The Elk Quest - Adventures in 2025

[xebadir]

So this thread will be dedicated to sharing a series of hunts and hunt trips I have planned this fall. It will focus on whitetails in two states (MI, ND) and an elk hunt in WY, along with a few diversions for fin and fowl.

Here in Michigan, I've done some early goose and salmon fishing, and we've just ticked over opening day for Whitetail. Despite best laid plans and thanks to work deadlines, for the first in the past six years I didn't hunt. Instead, I focused on getting packed for tomorrow, when I head to Wyoming to hunt a general tag for elk. This isn't my first derby for elk, I've racked up a several weeks hunting while I held a MT general and two WY cow elk tags (one when my wife had a bull tag), but finally after stacking points for a few years, I drew the WY general (east). As I've not had much success (encounters, but no clean shot opportunities), and I'd like to learn beyond what I've encountered through doing it myself, Elk101 and Outdoorclass, I decided that this trip would be with an outfitter, after a guide I knew reached out with an opportunity and willingness to work with a general tag. While archery would be my preference, for a first elk, a rifle seemed a better choice. With limited time, and an increasingly busy work schedule, this seemed the best way to make the most of the tag, so the 1st full week of October was the target.

Packing of course started as the usual mess of consolidating equipment, laying out what I felt I'd need and covering bases for what looks to be a significant cool down in Wyoming by early next week. The more keen eyed of you might notice there are some rogue elements in there that might hint at a fowl diversion. I've been to eastern Wyoming enough times to know one does not simply arrive and expect to adjust to the altitude, so I'll be spending a few days scouting and testing the waters so to speak. Poor me.


Fortunately, my better half is amazing at finding ways to organize packing, and so full credit to her for the orderly clothing.


So with the hunting gear packed, next was getting it all into the truck and ready to hit the road early the in morning for the long drive out.

 

[xebadir]

Packing that last bag in the truck always seems to be the thing that makes the trip real. 200 gallons worth of coolers, decoys, hunting gear, clothing and the accoutrements for a long road trip were carefully stacked and fitted well within the vehicle, and then, before light graced the eastern skyline, the journey began.

The road is long, and seems to stretch forever, as trees give way to fields, fields give way to concrete, concrete gives way to hills, and hills give way to giant rivers, before breaking into endless fields. I've made this drive many times for different reasons, and yet I never tire of how the terrain evolves on the journey west - a constant reminder of how vast this continent is, and how varied its terrain. Its strange when you start to remember gas stations - rest areas, and they are the landmarks that break up the journey.

A brief stop at Scheel's to pick up something that slipped my mind was the most exciting deviation, but otherwise, audiobooks and a few carefully stockpiled podcasts were today's entertainment.

The first day is always an odyssey, but I've found the prospect of exploring the following afternoon to be the great motivator, so I usually try to do at least 12 hours, and covered 800 miles after departing home early this morning. Tomorrow, after about 6 more hours, I'll be in eastern Wyoming around mid-day, and from there do some preparation hiking on one of the pockets of public.

 

[xebadir]

Those last few hours are always the worst, and I took a different route than the typical, west through the sandhill region of Nebraska and the hilly country interspersed with potholes that can be found in the west. I've been fortunate enough to cover the vast majority of the highways of the plains for work purposes, so I always try to take a new route when I can. That led to a couple of nice truck stops (one I've never seen, but had great food and was adorned by a fantastic collection of art, mule deer and other mounts), and this amusing number plate - I wonder if he likes his truck?


The rugged country that emerges in western Nebraska, before arriving in Wyoming, particularly along US20 is utterly spectacular, and you ascend to the true high plains. Then you reach Wyoming. Its one of my favorite states, and a state that for a long time I tried to get to live in. Unfortunately, never came to pass, but coming here holds me in a way that few other states have. From here, the country is agricultural along the river valleys, vast ranches interspersed with irrigation pivots, dotted by areas of unfettered grassland. Arriving in Lusk, I headed to the grocery store for a few supplies, refueled and then decided to spend the warm afternoon (88F) exploring some country that I intend to hunt in the future.

It was a successful session. I was frustrated by the fact that I did not draw an antelope tag this year, as there were some nice animals to be had and I planned more than one virtual stalk, not the trophies that you might see in the pronghorn section, but decent representatives nonetheless. Last year was the year for pronghorn so I am pointless for the moment, and this year is for elk. To end the day I spent some time scouting locations for waterfowl, and realized it might be a little more challenging this year. Water levels are lower, and so the number of available spots is considerably less, foreshadowing my next mornings experience.

Waking early on east coast time, I put together my waterfowl gear, and headed out to the spot, only to discover two other groups in near proximity. I quickly decided to abandon the plan and instead enjoy some of the beautiful coffee and food available in the area after getting a little work done. If you haven't been to the Bread Doctor in Torrington I highly recommend it, family run business that is one of the better places I've seen in the US - the breads sell out early, the ham and cheese croissant often has a waiting list, the Chicken Pot Pie is delectable, and if you have a sweet tooth there is veritable plethora of choice.




I was then fortunate to be able to check in to the AirBnB i'll be staying in for the week under dramatic skies, and will be heading out this evening on a scouting mission for one of the areas I'll be hunting. Have the digiscope with me, so hopefully can share a few shots.



Editors Note: Photos are low resolution due to available bandwidth. I'll update them with better versions once possible.

 

[xebadir]

The evening scouting mission was a success. It might seem a little odd to scout on an outfitted hunt, but for me this trip is all about seeing more elk, learning more about them and I like to pull my weight. And hey, I already had a spotter from prior hunts.

Heavy thunderstorms moved through the area making the drive out a little dicey, and lightning interspersed with small hail wasn’t quite what I was thinking about, but turned out positive as the elk were out fairly early in a river bottom. As I got to the area, was driving along and saw a nice antelope, then just up the road saw the first elk of the trip, a cow just off the side of the road, which I quickly recognized was accompanied by many others. Then I saw the bull, and was awestruck by his size, the first thought jumping into my head being ‘you’re going to need a bigger boat’. While
I’ve seen elk up close in parks and what have you, this is the closest I’ve ever been with a tag. He was an impressive 6x6, long swept back beams, and a mature body to match. A shooter, no question for me. Managed to snap a quick photo as I didn’t want to stop too close to him. This of course means the trip is not a bust, as I've seen a bull elk in my unit in a takeable location.


I then continued glassing throughout the property, and while I saw a few whitetail, no further elk were obvious. Heading back to a knob I glassed the river bottom and turned up a few more bulls that appeared to be satellites. Final total as the light faded and the lightning show continued four bulls, maybe 15 cows, at least 2 decent shooter bulls amongst them. Couldn’t be happier for a first day scouting.

Today, I’ll be making sure the rifle is ready to roll, and maybe scouting the evening again.

 

[xebadir]

So the big odyssey that wasn't clear for this trip was my rifle. I had a 280 AI custom built earlier this year that was specifically for elk and larger game, and capable of being suppressed, as I didn't really have anything suitable in the cupboard, and I'm a lefty, so nice rifles are hard to come by. I'd practiced hard from July through September, and despite starting with very tight groups through load development, noticed the rifle was becoming more inconsistent, and had to tighten the action screws which seemed odd. Found out a week ago that the barrel somehow came loose, and was throwing the game off, so my initial thought was I'd need to use a loaner gun, which was disappointing. Fortunately, my guide also happens to be a gunsmith and built the rifle, and spent the time yesterday resolving the issue, which seems to have been mostly tied to the barrel coming loose.

Today we took it for a substantive test run on his range, and found it happily back stacking rounds. After a little work zeroing (given a 15 mph crosswind), we had clean bullseyes on steel out to 400 yards off the bi-pod prone, and even had a little fun sneaking out to 700 yards (haven't shot out that far, and never would on an animal with this round), where I put together a 3 inch group while correcting for wind.


So that means I'll be shooting my own rifle for this hunt, out of the ammo I loaded (160gr Nosler AB with 55.5gr of RL23), which was something I was excited to do. Plans are set, and we leave early tomorrow morning as we've got a drive ahead of us to tangle with the bulls above. So an early night, and hopefully, elk in the binoculars in the morning. Of course if you come out to hunt, you tend to be miles from anywhere where there is food available and here is no exception. So a little bit of venison tenderloin pan fried with an onion gravy from last years doe seemed a good way to end the night.

 

[xebadir]

So you might have noticed a delay in the past couple of days of live updates. Suffice to say its not because I've got an elk, though we've gotten into them, and hunted hard. Ironically, the other client operating this week had an elk down in a matter of a couple of hours, but instead, my lot has been hunting hard. I'll provide a couple of short highlights and elaborate with full tales once I get a little more sleep.

The first day was a 4am rise to depart at 4:45am, but was beset by challenging winds and weather conditions that limited visibility severely. Ended up racking up around 7 miles all told with a bunch of draws and ridges covered. Two elk were seen, both bulls on the neighbors property, a raghorn and an ok 5 point at about 230 yards. So a tough day despite working hard throughout it. Did get to see some amazing whitetails and mule deer though.

The second day saw a different ranch, a similar rising, and a diametric opposite in terms of elk. They were everywhere, unfortunately moved early and in a direction we didn't have access on, but was probably the best day elk hunting I've ever had. Saw 23 different bulls, several of which were shoot first, ask questions later, and at least half would be an excellent general tag bull. We hatched multiple game plans, glassed from a high ridge to see elk bedded, set up for one bull in shooting distance only to have him veer off, had bugles, fighting and cow calls. Got very close to having an opportunity at end of shooting light, but needed maybe 5 or 10 more minutes to get a go at one of the truly impressive bulls coming down to the irrigated pastrue. The full moon is causing us issues with feeding patterns, but we have a plan to hit it really early in the morning. Hopefully, we can convert and have a real opportunity tomorrow.

 

[xebadir]

Well, I have time to write up a story for each day now . In the meantime, you might enjoy a teaser.

Yesterday we saw a bull we called 'Bobby' - early in the morning he streaked off a pivot chasing 3 cows across the hillside, and fighting with a young 5x5 who was trying to cut his lunch. He unfortunately did this in full view of our vehicle, 750 yards on the neighboring property. At the time I was mulling on the fence as to whether he'd be a shooter - he looked like a nice bull to me, and above average for the local population - not a king of this area by any means, but he looked like he'd seen a few battles, and was even at the scorers.

Further down the property a couple of hours later we were sitting glassing the timber edge, and hearing bugles, barking and cow calls along with a fight, when all of a sudden Bobby comes flying out of a draw like the hounds of hell were on his tail. He looked a decent bull, and clearly had been fighting and come off second best. He makes a 500 yard dash for the creek line, and comes onto property we could hunt right at the creek. We set up for him to cross, seeking the better bedding on the hillside, only for him to never emerge from the creek bottom despite trying a few cow calls to see if we could pull him toward us. We figured Bobby said to his pals 'hey these two guys are up on this ridge wanting to get one of this, watch this' and thereafter was probably boasting about his prowess while chewing the alfalfa.

But that didn't close the tale of Bobby...

 

[xebadir]

Day 1:

The first day of the hunt was greeted by heavy misty rainfall that persisted well into the morning - it seemed ideal to keep the elk on their feet. The view that faced us was quite stunning in its own way, cold mist driven by persistent and strong easterly winds, and we arrived at the top of the bluff just before light. Owing to two guides operating, we took the southern of the two ranches (~40000 acre), and climbed about 500 vertical feet onto a shear bluff to glass. Unfortunately, the glassing conditions were intermittent, and it turned out that the ridge was actually above the cloud base.


After persisting hoping it would lift (and occasionally having it lift only temporarily) to around 8:30 am, we came down and then drove into the main ranch, as it was past the time we expected most elk to be moving. They were weaning the cattle, so the ambience was quite interesting. We saw a couple of coyotes that would have been in trouble but for our elk focus. We then progressed deeper into the ranch on trails, and I was startled to see two bulls (raghorn and an ok 5x5) and said 'elk' to both of our surprise, looking at us bedded from a bluff that was in a weird no-mans land in OnX at about 250 yards - it was on the property by map by some distance, but apparently right on the corner of the neighbors fence. As we thought they might cross the fence I quickly loaded my rifle as for some reason I forgot to do that in the morning, which was a cluster as I was little shaky from the sudden elk after seeing nothing all morning. I managed to get set up on the bipod and did get the smaller bull in scope, but they chose to cross the ridge deeper into the neighbors property. As they weren't either particularly impressive and it was the first morning, they would've been a pass anyway.

We then drove a distance and scouted to see if we could catch any elk returning to bed in the craggy foothills and canyons after feeding out on agriculture, but saw very little of anything, other than more cactus than I ever realized was present in Wyoming, tracks of myriad animals and some stunning scenery. Eventually, we decided to push deeper on foot into the property, and hiked through a number of canyons and hilltops. We saw some amazing mule deer (I haven't really seen many before), and had a lot of fun glassing up a few nice bucks, including one 'cactus buck', and even found a few antelope in the hills. We continued this approach across much of the ranch, glassing, hiking and repositioning and the miles definitely started to tell on the legs. We saw a few really nice whitetails, and more mule deer, but otherwise, elk seemed to be impossible to find. For the evening, we figured there may be chance that the elk would come down in the daylight hours to a pivot, so we positioned to keep over watch and ready to move into position if an opportunity arose.


The evening's highlights included whitetails emerging from the sage flat like they had just 'spawned' there, a couple of young whitetails fighting, a large whitetail emerging from a draw 75 yards from me before moving into the creek, and mule deer appearing from every which way until I'd seen perhaps 30 whitetails and 20 mule deer. Unfortunately, right as we approached prime time the wind reversed completely and unexpectedly, which likely did not help out chances. From my location just downslope of this hill I did get to see a red pelted coyote approach from behind to about 40 yards, then circle in front of me to 25 yards to work out what I was, and then work it out before running out to around 300 yards and I had a little fun tracking him with the safe rifle and mulling a shot. As the light faded I caught a glimpse of a cow elk in the creek bottom, but unfortunately even if it meant the elk were coming, the end of shooting light had already won the day.

It was a great first day hunting, though I was a little disappointed not to see more elk. I later learned that the other guy had killed out about 1.5 hours into his hunt, with a beautiful thick 6x6 that had one side broken off. They'd seen 13 bulls including a couple of better ones, but he was more interested in the meat and took the first shot that came.

The decision was made for me to switch to that ranch for the next day, while the other guide would glass the one we hunted day one looking to give us options if the other ranch didn't work out.

 

[xebadir]

Day 2:

If day 1 was a baptism by fire, day 2 was a bounty of riches interspersed with the temptation of Tantalus.

Arriving in the early morning after leaving accommodation around 4:40am, we encountered on fog on the drive up to the ranch, and were concerned it might interfere with our ability to see and identify elk. As the pre-dawn light and the damnable full moon persisted, we could see elk on the north end of an irrigation pivot including at least two large bulls and a couple of smaller ones. Circling around through the drive we parked a ways off so as not to attract attention, and then quickly ourselves into position, expecting them to follow their usual route along the creek bottom. Unfortunately, that wasn't the route they took, perhaps because there were several horse trailers moving through the property, instead, they stayed on the opposite side of the pivot, and we saw another group in a creek cut with multiple bulls. We had counted up 11 total bulls all told, and watched as they moved on the neighboring ranch and over the next couple of hours, grazed towards bedding. There were bugling, cows calling, and some fighting with clear indications of ongoing rutting behavior.

The largest two bulls were something to behold, one an enormous chocolate-racked monster that was extremely wide, that dwarfed any other bull we saw and was clearly the leader of the pack, with the largest harem of cows. He was shooter number one, no questions asked. The number 2 target was a big 6x6 with a broken right tip, a beautiful bull nonetheless with heavy mass. Behind them, there were probably another 2-3 no questions asked bulls, followed by a series of what seemed to be younger 6x6s and 5x5s. The herds moved up the hillside lead by these two and began to split up to go to bedding, with a few of the smaller bulls chasing cows, and while we positioned just in case we could get a chance to intercept, with close proximity to the property line, we had little recourse with the path they were taking.

We ended up circling further up the property in the hopes that one or more groups might further move down the property and provide an opportunity, and in doing so, got to see the draws the elk were using to cover country and get into the higher terrain. Bugling and fighting were continuing and could be heard loudly from several of the draws the elk ended up in. We then got our first glimpse of Bobby, a bull hard on the trail of a 5x5 who was cutting in on his cows, and ready for a fight at about 750 yards, before he disappeared into a draw. While we couldn't target him, the question was raised as to whether he'd be a shooter, and given the excess of larger bulls earlier that morning, I felt that would be a bull I'd probably consider later in the week.





We saw another couple of bulls and had a count of about 14 before 9:00am - a significant contrast to the prior day. We eventually positioned to a ridge where the property opened up, and were glassing the edges, adding a further two smaller 5x5s to the days tally. As we lay on a brush line to avoid skylining, we herd barking, and a significant fight break out with bugling and the works...and then Bobby came streaking out of the draw, and we quickly positioned prone and ready for a shot if he crossed the next draw, but it never came as he clearly moved up the draw.

At this point, it was about 11:00am and we'd been in bulls since first light, so decided to head back to a location to glass further. We ran into the landowner along the way, and they had some interesting news for us - their relative owned the ranch next door, and they had arranged for us to be able to hunt that ranch as well as the one we were currently on to hopefully better manage these elk, who clearly were heavily grazing the pivot and had been causing the landowner trouble. The report from the property which we'd hunted the previous day was grim, with only a few marginal 5x5s seen that morning (unfortunately there was some work being done at that property that likely moved alot of the elk out, between weaning and power poles). We decided to grab an early lunch in the creek bottom.

With this new knowledge, we decided to make a game plan for the afternoon to use this property to our advantage, as it opened alot of options with the winds - now that we knew where they were bedding approximately, we decided to find higher terrain and see if we could take inventory of where the elk were bedding. I've never done alot of this as I've mostly archery hunted, so it was really informative to get to see this in action - we added a further 7 unique bulls to the overall inventory, and watched through the mid afternoon. This included a double beamed bull with a drop tine (that I'd hoped to get to see and get a chance at, though unfortunately he broke the long G4 drop tine), a 6x5 with ridiculous long eye guards, and another couple of bulls that would be definite shooters. We also saw an elk laying out flat like a cat in the sun...a young 5x5 who we called the 'dead bull' because it wasn't clear if he was alive until he finally stood. The elk were on their feet early (~4pm), and we watched them feed down the hillside, adding spikes and cows to a tally that was well over 100 elk for the day. They began to feed down, and so we decided to reposition to a ridge we'd sussed out earlier with good cover, to await the inevitable movement toward the better feed in the creek valley and pivot.




We planned an entrance and exit strategy through a cut we thought would let us make a play and get out cleanly if it didn't work out, and watched as the elk came out to the ridges above us, and proceeded to not move very far from the treeline. There were a few battles and bugles, and eventually, the herd moved into one of the feeders to the creek, and began to basically run toward the pivot around a half hour before the end of light. A new herd emerged further away from us, and with it came one of the huge bulls, and he was in fine bugling form, we didn't have a clear way to position on him and were running out of light...another 5 minutes and he would've been in trouble. We did at least have several elk in the 400 yard range, including a dinky raghorn, and were able to make our escape in the moonlight as the elk began to literally run toward the pivot on dark.

All in all, it was a heck of a day hunting, my best day of elk hunting by far, and showcased alot of opportunity. As we drove back toward the accommodation, we planned toward hitting the ranch and getting in position early the next morning, to try and offset the light issues caused by the full moon, which was clearly making the elk get off the pivot earlier. We hoped that the pressure wouldn't influence movement too much, as this would be the third morning in a row.

 

[xebadir]

Day 3:

I happen to be in the weather business, and looking at the forecast the next morning and the following few days (on even less sleep as we needed to leave at 3:45am) I was concerned. It was a southerly wind at about 20-25 mph (and likely the same direction the next day), almost un-huntable on that property. With little prospects elsewhere, we decided to stick to the plan, and drove the hour to the ranch, encountering substantive fog on the southern side of the ridge that borders the property, but clear skies and that damn bright moon on the ranch side. We organized to be quiet as possible, parked as far as we could reasonably away from the elk and the moving cautiously toward position. Glassing the pivot in the moonlight, we could see several bulls (and big whitetails), positioned more favorably than the previous day. The biggest problem we had was the wind...it was blowing hard, and meant that we would need to let the elk leave the pivot in order to have any chance to position on them. We moved as close as we dared, and set up a position just in case elk gave us a chance, but weren't hopeful.

We saw a few cows move though the creek bottom we were trying to hunt, and eventually once the pivot cleared as light rose, we re-positioned to a low hillock to work out our next play, whether we'd be going for a close intercept, or have to circle and try and catch the larger bulls closer to their bedding, though this would be tough with the wind against us.

We unfortunately had a few issues bumping whitetails that didn't help with the elk, but did see one herd upwind of us slowly feeding away. However, it was at that moment that we spotted two bulls at 500 yards directly crosswind of us, a decent 6x6 and a 5x5. The guides question was - are we interested at taking a closer look at these, they are smaller bulls - I think one is Bobby, and me, having yet to actually have a shoot-able elk in the crosshairs on the 3rd day of the hunt might have got a little excited and decided to hell with risking not filling the tag. It was going to be rough, they were feeding upwind, had a head start on us, but we did have some terrain and a tree line to work with, but with quick movements we felt we could have a chance - but would have to run it.

So we set off at a cracking pace, and cutting through a gully, over the backside of a hill, and downslope again after seeing them continue to move upwind, we got ourselves into position, though at this point we were about a mile in on the run, and I was blowing fairly hard despite my fitness work before the trip. We saw a couple of cows move along the same route and figured that was the line the bulls would take. I worked hard to try and settle the heartbeat, built a shooting position prone on the bipod, and lined up for the two bulls. I really struggled to steady, as the run had got my heart rate bouncing, and the elk were also intent on not giving us a clean shot, maintaining heavy quarter or away positions while moving away at abut 200 yards, and given the 20 mph wind was about 45 degrees, meant a pretty dicey shooting wind at best. We looked over the bulls heavily, and the left of the two was definitely the preferable. We tried to stop them with a cow call, but in all likelihood I don't think they heard us, jumped a fence and continued to move upwind in the morning light.

I was ready to call it, but the guide lulled me with a 'just 300 yards' to get another shooting position. We picked up and ran into a timber line, moving along it, and picked up the bulls in a field directly upwind of us. We set a position just at the end of the last tree in the field edge, but a subtle rise was enough to obscure vitals and rule out a prone shot - so we scampered again to try and reach the top of the rise (at this point, we're about 1.75 miles from the start of this run). We get into position and the prone is a no-go, and he asks 'can you make the shot sitting up off the bipod'. You know that moment when you go - 'I trained for this' - back when preparing for the hunt I had practiced off the bipod sitting out to 300 yard, and was confident enough that I could make a play at this, even though it would be into the stiff breeze and my heart at this point was questioning the very meaning of my existence.

The left one he called, as I lined up for a shot. 'Range' - 200 yards, 'will be taking the left one'...and as if they knew we were looking, the bulls refused to turn at all, giving hard quarter, or dead away, and not a shot I feel was ethical or possible given the circumstances. 'Range' - 200 yards, the bull finally gives me a decent broadside/half quarter - and I push the safety, settle the rifle forward into the bipod, and wait for the circle to complete before breaking the trigger. Bang. 'Hit', can't see where, looks high lung. At this point, buck fever hit, between the long run and the shot breaking I started to shake, but seeing the elk wasn't down I quickly racked another into the chamber. The elk were confused, with the wind and the supressor, I think they had no idea what was happening, the bull had turned to the opposite direction. I reacquired at 250 yards, and as soon as he stopped, again quartering away, I put another shot into him, recognizing it was more important to get this animal down. With the quartering angle, he turned right on the shot breaking, and it went low and back into the gut. I rammed another into the breech, and as they had ran a little further, lined up on a shoulder shot to make sure he didn't get away from us. Bang. 'Hit, dropped him'. The shot had ridden on the wind and ended up taking his spine.

'Is he down' the first words that came to mind as now with the elk down I couldn't quite make my brain work from the frenetic adrenalin filled rush of the past 30 minutes. I fell backwards laying on back in the direct, and finally breathed deeply - I realized I'd been putting alot of pressure on myself to take an elk, and could finally enjoy the satisfaction of having taken one in less than ideal shooting conditions, and running them down to boot. I was ecstatic, and riding that feeling of having fufilled something I'd been working towards for years.

We waited a few minutes before moving to approach the elk, and while he was down, he certainly wasn't as dead as we thought, though paralyzed. As for most walking up to a bull elk I was stunned by how large an animal he was. A mercy shot was taken, and finally it was over. The guide decided to run back to get the vehicle, as we'd killed him in a hay field, and I was left to enjoy that moment. I'm not sure about everyone else, but I have my own ritual when I take an animal, one that follows those of traditional hunters, but it gave me the opportunity to pause, thank and reflect. The morning light was perhaps one of the most stunning I've ever seen, cloud banks over the hills, a golden field and rich sunlight from the recently risen sun. Laying my hands on his antlers I struggled to believe the character and beauty of the animal, this was Bobby, the 6x6 that we'd seen after losing a fight the previous day. He had broken tips on his right G1, on both whale tails, and had enormous character for it. He was no where near as big in terms of rack as the other elk we'd had the opportunity to see (and I think the guide was worried about this), but it fulfiled for me exactly why I hunt. It is always about the experience. I'm fortunate to have one of those brains that has visual recall of events long past, and my family often comes to me seeking to clarify the happenings of so long ago, and this experience like so many others was burnt into my brain whenever I closed my eyes. Its not a memory I'll ever forget - from the sighting the prior day, to the encounter after his fight, to seeing him that morning, to the 1.75 mile run followed by improvised shooting to take my first ever elk.













For reference, our run began beyond the very furthermost trees you can see in this image.

 

[BAKPAKR]

Congrats!

BTW - the bolt on your rifle appears to be on the “right” side.

 

[xebadir]

Congrats!

BTW - the bolt on your rifle appears to be on the “right” side.

Thank you. Yes, definitely of the south paw variety . I was broken to right for most things at a young age, but shooting and archery I naturally gravitate toward the left - eye is my better one as well.

 

[rjthehunter]

Nice elk, nice rifle, nice story! Great work!!

 

[duckhunt]

Thats a great hunt

 

[xebadir]

I'll add a piece on post-hunt reflections that I've been reflecting on, but in the interim, just because I'm back east doesn't mean I haven't been out hunting.

Week 1 of MI Whitetail & Ducks:
Being back for just over a week has been a whirlwind. Have been catching up with work, and managed to slip out a few afternoons for whitetails, and a duck hunt last Sunday. I tend to like hunting October here in Michigan, as its often somewhat less pressured, and the fall colors are exceptional.



On the positive side, I was able to fit the elk meat in the freezers without buying another, took the hide to be tanned, and continued to work on finishing for a Euro the boiled elk skull. Only steps remaining are a final de-grease, peroxide treatment and sealing.

Our duck hunt was to one of the so-called Wetland Wonders, managed areas with limited draws and flooded agriculture nearby to refuges. Unfortunately, this year has been remarkably dry, to the point where nearly all of my duck hunting haunts are just mud and no water, leaving us with only options around the great lakes. Fortunately, the managed areas do well at handling water levels, and so we had a solid 12-24 inches through the zone we drew - there were 24 slots and we drew 21st (of 33 parties), which probably explains much of why we didn't have success. Nonetheless, we saw ducks - but sky busting by our neighbors and only having one duck fly into opportunity range (which wasn't in my shooting lane, but the other two guys missed) cut what was a beautiful cloudy morning with easterly winds short. Either way, was a beautiful morning to be out, minus the state birds, rampant mosquitoes were a plague reflecting the lack of a good frost as of yet.

The week of whitetail was probably the worst weeks hunting I've had on MI Public, even compared to the year I started. I've hunted this area for several years, and learned enough to generally be able to see a doe or two a sit at least. For 5 trips out there, I've seen deer on only one. Partly this is due to one of my favored spots being logged this year that I recently discovered, and that seems to have kicked all of the deer out of the forested areas around it, or they've changed their patterns completely. My first two sits had me questioning if I knew what I was doing, with plenty of acorns falling (its a heavy mast year), squirrels aplenty, but not a deer to be seen despite favorable wind. Heavy mast years tend not to be great for early doe sightings, but usually you can still find bucks sniffing around, but despite this, really haven't seen much activity at all. My third sit yielded 5 does and an unknown, unfortunately a variable wind plagued an opportunity to wet an arrow on one of the does, needed about 1 foot more of movement and I would've had a shooting lane at 30 yards, but that's whitetail hunting. Here we have up to 10 anterless and 2 buck tags, so as a meat hunter I often like to make sure I have one or two in the freezer before we get to rifle season, so I don't tend to pass up opportunities.

The next two sits were like the first two, with a weird twist on the first. About an hour before light gave up, I heard singing, a weird melody that almost sounded like a child's, and mostly dismissed it. As light fell, it continued to happen infrequently, but coming from somewhere where there are no houses or people. And it got closer and closer to my stand, resolving itself as an adult singing weirdly, getting close enough that I was rather spritely about packing up upon reaching out, getting my light on and making sure there was a deterrent available if necessary and then quickly exiting the area. There are some folks on the funny stuff in local area, and I'm guessing it was either that or a displaced person, but either way, won't be hunting in that section again anytime soon. Might explain the lack of deer.

So after a rainy morning things cleared for the afternoon yesterday, and that drove me to try a new spot. Hiked in a half mile and found a nice set of crossing trails on the edge of a swamp, and got set for what looked like a nice evening with weather incoming overnight. And then was assaulted by the sounds of an army of ATVs moving on trails through the area (half a mile away, but felt like they could have been in my pocket), back and forth, with no clear purpose, and one that backfired every couple of strokes. This persisted all the way to the end of shooting light, and I got down having seen nothing - I don't blame the deer. Starting to feel like I might have used up all my luck on the elk hunt. Serves me right for trying to hunt on a Saturday - the dry conditions have meant they can get deeper into the woods than normal, and I'm wondering if that has meant more activity in the woods reducing deer activity.

So this week, planning on trying on getting out a couple of times, and also for a fishing adventure to see if I can land a steelhead or two. I also have a 20 acre lease that I don't tend to hunt except for the ideal winds at this time of year, as its a better rut funnel with a food plot, and doesn't hold deer on the property, but I have yet to hunt out there so far. Fortunately, I've been starting to see some really nice bucks in the night on camera, so holding out hope that once rut comes around, an opportunity or two might present itself. I picked up the buck I shot there last year from the taxidermist just before my elk hunt - and can confidently say what I have on camera is bigger than this.