Hunt recap - first elk

I went into this past third rifle season with a bull elk tag, a doe tag, and a strong desire to find some success. The cow elk from last year that my hunting partner killed and we split had run out, the deer I had killed earlier this year on a private land tag had tested positive for cwd, and despite some close calls I hadn’t connected with a cow elk during the archery season. I just had one turkey breast left over from the spring! Plus, I had yet to kill an elk of my own despite quite a bit of hard effort and close calls.

I headed out Thursday morning so that there would be 3 prime time glassing opportunities before opener so that we could ideally get it done opening morning before things get blown up. Our style is generally ultra mobile, glassing based - don’t go in anywhere that we haven’t seen elk but definitely willing to hike fairly hard to glassing vantages and will backpack camp when advantageous.

I went in with a bunch of new glassing spots in mind at a lower elevation band then previous hunts since this was the first time I had been there in 3rd and I had heard they were lower during first season. However, when I arrived Thursday afternoon and headed up the first access road on my list there were more camps and horses down low than I had ever seen including a camp at the new spot I had been planning to hike in from. So I scraped that and drove higher up into the snow to hit a phenomenal glassing spot that had literally always presented elk. Sure enough within a few minutes of glassing I spotted elk on the far side. The thing is though, this place is the last spot you wanna have to pack an elk out of - the access is on the top and you drop into a wicked steep 2200’ deep canyon. Towards the end of light I spotted a lone bull on the near side fairly far up the canyon - not a terrible spot. This made me feel that the elk where no longer lower down and would probably be found in the same areas we have found them in past years.

View attachment 302307




View attachment 302308
Congratulations on a great hunt and bull.
 
I love reading these stories. Great write up and thank you for taking us all along with you. Congrats on a fine animal and a full freezer.
 
Back
Top