An early start on scouting for next year...

One of my hunting companions was able to sneak away from the daily grind yesterday, Dec 16, to spend the day hiking the area that we hunted on the general hunts this year.  His primary goal was a search for moose sheds, but a secondary goal was to get a good feel for the area in mid-December because we have considered acquiring cow elk tags for the earlier of the two late season hunts offered for the unit.

With his permission, this is his report:

The first two pictures are scenery pictures they are pictures that I snapped of the area before I got started.  Kinda boring but good pictures to remember the snow conditions.


As soon as I was headed down the ridge 3 antlerless elk came running right in my direction and decided to cross just 200 yards below me. I really wasn't too worried about looking at elk and I had already spotted a heard of close to a dozen directly south with 3 of them being spikes. So I kept on going down the hill.  When I looked over at the other gate to the WMA I spotted headlights from a white pickup.  It was stuck in the mud and would continue to be stuck for another 3-4 hours spouting rooster tails of mud right under the powerlines.  I didn't feel too bad for the guy since he was not supposed to be there in the first place with a truck.  Then I noticed what caused him to get stuck. 100 yards out stood several elk and then I noticed that just up on the hill above those elk there were close to 400 elk just grazing with all their heads pointed in the same direction with their heads down. It was miles away and they all looked like little dots but they covered the entire mountain side.  I tried counting them but once I counted half of them at near 200 I gave up and just concluded that it was a heard of 400.

After figuring those elk were way way to far away to really matter I headed down the hill and jumped this elk and had her broadside at 100 yards.


She also had 2 cows bedded to her right just behind that pine tree. Then I spotted a 6 point bull, it's kinda hard to see his antlers in that pic but it's the best I could do. You can see another cow in the frame with him and I counted 19 elk from that spot.



After dropping down past the river and coming up the other side I ran across another 3 elk.  No digiscoping so they were probably within shooting range with a rifle.


This is a picture of an area we call "the boobs" from the hill going up to the ponds.


As I headed up the hill there were elk beds everywhere melted in the snow and you could smell elk urine all over the place. Then this little cow stepped out at about 100 yards. She had 2 other cows that also trailed her and she barked at me. I have never heard an elk bark like that but it was really loud.

Then I jumped 3 bull moose that I had been pursuing and that I had spotted from the same location where I spotted the 6 point bull elk. I could not snap a picture of them as they took off pretty fast. They also were all packing (antler). The first one had long tines, 2nd one had palms and tines and the last one was pretty much all palms.

And then I looked up to observe even more elk bedded up above the chaparrals there were about 19 elk up there and no bulls. Mixed in with the elk happened to be 3 bucks. Two 3 points and a 2 point. Then all of the sudden elk busted below me and about 12 elk crossed below me.

After that I looked up at the ponds and I was close to them but snow covered a lot up there and there were not even any tracks so I decided to head towards the boobs. When I looked up at the lower of the 2 boobs at the very top I noticed elk laying on the very top. I counted 16 elk up there 1 being a 5 point and 2 being spikes. Then I looked just north of the dam and this guy walked out of the trees.


As soon as I snapped that picture another 5 point walked out of the frame this other 5 point walked in the exact spot. And then I discovered bulls started to come out in a single file line. Not a single cow with all the bulls. There were literally close to 50 bulls that came out of the wood work just below the boobs and the dam.

Then I hear antlers hitting together so I focus scope back on a different herd of bull elk. Just when I didn't think it could get any better I get 6 bulls in the same frame and 2 of them are sparring. 

At this point I am almost sick of seeing bull elk and it is now 1pm and I need to get to the four wheeler by 3pm so I can make it to the truck around 3:30pm and get home by 5pm. So I jog down the hill and up to the boobs. Then I drop down where we shot a bull on the muzzleloader elk and there is a very concentrated amount of elk. When I was looking at that ridge from the river I saw 19 elk. Well it was more like 150 elk were actually there, mostly cows & calves and some spikes and then the 6 point was still with them. So I am hopping down the path to get down to the forest service trail as fast as I can and did not worry about snapping pictures of cows and calves and spikes. Once down to the river the snow is 2 feet deep and you punch through the crust at every step. I am literally running through that trying to get to where I found that moose shed so I can head up that hill towards the four wheeler. As I am catching my breathe I look up at the pine hill opposite of the forest service and spot a moose and an elk feeding side by side. No time to break out the spotting scope so I snap a point and shoot of them.

Then less than 75 yards away out pops this guy..... Then he is followed by this guy.


Then I hear a moose fight and witness the craziest thing ever.... If the moose were fighting that hard and no antlers came loose then I am looking way too early for sheds. I walked up to the aftermath of the fight and found hair and dirt clumps and smashed trees.


And then I spotted 5 bucks on the opposing hill side. A big 2 point and 2 small 2 points and you will never believe this..... One of the small 2 points has a tag zip tied to its antler like someone shot it, tagged it, and it jumped up and got away! Craziest thing I ever saw in my life.

I got back to the four wheeler and it was 4:03pm so I had to speed to the truck and load it and get the heck out of there so that my wife could go to work at 5pm.