Elk in goat country?

[Millsworks]

Any one hunted northwest WY in the Beartooth mts. and saw elk scrambling in that steep loose slide stuff they have there along with those crazy goats and sheep?
Seems like if I was a fat brauny elk I would waunder myself some place else!
Though, a couple hundred men armed with rifles and flying around on horseback would possibly make such an area look pretty good!

 

[npaden]

These were some elk in your unit back in 2014.

I also saw a big herd of elk up on the plateau when I was scouting for my mountain goat hunt.

Didn't see any during my actual hunt though.

Some folks in a camp nearby ended up killing a decent bull somewhere in there I think north of the beartooth highway.

I hunted the latter part of September when the archery hunt was going on.

Here is an excerpt from my blog on my mountain goat hunt:

It's always interesting to me to talk to other hunters that you encounter when you are out there. When you have a once in a lifetime tag other hunters are even more willing to talk to you and share information. On our way into goat creek and back each time, there was a group of archery elk hunters camped along the way that we talked to a few times.

On Monday they knocked down a nice bull and we talked to them that evening. Turns out after they had the bull down and were working on getting it quartered up they had a very scary encounter with a sow grizzly and her 2 large cubs. They were just finishing up getting one side quartered when the sow just comes walking/trotting right up to them working on the elk. No warnings, woofs, growls or anything, they just look up and she is maybe 10 yards away moving right in without even breaking stride.

Needless to say they bailed off the elk and backed out about 50 yards away. They didn't have sidearms, only pepper spray and after they bailed off the elk the bear didn't pursue them so they didn't use the spray. They stood and watched for 10 minutes or so while the bear and her cubs proceeded to eat the elk they had just killed. They yelled at the bear and threw rocks, but it didn't seem to faze her. They had another member of their party coming in to help out and when he started to get close, they were yelling back and forth to him to let him know the danger ahead. He had his bear spray out and the bear bluff charged him once and he let off a tiny bit of spray, but not a full blast as she turned back to the kill. After a few minutes with guys on both sides of her yelling back and forth, she finally got tired of it and left with her cubs.

I can't imagine how scary this would have been for these guys and they came pretty close to getting in pretty big trouble here. They said normally they would have had a couple guys working on the elk and one guy standing watch, but they were just not thinking about bears and weren't worried at the time.

It's pretty concerning that a sow grizzly is teaching her cubs that they don't even need to wait for the hunters to clear out before coming in on a kill like that. This could potentially get someone killed if this behavior continues. This is also in a place where there are lots of hikers and campers in the summertime, these bears obviously have no real fear of humans and that doesn't bode well for them either.

Needless to say, I had my head on a swivel when I shot my goat right before dark by myself and was working on getting it caped out and quartered up. I never saw a bear or an elk while I was hunting for goats that fall but after the story those guys told me I for sure paid closer attention.

Good luck. It didn't really seem like a very easy elk hunt but I wasn't hunting elk either.

 

[BigHornRam]

Never hunted in the Wyoming Beartooths but have spent a lot of time in the Montana side. Elk can be found in some crazy places. They like those alpine grasses. A fair size herd summers around Beartooth Butte. Lot's of grizzly around as well!

 

[Kaitum]

Somewhere around Muncho Lake in northern B.C. right along Hwy 97 I saw mountain goats and elk on the same mountain. About a 1/4 mile apart. The elk were a good 500-700' up higher than the goats. At the time I thought it's not too often you see elk 'out goating' a mt goat.

 

[LuketheDog]

I've seen elk cruising across the tops of scree slopes in Colorado, really steep slopes, I didn't even want to walk across them. It was clear based on sign that the elk had been doing it for a while though.

 

[BigHornRam]

Elk, bulls in particular, will bed for the day in steep rock out croppings where they can chew their cud and watch for danger. On really cold but sunny days, south facing Rocky slopes can be a favorite place for elk to bed.

 

[Millsworks]

I imagine a few elk have survived the seasons unseen in some cases, because few would look for them in places like that.