With no animals spotted after about an hour we returned to the cabin and finished getting our personal gear squared away.
Opening morning came quickly and as we were preparing our gear for the day I noticed brake lights just outside the window. Jared had arrived early, I wasn’t expecting him until later that day. We piled into Brian’s truck for the short drive to where we would begin our hunt. I hopped out of the truck, set up my tripod, snapped my binoculars into the harness, and immediately spotted a large herd of elk. The elk were on the move feeding up the ridge to the west across the canyon about a mile away… and we were on the move too. We made a brutal 1.5 mile hike (800ft loss in elevation in the first ¾ mile then gained it all back and then some in the next ¾ mile) to try and get above them but were too late.
We began to make our way along the northern edge of a large bowl and as I slipped into a large stand of pines I was met with a mass of tan bodies erupting from cover. I could hear the group heading north onto private property so I just waited and watched. Soon the string of elk began to file through a small opening. I raised my binoculars fully expecting to see the string of 30 or so cows that we had spotted earlier… instead my eyes beheld bull after bull after bull walk through that small opening. Ranging from spike to nice mature 6x6 bulls, I watched twenty plus bulls walk through that opening. I was stunned… and upset that I had been so close yet unable to do anything about it because of the recent boundary changes that now made where those elk were at off limits to me. In previous years I would have fired without hesitation because that was land I could hunt… now the majority shareholder of the property had roped off “his” portion and made it inaccessible.
For the rest of the day we hiked around and didn’t see much else.
On the hike back out Brian’s knee locked up and he dislocated his knee cap. It was pretty painful and he struggled on the climb back up to the truck.
The second morning I met Jesse at the gate early and by the time we got back to the cabin Jared and Brian were just waking up. We had a tough decision to make with Brian feeling unable to do much hiking. We decided that Brian would stay behind and take it easy that day while Jesse, Jared, and I worked around the area that we hunted the day before. We all drove up to the top again and I immediately spotted what appeared to be the same herd of cows and calves so we again headed off on the 1.5 mile hike down and back up the opposite hillside. This morning was different however, the herd had worked into a north facing hillside that we could glass readily and bedded there.
Jesse and I left Jared there on the north edge of the bowl and began working our way towards a bedded bull and two bedded cows that we were in advantageous positions for us to possibly get a shot. We worked towards the bedded elk and shortly before we got to our desired final destination I watched the bull stand and walk across the face of the hillside just beyond our comfortable muzzleloader range. We continued on to where we wanted to stop and sat for a while because I had not seen either of the two cows move with the bull. We waited there until late in the afternoon and watched deer and moose working through the area the entire time. The deer were beginning to rut pretty hard and every group of does was being monitored by at least one buck. We worked our way back out of the bowl and met up with Jared before hiking back to the truck. Jared and Brian decided to call it a hunt and headed for home.
Jesse and I woke the next morning bright and early and began hiking well before first light. We still did not arrive at the north edge of the bowl until after sun-up. We were hoping to arrive early enough to potentially cut the herd off before they reached their bedding area but the elk were not there that morning. We sat and glassed for several minutes before I spotted a lone cow in some deep shadows down in the bottom of the bowl. The race was on and we took different routes towards the cow. Jesse would take a direct line assault while I would circle to the east and head for a large rock outcropping. If she worked her way directly up the hill in front of us Jesse would get a shot but if she turned and tried to escape down the bottom of the bowl then I would be in a prime position for a shot. As I neared the rock outcropping I spotted the cow working her way up the hill across from me. I steadied on her and waited for her to turn broadside. As soon as she turned I fired and a cloud of smoke completely obscured my view for several seconds. She remained standing and continued to work her way up the hill. I ran closer to where she was and tried to get a second shot but she never presented a good shot. It took Jesse several minutes to get to where I was and after we met back up I decided to try to follow her trail. I could easily tell where she went because of her fresh prints in the snow so I followed them for several yards up the mountain. After weaving through some buck brush and ducking under a couple aspen limbs I heard crashing above me. I looked up just in time to see her bolt out from underneath a cluster of pines never giving me much of a chance for a shot. I looped my way west then north along the edge of the bowl and spent the afternoon cat napping in the sun. More deer were spotted in the afternoon and evening along with a few more moose, but no more elk.
My cow elk tag will open shortly in this same area, and I have been unable to make good on two opportunities to fill that tag already. I’m optimistic that I will be able to fill it during the normal season dates for that tag with my rifle.
