Hey, it's the off season & we're all getting geared up mentally & physically so how about an Elk Story! (grin)
This elk hunt was on Sept 1st in the Idaho mountains, as normal it's an OTC DIY public land hunt! My Son & I drove away from our base-camp as usual to a spot we had decided on the night before while enjoying a nice campfire! It was an area we hadn't hunted in several years so thought, Why Not! (grin)
This was a unique decision for us because it meant we were going to start our hunt from a Trail-head, we rarely do this in fact years have gone by since our last visit to one! We chose this one because of its lack of popularity, on arrival an hour before light we see a rig parked there with no one in it, we could tell it hadn't been there long as there was a light drizzle this morning & we could still see steam coming off the hood of their rig. We figured oh well we're committed now so lets move on, it's big country & who knows where the hunters may have went.
Our packs are loaded from the night before so all we had to do was mount our head lamps in place, shoulder our packs & we were gone, took about a minute. The trail is a steady climb from our rig, after a 1/2 mile up I decide to toss out a Locator bugle to see if anyone's home! (grin) Nothing responded so we moved on. Not sure if the other hunter/hunters had heard us but it didn't matter too us if they had, we're looking for elk & this is our # 1 way to find them. We continue on & it's starting to get light, we cover another 1/4 mile from our last bugle & are now looking into a nice draw to our right, it's about 150 yards below us & we can hear a small creek in the bottom.
It's choked with green timber & downfall all the way down to this creek & heading up the other side. We are on a 1/4 acre size rock mass looking towards the other side & it's super thick timber all the way to 1500' higher than we were standing, yep it is very steep on the opposite side. The creek was far enough below we could barely hear it so felt this was a good place to bugle from. We're both standing there not expecting much but you never know so you gotta try! I whip up the bugle & shout out a Locator, 10 seconds lapses & bull sounds off rather weakly aprox 2/3 from the top on the opposite side of course! (grin) My Son & I look at each other & discuss if we want to go after him? We decide to go after him if he will respond back again; I bugle, nothing! Wait a minute & bugle again, nothing! Ahh he didn't sound like more than a 5 point anyway so we decide to move on!
We end up going another couple miles bugling here & there & tossed in a whiny cow call here & there with no response. The drizzling rain had subsided by now & wasn't too bad out. We had left the trail quite a ways back ramboing through the woods calling off the tops here & there down into a few basins & valleys. We decide to head back to the rig so are heading out the general direction, it's about 11 a.m. at this point, on our way down we accidentally stumble on the trail right where I had called from the rock mass & had a bull respond across the draw. I figure what the heck I'll give it a shot & bugle. In the mean time my Son is still walking away not knowing I was going to bugle, I bugle & that same bull bugles back from the same spot! My Son jerks back around like someone had just set a hook into his jaw & jerked hard on the rod! (grin) He asks if I heard the return bugle, (sometimes I don't-grin) I said of course I did. I said let's try to call him over, heck it had been hours since he responded to my first bugle!
My Son sets up behind a Volkswagen sized rock right on that rock mass. He can see down the draw towards the creek, it's real thick country so if anything comes towards us we should hear it before we can see it. If we wanted to walk to where the bugle came from it would be a 1/2 mile plus every bit of that 1000'+ climb.
I decide I'm going to use a lighter version of the Slow Play Breeding Sequence, sorta tailoring it for this early season situation to convince this bull I have a cow nearing estrus! I move above my Son 25 yards & start with light cow calling of 2-3 cows & a calf in the mix. I'm tossing my sounds in every direction & rustling brush & cracking sticks like elk were moving around there, I'm pacing around in a 20 yard circle. I add short & low round up bugles & inject a low volume lip bawl now & then with the cow sounds. I'm mixing it up as natural as possible without sounding corny. I do this for aprox 10 minutes with a few slight pauses to sound natural. Every couple a minutes I have one cow give a one to two second whiny cow mew. I want her to stand out without overdoing it. After 15 minutes I look over at my Son to get a read on things & he shrugs his shoulders like nothing interesting happening.
So I walk over to him & ask him how I sounded? He says OK! Well, we're standing there looking & listening & I say let's go through the sequence one more time. About then he says be quiet I think I hear something, I'm like really? He says yes something broke down there like a branch & it was loud enough to be done by an elk. I said OK I'll get back up on my perch & continue the calling. My Son now nocks an arrow & is on one knee, his right one. He can see fairly well down into the draw. I start my sequence back up mildly & slowly increasing volume as natural as possible, I now see my Son stiffen as his bow is slowly rising into position, I'm now 35 yards from him, I see him slowly pivoting to his right like he's expecting this animal to come to his right, I decide to retreat 15 more yards into better cover so wherever this elk shows it has no way of seeing me, I want him in search mode.
I'm looking back towards my Son every few seconds but still maintaining my sequence. I see him come to full draw & still hear nothing! I'm like wow, something is going to happen here! (grin) All of a sudden I hear the string release but didn't get to see it! I hear an animal crashing down through the timber & downfall, I run over to my Son thinking man we'll have a short 1/2 mile packout or so & all downhill, sweet!
I get to him & he's shaking his head in a negative manner! I asked what happened, how close was he? Did you get him? He sits there just shaking his head No. He finally says you won't believe this! I'm staring at him wide eyed waiting for an explanation! He says he saw the bull coming up from the creek bottom through the trees at about 100 yards, he slowly cut the distance to 50 yards & that's when my Son was able to pivot to his right as the bull went behind a bit of cover. He said he had a perfect setup on him, the wind was great & the bull was cooperating! The bull came to 20 yards & just below my Son, the bull had to go behind a huge boulder to come to where I was calling & that's when he drew, it was all perfect! My Son pivots to the right of the boulder with his bow at full draw waiting for the bull to step out, the bull does just that, only thing is the bull is lower than he thought he'd be so he had to slowly lower his bow to be on target, the 5X6 bull is now 15 yards away. As he slowly lowers the bow so as not to be spotted; his trigger finger gets excited & touches the release off with the arrow still over the bulls back! The arrow went ricocheting off the rock mass behind the bull, he lit out of there like his a$$ was on fire! (grin)
Crap happens, you talk about it & laugh about it & move forward! (grin) As you can see we don't kill them all but we sure givem heck! (grin)
ElkNut/Paul
This elk hunt was on Sept 1st in the Idaho mountains, as normal it's an OTC DIY public land hunt! My Son & I drove away from our base-camp as usual to a spot we had decided on the night before while enjoying a nice campfire! It was an area we hadn't hunted in several years so thought, Why Not! (grin)
This was a unique decision for us because it meant we were going to start our hunt from a Trail-head, we rarely do this in fact years have gone by since our last visit to one! We chose this one because of its lack of popularity, on arrival an hour before light we see a rig parked there with no one in it, we could tell it hadn't been there long as there was a light drizzle this morning & we could still see steam coming off the hood of their rig. We figured oh well we're committed now so lets move on, it's big country & who knows where the hunters may have went.
Our packs are loaded from the night before so all we had to do was mount our head lamps in place, shoulder our packs & we were gone, took about a minute. The trail is a steady climb from our rig, after a 1/2 mile up I decide to toss out a Locator bugle to see if anyone's home! (grin) Nothing responded so we moved on. Not sure if the other hunter/hunters had heard us but it didn't matter too us if they had, we're looking for elk & this is our # 1 way to find them. We continue on & it's starting to get light, we cover another 1/4 mile from our last bugle & are now looking into a nice draw to our right, it's about 150 yards below us & we can hear a small creek in the bottom.
It's choked with green timber & downfall all the way down to this creek & heading up the other side. We are on a 1/4 acre size rock mass looking towards the other side & it's super thick timber all the way to 1500' higher than we were standing, yep it is very steep on the opposite side. The creek was far enough below we could barely hear it so felt this was a good place to bugle from. We're both standing there not expecting much but you never know so you gotta try! I whip up the bugle & shout out a Locator, 10 seconds lapses & bull sounds off rather weakly aprox 2/3 from the top on the opposite side of course! (grin) My Son & I look at each other & discuss if we want to go after him? We decide to go after him if he will respond back again; I bugle, nothing! Wait a minute & bugle again, nothing! Ahh he didn't sound like more than a 5 point anyway so we decide to move on!
We end up going another couple miles bugling here & there & tossed in a whiny cow call here & there with no response. The drizzling rain had subsided by now & wasn't too bad out. We had left the trail quite a ways back ramboing through the woods calling off the tops here & there down into a few basins & valleys. We decide to head back to the rig so are heading out the general direction, it's about 11 a.m. at this point, on our way down we accidentally stumble on the trail right where I had called from the rock mass & had a bull respond across the draw. I figure what the heck I'll give it a shot & bugle. In the mean time my Son is still walking away not knowing I was going to bugle, I bugle & that same bull bugles back from the same spot! My Son jerks back around like someone had just set a hook into his jaw & jerked hard on the rod! (grin) He asks if I heard the return bugle, (sometimes I don't-grin) I said of course I did. I said let's try to call him over, heck it had been hours since he responded to my first bugle!
My Son sets up behind a Volkswagen sized rock right on that rock mass. He can see down the draw towards the creek, it's real thick country so if anything comes towards us we should hear it before we can see it. If we wanted to walk to where the bugle came from it would be a 1/2 mile plus every bit of that 1000'+ climb.
I decide I'm going to use a lighter version of the Slow Play Breeding Sequence, sorta tailoring it for this early season situation to convince this bull I have a cow nearing estrus! I move above my Son 25 yards & start with light cow calling of 2-3 cows & a calf in the mix. I'm tossing my sounds in every direction & rustling brush & cracking sticks like elk were moving around there, I'm pacing around in a 20 yard circle. I add short & low round up bugles & inject a low volume lip bawl now & then with the cow sounds. I'm mixing it up as natural as possible without sounding corny. I do this for aprox 10 minutes with a few slight pauses to sound natural. Every couple a minutes I have one cow give a one to two second whiny cow mew. I want her to stand out without overdoing it. After 15 minutes I look over at my Son to get a read on things & he shrugs his shoulders like nothing interesting happening.
So I walk over to him & ask him how I sounded? He says OK! Well, we're standing there looking & listening & I say let's go through the sequence one more time. About then he says be quiet I think I hear something, I'm like really? He says yes something broke down there like a branch & it was loud enough to be done by an elk. I said OK I'll get back up on my perch & continue the calling. My Son now nocks an arrow & is on one knee, his right one. He can see fairly well down into the draw. I start my sequence back up mildly & slowly increasing volume as natural as possible, I now see my Son stiffen as his bow is slowly rising into position, I'm now 35 yards from him, I see him slowly pivoting to his right like he's expecting this animal to come to his right, I decide to retreat 15 more yards into better cover so wherever this elk shows it has no way of seeing me, I want him in search mode.
I'm looking back towards my Son every few seconds but still maintaining my sequence. I see him come to full draw & still hear nothing! I'm like wow, something is going to happen here! (grin) All of a sudden I hear the string release but didn't get to see it! I hear an animal crashing down through the timber & downfall, I run over to my Son thinking man we'll have a short 1/2 mile packout or so & all downhill, sweet!
I get to him & he's shaking his head in a negative manner! I asked what happened, how close was he? Did you get him? He sits there just shaking his head No. He finally says you won't believe this! I'm staring at him wide eyed waiting for an explanation! He says he saw the bull coming up from the creek bottom through the trees at about 100 yards, he slowly cut the distance to 50 yards & that's when my Son was able to pivot to his right as the bull went behind a bit of cover. He said he had a perfect setup on him, the wind was great & the bull was cooperating! The bull came to 20 yards & just below my Son, the bull had to go behind a huge boulder to come to where I was calling & that's when he drew, it was all perfect! My Son pivots to the right of the boulder with his bow at full draw waiting for the bull to step out, the bull does just that, only thing is the bull is lower than he thought he'd be so he had to slowly lower his bow to be on target, the 5X6 bull is now 15 yards away. As he slowly lowers the bow so as not to be spotted; his trigger finger gets excited & touches the release off with the arrow still over the bulls back! The arrow went ricocheting off the rock mass behind the bull, he lit out of there like his a$$ was on fire! (grin)
Crap happens, you talk about it & laugh about it & move forward! (grin) As you can see we don't kill them all but we sure givem heck! (grin)
ElkNut/Paul
