeding. We glassed from the ridge top but were unable to locate the elk. It had been four hours since I had first located the elk, so they could have changed zip codes by then. I continued to glass while we slipped and slid down into the gulch, but was unable to locate the elk. We decided to hunt under the assumption that the elk had bedded in the narrow timbered draw that they were feeding towards. We would still hunt up towards them and do our best to keep the wind in our favor.
We slowed down as we hunted up through the timber and continued to pause and glass. We were just about to approach some bigger timber that opened up when I pointed out to Isaac where the elk had been feeding that morning on the opposite hillside. We hesitated and I glassed ahead and had to do another double take when I thought I could see elk colors with hair texture. Sure enough there was a cow standing 100 yards ahead behind a screen of trees. Isaac prepared for a shot as I started to pick out several elk.
Cows started to move left to right and I could see a clear lane to a cow through my binos. Isaac picked her out but she had moved her head behind a tree so that he wasn’t sure it was a cow. I was able to confirm it was a cow, but Isaac was having difficulty picking out the shoulder. I just about had him lined out on recognizing the dark hair where the neck ended when he noticed a calf had walked behind the cow. Then two more elk appeared. There were four elk bunched up and several scattered through the timber above them, but he couldn’t take the only shot offered due to the risk of hitting more than one elk. The four elk were two cows and two calves. One cow and calf was staring at us as we anxiously waited for the elk to break apart and offer a shot. It was clear that they knew something was up, but hadn’t determined what to do about it.
We had already agreed that he’d shoot the first of the four to offer a shot when a calf took several steps forward. However, one extra step and it was out of sight. This pegged my tension level when I realized they were all just a step or two away from disappearing from sight. I’m sure this was being passed directly from me to Isaac and wasn’t helping to calm Isaac’s nerves. The second calf took a step down the hill out of sight and I was just about to tell Isaac I’d stop one of the cows with a cow call if they took a step forward when I realized one of them had already stepped forward. She was open from her head to the back of her lungs and I asked Isaac if he had a clear shot. He confirmed that he had a clear shot and I told him to shoot. He didn’t waste much time and I had barely moved the binos back to my eyes when he shot. The cows spun to her left and disappeared. We could see several elk moving through the trees headed up the draw, but no additional shots were presented.
I was immediately concerned that I hadn’t noticed a reaction from the cow other than quickly turning away from us and out of sight. We took some time moving to where the elk had been standing. I was really hoping she had collapsed after disappearing, but we couldn’t see her laying anywhere from close by. We could see the two sets of tracks that had turned down into the draw and back uphill next to the tree she was beside but there was nothing to indicate she had been hit. We followed both sets of tracks for 50 yards or so but no blood. I already had a sinking feeling and I could tell Isaac was looking to me for some reassurance. I had him stay put and I circled back down the draw on the opposite face so I could clearly see the face she had been on to see if she had slid downhill out of site, but still no sign of a dead elk. The two sets of tracks merged and then merged with the rest of the elk, so we followed tracks up the draw. After several hundred yards of following tracks uphill without any blood and no indication of any missteps, we sat down for a break and ate a sandwich and a granola bar. I circled to the opposite face again so I could have a good view of the entire area, but there wasn’t anything to find. We circled again uphill to make certain she hadn’t slipped out another way, but the only tracks leaving the area were the tracks we had already been following. We reexamined the scene of the shot a couple more times to confirm the miss and even followed all tracks leaving the scene again. After two hours of searching for any indication of a hit, it was painfully clear that the shot had missed.
We were both disappointed. I wasn’t disappointed in Isaac, but instead that he had to experience a miss on the first elk he’d had an opportunity at. The fact that it had taken us so long to get that opportunity didn’t help either. I was also concerned that I may have rushed him and caused him to rush the shot. We also noted that there was some brush in the way that didn’t seem important at the time, but seemed more substantial after the excitement. It may have caused a deflection. However, I suspect he slapped the trigger when I said shoot. Whatever the cause, we didn’t want to do it again.
We were reluctant to start the hike back. The reluctance wasn’t just because of the hole we had to climb out of, but the start of the hike back signaled our final acceptance of the miss. I hoped against all odds that we would luck into another opportunity on our long hike out, but that didn’t happen. We arrived at the truck as darkness closed in. My legs were on fire and my feet were sore after the hike. I had been going since 4 AM and it was 5:30 PM. Most of that time was spent hiking up and down the snow covered mountain. We’ve done a lot of hiking since September but the snow really adds to the workout, especially on the climbs. I commented that we should be glad we didn’t have to pack an elk out or we’d be going back at least once more and probably would only be halfway done with the first hike out.
There are two weekends left in the season. This hunt definitely took the wind out of our sails, but we’ll continue to hunt until season runs out. I may look for a good mule deer buck this Friday for a change instead of looking for elk. Although, looking for a buck may result in finding elk. We won’t be opposed to either.
- Thread Starter
- #72
November 16 - 25 Elk Season Ends
November 16, 2012
On November 16th we hunted a gulch that we had never been in. The aerial photos showed some isolated timber in the top of the gulch that I thought may have been overlooked by other hunters. The area still had six inches of snow cover, so we had high hopes for finding elk or sign by glassing.
Typical for this area, two thirds of the elevation gain was accomplished over the first third of the hike. After climbing high on the ridge we side hilled back into the area glassing everything we could as we went. The area is a mix of burn and timber, so we glassed the burns and any open timber then still hunted through the thicker timber.
We finally found tracks at the top of the gulch, but could not locate the elk that had made them. There were also a lot of deer tracks, so I was hoping to find a good buck, but most of the tracks were several days old and none of them had deer standing in them.
After hiking to the top we decided to glass the opposite side of the divide and only hike down if we could find elk or convincing sign. It didn’t take long to find a lot of sign in the snow below us that appeared to indicate a herd had been there recently. We hiked down with high hopes that there would be a herd bedded below the sign in the timber, but when we got there we learned that the sign was from cattle that apparently had hidden from their owner when he was rounding them up before the rifle season started.
On the hunt out we found where a herd of ten or so elk had spent a day or two during the week, but we could not locate them. We’ll keep that info in the back of our minds for future hunts, but it didn’t help us on this day.
November 22, 2012 (Thanksgiving Day)
We had been invited to eat Thanksgiving dinner with friends, so we weren’t planning to hunt on Thanksgiving Day. However, once I found out that the friends had a tradition of hunting on Thanksgiving morning while the wives prepared dinner, I decided I might as well get out for a short hunt myself. Isaac wanted to sleep in, so I hunted alone. I planned a short hunt in one of the areas where we had seen three separate family groups of does earlier in the season. An elk would have been great, but I was hoping to find a decent buck hanging out with the does.
I made it to the top of the ridge I wanted to glass from at daybreak. I located only four does that were making their way toward me. They were acting suspicious and watching their back trail. I was hoping a buck was following them, but I watched them and the surrounding area for an hour and never spotted a buck.
The wind was brutal and cold this morning and my glassing spot wasn’t protected, so I decided to move up the ridge farther to a protected location and glass from a different angle for some of the other does that I knew where around there somewhere and any buck that may be with them. After hiking a short distance I spotted what had the does acting suspicious. There was another hunter above me that had apparently come in from an open atv trail on top. I hadn’t heard any atv’s up there this morning, so the guy may have hiked in, but it was a really long hike to that spot unless you parked where I had, and I was the only truck there.
I was disappointed at finding the other hunter. He was in the middle of what I was going to hunt, so I hunted back out to my truck and made it a really short hunt. The ridge I was on was really steep and the loose small rock that made up the surface was almost like gravel and it was frozen. While on the way down both feet slipped out from under me so fast that the only thing that broke my fall was my backside. I slid several feet before I stopped myself with my heels. The fall hurt and added to my frustration. The 7mm mag that was on my shoulder stayed on my shoulder, but it hit the ground and slid with me and the scope had several scuffs on it. The scope still had a good picture through it, but I questioned if it could still be on target. I unloaded the gun for the rest of the hike down and had to make a note to shoot some paper when I got home. The scope checked out ok when I got home, so other than a scuff or two it was ok.
November 23, 2012
(Morning)
Well before daylight we hiked up the gulch toward the location that Isaac had missed the cow. Our plan was simple. We would start on the ridge overlooking where we had found the elk before and glass the surrounding area. If glassing didn’t turn up any elk we would hunt some of the hidden gulches, looking for elk that were holed up from the orange army.
I expected the same elk we had shot at to still be in the area or another herd to have moved in, so we glassed for a while from our ridge top, but was unable to locate any elk. We spent the rest of the morning peeking into several holes where we suspected the elk could be hidden, but were unsuccessful in locating any elk.
It was a disappointing hunt.
(Evening)
That afternoon we decided to relocate to the opposite side of the mountain where Isaac had missed the cow. We found several sets of elk tracks that had been left during the last day or two, but never did find any elk close by. However, we did glass a herd that was almost two miles away. We could see 8 elk and two of those appeared to be bulls. We couldn’t tell much about antlers, but one of those that appeared to be a bull was substantially bigger than the rest of the elk.
It was too late in the evening to even think about making a run for them, so we watched them and planned out the next morning. They were located near where we had hunted on the first day of the rifle season and we couldn’t see any orange near them. We felt good about our chances since we knew the area, but were worried about the hunter numbers on the last Saturday of the season. Still, we had elk to hunt the next morning, and that was nice for a change.
November 24, 2012
We arrived at our parking location almost 3 hours before daylight, so that we had plenty of time to hike the long steep climb to the elk. We had decided that the most direct route would put us in their view, so we looped around them hoping to ease over the top for a shot at daylight. If other hunters pushed them from the bottom, we would also be in place to catch them as they slipped over the top.
Most of this hike was in the open, but we stayed below the ridge top on the opposite side to stay hidden. Our plans depended on the elk staying near where we had seen them the night before. They were feeding away from our planned route when we last saw them, so we felt confident that we would not be seen. However, during one of our breaks in the dark we herd one animal spook over the ridge. It didn’t sound big enough to be an elk, but I started smelling elk shortly after we restarted our climb. I still wasn’t convinced that we had bumped the herd we had seen the day before since they should have been another half mile from us. I didn’t even think the animal that ran was an elk, but I could definitely smell elk shortly after that.
We continued on with our original plan and made it into place about 20 minutes before legal shooting light. We had only been there a few minutes when we both herd several cow mews that convinced us both that the herd was in the burn just below us and slightly to our left. We glassed the area intently but could not find a single elk. We could see several mule deer does that we thought may have a buck with them, but I was determined to not shoot a deer unless it was a really good buck since we were certain the elk were close by.
We backed up and moved around to glass from another location, but could not find any sign of the elk in the area where we had herd the cow talk. We still felt the elk were there somewhere, so we continued to work our way around the back side of the ridge and peek over into every spot that the herd could be hiding in.
A half hour after daybreak we spotted three hunters on another ridge that were moving at a rapid rate up the spine of their ridge and appeared to be on a mission. I finally found what they were hiking towards. There was a herd of elk about a mile and a half from us that may have been the herd from the previous night. The elk were feeding slowly up a sage covered face and into the timber on the opposite side. I could only see three or four of them, but there were likely more that had already fed into the timber. There was no use going after them. The three hunters would beat us there by a long shot, so we continued to hold out hope that we were near elk on our ridge.
We also found two more hunters below us that had taken the direct route to the area we were hunting and watching the three hunters on the next ridge. They finally spotted us above them and just sat down on their side ridge. I suppose they were disgusted at the number of hunters they had seen and hoping we would bump an elk to them. I was none too happy myself. They would have bumped the herd if the herd had been where we saw them the previous night, but even then I think we would have caught the elk in the open after crossing over the top.
We eventually heard shooting from the area the three hunters and elk were bound to have met up. There were eight or nine shots fired and we never saw the hunters again, so I suppose luck shined on them during this last weekend and they were fortunate enough to be quartering elk.
We hunted until late afternoon, but we never could find the herd. We found a lot of tracks where they had been throughout the area. We even swung back around and hunted the area where we had bumped the animal in the dark. The tracks we found didn’t look like the herd had been there, so if it was an elk, I couldn’t find its tracks. I wish we had hunted this area more, but there are so many hunters. We will keep it in mind for next season.
Our view on the way out:
While hiking out we found this winter or lion kill. Its location and the brow tines lead me to believe it is a muley without the forks.
November 25, 2012 (Last Day)
We went to church in the morning and planned a hunt up high in the evening. The hunt didn’t work out as planned because the roads were worse up high than I had anticipated. I had chains, but the result of sliding off the road would have been rolling several hundred to a thousand feet down the mountain side. The risk of sliding on the ice was more than I cared to take.
We drove back down lower and hunted the three hours of daylight we had left. I didn’t expect to find elk in the area, but thought I still had a chance at a buck since we had seen several in here earlier in the year. We held out hope right up until dark, but it apparently wasn’t meant to be.
Closing out the season:
There was no denying that we were both disappointed with our results after so many close encounters during bow season, but overall it had been a good season. Although we didn’t kill an elk, Isaac was able to take his first mule deer. Hopefully we learned from our first season in MT and can improve on the one deer next season.
As I write this we are preparing to bowhunt whitetails in IL during a two week vacation over Christmas and New Year. Isaac won’t hunt as much as I will because he wants to do a lot of visiting with his cousins that he hasn’t seen in almost a year, but hopefully he can hunt just enough to record his first bow kill. I’ll bowhunt as many days as I can and still visit with family and friends.
November 16, 2012
On November 16th we hunted a gulch that we had never been in. The aerial photos showed some isolated timber in the top of the gulch that I thought may have been overlooked by other hunters. The area still had six inches of snow cover, so we had high hopes for finding elk or sign by glassing.
Typical for this area, two thirds of the elevation gain was accomplished over the first third of the hike. After climbing high on the ridge we side hilled back into the area glassing everything we could as we went. The area is a mix of burn and timber, so we glassed the burns and any open timber then still hunted through the thicker timber.
We finally found tracks at the top of the gulch, but could not locate the elk that had made them. There were also a lot of deer tracks, so I was hoping to find a good buck, but most of the tracks were several days old and none of them had deer standing in them.
After hiking to the top we decided to glass the opposite side of the divide and only hike down if we could find elk or convincing sign. It didn’t take long to find a lot of sign in the snow below us that appeared to indicate a herd had been there recently. We hiked down with high hopes that there would be a herd bedded below the sign in the timber, but when we got there we learned that the sign was from cattle that apparently had hidden from their owner when he was rounding them up before the rifle season started.
On the hunt out we found where a herd of ten or so elk had spent a day or two during the week, but we could not locate them. We’ll keep that info in the back of our minds for future hunts, but it didn’t help us on this day.
November 22, 2012 (Thanksgiving Day)
We had been invited to eat Thanksgiving dinner with friends, so we weren’t planning to hunt on Thanksgiving Day. However, once I found out that the friends had a tradition of hunting on Thanksgiving morning while the wives prepared dinner, I decided I might as well get out for a short hunt myself. Isaac wanted to sleep in, so I hunted alone. I planned a short hunt in one of the areas where we had seen three separate family groups of does earlier in the season. An elk would have been great, but I was hoping to find a decent buck hanging out with the does.
I made it to the top of the ridge I wanted to glass from at daybreak. I located only four does that were making their way toward me. They were acting suspicious and watching their back trail. I was hoping a buck was following them, but I watched them and the surrounding area for an hour and never spotted a buck.
The wind was brutal and cold this morning and my glassing spot wasn’t protected, so I decided to move up the ridge farther to a protected location and glass from a different angle for some of the other does that I knew where around there somewhere and any buck that may be with them. After hiking a short distance I spotted what had the does acting suspicious. There was another hunter above me that had apparently come in from an open atv trail on top. I hadn’t heard any atv’s up there this morning, so the guy may have hiked in, but it was a really long hike to that spot unless you parked where I had, and I was the only truck there.
I was disappointed at finding the other hunter. He was in the middle of what I was going to hunt, so I hunted back out to my truck and made it a really short hunt. The ridge I was on was really steep and the loose small rock that made up the surface was almost like gravel and it was frozen. While on the way down both feet slipped out from under me so fast that the only thing that broke my fall was my backside. I slid several feet before I stopped myself with my heels. The fall hurt and added to my frustration. The 7mm mag that was on my shoulder stayed on my shoulder, but it hit the ground and slid with me and the scope had several scuffs on it. The scope still had a good picture through it, but I questioned if it could still be on target. I unloaded the gun for the rest of the hike down and had to make a note to shoot some paper when I got home. The scope checked out ok when I got home, so other than a scuff or two it was ok.
November 23, 2012
(Morning)
Well before daylight we hiked up the gulch toward the location that Isaac had missed the cow. Our plan was simple. We would start on the ridge overlooking where we had found the elk before and glass the surrounding area. If glassing didn’t turn up any elk we would hunt some of the hidden gulches, looking for elk that were holed up from the orange army.
I expected the same elk we had shot at to still be in the area or another herd to have moved in, so we glassed for a while from our ridge top, but was unable to locate any elk. We spent the rest of the morning peeking into several holes where we suspected the elk could be hidden, but were unsuccessful in locating any elk.
It was a disappointing hunt.
(Evening)
That afternoon we decided to relocate to the opposite side of the mountain where Isaac had missed the cow. We found several sets of elk tracks that had been left during the last day or two, but never did find any elk close by. However, we did glass a herd that was almost two miles away. We could see 8 elk and two of those appeared to be bulls. We couldn’t tell much about antlers, but one of those that appeared to be a bull was substantially bigger than the rest of the elk.
It was too late in the evening to even think about making a run for them, so we watched them and planned out the next morning. They were located near where we had hunted on the first day of the rifle season and we couldn’t see any orange near them. We felt good about our chances since we knew the area, but were worried about the hunter numbers on the last Saturday of the season. Still, we had elk to hunt the next morning, and that was nice for a change.
November 24, 2012
We arrived at our parking location almost 3 hours before daylight, so that we had plenty of time to hike the long steep climb to the elk. We had decided that the most direct route would put us in their view, so we looped around them hoping to ease over the top for a shot at daylight. If other hunters pushed them from the bottom, we would also be in place to catch them as they slipped over the top.
Most of this hike was in the open, but we stayed below the ridge top on the opposite side to stay hidden. Our plans depended on the elk staying near where we had seen them the night before. They were feeding away from our planned route when we last saw them, so we felt confident that we would not be seen. However, during one of our breaks in the dark we herd one animal spook over the ridge. It didn’t sound big enough to be an elk, but I started smelling elk shortly after we restarted our climb. I still wasn’t convinced that we had bumped the herd we had seen the day before since they should have been another half mile from us. I didn’t even think the animal that ran was an elk, but I could definitely smell elk shortly after that.
We continued on with our original plan and made it into place about 20 minutes before legal shooting light. We had only been there a few minutes when we both herd several cow mews that convinced us both that the herd was in the burn just below us and slightly to our left. We glassed the area intently but could not find a single elk. We could see several mule deer does that we thought may have a buck with them, but I was determined to not shoot a deer unless it was a really good buck since we were certain the elk were close by.
We backed up and moved around to glass from another location, but could not find any sign of the elk in the area where we had herd the cow talk. We still felt the elk were there somewhere, so we continued to work our way around the back side of the ridge and peek over into every spot that the herd could be hiding in.
A half hour after daybreak we spotted three hunters on another ridge that were moving at a rapid rate up the spine of their ridge and appeared to be on a mission. I finally found what they were hiking towards. There was a herd of elk about a mile and a half from us that may have been the herd from the previous night. The elk were feeding slowly up a sage covered face and into the timber on the opposite side. I could only see three or four of them, but there were likely more that had already fed into the timber. There was no use going after them. The three hunters would beat us there by a long shot, so we continued to hold out hope that we were near elk on our ridge.
We also found two more hunters below us that had taken the direct route to the area we were hunting and watching the three hunters on the next ridge. They finally spotted us above them and just sat down on their side ridge. I suppose they were disgusted at the number of hunters they had seen and hoping we would bump an elk to them. I was none too happy myself. They would have bumped the herd if the herd had been where we saw them the previous night, but even then I think we would have caught the elk in the open after crossing over the top.
We eventually heard shooting from the area the three hunters and elk were bound to have met up. There were eight or nine shots fired and we never saw the hunters again, so I suppose luck shined on them during this last weekend and they were fortunate enough to be quartering elk.
We hunted until late afternoon, but we never could find the herd. We found a lot of tracks where they had been throughout the area. We even swung back around and hunted the area where we had bumped the animal in the dark. The tracks we found didn’t look like the herd had been there, so if it was an elk, I couldn’t find its tracks. I wish we had hunted this area more, but there are so many hunters. We will keep it in mind for next season.
Our view on the way out:
While hiking out we found this winter or lion kill. Its location and the brow tines lead me to believe it is a muley without the forks.
November 25, 2012 (Last Day)
We went to church in the morning and planned a hunt up high in the evening. The hunt didn’t work out as planned because the roads were worse up high than I had anticipated. I had chains, but the result of sliding off the road would have been rolling several hundred to a thousand feet down the mountain side. The risk of sliding on the ice was more than I cared to take.
We drove back down lower and hunted the three hours of daylight we had left. I didn’t expect to find elk in the area, but thought I still had a chance at a buck since we had seen several in here earlier in the year. We held out hope right up until dark, but it apparently wasn’t meant to be.
Closing out the season:
There was no denying that we were both disappointed with our results after so many close encounters during bow season, but overall it had been a good season. Although we didn’t kill an elk, Isaac was able to take his first mule deer. Hopefully we learned from our first season in MT and can improve on the one deer next season.
As I write this we are preparing to bowhunt whitetails in IL during a two week vacation over Christmas and New Year. Isaac won’t hunt as much as I will because he wants to do a lot of visiting with his cousins that he hasn’t seen in almost a year, but hopefully he can hunt just enough to record his first bow kill. I’ll bowhunt as many days as I can and still visit with family and friends.
- Thread Starter
- #73
I bowhunted three evenings in IL over Christmas and New Year holidays. Isaac went with me two of those times. The one time that he didn't hunt with me I killed a fat doe that wandered within 15 to 20 yards of a treestand that I hung that evening. She didn't make it more than 30 yards before stopping and collapsing. I would have liked to have hunted more, but a two week visit back home over the holidays goes by fast.
A couple views behind the treestand (If I had been hunting a buck during this late season I would not have been on the edge of a field)
A veiw in front and slightly left of the stand:
A blury late evening phot, but if you look hard you can spot the arrow exit and the doe laying beyond:
A couple views behind the treestand (If I had been hunting a buck during this late season I would not have been on the edge of a field)
A veiw in front and slightly left of the stand:
A blury late evening phot, but if you look hard you can spot the arrow exit and the doe laying beyond:
- Thread Starter
- #74
Shrek
WKR
Thank you for a great season of posts ! I have really enjoyed following you and your sons season and I hope you do it again this year.
HUNTMAN
FNG
That was great thanks for posting. Montana will consume a man with its outdoor oppurtunity. Helena area? Best of luck . HUNT
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