Caribou Gear

Chasing elk in the Bighorns...

CodyCass

Member
Joined
Nov 23, 2015
Messages
275
Location
St. Louis, MO
First, I apologize for the length of this post. Despite my best efforts to talk and write less I can't fight the urge to share all the details.

This was my first elk hunt and it has been almost 10 years in the making. My friends affectionately call me an "adult onset hunter". I grew up playing outside and running around the woods as much as I could. I chased small game here and there, but I didn't get serious about hunting until I found the love of my life. Her family owns 220 acres just 45 minutes away from our home, it is a little slice of heaven. I picked up deer hunting a couple years into our relationship and my addiction to hunting was born. It wasn't much longer after that when I started buying points all across the west.

Around this time last year a friend and I started kicking around the idea of doing an elk hunt. He and I hunted antelope together in 2015 and were excited to get back to Wyoming. Heading into this years lottery he had 7 points and I had 5 (I was dumb and waited a couple years into my point buying career to buy WY elk points). Once I got the green light from the wife I started researching possibilities. I poured over the avail data, big shout out to GoHunt. I'm sure most of you know this, but the WYGF draw results/reports are pretty easy to read as well. We narrowed down our choices, but nothing was a sure thing based on the impending implementation of increased license fees. I heard and read it all, "expect a 2 point increase...", "wait a year, this year is going to be nuts...", etc. After listening to all of that we settled on unit 39. Even if there was a 2 point increase we still had pretty decent odds at drawing, but nothing was a guarantee. Well as most of you saw this year's lottery was a chit show, but we avoided heartache and got drawn. Planning started immediately

Can't thank everyone on HuntTalk enough, the insights and knowledge shared on here are second to none. A couple of guys who held the same tag in prior years even reached out. Our plans were taking shape and then we hit a speed bump. My wife is a nurse anesthetist and her schedule is very rigid (for example she has to plan her next year's vacation in September/October of the prior year). Since we didn't start planning for the hunt until November I didn't get to put in my request for her days off. Fortunately she had planned on taking the week of Halloween off, which fell on the tail end of the season. Unfortunately, my hunting partner did not want to wait until then. It was a bummer to lose a hunting partner for the trip, but not the end of the world. My family comes first and I was happy to wait until 10/26 to depart for Wyoming.

All summer during BHA's Hike to Hunt I walked and ran. I walked with 50 pound pack and hit the hills around my house hard. I shot my rifle as much as I could and worked up an accurate load for my rifle. My laser focus on chasing elk meant ignoring the upcoming deer season. I didn't even get a stand hung up this year until after I returned, very unlike me. I usually start hitting the woods with my bow as soon as the calendar hits 9/15. Everything was going along swimmingly, I even picked up a partner for the trip. A fellow MO-BHA board member asked if he could come along, things were going great! Then 1 week before I was set to leave a swift kick to the pills; my scope came loose from its rings.

It had slipped slightly over the summer and at the time I didn't think much of it. I chalked it up to not torquing down the screws correctly. I'm meticulous with everything, but convinced myself I forgot to finish the torquing job when setting up the rifle. Well fool me once shame on you, fool me twice and I'm a phucking idiot. I know I followed the manufacturers instructions to the letter the second time around. I won't bash the Talley rings because I've had good luck with the brand on other rifles, but for some reason the just didn't work on my Sako. I quickly overnighted some Sako Opti-Locks and remounted my scope. Of course this meant getting back to the range and re-zeroing a short 24 hours before I left, but it had to be done. Thankfully the re-zero session went smoothly.

The morning of October 26 I hit the road. A quick stop to pickup my co-pilot and it was off to Wyoming. We were hauling a Polaris Ranger behind my trusty Honda Ridgeline and holy cow it did a number on my fuel efficiency. Before anyone goes knocking the Ridgeline, it is one helluva vehicle! It may not have been the most efficient at pulling a full size ranger, but it never struggled with it once. Its a shame they had to go and redesign them so they look like a minivan... We stopped for the night in Chamberlin, SD. It made for a longer trip than I wanted the next day, but all the stopping to fuel up was taking a lot of extra time. I should mention that during the drive on 10/26 I called the Wyoming High Country Lodge located right in the middle of the unit. The advertised $5 showers and I wanted to see if that offer stood during the winter months. While talking to them I asked about the hunting and the gentleman I spoke to was extremely helpful. He confirmed some ideas I had and helped share some new insights.

We rolled into the unit at approximately 4 pm on Saturday October 27. We stopped into the lodge to say thanks and ask if our predetermined camping spot was still a good idea. They recommended our second choice, as the first choice put us at risk of getting snowed in. Armed with that information we headed to the spot and got setup. Sadly we didn't have any daylight left to go on an evening hunt, but we felt good about being able to hit up a couple spots in the morning. It took us a little longer than we had hoped to get out of camp in the morning, but we managed to get out before the sun was fully up. We headed to a trailhead not far from camp. We passed a couple road hunters and all of them said the same thing "no elk seen in days..." some said it had been weeks. The trailhead had a few camps and all the rigs were pulling horse trailers. Even though it seemed pointless we still headed down a trail to see if we could get to a good glassing point. Along the way we cut some fresh tracks which perked us up, but no good glassing spots to view from. We went back to the ranger and headed for a spot I had selected while e-scouting.

The ensuing ride along the forest service road to the next spot was cold, damn cold. It took us up towards Sheep Mountain. I was making fun of the locals with doors on their rangers when we passed them on the highway, but on top, with no trees blocking the wind, I stopped laughing. In spite of the winds best efforts to turn us back we kept on and passed over what looked like a stampede of tracks. Even better, they were headed in the direction we were going. When we got onto the next FS road and out of the wind we decided to take a quick look into a timbered valley to see if the elk were bedded. They were not and we decided to continue on to the e-scouting spot. Right as we were put the ranger into gear i spotted some pumpkins in the direction we were headed. And through my binoculars it looked like they had an elk on the back of their Razor. Of course I quickly dismissed what my eyes were telling me because how in the hell would someone get a whole elk into the back of a Razor. I was in a full sized Ranger and getting one in there would be a feat most would be proud of, but a Razor?
 
Well I should have trusted my eyes because we quickly crossed paths on the road and I'll be damned, but they had a field dressed small 5x5 bull tied up like Gumby on the back of their Razor. It was shot by a youth hunter, I quickly shook the young man's hand and then the hand of his father. I am still not sure what was more impressive, the youth hunter getting his first bull, or the fact that they got it out whole on the "bed" of a Razor. Either way they said we were headed in the right direction and that the elk had dropped from the top down into the timber after they shot. As we were talking more of his family arrived by way of two ATV's and a pickup truck. Upon hearing where the elk were the ATV's sped past us. I was a little bummed, but it was a long road and lots different areas to hunt so I figured we'd be able to not be on top of each other.

I got to the spot I wanted to be and luckily there was no sign of the ATV's, it appeared that they followed the road down to the bottom where their family member said the elk went. I was happy to stay up high. We parked the ranger and started walking, we quickly found ourselves in the middle of elk sign; tracks, pee, poop, hair, everything. We also found the gut pile from the youth hunter's bull. We were around 9000 feet and side hilling away from Ranger and never got away from the elk sign. It was clear they wanted to be on this open hillside. We would glass down into the timber and into the open areas on the hills opposite of us, sure we would eventually find them, but we never did. Halfway into our walk we did find what appeared to be a poached elk. Its head was cut off and other than that there appeared to be no other man made cuts. I took some pictures and marked the spot on my GPS. After going 2-3 miles around the hill we decided to sit down, have lunch and take in the views. The Bighorns are truly breathtaking. I've spent a lot of time in different places out west, but the Bighorns were unlike anywhere else I'd ever been.

Over lunch we discussed next steps, do we go back the same way we came or walk all the way around the hill were were on? I was adamant that if we went back the same way we came that we would have to run into the elk. As much sign as there was it just seemed like the elk wanted to be on this hillside. It was far from the busier roads of the unit and where we had walked to was a good distance away from the smaller FS road we used. Around 1:30 we started walking back. One would think that after being so adamant that we would run into the elk that I would be on high alert, but I wasn't and sure enough it almost cost us. We almost walked right into a group of 30+ elk. We spotted each other at the same time 250 yards apart.

Immediately I spotted a bull and threw up my rifle. It was a small 5x5 and he was facing us, I was offhand and had no shot. Where we were offered no better shooting position either, if I had dropped down even one foot I would lose my shooting lane to the bull. As I was telling my friend this the bull turned and walked briskly downhill into the timber. i dropped my pack and went downhill to. Once i got out of sight I started to closing the distance. About 150 yards out I could feel the wind at my neck. I stopped and retreated quickly. The wind was going towards the group, but more uphill than directly at them. None of them spooked and they all worked their way back into the timber at a gingerly pace. Frustrating to have not gotten a good shooting opportunity, but we were still in the game. The wind was going mostly uphill and a little towards where we had seen the elk, so we decided to backtrack a little and get uphill and downwind.

As luck would have it there was a small bench with a lip right above the bench where we bumped into the elk. It would be the perfect spot to lay and wait for them to feed back out. Additionally, we could go either direction around the hill undetected thanks to the natural lip. We were on the bench for 10 minutes when we heard a bugle, it wasn't a big bugle, but it was close. My heart raced with excitement, especially when the bugles continued and got closer. After waiting another 10 minutes I couldn't take it any more and decided we could sidehill on the bench further downwind and try to get some terrain between us and the bugles to cut him off. No sooner had we taken one step out from from behind the trees and I spotted the elk. They were right back in the same spot we had bumped them from, feeding out of the timber. Perfect!! Side note, my friend had been carrying around a .22 in case we stumbled upon any grouse. It was right about this time that we flushed a grouse. I looked at my friend and said if you even consider shooting it plan on walking back. We both had a good laugh.

I got to a good vantage point, got prone and comfortable. My friend stayed a little higher and to my left looking for the bull. I watched as cow after cow fed out. Amongst the cows there were two spikes. While all this is going on we still hear bugles and now it sounded like there were at least 2. One further down the hill and one close. We both tried our best to will the closer bull out of hiding. After what seemed like an eternity I told my friend that I was going to shoot one of the spikes if the herd got spooky. I wasn't going to risk letting them get away again. He implored me to wait as it was the first day and the one of the bugles was getting closer. At least three different times I flicked the safety off my rifle and settled the crosshairs on the spikes. Each time i would go through my routine, but failed to pull the trigger. By this time my friend had worked his way down the bench trying to spot the bull and I decided to take matters into my own hands. I used the timber and terrain to go downhill and try to find the source of the bugles. Unfortunately, there was a group of cows I hadn't seen from my vantage and they spotted my movement. They didn't spook, but they were on alert now. I got comfortable and tried my best to find one of the spikes, but they weren't visible from my position. As I sat there curing myself I looked over my shoulder and spotted two hunters walking my way, completely unaware that there were elk nearby. I gave a soft whistle to get their attention and made a sad attempt at using my hands to communicate that there were elk. Whatever I did worked, they got the message and got low as they worked towards me. We exchanged some hellos and I learned that it was an uncle with his nephew on his first elk hunt. The young man was holding a cow tag. I thought for a second and told them that I'd much rather watch a youth hunter notch his tag on a cow than I would watch this group of elk walk away and asked that they take the shot. It was my first day and I had all week to close the deal. They asked if I was sure and upon confirmation got setup. Unfortunately the cows had fed away and the only animal that presented a clean shot from where we were was a calf. I explained that my friend was up the hill in the perfect ambush spot. Together we got low and made our way back to where I left my friend.

There the young hunter got setup, but the shot was 400+ yards, outside of his comfort zone. My friend explained that they could get closer by using the lip and off they went. We sat and waited to hear the report. Minutes went by and nothing. Finally a couple of the elk got spooky and we figured they must have spotted the young hunter... BOOM......THWACK. He did it, but which one did he hit? None of the elk we could see looked hit, but there was no mistaking that sound. We watched as hunter and his uncle walked towards where the elk stood and set off to intercept. While walking I heard another shot and got a sinking feeling. However, those feelings were quickly squashed when I spotted a downed elk. The second shot was just insurance. We met the young hunter at his elk and exchanged high fives. With their tag filled the hunters uncle then offered up some intel he gathered while down in the bottom. He said he was certain he heard some bulls fighting. There was about an hour of light left so we headed the direction of the last bugles we heard.

As we departed our new friends we heard a bugle, one that sounded much more intense than the others, then another and another... our excitement peaked again. All the commotion was coming from below us, in the thick timber. In order to get the wind right and into position for a potential stalk we had to walk a half a mile back towards where we left the ranger. By the time we got to a good spot the sun was getting dangerously close to the horizon. The bugles were intense and frequent, but it was hard to pin down exactly how far down they were. My mind was racing along at light speed, it made deciding what to do difficult; drop down to give chase, or come back in the morning. I didn't want to drop down and potentially blow the elk out of the area, but I felt confident they would probably stick around considering all the sign and the fact that they hadn't left with all the day's commotion. After several anxiety filled minutes, we decided to come back in the morning and started walking back to the ranger.
 
The excitement was still high as we left the elk, we had an eventful first day and the next day was full of possibilities. We hadn't gone more than 500 yards from where we made our decision when a group of mule deer came busting from over the top. With them were two elk, one of which had something hard on top of its head. As luck would have it the bull stopped 150 yards away from us to stare, why I'll never know, but he did. I asked my friend, "is that a branch antlered?" Before he could answer I was shouldering my rifle and a quick look through the scope confirmed it was a raghorn, but he was facing right at us, not a shot I was willing to take. Randy's mantra of "do not pass on the first day that which you would gladly shoot on the last" raced through my head.... He turned ever so slightly to a quartering angle and I pulled the trigger... Sako makes a fine rifle and their safety is top notch. I can say this with great confidence because as hard as I yanked on that damn trigger I surely tested its capabilities :) I guess it was a blessing the safety was on because i would have pulled the shot, bad. It gave me time to collect myself and it gave the bull time to turn completely broadside. This time I was much more deliberate with my squeeze. I didn't hear the distinctive "thwap", but my friend did. The bull took off at the shot and disappeared behind a small rise. He tried to give me a high five, but I didn't oblige. All I could think about was closing the ground to make sure the hit was good and pray he didn't run straight down the hill. We got to where he was standing at the shot and saw him laying down just 50 yards away. He made an attempt to stand up so I took a followup shot and he took his last breath. Now we could high five, hug and dance. All of this happened so quickly and with legal shooting light fading. Upon reaching the bull I gave thanks and broke out the kill kit. The first cut was made by headlamp.

We didn't have far to go so we kept the bones in the quarters. I don't know what time it was when we made the first trip, but we each took a hind quarter. It was around a mile back to the ranger. We dropped off the hind quarters and emptied our bags. We were able to get the rest on the next trip. The second trip was much slower as the bags were substantially heavier. Making things more difficult was the mud. The warmer temps and clear skies allowed the surface to thaw a little. As difficult as it was to walk on, it was even more difficult to drive on.

Immediately we found ourselves on the wrong road, OnX indicated it was an old closed logging road. Based on the tire tracks we weren't the only poor souls to make the mistake. With little room to turn around we Austin Powered the ranger back towards the main road. We after going a couple hundred yards on what appeared to be the road and what OnX said was the road we determined we were not. Luckily we ran into some other hunters that were working on a cow they had shot. They took pity on us and pointed us in the right direction. The road was pure slop, I was in all wheel drive low for 85% of the trip back. It was a butthole puckerer for sure. By the grace of God we didn't get stuck and made it back to camp around 1 am. We were to tired to hang the meat from a proper meat pole and opted for a a downed tree to lay everything out.

I fell asleep reviewing pictures from the day and wondering how in the heck I was so lucky to have had the experience. I was beyond happy, but also sad that was over so quickly. Also, I cannot stop thinking about what the bull looked like that was bugling his ass off. However, I quickly squash those thoughts every time I open my freezer. Thank you for reading and thank you all for the advice and help. This site truly is the best.
 
Congrats on your bull! Very details write up. The Big Horns are one of my favorite places.
 
Thank you for sharing a super hunting adventure. I expect your generosity of assisting the young cow hunter will have a positive, everlasting impact on his hunting ethics.
 
Congrats on a good adventure. Doors on a UTV are nice, didn’t realize that until this year as well.
 
what a great write up. like what you did for the youth hunter. having young hunters in our family, I thought that was awesome. if I ever run into you I would love to shake your hand and buy you a beer. very cool
 
Great story. Thank you for sharing that. It was really cool of you help the kid get his cow.
 
Congrats! Great story telling as well. Any bear sign? The Bighorns seem like one of the next logical places for Grizz to take a foothold in WY.
 

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