Ok, let’s do a short update.
I was out to the field a couple of times since. I have also been down the valley a couple of times fully committed and a couple of times with half worth of commitment, lol. Meaning I was all over the place twice, but after running into gazillion of ticks again, I didn’t get down too far out. You probably saw my
tick thread, where I did some experiments with a spray that will hopefully help to solve this problem.
When being all over the place, I have ran into some moose, mule and whitetail deer, bumped a few cows, but no bulls. Not much vocals from elk either. The set up changed quite a bit:
Well, that isn’t the set up, per se. The set up is everything you see down there.
During one of the hikes, my favorite pair of boots decided to quit on me closer to the end of the day, while I was still in the deep (and covered with ticks, lol).
That was pretty disappointing. I
really liked those boots. I wonder if someone can put new soles on them.
Last time I went to the field in the early am, I ran into a bunch of elk and a bugle or two. Lots of cows were heading in the wrong direction for me - to the field across the road where I have no permission and there is no hunting beyond that field. I was watching them go while the watch showed quarter of the hour before the shooting time. There were no bulls with them from I could see (the morning was very dark, even after the shooting time), but I was sure they would follow. So I set up behind a bale waiting and hoping they’d come after I can legally pull the trigger. That didn’t happen. The rest of the herd went into the valley and I, while a few minutes behind, followed. A bull kept bugling on his way down. I knew exactly where they might stop and chill before going home and it sounded like that bull was screaming form there. When I got to the spot, either the same bull moved or there was another screaming his lungs out to the left of me and below. The fact that he was to the left of me made me believe there was another bull because the home is way below and to the right. I heard elk moving around and coming down. I sent a few cow calls, they have responded all around. What a beautiful sound. I decided to try and get one of the bulls come back up, which is really nearly an impossible task; but since the guy on the left seemed to have stopped I thought it was worth a shot. At that point, I realized that I didn’t even have my bugle with me. I left in the vehicle, lol. All I had with me was the rifle, my phone, and a couple of cow calls, lol.
Long story short, I called in a whole bunch of cows and a few spikes to within 20-30 yards.
Not sure what you can see on those pics, but I see 3 elk on the first and 2 more on the second.
I was hoping that once I get them talking, more of the herd would come back and so will a bull.
Very hard to do. And it proved to be that this time as well. I got them talking quite a bit while they were looking for me, even a few more cows came over, but eventually the bull on the left started moving home and so did everyone else. I followed them for a bit, but stopped short where I knew I was going to get covered in ticks again. Wasn’t even that, but the idea of going without a bugle and a knife wasn’t a good one. So I went back up and drove home.
The next couple of times this was my set up:
This is probably a better view to give an idea:
So I was up on the next flat watching quite a bit of space below. The spot wasn’t random: this is where they often come up to the field for feeding. But not when I was there, lol.
I had less than an hour today but I went to the field anyway. Met my buddy that I haven’t seen in a while and spent most of the time playing with him. For whatever reason, this buck doesn’t care about me being around (only this time of year though, a few days earlier or later and he would bounce like the rest of them). And by around I mean less than 10 meters apart. Tried to take a selfie, but it didn’t pan out. This was the best one, lol:
I am pretty sure I posted a video of him last year somewhere around here.
Anyway, that’s how things have been the past couple of weeks. Was hoping to get out tomorrow early, but quite a bit if rain in the forecast. The valley isn’t fun to climb once it gets wet. We will see.
Until next time…