Heading out to WY Area 7

[krshunter]

Headed out today. After 27 years of hunting in my home state of Wyoming I've drawn only my second bull elk tag. Hunted bulls during rifle season on a few general tags but can't say I'm experienced and haven't ever experienced the rut much. Area 7 of Wyoming is supposed to be one of the best so I've been pretty pumped but family and work situations have forced me to miss all of my planned excursions so far in September. The archery season concludes Friday night so I told everyone it didn't matter what shape things were in, I am finally getting out and hunting the last few days.

Unfortuately that means I'm going to be doing a lot of guessing right off the bat. Haven't scouted, friends hunting the area said they haven't seen or heard much of the elk. Perfect! Let me also point out that I'm not an archery hunter but did just buy an archery package two months ago and have been limited to shooting to 30 yards in the back yard. I've gotten out a couple of times to shoot a little bit out to 50 yards and know the pins are on but have at least been getting reps in.

It's a couple hour drive into where I've been told to hunt and 4 hours of driving around potentially long days of hunting don't interest me too much and I'm not set up for camping, so I'm loading up today at noon, new bow and my Badlands Superday Pack, stuffing in a bivy sack and some other essentials and I'm going to go sleep with the elk for the next few days. I think I learned everything I need to know from Fin's recent MT archery elk hunt and I'm ready to conquer. I know there is cell phone service in spots so maybe I can get a pic out if I connect. Hopefully I don't have to use the service for an emergency. What could go wrong, right?

 

[JohnCushman]

Good luck!! Make sure you go to the Pizza Barn in Newcastle

 

[Mudranger1]

good luck...sounds like a learning experience is getting ready to happen...good or bad

 

[NChunter]

Good luck. New adventures are always exciting.

 

[Dinkshooter]

All you need are 4 different kinds of arrows and broad heads in your quiver and I can almost guarantee you will kill a 350 bull 60 yards off the road. Just the way it works.

 

[Bucnutz.wis]

All you need are 4 different kinds of arrows and broad heads in your quiver and I can almost guarantee you will kill a 350 bull 60 yards off the road. Just the way it works.

... you should know by now it only takes one arrow if you have new tires on your ATV

 

[streamer]

Good luck on your hunt

 

[krshunter]

Well, plans changed just a bit but it's the elks fault not ours. On the way into our area we ran into elk right off the bat. Since I'm the newbie the guys thought we should stop and see if the bulls would talk for me. WOW did they. We ended up seeing about 60 head, saw 4 bulls 3 of which were shooters and heard more than half dozen bulls bugling. What an amazing experience.

So we decided since the end of the road is less than half mile from where several groups bedded we decided it might beg best to set up tents near the vehicles shoot our bows in the headlights, eat and have a couple beers since no one wanted to volunteer to pack a case in their pack. So we're staying out of the middle of them for the night and enjoying ourselves. We will pack in light tomorrow and hopefully I can control myself for one of the better bulls we saw. Sticks will fly on the morrow. Fear
the arrow.

Oh and yes I am having a beer, getting 3G coverage and browsing the internet on an iPad. It's rough.

 

[krshunter]

Well, it was three of the most exciting days I have had hunting. The disappointing part of the hunt was that all of the large bulls we saw and 90% of all elk were on private land. Saw 90% of the landowners cows on the Forest Service property too. Watched one 7x7 that we guessed was approaching 400" and several other bulls in the 350" range.

On a positive note the fact that we saw so many bulls and heard a 24 hr. bugling show was amazing. The bulls absolutely did not stop making noise. Everytime I woke up in the middle of the night I heard bugles and they bugled at all hours of the day too. The problem was while they would respond to bugles they wouldn't move. Didn't hear any cow calls the whole trip either. So we were at a loss when it came to calling something in. We only had one bull act like he wanted to come in to our bugling but he hung up about 60 yds. away in the dark timber. We had the wind right so didn't think he winded us and after he blew out we walked up to where he was to find out he walked in on a dead elk (in the pictures) and didn't like it.

We checked the dead bull out and have to wonder. A small bull, 6 on his right side and 4 on his left. We found an arrow with one missing fletching and a broken broadhead about 6 feet away. Strange to find the arrow away from the carcass. Unfortunate.

We had several of the pictured bulls within 60-80 yds but they hanging out with larger bulls. The larger bulls hung out with their cows and just couldn't be drawn away. Our only real chance at a big bull was a 6x6 in a aspen draw. We got close to the satelite bulls and cows but he hung out past the cows bugling like crazy and tearing up trees but wasn't interested in bugles or cow calls at all.

On the first night of the hunt we sat on the public side of a large drainage and watched over 20 bulls on the private side of the drainage. Quite a scene. They were tearing up trees and wallows, bulging like an orchestra, the big ones were chasing cows around.....it was simply amazing to watch. Worth the trip just for that.

We found out after the fact that the landowner will let you hunt for $200 which I would have been happy to pay for some of the bulls we saw. Rifle season opens in two weeks so we'll see what happens then. Great trip, great experience, lots to learn about elk. Enjoy the photos.

 

[krshunter]

A few more pictures of the trip. Elk, equipment and area.

 

[fishfrey]

Cool pics and story. Thanks for sharing.