# 1
This elk hunt was on Sept 1st in the Idaho mountains, as normal it's an OTC DIY public land hunt! My Son & I drove away from our base-camp as usual to a spot we had decided on the night before while enjoying a nice campfire! It was an area we hadn't hunted in several years so thought, Why Not! (grin)
This was a unique decision for us because it meant we were going to start our hunt from a Trail-head, we rarely do this in fact years have gone by since our last visit to one! We chose this one because of its lack of popularity, on arrival an hour before light we see a rig parked there with no one in it, we could tell it had'nt been there long as there was a light drizzle this morning & we could still see steam coming off the hood of their rig. We figured oh well we're committed now so lets move on, it's big country & who knows where the hunters may have went.
Our packs are loaded from the night before so all we had to do was mount our head lamps in place, shoulder our packs & we were gone, took about a minute. The trail is a steady climb from our rig, after a 1/2 mile up I decide to toss out a Locator bugle to see if anyone's home! (grin) Nothing responded so we moved on. Not sure if the other hunter/hunters had heard us but it didn't matter too us if they had, we're looking for elk & this is our # 1 way to find them. We continue on & it's starting to get light, we cover another 1/4 mile from our last bugle & are now looking into a nice draw to our right, it's about 150 yards below us & we can hear a small creek in the bottom.
It's choked with green timber & downfall all the way down to this creek & heading up the other side. We are on a 1/4 acre size rock mass looking towards the other side & it's super thick timber all the way to 1500' higher than we were standing, yep it is very steep on the opposite side. The creek was far enough below we could barely hear it so felt this was a good place to bugle from. We're both standing there not expecting much but you never know so you gotta try! I whip up the bugle & shout out a Locator, 10 seconds lapses & bull sounds off rather weakly aprox 2/3 from the top on the opposite side of course! (grin) My Son & I look at each other & discuss if we want to go after him? We decide to go after him if he will respond back again; I bugle, nothing! Wait a minute & bugle again, nothing! Ahh he didn't sound like more than a 5 point anyway so we decide to move on!
More in a bit!
ElkNut/Paul
This elk hunt was on Sept 1st in the Idaho mountains, as normal it's an OTC DIY public land hunt! My Son & I drove away from our base-camp as usual to a spot we had decided on the night before while enjoying a nice campfire! It was an area we hadn't hunted in several years so thought, Why Not! (grin)
This was a unique decision for us because it meant we were going to start our hunt from a Trail-head, we rarely do this in fact years have gone by since our last visit to one! We chose this one because of its lack of popularity, on arrival an hour before light we see a rig parked there with no one in it, we could tell it had'nt been there long as there was a light drizzle this morning & we could still see steam coming off the hood of their rig. We figured oh well we're committed now so lets move on, it's big country & who knows where the hunters may have went.
Our packs are loaded from the night before so all we had to do was mount our head lamps in place, shoulder our packs & we were gone, took about a minute. The trail is a steady climb from our rig, after a 1/2 mile up I decide to toss out a Locator bugle to see if anyone's home! (grin) Nothing responded so we moved on. Not sure if the other hunter/hunters had heard us but it didn't matter too us if they had, we're looking for elk & this is our # 1 way to find them. We continue on & it's starting to get light, we cover another 1/4 mile from our last bugle & are now looking into a nice draw to our right, it's about 150 yards below us & we can hear a small creek in the bottom.
It's choked with green timber & downfall all the way down to this creek & heading up the other side. We are on a 1/4 acre size rock mass looking towards the other side & it's super thick timber all the way to 1500' higher than we were standing, yep it is very steep on the opposite side. The creek was far enough below we could barely hear it so felt this was a good place to bugle from. We're both standing there not expecting much but you never know so you gotta try! I whip up the bugle & shout out a Locator, 10 seconds lapses & bull sounds off rather weakly aprox 2/3 from the top on the opposite side of course! (grin) My Son & I look at each other & discuss if we want to go after him? We decide to go after him if he will respond back again; I bugle, nothing! Wait a minute & bugle again, nothing! Ahh he didn't sound like more than a 5 point anyway so we decide to move on!
More in a bit!
ElkNut/Paul