My partner and I left on September 8th to do little last minute scouting before the season opened on the 10th. My partner was sick and nursing a fractured ankle, so his ability to traverse the terrain was going to be in question. This was his first elk hunt ever, and I really wanted him to get a chance at an elk.
I went scouting Monday afternoon and found an area that contained quite a few tracks. The Tuesday scouting sessions yielded two areas that bulls were bugling. I didn't see any elk, but it was obvious we could get on them if they continued to talk....The weather was pretty damn hot, with the mercury reaching about 95 each day. The mornings were in the low 50's.
On opening day we hiked into an area I heard a bull bugle in response to my bugle the previous day. My partner was moving slowly so he suggested I move on ahead and he'll catch up. I moved off, bugling every couple hundred yards trying to locate some elk. At a fork in the road I made a couple of signs in the road to let my partner know I took the left turn and continued on. About a half mile up this road I got a response to one of my bugles. It was a "reluctant" bugle and he was quite a ways off. I turned around and went back to find my partner. When I found him I explained what I had found and we started off back towards where I had last heard the bull. My partners ankle was really bothering him, but we made it back, and I bugled to see if the bull was still there. Nothing!...No response. We moved forward, bugling every couple hundred yards. Finally I got another "reluctant" response, with the bull just giving a single high note bugle. In fact, my partner didn't even hear it. We moved as fast as we could towards the bull and came to a large clear cut. I bugled and immediate response came from the bottom of the clear cut, but we could not see the animals because of the rolling landscape. The wind was good so we cut through the clear cut and made it to some trees that would provide some cover. I bugled again and he immediately responded from a timbered draw on the bottom edge. I was trying to decide what to do next, because we had some open ground to cover, when the bull bugled again, but he sounded much closer. We thought he was coming, so I told my partner to get ready. He ripped off his pack and used it as a rest on top of a tree stump.
I began cow calling and the bull bugled again and didn't seem to make any progress towards us. After a few minutes he bugled again and seemed to be moving off. I told my partner to put his pack back on because they were moving. We cut up through the trees and looped around, trying to keep the wind in our favor. We cut into a road and followed it towards where we last heard the bull. We came across their tracks and it was clear they were on the move. We double timed it after them. We went a couple hundred yards and the tracks veered off into a small clear cut. It was now about 9:30am. We stood on the edge of the clear cut and I bugled to try and locate the bull. No response. I waited about 30 seconds and bugled a second time. Again, no response.
The rest of this sequence probably lasted 7-10 seconds, but so much occurred, it seemed like minutes. From the edge of the trees I saw antlers picking their way towards us. The bull was coming at a fast walk, and was posturing by twisting and turning his head to show off his impressive rack. I turned and looked at my partner and he was looking back up the road we just came down. I tried to "PSSSSSST ERIC" him a couple times, but could not get his attention. I turned back and looked at the bull and he was still coming....I raised my rifle...looked at him through the scope....I thought "Man, that is a NICE bull!"....I again looked back at my partner who was still looking up the road....I glanced back at the bull who was now clearing the trees into the open part of the clear cut....I turned back towards my partner and said in a pretty loud voice "SHOOT THAT BULL!"...My partner spun around and I saw his eyes get as wide as saucers.....I turned back towards the bull and raised my rifle....At 60 yards, the bull had just stopped and knew he had just made a mistake.....POWWWW! My partners gun went off and the bull staggered to his left and went down....In a couple seconds he staggered to his feet and I told my partner to shoot again.......POWWWW! The bull went down again. He was still trying to get up and he shot again.
The bull was an impressive 6 point with very good mass all the way up. His body was absolutely huge. I am guessing he weighed 800 pounds. You can see the size of him in the pictures. By the time we got him off the mountain it was 8 pm and I was physically whipped.
I spent the next 4 days hunting the area and never saw or heard another elk. There were fresh tracks around, but they had stopped bugling. I went up again last Thursday with my bow hunting partner and while we found a bunch of fresh sign, but the elk were not bugling at all. An elk was not in the cards for me this year. But I was happy as hell for my friend Eric who took his first elk...and a dandy one at that!
[attachment=54919:ERIC_ELK.jpg]
[attachment=54920:ERIC_ELK3.jpg]
I went scouting Monday afternoon and found an area that contained quite a few tracks. The Tuesday scouting sessions yielded two areas that bulls were bugling. I didn't see any elk, but it was obvious we could get on them if they continued to talk....The weather was pretty damn hot, with the mercury reaching about 95 each day. The mornings were in the low 50's.
On opening day we hiked into an area I heard a bull bugle in response to my bugle the previous day. My partner was moving slowly so he suggested I move on ahead and he'll catch up. I moved off, bugling every couple hundred yards trying to locate some elk. At a fork in the road I made a couple of signs in the road to let my partner know I took the left turn and continued on. About a half mile up this road I got a response to one of my bugles. It was a "reluctant" bugle and he was quite a ways off. I turned around and went back to find my partner. When I found him I explained what I had found and we started off back towards where I had last heard the bull. My partners ankle was really bothering him, but we made it back, and I bugled to see if the bull was still there. Nothing!...No response. We moved forward, bugling every couple hundred yards. Finally I got another "reluctant" response, with the bull just giving a single high note bugle. In fact, my partner didn't even hear it. We moved as fast as we could towards the bull and came to a large clear cut. I bugled and immediate response came from the bottom of the clear cut, but we could not see the animals because of the rolling landscape. The wind was good so we cut through the clear cut and made it to some trees that would provide some cover. I bugled again and he immediately responded from a timbered draw on the bottom edge. I was trying to decide what to do next, because we had some open ground to cover, when the bull bugled again, but he sounded much closer. We thought he was coming, so I told my partner to get ready. He ripped off his pack and used it as a rest on top of a tree stump.
I began cow calling and the bull bugled again and didn't seem to make any progress towards us. After a few minutes he bugled again and seemed to be moving off. I told my partner to put his pack back on because they were moving. We cut up through the trees and looped around, trying to keep the wind in our favor. We cut into a road and followed it towards where we last heard the bull. We came across their tracks and it was clear they were on the move. We double timed it after them. We went a couple hundred yards and the tracks veered off into a small clear cut. It was now about 9:30am. We stood on the edge of the clear cut and I bugled to try and locate the bull. No response. I waited about 30 seconds and bugled a second time. Again, no response.
The rest of this sequence probably lasted 7-10 seconds, but so much occurred, it seemed like minutes. From the edge of the trees I saw antlers picking their way towards us. The bull was coming at a fast walk, and was posturing by twisting and turning his head to show off his impressive rack. I turned and looked at my partner and he was looking back up the road we just came down. I tried to "PSSSSSST ERIC" him a couple times, but could not get his attention. I turned back and looked at the bull and he was still coming....I raised my rifle...looked at him through the scope....I thought "Man, that is a NICE bull!"....I again looked back at my partner who was still looking up the road....I glanced back at the bull who was now clearing the trees into the open part of the clear cut....I turned back towards my partner and said in a pretty loud voice "SHOOT THAT BULL!"...My partner spun around and I saw his eyes get as wide as saucers.....I turned back towards the bull and raised my rifle....At 60 yards, the bull had just stopped and knew he had just made a mistake.....POWWWW! My partners gun went off and the bull staggered to his left and went down....In a couple seconds he staggered to his feet and I told my partner to shoot again.......POWWWW! The bull went down again. He was still trying to get up and he shot again.
The bull was an impressive 6 point with very good mass all the way up. His body was absolutely huge. I am guessing he weighed 800 pounds. You can see the size of him in the pictures. By the time we got him off the mountain it was 8 pm and I was physically whipped.
I spent the next 4 days hunting the area and never saw or heard another elk. There were fresh tracks around, but they had stopped bugling. I went up again last Thursday with my bow hunting partner and while we found a bunch of fresh sign, but the elk were not bugling at all. An elk was not in the cards for me this year. But I was happy as hell for my friend Eric who took his first elk...and a dandy one at that!
[attachment=54919:ERIC_ELK.jpg]
[attachment=54920:ERIC_ELK3.jpg]
