It was Sept the 8th on a DIY OTC Idaho elk hunt, it was also peak Full Moon & very bright out; we had been hunting several days prior with little action. We'd called in a few cows & spikes but was interested in branch antlered bulls so kept pushing on. To date it appeared there wasn't much Rut action happening so this morning we headed out to an area that we'd heard bulls from in past years, we drove down the rugged dirt road with our pickup that most wouldn't drive on unless they had an ATV. It was one hour before daylight, we stop at this spot where we had heard bulls bugle from in years past! ( this always has potential)
We stopped & shut engine down, we waited 2-3 minutes & I let out a location bugle & heard a response within seconds 800' higher than we were, he was defensive, this told my Son & I we had a bull with a hot cow, perfect, exactly what we were hoping for! The bull was a 1/2 mile up the mountain but would take us 45 minutes to get to him in the dark. It was steep & full of downfall with 8' high willows mixed in. It was a piece of crap to get to the level we knew where this bull was. No headlamp was needed to climb the brush chocked mtn as the moon was fairly bright. We trudge our way up stumbling here & there & finally crest the top & had heard the bull bugle several more times on our way up, awesome. We had not bugled again since we had left our rig!
This is the exact meadow where this bull had originally bugled from! It's a great feeding & breeding area if they're not pushed out of it by predators or hunters like us! (grin)
More in a bit!
ElkNut/Paul
We stopped & shut engine down, we waited 2-3 minutes & I let out a location bugle & heard a response within seconds 800' higher than we were, he was defensive, this told my Son & I we had a bull with a hot cow, perfect, exactly what we were hoping for! The bull was a 1/2 mile up the mountain but would take us 45 minutes to get to him in the dark. It was steep & full of downfall with 8' high willows mixed in. It was a piece of crap to get to the level we knew where this bull was. No headlamp was needed to climb the brush chocked mtn as the moon was fairly bright. We trudge our way up stumbling here & there & finally crest the top & had heard the bull bugle several more times on our way up, awesome. We had not bugled again since we had left our rig!
This is the exact meadow where this bull had originally bugled from! It's a great feeding & breeding area if they're not pushed out of it by predators or hunters like us! (grin)
More in a bit!
ElkNut/Paul