LCH
Well-known member
Wyoming 2014
Days 1 – 4
These days were dedicated traversing the 1200 miles to my hunting area, and scouting out some possible hunting spots. I would be hunting cow elk and deer. I was able to arrive late in Day 1 after a 20 hour haul, and pulled into the first vacant campsite I found to crash for the night. When hunting solo, I usually camp right out of my vehicle; it is comfortable, mobile, and low maintenance. With the back 2 rows of seats laid down in the Durango, I have plenty of room to sprawl out and get comfortable.
I spent most of the next morning, Day 2, driving the main roads in my small hunt unit to familiarize myself with the area. I was focused primarily on my elk tag, with the deer tag in my pocket just in case I encountered a legal deer while elk hunting. I began my scouting up high, at around 10,500 feet. Although I found a lot of sign, most of it appeared at least several days old, and after hiking 10-12 miles hadn’t bumped or spotted a single elk. Later that night, I spent some time going over my map and my GPS looking for an area to scout the following morning. One area in particular stood out to me, as it was a small strip of public land approximately 1 mile wide by 3-4 miles long, bordered on the low side by private land and on the high side by another hunt area, in which elk season was not yet open. I figured this would be a good spot for elk to hang out, since there should be little to no hunting pressure in this area as long as others hadn’t targeted this small strip of public. I went ahead and drove out to this area, and was pleased to find only 1 other person camped along the road, who I later found out was deer hunting on the other side of the road, in a different hunt area. I went ahead and camped there that night, and was awakened by a bugling elk right outside my Durango at around 9:00 PM.. He kept bugling every 5 minutes or so, until he traveled out of earshot.
The next morning, Day 3, I did some more driving in the area, and spotted 4 moose, 2 of them being big bulls.
On the way back through past where I had camped, a cow elk sprinted across the road in front of me. That afternoon I decided to venture in behind my previous nights’ campsite to check for elk sign. Upon reaching the top of the hill behind my site, I bumped a big 6 point bull at about 30 yards. Not wanting to spook out any more elk before season opened, I backed out and set up my tent to “reserve” that campsite for the week.
I was relieved to see the same big bull feeding down the same hillside 150 yards from camp the next afternoon,; I knew that if a bull was hanging around here this time of year, cows couldn’t be too far off. I spent most of my time on Day 4 organizing my gear and lounging around camp.
Here is a picture of the big 6 point behind camp; I was disappointed later, when looking at my photos, to see that his head was behind a tree when I snapped the picture..
Day 5 (Opening Day)
Opening morning, I headed back behind camp where I had spotted the bull. After hiking a 3-4 mile circuit, I had bumped a big bull 3 times; once, he just stood broadside to me at about 40 yards through the timber, apparently thinking I didn’t see him there. By this time, I had seen approximately 30 mule deer does and 3 mule deer bucks in my 5 days here, none of legal size. My deer tag was good for a 3 pt mule deer buck, or any whitetail deer. So, when I spotted a small forkhorn whitetail buck and a whitetail doe close to camp, I decided to go ahead and fill my deer tag. I was originally going to shoot the doe, but she busted me and bounded off while I was getting lined up on her. So, I dropped the hammer on the buck; He could only tote the 180 grain slug from the .30/06 about 10 yards before piling up. Best part of all was that he dropped about 100 yards from the road, so I had him gutted and to the processor in no time.
Day 6 – 7
I was into elk both of these days, but the area the elk were holed up in was so thick I just couldn’t get a clean shot. Oftentimes, I would bump an elk at 20 – 30 yards and they’d tear off through the cedar and pine thickets, and I wouldn’t even know if it had been a bull or a cow. Morning of Day 6, I heard some bugling and went to investigate; It was at least 2 big bulls and 5 or 6 cows, running around and vocalizing in one of the pine thickets. The only way to get through these thickets halfway quietly is to crawl on the ground, underneath the small limbs that want to grab your clothes and smack against your pack. After about 50 yards of belly crawling into the thicket, I began to see elk legs to go along with the bugling and crashing around. At one point, I was within 20 yards of a broadside bull before I realized he was even there; I would see an elk body, but their head would be obscured, making it impossible to determine if it were antlerless or not. Next, their head would come into view, but then their vitals would be behind the brush and not allow for an ethical shot. After several minutes of elk crashing all around me in the thicket, they must have caught my scent because they gradually moved off through the thicket and eventually across a swamp onto private property. It was a very exciting experience though, and it gave me confidence that I’d eventually get a shot at a cow if I gave it enough time.
Look closely, there’s a bull elk in there!
Day 7, I decided to sit in the mature timber between 2 of these pine thickets, hoping to catch some elk moving from thicket to thicket. A spike bull did walk past at about 80 yards, but that was it other than a couple hunters down on private that had killed a big bull that morning.
Day 8
This was Saturday, and I decided to once again sit between the thickets where I had seen the spike the previous morning. In addition to the elk’s natural movements between thickets, I was anticipating increased hunting pressure to hopefully push elk past me. I was in place at sun-up, and at around 8:00 AM a cow strolled out of the near thicket, about 20 yards from my position. At the first shot she jumped and began to dart back into the thicket, and I was able to get a second shot into her just before she entered. I heard her crash inside, but still had to bloodtrail due to the incredible thickness inside there. Upon reaching her, I could see that both shots were perfectly within the vitals, placed about 6 inches apart. Both bullets were recovered embedded in the hide on her far side.
It was only about 0.75 miles to the nearest road, uphill but not terribly steep, so I split her up into 2 heavy loads, and had her in the cooler by noon. I quickly packed up what few camp items I had set out, delivered her to the processor, and headed up to Kaycee for a hotel room and much needed shower.
Day 9
This was my first, and turned out to be my only day antelope hunting on my leftover tag. I passed a smallish buck and 3 does at ranges varying from 50-80 yards, spotted a couple really nice bucks, but blew the stalk on both of them. Although I had several more days of vacation time to use, the meat from my deer and elk were ready to pick up from the processor, and I was missing the wife and little girls awfully bad. I decided that even though I love antelope hunting, and was actually looking forward to that part of the hunt most of all, I would much rather be back home hugging my girls than wandering around the prairie after those wonderful speedgoats. So, the next morning I ran back down to the processor, got my meat, and began the long trip back home.
In all, it was an awesome trip, and I’m already looking forward to next year’s hunt. In the meantime, I’ve got Indiana whitetails, turkeys, and the occasional varmint to hold me over..
Days 1 – 4
These days were dedicated traversing the 1200 miles to my hunting area, and scouting out some possible hunting spots. I would be hunting cow elk and deer. I was able to arrive late in Day 1 after a 20 hour haul, and pulled into the first vacant campsite I found to crash for the night. When hunting solo, I usually camp right out of my vehicle; it is comfortable, mobile, and low maintenance. With the back 2 rows of seats laid down in the Durango, I have plenty of room to sprawl out and get comfortable.
I spent most of the next morning, Day 2, driving the main roads in my small hunt unit to familiarize myself with the area. I was focused primarily on my elk tag, with the deer tag in my pocket just in case I encountered a legal deer while elk hunting. I began my scouting up high, at around 10,500 feet. Although I found a lot of sign, most of it appeared at least several days old, and after hiking 10-12 miles hadn’t bumped or spotted a single elk. Later that night, I spent some time going over my map and my GPS looking for an area to scout the following morning. One area in particular stood out to me, as it was a small strip of public land approximately 1 mile wide by 3-4 miles long, bordered on the low side by private land and on the high side by another hunt area, in which elk season was not yet open. I figured this would be a good spot for elk to hang out, since there should be little to no hunting pressure in this area as long as others hadn’t targeted this small strip of public. I went ahead and drove out to this area, and was pleased to find only 1 other person camped along the road, who I later found out was deer hunting on the other side of the road, in a different hunt area. I went ahead and camped there that night, and was awakened by a bugling elk right outside my Durango at around 9:00 PM.. He kept bugling every 5 minutes or so, until he traveled out of earshot.
The next morning, Day 3, I did some more driving in the area, and spotted 4 moose, 2 of them being big bulls.
On the way back through past where I had camped, a cow elk sprinted across the road in front of me. That afternoon I decided to venture in behind my previous nights’ campsite to check for elk sign. Upon reaching the top of the hill behind my site, I bumped a big 6 point bull at about 30 yards. Not wanting to spook out any more elk before season opened, I backed out and set up my tent to “reserve” that campsite for the week.
I was relieved to see the same big bull feeding down the same hillside 150 yards from camp the next afternoon,; I knew that if a bull was hanging around here this time of year, cows couldn’t be too far off. I spent most of my time on Day 4 organizing my gear and lounging around camp.
Here is a picture of the big 6 point behind camp; I was disappointed later, when looking at my photos, to see that his head was behind a tree when I snapped the picture..
Day 5 (Opening Day)
Opening morning, I headed back behind camp where I had spotted the bull. After hiking a 3-4 mile circuit, I had bumped a big bull 3 times; once, he just stood broadside to me at about 40 yards through the timber, apparently thinking I didn’t see him there. By this time, I had seen approximately 30 mule deer does and 3 mule deer bucks in my 5 days here, none of legal size. My deer tag was good for a 3 pt mule deer buck, or any whitetail deer. So, when I spotted a small forkhorn whitetail buck and a whitetail doe close to camp, I decided to go ahead and fill my deer tag. I was originally going to shoot the doe, but she busted me and bounded off while I was getting lined up on her. So, I dropped the hammer on the buck; He could only tote the 180 grain slug from the .30/06 about 10 yards before piling up. Best part of all was that he dropped about 100 yards from the road, so I had him gutted and to the processor in no time.
Day 6 – 7
I was into elk both of these days, but the area the elk were holed up in was so thick I just couldn’t get a clean shot. Oftentimes, I would bump an elk at 20 – 30 yards and they’d tear off through the cedar and pine thickets, and I wouldn’t even know if it had been a bull or a cow. Morning of Day 6, I heard some bugling and went to investigate; It was at least 2 big bulls and 5 or 6 cows, running around and vocalizing in one of the pine thickets. The only way to get through these thickets halfway quietly is to crawl on the ground, underneath the small limbs that want to grab your clothes and smack against your pack. After about 50 yards of belly crawling into the thicket, I began to see elk legs to go along with the bugling and crashing around. At one point, I was within 20 yards of a broadside bull before I realized he was even there; I would see an elk body, but their head would be obscured, making it impossible to determine if it were antlerless or not. Next, their head would come into view, but then their vitals would be behind the brush and not allow for an ethical shot. After several minutes of elk crashing all around me in the thicket, they must have caught my scent because they gradually moved off through the thicket and eventually across a swamp onto private property. It was a very exciting experience though, and it gave me confidence that I’d eventually get a shot at a cow if I gave it enough time.
Look closely, there’s a bull elk in there!
Day 7, I decided to sit in the mature timber between 2 of these pine thickets, hoping to catch some elk moving from thicket to thicket. A spike bull did walk past at about 80 yards, but that was it other than a couple hunters down on private that had killed a big bull that morning.
Day 8
This was Saturday, and I decided to once again sit between the thickets where I had seen the spike the previous morning. In addition to the elk’s natural movements between thickets, I was anticipating increased hunting pressure to hopefully push elk past me. I was in place at sun-up, and at around 8:00 AM a cow strolled out of the near thicket, about 20 yards from my position. At the first shot she jumped and began to dart back into the thicket, and I was able to get a second shot into her just before she entered. I heard her crash inside, but still had to bloodtrail due to the incredible thickness inside there. Upon reaching her, I could see that both shots were perfectly within the vitals, placed about 6 inches apart. Both bullets were recovered embedded in the hide on her far side.
It was only about 0.75 miles to the nearest road, uphill but not terribly steep, so I split her up into 2 heavy loads, and had her in the cooler by noon. I quickly packed up what few camp items I had set out, delivered her to the processor, and headed up to Kaycee for a hotel room and much needed shower.
Day 9
This was my first, and turned out to be my only day antelope hunting on my leftover tag. I passed a smallish buck and 3 does at ranges varying from 50-80 yards, spotted a couple really nice bucks, but blew the stalk on both of them. Although I had several more days of vacation time to use, the meat from my deer and elk were ready to pick up from the processor, and I was missing the wife and little girls awfully bad. I decided that even though I love antelope hunting, and was actually looking forward to that part of the hunt most of all, I would much rather be back home hugging my girls than wandering around the prairie after those wonderful speedgoats. So, the next morning I ran back down to the processor, got my meat, and began the long trip back home.
In all, it was an awesome trip, and I’m already looking forward to next year’s hunt. In the meantime, I’ve got Indiana whitetails, turkeys, and the occasional varmint to hold me over..
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