Boston to Wyoming - 2016

[Brendan]

Boston to Wyoming - 2016

Can’t believe it took me this long to get my act together to post a story, but here’s a (long) recap of my Wyoming elk hunt this year. I always like putting these together as it helps me remember the trip, what went well and what didn’t for the future.

This would be my third year hunting Elk. 2014 I was solo in Montana and arrowed a 5-pt on the last day, 2015 I had a friend join me for 2/3 of the trip back to the same area. This year I was solo again with a general tag and a deer tag in a new area.

This year, I was on the road on a Wednesday mid morning, and my gear list had spiraled WAY out of control:



Truthfully, I had a friend (non-hunter unfortunately) who moved from Boston to Seattle, and I towed his boat to Wyoming for him, so he could haul it the rest of the way himself. Saved him a bunch of $$ and we got to catch up and spend a little time hanging out.

Lots of this with 36 hours of driving:









Wednesday morning - Boston, MA. Thursday night - Eastern Wyoming. Friday, 2500 miles later: Trailhead.

[Brendan]

Day 1 - Friday, 9/16: Friday at noon I was setting up basecamp, then hiking in 3.5 miles to spike camp and hunting the first evening. Did some glassing, heard some bugling, heard an Elk run off in the timber making my way back to camp, and then off to sleep before the hunt would get going for real the next morning.




Day 2 - Saturday, 9/17: Went up the creek I was camped on, gained some elevation, saw one cow in the open heading up, then ended up chasing a bugling bull late morning (back down in elevation again) before he shut up and I lost him. Started gaining elevation again heading up a ridge towards the alpine - found out that this was probably a bedding area as I busted a couple cows mid day. Never saw a bull. Circled back down as it was getting late, saw a couple muley does, and then one nice muley buck right at sunset making my way back to camp through a nice open meadow. Pegged in the open with just my bow (rifle back at the truck) he eventually winded me and took off.

Sightings: 3 Cows, 2 Muley Doe, 1 Muley Buck. Chased some bugles, but never saw the bull.






Day 3 - Sunday, 9/18: Up to a ridge above camp at daylight to glass. Saw nothing and moved into the timber to do some cold calling. Mid morning started hearing bugles back down at the creek-bottom. Chased all the way down, but by the time I was there the bull had moved across a creek and up onto a steep, nasty north facing slope. Now that it was midday - decided to make a quick trip back to the truck and back in to pick up a couple things and some extra food (dummy), and after the 7 mile round trip I was back in the area I heard the bull earlier. Still bugling, I had tried to work in, but backed out due to wind and the terrain. Sitting on a log in an open creek bottom near the trail - was softly blowing my cow call. All of sudden - I hear crashing as a bull comes off the slope, through the creek heading straight at me. Bow on the ground, no arrow nocked, not ready - scrambled to get an arrow on, release clipped in, quickly range a tree and come to full draw just as a smaller 5x4 came cruising in to 24 yards head on. Normally that’s a shot I can make every day, but it happened so fast I couldn’t get my pin to settle with all the adrenaline. The bull was staring a hole in me at this point, I flinched, he took off back across the creek and into the thick stuff before I could settle down. For the next hour or so he was still bugling and screaming - acting like he wasn’t sure what I was, but he wouldn’t come in. Worked my way back to camp at dark.

Sightings: 1 Bull, at full draw. Almost doesn’t count…




Day 4 - Monday - 9/19: Up and heading out before light again, this time following the creek up again, but heading up a right drainage into a high potential area. Following the creek, I get to an area as it starts to open up, and soon before I come out of the trees, I run into a camp. Head a little further up and find two mule deer hunters out in the open glassing the open spots of the bowl above me. Talk for a little while, and then head up and out the drainage through a saddle, deciding to get some elevation for a better look around.

Run into a cow moose and its calf in the trail on the way up:



Ran into a forky mule deer at 145 yards. I had my Kimber Adirondack with me, but didn’t want to shoot a small guy at this point of the hunt, and I was a real long way from the truck.



A great view at the top:





The Kifaru Mountain Rambler worked great for carrying my Kimber with me, by the way.

On the way down I ran into the muley hunters again as they were going to bivvy out higher for a chance at getting to deer from above. I continue down in another direction coming down above a bedding area. Begin hearing bugles and spent some time trying to work in on a bull through some thick terrain. Spotted 3-4 cows in the thick stuff as I tried to move in. They didn’t spook badly but the herd moved off and shut up. Headed slowly back to camp getting water along the way. Dropped off some gear at the tent, and then went and sat a field until dark. Had a 4 pt bull come into the field well out of range as it got close to dark. Tried to coax him closer with some cow calls - but my setup was bad, eventually he got wary and went back into the woods.

Sightings: ~4 cow / calf elk. Cow Moose and Calf. 1 Forky Mule Deer. 1 Muley Doe. 1 4-pt bull.

[Brendan]

Day 5 - Tuesday - 9/20: Up again well before first light, with lots of bugling both above and below camp. Went down to the area where I’d had the encounter with the bull earlier in the week - and again, there was a bull bugling away on the north facing slope. This time, I had the wind to work in on him. Made it across the stream, began working up. Got to a very steep, thick area where I was convinced I wouldn’t be able to get closer with the terrain without being heard, so began cow calling and immediately getting responses - lost and assembly type calls. I was pretty sure I had a herd above me as I thought I could hear some cow calls as well. All off a sudden I hear an elk coming down the hill “mewing” very softly. I swear you could have confused it with a house cat the noises it was making coming down the hill. I’m thinking it’s a cow, but it turned out to be the herd bull coming in on a rope to 20 yards. Softly “mew” “mew” “mew” like a cat as he came. WTF????? Very cool….

Unfortunately - it was a tough setup, and i didn’t have shot where he stopped. At this point, he’s staring right at me, bolts from 20 yards to 40 yards as I come to full draw. But, he stops with his head and neck visible, vitals obscured. Needed one more step, but he took off up the hill. After that, fired up some aggressive bugling, he stayed fired up, but eventually a sentry cow came back in to find out what was up, spent 30 minutes staring me down and barking before they all moved off up the hill.

Went back to camp, and then headed up towards the alpine along a different ridge as I figured I’d disturbed this area enough. Never made it to the alpine, started hearing (and chasing) bugles midday. At one point, came face to face with a 5x4 satellite that must’ve been bedded in the area. He wasn’t scared, but I wasn’t ready, so moved off without offering me a shot.

Managed to work inside 75 yards on a screaming bull, but never laid eyes on him. It was very windy, and swirling, so my guess is he smelled me and took off.

Moved back down and set up on a field for the last 2 hours of light, more out of exhaustion, saw nothing for the rest of the day.

Sightings: Came to full draw on the “mewing” herd bull, 1-2 cows, 1 5x4 Satellite bull, lots of bugling.



My camp visible here if you look closely:



Up close:




Day 6 - Wednesday - 9/21: Up towards the alpine today, determined to make it up to the ridgeline at the top of the area I was hunting, traverse the ridge, and come down through some high bedding areas from above in early afternoon. Had a bull come in to a cold calling sequence as I was packing up to leave 45 minutes after I started, never saw him but heard him leave fast as I was throwing my backpack on. Otherwise, I would see or hear no Elk all day. Found a nice high elevation camp site that someone had obviously used before, and a water hole near by. Would be nice to head back here in the future.

Saw Mountain Goats, which was very cool!



Sat out for a while enjoying the view, rifle at the ready just in case a mule deer came out:



Coming down was a clusterf**k. Very steep, thermals were heading downhill in early afternoon. Very thick. I was also above the area where the deer hunters had camped, so was fairly certain the elk could’ve been blown out of this area.

Sightings: Mountain Goats! 2 Muley Does in the morning. 1 Muley Doe in the evening.

Day 7 - Thursday - 9/22: Went to glass above camp, saw nothing. Continued up and over into an adjacent canyon following a trail. Let out a location bugle getting a response. Began working in on a screaming bull. Eventually, I let out a couple cow calls as I wasn’t sure where he was. Unfortunately - I was in terrain I hadn’t been in before, and didn’t realize he’d gotten some elevation on me, and was waiting for the “Cow” to move out into the open. After about 10 minutes of not hearing anything, I began to try to move in, and he saw me. Biggest Bull I saw on the entire trip - BIG. Unfortunately, he was whirling and heading in the other direction fast as I saw him. Post mortem - terrain was too open, I needed to work in closer before calling.



Went up in elevation to get a cell signal and check the weather. Spotted 2 spike muley bucks, 2 does on the way up. Made a mental note to sit this small field again.

Made my way back to base camp and the truck for the first time since Sunday. Was running out of food, and had rain / snow coming in. Spent the night in a comfortable, warm base camp after heading into the nearest town for a burger.

Sightings: 1 BIG Bull Elk. 2 Muley Does, 2 Muley Spikes

Day 8 - Friday - 9/23: Up early in the rain, did the 3 miles to spike camp in the rain in the dark. Dropped food off and headed up a ridge behind my camp. Circled down into a lower drainage this day finding this in a tree:



But, ultimately saw nothing other than grouse. Back to basecamp because of more rain and snow, and into town for another Burger.

[Brendan]

Day 9 - Saturday - 9/24: Up at 3AM, hiking by 4:20, stopped at spike camp in the dark, and then headed up into the big alpine basin up the creek from my camp. Rain all the way up changing to a little snow and fog in the high country:



No tracks, not seeing or hearing anything, I bailed out of the drainage up and through the same saddle I’d used earlier in the week deciding to head over towards another creek drainage. Found some very intriguing open areas as I worked over into the high parts of another drainage, and began hearing bugles early afternoon. Unfortunately, he was below me going into an area I wasn’t familiar with, a different drainage, and getting late in the day. Made a mental note to be back here in the morning.

Some beautiful views on the way back down:



Shot a grouse for dinner:





Complete with desert!



Sightings: Just the grouse. Heard bugles, nothing else.

Day 10 - Sunday - 9/25: Time is getting short, need to try to make something happen. Up at 3AM at spike camp. Hiking at 4:20 again. Got back up higher where I’d heard the bull the prior afternoon in the dark and had some of the best views of the entire trip as I had bulls bugling all over the place in the drainage below me. At this point - I was probably 5-6 miles from the truck.



Worked my way down the other drainage trying to close in on a bull that I think was working a field in the canyon below me, but he was below me, and thermals were still headed down. Worked my way down along the ridge and descended - a horrible, thick, nasty descent as a bull bugled on and off until almost noon.

What I came across was that I’d found a field in a difficult to access canyon where the most action I’d had in a while was. Problem was, to get to this area and hunt it from below was going to be tough. Spent the afternoon trying to learn how to get there, on and off having a bull taunt me with bugles from a stupid-thick north slope in a creek bottom. The rifle season opened tomorrow, I vowed I’d be back at the field from below before it began to get light.

Hiked the 3 miles back to camp along a lower route I’d use in the morning. Shot a grouse, missed a second. Sitting a small field for the evening before making it back to spike camp .

Sightings - only grouse. But a ton of bugling.

[Brendan]

Day 11 - Monday - 9/26: Day 11 brought the Wyoming rifle season. This time, I was up at 2:30 AM at spike camp, hiking by about 3:45 determined to be back where I was the day before. Headlamp on, trekking poles out, hiked hard for 2 hours getting back near the field from the prior day by 5:45. Changed clothes, layered up, ate a couple bars, had some water, put away the trekking poles and took out my rifle. Listening to bugling in the dark, I began working slowly up to the base of the field from yesterday arriving to the edge of the field around 6:40.

This is where things happened fast. Legal shooting light was around 6:45, and I immediately spotted an Elk in the field above me moving my way. Remember - its just starting to get light, but I can make out the tan body coming my way from a hundred yards up. Scope cover is still on, get it off and get the gun up for a better look, realizing I don’t have a round chambered. Gun down, rack the bolt as quiet as I can and get the gun up as the elk crosses behind a tree and stops broadside to my left at 40 yards. Not sure what time it was, right at legal shooting light, but with good glass I made out legal antlers and brow tines and put one shot behind his left shoulder.

He took off back up the field, and in the dim light and excitement, I couldn’t tell if he’d collapsed in sight, or gone into the woods and disappeared, so made the decision to stay put for a half hour. I was optimistic:



The view while waiting:



But, it wasn’t needed. He’d died in sight, I just couldn’t see him because of the grass:





While boning him out - I had another bull bugling and screaming in the trees right above me, so had a little fun. Probably can’t hear it here, but he was doing the same “mewing” as the bull earlier in the trip.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wxb49CpdINs

I got my bull broken down, and ferried 3/4 mile down to a creek bottom where it would stay cool, and was near a trail. Hung a bunch of the meat, and then around 2:00 started the hike back to spike camp with my hunting gear, one bag of meat and the rack.



3 miles to spike camp, packed up spike camp, and then 3.5 miles to the truck, with those last 3.5 miles being brutal, but closing out the first 6.5 miles of packing arriving to the truck between 6 and 7. Back into town for a celebratory burger and beers, then spent the night in my warm base camp tent.





Sightings - One bull, and made it count!

[Brendan]

Day 12 - Tuesday - 9/27: Slept in a little more, relocated to a different trailhead in the truck, then was hiking by 6. Made 2 round trips, 4 miles each way, to get out the rest of the meat. 16 miles later (for 22 total miles to get him packed out!), around 2:00, I had the meat out and on ice. Went back to base camp at another trailhead, broke camp, packed the truck and drove about 3 hours east before stopping for the night.





Day 13 - Wednesday - 9/28: A long day on the road. Drove from Central Wyoming to Illinois.

Day 14 - Thursday - 9/29: Illinois back home.

[Brendan]

After that, it was get him processed and clean up gear, and start the planning for 2017!

[N2mywake]

Great write up and pics! I enjoyed reliving your hunt. Beautiful country out there.

[Tigger]

Very nice writeup. I am most impressed by your ability to be hiking so early! We run pretty hard at the beginning, but by about day 5 we need a little sleep-in morning to recover. and by yourself, it sure would have been easy to roll over when it was raining and just go back to sleep!

[>>>---WW---->]

Nice write up. I'll give you credit, you sure do know how to use a camera. Great pictures!!!

[Lefty]

Great write up and pictures !

[CurlyTail]

Sweet adventure! Thanks for sharing.

Beautiful pictures.

I think you may have a serious Elk addiction - my kind of guy

I like your 'whatever it takes', 'never say die', attitude, and I envy your fitness.

[Elkhunttoo]

Well done!!!

[T.B.]

Great read and even better pictures.

[Mathewsz7-elkridge]

That was a great writer up and beautiful country you were in. Way to stay with it and battle the weather and fatigue!

[Swede]

Congratulations on a successful hunt and the great story to go with it. Well done.

[bowhuntermojo]

Great Write-up. Thanks for sharing. Man that is some beautiful country and some great photos. Congrats on harvesting a bull.

[six]

Great read. Glad you waited until you could take the time and do it right.

[Marshmstr]

Awesome write up...thanks!!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[BrentLaBere]

Thanks for taking time to share your hunt. Great pictures and congrats on the success.
Good timing with the draw process and planning coming up. Fired up for the season.

[ElkNut1]

Hey Brent, great job bud! I read it all, way to hang in there & get it done! Man you were in a bunch of elk, sweet!

ElkNut1

[olympushunt]

Very cool story Brendan. Nice job and certainly you are not lacking in the effort department! Crazy beautiful country there.
Congrats! That makes me all sorts of excited for 2017!

[TimeOnTarget]

Awesome Post!

Way to stay with it through out your hunt. It's just as easy to get mentally fatigued as it is physically.

Again, Awesome write up and thanks for sharing.

[Elkduds]

I look forward to seeing some of those magnificent pics in the monthly contests. Great trip, thanks for bringing us all along!

[Brendan]

Thanks everyone, it was a fantastic trip. If you're going to be dumb, then you better be tough

A note on the camera - almost all photos are from my iPhone. They have been "cleaned up" a little after the fact to compensate for the quick, point and shoot nature of some of them.

A couple things that surprised me:

The area I hunted had a lot more open terrain than where I'd hunted in Montana. But, I saw zero Elk / Deer by glassing. I did run into some Deer as I was moving, and had a couple of the Elk come into open areas at closer range, but for the most part, they were all in the timber.

I also had more pressure in the area (saw maybe 10 people?) but this area wasn't as remote as the area in MT. Maybe that was part of the reason they were in the timber?

Overall, I saw fewer Elk than I did my first year in MT, but more than my second year. I did have a lot of bugling though which kept me going after them and allowed me to get in close a bunch of times, and eventually figure out the area where I shot the bull on the last morning.

I need to work on my solo archery game and my setups before I start calling. It's damn tough to seal the deal with a bow when you're alone in an area and don't know the terrain all that well.

Also - I owe a thanks to Indian Summer Joe on the area! He definitely knows his stuff on the areas he's hunted / guided before!

[otcWill]

Great photos and story! Havn't been on here for a while but glad I caught your recap. Congrats!

[ElkNut1]

Brendan, make sure you log in the back of your brain the occasions you heard the bulls mewing as they came your way to your cow calling. This is a great sound/method to use as you get close to a herd & try to call a herd bulls cows away in those less aggressive attempts. Because a bull has cows doesn't always mean he can be challenged, no hot cows don't challenge, instead play that game with the mews & a short guttural bugle, it's one of my favorite sounds when in close. When using this technique make sure there is no hesitation between the mews & your short bugle, you want to sound like the two sounds blend together smoothly & there's no mistaken it's a cow & a bull, you know it's a bull making the sounds. A real bull knows your intentions! (grin)

ElkNut1

[longspeak74]

Great write-up! That looks like a Harpoon glass on your kitchen counter!

[Deanmac]

loved your post, great job!!

You said pictures from your iphone? how did you get the colors so bright? software? App?

[Brendan]

Brendan, make sure you log in the back of your brain the occasions you heard the bulls mewing as they came your way to your cow calling. This is a great sound/method to use as you get close to a herd & try to call a herd bulls cows away in those less aggressive attempts. Because a bull has cows doesn't always mean he can be challenged, no hot cows don't challenge, instead play that game with the mews & a short guttural bugle, it's one of my favorite sounds when in close. When using this technique make sure there is no hesitation between the mews & your short bugle, you want to sound like the two sounds blend together smoothly & there's no mistaken it's a cow & a bull, you know it's a bull making the sounds. A real bull knows your intentions! (grin)

I didn't try adding in a bugle, but when I got that response from the first bull coming straight down the hill to me, I was a little surprised to say the least. I didn't know he could sound so "dainty" You're right though - definitely filing this one away for future encounters and will try the bugle on top of it. The second time - the bull responded the same way, but I couldn't get him to come in, although, I was a little busy breaking down his friend!

Great write-up! That looks like a Harpoon glass on your kitchen counter!

You are right about the glass! That said - I can't remember what was in it at the time, some sort of a tasty IPA...

You said pictures from your iphone? how did you get the colors so bright? software? App?

Not an app, I loaded all the photos onto my computer and used Adobe Lightroom to filter some of them. I am by no means an expert, but some of the photos turned out great, others pretty mediocre because of the lighting and me being rushed in the field. I try not to overdo it, but occasionally some of them come out a little "off". My goal is to get them closer to how I remember the scene seeing it though my own eyes, doesn't always work though. I'll try to post some before and after when I get the time.

[WapitiTalk1]

Yes sir, great adventure for sure. Really enjoyed reading about and seeing your hunt mister! Thanks.

[Deanmac]

Thanks for comment on software
I would like to see a couple before shots
Will have to check out software

[Indian Summer]

Excellent write up Brendan. I've waited to hear the details of your hunt for months now. The pics really show the country well. That is the type of cover and terrain I've gravitated to over the years. I consider it to be user friendly. You can spot elk if they aren't talking. I was really surprised to hear you didn't actually glass many up but that particular spot and a few others I hunt have the most vocal elk I've ever been around so I guess that didn't matter. For some reason they keep up the bugling all the way into mid October too. I've had a couple half hour elk hunts when gun season started too.

I was surprised to hear there were deer hunters camped back there. They must not know much about the place or they would have been camped way up on top where the big bucks are. There was a 185 incher killed there right around the time you were there and a few true monsters spotted. It's a great place for an elk deer combo hunt. It is incredible mountain goat country too and one day I saw 18 of them! I'm surprised you didn't see any good bull moose. I've seen some nice wide palmed shooters in there in the past. I was glad to hear you expanded on the plan I gave you. You never know where the elk will decide to call home and it pays to be open minded. There are some spots closer to the truck worth hunting but all in all a guy can be on elk pretty easily compared to other places I've hunted.

I wish all of my clients hunted as hard as you. Man those really were some early starts! Congratulations and good luck in the draw this year. With that I think I'll go over to the Wyoming Fish and Game website ad get my application in. I'm feeling motivated after reading that and drooling over the pictures!

[Brendan]

Joe - I kept telling myself I had to get this posted, but I wanted to go through all my pictures first. Being busy with the hunting season at and a lot of other stuff going on at home - I just decided I'd save it for 2017 motivation.

Agreed - I was a surprised I didn't glass any Elk up. I think I was hunting a full moon for the start, I did run into a bunch of hunters down lower, a couple up higher blowing their kazoo call out of control that I had a little fun with, and those mule deer hunters were camped right in an area you mentioned to "Slow down - I don't think I've ever been there and not seen Elk " and they were already there and camped when I arrived to the trailhead. Basically - I think they scented up and put a bunch of pressure on that entire basin for the time that they were there. And - they were trying to go uphill after the deer while the successful hunters were hunting from the ridgeline - I definitely heard 2-3 shots up high.

So, I think there was some pressure, but I was definitely hearing them if I wasn't seeing them until I think I started putting too much pressure on the area running all over the place myself. It's just damn hard to get close hunting solo when you don't know the terrain, and I had a lot of swirling wind. Need to work on that part of my game for the future.

Mountain Goats - I saw a half dozen in the spot I took the picture. One of the cow moose with her calf was [img]way[/img] up high when I saw her. Saw another one with her calf down in one of the creek bottoms, but no bulls.

I finished packing my Elk out on Tuesday, and for a minute considered heading back up to the Ridgeline until Thursday to see if I could get a deer, but I was done by that point...

Now - waiting on the draw!

[MT Bound]

What a hunt, good job on the effort!
That's a heck of a drive all the way from Beantown!