October Yellowstone trip

[Camo out]

Let us know how it goes. I was in YNP in july words can't describe how beautiful it is. good luck and have fun

 

[displacedtexan]

We spent the day in Yellowstone late last week...

Third time I've been in October, and by far the busiest.

 

[Boog304]

Well folks just got back home from the 8 day Western WY trip and it has been an amazing experience. Spent the first 3.5 days running around the Tetons and Yellowstone seeing the sites that many of you had recommended. Important to note the first night in Yellowstone we went out right at dark and spotted a giant bull elk with a few cows and he was pretty fired up so Audrey got to witness a bugling bull in all his glory from about 150 yards away and it really gave her some excitement for the upcoming hunt.

Before we went south into rock springs we had about a couple hours to kill so we were at granite hot springs at opening time that morning and took a dip in the hot springs. That was a really cool stop of the trip and we were the only people there.

Hunt officially started bright and early on Thursday and we immediately got on a herd of about 25 elk. 15-20 cows/calves and at least 5 different bulls. The herd bull was a giant (to me). Guide thought 330-335 and we were set up well until the wind changed and the lead cow steered them away. They were not too alarmed tho and we ended up getting back on the herd that evening, getting dangerously close to a good shot opportunity. The next morning we found the herd right where they were the previous morning and expected them read the script and do what they did the day prior but they didn’t and we were not real sure where they snuck off to but they didn’t come into the cedars like they had done before. The rest of that day we searched a number of other places for some elk and were not able to find anything until about 45 minutes left of shooting light. Thats when we spotted about 15 cows/calves with a good bull about a 3/4 mile away and slowly feeding down the mountain. Guide knew where the water was and had a good idea of how they would be coming to the water so we got set up on them in a ravine and about 25 minutes later 11 of the cows/calves came right in front of us and putting on a pretty cool show as the calves were bucking and chasing each other right in front of us, that was cool by itself. The bull was lagging a long way behind with a couple other cows but we could kinda keep tabs on it by is infrequent bugles when we realized he was not going to take the same path as the rest of the herd. So we had to reposition a couple times and the bull busted us as we were moving to set up. Luckily the guide was able to keep him calm enough to stay within range and Audrey got a couple good shots in him and was able to seal the deal.

Her reaction to this fairy tale ending was one that a father can only wish for and I could have never dreamed up a hunt any better. She is 12 years old and I’ve been with her on every hunt and she has taken several whitetails over the years and each one was special. But given her last 2.5 years have been focused on her cancer treatment this hunt meant so much to her that it is difficult to imagine. She was/is still on cloud 9 and I am so proud of her for getting up every morning of this “vacation” well before daylight to go hike around WY then go hunting in such a wonderful place, without the first complaint, it was just an awesome time.

I tried to take everyone’s stop recommendations into consideration and we were able to do many of them and they were all solid recommendations for sure, so thank you all for the input into our trip. There were a few we wanted to do but were not able to do but I guess that gives us a reason to go back…

Special thanks to Holy Pursuit Dream Foundation for putting hunts like this together for these kids, they are doing some awesome work and you should check them out on FB (I don’t do fb or I would post a link). NP’s like this are so special and opportunities like this mean so much to kids that have been dealt a tough hand.

Also thanks to Jason Faigl with Red Desert Outfitters for guiding these hunts. Jason definitely knows his way around his areas and wouldn’t have been possible without him.

Met several good folks this week that wanted nothing more than to see these girls succeed (there was another young lady who was hunting mule deer and was able to take a really nice buck as well).

For those of you from WY, you should be very proud of your state for offering these limited tags to children that have battled so much.

Thanks guys for putting up with the long post but it deserved some context, now for a few pics…

 

[Sitkaspruce]

Congrats to your daughter and you!! Great bull!

Sounds like an awesome trip! Thanks for bringing us along and sharing the hunt!

Take care

Cheers

SS