Well, I knew this year would be tough.
I would be hunting first week (not ideal for vocal elk) and with my buddy\'s 17 year old son, who is an experienced outdoorsman (for 17) but had never hunted elk. And I would be back in \"my\" elk camp, one that I had decided after last year to abandon in favor of greener pastures.
Those \"Greener pastures\" never emerged, for a number of reasons, and I was already down to \"Plan D\" by opening day, heading back into the wilderness, and locking our hunt into a fixed camp, 5 miles from the road.
The first day we had almost 2\" of hail ... the whole forest was \"crunchy\" with ice for days afterward. We were able to find some vocal elk, but only after hiking another 2 miles, and the elk were another mile and 500\' lower. And they didn\'t stay vocal.
The area around camp, which had been so busy with elk all summer (trail cameras getting DAILY photos) was ... empty. ALL elk activity ended a week before we got there. I have no explanation. We ended the week without SEEING a bull.
Morale at this point is low, but realistically I know that I was operating under some difficult circumstances (timing, weather, lack of mobility due to a \"back-country\" camp) and so now I\'m home, licking my wounds and gearing up for a solo 3-day weekend hunt later in the month. I\'ll need to come up with a \"Plan Z\" for that.
I\'ve hunted long enough, though, to lose all my optimism ... I know sometimes a game-changing play can happen at any time ... it doesn\'t have to be a \"touchdown\", just something to shift the momentum. If that happens, I feel confident I can take advantage of it.
I would be hunting first week (not ideal for vocal elk) and with my buddy\'s 17 year old son, who is an experienced outdoorsman (for 17) but had never hunted elk. And I would be back in \"my\" elk camp, one that I had decided after last year to abandon in favor of greener pastures.
Those \"Greener pastures\" never emerged, for a number of reasons, and I was already down to \"Plan D\" by opening day, heading back into the wilderness, and locking our hunt into a fixed camp, 5 miles from the road.
The first day we had almost 2\" of hail ... the whole forest was \"crunchy\" with ice for days afterward. We were able to find some vocal elk, but only after hiking another 2 miles, and the elk were another mile and 500\' lower. And they didn\'t stay vocal.
The area around camp, which had been so busy with elk all summer (trail cameras getting DAILY photos) was ... empty. ALL elk activity ended a week before we got there. I have no explanation. We ended the week without SEEING a bull.
Morale at this point is low, but realistically I know that I was operating under some difficult circumstances (timing, weather, lack of mobility due to a \"back-country\" camp) and so now I\'m home, licking my wounds and gearing up for a solo 3-day weekend hunt later in the month. I\'ll need to come up with a \"Plan Z\" for that.
I\'ve hunted long enough, though, to lose all my optimism ... I know sometimes a game-changing play can happen at any time ... it doesn\'t have to be a \"touchdown\", just something to shift the momentum. If that happens, I feel confident I can take advantage of it.
