I was drawn for this hunt. We got to FHL around 2 pm on Tue Nov 22nd, after checking out and unloading our stuff, we ended up at the headquarter for the orientation at 4pm. Zones that were exclusively open to Elk hunters were 9, 12B, 15, 16, 24 and 25. After registration and getting a picture of all the ins and outs of this hunt we headed back to the camp.
We decided to give Zone 24 and 25 (adjacent) a shot since my buddy was familiar with it. We got into zone 25 around 6:15 on Wed, drove in sowly all al the way to the end of the zone, with no luck; beautiful country, we saw a few coyotes and a few does around the reservoir but no sign of Elk. Between 9- 2:00pm, the only Elk we saw was the one shot by 2 hunters at 7:30 am, we gave them a hand in loading the Elk into their truck. The rest of the day we covered all zones with no luck. So around 2:30 we were at the camp and decided to head to the reservoir at area 15 for the rest of the evening. We got there and and started the old routine with our binoculars with no luck, we saw10-15 does that came to drink the water but no sign of Elks.
At 5:00pm, we decided to head back to the camp, on the way out we were Surprised when saw a truck parked on the dirt and a gentleman was looking at this herd of 50-60 Eks running almost 500yds a head of us to cross the road, there were no solid shot at that range so we decided to jump in our truck and the front truck started to haul a** and we started followingem, almost 100yds a head we got to the herd, they were crossing us (like Cape Buffaloes in Discovery Channnel)
20 seconds later at 130-150yds on the top of the hill I got my shot ( Rem 700BDL, 30-06, 180 Gr NP), I was sure I got it but with 60 Elks running across the hill I want to make sure,. 17:15 and its dark, with all the rush I had, and the darkness this task is getting serious , believe it or not we couldn't find our cow. At the base, Jim was informed by two hunters we got him and his WONDERFUL dog GUNNER to the area and THE GREAT GUNNER found my cow in 2 minutes, I guess with all the rush and the darkness, I have enough excuse to give Gunner a BIG high 5. Anyhow we cleaned my cow and got it to the base, hanged it and decied to skin it on Thursday and headed to our camp for celebration
. My cow was estimated around 350Ib.
The whole experience was great, This was my first visit to FHL since 1999 but all I can say all personel from the checking station to rangers and bioligist, specially Jim and his awesome dog Gunner were great
. Thanks to all of them, they are great and very professional.
A BIG THANK YOU to everybody on this site (including moderators) for all the info and heads up, I usually hunt dear and upland game, but before my Elk hunt I recieved enough info from this site that I was very comfortable for my hunt, THANKS GUYS, YOU ARE GREAT
.
We decided to give Zone 24 and 25 (adjacent) a shot since my buddy was familiar with it. We got into zone 25 around 6:15 on Wed, drove in sowly all al the way to the end of the zone, with no luck; beautiful country, we saw a few coyotes and a few does around the reservoir but no sign of Elk. Between 9- 2:00pm, the only Elk we saw was the one shot by 2 hunters at 7:30 am, we gave them a hand in loading the Elk into their truck. The rest of the day we covered all zones with no luck. So around 2:30 we were at the camp and decided to head to the reservoir at area 15 for the rest of the evening. We got there and and started the old routine with our binoculars with no luck, we saw10-15 does that came to drink the water but no sign of Elks.
At 5:00pm, we decided to head back to the camp, on the way out we were Surprised when saw a truck parked on the dirt and a gentleman was looking at this herd of 50-60 Eks running almost 500yds a head of us to cross the road, there were no solid shot at that range so we decided to jump in our truck and the front truck started to haul a** and we started followingem, almost 100yds a head we got to the herd, they were crossing us (like Cape Buffaloes in Discovery Channnel)
20 seconds later at 130-150yds on the top of the hill I got my shot ( Rem 700BDL, 30-06, 180 Gr NP), I was sure I got it but with 60 Elks running across the hill I want to make sure,. 17:15 and its dark, with all the rush I had, and the darkness this task is getting serious , believe it or not we couldn't find our cow. At the base, Jim was informed by two hunters we got him and his WONDERFUL dog GUNNER to the area and THE GREAT GUNNER found my cow in 2 minutes, I guess with all the rush and the darkness, I have enough excuse to give Gunner a BIG high 5. Anyhow we cleaned my cow and got it to the base, hanged it and decied to skin it on Thursday and headed to our camp for celebration
The whole experience was great, This was my first visit to FHL since 1999 but all I can say all personel from the checking station to rangers and bioligist, specially Jim and his awesome dog Gunner were great
A BIG THANK YOU to everybody on this site (including moderators) for all the info and heads up, I usually hunt dear and upland game, but before my Elk hunt I recieved enough info from this site that I was very comfortable for my hunt, THANKS GUYS, YOU ARE GREAT
