Day 10:
It was foggy and warm, 36 degrees at my house at 4:30 AM, no go for the lowland roads… plan B it is, I arrived well before sunrise and was set up glassing as it got light, almost immediately I picked up a big herd in a good spot, I put the spotter on them and there is a good bull, no time to waste, they drop into a gully and I do the jog down the hill program, for what is starting to feel like the hundredth time this season… last I see of them they are moving but slowly, I drop out of sight and push myself as hard as I can going up the other side, knowing that if I can catch them where I saw them I will have an easy 300 yard shot, if I don’t catch them I will be in some nasty brush and have to gain a bunch of elevation to see anything… I make it to the ridge where I should have a shot and ease over using a lone tree for cover, ready to shoot if they are where they should be, it’s been 24 minutes since I dropped out of sight… I see the back half of the last cow going over the ridge, Crap! Off to the races, I go as hard as I can, aiming to go through the next saddle on the ridge where they disappeared, not wanting to exactly follow them in case they stall or bed just on the other side… I make it to the next ridge in less than 30 minutes, again ready for action as I ease over the top, well covered by brush this time around… nothing… where did they go? I can see most of the options for them to go, not an elk to be found...
I glass long enough to make sure they aren’t bedded right below me and start hoofing it again to get to the only place I can’t see, blocked by the knob I’m climbing… I top out and again, nothing, I glass for about a half hour, knowing there Is one spot I can’t see into but figuring as early as it is if they went in there they should pop out before they bed… Nada… I decide to drop down where they were first thing and confirm I didn’t lose them in the brush by going too fast, again Nada, but the tracks tell the story, half split and went out the bottom, onto private land, the other had gone up into the little hole I wasn’t able to see from the ridge… crap, back up the ridge it is, I reverse course and climb back up, sure enough, there are 5 elk bedded in the tiny sliver I couldn’t see from the top…bad news was it was the big bull wasn’t with them, all 5 are small raghorns.
As I was glassing these elk trying to grow some respectable antlers on one of them I noticed an elk walk across the hillside behind them way out, 3.5 miles away, I looked closer and found 5 bedded bulls… checking onX they appeared to be on a tiny strip of BLM connecting larger parcels, I moved a ways to triangulate them and sure enough, they were on public, and maybe 400 yards off of the main county road… I made the trek back to my truck, moving slower and slower as the mud was getting to the point of weighing about 10 lbs on each boot…
The new bulls were in a rough spot to hunt, tall cedars and PJ, no opportunity for a cross canyon shot like I would prefer, oh well, worth the 400 yard hike... I parked as far away as I could, eased out of the truck and started slowly easing through the woods, soon finding fresh tracks and beds everywhere. I’ve hunted tons of spots close to here but for some reason hadn’t thought to check this one out, it seemed too small, apparently, everyone else though so too… I was getting close to where the bulls had been when the wind abruptly changed, blowing straight at my back, hard, I rushed to the edge and saw the last of the bulls disappearing into the bottom of the canyon, followed by 20 cows I had not seen from my perch on the opposite ridge earlier… I got ready yet again but there were no bulls with the group…at least it was a short walk out this time, this was getting exhausting…
