Shrek's big adventure

[Matt Cashell]

Dave,

You are learning and earning.

Don't give up the fight. Persistence pays.

 

[Shrek]

At this point I'm waitng on snow and taking blind armed hikes. Maybe lightning will strike.

 

[Xtorminator]

Dave,

You are learning and earning.

Don't give up the fight. Persistence pays.

Persistence, persistence, persistence

 

[Matt Cashell]

At this point I'm waitng on snow and taking blind armed hikes. Maybe lightning will strike.

Snow is coming.

I sent you a PM.

 

[Ross]

Are you hunting around Noxon/trout creek mt?

 

[Shrek]

Yes Ross , I'm in Trout Creek now.

 

[Ross]

This is tough brushy country as your seeing. Continue at it........I will pm you a couple of places to check out if needing a few new places....good luck the snow is coming and john at the lake view motel is always up to date on how things are lookin in this area..good luck

 

[colonel00]

Yep, stick with it and the trip will be worth it regardless of success. Trust me, I feel your pain when I leave the flatlands here in Kansas to go chase animals in the hills.

 

[Logan T]

Just a note that may or may not be relevent, as I don't have any experience with the Hanwag boots, but I know that snowseal will ruin some boots instead of help waterproof them.... You may already know that so if you do just throw this out the door! But if you didn't, knowing it may help save some $$$ on boots!!

 

[HellsCanyon]

Also heat is the enemy of the glue they use on the toe rands... learned that the hard way and the shoe shop said they use a heat gun to release the rand too...

 

[Shrek]

I've moved way south to different terrain. Going to try something new and see what I can see. Much more open and higher. I'll post more when I get a chance.

 

[Mtnboy]

Keep it up...remember...your luck can change in literally 1 second!

 

[Jason Snyder]

I can sense your frustration, so here is some general advice.

You can't rely on elk being vocal during rifle season. This has nothing to do with wolves, it just is what it is. You will hear elk bugle clear into December, but it is much more the exception than the norm.

That said, if you can't hear the elk, you either need to see them or their tracks. It sounds simple and dumb, but there is no rocket science to hunting elk. The hardest part as you have discovered is finding them. You have fresh snow to help track. You are also hunting some very thick and brushy country relative to much of Montana. Since you don't have intimate local knowledge, you're going to have to go with what would generally be good places to find elk and hope to smell them, see tracks, or see/hear them in the woods.

As you have found out by now, it is much easier to hunt more open country where you can glass at first light/last light and actually visually locate the elk.

There are a lot of elk around Trout Creek, so reassure yourself that they are there. If they aren't in the drainage you're in, go to another one. Repeat as often as necessary. Look at aerials and try to pick out little pocket meadows on the southern exposures and go to those. The bulls will be breaking off into little bachelor herds and will use these little pockets of habitat where they don't have to go far. They are tired and worn out. They don't want to travel far for anything, and likely won't unless they get disturbed.

Good luck.

 

[Jason Snyder]

Forgot to mention, don't let yourself obsess with all of the things that you think could be messing you up. Grizzlies, wolves, rocks, etc. If you can't get them out of your head, go somewhere that they aren't or they will be playing with your psyche and you will mentally defeat yourself.

Also, don't be afraid to take a screw off day to get your head right. There are a lot worse things in life then hunting elk for four weeks straight.

 

[Shrek]

I went out hunting with a real elk hunter and I'm in terrible elk hunting shape. A couple thousand feet more altitude and 6" of snow combined to whip my butt in less than an hour. Need to be in much better shape next year and have better clothes. Coming from Florida in just don't have the cold tolerance I need. 17º and 10 to 15 mph wind was killing me.
On to better things. We rode around and he showed me an area and some ideas I can try. We spotted elk , mule deer , and two Bighorn rams and some ewes. The guy who was showing me around thought that one was close to minimum book class. We spotted a nice mulie buck but it's a draw tag area. This area is what I thought of when I was thinking of western hunting. A mix of open timber , burns , and pockets of thicker timber. I maynot be able to hike well enough to get to some of the elk but at least I can see some. We crossed the path of a bull but I was not in good enough shape to pursue him. I'd say that a sea level hunter probably needs to be able to knock out three hours nonstop on the stairmaster with a full pack every day of the week for a month before the hunt and thats a minimum. You couldn't be in too good of cardiovascular shape for elk hunting.

 

[Jon Boy]

Give it a few days of hunting like that to get your mountain lungs and legs shrek. It won't be so bad then. Make sure you take a day of rest after a few days of doing that.

 

[Shrek]

A few more thoughts. Before I left I passed on a topper for my pickup. That was a big mistake . I have every spare inch of my truck cab packed with clothes and equipment that could be in the back. It's really wearing on me. I have to unload the whole cab to get to things. I will have better clothes next year and better binoculars. HD glass really makes a difference when looking at snow covered mountains. I looked through some top hd glass today and it resolved noticeably better. My Brunton Eternas are ok sharp but purple /grey chromatic aberration really dulls the image. I could find animals but the detail didn't pop. If I can swing it I will have the Meopta 10x42 hd binoculars and s2 spotter with a 30-60 wide angle eyepiece. If I could have gotten comfortable I could really enjoy glassing an area picking it apart.
I will have a puffy suit and wool pants. I will be going with First Lite wool because I really like the llano tops I have and I might try their puff top and bottom too. I will have a lightweight wind stopper top also to slip over my wool for when the wind is cutting through.
My Marmot Durago pants came back into play in this terrain and worked like I had planned. Very happy with them today. Need better gloves and head coverings. My hands froze and I have lost my wool beanie. The cheap gloves and synthetic beanie didn't cut it today.

 

[bigeasygator]

I've been following the thread and thought I'd weigh in as a fellow flatlander who has gone through most of the frustrations and trials that you are now experiencing. First and foremost, hunting elk in the mountains is, IMO, a mental game. I can sense the frustration and disappointment and I can tell you if you can get your mind past that, you'll do just fine! I think about some of those deep canyons I've dropped into or thick timber and deadfall I've had to deal with and at the time I thought what the hell am I doing -- I can tell you after it was all said and done there is nothing I would have rather have been doing. I'm confident you'll feel the same and it's something that you should remind yourself.

As you're seeing, pictures and stories do not do justice as to how hard and rugged the country can be. I don't know that you need to do 3 hours on a treadmill a night to get ready for it, but you're right that nothing gets you in shape for being in the mountains like being in the mountains does. I recommend going at it hard and then taking a rest day every now and then. Despite the fact that you'll feel like your body is being run down and can't go any further, it actually does get easier the more you push yourself. The only regret I ever had is that I didn't give it all I could've.

Stick with it. This is a hard time of year to hunt between the weather and the behavior of the elk. My experience is there isn't a whole lot of bugling this time of year compared to mid-September and mid-October. Don't let that discourage you -- just let it help set your expectations. Stick with it...do all you can to make the conditions as comfortable as possible as that will only wear you down even quicker.

There really isn't anything easy about elk hunting -- but that challenge is what makes it so amazing. Don't forget that. And just wait til you get one down...then the fun will really start!! Good luck!

 

[DeepMauka]

I went out hunting with a real elk hunter and I'm in terrible elk hunting shape. A couple thousand feet more altitude and 6" of snow combined to whip my butt in less than an hour. Need to be in much better shape next year and have better clothes. Coming from Florida in just don't have the cold tolerance I need. 17º and 10 to 15 mph wind was killing me.
On to better things. We rode around and he showed me an area and some ideas I can try. We spotted elk , mule deer , and two Bighorn rams and some ewes. The guy who was showing me around thought that one was close to minimum book class. We spotted a nice mulie buck but it's a draw tag area. This area is what I thought of when I was thinking of western hunting. A mix of open timber , burns , and pockets of thicker timber. I maynot be able to hike well enough to get to some of the elk but at least I can see some. We crossed the path of a bull but I was not in good enough shape to pursue him. I'd say that a sea level hunter probably needs to be able to knock out three hours nonstop on the stairmaster with a full pack every day of the week for a month before the hunt and thats a minimum. You couldn't be in too good of cardiovascular shape for elk hunting.

Thanks for the motivation to put in the roadwork, and get some solid legs and lungs.

 

[Shrek]

DeepMauka , stairs man ! Not just driving up hill but be ready to high step in the snow while pushing up the hill. I can tell you that just the lift needed for 6" snow was just whipping me. Hike up hill and then pick your feet up extra high like a double step and then drop it back down to the ground. Then add a few steps in where you bring your knee almost to your chest and then drop it back to simulate post holing through drifts that fill in low spot. You sink in the snow up to your pecker.
Thinking about today I realized that I did this on no food since about noon the day before so that didn't help. I'm going to eat before I go in the morning and try walking some closed roads in the area I saw the game today. It's not the area I bombed in but it has all the elements and easier access. We saw plenty of road hunters but only a couple even got out to glass much less walk down any of the closed roads.