Here is my very first write up on a hunt. I’ve wanted to do this before, but have never done it. Anyway, here it goes.
My muzzleloader tag opened up on Saturday, 9/8/18. It was my first born's first birthday. I was not at home, I was in the woods pursuing my dream of a mature bull elk. My hunting goal for the past 3 years was to harvest a mature bull and I only had two weekends. This was one of them. I planned on hunting a lower elevation with great feed and lots of water the first weekend. I had my brother with me. We woke up opening morning and went to my glassing point. We got there at about a half hour after first light and stayed for a half an hour. We saw and heard nothing. We then made our way slowly up a valley that had the best water in the area with the wind in our favor. It was hot and that’s where I thought they’d be. Boy was I wrong. There was absolutely no fresh sign. It was very disappointing. We sat and ate breakfast watching a meadow that had a water source. After the wind switched we headed to the top of the mountain to do some glassing. We got to a spot I had backpacked into a few years before and glassed. We saw many camps and three different sets of hunters. At mid day we decided we weren’t in a spot set up for success.
We headed down the mountain and got in the truck and headed to a different place I had been to before. The place had a wallow that had been hit at a similar time frame a few years before around the same time. We hiked slowly up to the wallow to see if it had been hit recently. It had not been. I proceeded to bugle and splash the wallow to try to get a response. We had three cow calls go off immediately off to our left. I didn’t respond. A few minutes later we heard cow calls downwind from us and then didn’t hear them again. We figured they winded us and left.
On the way back to camp with minimal light. We saw a herd of elk on private. In the herd was a good bull. It was too dark to tell how good he was, but he was a mature elk. We got out the gps and found the nearest public access point and made a plan for the morning. We at least knew there were elk in that area. In the morning we went in and heard and saw zero elk. Saw a few mule deer and found a dead cow skull.
We then headed out back to camp to pack up and head into town. We both needed to work the next day.
My muzzleloader tag opened up on Saturday, 9/8/18. It was my first born's first birthday. I was not at home, I was in the woods pursuing my dream of a mature bull elk. My hunting goal for the past 3 years was to harvest a mature bull and I only had two weekends. This was one of them. I planned on hunting a lower elevation with great feed and lots of water the first weekend. I had my brother with me. We woke up opening morning and went to my glassing point. We got there at about a half hour after first light and stayed for a half an hour. We saw and heard nothing. We then made our way slowly up a valley that had the best water in the area with the wind in our favor. It was hot and that’s where I thought they’d be. Boy was I wrong. There was absolutely no fresh sign. It was very disappointing. We sat and ate breakfast watching a meadow that had a water source. After the wind switched we headed to the top of the mountain to do some glassing. We got to a spot I had backpacked into a few years before and glassed. We saw many camps and three different sets of hunters. At mid day we decided we weren’t in a spot set up for success.
We headed down the mountain and got in the truck and headed to a different place I had been to before. The place had a wallow that had been hit at a similar time frame a few years before around the same time. We hiked slowly up to the wallow to see if it had been hit recently. It had not been. I proceeded to bugle and splash the wallow to try to get a response. We had three cow calls go off immediately off to our left. I didn’t respond. A few minutes later we heard cow calls downwind from us and then didn’t hear them again. We figured they winded us and left.
On the way back to camp with minimal light. We saw a herd of elk on private. In the herd was a good bull. It was too dark to tell how good he was, but he was a mature elk. We got out the gps and found the nearest public access point and made a plan for the morning. We at least knew there were elk in that area. In the morning we went in and heard and saw zero elk. Saw a few mule deer and found a dead cow skull.
We then headed out back to camp to pack up and head into town. We both needed to work the next day.
