A-con
New member
I got back from Montana yesterday, with no elk.
Had a lot of fun, camping and sightseeing and meeting Russ (Elkchsr).
First, I spent a few days in the Little Belt Mountains, hunting solo.
My best chance to kill a bull was the first night. After setting up a camp in fresh snow, I headed out for the evening, a few miles down a closed road. Found an area that looked “elky”, set up and started calling an hour before dark. After about 30 seconds, I turned to check my rear shooting lanes, and as I turned back a nice 6X6 bull was running down the hill at me, 80 Yds out. He saw the movement and ducked in a thicket, not sure what I was. I played cat and mouse, cow calling him till dark, never able to get close or get him to commit. Hiking out by moonlight, a bull moose blocked my trail for a few minuets.
The next day I tried some different areas, heard a few bugles but never got close. After that, the rut seemed to shut down, everything got quiet.
Monday morning I tried to start my truck and the starter was dead, so I bump started it and went hunting, knowing I would need to break camp early and spend a day in Helena getting the truck fixed.
$400 bucks later, I headed to western Montana and met up with Russ (Elkchsr).
As soon as I arrived at his house, he started cooking elk steaks for dinner, as we talked about heading out in the morning to chase some of his local elk. .
Before we could leave, a knock on the door found one of Elkchsr’s friends requesting help packing out a Moose. He assured us we could be back and on the trail by noon, so off we went. Not only had this moose presented a shot within a 1/2 mile of the truck, but it had the good grace to run up out of the swamp hole and die on an open ridge leading directly down to the road. The easiest pack out I have ever been involved with.
By noon we were making the 5 mile hike up out of Anaconda where Russ lives, We saw elk and moose on the hike, talked about forestry, woodsman ship and ultra light, low impact camping. We ended up seeing a couple dozen elk, but they were always above us, below us or moving too fast to catch up with.
I had a great time hiking and camping with Elkchsr, and I learned a thing or two, but job and family called so I had to drive home with another unfilled tag in my pocket.
I’ll get some photos up shortly, and I’m sure Russ can put up some too.
Had a lot of fun, camping and sightseeing and meeting Russ (Elkchsr).
First, I spent a few days in the Little Belt Mountains, hunting solo.
My best chance to kill a bull was the first night. After setting up a camp in fresh snow, I headed out for the evening, a few miles down a closed road. Found an area that looked “elky”, set up and started calling an hour before dark. After about 30 seconds, I turned to check my rear shooting lanes, and as I turned back a nice 6X6 bull was running down the hill at me, 80 Yds out. He saw the movement and ducked in a thicket, not sure what I was. I played cat and mouse, cow calling him till dark, never able to get close or get him to commit. Hiking out by moonlight, a bull moose blocked my trail for a few minuets.
The next day I tried some different areas, heard a few bugles but never got close. After that, the rut seemed to shut down, everything got quiet.
Monday morning I tried to start my truck and the starter was dead, so I bump started it and went hunting, knowing I would need to break camp early and spend a day in Helena getting the truck fixed.
$400 bucks later, I headed to western Montana and met up with Russ (Elkchsr).
As soon as I arrived at his house, he started cooking elk steaks for dinner, as we talked about heading out in the morning to chase some of his local elk. .
Before we could leave, a knock on the door found one of Elkchsr’s friends requesting help packing out a Moose. He assured us we could be back and on the trail by noon, so off we went. Not only had this moose presented a shot within a 1/2 mile of the truck, but it had the good grace to run up out of the swamp hole and die on an open ridge leading directly down to the road. The easiest pack out I have ever been involved with.
By noon we were making the 5 mile hike up out of Anaconda where Russ lives, We saw elk and moose on the hike, talked about forestry, woodsman ship and ultra light, low impact camping. We ended up seeing a couple dozen elk, but they were always above us, below us or moving too fast to catch up with.
I had a great time hiking and camping with Elkchsr, and I learned a thing or two, but job and family called so I had to drive home with another unfilled tag in my pocket.
I’ll get some photos up shortly, and I’m sure Russ can put up some too.
