Well, the big hunting trip has gone and past and I'm sitting here with a sad face, empty chest and am just plain frustrated.
It all started last year when I found a pretty consistent funnel area on public land that exited a 3000 acre private ranch with meadow and river in it, which I had permission to hunt. However, the public land area and backside provided more encounters and last year I called in a big bull two different days without offering a glimpse. His chuckles sent shivers down your spine.
Determined to hit the same area this year I was instantly rewarded when on the first morning I had a growler working the travel route only to skirt around me at 50 yards, not coming into bow range and continuing up the drainage with his cows. Happy to be on elk so early, I knew it was going to be a great week.
The week was also hot, 40 degree mornings and 90 degree days. On Thursday a weather front moved in and we had rain, 50-60 degree days and 20-degree mornings. This was good.
Back in my travel route on Friday I called in another bull. where I hunt is thick so they can get within 30 yards and you still don't see them.
Saturday morning came fast and finally with cooler temperatures the forest errupted with elk. I had 3-5 bulls working around me and one with a distinct bugle that made me think he could be the big bull I called in last year (never to be seen however)
he was on fire, as well as a nice rag horn who's game was to run half-circles around me screaming and growling like a young teenager. A high pitched whistle also could be heard. I thought it to be from one of the three spikes that were in the area. It was awesome. Slowly the bugles drifted out and they were traveling out of the meadow into the timber. Intent to see the bulls we ran with them and as I came to the road that our car was parked on, there was a man with an elk whistle, broken arrow and dangling peep sight. They parked right up from my truck and as they heard the bugles they started calling from the road which lured the elk up and out, not to mention they spooked them as they crossed.
He shot at a cow at 10-yards and missed. His arrow blew up on him. That area is bull only this year and he told me he had a disability tag that allowed him to shoot a cow. Yeah right, road hunter to say the least. I think he got what he deserved.
I had an idea of where the bull was heading so we jumped in the truck and headed off to cut his trail a couple miles up the logging roads. I turned down a logging road to head up there and astonished and amazed, i see the biggest bull I've ever seen in my life in the woods, a whale-tailed 6x6 with the lightest tan coat you've ever seen and white tips to boot. We instantly stopped and watched has he bounded off the road, not too fast though. I left immediate, planning to return that night. I looked at his tracks and it was the same tracks I was seeing in the area.
When we returned that night it was as if he was waiting. The bulls' bugles ripped through the air and I called him in to less than 50 yards three different times. he would not close the distance though. Last year, I bugled too much i think so this year I concentrated more on cow calling. I did bugle but not nearly as much. He really liked my primos terminator with just the tube and a diaphragm. That night as shooting light diminished and the big bull toar a tree not more than 50 yards from my parked truck, cows running around us, I sat there, wondering how this could happen again, like last years, a big bull, with a chuckle so distinquisable you know he's huge, called in multiple times, multiple days, patterns tracked, yet no shots or even a good look while on pursuit.
I made another go one more time my last morning before heading out. I just couldn't let it go. Unfortunatley I was late getting there and missed him. I could hear him bugling up the canyon. Determined to cut tracks again i headed up to the western side and ran into another local who's family has hunted the area for more than 50 years. I've known of his hunting success for years and he's the guy who always has the secret spots. He told me he's hunting one of the biggest branch antlered bull he's seen in the area for quite some years. He told me he had whale tails and thick mass and sported an impressive light colored rack. However he said the bull wouldn't bugle and come into him. He also confirmed my travel route and hinted that I was in a very good travel section which happened to be in line with where I found him at. We talked for an hour and a half and I know one thing, my honey hole might not be a secret but it's provided plenty of elk kills for the mans family the last 50 years.
The big bull is there and the season just peaked. Cool weather has arrived with some moisture and the bulls are talking more than ever. Two of my friends who were there with me also know about the beast. In some strange greedy way, I hope he lives so next year, I have one more chance at a true public land legend. There headed there tomorrow though so we'll see. I wish them both the best of luck but deep down, I think the bull has a thing for my calling. I heard him bugle at least 30 different times.
I need to puke again
It all started last year when I found a pretty consistent funnel area on public land that exited a 3000 acre private ranch with meadow and river in it, which I had permission to hunt. However, the public land area and backside provided more encounters and last year I called in a big bull two different days without offering a glimpse. His chuckles sent shivers down your spine.
Determined to hit the same area this year I was instantly rewarded when on the first morning I had a growler working the travel route only to skirt around me at 50 yards, not coming into bow range and continuing up the drainage with his cows. Happy to be on elk so early, I knew it was going to be a great week.
The week was also hot, 40 degree mornings and 90 degree days. On Thursday a weather front moved in and we had rain, 50-60 degree days and 20-degree mornings. This was good.
Back in my travel route on Friday I called in another bull. where I hunt is thick so they can get within 30 yards and you still don't see them.
Saturday morning came fast and finally with cooler temperatures the forest errupted with elk. I had 3-5 bulls working around me and one with a distinct bugle that made me think he could be the big bull I called in last year (never to be seen however)
he was on fire, as well as a nice rag horn who's game was to run half-circles around me screaming and growling like a young teenager. A high pitched whistle also could be heard. I thought it to be from one of the three spikes that were in the area. It was awesome. Slowly the bugles drifted out and they were traveling out of the meadow into the timber. Intent to see the bulls we ran with them and as I came to the road that our car was parked on, there was a man with an elk whistle, broken arrow and dangling peep sight. They parked right up from my truck and as they heard the bugles they started calling from the road which lured the elk up and out, not to mention they spooked them as they crossed.
He shot at a cow at 10-yards and missed. His arrow blew up on him. That area is bull only this year and he told me he had a disability tag that allowed him to shoot a cow. Yeah right, road hunter to say the least. I think he got what he deserved.
I had an idea of where the bull was heading so we jumped in the truck and headed off to cut his trail a couple miles up the logging roads. I turned down a logging road to head up there and astonished and amazed, i see the biggest bull I've ever seen in my life in the woods, a whale-tailed 6x6 with the lightest tan coat you've ever seen and white tips to boot. We instantly stopped and watched has he bounded off the road, not too fast though. I left immediate, planning to return that night. I looked at his tracks and it was the same tracks I was seeing in the area.
When we returned that night it was as if he was waiting. The bulls' bugles ripped through the air and I called him in to less than 50 yards three different times. he would not close the distance though. Last year, I bugled too much i think so this year I concentrated more on cow calling. I did bugle but not nearly as much. He really liked my primos terminator with just the tube and a diaphragm. That night as shooting light diminished and the big bull toar a tree not more than 50 yards from my parked truck, cows running around us, I sat there, wondering how this could happen again, like last years, a big bull, with a chuckle so distinquisable you know he's huge, called in multiple times, multiple days, patterns tracked, yet no shots or even a good look while on pursuit.
I made another go one more time my last morning before heading out. I just couldn't let it go. Unfortunatley I was late getting there and missed him. I could hear him bugling up the canyon. Determined to cut tracks again i headed up to the western side and ran into another local who's family has hunted the area for more than 50 years. I've known of his hunting success for years and he's the guy who always has the secret spots. He told me he's hunting one of the biggest branch antlered bull he's seen in the area for quite some years. He told me he had whale tails and thick mass and sported an impressive light colored rack. However he said the bull wouldn't bugle and come into him. He also confirmed my travel route and hinted that I was in a very good travel section which happened to be in line with where I found him at. We talked for an hour and a half and I know one thing, my honey hole might not be a secret but it's provided plenty of elk kills for the mans family the last 50 years.
The big bull is there and the season just peaked. Cool weather has arrived with some moisture and the bulls are talking more than ever. Two of my friends who were there with me also know about the beast. In some strange greedy way, I hope he lives so next year, I have one more chance at a true public land legend. There headed there tomorrow though so we'll see. I wish them both the best of luck but deep down, I think the bull has a thing for my calling. I heard him bugle at least 30 different times.
I need to puke again
