YoungNVHunter
New member
Hey all, just wanted to take a minute to share my success on my first Elk!
My Dad, good friend John and I headed out this past weekend for my late rifle Bull Elk hunt. We headed out three days before the hunt started.
Day one was easy, get there and set up camp.
Day two started out before sunrise, we woke up to snow on the ground and made our way to a spot we could glass from. We spent the entire day glassing and saw nothing but a few does. Before calling it a day we decided to move to the other side of the hill to scope out the next valley over with hopes of seeing something to get excited about. That plan turned out to be the best choice of the day. As the snow started to lift I moved my field of view to the edge of some trees that I had been watching off and on and low and behold some movement. At first glance it was five cows moving out of the trees, I put down my binoculars and set up the spotting scope........BULLS...... five in a row moving to some water. What a relief, we finally saw what we were looking for. My buddy John got his spotting scope on them and with the high end optics he was sporting we were able to see that two of them were really nice. We watched until the sun went down to see where they ended up.
Day three started out pretty much the same way except this morning we were excited to get out and hopefully find the Bulls we left the night before. Not long after sunrise we glassed a lone bull on the skyline, it wasn't long before four more appeared on the ridge following him. All five gradually made their way over the ridge and bedded down. There was one we were particularly interested in.
After a long time sitting there they all got up and started moving back towards the original location we spotted them the day before. We sat patiently and watched as they moved from ridge to ridge. We were watching so intently that we did not notice a group of four ATV's sitting on top of the ridge just to the north of our bulls. It wasn't until the bulls popped up and started off that we realized we had some competition. The last view we had of them was on the ridge as they ran off.
Needless to say we weren't happy about the situation, but what can you do. We decided to head back to camp for lunch. After lunch we headed back out to see if our spooked bulls would return to the water they came to the night before. Again, we sat patiently and watched with nothing in our sights. Just before we called it quits I hear John say "I see an Elk". He pointed it out to me and sure enough, there were our bulls, five in a row making their way out of cover. We watched as they walked up and over the ridgeline out of sight. We picked up and move to the other side of the ridge where they went. Sure enough, as light faded we found them grazing. We decided that was enough for the night and headed back to camp.
Day four (opening day), we woke up excited to start the hunt, time to stop glassing and start hunting. We made our way to our glassing spot in hopes that we would see our bulls continue the pattern we observed the day before. After we set up we realized that our hopes would be dashed, within an hour we sat and watched about 15 different road hunters drive up and down the road, we even saw a man and his kid force march across the ridgeline we had been glassing. We all sat there in disbelief, where the hell did all these people come from? For the last two days we had this area all to ourselves, and now our bulls had to be blown clear out of the county. I sat there for two hours realizing that all the time and patience spent sitting on my ass freazing was an absolute waste of time. We contemplated moved to another area in my unit, but decided that we would head back behind the ridgeline where we had last seen our bulls. We finally got over to the other side and found quad tracks all over the place, but still made the decision the get out and glass. Sure enough, about two minutes looking through some glass we spotted our bulls. There they were sitting one valley over from where they were the night before. Unbelievable, all these guys driving around and not one actually took the time to sit and look.
We decided this was it, after all the commotion there was no time to waste. We were gonna make the hike up to the top now instead of waiting on the bulls to come to water. Unfortunately my dad's health was not the best so he said he could not make the hike. We got him set up in a great spot to watch the stalk and then moved out. John and I got up to the ridge where we could start off and when we got there ran into two old guys sitting in a side by side I guess just waiting for a nice bull to walk out in front of them. We politely told them we were gonna head out over the ridge, and they replied with a somewhat sarcastic reply "be my guest, if there's no sign of elk, there's no point in hiking out, but if you seem some bulls send 'em this way". We smiled and made our way out. after moving to the first ridge we were able to see that our bulls were just enjoying the sun and watching people drive on by. After a 30 minute hike we found ouselves 380 yards away across this valley and decided that we were within my comfort zone. I slowly crawled to the ridgeline, got my rifle set up on my pack, collected myself and squeezed the trigger. A perfect shot, my Bull jumped up walked about ten yards then dropped.
An absolutely amazing hunt, the only thing that would have made it better is that my dad could have been there for the grip and grin. After we got back together, my dad told me how awesome it was to see his son make a stalk and take a perfect shot on big beautiful bull. We got a few shots together this morning before we left camp and headed home.
This hunt will be with me forever, and I am so happy my dad was able to share this experience with me. Thanks to all who PM'd with advice on my first Elk hunt!
My Dad, good friend John and I headed out this past weekend for my late rifle Bull Elk hunt. We headed out three days before the hunt started.
Day one was easy, get there and set up camp.
Day two started out before sunrise, we woke up to snow on the ground and made our way to a spot we could glass from. We spent the entire day glassing and saw nothing but a few does. Before calling it a day we decided to move to the other side of the hill to scope out the next valley over with hopes of seeing something to get excited about. That plan turned out to be the best choice of the day. As the snow started to lift I moved my field of view to the edge of some trees that I had been watching off and on and low and behold some movement. At first glance it was five cows moving out of the trees, I put down my binoculars and set up the spotting scope........BULLS...... five in a row moving to some water. What a relief, we finally saw what we were looking for. My buddy John got his spotting scope on them and with the high end optics he was sporting we were able to see that two of them were really nice. We watched until the sun went down to see where they ended up.
Day three started out pretty much the same way except this morning we were excited to get out and hopefully find the Bulls we left the night before. Not long after sunrise we glassed a lone bull on the skyline, it wasn't long before four more appeared on the ridge following him. All five gradually made their way over the ridge and bedded down. There was one we were particularly interested in.
After a long time sitting there they all got up and started moving back towards the original location we spotted them the day before. We sat patiently and watched as they moved from ridge to ridge. We were watching so intently that we did not notice a group of four ATV's sitting on top of the ridge just to the north of our bulls. It wasn't until the bulls popped up and started off that we realized we had some competition. The last view we had of them was on the ridge as they ran off.
Needless to say we weren't happy about the situation, but what can you do. We decided to head back to camp for lunch. After lunch we headed back out to see if our spooked bulls would return to the water they came to the night before. Again, we sat patiently and watched with nothing in our sights. Just before we called it quits I hear John say "I see an Elk". He pointed it out to me and sure enough, there were our bulls, five in a row making their way out of cover. We watched as they walked up and over the ridgeline out of sight. We picked up and move to the other side of the ridge where they went. Sure enough, as light faded we found them grazing. We decided that was enough for the night and headed back to camp.
Day four (opening day), we woke up excited to start the hunt, time to stop glassing and start hunting. We made our way to our glassing spot in hopes that we would see our bulls continue the pattern we observed the day before. After we set up we realized that our hopes would be dashed, within an hour we sat and watched about 15 different road hunters drive up and down the road, we even saw a man and his kid force march across the ridgeline we had been glassing. We all sat there in disbelief, where the hell did all these people come from? For the last two days we had this area all to ourselves, and now our bulls had to be blown clear out of the county. I sat there for two hours realizing that all the time and patience spent sitting on my ass freazing was an absolute waste of time. We contemplated moved to another area in my unit, but decided that we would head back behind the ridgeline where we had last seen our bulls. We finally got over to the other side and found quad tracks all over the place, but still made the decision the get out and glass. Sure enough, about two minutes looking through some glass we spotted our bulls. There they were sitting one valley over from where they were the night before. Unbelievable, all these guys driving around and not one actually took the time to sit and look.
We decided this was it, after all the commotion there was no time to waste. We were gonna make the hike up to the top now instead of waiting on the bulls to come to water. Unfortunately my dad's health was not the best so he said he could not make the hike. We got him set up in a great spot to watch the stalk and then moved out. John and I got up to the ridge where we could start off and when we got there ran into two old guys sitting in a side by side I guess just waiting for a nice bull to walk out in front of them. We politely told them we were gonna head out over the ridge, and they replied with a somewhat sarcastic reply "be my guest, if there's no sign of elk, there's no point in hiking out, but if you seem some bulls send 'em this way". We smiled and made our way out. after moving to the first ridge we were able to see that our bulls were just enjoying the sun and watching people drive on by. After a 30 minute hike we found ouselves 380 yards away across this valley and decided that we were within my comfort zone. I slowly crawled to the ridgeline, got my rifle set up on my pack, collected myself and squeezed the trigger. A perfect shot, my Bull jumped up walked about ten yards then dropped.
An absolutely amazing hunt, the only thing that would have made it better is that my dad could have been there for the grip and grin. After we got back together, my dad told me how awesome it was to see his son make a stalk and take a perfect shot on big beautiful bull. We got a few shots together this morning before we left camp and headed home.
This hunt will be with me forever, and I am so happy my dad was able to share this experience with me. Thanks to all who PM'd with advice on my first Elk hunt!
