rollercoaster 2014 hunt

[zpd307]

this will be long winded. I can add pics to keep you guys interested if need be
for starters I am hunting a new area, Idaho, after 2 unsuccessful years in Colorado. the monsoons last year drove us out....
day 1: we finally arrive at the mtn only to follow up 2 trucks, man I am getting nervous. I have several game plans and camping spots but I am really set on one particular spot. we catch up to one truck, which is now parked. the other is no where to be seen. we proceed up the mtn and have a women heading down on a dirt bike. she tells us there is an outfitter up ahead and 2 guys camping in a drainage. looking good so far, as they are further up than we are planning to hunt. onward and upward.... yea, our spot is open. we set up the tent and put out the lawn chairs, camp is done. we check the bows and they are still shooting straight. we change clothes and are headed up by 2:30. the wind is blowing hard all over the place. frustrated that after a 20 hour drive that nothing is going to work. we see fresh elk tacks at a cattle salt lick and a fresh rub that wasn't there earlier when we scouted, looking good. we hear a atv and I am pissed because this unit is supposed to have a motorized vehicle restriction. we move on and we got barked at by an elk. I am not sure why, because he should have smelled us.... we get back to camp and are greeted by a kid coming back down passed the trailhead, he then comes back and brings out his buddy, wtf....
day 2: the wind is still strong and all over the place. so we walk to find fresh elk poop to figure out where their feeding, traveling and bedding. nothing..... I am not willing to head into the elky timber areas as I know I will just push them around. this area is way more open than Colorado. pockets of timber surrounded by sage fields. so we spent the day looking for sign and exploring. back at camp, more motorcycles. I am really getting pissed and am planning on stopping at the ranger station when we go back to town in a couple of days. 2 guys walk up the mtn stop and chat. they informed us that the trail passed the trailhead is closed to everything but motorcycles. that was good to know as I originally was going to hike in 5 miles and set up camp. but that's where everybody went because of the easy access.... which was a blessing later as it kept my area free from other hunters. they also advised that the elk are really silent as wolves were in the area and keeping them skittish.
day 3: I am bummed that I haven't found any other fresh sign and the area is littered with motorized traffic. I am certain that the elk are coming down to feed at night in the sage pastures just outside of our camp. I decided to follow up a timbered creek that goes into the timber, that is just outside of camp. I am greeted with a seep that has a wallow in it. the area is caked with fresh mud and the water is still muddy. bingo! I follow the creek into timber and after a few hundred yards, while crossing a small ridge, hear hooves hitting a down fall just 50-60 yards in front of me. out comes the arrow and its knocked. just then I hear commotion further down to my right, a bull started raking a tree. I checked the wind and I am good, even though I am above the bull. I close the gap by 10 yards and then I hear the bull run off. I checked and the wind was still good. my guess is the my wind mixed with the valley wind and got to him. but..... I had to cross that same valley to get to that ridge, so wouldn't he have smelled me then? I then decided to go after the herd that was now above me. just then 2 bulls way above and behind me start bugling to each other. man, I have definitely got into the elk now! I really want a bull so I bust ass up in their direction. I go several hundred yards but by this time they quit talking and I have no real clue where they exactly are. I change the plan and try to catch up to the earlier herd. they went into some thick down falls, as usual.... and it hard going. I make my way back to the creek as I see on the other side is a sage field pasture and easier going. I stumbled across another large seep with multiple sources which had multiple wallows. one wallow was huge and had many levels within it. there were several nearby pines that were rubbed with muddy antlers. in the mud I saw a set of wolf tracks.... the thermals are now going up so trying to follow the herd would be useless. where the timber meets the sage, there was a large game trail going up. it had elk tracks in it, but they were going down. I decided to follow it up as it would lead me to where they were bedded. that it did. I finally was finding fresh poop and a ton of tracks. the area was super elky and after going in several hundred yards I sat down to take a break. no more than a few minutes into it, I heard a bull start raking a tree. this was 10.
:23. I snuck in.... I snuck into around 50 yards when the wind started acting up again..... this ended up being the usual case for the rest of the hunt. I was sure that the wind gust blew my scent right to the bull. I cussed that I spent that much time and energy being so sneaky, which was no easy feet going over and around all those dead falls on super crunchy pine needles, only to be foiled by a stray wind gust. but I never heard it bust out. I heard a loud exhale/grunt just before the wind hit, so I thought to myself that maybe he had bedded down. so I glassed and I glassed, trying to see a patch of fur or and antler tip. when I thought I saw a patch of fur, I put another super sneaky stalk only to have to elk get up. I figured that I was around 30 yards from him now. I still couldn't see him in the binos, so I waited him out to see if I could see or hear him moved. when I didn't, I knocked an arrow and gave out some cow calls. I heard a stick break but he never showed himself. I was tired and hungry and decided to stop and eat. I found his rub this was 12:35. I was napping and woke up to a different bull raking a tree to my left. this was 2:04. so I put everything back on and was going to stalk him all over again when a different bull on my right started raking. instead of a mid day bugle contest, they were raking.... I tried a stalk on him but he quit before I could see him. I decided to sit right where I was and hoped they would rake again later in the evening. they did again at about 5:30 but the wind was really swirly and I figured that I wouldn't have a chance to get any closer. I sat there hoping to catch something moving down the mtn later. I did, a cow caught my scent 80 yards out and headed back up the mtn. the wind wasn't settling down so I decided to start heading back up to camp. I got a little lost and got worked up. by the time I found my way out, I was frazzled. I just wanted to get back to camp and put my head down and started walking. halfway down on the game trail I heard something take off running. I looked up and saw a rag horn and small 5x 80 yards away in the open in the sage looking at me. I ducked behind a pine tree and cow called. the rag started coming towards me and stopped at 60 yards. I called some more. he finally got wise and barked at me to show myself. I tried to bark back but it didn't sound so good. he did take a couple steps forward, but then started walking in circles trying to figure out what to do. it was now passed shooting time so I continued back to camp. it felt good to finally have found elk in a new spot.
day 4: after all the elk spottings, my buddy wanted to come with. I headed up the timbered creek again. my buddy is slow and it was daylight before we reached the timber. so we stopped to locate bugle when I spotted a bull feeding up the mtn in the sage across the drainage. we decided to cross the drainage and get up on the bull. it actually worked! he was on the timber edge eating when we crossed a knoll and spotted him at 50 yards. he just went into the timber when I knocked an arrow and my buddy went back to call. I tried for another 10 yards to better play the wind. when I looked up again he had come out and was looking directly at me at 40 yards. off he ran, he was a nice first bull, long whales with small 6th point nubs. we let him settle for a bit and tried to get back on him and headed towards a probable bedding area. my buddy wasn't to silent in his still hunting methods and we ended up kicking up a bull a little later. we tried a raking/cow calling set up in the afternoon, but he decided 15 minutes was enough and he was hungry. he went back to camp after lunch and I continued up the mtn to explore. in the evening a hunter on his atv came up and started bugling. he got a bull to respond that was way up higher. I tried to set up lower and see if those young bulls were dumb enough to head back to the wallow before dark again. again the wind did nothing but swirl..... back to camp.
day 5: we headed back to town to shower and eat a real meal. we woke up to snow.....
to be continued....

[zpd307]

wolf track

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[zpd307]

the view from 9100 feet, our camp was down below at 7200 ft

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[Daved270]

Great story! Glad you found the elk!

[zpd307]

9k view in a different spot

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[zpd307]

here is the rub from the bull that I put a stalk on

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[zpd307]

day 6: man was i tired and sore when i woke up. it was then that i was glad to have ran 2 marathons, a 1/2 marathon, and a 1/3 ironman triathlon for my training. elk hunting is no where near as hard..... i made it into the timber when i heard a bull raking in the same spot as before. he quit by the time i got back in the area. so i tried to cow call him. i felt the all too familiar wind on my neck and heard him take off at about 60 yards.... i didn't want to chase him since he all ready knew that i was there. so i went left to check out the area that i heard the bulls bugling on day 3. on the way up i came across a large steaming rub. things were looking up. but as i headed up farther, the wind from the big canyon came into play and began to blow all over hell, right into the super elky bedding area that i was getting into. scratch that plan. so i headed farther up to see if i could get into the area where the hunter got a bull to bugle on the evening of day 4. i found an elk highway on where they were going to and from their bedding and feeding area. followed it up to 9100 feet. but the wind was even worse. so i backed down and came up with a plan to stay off to the side and wait for the thermals to change. so i rested a bit and ate my supper on the mtn. with the thermals changed, i moved into position and started slowly headed up. they stayed up farther than i hoped and it was dark before i could get to them. i got back to camp real late that night. it was a spooky walk since the night before i saw a hunter flank our camp on his way back to his camp, right after where 2 low to the ground set of eyes that were flanking him. they stopped and i saw the reflection of our fire in their eyes....
day 7: i hit snooze 3 times on the alarm. i hit my wall that morning. everything that i was going so far was failing. i had a sinking feeling that the bull on day 4 was my lost opportunity. i trudged up the sage to the timber..... i went and waited at the spot just in the timber where i had heard the bull raking twice before. sure as sh!t he was back, but there was another elk further down. i saw a patch of fur and heard hooves hitting downfalls. i didn't call as i was in a bad location for a set up but needed to be there have good wind. i didn't want to chase the bull as the other elk would have busted me. so when he stopped raking i took off after them. try as i might, i never found them.... failed, again.... by this time i got to the big wallow. the sun was hitting it and the thermals were now going up. i checked the wallow and it was frozen over. now i was hot and needed to take off my long john bottoms so i found a spot in the shade 30 yards from it. i snapped a pick of the area and tried to send it to my wife. i had reception there. as i was doing this, a bull 30 yards away from me started rubbing a tree next to the wallow! i grabbed my bow and knocked an arrow and snuck down to 20 yards. there was a wall of thick pines blocking the bulls sight. but, the sun was right in my eyes. i peeked and saw that he was facing me as he raked so i could draw and bend over to shoot. so i backed up to a spot that gave me a clear line of sight to the wallow as i figured he would continue up through the timber instead of going out into the open sage. i would be prepared for either shot. i was shaking so bad that i thought that i would never be able to shoot this bull. my throat turned so dry that i felt a cough coming on. i scrambled to get a drink from my water bladder. i was muffling my cough as i tried to get the mouth piece cover off..... he raked so long that i had to drink 3 times! all of a sudden he startled and trotted away. man, i thought the wind screwed me over again...... instead he walked over to the wallow. i heard him stomping on the ice to break it. i repositioned myself to watch the wallow. he pawed and dug it up with his antlers. then flung himself to the ground and started wiggling himself in it with all his paws in the air. then he would get up and start hopping and dancing. then he flung himself to the ground again. he started rubbing himself into the mud just like a cat rubs on you when you pet it. he made sure to get his face good and muddy. this went on for what seemed like and eternity. i started pulling back every time he got up, but he would just as quickly flop himself back down. man i couldn't stop shaking....... he finally stood up and paused. i then drew. wtf, my string had rotated and my peep was 90 degrees off. as in i couldn't see through it. i swore in my head, but started calculating. i felt confident that i could still get off the shot. he was sure big at 20 yards broadside..... he took the need 2 steps forward and i touched off. everything was in slow motion, i heard the string hit the stop, i heard the arrow hit him with the thwack, i saw the arrow sticking 6 inches out of his right side, just behind the shoulder but a little high, he reared up a little and slowly looked over..... the real time came back he spun around and took off. i couldn't breath, it actually happened. i will admit that i starting crying...... i knew it wasn't the absolute best shot, but that he would die. so i called my wife and headed back to camp to get my buddy to give him more time. it was 3 hours later by the time we came back. it took another hour to find blood. it wasn't a lot at first so it took some time. we found where bedded down on a trail about 160 yards from the shot. he had pooped there also. the trail had been getting better and better the closer that we got. the pool of blood in the bed was mostly dry so i was confused as why he would of got up on his own. i later did the math and it had been 3 hours since we started tracking him. i believe that when we couldn't find blood right away and started making wider circles, we pushed him up inadvertently. would only found 3 more spots of blood after his bed. so we started widening the search when by buddy heard something get up and take off 60 yards up from us. a couple of minutes later he heard it again near the place he heard it. i figured that it was probably the bull and we backed out to let him bed back down. it had been 6 hours after he had been hit. that night was painful for me, knowing that the bull was still alive and we had lost the blood trail and that he was in pain from that arrow still being inside of him....
day 8: we looked for the bull again. we went straight to where we heard the noise from the night before and found his second bed there was a pile of poop there. there was barely any blood in it now. only a large smudge from where he leaned against a downfall. and another spot 2 feet in front of that on the log and had blood with dirt and pine needles in it. i later determined that blood was coming from his mouth which confirmed that he was in deed hit in the lung. it took several more hours to find 2 more spots of blood that pointed us to another pile of poop where stopped the second time after we bumped him. we never found another spot of blood. we took every possible route that he could take, nothing... so we grid searched the area that looked most promising which lead to some nasty nasty thick downfalls. it was so thick that the elk only had a couple of trails going through it. i checked each trail a ways, nothing. i realized that we weren't going to find him.
day 9: we hunted the area in the morning hoping to see or hear a gathering of birds to show us where he was. i was pretty down and decided to head to town.
day 10: i hunted the area again, no birds. i made my way in the bedding area bench at 8400 ft at around noon. i stopped for lunch. i had my boot and socks off and had just open a noisy package of beef snack when a bull started rubbing a tree 40 yards from me. i saw the tree shaking and could see in the binos that he was a rag 5x. i couldn't get any closer with all of the blow downs so i decided to call him. i heard him get up but he didn't move. again, i felt the wind now decide to blow on my neck and the bull trotted off. the wind died and everything was silent and the thermals started heading down early, 5:30 pm. i decided to set up on the big wallow. nothing came during shooting light.
day 11: i tried a different set up on the bull that had raked in the same spot for me the 4 times that i was there. about that time a dirt bike came through on the other side of the drainage and i never heard him. who is riding up the mtn at 7:30 am......... i meandered my way up to the elk beds and still hunted my way in. the wind was calm for a change..... still no signs of the birds. i came across a black bear skull. the upper fangs were loose so i took them with me. around noon i had a bull start raking a tree 80 yards away. there was no wind so it was really lound. i used his noise to get up another 20 yards. then, you guessed it, a storm was coming and screwed up the wind. bye bye bull. frustrated, i sat down for lunch. the storm hit and i got rained on. that was the last straw. i headed back to camped. i noticed that the last couple of days the entire area was filling up with smoke, somewhere was a big nasty wildfire. you could taste it. my buddy came back to camp early because of the rain also. we packed up and stayed in Bozeman for the night.

[zpd307]

we woke up to this on day 5

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[zpd307]

not a good shot, this pic doesn't do the wallow justice

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[zpd307]

here is a pic that i took to send to the wife. the pines on the right is where i was when i shot my elk. the wallow is just to the right.

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[zpd307]

a pic of some scenery during my travels..... beautiful!

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[powderhogg01]

so you never found the bull you arrowed? Thats a drag man, been there once on a muley.. never a good feeling. its all about that heart shot.. anything else is marginal IMO

[zpd307]

here is a pic of the incoming smoke that filled the area

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[zpd307]

bear skull

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[zpd307]

another pic of the bear skull

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[zpd307]

on the way out, the aspens are really changing colors

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[zpd307]

another view of on the way off of the mtn...

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[six]

Thanks for sharing brother. I love it when guys post up there hunts. Cant wait to get back in the mountains with my bow.

[zpd307]

youre welcome. I also enjoy reading up on others hunts and their pics.