Hey guys and gals. Back from my uncles little naches bull hunt. What a blast. It was a hunt to remember. It was not as long as it could have been which can be a good thing and a bad thing. But all and all it was a good times. After many weekends, weekdays and dreams of scouting the weekend before season finally came. My uncle from Missouri flew in to help with the hunt. So Saturday it was off to the airport to pick him up. I worked Sunday and got off work Monday morning and it was straight over chinook pass. Camp was set up by the late afternoon and the hunt had officially been kicked off. Monday night i set out to continue the preseason scouting. Right before dusk i spotted 8 elk with two small bulls a rag horn and a spike. not bad for being out less than an hour. Tuesday morning brought more preseason scouting. With a not so productive daylight scout 2 hours after daylight brough increased enthusiasm. 3 cows and a 7X6. They were in a relatively easy area for my uncle to access. After that more scouting and more scouting. lunch. then out for the afternoon/evening scout. took an old jeep trail out to the end of a point that looked into two basins. Initially say a fork and 5 cows and then a spike and a URO (unidentified running object). Not hundreds of trophy bulls but still promising. After sitting around the fire Tuesday night we decided that opening morning would be started in the area of the 7x6. Of course as typical luck has it no bull or elk for that matter to be found.
That morning and afternoon we hiked from one basin down into the next and saw lots and lots of sign. We just could not find what was making the sign. That evening i decided to go back to where i had seen the 7x6 and sure as hell i saw three cows not 100 yards from where i had seen the elk two days before. they were feeding out of the bottom up onto the ridge across from me. I waited this dark for the bull to show himself and was left empty handed.
Thursday morning took us back to the same area. This time we decided to hunt it a tad different. We were awake before the elk and positioned for light. we hiked down a skid road for close to a mile to get close to the elk. right at light we spotted a couple of elk in the general area that i had seen the bull in two days earlier. As we got the spotting scope out we could see at least one shooter bull. We moved further down the skid road to get a closer look. As we walked i looked across the canyon and saw one lone elk standing broadside. I glassed it and it was the shooter bull. I ranged it with the Nikon 800 and it was 526 yards faced uphill broadside. My uncle tried various rests.
and ended up with a rock under his day pack. laying down. He took the shot and the rest is history. of course me being the youngest i got to endure the 8 hour pack
. I really need to start having kids.
Thanks to everyone that helped with input. another successful family trip down in the books.
