Big Bull In My Future?

[Lawnboy]

Hold your horses there Finn. Some of us have to work for a living. I've got 4 little ones in the nest and one frustrated mama bird at home. Sounds like I'll be swinging by the pharmacy to pick up some anti depressants for Finn. We'll find some elk don't worry. You just find me a nice buck and I wil look for the bull. Headed out to meet them tomorrow afternoon. Should be a fun 5 days.

 

[elk_hunter]

Good luck guys! I'm sure things will change and you'll be on 'em before you know it...

 

[1_pointer]

Hate that you're having that weather. Good luck in the next week.

 

[schmalts]

Randy, It's a long season so keep at it. If you dont get a bull this week will you go back again?

 

[Horn Seeker]

Doesn't look like its going to get a bunch better this week...other than maybe colder... Good Luck Randy!

 

[sweetnectar]

Don't worry Big Fin, Lawnboy some how attracks things with wistle teeth...if he would only get there.
Oh ya, I almost forgot. The elk are still rutting hard in central MT this morning...I had to fight my way through the critters trying to find deer.
Lawnboy...if you are reading this and you aren't to the happy hunting spot yet then offer the wife some new furniture and drive it like you stole it. We want to see some results.

 

[Cornell2012]

Hunt Update

My dad just called me and asked me to pass on some news about this elk hunt. They were hunting in an area with very poor cell reception, so that's why he hasn't posted updates in the past few days.

The bad news is that I don't have any pictures to put up from the hunt. The good news is that there are pictures of a nice 6x6 shot earlier this week.

Give him a few days to finish up his current Mule deer hunt and I'm sure he will have a few stories to tell.

 

[elk_hunter]

SWEET!!! Can't wait for the details and pics!

 

[Buschy]

Fin,

I can't wait to hear the details and see the pics! Thanks for the update Cornell!

 

[thecrittergitter]

Congrats Randy! The picture i got shows a GREAT bull!

 

[Cornell2012]

So it looks like I get to post the first picture of this elk. I'm sure there will be more to come...

 

[JoseCuervo]

Nicely done...

Congrats to the Crue....

 

[montanadogs]

Congratulations Big Fin that is a dandy bull. Congrats again!

 

[csutton7]

good job boys--congrats to you Big Fin...

 

[jabber]

Looks good. Congrats to you. Hope the filming part went well.

 

[cornfed]

Wow,way to go.Hope the footage is good on that bad boy.

 

[TheTone]

Great looking bull, looking forward to hearing the rest of the story.

 

[stillkickin]

Well done Randy, hope the footage was as good as the photo......MH

 

[elk_hunter]

Oh my! He's heavy!!!! Congrats, Randy, on a great bull!!!

 

[Big Fin]

Scouting Days

Well guys, sorry that I couldn't give the hour by hour, day by day of this hunt. Found out that the only cell coverage in this area is a very faint roaming signal, that does not support Verizon's text, pics, or netbook applications. Given that, I will give you the long winded written version.

The first couple days of scouting was saturating rain. So much so, that I did not take any pictures. I mostly focused on trying to stay dry, which was impossible, but did the best I could. In the interim, hoping I would see a bull, or even an elk, for that matter.

Those first few days made things very miserable, and to a large extent, very frustrating. I had done a ton of research, talked to many people, and thought I had a pretty good plan. I was going to spend my time in an area that was known to have the fewest bulls in the unit, but usually a bull found would be a lunker.

Even though my scouting yielded only one set of tracks per day, and only after covering lots of miles, I was convinced I still needed to be in that location on opening day.

The rain continued. It got so bad, that I got my ATV stuck on a road open to truck traffic. Given the gumbo conditions of the high plains, that is not too surprising. Thankfully, the camera guys sat back to see if I could make it, and they were standing by with their side by side and their tow strap, in the event I got stuck. Good thing.

But, I got to pay them back, on the way up the next ridge. The side by side was loaded to the gills with camera gear, our packs, and everything else required of TV production. They could not get up that very long steep hill. So, I pulled on their rig, and as a tandem, we made it up the hill. How any trucks could make it through that country is beyond consideration. Wondering why they wouldn't just close those roads to vehicle traffic, but given they are impassible/impossible when wet, maybe a road closure is not necessary.

It was with much apprehension that I climbed into my sleeping bag Saturday night, knowing season opened the next morning and the pelting rain on the tent was going to make my life difficult. And, having spent all but one afternoon of my scouting in my chosen spot, not seeing any elk in that spot made me nervous.

I did take a trip to a different part of the unit, during a downpour. I was only able to drive the main county road and overlook some country that seemed to be pretty good. The spur roads of the national forest were open to vehicle, but only a fool would temp the hand of mother nature in this rain. Traveling any secondary road was inviting trouble, or at least the opportunity to see how far it would take before your tires dug deep enough that you were high centered in a mud bowl.

From the county road, this spot looked even better than it had appeared on Google Earth. The hard part was how we would get in there, the four miles to where I wanted to go. Oh well, no sense in worrying about elk being in a spot I couldn't get to.

So with that, it was resolved that I would continue to stomp those same hills on opening day, hoping I would sight my first elk in that part of the forest. And praying that if an elk was spotted, he would be a keeper.

Lawnboy called and said the weather had messed up the option of him getting his jobs finished that day, and it would now be late Sunday before he could make the six hour drive. With that, I would be hunting alone on Sunday, so if the spot turned out to be a bust, at least I would only screw it up for my elk hunt, not Lawnboy's deer hunting.