Joe Hulburt
Well-known member
Great photos and hunt! Looking forward to more...
WI ELK, the story of a once in a lifetime hunt
- Thread starter WinkB
- Start date
Derek44
Well-known member
Definitely in on this one!! Great write up so far.
RyGuy
Well-known member
Weekend time, sorry wasn't around to rely, I will get back at it today. We have a little place out in the woods that is about 30-45 miles from where we did a fair amount of hunting. I home is about 4.5 hours away from our place in the woods.
MITCHMO
Well-known member
I’m all over this one! My 9 year old son having a Michigan cow elk tag makes this hit close to home!
We started off the next day no better than the last, temps were under 20 degrees, and dense fog. You may ask yourself what do you do in the woods when you can't see? The answer is take a nap and wait for the fog to lift. Well maybe only one of us took a nap. It is more difficult to hunt with your eyes closed but it can be done.
Later in the day the fog was gone but the rain decided to return for a few hours. We went into one of our "prime" areas to see if we could come up with a plan for the evening. We parked the vehicle, I decided that I would go take a walk to the south about 2 miles and see what was going on down that way without jeopardizing the areas I really wanted to hunt to the north. That way they could remain in the vehicle and out of the rain for a little while as well. My little walk turned up nothing and I wasn't expecting much, but I wanted to check that area off the list. We still had several hours before prime time so I took a walk north about a mile and as I got back to the vehicle I noticed three cows to the south of us and they were a little less than a half mile away. I said, Hey why are we not going after those elk down there? What, what elk? they said. I am like the ones behind us. What, where did they come from? I don't know I wasn't here. Where is the bull that has been with that group? I knew there was a bull and 4 cows to the north and there was this small group to the south. The northern group was more reliable than the southern group, so now we had a choice to make. Wait and go north, or see what this group would do and see if a bull was with them then go south.
We watched this group for almost an hour as they fed to the south. As we were getting within the last hour and a half no bull yet. My wife then went to the north to see if they were up there while I waited with my daughter to see if a bull would came out to the south. My wife returned with about 30 min left in the day and she didn't see anything so we figured we might as well go look and see if this bull is just out of our view, so we headed south.
We were able to sneak within about 100 yards as legal shooting light was coming to a close. No bull, but we saw elk. We will have to see what tomorrow brings.
Later in the day the fog was gone but the rain decided to return for a few hours. We went into one of our "prime" areas to see if we could come up with a plan for the evening. We parked the vehicle, I decided that I would go take a walk to the south about 2 miles and see what was going on down that way without jeopardizing the areas I really wanted to hunt to the north. That way they could remain in the vehicle and out of the rain for a little while as well. My little walk turned up nothing and I wasn't expecting much, but I wanted to check that area off the list. We still had several hours before prime time so I took a walk north about a mile and as I got back to the vehicle I noticed three cows to the south of us and they were a little less than a half mile away. I said, Hey why are we not going after those elk down there? What, what elk? they said. I am like the ones behind us. What, where did they come from? I don't know I wasn't here. Where is the bull that has been with that group? I knew there was a bull and 4 cows to the north and there was this small group to the south. The northern group was more reliable than the southern group, so now we had a choice to make. Wait and go north, or see what this group would do and see if a bull was with them then go south.
We watched this group for almost an hour as they fed to the south. As we were getting within the last hour and a half no bull yet. My wife then went to the north to see if they were up there while I waited with my daughter to see if a bull would came out to the south. My wife returned with about 30 min left in the day and she didn't see anything so we figured we might as well go look and see if this bull is just out of our view, so we headed south.
We were able to sneak within about 100 yards as legal shooting light was coming to a close. No bull, but we saw elk. We will have to see what tomorrow brings.
SC Living Outdoors
Well-known member
I have to say there have been a lot of fantastic threads this year, but this is one of my favorites.
seeth07
Well-known member
While true, it's not terribly hard to find them. Information on the herds whereabouts and places they hang out is pretty common knowledge. Lots of people take the drive up there to watch the elk and get a close look at them because they aren't skittish. You can be right down wind of them, 100 yards away and they won't care. Sort of like how elk are in rocky mountain National Park around estes.
steveshuntn1
Well-known member
Great write up…!
The people who run the gas station in ClamWin Lake are helpful
Thanks for sharing this thread. It's cool to follow along. Hoping for a great outcome.
There are some great folks in the area that are willing to help share local knowledge where they can. Through my discussions with many folks, both residents and visitors to the area. I found that there are those who love the elk, and those who wish the DNR never reintroduced them. Each person had stories that help support their viewpoint and many were very passionate about their stance. There were very few that I told we were hunting as I wanted more to understand how they were using our public lands and what they hoped to get out of their time in the area and what the elk meant to them.
The same disparity of view exists when it comes to the hunting this elk herd. There are those who love seeing the elk and hate the hunters. some think a controlled hunt is a good thing. Then there are always those very few individuals that will attempt to interfere and disrupt the hunt if they can. Like many things in life its a balance, and through listening to these folks it helped me apricate all the different view points and how each person was impacted.
We did keep it fairly quiet up to the hunt just because this can be a hot button issue for the anti hunters and the last thing I wanted was to have my daughter confronted by anti hunters when she is out and about just going through her day. Around where we live, I know several members of the community that are anti hunting and anti firearm, and now if you combine those both with a female youth, in their mind you are the worst of the worst. I know this is a hunting forum and we all share a common interest, but these folks are out there and it may be hard for us to understand their side. In my mind we must and we should try and educate them as to what we do, why we do it, and how in many cases we are contributing more for the conservation of game and land than many of them. Many of these anti elk hunters miss the fact that if it were not for the RMEF and the sportsmen and women in the state there would be no funding for this effort and they would not be able to enjoy seeing the elk out on the landscape.
While there are people who like to go and view the elk, the hunting of them takes a little different angel in my mind. Just because you can find them, can you legally harvest one? Or is it one that is near private where the land owner loves them and if they see you near there on public land will attempt to make you life difficult, yep, a very fine balancing act to respect all individual involved. Based on my above comments, and having a youth hunter with me I really wanted to leave a positive impressing and ensure we were representing the hunting community in the most positive light possible. Given there have been so few tags offered, I think we are paving the path for all future hunts right now and I want to help lay that foundation and ensure the road forward for all those to come is smooth and straight.
My strategy was to stay below the fray and engage elk on their terms out in the woods. Right or wrong, we all have a philosophy on how we want to hunt and this was the path we felt was appropriate for us and what we were hoping to get out of the hunt.
The same disparity of view exists when it comes to the hunting this elk herd. There are those who love seeing the elk and hate the hunters. some think a controlled hunt is a good thing. Then there are always those very few individuals that will attempt to interfere and disrupt the hunt if they can. Like many things in life its a balance, and through listening to these folks it helped me apricate all the different view points and how each person was impacted.
We did keep it fairly quiet up to the hunt just because this can be a hot button issue for the anti hunters and the last thing I wanted was to have my daughter confronted by anti hunters when she is out and about just going through her day. Around where we live, I know several members of the community that are anti hunting and anti firearm, and now if you combine those both with a female youth, in their mind you are the worst of the worst. I know this is a hunting forum and we all share a common interest, but these folks are out there and it may be hard for us to understand their side. In my mind we must and we should try and educate them as to what we do, why we do it, and how in many cases we are contributing more for the conservation of game and land than many of them. Many of these anti elk hunters miss the fact that if it were not for the RMEF and the sportsmen and women in the state there would be no funding for this effort and they would not be able to enjoy seeing the elk out on the landscape.
While there are people who like to go and view the elk, the hunting of them takes a little different angel in my mind. Just because you can find them, can you legally harvest one? Or is it one that is near private where the land owner loves them and if they see you near there on public land will attempt to make you life difficult, yep, a very fine balancing act to respect all individual involved. Based on my above comments, and having a youth hunter with me I really wanted to leave a positive impressing and ensure we were representing the hunting community in the most positive light possible. Given there have been so few tags offered, I think we are paving the path for all future hunts right now and I want to help lay that foundation and ensure the road forward for all those to come is smooth and straight.
My strategy was to stay below the fray and engage elk on their terms out in the woods. Right or wrong, we all have a philosophy on how we want to hunt and this was the path we felt was appropriate for us and what we were hoping to get out of the hunt.
