collapse

Advertisement


Author Topic: Last 3 days of the season and ZERO bugles  (Read 8929 times)

Offline AKBowman

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Sourdough
  • *****
  • Join Date: Nov 2008
  • Posts: 1487
  • Location: Snoqualmie, WA
Last 3 days of the season and ZERO bugles
« on: September 16, 2012, 05:56:32 PM »
Well I just got back from 9 days in the field. We had a great time and had a great camp, man am I exhausted. Only took 3 half days off and was in the field from well before dark until after dark.

Not sure if it was the additional pressure in our area due to adjacent permit holders using the vehicle access to access the backside and drive in or the weather but the bulls were just not talking like they have been in the 3 previous years I've hunted. We hunted really hard and only had two chances in 9 days. My hands and face are scratched and cut up from diving into the suck holes.

We had some decent action last Sat, Sun and Mon (my hunting partner had a rag horn dead in the deep timber at 30 yards but shoots a long bow and didnt have a great angle so passed) after that it really got slow for us and we covered some serious ground. I had one chance on a bull that sounded real nice and came into 10 yards but not shot and that was it for me. Mostly hunting the timber and or finding timber strips that would lead us down into the Suck holes and listening and calling into the pockets. It seemed the further we rode into the country the more people we would see. We hunted anywhere from ~8 miles deep to near the gate.

I ended up pulling out on Friday and hunting another area a ways away hoping that the bulls would be more talkative but it only got worse as i hunted hard the last 2-1/2 days and never heard another bull bugle. I know there were 2 or 3 bulls killed in the general area but most guys we spoke to were seeing the same things as us.

Its tough going 3 years without getting an elk and hunting 9 days without ever drawing my bow. uuuugggghh not sure where to go from here.
"All you can do is hunt” - Roy Roth

Offline rtspring

  • Washington For Wildlife
  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Old Salt
  • ******
  • Join Date: Jul 2010
  • Posts: 5604
  • Location: Hermiston Oregon
Re: Last 3 days of the season and ZERO bugles
« Reply #1 on: September 16, 2012, 06:00:00 PM »
Better than being at work, good luck in the future..


RTSPRING
I kill elk and eat elk, when I'm not, I'm thinking about killing elk and eating elk.

It doesn't matter what you think...

The Whiners suck!!

Offline AKBowman

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Sourdough
  • *****
  • Join Date: Nov 2008
  • Posts: 1487
  • Location: Snoqualmie, WA
Re: Last 3 days of the season and ZERO bugles
« Reply #2 on: September 16, 2012, 06:06:56 PM »
Thats for sure. The toughest pill to swallow is talking to some of the guys who were successful and listening to their terrible calling, knowing we were working much harder and smarter but just not getting the results. It sucks having an empty freezer, I dont even want to check the Roosie threads although I am glad others were successful.
"All you can do is hunt” - Roy Roth

Offline Harborhunter

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Scout
  • ****
  • Join Date: Dec 2011
  • Posts: 265
  • Location: Grays Harbor
Re: Last 3 days of the season and ZERO bugles
« Reply #3 on: September 16, 2012, 07:35:34 PM »
Too bad you didn't have more action, but that's why they call it hunting!

Offline firedog

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Scout
  • ****
  • Join Date: Dec 2007
  • Posts: 280
  • Location: Battle Ground
Re: Last 3 days of the season and ZERO bugles
« Reply #4 on: September 16, 2012, 08:55:41 PM »
We had similar results, I hunted everyday of season. 13 long hard days, started out the first half of season daylight till dark. last half took a few hours each afternoon because I was wore out. Had a bull working on opening day coming into my wifes uncle and the wind shifted and we got busted. Had a bull going good on the first sunday and when we moved in closre he shut up. Only two bulls we had going all season, heard only a couple other bugles the whole time. had bulls in the area because we still hunted in on them but could not get a bull to answer any kind of call. Was a tough season but Still had a great time and would have loved to have killed a bull but it didn't work out that way. Did over 150 miles mostly on my feet, some on my bike. Still have late season here in WA and an Oregon Rifle tag so all is not lost.

Will say I am extremely proud of my 8 year old son, he hiked 9 miles with us on the first sat and was with us the next day when i had that second bull bugling. We ended up hiking 5 that day because I didn't want to push him to hard for the weekend. He had a blast and the kid will be a great hunter, wanted to be in the timber the whole time. Would get mad at me anytume we spent walking from one area to the next on a road.
IAFF Local 43

Offline CavemantheHunter

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Scout
  • ****
  • Join Date: Jun 2011
  • Posts: 394
  • Location: Yelm, WA
Re: Last 3 days of the season and ZERO bugles
« Reply #5 on: September 17, 2012, 07:21:38 AM »
Same story here, hunted 9 hard days in the blazing heat. Got into elk every day, but it was just so hot and dry that it was like walking on rice crispies. They weren't being vocal either, finally heard two bugles yesterday, but it was too late. They definitely weren't rutting down where I was at. It was great seeing a lot of elk, but frustrating to never be able to close the distance without them spooking.

Offline deerhunter_98520

  • Past Sponsor
  • Trade Count: (+4)
  • Old Salt
  • *****
  • Join Date: Nov 2009
  • Posts: 8928
  • Location: aberdeen, wa
  • Chief Executive Head Anarchist of YKWTSASFFRO
Re: Last 3 days of the season and ZERO bugles
« Reply #6 on: September 17, 2012, 07:41:43 AM »
It was the exact opposite for me this year....i hunted 7 days and 6 of those days i had bulls bugling....most of the time they would just chuckle at me...and would only answer when i did a real deep intimidating bugle..for one reason or another we just couldnt close the deal..theres always late season
Official hunt-wa bigfoot field researcher!

Offline AKBowman

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Sourdough
  • *****
  • Join Date: Nov 2008
  • Posts: 1487
  • Location: Snoqualmie, WA
Re: Last 3 days of the season and ZERO bugles
« Reply #7 on: September 17, 2012, 12:24:45 PM »
It was the exact opposite for me this year....i hunted 7 days and 6 of those days i had bulls bugling....most of the time they would just chuckle at me...and would only answer when i did a real deep intimidating bugle..for one reason or another we just couldnt close the deal..theres always late season


Yeah we had bulls bugling the first 3 days (first wknd, then Mon) then it went really spotty from there with the last chuckle being heard on Friday morning. One bull we were able to get a cow interested in our bugling and came in to us and the bull came in to cut her off from the intruder but I set up on the wrong trail and no shot. We almost gave up on that bull as they were moving up the steep canyon into a tucked away cut to feed for the night so we bugled about 10 times in 10 minutes and that turned them in our direction. Generally I like to listen and let the bulls lite up on their own, if not than use light locater bugles get them to respond then make my move...I think I should have been more aggressive this yr or at least tried some higher level bugling in order to try to get them to respond.

Its tough to talk yourself in to dropping into a suck hole without hearing a bull bugle first.
"All you can do is hunt” - Roy Roth

Offline shadowless_nite

  • Non-Hunting Topics
  • Trade Count: (+1)
  • Longhunter
  • *****
  • Join Date: Nov 2008
  • Posts: 650
  • Location: Vancouver
Re: Last 3 days of the season and ZERO bugles
« Reply #8 on: September 17, 2012, 01:52:41 PM »
I had the same thing happen this year. It seems all our little spots that would normally produce at least some action of some sort seemed as though they were deserted. Or maybe they just changed traveling patterns. But what I do know is that this years early season had to be one of the most uneventful for our group. We had one shot opportunity in our whole group and our guy that had the shot misranged it at 90 yds on a sleeping bull when it turned out to only be 62yds. which is very much doable for his shot abilities. :bash:

Offline AKBowman

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Sourdough
  • *****
  • Join Date: Nov 2008
  • Posts: 1487
  • Location: Snoqualmie, WA
Re: Last 3 days of the season and ZERO bugles
« Reply #9 on: September 17, 2012, 02:03:42 PM »
Shadowless, I know people were killing a few bulls around us but it was real spotty in our area. I'm pretty sure we hunt within 20 miles of each other. I ended up running and gunning the last 2-1/2 days and hunting spots that I considered "different" down low near private and some out of the way gates that I know dont get hunted much. Talked to a few of the locals and they were saying the same things, definitely a decent amount of bulls being killed but they were not being very vocal.

My elk hunting experience is limited to 3 years so to be brutally honest if the elk arent talking much my chances get slim. Luckily my hunting partner is more expeerienced and a good caller so we were able to get on a few but we both agreed we hunted twice as hard and twice as long this yr for half the chances we got last year.
"All you can do is hunt” - Roy Roth

Offline kenjo

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Hunter
  • ***
  • Join Date: Aug 2010
  • Posts: 103
  • Location: Washougal, WA
Re: Last 3 days of the season and ZERO bugles
« Reply #10 on: September 17, 2012, 02:10:10 PM »
Don't feel bad...I've been hearing and seeing bugling bulls here since before the season started but haven't seen too many hunters with anything on the meat pole (I'm on a fire lookout) and the hunters I've been watching worked pretty hard. Oh well.
There are three reasons to own a gun: To protect yourself and your family, to hunt dangerous and delicious animals and to keep the King of England out of your face.

      ~ Herschel Shmoikel Pinchas Yerucham Krustofski (Krusty the Clown)

Offline rosscrazyelk

  • BMM
  • Business Sponsor
  • Trade Count: (+4)
  • Frontiersman
  • *****
  • Join Date: Dec 2007
  • Posts: 4631
  • Location: Sumner
Re: Last 3 days of the season and ZERO bugles
« Reply #11 on: September 17, 2012, 02:13:41 PM »
I was helping someone with their tag and overall the elk were quiet.. but we did have some chances. I called in a nice bull on monday to 30 yards but it just did not work out.  had others at 50 and 60 but no real oppurtunity.. I am sure the heat had a lot to do with it. On Monday when it was cool they came out at 4:30 that was a fun day..
If its brown knock it down

Offline Holg3107

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Sourdough
  • *****
  • Join Date: Oct 2009
  • Posts: 1274
Re: Last 3 days of the season and ZERO bugles
« Reply #12 on: September 17, 2012, 02:20:33 PM »
Out in the Olympics for 4 days I heard 1 bugle and 2 sets of barks and mews from cows. The area had a lot of elk in it but they were spread out and not chatty like they usually are. It was a tough season on the calling end and made for some long days waiting for the elk to move, but that's all part of the hunt I guess. I think the Muzzy guys are going to have a great year this year if it cools down in a few weeks.

Offline canyelk48

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Longhunter
  • *****
  • Join Date: Apr 2010
  • Posts: 612
  • Location: Ellensburg
Re: Last 3 days of the season and ZERO bugles
« Reply #13 on: September 17, 2012, 02:28:53 PM »
I intend on emailing WDFW and thanking them for the wonderful opportunity to hunt elk in early September when the fire danger is at its worst, where the temperatures ranged from the 70's to upper 80's, and to say that although I only saw a few elk, if I had been fortunate enough to bag one, some of the meat would more than likely spoiled in the heat before getting it out of the woods!  I will also ask them to seriously consider setting archery elk seasons to start on September 8th every year and to do away with the floating dates that they now use.  I'm pretty sure this won't do one bit of good, but hopefully more archers will do the same until they get the message.

Offline washelkhunter

  • Region 5 State Delegate #3
  • Washington For Wildlife
  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Frontiersman
  • *****
  • Join Date: Nov 2011
  • Posts: 3549
  • Location: Vancouver
  • Site sponsorhttp
  • Groups: TPE, NRA, RMEF, AST
Re: Last 3 days of the season and ZERO bugles
« Reply #14 on: September 17, 2012, 02:36:14 PM »
Man! Lotsa crying in the beer here.

 


* Advertisement

* Recent Topics

AUCTION: SE Idaho DIY Deer or Deer/Elk Hunt by ASHQUACK
[Today at 03:11:49 PM]


Utah cow elk hunt by kselkhunter
[Today at 02:54:14 PM]


A lonely Job... by Loup Loup
[Today at 01:15:11 PM]


Pocket Carry by jdb
[Today at 01:04:51 PM]


Range finders & Angle Compensation by Fidelk
[Today at 11:58:48 AM]


Willapa Hills 1 Bear by hunter399
[Today at 10:55:29 AM]


Tree stand for Western Washingtn by Shannon
[Today at 08:56:36 AM]


Bearpaw Outfitters Annual July 4th Hunt Sale by bearpaw
[Today at 08:40:03 AM]


KODIAK06 2025 trail cam and personal pics thread by Boss .300 winmag
[Today at 07:53:52 AM]


Yard bucks by Boss .300 winmag
[Yesterday at 11:20:39 PM]


Yard babies by Feathernfurr
[Yesterday at 10:04:54 PM]


Seeking recommendations on a new scope by coachg
[Yesterday at 08:10:21 PM]


Sauk Unit Youth Elk Tips by high_hunter
[Yesterday at 08:06:05 PM]


Jupiter Mountain Rayonier Permit- 621 Bull Tag by HntnFsh
[Yesterday at 07:58:22 PM]


MOVED: Seekins Element 7PRC for sale by Bob33
[Yesterday at 06:57:10 PM]


3 pintails by metlhead
[Yesterday at 04:44:03 PM]


1993 Merc issues getting up on plane by Happy Gilmore
[Yesterday at 04:37:55 PM]


Unit 364 Archery Tag by buglebuster
[Yesterday at 12:16:59 PM]


In the background by zwickeyman
[Yesterday at 12:10:13 PM]


A. Cole Lockback in AEB-L and Micarta by A. Cole
[Yesterday at 09:15:34 AM]

SimplePortal 2.3.7 © 2008-2025, SimplePortal