Anyone Know How MtnMutt Faired This Elk Season?

[ElkNut1]

Curious how she did? She seems to put her heart & soul into her scouting & hunts & I sure would like to hear if it payed off for her, she deserves a break from the elk gods! (grin) Thanks!

ElkNut1

[Indian Summer]

Just shot her an email. Hopefully she'll give us a report.

[ABQ_Chica]

I hope you hear back from her, Joe. She did make it back safely, but may just be too swamped with work right now...

[mtnmutt]

I ate tag soup again this year. Both deer and elk tags. I should have at least shot the dusky grouse on my deer hunt, but I forgot my small game heads and my mind was on spot & stalk for deer.

Granted, I only hunted one day in Wilderness for deer. My mind was on elk for all of September. My deer tag was not for the same unit where I hunt elk. I hunted about 18 days for elk. More than any other season.

I did 9 days opening week. The most consecutive days ever.

I went into the season in the worse physical shape because I sold my house in the summer and spent Spring preparing the house for sale. There was no time for workouts, but lifting boxes and purging junk helped some. At the end of July, I also messed up my SI joint. I was worn out opening week and had 3 days of pain in my SI joint which caused limping. I did an additional 9 other hunting days throughout the season.

I have to admit my mind was elsewhere for the first half of opening week. Work and life took unexpected turns the week before the season opened. Because of my move, I did not get to do any scouting until August and it was very limited.

It wasn't until after opening week that I finally got my head into the game.

I had no visuals of elk within bowrange. I had the usual crunching sound of something approaching on some cold call setups. I am still learning to find natural barriers on my downwind side to discourage the stealthy elk from coming in on the downwind side.

I had a priceless morning with a herd bull bugling on a ridge 300 yards away. We saw a cow and spike down lower at 200 yards. A stalk on them was shortcircuited by a wind shift. I had never experienced a herd bull bugling. Last year, a spike (illegal) treated me to one little bugle at 100 yards after he checked me out at 20 yards broadside.

Another first time experience was hunting with a veteran elk hunter off and on during the season. His mentoring was terrific and invaluable.

Also, I crashed an elk camp some afternoons throughout the season. It was nice to share some stories.

Overall, I gained more knowledge this season than the summation of my previous 4 seasons. I am still trying to digest and review my season. Work and life tend to consume me in October, so there isn't much of a break from that last day of the season and coming back to the real world.

2014 was a weird year for me, therefore, I should not be surprised my elk season was weird too. Sometimes, I fall asleep thinking about that herd bull bugling on that ridge.That herd bull made elk hunting that much more addictive.

I have started planning for next year. One big change will be to get a deer tag for the same unit that I hunt elk. My workouts have resumed. I will not be in bad shape again going into another elk season. That one was a killer for this season. I am not getting any younger, so workouts have to be a priority throughout the year.

[ElkNut1]

Patricia, thanks a bunch for sharing your Sept with us! Great summary! I hope the move proves to be beneficial puts your mind at ease so you can continue on with the job & your elk hunting addiction! (grin) You have one thing right for sure, "we're not getting any younger" (grin) Those year around workouts are a must even if they are something simple on those days that we just don't feel like it & there are plenty of those, I speak from experience! (grin)

That's awesome someone took time to help you out to the point you felt it helped you out a ton, that's what it's all about!

How did you handle the herd bull bugling 300yds away, did you go towards him or sit back & call or just sit & enjoy his music?

Thanks for stopping by & sharing your this years ventures, 18 days is a heck of a lot days to hunt!

ElkNut1