My hunting buddy and I drew for a fairly hard to draw rifle elk hunt this year (1 in 6 odds). It opened on the 1st and despite every effort to get out of town on the 28th (which was my birthday) I didn't get to leave until late the 29th. That only left the 30th for scouting as I got up there just before dark on the 29th. The morning of the 30th I rode my dirt bike in on a trail where another guy I know shot a bull that scored 348" a few years before. I heard bulls bugling in 2 different spots along the way and I hiked up away from the trail at the second spot (6.5 miles in from the gate). When I got to the top of the small ridge above the trail I heard 2 bulls bugling. One was really throaty sounding. I backed out because the wind was wrong and I wanted to check another area out. Later that afternoon I rode up another canyon and didn't like it nearly as much as the first.
A little before dark my hunting buddy showed up and we ate a good meal before packing our stuff on our dirt bikes. Just at dark we took off on the 12.4 miles ride to where we set up our tent. We got done setting up camp about a 1/2 mile from where I heard the elk at about 10:15pm. We had just fallen asleep when I huge thunder storm rolled in. That was the loudest thunder I've ever experienced. Some of it was under a second from the time you saw the flash to the time of the boom. It would literally shake you. Not a comfortable feeling in a nylon tent. The lightning and thunder went on until about 2am. When the alarm clock went off at 6:30am it was still raining slightly. We rolled out of bed and hiked the last 1/2 mile from camp to the hill I hiked up the day before. When we got to the top I heard the smaller sounding bull in the same spot but once again the wind was wrong. So we decided to hike up the hill further and see if we could hear the throaty bull. We went about 1/4 mile up the ridge and he responded to my cow calls. Because of the wind we had to hike to the top of the ridge we were on and drop back down into the little draw he was in. I cow called again and he responded. A few more exchanges and I could tell he was coming in. My hunting partner was to my right and I moved to a better shooting lane to the left. BTW it was my hunting partners birthday on that day. Anyway I could see the bulls horns as he came through the thick timber and did the hand signals to my buddy that he was coming. The bull stepped into a shooting lane for me and stopped. I waited for a few seconds to see if my buddy was going to shoot him. The bull started acting a bit nervous not seeing his new love interest so I left him have a 215 Berger from about 70yds. He ran about 50yds out of sight and piled up. I think if I would of had my cow decoy the thing would of ran right up to me.
After all the hooting, hollering, and picture taking the work began. Of course the rain got worse after he hit the dirt. We cut the hind quarters off and packed them down to camp, hung them up, ate a good lunch, and headed back up for the other load. I boned out the front shoulders, back straps and tenderloins. Then I went to cutting meat off of the neck. This was easily the largest elk, body wise, I've ever shot. I took two chunks of meat off of each size of the neck that weighed about 20lbs each. So we had 4 bags of meat, each weighing about 40lbs, and the head/horns to pack out. 1 bag for each front shoulder, 1 with neck meat, and 1 with back straps and tenderloins. My buddy took 3 bags and I took 1 with the head and horns that weighs about 50lbs. By the time we got to camp we were worn out. We got all the meat hung, ate some dinner, and hit the sack. Just as I was falling asleep 2 bulls lit up not far from the tent. The one that sounded bigger had to of been withing 3-400yds of our tent.
The next morning we were greeted with more rain. So we hike around all morning trying to get a bull to respond for my buddy with no luck. Around noon we decided to haul meat to the camper. Since I had the rack on my bike I rode my gear and one bag of meat out to the end of the road to where we could get my buddies UTV. Dropped my stuff and ran back up to get more meat. It took 3 100+lb loads to get it all out and it was getting late in the day so we decided to head to town to wash clothes, eat a warm meal, and get propane for the camper. The next morning I woke up to more hard rain which turned into snow. We had to ride in to get our camp out in the snow and by the time we left there was close to 6" of snow. It kept snowing for most of the next day and a half. We did manage to cut some elk, moose, deer and wolf tracks in the snow yesterday morning but only saw deer and a coyote.
I'm not sure what he will score but he is a 7x7.
A little before dark my hunting buddy showed up and we ate a good meal before packing our stuff on our dirt bikes. Just at dark we took off on the 12.4 miles ride to where we set up our tent. We got done setting up camp about a 1/2 mile from where I heard the elk at about 10:15pm. We had just fallen asleep when I huge thunder storm rolled in. That was the loudest thunder I've ever experienced. Some of it was under a second from the time you saw the flash to the time of the boom. It would literally shake you. Not a comfortable feeling in a nylon tent. The lightning and thunder went on until about 2am. When the alarm clock went off at 6:30am it was still raining slightly. We rolled out of bed and hiked the last 1/2 mile from camp to the hill I hiked up the day before. When we got to the top I heard the smaller sounding bull in the same spot but once again the wind was wrong. So we decided to hike up the hill further and see if we could hear the throaty bull. We went about 1/4 mile up the ridge and he responded to my cow calls. Because of the wind we had to hike to the top of the ridge we were on and drop back down into the little draw he was in. I cow called again and he responded. A few more exchanges and I could tell he was coming in. My hunting partner was to my right and I moved to a better shooting lane to the left. BTW it was my hunting partners birthday on that day. Anyway I could see the bulls horns as he came through the thick timber and did the hand signals to my buddy that he was coming. The bull stepped into a shooting lane for me and stopped. I waited for a few seconds to see if my buddy was going to shoot him. The bull started acting a bit nervous not seeing his new love interest so I left him have a 215 Berger from about 70yds. He ran about 50yds out of sight and piled up. I think if I would of had my cow decoy the thing would of ran right up to me.
After all the hooting, hollering, and picture taking the work began. Of course the rain got worse after he hit the dirt. We cut the hind quarters off and packed them down to camp, hung them up, ate a good lunch, and headed back up for the other load. I boned out the front shoulders, back straps and tenderloins. Then I went to cutting meat off of the neck. This was easily the largest elk, body wise, I've ever shot. I took two chunks of meat off of each size of the neck that weighed about 20lbs each. So we had 4 bags of meat, each weighing about 40lbs, and the head/horns to pack out. 1 bag for each front shoulder, 1 with neck meat, and 1 with back straps and tenderloins. My buddy took 3 bags and I took 1 with the head and horns that weighs about 50lbs. By the time we got to camp we were worn out. We got all the meat hung, ate some dinner, and hit the sack. Just as I was falling asleep 2 bulls lit up not far from the tent. The one that sounded bigger had to of been withing 3-400yds of our tent.
The next morning we were greeted with more rain. So we hike around all morning trying to get a bull to respond for my buddy with no luck. Around noon we decided to haul meat to the camper. Since I had the rack on my bike I rode my gear and one bag of meat out to the end of the road to where we could get my buddies UTV. Dropped my stuff and ran back up to get more meat. It took 3 100+lb loads to get it all out and it was getting late in the day so we decided to head to town to wash clothes, eat a warm meal, and get propane for the camper. The next morning I woke up to more hard rain which turned into snow. We had to ride in to get our camp out in the snow and by the time we left there was close to 6" of snow. It kept snowing for most of the next day and a half. We did manage to cut some elk, moose, deer and wolf tracks in the snow yesterday morning but only saw deer and a coyote.
I'm not sure what he will score but he is a 7x7.
it sure sounds like you have found a area that really produces.
