2016 idaho elk
- Thread starter Zpd307
- Start date
cohunter14
Administrator
- Jul 10, 2017
- 5,332
X2...keep it coming!!!\"mainebrdr\" said:
iccyman001
New member
- Apr 30, 2014
- 5,489
\"cohunter14\" said:
X3! Very glad you took notes during your hunt. It makes for a great read!
I got to camp about a week earlier than Gary and Matt. I had 5 days of hunting before I met them. I had encounters and as Gary reported missed a cow. Dang branch :evil: . I also had a great first day. Saw 9 bulls and had 5 within 40 yards with no clear shot. Our last day I took the guys UP to that spot. I am sure Gary will tell the story better than me.........
day 8 continued
as I said before, it was cold and everything was frozen. we had a day off yesterday and were ready to hit it! so we went way back again to mimic matts bull hunt on Saturday.
we left an hour early, so we were up at 5 and out by 6. it took all of the 2 miles of hiking for my feet and fingers to regain feeling......
on the way in, a wolf sounded off to the west of us. then another and another. we knew that there was supposed to be wolves here, but had yet to hear any....
we ended up climbing up the steep a little too early.... we stopped half way up to enjoy the view!
[attachment=5]<!-- ia5 -->IMG_1594.JPG<!-- ia5 -->[/attachment]
notice the snowy peak, through the trees
[attachment=4]<!-- ia4 -->IMG_1596.JPG<!-- ia4 -->[/attachment]
[attachment=3]<!-- ia3 -->IMG_1597.JPG<!-- ia3 -->[/attachment]
[attachment=0]<!-- ia0 -->IMG_0885.jpg<!-- ia0 -->[/attachment]
while we were enjoying the view, I noticed a mulie doe and her twins feeding up the slope on the opposite side. while watching them, a bull down below us and farther down the canyon, where it splits, started bugling. he had a very distinctive growling bugle! we listened to him as he went up the other drainage, as his bugles got fainter.
if we hadn\'t gotten here so early, we might have had a play on him....
so, up we went! we ended up stopping again, to enjoy the warmth of the sun and rest, at the same spot that matt\'s bull responded to my cow calls. the sun felt awesome! you could see the steam coming off of my wet boots when the sun hit them....
we weren\'t there very long when we heard the distinctive crack of a stick breaking..... which reminds me, the standing burned trees were constantly popping..... they popped in the morning when they warmed up and they popped in the evening as they cooled down. what am I saying, they were always popping! the louder popped made you jerk your head to look, and we caught ourselves looking quite a lot :lol:
but this one was definitely a break...... a few moments later I caught movement above us in the burn. in an opening, a nice 5x5 bull stopped!!! he was looking up the hill above him. he stood there for a bit and continued walking.
this spot was magic, not only did we kill a bull here just a couple of days ago, but here was another bull!!! now we had to scramble to come up with a plan..... we were in the burn and he was above us. cow calls would only bring him to the edge and he could have looked down and see there was no cow there. it was also very quiet.... there was no way we could close the gap without him hearing us....
what to do, what to do....
so we waited for a bit and hear some more sticks breaking coming from the area that he was headed to.
we decided to try the same route that we took to sneak up on matt\'s bull.
we were almost to the ridge where we had set up before when I heard a thump. i was leading, so I stopped to figure out what it was. matt and terry both agreed that it sounded like a rock had rolled down and hit a dead fall. in my mind, that was not good. we went up further and came across some steaming poop! duh, we knew elk were up there.
we got to our set up spot and nothing. terry called, nothing..... we checked around and found 4 piles of steaming poop and several fresh sets of tracks..... he had cows, but we never saw them.....
terry and i disagree here. i found a set of tracks that the toes were splayed and headed back down the ridge the way the elk had come up. couple that with the thump i heard. i think the elk saw us and ran off.....
so, we were getting hungry and decided to continue up the ridge , where it connected to another ridge. this was where we had lunch and enjoyed another great view!
[attachment=2]<!-- ia2 -->IMG_1606.JPG<!-- ia2 -->[/attachment]
[attachment=1]<!-- ia1 -->IMG_0886.jpg<!-- ia1 -->[/attachment]
we listened to the wolves howling some more down below us.....
after eating, i spend some time trying to get caught up on my journal. i am several days behind.....
matt stops me and said that he heard a bugle. i did not..... dang hearing. a couple of minutes go by and another bull bugles, this one close enough to pin point where he is. so we pack up and chase after him. he is on our ridge, further south of us!!
we sneak in and set up for some calling. terry leads the charge. nothing happens, so we continue on and set up again. terry did call in two mulie does into 25 yards
nothing else happened, so we continue on. the trail led us to a steep rock face drop off.
i took a moment to glass the grassy ridge across the drainage from us. to my amazement, there is a herd of elk over there feeding out in the open!!!!!! it was 2pm! all the elk that i have hunted before have always stayed in the timber once it was light out enough to see.....
we watched them and watched them. its always fun to be able to watch elk and see them react. pretty soon matt and terry picked out the bull. then there was another bull following down lower. matt and terry said the lower bull was bigger than the herd bull! the elk started moving down and went over a ridge and out of sight.
crazy me decided
as I said before, it was cold and everything was frozen. we had a day off yesterday and were ready to hit it! so we went way back again to mimic matts bull hunt on Saturday.
we left an hour early, so we were up at 5 and out by 6. it took all of the 2 miles of hiking for my feet and fingers to regain feeling......
on the way in, a wolf sounded off to the west of us. then another and another. we knew that there was supposed to be wolves here, but had yet to hear any....
we ended up climbing up the steep a little too early.... we stopped half way up to enjoy the view!
[attachment=5]<!-- ia5 -->IMG_1594.JPG<!-- ia5 -->[/attachment]
notice the snowy peak, through the trees
[attachment=4]<!-- ia4 -->IMG_1596.JPG<!-- ia4 -->[/attachment]
[attachment=3]<!-- ia3 -->IMG_1597.JPG<!-- ia3 -->[/attachment]
[attachment=0]<!-- ia0 -->IMG_0885.jpg<!-- ia0 -->[/attachment]
while we were enjoying the view, I noticed a mulie doe and her twins feeding up the slope on the opposite side. while watching them, a bull down below us and farther down the canyon, where it splits, started bugling. he had a very distinctive growling bugle! we listened to him as he went up the other drainage, as his bugles got fainter.
if we hadn\'t gotten here so early, we might have had a play on him....
so, up we went! we ended up stopping again, to enjoy the warmth of the sun and rest, at the same spot that matt\'s bull responded to my cow calls. the sun felt awesome! you could see the steam coming off of my wet boots when the sun hit them....
we weren\'t there very long when we heard the distinctive crack of a stick breaking..... which reminds me, the standing burned trees were constantly popping..... they popped in the morning when they warmed up and they popped in the evening as they cooled down. what am I saying, they were always popping! the louder popped made you jerk your head to look, and we caught ourselves looking quite a lot :lol:
but this one was definitely a break...... a few moments later I caught movement above us in the burn. in an opening, a nice 5x5 bull stopped!!! he was looking up the hill above him. he stood there for a bit and continued walking.
this spot was magic, not only did we kill a bull here just a couple of days ago, but here was another bull!!! now we had to scramble to come up with a plan..... we were in the burn and he was above us. cow calls would only bring him to the edge and he could have looked down and see there was no cow there. it was also very quiet.... there was no way we could close the gap without him hearing us....
what to do, what to do....
so we waited for a bit and hear some more sticks breaking coming from the area that he was headed to.
we decided to try the same route that we took to sneak up on matt\'s bull.
we were almost to the ridge where we had set up before when I heard a thump. i was leading, so I stopped to figure out what it was. matt and terry both agreed that it sounded like a rock had rolled down and hit a dead fall. in my mind, that was not good. we went up further and came across some steaming poop! duh, we knew elk were up there.
we got to our set up spot and nothing. terry called, nothing..... we checked around and found 4 piles of steaming poop and several fresh sets of tracks..... he had cows, but we never saw them.....
terry and i disagree here. i found a set of tracks that the toes were splayed and headed back down the ridge the way the elk had come up. couple that with the thump i heard. i think the elk saw us and ran off.....
so, we were getting hungry and decided to continue up the ridge , where it connected to another ridge. this was where we had lunch and enjoyed another great view!
[attachment=2]<!-- ia2 -->IMG_1606.JPG<!-- ia2 -->[/attachment]
[attachment=1]<!-- ia1 -->IMG_0886.jpg<!-- ia1 -->[/attachment]
we listened to the wolves howling some more down below us.....
after eating, i spend some time trying to get caught up on my journal. i am several days behind.....
matt stops me and said that he heard a bugle. i did not..... dang hearing. a couple of minutes go by and another bull bugles, this one close enough to pin point where he is. so we pack up and chase after him. he is on our ridge, further south of us!!
we sneak in and set up for some calling. terry leads the charge. nothing happens, so we continue on and set up again. terry did call in two mulie does into 25 yards
nothing else happened, so we continue on. the trail led us to a steep rock face drop off.i took a moment to glass the grassy ridge across the drainage from us. to my amazement, there is a herd of elk over there feeding out in the open!!!!!! it was 2pm! all the elk that i have hunted before have always stayed in the timber once it was light out enough to see.....
we watched them and watched them. its always fun to be able to watch elk and see them react. pretty soon matt and terry picked out the bull. then there was another bull following down lower. matt and terry said the lower bull was bigger than the herd bull! the elk started moving down and went over a ridge and out of sight.
crazy me decided
continued again!
crazy me decided to drop back down and head back up to try and get on them..... with the hopes of calling out that satellite bull
down the shale we go..... with no time to waste we were in a hurry. matt said it was like downhill skiing except on shale :lol:
we started up the other side. I knew there was supposed to be a wallow in the area, it was seen from google earth. well, we found it..... it was massive and there were two! matts bull was muddy when we killed him. I am betting that he used this one before he bedded that day.
[attachment=0]<!-- ia0 -->IMG_1608.JPG<!-- ia0 -->[/attachment]
crazy me decided to drop back down and head back up to try and get on them..... with the hopes of calling out that satellite bull
down the shale we go..... with no time to waste we were in a hurry. matt said it was like downhill skiing except on shale :lol:
we started up the other side. I knew there was supposed to be a wallow in the area, it was seen from google earth. well, we found it..... it was massive and there were two! matts bull was muddy when we killed him. I am betting that he used this one before he bedded that day.
[attachment=0]<!-- ia0 -->IMG_1608.JPG<!-- ia0 -->[/attachment]
cohunter14
Administrator
- Jul 10, 2017
- 5,332
And you were there Terry!!!\"bowhunter\" said:
\"cohunter14\" said:
Yes I know...But Gary does a much better job than me at telling the story with details. I like to read it several times during the off season. I am sure he is just busy.
I am just as anxious as everyone else. I want to see how he describes the last day. It was epic!
continued, again.....
so with the herd on our minds, we started back up..... I am going to be honest, I was beat...... it was slowwww going. it signaled the nearing of the end for me....... :downthumb:
we flushed a rabbit, it didn\'t go far and terry decided to chase after it with his camera
shortly there after matt smelled it first. we came down wind of some elk. but, that has been the theme this year. everything stunk of elk, everywhere we went.....! I had it in my mind that it was just another elky spot. afterwards, several days later, it made sense. more on that later.......
I got embarrassed... I was the guy who always seemed to know where I was. and the plan was to get in down below where we had last seen the elk and do some calling, to try and bring in that satellite bull. I ended up taking us right to where we had last seen the herd.....
playing with a herd is tricky business...... and I don\'t have much experience playing with them.... with that said
we found where they went over the ridge, it stunk! terry and I nocked arrows and snuck up to the ridge.... we were expecting to see ears and antler! nothing..... so we chilled to figure what was going on. I followed their tracks and to my surprise, they were going down! I had it in my head that we would find the herd just on the other side of the ridge that we had gone up. why had the herd gone down so early????? we watched them, they weren\'t pushed down. they were relaxed and eating as they went.....
we chose not to follow the tracks, as it was getting late and the thermals would change soon. we needed to get lower so as not to spook them. we tried to find them by using the binos, on the way down. no such luck. so the plan changed to sit at the wallow.
terry and matt watched the big wallow, I watched the smaller one.
I was so far behind on my journal, I spent the time catching up......
the trek back to camp reminded me of how tired I was.....
so with the herd on our minds, we started back up..... I am going to be honest, I was beat...... it was slowwww going. it signaled the nearing of the end for me....... :downthumb:
we flushed a rabbit, it didn\'t go far and terry decided to chase after it with his camera
shortly there after matt smelled it first. we came down wind of some elk. but, that has been the theme this year. everything stunk of elk, everywhere we went.....! I had it in my mind that it was just another elky spot. afterwards, several days later, it made sense. more on that later.......
I got embarrassed... I was the guy who always seemed to know where I was. and the plan was to get in down below where we had last seen the elk and do some calling, to try and bring in that satellite bull. I ended up taking us right to where we had last seen the herd.....
playing with a herd is tricky business...... and I don\'t have much experience playing with them.... with that said
we found where they went over the ridge, it stunk! terry and I nocked arrows and snuck up to the ridge.... we were expecting to see ears and antler! nothing..... so we chilled to figure what was going on. I followed their tracks and to my surprise, they were going down! I had it in my head that we would find the herd just on the other side of the ridge that we had gone up. why had the herd gone down so early????? we watched them, they weren\'t pushed down. they were relaxed and eating as they went.....
we chose not to follow the tracks, as it was getting late and the thermals would change soon. we needed to get lower so as not to spook them. we tried to find them by using the binos, on the way down. no such luck. so the plan changed to sit at the wallow.
terry and matt watched the big wallow, I watched the smaller one.
I was so far behind on my journal, I spent the time catching up......
the trek back to camp reminded me of how tired I was.....
\"zpd307\" said:day 9, sept 16
I woke up beat..... my legs did not want to work in the morning
terry was to have the plan for the day, and I let him know it
so, the plan was to continue our exploration up another trail.
I didn\'t know you were so beat. You never let on that you were.
You were tired and I took you on a long loop covering new ground.
At least we did see some animals and learned the lay of the land better.
continued
since we had heard that growler bull at the crossroads, per say, the other morning, I wanted to stop and hang out there for a bit, to see if we could hear something and be able to jump into the situation. I called a couple times and we weren\'t there for very long when the boys started to sing. I was practicing my lost calf sounds, practicing
since we all know that I cant hear worth a darn, I didn\'t hear most of the bugles. the noisy creek that we were by didn\'t help my situation either.....
matt and terry could hear them and we started heading to one of the bulls. the creek was still noisy and those two ended up not being able to really pinpoint anything before the bulls clammed up. since we were already heading into the drainage that terry wanted to explore, we continued along the trail.
there wasn\'t much for elk sign along way, so when we came to another split in the trail, terry decided to take that one. we knew it would end up in the next drainage over to the west. terry decided to try and sneak into that herd from behind and above. we had a hike ahead of us. away we went!
the day was gorgeous with blue skies! but it was getting warm fast.
[attachment=4]<!-- ia4 -->IMG_1609.JPG<!-- ia4 -->[/attachment]
on the way up..... check out the fashion statement :lol:
[attachment=3]<!-- ia3 -->IMG_1611.JPG<!-- ia3 -->[/attachment]
[attachment=2]<!-- ia2 -->IMG_1612.JPG<!-- ia2 -->[/attachment]
we were waiting for terry to do his business.... frosty wieners were kicking in
we were finally getting up there, my legs were swearing at me something fierce! but, we cut fresh elk tracks that decided that they enjoyed the same trail that we were using! so we followed the track to and onto a huge burned out, and flat, saddle!
the saddle must have been an elk bedding mecca before it burned..... we also came across a fresh wolf track.
the route was perfect! once on the saddle, the grassy point that we wanted to get to was right there! only a few more achy steps......
once to the top we rested...... air dried the feet and socks... ate some chow.. and checked in
[attachment=1]<!-- ia1 -->IMG_1617.JPG<!-- ia1 -->[/attachment]
[attachment=0]<!-- ia0 -->IMG_1615.JPG<!-- ia0 -->[/attachment]
what a view. I am always amazed at the rewards you get with a little, and sometimes painful, leg power!!!!
since we had heard that growler bull at the crossroads, per say, the other morning, I wanted to stop and hang out there for a bit, to see if we could hear something and be able to jump into the situation. I called a couple times and we weren\'t there for very long when the boys started to sing. I was practicing my lost calf sounds, practicing
since we all know that I cant hear worth a darn, I didn\'t hear most of the bugles. the noisy creek that we were by didn\'t help my situation either.....
matt and terry could hear them and we started heading to one of the bulls. the creek was still noisy and those two ended up not being able to really pinpoint anything before the bulls clammed up. since we were already heading into the drainage that terry wanted to explore, we continued along the trail.
there wasn\'t much for elk sign along way, so when we came to another split in the trail, terry decided to take that one. we knew it would end up in the next drainage over to the west. terry decided to try and sneak into that herd from behind and above. we had a hike ahead of us. away we went!
the day was gorgeous with blue skies! but it was getting warm fast.
[attachment=4]<!-- ia4 -->IMG_1609.JPG<!-- ia4 -->[/attachment]
on the way up..... check out the fashion statement :lol:
[attachment=3]<!-- ia3 -->IMG_1611.JPG<!-- ia3 -->[/attachment]
[attachment=2]<!-- ia2 -->IMG_1612.JPG<!-- ia2 -->[/attachment]
we were waiting for terry to do his business.... frosty wieners were kicking in
we were finally getting up there, my legs were swearing at me something fierce! but, we cut fresh elk tracks that decided that they enjoyed the same trail that we were using! so we followed the track to and onto a huge burned out, and flat, saddle!
the saddle must have been an elk bedding mecca before it burned..... we also came across a fresh wolf track.
the route was perfect! once on the saddle, the grassy point that we wanted to get to was right there! only a few more achy steps......
once to the top we rested...... air dried the feet and socks... ate some chow.. and checked in
[attachment=1]<!-- ia1 -->IMG_1617.JPG<!-- ia1 -->[/attachment]
[attachment=0]<!-- ia0 -->IMG_1615.JPG<!-- ia0 -->[/attachment]
what a view. I am always amazed at the rewards you get with a little, and sometimes painful, leg power!!!!
