My 2021 Elk Season

[Justin Crossley]

I was extremely lucky in the WA draws and pulled another quality archery tag in a good unit. My brother and I drew as partners in 2015 and killed two really nice bulls.

My bull shot on day 19 of the hunt.



My brother's bull shot on day 21.




This time will likely be a lot harder since the herd is now at a 30 year low and wolves have increased big time. I'm still optimistic that I can find some good bulls and have a great hunt. Either way, I'm looking forward to setting a bunch of cameras and spending as much time as possible scouting and shooting my bow to give myself a chance.

Stay tuned and I'll post updates here as the season progresses.

 

[Justin Crossley]

I've been spending quite a bit of time on onX figuring out my plan for scouting. Hopefully I can get a few cameras set this weekend.



Seems like this should be a good spot.....

 

[RLam]

Those are some amazing animals! Congrats!

 

[Justin Crossley]

Those are some amazing animals! Congrats!

Thank you. I'm looking forward to round two!

 

[Justin Crossley]

My brother and I drove over Friday night for some glassing and setting trail cams. We saw a few elk, a couple of bears, and scouted out some good water holes. I hung five cameras up and plan to go back in July to check them and possibly hang a few more.

 

[Justin Crossley]

Bad news. Fires already starting in the Blue Mountains. My wife and I have plans to hike into the wilderness and set more cameras this weekend but there are fires on both the east and west side of my unit. Currently it doesn't look like I'll be able to access either side. Firefighters are there doing their best but we need some rain.

The hand drawn line is a very rough outline of my unit.



This is a close up of the small fire on the left of the map above.



This shows the closure for the small fire.

 

[hobbes]

That sucks. I'm afraid we are going to see a lot more of that if this weather pattern doesn't change. Montana is hot and dry.

 

[ShakeDown]

Sorry to hear it, cmon rain!

 

[Jbehredt]

My spot is closed for a nearby fire too. Guess I get to put my map scouting skills to the test again. It’s been a few years since I’ve had to learn an elk spot.

 

[Justin Crossley]

This hot and dry weather is going to make it tough across the West for sure. Hopefully we get a week or two of moisture that moves through.

For now I'm focusing on getting myself and my gear ready. On Thursday I spent about three hours shooting my bow with a good friend who is a way better archer than me. He helped me out with some slight tweaks to my form and we had a great evening of archery and elk discussion.



My bow is shooting really well and my friend is going to put a new set of strings on for me as soon as they get here. That way I'll have a backup set that is ready to go if I have any issues.

 

[Justin Crossley]

New strings are going on tonight and we'll be getting everything dialed in over the next couple of weeks. I'm planning to shoot a two-day 3D event next weekend for some more hunt prep. I've been shooting quite a bit and really working on my fundamentals so I'm as dialed as I can be when the hunt starts.



I also picked up another release since I didn't have a good backup.

 

[kkuenzi]

Great bulls!

 

[Justin Crossley]

Still not looking good for my hunt. The fire in the western part of my unit is now a little over 12,000 acres and only about 15% contained. I'll be out of luck if we don't get some serious rain in the next couple of weeks.

 

[twdjr]

Those are great bulls you guys shot.

 

[Laramie]

Still not looking good for my hunt. The fire in the western part of my unit is now a little over 12,000 acres and only about 15% contained. I'll be out of luck if we don't get some serious rain in the next couple of weeks.

I had a hunt cancelled last year due to fires in Wyoming. It stunk but kudos to Wyoming, they allowed me to move my tag to this season. Good luck to you.

 

[OKaustin]

Awesome bulls!

 

[Goshawker1]

I was extremely lucky in the WA draws and pulled another quality archery tag in a good unit. My brother and I drew as partners in 2015 and killed two really nice bulls.

My bull shot on day 19 of the hunt.

View attachment 298911

My brother's bull shot on day 21.

View attachment 298912


This time will likely be a lot harder since the herd is now at a 30 year low and wolves have increased big time. I'm still optimistic that I can find some good bulls and have a great hunt. Either way, I'm looking forward to setting a bunch of cameras and spending as much time as possible scouting and shooting my bow to give myself a chance.

Stay tuned and I'll post updates here as the season progresses.

Very nice bulls and good luck this year
How far was your and your brothers shots and what model bows did you use on those 2 very nice bulls?

 

[Justin Crossley]

My bull was about 20 yards with a Ross Cardiac at 60 lbs. My brother shot his at about 40 yards with a Hoyt but I can't remember which one he had at the time.

Unfortunately, it looks like my hunt probably won't happen. Most of the timber in my unit is on fire now.

 

[TexDoc]

Keep preparing man! You never know and if the hunt is a go you'll be so glad you are tuned up for it. Nice bow by the way, I shoot the same one!

 

[Justin Crossley]

I'm still preparing in case I still get to hunt. Walked three courses at my local archery range yesterday.