Bonzaiiiiiiiiii

[LckyTylr]

Had family obligations Saturday evening, so I didn't get to leave for my scouting trip until 9:30 that night. Drove to my buddies house and then headed to a spot that he had become very familiar with over the years. Arrived at camp at 12:30. Woke up at 04:00 and were on the mtn bikes by 4:30. We rode 3.5 miles and then hiked to a ridge that we glassed from for about an hour and a half. Didn't see ANYTHING in some REALLY good habitat, I was dumbfounded. We decided that maybe it was just too hot for them to be excited about being out in the sunlight, so we started side hilling in search of water in hopes that we'd find a wallow. We ended up side-hilling through 3 large draws with multiple dry stream beds before we decided that we were pushing our luck with how steep the hillsides were, so we climbed up to the top. Hiked on top for a little while until we encountered a burn area with a gazillion blow-downs. Went through that hoping that there were some areas in the middle that were easier going that maybe the elk would feel comfortable feeding in. That is NOT what we found, we only saw a handful of mulie tracks and NO elk sign in the burn area. On the other side, we could see a far away peak that we had glassed at first light and wondered how difficult it would be to get to. One of the faces that we were looking at looked REALLY green so we figured there must be water in a few of it's draws. Since we were half way there, we decided we might as well go for it. When we got there, just as we came within earshot of running water, we jumped a HUGE mulie buck at 25 yards. I say huge, but I haven't put a lot of effort into hunting mulies, I'm not good at judging score. He was big. REALLLLLLLY tall, really deep forks, decent width. 4x4. Couldn't tell if he had eyeguards or not. After we found that stream he was bedded at, we found fresh elk tracks everywhere!!!! Mission accomplished! We wandered around for a while until we decided that it would be a much easier mountain bike ride out if we did it in the daylight, so we headed home. I'm scouring maps now to figure out a way to get to that area with less distance to travel. We mountain biked for a total of 7 miles and hiked for a total of 12. It was a pretty long day, the side hills and the blowdowns really wore us out. My buddy threw up 3 times on the way out. We are both fairly confident that he wasn't dehydrated as he drank 2.5 camel back pouches throughout the day and he was hydrated when we woke up. Must have just been tired.

I was really hoping to lay eyes on some elk, but knowing where they are hanging out is more than I had going in to last season. I really wasn't anticipating that I'd even give a second look at deer while hunting, but if I see that buck again, it's game ON.

I was back in bed at 01:00 this morning, at work at 07:00. Whew!!! Operation Bonzai . . . . . . . . success!

[eltaco]

Might bit sound like it, but funding fresh sign is a whole lot better than accidentally bumping them into another zip code! Its always fun finding elk when scouting, but finding where they're hanging out is every bit as good as actually seeing them, IMO!

Short trips and lots of miles is what scouting is all about! Well done, buddy!!!

[RockChucker30]

Sounds like a fun trip! Thanks for sharing it for those of us stuck at work daydreaming about elk country.

[LckyTylr]

Well, I'm going back this weekend solo. That's not a big deal, I hunt solo most of the time. After looking over Google Earth, I have located a road that will end 2,000 vertical ft below a saddle that has a trail running the ridge that leads to the peak that I want to be at. As a crow flies, it's only 3.5 miles from the saddle. The ridge trail isn't too twisty, so I think maybe it's only a little over 4 miles plus the ascent up to the saddle. The best part is that I will be hiking past 3 large drainages that should hold critters, providing that there is water in them.

I'm excited. I'm really hoping that the trail isn't covered with blowdowns, but even if it is, I'll go at it anyway. I guess if the trail is full of blow downs, it will keep the guides and their pack strings out. . . . . . . . okay, bring on the pick-u-p-sticks mess!!!

Wahoooooooooo, BRING ON FRIDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[GhostStalker]

Saw a pretty nice bull while scouting last weekend. Currently getting the pack ready I'm stoked to say the least

[LckyTylr]

Yay for Friday!!!!

Pack is in the truck. Leaving at 17:00.

[eltaco]

Yay for Friday!!!!

Pack is in the truck. Leaving at 17:00.

Packing up at 3:30 today! Will report back to Denver Sunday evening!