Hey Guys - thought I'd share my elk hunting expereince with everyone.
Little history - I live in Mississippi and have done DIY archery elk hunts for the past five years in Colorado. All five hunts were a complete blast! One year I called in a 5 x 5 for my buddy who shot the bull at 7 yards. He ran 60 yards and fell over dead. Last year I went by myself and shot a 4 x 4 that I recovered and packed out myself. I'm 51 years old and train all year for these hunts. I'm no triathon winner by any means, but I keep in decent shape. This year I finally had enough points to hunt Park County Wyoming for elk. I was pumped!
This summer I managed to scout the unit for a couple of days. My son moved to Bozeman Montana in March and we had planned a trip to go out and see him. Park County was on the way, so it was a no brainer. During my scout trip it became obvious I was going to need either livestock or friends to help me haul an elk out of this unit. The area is steep and remote - just as described in Eastman's MRS section. When I went back home and marinated on the hunt a little, I decided to invite a young engineer (Alan) that I work with to go along on the hunt. I invited him for several reasons. First - he's in good physical condition and has a pleasant personality. Second - he was a former boyscout who spent a considerable amount of time hiking Filmont in New Mexico (elevation 14,000 feet). Third - He was very interested in hunting, having grown up in Arizona - but his father did not take him much when he was growing up. I also lined up my son and his buddy to come help me pack out an animal if needed since he lives only 3 hours away from the unit I was hunting. I also kept several Llama rental company phone numbers handy in case I needed them. The season opened October 1.
Day 1 - Saturday, September 29th
My son (Ben) came down from Bozeman Montana to hike in with us and check out the area. At 9:30 a.m. Alan, Ben and I left the trailhaed with an 8 mile hike ahead of us. Alan and I were prepared to hunt 10 days if needed - which meant our packs weighed 80 lbs between gear, food and guns. The hike in was challenging. The first three miles of the hike were fairly steep, the next 3 miles were either up or down (very little flat terrain), and the last 2 miles were fairly flat (thank God). When we stopped to make camp that evening, the wind started to pick up and I was reminded of a guy on this forum who posted a story saying Wyoming has 70,000 mile an hour winds! We hasn't too far off. At any rate, we found a place flat enough for a tent, out of the wind and settled in for the night.
Day 2 - Sunday, September 30th
The place we camped last night wasn't that great. Too many trees making visibility around camp too limited (griz county). We needed to move. After breakfast we broke camp and moved another mile deeper into the unit where we found a great spot to camp. Ben (my son) had to leave and hike back out so that he could be at work Monday morning. Alan and I stayed and set up camp. That afternoon Alan and I scouted for elk. We found some elk droppings and a few older tracks - but nothing to get excited about.
Day 3 - Monday, October 1 (opener)
We woke up to the alarm going off at 4:30 a.m. We dressed quickly, ate our oatmeal, drank our coffee and headed out for the day. Because we hadn't seen much elk sign between camp and the trailhead, we hunted deeper into the unit. After walking for about an hour as the sun was coming up, I heard a faint bugle that was about a mile away. Alan and i started slowly making our way toward the bugle. 30 minutes into our hike toward the faint bugle, we had not heard another sound and were starting to second guess ourselves when suddenly second bulge sounded off slightly closer than before. The chase was on! After another 30 minutes of hiking and listening to several bugles, the bull was in our sights. He was a respectable 6 x 6 with several cows. The range finder said 358 yards (my range finder has compensation for angle). The only problem was he was up on this cliff hovering above us. While the elk stood there, I could not come up with a good plan for packing this elk out. The cliff was just too steep - so I had to let him go. What a blast! As we made our way back to camp from the morning hunt, we decided we would glass up high for the evening hunt - hopefully finding elk that were not 10 miies away from the trailhead.
When the afternoon came, it found us up on a high peak that gave us lots of opportunity to glass for miles. Alan was the first to spot elk - lots of elk! He ended up glassing over 30 elk while I came up empty. Alan was of coarse looking at elk that were in the opposite direction of the trailhead, while I was glassing toward the trailhead 9 miles away. Figures, That evening over dinner Alan and I agreed .....we came to elk hunt, and the elk were 11 miles rom the trailhead. Time to move camp closer to the elk and get after them!
to be continued....
Little history - I live in Mississippi and have done DIY archery elk hunts for the past five years in Colorado. All five hunts were a complete blast! One year I called in a 5 x 5 for my buddy who shot the bull at 7 yards. He ran 60 yards and fell over dead. Last year I went by myself and shot a 4 x 4 that I recovered and packed out myself. I'm 51 years old and train all year for these hunts. I'm no triathon winner by any means, but I keep in decent shape. This year I finally had enough points to hunt Park County Wyoming for elk. I was pumped!
This summer I managed to scout the unit for a couple of days. My son moved to Bozeman Montana in March and we had planned a trip to go out and see him. Park County was on the way, so it was a no brainer. During my scout trip it became obvious I was going to need either livestock or friends to help me haul an elk out of this unit. The area is steep and remote - just as described in Eastman's MRS section. When I went back home and marinated on the hunt a little, I decided to invite a young engineer (Alan) that I work with to go along on the hunt. I invited him for several reasons. First - he's in good physical condition and has a pleasant personality. Second - he was a former boyscout who spent a considerable amount of time hiking Filmont in New Mexico (elevation 14,000 feet). Third - He was very interested in hunting, having grown up in Arizona - but his father did not take him much when he was growing up. I also lined up my son and his buddy to come help me pack out an animal if needed since he lives only 3 hours away from the unit I was hunting. I also kept several Llama rental company phone numbers handy in case I needed them. The season opened October 1.
Day 1 - Saturday, September 29th
My son (Ben) came down from Bozeman Montana to hike in with us and check out the area. At 9:30 a.m. Alan, Ben and I left the trailhaed with an 8 mile hike ahead of us. Alan and I were prepared to hunt 10 days if needed - which meant our packs weighed 80 lbs between gear, food and guns. The hike in was challenging. The first three miles of the hike were fairly steep, the next 3 miles were either up or down (very little flat terrain), and the last 2 miles were fairly flat (thank God). When we stopped to make camp that evening, the wind started to pick up and I was reminded of a guy on this forum who posted a story saying Wyoming has 70,000 mile an hour winds! We hasn't too far off. At any rate, we found a place flat enough for a tent, out of the wind and settled in for the night.
Day 2 - Sunday, September 30th
The place we camped last night wasn't that great. Too many trees making visibility around camp too limited (griz county). We needed to move. After breakfast we broke camp and moved another mile deeper into the unit where we found a great spot to camp. Ben (my son) had to leave and hike back out so that he could be at work Monday morning. Alan and I stayed and set up camp. That afternoon Alan and I scouted for elk. We found some elk droppings and a few older tracks - but nothing to get excited about.
Day 3 - Monday, October 1 (opener)
We woke up to the alarm going off at 4:30 a.m. We dressed quickly, ate our oatmeal, drank our coffee and headed out for the day. Because we hadn't seen much elk sign between camp and the trailhead, we hunted deeper into the unit. After walking for about an hour as the sun was coming up, I heard a faint bugle that was about a mile away. Alan and i started slowly making our way toward the bugle. 30 minutes into our hike toward the faint bugle, we had not heard another sound and were starting to second guess ourselves when suddenly second bulge sounded off slightly closer than before. The chase was on! After another 30 minutes of hiking and listening to several bugles, the bull was in our sights. He was a respectable 6 x 6 with several cows. The range finder said 358 yards (my range finder has compensation for angle). The only problem was he was up on this cliff hovering above us. While the elk stood there, I could not come up with a good plan for packing this elk out. The cliff was just too steep - so I had to let him go. What a blast! As we made our way back to camp from the morning hunt, we decided we would glass up high for the evening hunt - hopefully finding elk that were not 10 miies away from the trailhead.
When the afternoon came, it found us up on a high peak that gave us lots of opportunity to glass for miles. Alan was the first to spot elk - lots of elk! He ended up glassing over 30 elk while I came up empty. Alan was of coarse looking at elk that were in the opposite direction of the trailhead, while I was glassing toward the trailhead 9 miles away. Figures, That evening over dinner Alan and I agreed .....we came to elk hunt, and the elk were 11 miles rom the trailhead. Time to move camp closer to the elk and get after them!
to be continued....
