Back to the beginning of the season though…
My first hunt this year was the muzzleloader deer hunt with family and friends. It was the first time my 10 year old son tagged along. It was fun and challenging… challenging because I tried my best to hunt the way that I like to but still be realistic with a youngster’s ability (both physical and mental). In the end, it was a great hunt. I ended up tagging out on a young buck and we have since enjoyed some hickory smoked venison snack sticks and some steaks.
Next up was the doe/fawn pronghorn hunt up in Wyoming. This was really fun, and made me wish that a guy was able to get more than two tags. I was left with the feeling for several days that the hunt was too fast and too fun to be over… but with both tags filled it was. Four of my sons, aged 3 to 10 at the time, came with me and we had fun chasing goats through the sage and cactus.
Adding these two experiences to the previous experiences my 10 year old has had, he is anxious to get started himself. He is hoping to be taking the Utah Hunter’s Education course this winter and we will be looking into some mentored whitetail deer tags up in Idaho for the fall of 2018 where he will be able to carry the rifle himself.
My last hunt of 2017 was the aforementioned muzzleloader any bull elk hunt…
Over the course of the past several years I had been quite successful at patterning the elk in the area that I hunt. It was never difficult to find elk… never. Because of this I took a lackadaisical approach to scouting this summer and didn’t worry about setting up any trail cameras or make any special trips up to glass. I figured the elk would just be where they had been the last several years.
On the muzzleloader deer hunt I crossed paths with more than a couple guys that mentioned to me that the elk had moved out for some reason and just hadn’t been in the area at all throughout the summer. Over three days deer hunting in areas where bugling bulls and cows were often easy to come by, I confirmed what they were telling me. I didn’t see a single elk, and only heard one faint bugle.
This year I was also going to be hunting with a new hunting partner, a neighbor who was pretty green when it comes to big game hunting. So I felt is measure of responsibility to show him a good time… not to mention I had talked up the area pretty good and after telling him we should have no problem finding elk (I always made it clear that finding and killing were very different… it would still be difficult to kill an elk) I was getting worried that I would be eating some crow.
The four and half weeks between the deer and elk hunts were filled with worry for me. In that time the rifle elk occurred and several other hunters shared reports of no elk. I was really banking on lots of pressure moving elk around and the elk ending up where they have been over the past several years even though they hadn’t been there all summer.
On opening morning of the hunt we set up to glass and within the first 30 minutes we spotted a lone elk and watched it settle into a day bed. We tried to make a play on it but it vacated the area before we could get in range. That would be the only time we would see an elk over the next three days. We hiked into old areas that previously held elk, new areas that I thought might hold elk now if they were pressured out of those old areas… and saw & heard nothing. We tried glassing far off areas but found our optics lacking. We also had some weather roll in later in the hunt and found that some of our gear was also lacking.
When it was all said and done my friend left frustrated and humbled… I left angry and humiliated. It has been several years since I felt like this after a hunt concluded (my grandfather’s 2014 Manti elk hunt still ranks as the most frustrating experience I have ever had while hunting). I have a glimmer of hope though because my resolve to not let that happen again has driven me to success in the years following… I hope I haven’t lost that resolve! There will definitely be some changes made this next summer, I have to relearn where these elk went. I have some gear that needs upgrading… spotting scope and even more importantly cold weather/wind/rain gear.
In the end though it was fun to get to know a new hunting partner, and even though he was frustrated when we spoke a couple days later he told me that was the first time he’d seen an elk while elk hunting and he can’t wait for next year. That was a relief, I was afraid that the experience may have soured him.
In spite of the ups and downs 2017 was a great year and I look forward to the adventures of 2018.
Here are a couple pics from the late elk hunt...
