Valley of Wallows

[wmidbrook]

Still putting my story together at this time though I had an absolute blast and some excitement~!

....After covering about 25 miles according to my GPS, on day 3 I located quite a little honey hole. There were many more than what I took pictures of but thought some of you might get a kick out of looking at the wallows.

 

[wmidbrook]

Those bulls like gettin' dirty....

 

[wmidbrook]

Tearin' it up...

 

[wmidbrook]

There are 6 in this meadow although only the two are visible in the pic...

 

[wmidbrook]

On Thursday September 9th as OneClearShot and I just crossed the continental divide near Grants NM, my truck died. OneClearShot continued on to meet up with the rancher to get the keys to the gate and cabin while I sat in the shop to see what the prognosis was. The tension bearing on the timing belt had seized. After 5 ½ hours I was on the road again in a rented F150.

I had a general idea of where the cabin was located. OCS had marked several spots along the road with surveyors tape but I had missed several of the markings since it was dark. I pulled over slept in the truck and set my alarm for my first morning in the field. I put a piece of the same tape on the antennae of my truck hoping OCS would locate my rented rig so he could put a note with more detailed directions.

Sunrise in elk country was truly a wonderful gift given the previous day’s mechanical misfortunes. The breeze gently rattled the aspen leaves and the smell of firs soon replaced any residual woe.

I was in Elk Country~!

As I worked my way a couple miles from the road, I heard a bugle. I ran over to the patch of timber and begin working the bull. There was very fresh sign. The wind shifted and I saw hooves crashing thru the brush…dang it. Lots of rubs. Lots of sign in that area.

About an hour later, I heard more bugling. Was it a hunter? Didn’t sound 100% right. Sure enough, I saw another hunter working towards me who later I found out was hunting with Kiowa Outfitters.

OneClearShot was @ the truck when I got back. Made our way back to the camp where I got all my gear offloaded and setup.

OCS and I covered a lot of ground from Friday thru Sunday morning. I had seen a few cow elk and had some responses to my bugling. The weather was warm in the days (lower 70s) and in the mid-30’s at night. We had variable winds every afternoon and early morning but no rain and scant cloud cover.

We drove into Chama to meet Constitutionalist and his son Nate. It was good to meet another fellow elk nut and JHO’er~! Had a great visit~!

Finally on Monday morning after hiking about 5 miles from the cabin, I heard a few bugles @ 7:45 a.m. from a basin. I spent about 2 hours talking to several bulls. The wind was not favorable to attempt inserting myself into the herd. It kept swirling. The bulls settled down around 10:30. I set up on a point above a wallow hoping to get a bull as he came into wallow for the midday hunt. I see a cottontail running full speed down the trail. It dives into the brush. Only a few seconds later, Mr. Yote in hot pursuit is working his way around the spot where the rabbit had dove in. It was quite a show at 30 yds. I had heard a bull squeal within a few hundred yards not 10 minutes ago so I passed on taking a shot at the coyote.

A couple hrs after the woods had quieted down. I found a better spot to set up for the evening hunt. Around 17:30, the bulls started firing up again. It had been all location type bugles, occasional grunts, but nothing really hot. With the way the wind was swirling, I didn’t want to risk bumping the herd out of the basin. I was hoping for the elk to meander past my point where I had a better chance of not being smelled by an elk and also had a good shooting lane.

The next morning, OCS and I were back up in the basin. We were treated to several bulls bugling up a storm. I talked to several of them for about 2 hours. One bull was getting hot and started to get into some serious grunting immediately proceeding his bugle~!

The wind was just right. I was thinking, time to make my stalk. I put the bugle down and moved over to my cow calls. They liked the hoochie mama and my “bite-me” cow call too. With the wind in my face, I slowly stalked my way towards the bull in the basin—he had the deepest voice and I was hoping he was a good one. As I slipped from fir to aspen, aspen to fir I could tell I was getting close. I had cows to my right. The bull let out a big bugle followed by heavy chuckles that almost got the hair on my neck to stand straight up. There~! I spotted his hind quarters thru the brush about 100 yards up the mountain.

The wind was still favorable but somewhat heavy @ 20 mph. When the bulls was out of sight behind some trees, I moved in another 30 yards closer. The wind shifted slightly and the cows to my right winded me. I was between the bull and his cows. I started cow calling wildly in hopes of covering any sounds the departing cows were making. It worked!!! The bull was still raking and feeding about 60 yards away and had not heard his cows depart.

The next 5-10 minutes seemed like an eternity.

The wind was variable but wasn’t blowing up towards the bull. I watched this magnificient 5x5 rake, feed, rake, grunt, bugle. All the while he was slowly working down the hill towards me. I was set up behind a 6 ft fir in front of me and an aspen to my right. I had 2 perfect shot corridors anticipating the bull to emerge in either one.

Instead, the bull came straight to my fir. I was less than 10 yards from the bull. I remain absolutely motionless (I believe having a face mask on is the only thing that saved me from detection).

As the bull’s head was blocked by the aspen while feeding, I drew back my bow. I see the horns almost touching the ground as he continued to feed in that spot. His horns moved in rhythm with his jaw. He just stood there under 7 or 8 yards away in the one spot. My heart felt like it was going to explode it was beating so loudly~! I concentrated on breathing as quietly as possible.
With the wind starting to shift again, I made a split decision. When I saw the tips of his antlers move away slightly from my direction, I leaned out between the fir and aspen, put my pin in his bread basket, and let it fly.

Oh no!!! My arrow skewed wildly to the left after clipping off a limb and entered deeply into the bull’s hind quarters. Dang!

His head turned back with a wild look in his eyes as he bolted up the hill. One half hour later I started following his blood trail up the mountain. The trail was bright red blood. I was thinking I might have hit a major artery. About a quarter mile down the blood trail, my hopes began to fade as did the blood. At the crest of the mountain, there was no more blood to follow. I owed it to the animal to find it. I continued to look for hours in a grid pattern…no luck in recovering it. I hoped he would return to the valley of the wallows.

As I sat above a trail leading to the freshest looking wallows, a juvenile mt. lion trotted past me @ about 70 yards away. Did he find my bull?

On my way out, I bumped into another hunter who was packing out the last of his bull load from another canyon over. We got to talking. His truck was parked about 3 miles closer than where the cabin was. He offered me a lift after we had talked about an hour. He had successfully taken 13 bulls in the last 13 years (12 with a traditional bow). He was definitely right up there with Chuck Adams in my book. Turns out, he holds several world records in Paragliding (irony thinking about my remark of parasailing on top of a bull for an 8 second ride the day I left).

He gave me several tips on reading the wind in these canyons. I’ll probably see him there next year. David Prentice (recognize the truck Bob?)

The next day there was no bugling.

The last morning of the season found me in the canyon my bull had dropped into. I was at the head of the canyon on the rim of a mesa about 8:30 morning. About 10 minutes after sitting, I get up thinking, darn it, they aren’t bugling. No less than 100 yds from where I’m slipping thru the dark timbers and I spot 2 elk. A 1x2 and spike. I cow call a bit. The 1x2 works his way within 20 yards. He never saw me. No shot thru the limbs. I’m about to stalk after him when I hear a very guttural bugle.

The next 2 hours I was playing cat & mouse with a very nice, heavy 4x4 bull and his herd of several cows. I never got a chance to let one fly at him. He finally winded me at 10:30.

What a hunt~!

 

[Live2hunt]

Wmidbrook,

I feel your pain. It would be nice if you had a picture of the bull to show all of us. But sometimes things doesn't work in your favor. There's always better luck next time. Anyway great story and great pics of elk signs. Thanks for sharing.




L2H

 

[BDB]

Excellent story. Sorry to hear about not getting the bull though, hopefully he's OK. I head to CO in 2 weeks and 2 days so stories like this get me a little fired up

 

[warren nelson]

Sound's like you had a great time, the area look's pretty good too. I will talk to ya later.