2016 idaho elk

[Zpd307]

continued

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here are a couple more lunch time views!

after resting up, both matt and terry practiced their bear calls :lol: we geared up and started our trek to find the herd. this grassy knob had some timber and burned trees. based on all of the sign, it was the herds master bedroom! we cut the bull\'s track. he was big! his dews were leaving impressions in the ground!

we slowly made our way down.... once we hit a bench, we had been here before on our first days hunt, we set up to call. terry and I split up a little distance. terry was lost calf calling and I was responding to it with mews....

nothing came in

we regrouped on the ridge and were trying to figure out where the elk were when terry and matt heard the growler, figures, right.... down below us, in the bowl.

I couldn\'t hear him, so all I could do was follow matt and terry. the days were ticking down, so we decided that we were going to make something happen today, for better or worse.... down we go!

we went aways before I could finally hear them. I say them because there was now another bull bugling! game on, atleast we had a fighting chance of finding them in this nasty bowl with multiple ridges running down into it.

unfortunately, they decided to shut up...... we waited for a bit for something to happen. this seems to always happen, they give you just enough to get excited and go after them for a bit, then shut up and leave you blind.... I said screw it and was starting to make my way down farther and hope for the best, when the gowler lit up again. this time he was close!

I came back up to the point and looked across. there they were! on a ridge across the way! the bull moved off and pretty soon he came back, this time pushing some of his cows back. we watched them for a bit, but had to move, we didn\'t have much time before the thermals changed.

it was straight down and then straight back up to get at them, so we side hilled the bowl to get to the ridge that they were on. along the way, we were able to spot them again. this time they were bedded on that ridge. this might work!!!!!

we came across two seeps that were running and a non running seep. now we knew where their water was :upthumb: we were getting close to the ridge, when several mulies got up and ran towards the elk...... having never played with a herd, none of us knew how that would affect the herd. would they bolt, would they be on high alert? we didn\'t know....

we cut fresh elk tracks coming from that non running seep and they were headed towards the elk that we going after. so that\'s what that herd was doing the day before, heading for a mid day drink!

all of sudden I heard a noise, I looked up to see an elk running away...... wth? we shouldn\'t have been that close to them yet! thinking that it might have been a satellite bull, we crept closer. and closer and closer.... nothing, they were all gone! :dk:

so the theory was......the bull was either coming back for a drink, after his ladies were bedded or the mulies or our noise got him curious enough to head our way and check things out. if he was truly bedded, it seemed to be farther away than what I would have expected. but what do I know.....

I briefly thought about setting up and calling to the satellite in the area. but from where I had heard him. the ridge that we were on was too steep for him to want to come up.....

so I called the wife and told her of our excitement over the last couple of days.

we made it back to camp before dark.

my feet hurt! I was expecting to see blisters when I took my boots off. luckily there was none

 

[Zpd307]

day 10 sept 17

my feet were still sore in addition to my worn out legs.... the good news was it was above freezing when we got up, that was glorious!!!!

I wanted to climb up a ridge that we had hunted earlier, but head up from a different direction. just in case we hadn\'t pinpointed that bull well enough and he had been on the other side of that steep rock drop off.

 

[iccyman001]

I check this thread daily for updates, Gary!
Thank you for posting this and keeping awesome notes on your trip. I feel like I was there!

 

[Zpd307]

continued

like I said, my wall was hit and I was tired. I was struggling with the hike in this morning.....

on a side note, the aspens were starting to change, telling us that it was getting late into the hunt....
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aspens really add color to the landscape when they turn golden!

I found our mark and started climbing. it was slow and once we got into the sun, I was hot...... I had to take many breaks as the slope was steep, rocky and full of loose shale. what had I got us into......?

but, matt and terry never complained :upthumb: I was, to myself, and it was my idea!

we finally made it to a ridge and I had to rest, my tummy was growling.... the funny thing about mtns is, is that as you climb up, you see that first ridge and think that I am almost there, then you get to the ridge only to see another ridge. ok, I can do it, only to find another ridge..... all is good when you have the energy. no bueno when you are spent.

after our break, we continued on. there was a heavy used trail with elk tracks going down. cool, this should lead us to their bedding area! but, the timber that we were skirting was straight down..... and the trail was going through it. I was hoping this timber was going to hold elk during the day, not be their travel route. so.... where were we going to find them. farther up I suppose

so we up we went. we found an excellent grassy flat bench saddle which held no recent sign. it had timber on both sides. wth? where are the elk!?

so we continue on and find the trail again. the elk showed us where they were getting around that steep rock drop off! and it continued right to where we had set up on that bull we tried calling in a couple of days ago. so we sat and terry called for a bit. I went ahead and set up, in case anything hung up out of view. terry called in a pair of young mulie does. I looked over to see movement at 30 yards. man did my heart rate soar in a hurry. only mulies, dang...... :lol:

so we move on, which brings us to where we had lunch before and to the ridge where matt shot his bull. what the heck, lets check on the carcass. so we did. I was surprised to see fresh elk tracks going right next to the carcass. terry told us that it wouldn\'t bother them. I didn\'t believe it until I saw it!

with nothing heard or seen and out of options. I elected to just explore. terry wanted to head down and back. for some reason he followed me instead! once up high, I was staying up high

so we side hilled new country. we saw fresh tracks, but I could not figure out why they were there. it was burned and desolate.... we eventually wrapped around to the head of a drainage that terry had hit when he was by himself. we stopped for another needed break and check in with the fam.
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terry did some posing for the camera excellent view though!
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[cohunter14]

I looked over to see movement at 30 yards. man did my heart rate soar in a hurry. only mulies, dang...... :lol:

If I had a dime for every time that has happened to me! :lol:

Keep it going Gary, awesome story so far. Knowing you ran marathons and then reading this story, it sure sounds like you guys put on some miles!

 

[Zpd307]

just an fyi, matt sent me a bunch of his pics, so I am going to add them into their respective spots of the story.

 

[Zpd307]

continued

since terry had been here before, he took the lead. he advised that the drainage was narrow and steep....... as we crossed the saddle and headed down into it, terry was proven right!

we ran into more fresh elk tracks right away and decided to follow them. I have seen over and over, that elk will always know where to go! and they didn\'t lead us astray the elk took us to a non running seep out in the open of a steep slope
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they took us to some more water in the timber. and took us to the ridges when it got even steeper they lead us to another large bench where several ridges came together. but no elk...... not even any fresh sign that showed that they had used it recently this bench was just below the bench saddle that we rested on earlier today.

we could hear a hunter on the ridge across from us bugling, he sounded like me, it was that obvious on who he was! I was tempted to mess with him, but I wasn\'t any better and I needed to save all of the air I could get :lol:

it was getting late and we were all very tired from the huge exploration that we had done so far, without hearing or seeing an elk so far. which on this hunt was not usual..... so we ran the ridge back to camp

we did find a nice recently well used bed on the way back! another gem for next years hunt we only went a few more yards before a bull just down below us let out a bugle!!!!! I figured that he was on that bench just up from camp. it was getting late and there wasn\'t much time left, so I dropped down..... matt and terry stayed high.

I got confused with the landscape and found myself slowing down, so I didn\'t bump him.... that ended up not helping me, as I missed him by meer minutes. I didn\'t realize that there was more timber up above that bench than there was. remember, we had found this bench on our scouting trip earlier.

I ended setting up and calling from a pine tree that the bull had just destroyed.... I wasn\'t there very long when I ran out of light. I could now hear the bull down below me bugling, as he was walking the creek down.

I could hear other bulls bugling on the ride east of me, that same saddle area where we had the bull encounters. like I said, that drainage was an elk mecca...

it didn\'t take long to get to camp from there

we ended the day on a high note, so far we had been into elk every day!!! but more importantly, it gave matt a better glimpse of what a typical day of elk hunting was like. lots of tired for no elk..... :lol:

 

[Zpd307]

day 11 sept 18

another morning without frost, awesome :clap:

we had decided earlier that we wanted to move camp and hunt a day where terry had seen the nine bulls in one day, before matt and I got there. so today was going to be a short hunt day. with that in mind, I decided to hunt the elk mecca drainage. this time hunt it from the mouth up. there was something in there that was bringing them into it every night..... I wanted to know what it was. I knew that there was a good chunk of the lower part that was burned. I also knew that there was no water coming out of it....... you walk by the mouth of it, while hiking in on the trail from the road..... :think:

I am still pulling out the next reserve, to keep me going...... I think I am on number 30 by this point :train:

so we head down the trail. coming up the trail are two guys walking. we pass them and soon come upon two guys coming in on horses. actually a horse and a mule. man, hunters are starting to pile in now.....

we make it to the mouth and head into the drainage. it is so far unappealing. its steep, burned, and has those nasty sticky and pokey and now dried up and noisy as heck plants.....

walk, break. walk, break...... my legs are tired....

all of a sudden a bull bugles up high on the ridge across from us. matt spots him in his binos. he is sky lined on the ridge. he moved off before I could spot him. a few minutes later he bugled again. it was fainter and you could tell that he was moving farther up the ridge. matt said that he had been pacing back and forth up there.

well, another day of being into elk! so we move on.

all of a sudden, again....! a bull bugled up above and straight across from us. I looked up in time to see the bull running down the mtn straight to us :shock: wth!!!!!! I was amazed that it only took him a matter of seconds! he stopped once, and then angled towards the head of the drainage. we were still in the burned area, so we could see him perfectly and he should have been able to us..... so another, wth? matt asked if we spooked the bull. no way, he would have never ran towards us if he had.... once out of sight we moved towards him. matt cow called a couple of times and the bull responded, but not with any chuckles. he was maybe 150 yards away. matt and terry hunkered down and I moved forward and up above the trail. I did not want a frontal shot.

matt and terry called some more. nothing, that was the last that we ever saw or heard of him.....

hindsight, we should have cut the distance by a lot more..... but, he was so amped up, I figured he would have been like matt\'s bull, and came in running!

after a break to talk about the situation, we moved in farther. terry and I started hearing water trickling. now, how can I hear water trickling but not all of the bugles that matt and terry could..... hmmmm matt couldn\'t hear the water.

anyhew, there it was. a running seep that lasted maybe 200 yards. and a ton of trails and sign heading to it and around it. now we know! we were now in unburned timber, it just screamed elk! but we are low and it is too late in the morning now for anything to be there. next year

we worked our way up now, and are trying to get to that saddle, to cross over and head back to camp. that climb was miserable we did find a very well used trail going from the east saddle that was headed to the west saddle, the one that we needed to cross! now we know, again!

we made it to the saddle and I needed a break. we grabbed some chow and I was impatiently waiting for some texts from the wife, not good enough service....

the hike back to camp was uneventful..... we just had to climb down this nasty steep slope......
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can you spot the tents down below?

once at camp, we started packing up. since matt brought the kitchen sink, terry and I had some entertainment watching him try to pack it all back up :lol:

we eventually hiked back out to the truck. we then moved to our new camp.

there was a new chevy crossover parked where we were to camp. it had Oregon tags, but you could see the rental car stickers on the windows. the hunter never came back that night.

we were to camp at the truck for the night. matt slept in the box, I slept in my tent. terry also slept in his truck box.

once set up, terry wanted to catch some trout, at the local pond, so we could have a trout supper. he had brought his pole. matt and I didn\'t bring ours... Idaho gives you a 3 day fishing license and today was terry\'s last day on his license. the pond was pretty close to town and had good cell service, so I was able to get my texts from the wife terry caught his three and away we went, back to camp. one trout for each of us!

terry cooked the trout in aluminum foil over coals from the fire! the trout was a welcomed treat compared to the menu that we carried into camp! terry also provided tortilla chips with cheese sauce

that reminds me, I have forgotten to mention..... when in town on wednesday, the day that it rained, terry called the forest service to see if they lifted the fire ban because of the rain. he was told that it was lifted on Monday..... we did enjoy a couple of fires back at the old camp!

I went to bed fairly early, compared to terry and matt. I knew that we were going to get our butts kicked tomorrow, for our final hunt!

 

[Zpd307]

day 12 sept 19

another morning without frost! its the little things that really make your day it is so much easier finding motivation to get up and ready when you aren\'t freezing your butt off!

but I didn\'t sleep well last night. my tent was put at an angle and I was constantly sliding off of my sleeping pad during the night.... and I was too tired to fix it.....

but.... this was our last day. I was excited to see if we were going to get into the elk that terry did!

 

[bowhunter]

day 12 sept 19

I was excited to see if we were going to get into the elk that terry did!

 

[Zpd307]

continued

last day of the hunt!!!!!

guys, I know that I have said it already, but I want you have this in the back of your mind when you are reading about this epic day......

as I said before, I went to bed early to hopefully get some pep back for today. and not sleeping well did not help..... I was still beat

but, this was our last day and we had hopes to get into a bunch of elk like terry did 2 weeks ago. I was a bit nervous, as the hunters had piled into the area now. every camp site had hunters in them along the road when we went fishing the day before. matt hopped on terry\'s dirt bike last night and went up the road to the trailhead to see how many hunters were up further, or so we thought :lol: he came back with news of one other truck!

terry\'s plan was to get us to this saddle where he saw all the elk. he told us of his death march going up the last time. he was talking of rock climbing in mtn goat territory..... terry and I looked into this drainage and got a better look at it several day prior on one of our explorations. we had an idea of a better way up. one, which did not include rock climbing. that was the plan......

so we got up and left an hour early. I am glad that we did......

it didn\'t take long, even hiking on the road, to figure out that this was going to be a long day. my legs were jello, I think I had pulled out my 60th reserve by now.....

we get to the trailhead and there are two trucks and a wall tent set up there. wth matt? he thought that he went all of the way up :lol: the tent was dark, so they were either already hiking in or really late sleepers. we never did find out.....

we are following terry into the timber now. both terry and I are feeling the effects of yesterdays junk food and we have to stop..... i was now already on number 2 of #2! and my stomach still wasn\'t feeling well... with business taken care of, off we go.

hiking in the timber in the dark sucks! terry stepped in some mud and im stumbling through some deadfalls.....

so we now start up the steep stuff. my legs are calling for a union strike and my body is in a screaming with my mind. my mind won, but my body is pouting :lol: I joked with terry and matt, that I need to bring some meth with me next year. then I wouldn\'t have ANY problems with running out of energy or falling asleep while driving back home.... :lol: they laughed their butts off about my magic fairy dust

up and up and up we go. I cant believe that terry is still able to bound up the hill the way he does! I will say this again, he is half mtn goat :lol: but as slow that I was, he got plenty of long breaks

this was another one of those, I can make it to the ridge days, only to cry when there was another one and another one. I didn\'t think we were ever going to get up top..... pretty soon we are billy goating up rock faces. hmmmm.... :think:

I was starting to get nervous that our path would end at a sheer rock face and that we would be forced to head back and find another route..... and I am on my 100th reserve now and I don\'t think that I could handle going back down only to go back up!

but, we were magically able to find paths and continue up, up, up! I am pouring sweat! I am not going fast at all :crazy:

pretty soon matt and terry are hearing bugles. great...... all this work only to fight with other hunters all day. so we continue up, up, up

as hard as this was, the views were spectacular!
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we have to go up that?????
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the view once we did go up that..... and there was still more to go!

 

[bowhunter]

continued

last day of the hunt!!!!!

This should be good!!!

 

[Zpd307]

continued

dang you terry.......!!!!!! I thought that you were supposed to NOT take us up the same way that you did before. im not, he said, as he is showing us this rock and that rock, up ahead of us, that he went around before. and we were headed for the same rocks :lol: it was his turn to get embarrassed :lol:

I cant even remember how many breaks that we took.... but, my legs are screaming now! as we continued up, the bugles got louder. I could even hear them now.

I wish that I would have taken more pics.... we were walking a knife edge ridge. one side was a rock face straight down, the other side was not much better! up we go! when will it ever stop.... :wtf:

we came around a rock outcropping to a rocky saddle and then..... the elk gods smiled upon us

we had a straight shot to the peak on the other side of us. and on that peak were bulls, screaming their bloody heads off and I mean screaming!!!! one after another after another. most of the time they were screaming on top of each other!!! there were atleast 7-8 bulls over there.... they were not hunters as I had feared.

I could have stopped there and just listened to them. this was the first time that I have ever heard this, that was not on a video! it was fun hearing all of the different sounding bulls, a couple were big and growly. I kept thinking to myself, matt is one lucky sob, not only did he kill a bull on his first hunt ever, but even after being into elk the entire hunt, he gets to also hear this......

well, I snapped out of that in a real hurry. terry showed me how to get to the saddle, to get over there. which, to get there, we had to get down this pretty straight down rocky saddle.....

but, I found my 1000th reserve and I took off running! I was afraid that they would shut up at any moment. I looked back a couple of times and matt and terry were way back there. come on guys, hurry up!!!!!

I was sweaty before, now its pouring..... did I tell you that matt and terry were way back there....

finally! the saddle..... we are about half way across it when just down below a bull sounds off. excuse me..... but, shit!!!!!! hes close and my wind is heading down there. with arrow nocked and playing the wind the best I can, I head down lickety split. no time to waste :lol:

I still cant believe this is happening these bulls are fired up!

matt and terry stay on the saddle and start calling, I am waiting to see the bull at any second as I am now sneaking in. he sounds off. this time he is farther away. dang, hes now moving up to where the other bulls are screaming their heads off. one more bugle from him confirms that.....

so I regrouped with matt and terry and we continued towards the group of bulls. now there are a couple of bulls down below on the other side of the saddle. terry breaks out his bugle and joins in the melee. the first couple were along the lines of my calling :lol: but he soon finds his tune!

matt has his phone out and is recording all of this!

one of the bulls down below us sounds big, he has a deep growly bugle. and he is getting closer! I hang back waiting for a bull to sneak in from behind. after a few minutes, terry motions me over. they had just seen a couple of cows go by down below. terry wants to work that bull and told me to do what ever I wanted.

so I went after the bulls up above us. everybody is still screaming their heads off! we are to meet back at the saddle. matt stayed with terry.

off I go! I am nervous...... I have never done this before and I was so afraid that I would screw it up before I had a chance to even do anything yet..... but, terry\'s words before I left, rang in my head..... whats the worst that can happen, spook them? terry was right, it was our last day. and I wouldnt get an elk just sitting there either. why not try! I am in sensory overload...... :crazy:

I took off cautiously. I wasn\'t sure how far ahead that bull was and if he decided to head our way, to terry\'s calling, and check us out. I never saw him and continued up. I followed the ridge. to my left was burned timber. to my right is open and grassy. there were so many fresh tracks and steaming poop.... eventually, they formed a trail and headed into the burned timber, so I followed.

as I followed their trail, it was taking me straight to a bull that was screaming his head off on another ridge. but the trail was dropping down into a drainage so I would have had to climb back up to get to that bull. not a good plan.... so I broke off of the trail and headed straight up. there were three bulls up there screaming.

I could hear terry, he was doing an excellent job of keeping them fired up! the bull on the ridge was firing back at terry every time!. he was especially frustrated, most of his bugles started off with whines and ended with long drawn out moans!

I was still fighting with my nerves. I couldn\'t figure out what to do..... should I do this, should I go there...... uggg! so I found myself just standing there.....

I felt naked heading up hill on a steep gravely slope in burned timber..... but up I went. now that I slowed down, I could feel my legs again, I was on empty.... those three packets of oatmeal were now long gone....

then my worst fear happened...... I heard something and looked up to see a decent 5x5 run off with a calf in tow..... !%$&#@&^*!#@ man was I cussing! I just knew that I would screw this up...... the bugles that I had been following were further away! where did these come from?

but...... just as they went out of view out pops up a small 5x5 over the ridge above me! he stopped and looked down, but never at me. then he looked up. then he started eating. what????
yep, the bulls up above sound off. now I know why I thought they were farther, because they were.

all right. I have a feeding bull above me. i couldn\'t tell you the distance, but not shootable. I am in burned timber on a steep gravel slope. now what.....? terry\'s on my shoulder encouraging me i have nothing to lose! i slow stalk up when i see that he is feeding. i use the trees to keep his head from out of view. if i cant see his head then he cant see me. stop when he looks up, i got this!!!! except on my first couple of steps i almost fell down! my legs were calling it quits! noooooo....

my mind eventually wins, up i go.

i cant believe this is working! i am gaining on him. not as much as i would like, as he is also slowly walking up as he feeds.

i am now close. he is giving me a good quartering away shot, except there are dead branches in the way. i ranged him, 37 yards! now i just have to work my way over to get a shot. his head is up, now he throws his head up and a calf runs out in front of him. where did that thing come from....? the calf walks off and the bull follows. as the bull comes from behind the dead branches, i have no shot, because he is side hilling the ridge now which only gave me a shot of his butt..... but, i can do this, i made it this far without him seeing me, and i still have good wind.

this bull never bugled

i catch movement above me. its a cow feeding at just over 60 yards. ok, where did she come from and why hasn\'t she seen me???? so i start stalking her.

now I have several sets off eyes to worry about.... oh my! that bull stopped several times and I noticed that he has now seen me moving. he stares for a bit and eventually trots off. he was far enough away that the cow didn\'t seem to spook. i went a little ways and ranged her. 59 yards. just a bit farther. 46 yards. but she is feeding up hill and just a butt shot. ok, lets get closer....

note...... that bull rarely lifted his head, so i could gain some good ground. the cow on the other hand, she was cagey. she was always lifting her head and watching her 6.....

so eventually my luck played out. i couldn\'t see her from behind the tree that i was at. so when i took a step into view, she was already looking down hill. busted! we had a 5 minute stare down, with me only standing on one foot and getting absolutely annihilated by gnats.... she eventually looked away but, never fed again. she slowly walked away.

as this was playing out, the bulls are still screaming all around me! up above me, passed the ridge above me, i could see a large open grass park. out in that pasture, i can see a very large herd bull chasing his cows all over the place!!!!! he stopped once in view and screaming his head off i could also hear all of the commotion on the other side of that ridge above me.

with the cow out of view and behind a small patch of unburned pines, i quickly crossed a 10 yard patch of openness to get behind some more burned trees again.

the herd bull popped back out into view, he was maybe 100 yards out, and screamed again. as soon as he moved on, i was going to get to that ridge and wait for him to move some cows passed me or if the elk gods allowed, a shot at him. i maybe had 20 yards left to that ridge. but, the bull kept standing there..... all of a sudden, the entire herd ran off....... there were atleast 40 elk there! elk after elk after elk stampeded off in a roaring thunder :ill: :ill: :ill:

i had good wind and i didn\'t see any elk in view when i moved..... so what happened???? i was just sick, i had a pain in my stomach. i went from this might actually happen on two different elk, to absolute nothing......

i went up to the ridge to see if there was one of thos dumb calves that were left behind, like in Idaho last year. but, nope, nothing.....

as i was about to head back to terry and matt, that fired up bull from earlier sounded off!!! i couldn\'t believe that he didn\'t run off with the rest of the herd....

so i was able to move in on him! way to go terry i was getting close, but even with binos i still couldn\'t see him..... i went another ten yards and look up to see him staring straight at me, about 80 yards away.....

now what? i am in the burn and have no real cover.... terry bugles and the bull turned towards him and bugles right back. the second he was done bugling, his head whips back over to me and continued to stare at me. this went on for a few minutes.....

 

[iccyman001]

You have got some really awesome pics, Gary? All cell phone or camera too?

 

[bnsafe]

great story, im ready for more

 

[Zpd307]

continued

my squirrel brain was in hyper drive...... trying to figure out what to do..... he didn\'t run off when he saw me, so did he think that i was a cow? well, lets try it. so i cow called behind me a couple of times...... terry kept him bugling. he moved a little bit so i could see him as well. so i kicked some rocks and snapped a twig to make things more realistic. then i heard some commotion. i first thought that he was moving to catch my wind, so i moved in and over to cut him off. nothing..... what is he doing.....? then i figured maybe he was raking. so i moved in farther. nothing....... i never saw or heard him again. i couldn\'t believe that snapping a twig would have scared him off....

so, still riding high from everything that had just happened, i made my way back to terry and matt! i was excited to share my story

my adrenaline rush had wore off and i was all of a sudden completely wiped...... :yawn:

matt and terry weren\'t anywhere to be found..... so i sat down to eat, man was i starving! but i had no service to be able to call the wife and tell her my story. so i climbed up some rocks on the north side of the saddle and eventually found service.

it was good to talk to the wife i was still so pumped that it was hard to talk! and i was still hearing bugles from down below!

heres my view!
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[attachment=3]<!-- ia3 -->IMG_1637.JPG<!-- ia3 -->[/attachment]
^this is where i was chasing those elk! see the grassy peak up top?????
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^the saddle is just out of view to the left. the first bull i chased, was just down below in there. this drainage headed straight back to our camp. and i side hilled that timber back to camp later in the day.
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^that very pronounced ridge, that is in shadow, was where that last bull that i chased was
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[bowhunter]

I stayed back with Matt and kept the bulls talking for Gary. I could not go down because the wind was bad so I just kept calling till they shut up. Over 2 hours of screaming bulls. I was hoping Gary got one. I heard some of his stories when he came back to camp but most of this is new and with more detail. Great job Gary :upthumb: :upthumb: keep going.........

 

[Zpd307]

dan, these are just cell pics

to everyone, there is more!

terry, thanks a bunch for your bugling!

 

[Zpd307]

continued

after talking with the wife and with my belly full. i dropped down the other side of the saddle. i was still hearing some distant bugles and figured matt and terry finally dropped down and were chasing them. unfortunately, my right quad was starting to hurt..... i figured that i was cramping from all of the sweat i lost on the hike up.

i made my way to a ridge and decided to follow that down. i am a sucker for wanting to see whats on the other side, so i peek over..... there was a ridge coming off of this ridge. i was just thinking to myself , as i saw a small bench there....... when up pops two spike bulls at 40 yards. off they scampered..... i was pretty proud of myself that i tried mewing them to stop but that didn\'t work.....

i followed their tracks to another awesome bench it was littered with fresh rubs, tracks and poop. i was betting that this was where that bull was bugling this morning that terry and matt were playing with. i set up and called for a bit first, before actually making my way onto it.

i was still hearing bugles, so off i went. the bugles took me off of the ridge. there were tracks going everywhere as i made my way down the slope.

one bugle was particularly close......150-200 yards. so i closed the distance to as much as i dared and waited for another, so i could better pinpoint him. he never did bugle again but i could hear some commotion and i slowly stalked in on that. i was getting pretty close when up popped a hunter with a game bag and red flag strapped to his pack...... i did see a pair of mulie does.

now i had to climb back up just to get back to camp. my right quad was on fire now, this was no cramp...... i must have pulled it, on the sprint over to the bulls earlier so i decided to take my time and explore a little bit. i had no choice to take my time. i was running below empty now.....

i followed a used elk trail which led me to a non running seep. cool, finding water is always a good thing! the heavy used trail continued on, so i followed. it lead me to a running seep with lots of fresh sign :upthumb:

i wanted to continue on, but i had nothing left anymore and i was afraid that i would get into someplace that i had no energy to get myself out of..... what a crummy feeling.

view from the seep
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so i made my way back to the saddle, that i dropped over from and talked with the wife again. she was on her way back home from work. i was back in cell service and terry had texted me that they were on the saddle. i responded back, but terry never texted back. so i knew that they weren\'t there anymore.

view from below the saddle while i spoke to the wife. i was actually able to send this pic to her, so see could see what i was seeing while talking with her
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so i still hunted the ridge back to camp. i dropped down into the drainage, to get to the other ridge. i stumbled across this!
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that bull must have been here when he bugled this morning, before he moved off to join the rest of the melee...... it wasn\'t far from the saddle! i was still trying to work my way up the ridge, through the burn and those nasty noisy plants when up popped a small 5x5..... i am surprised that he let me get 80 away from him before getting up and running away..... he crossed over a ridge, so i followed him. it opened up to a grassy steep slope with intermittent old pines. this are hadn\'t burned. i found a game trail to follow, that side hilled the slope. i had gone a couple hundred yards when i again heard and then saw another small bull pop up and run away. i had been going slow, but i was mainly watching down below me, since i had 100-150 yards of sight. i had crossed several beds that were on the up side of these large pines. the bull was bedded on my trail that went through a bunch of 3-5 foot new pines. tricky son of a gun! he also let me get about 80 yards from him. now i am really looking hard down hill.

a few minutes later i spot movement down below. its 2 cows with 2 calves! they are coming up at a 45 degree angles towards me. i only had so much time before they would get to my wind. i nock an arrow, thinking, heres my calf at the last minute of the last day!!!!! i had some cover to try and close the distance. but, they weren\'t wasting any time coming up. they stopped when they got to my wind. i ranged the lead cow at 79 yards..... dang the wind was blowing straight across. they had reached the same trail that i was on when my wind got to them. they didn\'t run away but hustled directly away from on the trail. i wasn\'t going to try and follow them.....

it was getting late and i was still 2/3rds up the mtn from camp. i knew that i was coming back in the dark. so i followed the trail across, which lead to the ridge and a saddle. the ridge turned rocky and grassy, so i followed it to stay out of the timber. i was hustling a bit myself now and stepped wrong on a rock. that lit up my quad something fierce!!!!!!!! i wasn\'t sure that i was going to make it back to camp, it hurt that bad :shock: luckily, i found the old fire road t, that was built for the forest fire that created the burn. so my walk back to camp was a lot easier on the flat road....

the view i had on the way back to camp..... my last sunset in Idaho......
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it was dark when i got back. matt and terry were talking with a pair of guys from Wisconsin. one of them had the rental car that was parked near us. those guys left.

matt and terry were eager to hear my story so i did with the aid of a strong voodew :clap:

so i learned that during all of that bugling, terry called in a pair of hunters from Washington. even after being told that i was up chasing those bugling bulls, they came up in after me. matt said they came back shortly after and they stated that they spooked a cow and a spike. given the time frame, i am pretty sure that they are what had spooked that fired up bull on the ridge...... oh well, public land right? terry and matt stated that they ran into a bunch of other hunters during the day, one of which stated that their partner killed a 5x5 on the other side of the saddle. which I bet was the hunter that I had stalked up on. here, I thought that we were all by ourselves how wrong I was :lol:

our season was over..... and it was epic! we had a lot to b.s. over at our last camp fire

 

[bnsafe]

sounds like a awesome hunt, learned the land, found elk. congrats on a great year gary