Hey Guys,
I ended up hunting Fri, Sat and Sunday. The trip started out with an intense thunder and lightening storm Thursday night and it rained pretty hard until Saturday afternoon. On Friday I didn’t see anything, Saturday morning I had a couple breaking limbs all around me but I couldn’t get close enough to see what they were. Saturday evening I saw 3 good size bulls all walking together nose to tail, it was a pretty cool site. About 30 minutes later I had a 4th bull come by and hang out about 15 minutes within 30 yards of me. I have a few minutes of video (link below), it took me forever to dig my phone out of the pack while the bull was so close.
http://sdrv.ms/15dOIvX Yesterday morning I had a black bear cross in front of me, it was pretty close but in really thick cover. Yesterday evening I stayed put near where I saw the bulls until about 6pm, I got up to move around a bit and didn’t go 50 yards before I walked up on 2 cows, both in range. I had my bow in my frickin “quick-draw” pack but it got hung up and I couldn’t get it out. I dropped to my knees and ripped my pack off but in doing so I spooked one of the cows that was really close, the other cow fed right on away from me into the thick stuff. A little while later I saw a cow and calf. I heard very little bugling, only a couple of times and they were weak.
So... I had my chance and blew it! I obviously need to practice yanking my bow out. Seeing all the bulls was awesome!
It was a bittersweet trip for me, I was solo this year as my normal partner passed away from cancer a few months ago (he was only 47). This was my 4th year elk hunting on the east side (I'm from NC) and is the closest I have come to actually getting an elk. For several years I was convinced that they were mythical creatures and I figured I would see a bigfoot before I saw an elk.
