Well, Oregon was good to us, but not as good as it should have been. In the last week of August, Dan and I made our yearly voyage to eastern Oregon for the archery opener. Our plan was to spend a couple of days, set out a trail cam or two, and see if we could knock one down. Never saw an elk, which was a little concerning. We came home for a few weeks, and headed back down to hunt the last 7-10 days. Got into camp at about 7pm which gave us about 20 minutes of shooting light left. Grabbed our bows and headed into an area to see if we could hear any bugles. Made it about 400 yards from camp and got caught by a 5pt bull in a meadow at 150 yards. No bugles heard, but could hear some other elk in the timber close by. We backed out decided to hit this area in the AM.
Following morning we slid back into the meadow but no sign of any elk. We worked our way up the mountain occasionally calling but no responses. After an hour or so we made it to the trail cam. We thought we had heard a bugle when we got close to the trail cam and let out a cow call, no response to the cow call, and all seemed quiet. We pulled the SD card, and began to look through the hundreds of pics. We got 6 different bulls, dozens of cows, deer, and bear. WOW! The normal spot was looking good this year. Before we could exam the dates, we heard the bull bugle again but closer. We let out another cow call, and quickly got arrows knocked, and separated a little not knowing which direction the bull would come in. After about 30 seconds we could hear limbs breaking and it looked like we might get a shot at him. He appeared to our left (Dan's side) at about 45 yards. Let out a bugle which was awesome to experience up close, and looked around for the cow he heard. Not seeing a cow, he took about 15 steps giving Dan a 20 broadside shot. Dan let her fly, and the bull spun and took off in the direction he came in. We were able to stop him for a few seconds with some cow calls. He then disappeared in the reprod. We could hear him hit the dirt and take his last breaths. After a few high fives, we sat in amazement on how quickly that happened. It was like watching one of those hunting shows with how it all came together, and watching him make his last bugle at 40 yards. Day 1 and looked like one down. We sat and scanned the pics on the trail cam and noticed not much activity in the last 10 days. Anyway, we got on the blood trail which was impressive. Never saw that much blood from a double lung shot. Found our bull, a nice 5X6 and got to work on him after some video and pics. Had him caped out, skinned and quartered in an hour and a half. The pack wasn't too bad only a mile or so, but all downhill which for some reason killed my knees. Got him to camp, finished capeing the head, ate, hung the meat, and took a little nap. That evening headed to another spot, and called in a really nice bull, but he caught us by surprise at 80 yards, and we were busted.
Day 2 it rained and rained pretty much all day.
Day 3 it rained and rained pretty much all day.
Day 4 it snowed about an in or two, and temps in the upper 20s low 30s.
Played cat and mouse with a deep growler bull three different days, but he would only bugle about an hour before dark, and only 3 bugles before he went quiet. Tried him three different days but never got closer than 100 yards. Had another bull on the hook another day, but the wind got us, and he took off.
This was an odd year for the Oregon rut. It was an earlier season than normal, but it has never been that quiet, with little rut activity. Pic is my hunting buddy Dan, and his bull. He deserved that one, and I couldn't ask for a better hunting partner. Guy knows the woods. Cant wait for next year!
