Monday night we got to the parking area and there were two quads parked. We went into the walk-in area where we had been seeing all the elk and immediately ran into the hunter. He was after a bull and had not been having much luck. He was leaving a pond to go chase a distant bugle. Christian and I went down to the pond and had a bugle that sounded promising a short distance to the south. We decided to go after that group. They were moving to where we got the picture of the 6x6 the previous morning. This one was frustrating for Christian. We got to within 100 yards of the bull and he had cows. Every time we tried to get closer to the group they moved away. Wind was perfect. We tried everything. We tried to go in quiet…they moved, we cow called…they responded but moved away. We bugled…they moved away. Ultimately they wandered too close to the state line and we backed off. I could see that Christian was getting a little frustrated. We could hear a bugle back at the pond so we started moving that way. The bull we had been following started coming to us as we moved away. We both decided to go back to the pond and see if the new bull had cows and would be more cooperative.
When we got to the pond we found an absolutely beautiful 340 class 6x6 on the edge of the meadow by the pond. We watched him run his neck and rack on a aspen tree for over 1/2 hour. The herd bull and cows were behind him in the trees. I have video but can’t post. A couple cow calls and this bull came into less than 100 yards. It was an amazing bull. Christian kept asking how big the herd bull must have been to have this bull as a satellite. Right at dark the cows stepped out at 180 yards. Too far to shoot in low light. We never saw the herd bull. He stayed in the trees until after dark.
Tuesday morning we are both woken up at 3:45 by a bull less than 100 yards from our tent. He was absolutely screaming and chuckling. He walked off into Wyoming but we got very little sleep after that.
We went back to the same area we had been seeing bulls. There were two different bulls that sounded promising for having cows near by. We dropped north east (opposite direction from the previous night) from where we parked and started chasing the bugle. We could still hear the bull by the pond but we were planning on checking these areas on the way to the pond first because they were close and the wind was good.
We made quick work getting in on the first bull. We got to within 75 yards. He was a absolute pig. This was one of my top five bulls I had ever seen alive and he was definitely north of 380. He was wandering around looking for a herd. No cows at all but he was an amazing bull. We had him under 100 for over 15 min. He eventually wandered off and we started for the next group.
Christians body language showed me he was really getting frustrated. He wanted a cow and was frustrated that he had missed a few opportunities. I kept telling him we had plenty of time but I think his hope was fading.
As we moved to the second bugle the bull actually stopped bugling and would do a single chuckle. It was about once every minute but just a single chuckle. Christian thought it was a bark but it wasn’t. It was just the single chuckle.
The topography of the area was cool. There were rock ridges running east to west that raised about 8-12 feet. Then a small valley that dropped 5-10 feet for about 100 yards then a parallel Rick ridge. There were 15-20 of these little rocky ridge valleys and the single chuckle was just a little south west of us.
We hit one valley and it smelled very strong with elk but there were no tracks. It was only 7:15 and Christian was asking if we could hunt all day and not take a break. He said he really wanted to get an elk.
I told him we were still in the game this morning and there was still the herd at the pond. I told him we needed to see if the single chuckle bull had cows. Christian didn’t think it did. As we were walking up the next little rocky ridge, I saw the bull just starting up the opposite rocky ridge. He was 130 yards away. He was not big but…he had a couple cows. The wind was perfect and we got Christian set up. The first cow that stepped up had a calf and stopped at 155 yards on the opposite rocky ridge. They were following the bull as he slowly walked south west. I told Christian that a perfect cow was following them and I would stop her when she was in the clearing. The cow stepped into the open and a single cow call stopped her.
I heard Christian take the muzzleloader off safety and take a slow calming breath. Then a lot of smoke.
