Elk day 12 recap.
So down the trail we go. Different trail, different plan, same drainage. I had the four youngest legs with me this am so i knew if i could find em, we could get to em. Out of camp we drop in. I knew the youngsters could hack it. 1400ft drop in one mile. Sure enough, about 3/4 mile down we hear the scream of a bull. Little further we hear him again. Wind and terrain are against us though as every time he cracks off we cant really determine which ridge or little drainage he is on or in. So we decide to fix the wind part first while the animals move down further we beat feet to parallel them, attempt to get in front of them, gain the wind and circle back at em. It works but we are a drainage/ridge off. Up and down one more time and its clear there is a medium size rut fest going on a ridgetop in the dark old growth timber. I dropped back, seperated from the boys and started to call. Up we went right into the bedroom with the wind in our face and screaming animals.