Montana Elk Hunt

[Elkshed]

Just got back from HD 202 last night.
Took off after work Thursday and got up there around 5:30 pm.Seen a few grouse on the way in.Thursday night it was downright cold even with my tent heater on high.Got up early Friday morning and hiked down into the lake to do some fishing and grouse hunting.I shot a few nice grouse on the way down and hammered the brook trout out of the lake I stopped counting after 15.On the way back to camp I seen something big and dark brown a couple of miles away so I glassed the hillside and couldn't find it,then it moved and it was a big old grizz.I watched him for about a half hour till he disapeared over the side of a rock outcropping.He was headed towards my camp.I had my pistol so I wasn't to concerned.After I got back to camp I put my cleaned grouse in the cooler and grabbed my long bow and started hiking to the top of the mountain I was going to Elk hunt below in the morning.And try and get a signal on my cell phone.I found 2 old cabins and an old mine shaft and some hardrock with traces of gold in it.The cabins were ran down and it looked like they mined gold and trapped I seen where they had a bunch of nails lined up to hang their traps on.When I reached the top of the mountain I bugeled and threw in a few cow calls and seen a lone bull down by the lake.I bugeled and he paced back and forth for about an hour.That is where I was going to start in the morning.Shot another grouse on the way back to camp and had my limit of 3.I seen five more but couldn't shoot.That night I made fried porkchops and fried potatoes for dinner and just knew there were going to be bears.After burrying the grease and leftovers I got all my hunting gear ready for morning and could hardly sleep thinking of that bull.
Morning came early to a rustle outside the camp I looked out my tent window and a bunch of whitetail deer were going past my camp.I got around and had some fast breakfast and headed up the mountain.After I made it to the saddle I bugeled and heared nothing so I cow called and it sounded like thundering hooves.I knelt down to knock an arrow and when I stood up there was an awsome 5x5 with dark brown antlers starring at me less than 20 feet away.He busted me when I stood up and bolted just as fast as he came.I bugeled and he stopped.I cow called but he knew it was a booger man.I circled the mountainside and heard one low sounding bugel kind of like a bedded bull letting the cows know where he was.I finally made it down to a small lake and found some tore up ground and a wallow and set up and did some calling till dark.Nothing it was way to hot.I was praying for clouds and it just got hotter.I finally headed back to camp right at dark and shot another grouse.I ran into two guys that came in friday night and they said they didn't do any good.A few years ago I took my son down across from the big lake and back up the other side and seen los of bulls even a 7x8 which was a monster.I asked the other guys where they were going to hunt and they said down past the lake but never hunted down there before.I had and asked them if they wanted to go with me in the morning.They said great.They showed up at my camp at 5am and off we went.In the dark infested with grizzly bears and brushy and wet creek running down the mountain.It took most of the darkness to get to the bottom we bugeled on the way down and nothing.we climbed the other side and cow called and heared some branches snapping so we set up in the timber on the edge of a park and team called,Nothing.we split up about 20-30 yards apart and cow called back and forth and,nothing.We didn't see much fresh sign just a few trees torn up and that was it.so we headed back to camp and they went home.I stayed a little longer and went to a meadow I could smell fresh strong elk urine at.I set up and called till almost dark and grouse hunted back to camp.Got a few more grouse.I thought ,you know it is just way too hot I had to shed my shirt a couple of times it was that hot.I figure the elk will start to rut in a week and a half mabe.I sure hope it cools off.I had a pretty good time all in all and think it was good therapy to kinda cool the elk fever till tonight.I might run up on the mountain and see if I can get one to come in.The big moon and heat is defenitely no help.I hada nice little 3x3 whitetail hanging out at camp and thought what the heck so I chased him around the mountain and he ended up right back at camp.So left him be.
Hopefully something gets started pretty soon.Good Luck.
Elkshed

[jhtrapper]

Hope it gets started soon for me too! good luck!

[BareBack Jack]

I know what you mean the heat and the moon didn't help me either.I sat on a wallow sunday and yesterday called in a few bulls,one spike and a 4x3.Had a good bull at 80 yds but he didn't like something and hung up and booked after about 20 minutes of my pleading cow calls.
I'm thinking a week maybe,need some more cool days.
BBJ

[Dirt2]

Thanks for sharing, you saw more elk than I did.

I hunted in 250, hiking in on Friday afternoon and coming out Monday afternoon. I took it really slow, only covered 1 1/2 miles Saturday through Monday midday hunting the head of a small canyon, camping each night wherever darkness found me.

Saturday - One muley doe was my game count. Did no bugling and heard no bugling.

Sunday - Toward late afternoon I broke out the bugle to see if I could stir something up. Well, I stirred something up alright, just not quite what I had had in mind. On my second bugle, five minutes after my first, I heard brush popping and saw vaguely saw a critter coming in, fast! I thought whew-hoo! called in an elk on my second bugle of the season! Then I realized there were more animals behind the lead animal, which had disappeared into a dip about 30 yards out. Could it be a whole herd?

No, unless youcall a group of bears a herd. The trailing animals came into view - two little bear cubs. So now I realized in a flash that the animal still coming hard and still out of sight is mama bear. I stood up to give her a full view when she rushed into view again at 40 feet. I really thought I was in trouble, I've had probably a half-dozen close encounters with black bears with cubs, but this time felt different. She was hunting me,AND had her cubs to protect. She paused for a two-count, then spun and ran, woofing violently as she ran. It all ended in about 20 seconds, but my heart used up about two months of life in that time!

Monday - Continued up the canyon with dawn, stillhunting and cow calling occasionally. I walked into another one of those wild deals that takes a while to explain but was all over in maybe 90 seconds. I realized a wallow I was approaching had been used very recently, like maybe just minutes ago. My cow call provoked a bugle response 200 yards above to my right. As I scurried to find a good setup if he came down, another bull opened up violently at maybe 150 yards the opposite direction. I was nearly perfectly between two bulls, both close!

Sadly, I realized almost immediately when the second bull opened up that I was in trouble. See, I wasn't perfectly between the two, but about 100 yards up wind of the theoretical line between them. I spun and began to run back downcanyon, trying to get back on the right side of the wind. Anyone who's ever run a footrace with a motivated elk knows how this turned out. The second bull was really fired up, he already had some cows, and he wanted to keep me away from that other bull. He came fast and I quickly realized I had no chance to get right with the wind before he came into view.

I flopped down behind the nearest half-arsed hidey spot, and tried a second approach. I got on the cow call really aggressively, maybe I could lure that hard charger straight to me instead of having him go after the other bull and right into my wind funnel. It half-worked, in that he changed course and closed to fifty yards. Then he stopped behind a wall of cover and looked for me for a few seconds before he returned to his original intent of driving off the other bull. This put him in my wind funnel and effectively ended the hunt. He put the other bull to flight, which didn't really want a battle (judged by the progress of this bull's bugles). The bull that came by me piped down and disapeared when he got my wind. He was a nice 280ish bull, although I never got a perfect view to really calibrate his rack.

I had one cow within 35 yards looking for me, so I was effectively pinned down, and the woods settled back into silence.

That's the high points of my weekend. I'm frothing to get back out there, 9 and 10 Sep I'll be moving some gear into a cache for the big event - 16 days off starting 16 Sep.

Good luck to all.

[ShatoDavis]

You guys are so lucky to be out there chasing those majestic bulls. I appreciate the stories. I will have to live vicariously through you're stories this year. Hopefully, I'll be back in the mountains next year. Good luck to all and keep the stories coming.

[huntingson]

Well elkshed, I hope your prediction of a week and a half is right. I am headed out on the 17th to start hunting on the 19th. With any luck they will be bugelling better than they have been the last couple of years and the weather will be more cooperative (it has been hot the last 2 years when I am hunting elk). Best of luck the rest of the season!