4th season ELK thread

[sniper7]

I know there are a few others heading out. I'll be on my way up to 17 with a cow tag. Taking my buddy with me who hasn't really hunted much before so hopefully we can bump into something.

Been scouring over the migration and winter range maps to see where these elk end up at...but I think the data might be worthless this year. Seems like they are still up high!

If anyone knows much about 17 rifle hunting please feel free to let me know. I don't typically hunt rifle...only reason is my buddy wanted to go. I always go archery and muzzleloader, so I am used to calling and working my way to bugles and listening to elk.

[Inconel710]

I'm headed to 521N. Last scouting trip in October, I was talking to a local and he said the same thing - Elk were staying high and weren't where they usually were this year. I didn't see or hear any that weekend, that's for sure! I'm hoping the snow storm this weekend pushes them down. We'll be hunting the creeks and drainages.

[oinco]

Sniper7, just spent a bunch of time up in 17, saw a busload of moose, lots of deer, a few elk. One in the party got a cow. The drought and warm weather seem to have changed up patterns, spent a bit of time up high off of Buffalo Pass and North...barely any sign, and the sign we saw was single animal tracks. Ran into a few others that were up high and didn't see much in the way of tracks/sign at all.
Ranger we ran into said she had not seen many elk up high even before 2nd season, she did say that there were confirmed reports of a herd North of Elk Mtn of almost 200 that were still staying together. I think she was just being mean[Coffee]. PM me if you want any more specifics.

[Inconel710]

All packed up and ready to leave tomorrow! Good luck to everyone headed out for wapiti!

[Diesel24]

Should be pretty good hunting with the cold weather and snow moved in. Good luck everyone! Mine ran out 2nd and 3rd season. [Bang]

[Rucker61]

I just got back from 53. I saw 8 cows about 8400 ft on one day, and that's all I saw. I couldn't get anywhere near them, unfortunately.

[Inconel710]

I had to end 4th Rifle early - crappy boots chewed up my ankles. Other than that, it was a great trip! Got in a day early and the snow from the weekend was still untouched by humans. Lots of tracks (turkeys were everywhere!), but no signs of herds moving through.
http://imageshack.us/a/img829/8980/dsc00616la.jpg

Just one or two elk moving up and down the gas service road. I was showing my hunting partner and his son around when we bumped into a young 4x4 about 2 or 3 miles up the closed gas service road. He had been pawing the snow to get to the grass when we came around the bend about 50yds away. Went to bed with hopes for more on opening day.
http://imageshack.us/a/img855/9872/dsc00619md.jpg

Opening day, we hiked a couple of miles in and didn't see much change from the previous day's scouting. Came back to the vehicles and took a ride around to see if there was more action somewhere else while the boy took a nap. Found a bunch of tracks in snow heading into the southern half of 521 (and out of our area), so we came back to camp and decided to push further up the road than we had the day before. This is when the boots started killing me. We got about three miles back and saw a bunch more sign, decided to follow the tracks of three animals off the road and over a small ridge. That's when we struck pay dirt! The drainage on the other side of the road had tracks everywhere. We were about to set up under a couple of trees to see what showed up when I looked to the south and saw three cows heading downstream. We took off after them and came on a herd of 30-40 cows. They were tucked behind a little ridge and were already bolting when we saw them. My partner took a shot at one that paused for nice broadside shot, but he misjudged the range and shot under it. We lasered it afterwards and found it a 350yd shot. I gained a new appreciation for elk - they looked alot closer than 350!

There were some monsters out there.
http://imageshack.us/a/img13/1727/dsc00620sl.jpg

So, I didn't fill my tag, but I enjoyed the hunt nonetheless. I think if we'd gone a little slower over that first ridge, we might have been able to sneak up on those first three cows. When the herd bolted in front of us, there wasn't enough time to set up perfectly it happened so fast. Amazing couple of days!

[spittoon]

Opening day 3 bulls down the boy got his 5x6 dad and brother 4x4's I had the job of calling points and shots. I did not have a gun in my hand just the bino's fun stuff seeing the boy get a good bull. it sucked packing them out. Saturday I got my cow what was i thinking , 20 yards off the road 4 elk now. got home last night that is a lot of elk .The garage is full and the work starts we cut our own meat. I hope to get the front quarters done today.

[RJLou]

Opening day 3 bulls down the boy got his 5x6 dad and brother 4x4's I had the job of calling points and shots. I did not have a gun in my hand just the bino's fun stuff seeing the boy get a good bull. it sucked packing them out. Saturday I got my cow what was i thinking , 20 yards off the road 4 elk now. got home last night that is a lot of elk .The garage is full and the work starts we cut our own meat. I hope to get the front quarters done today.

Congratulations. Too many guys didn't fill tags this year. Way to go!

[sniper7]

Just got back and settled in. Unfortunately didn't see a single live elk other than a bull (only had cow tag). saw 3 moose, 1 really really really nice mule deer buck (with a collar on it-first I have ever seen), tons of coyote tracks.
Couple guys we ran into got bulls, couple others got a cow, what struck me the most was the guy who had 5 cows hanging in his camp. great for him until I find out the full story: apparently he saw the herd laying down in the sage while driving along the road. not sure if he actually made it out the 50' or if anyone else was there with him shooting...but 24, yes....twenty fucking four shots later 5 cows were down. I have no respect for people who 1 can't shoot for shit, and I highly question if the 2 younger girls and the I assume mom were all along shooting as well.

then today I had to help two fucking morons pull their toyota out of a 5 foot drop off into a ditch, only thing that saved them from flipping over was trees. I would normally help people without any gripes but these idiots decided it would be great to fly down the snow covered row at much to high of a speed in 2wd...yes 2wd. WTF? I really wanted to leave them there but my conscience and my buddy told me otherwise. I just got them into position with my truck and let them use the come along and the winch on my atv to pull them all the way out. I'll post pics tomorrow.

[spqrzilla]

Got skunked out in 68.

[hawk1]

We got skunked in 11/211. I think they've all been eaten by the wolves.

[sniper7]

pics as promised:
http://i1187.photobucket.com/albums/z386/citation10_photos/Elk%20Hunting%202012/2012-11-15_13-31-03_160.jpg

http://i1187.photobucket.com/albums/z386/citation10_photos/Elk%20Hunting%202012/2012-11-17_12-34-33_23.jpg

http://i1187.photobucket.com/albums/z386/citation10_photos/Elk%20Hunting%202012/2012-11-17_12-34-49_646.jpg

http://i1187.photobucket.com/albums/z386/citation10_photos/Elk%20Hunting%202012/2012-11-17_08-18-01_797.jpg

http://i1187.photobucket.com/albums/z386/citation10_photos/Elk%20Hunting%202012/2012-11-18_09-15-52_242.jpg

http://i1187.photobucket.com/albums/z386/citation10_photos/Elk%20Hunting%202012/2012-11-18_08-50-31_663.jpg

http://i1187.photobucket.com/albums/z386/citation10_photos/Elk%20Hunting%202012/2012-11-18_12-13-54_805.jpg

http://i1187.photobucket.com/albums/z386/citation10_photos/Elk%20Hunting%202012/2012-11-17_12-34-59_104.jpg

http://i1187.photobucket.com/albums/z386/citation10_photos/Elk%20Hunting%202012/2012-11-18_11-56-10_747.jpg

http://i1187.photobucket.com/albums/z386/citation10_photos/Elk%20Hunting%202012/2012-11-18_12-21-42_565.jpg

[hawk1]

Damn Dude... who's truck is that?!?

[henpecked]

Thanks for sharing the pictures

[sniper7]

Damn Dude... who's truck is that?!?

a R-E-T-A-R-D-S truck. It was in my story about. we were driving out with my new silverado pulling a trailer with my ATVs on it...see this idiot in the ditch. truck would have flipped if some aspens weren't holding him up. drop off was around 8-10 ft to the bottom and he was down at least 5 of it pinned against the trees. used my truck to get the front straight down, then used a come along, winch on the atvs and truck to maneuver him out of there. If it wasn't for my buddy I would have left his ass and told him I would send a wrecker to tow him out. I was just pissed the guy was a dumbass driving in 2WD with the roads the way they were...especially since he had chains (they only put them on when we were getting him out).

[rkfulgor1]

How did u end up? Ant meat?

[jscwerve]

Well, I've been off of the board for a while, so I guess this will be a good start to my return to being an active member. I know that I'm reviving an old thread, but what the hell, it is relevant.

This is me on the 3rd day of 4th season:

http://i686.photobucket.com/albums/vv228/jscwerve/2012-11-15142126_zps4f497531.jpg


This is my hunting partner on the 4th day (djjames on the board), in the same exact spot:

http://i686.photobucket.com/albums/vv228/jscwerve/2012-11-17072217_zps64b2392d.jpg


It was insane. Before I started elk hunting here 3 years ago, I hadn't hunted in 13 years since I was in high school. We've spent the last 3 years hiking countless miles, camping in the freezing cold and snow with a whole trailer full of gear, spending HUNDREDS of hours scouting, studying topos and planning hiking routs. This year there was pretty much ZERO planning, took a glimpse of a topo, but really had no idea of what to do. Didn't haul a trailer, stayed in a friggin hotel even. I'm almost conviced that finding elk is pure dumb luck and nothing else.

When I say that we got these elk in the same spot, I mean the EXACT same spot. As in they came up the same exact trail, in the exact same spot, and we were actually parked and glassing both times, in the exact same spot. I got mine one afternoon, he got his just as sun came up the next morning.

I shot mine from a standing position at just over 400 yards with my 30-06 that was passed down from my grandfather to my father to me. They were spooked, but not running full speed, I think they had been running for days. We were actually leaving and I was sending a text message in my vehicle with our rifles put away already and my Jeep was running. It was a mad dash to exit the jeep, pull my rifle from its case, and get away from the Jeep and road far enough to be legal. The terrain was deceiving and there was no distance reference, flat ground, no trees at all. It was downhill more than it seemed so I shot high and hit her in the back, and she took off running, I took another shot when she ran and got her through the chest and she dropped. Even with the chest shot through her lungs, I had to get closer and take her down with my sidearm. I still feel bad about not hitting her in the heart with the first shot. This was my first elk ever and I had adrenaline shakes for the next 6 hours at LEAST. I cleaned and quartered her and packed her out the whopping 250 yards or so she was from the road after moving the Jeep. It was pretty damned dark by the time we left.

My buddy got his kind of in the same way, we were glassing first thing in the morning the next day as the sun was coming up, we had been out there at least an hour before sunrise. They came over the ridge and I spotted them. He had time to set up his bipod, take his time, and one shot kill at around 200 yards. She ran about 75 yds before she fell, but there was no second shot needed, it was obvious. Some young guys came by while he was cleaning her and we told them that the rest of the herd (if 5 is considered a herd) she was with had just gone down the ridge into the brush and they were still down there. A kind older gent on a 4 wheeler and his son stopped to check out the kill and dragged her up to the vehicle for us before we started quartering. While we were quartering, the young guy that stayed back from the group we told where the rest were jumps out of his truck, another cow came over the ridge, and he ran into the field, kneeled, and bang! Got her too. His buddies went down the ridge and scared her up. a good spot for elk on that ridge those two days.

I won't tell you where it was as I want to go there next year again and am not going to give up a good thing. Sorry guys, just an ass like that. I will say this though, the terrain I was in is the LAST place I would have EVER expected to find elk.