Irritating end to an Elk Hunt

[KopperBuck]

I've had archery hunters give us the dirty look when grouse hunting. I just smile and wave.

[RadSav]

I've had archery hunters give us the dirty look when grouse hunting. I just smile and wave.

Dang grouse hunters!!!!  How dare you hunt MY woods and then laugh and wave at me.   

[returnofsid]

I've had archery hunters give us the dirty look when grouse hunting. I just smile and wave.

Heck, I kept one arrow tipped with a Judo tip, just in case I got a shot at a grouse.  I will say, there's an abundance of grouse where I was elk hunting.  I passed up a few "iffy" grouse shots where I figured I'd lose my arrow...lol.

Grouse hunters, even those using shotguns, didn't bother me at all.  We're all hunters.   I have nothing against a dad taking his sons out shooting.  I've been that dad.  They were shooting towards my camp trailer, which they knew was there.  The fact that I was also finally on a bull just compounded the irritation factor...that part wasn't their fault though.

[ICEMAN]

Cavemen experienced the same frustrations.

These frustrations between us hunter groups has gone on forever. Don't let it get the best of you. It is an inevitable part of hunting. Best to plan on frustration, then appreciate your time when it doesn't.

[coachcw]

for elk in general areas where roads and shooting are common I don't think it bugs elk that much. we shot last week into a hillside many times , I walked over there yesterday and there was freash elk sign every where , I watched a group of bulls one year just sit and watch a group of guys shoot about a 1/4 mile away and could care less. back country is a different story the bug out .

[RadSav]

for elk in general areas where roads and shooting are common I don't think it bugs elk that much. we shot last week into a hillside many times , I walked over there yesterday and there was freash elk sign every where , I watched a group of bulls one year just sit and watch a group of guys shoot about a 1/4 mile away and could care less. back country is a different story the bug out .

I've noticed the same thing.  When I was sighting in my spring bear gun the year we had to stop and wait for the elk to cross 50 yards behind my target.  Not a lot of distance between our targets and a near vertical embankment.  You would think they would be nervous of such a pinch point, but nope!  About 15 cows didn't have a care in the world.  That bull mentioned earlier a few miles back in nearly turned inside out trying to get to the thick safety stuff.

[Igottanewknee]

Unless the elk were within a couple hundred yards from where they were shooting, the elk don't really care. I don't know how many times I've been watching elk, and somebody has been shooting their pistols and shot guns within a half to quarter mile away and it seems the elk don't really care. Maybe local herd that has heard it before (down by South Bend), but that is my experience.

[WalleyeJason]

5 days of elk hunting, with very little sign of elk and nothing bugling, averaging about 15 miles of hiking per day.  Yesterday evening, the last evening of hunting, I'm sitting on a stump where I'd seen a monster buck with double drop tines a few days prior and hear a bull elk bugle twice, about 500 yards away.  As I'm trying to figure out where he is, so I can stalk in on him, I hear 2 car doors slam, a horn honk and then gun fire from the OK Corral!  30 yards from me, a dad and his 2 teenage sons decide to target practice with their 22s!  Ugh!  I walked up behind them and said, "Archery Elk season in the middle of nowhere, elk are finally bugling and you decide this would be a good place to target practice?!"  The dad just about jumped out of his skin, not realizing I was there. He apologizes and says "We're out of here."  I relocated about 2 miles away, with a couple mountain ridges between us.  I could hear them shooting still, 2 hours later!  GRRRRR!!!!!

As I walk out, I see his truck blocking the Forest Service gate to the road I'd walked in on...

Is it wrong to admit I wondered how his tires would stand up to a broadhead?

Average walking speed over flat ground is 3.5 Mph, I suggest maybe cutting down on the walking and do a bit more hunting.  Putting in 15 miles a day only leaves you tired and frustrated.

[returnofsid]

5 days of elk hunting, with very little sign of elk and nothing bugling, averaging about 15 miles of hiking per day.  Yesterday evening, the last evening of hunting, I'm sitting on a stump where I'd seen a monster buck with double drop tines a few days prior and hear a bull elk bugle twice, about 500 yards away.  As I'm trying to figure out where he is, so I can stalk in on him, I hear 2 car doors slam, a horn honk and then gun fire from the OK Corral!  30 yards from me, a dad and his 2 teenage sons decide to target practice with their 22s!  Ugh!  I walked up behind them and said, "Archery Elk season in the middle of nowhere, elk are finally bugling and you decide this would be a good place to target practice?!"  The dad just about jumped out of his skin, not realizing I was there. He apologizes and says "We're out of here."  I relocated about 2 miles away, with a couple mountain ridges between us.  I could hear them shooting still, 2 hours later!  GRRRRR!!!!!

As I walk out, I see his truck blocking the Forest Service gate to the road I'd walked in on...

Is it wrong to admit I wondered how his tires would stand up to a broadhead?

Average walking speed over flat ground is 3.5 Mph, I suggest maybe cutting down on the walking and do a bit more hunting.  Putting in 15 miles a day only leaves you tired and frustrated.

Most of the walking was getting to the areas we were hunting.  We walked to get as far away from people as we could...then hunted those areas, walking back after dark, which was a bit sketchy due to the number of large cat tracks we saw!

I'll admit to being tired and frustrated...lol.

[Skillet]

LOL, sounds like somebody is getting a bit punchy, since his Big Bull season isn't for three more weeks! 

"Click"...

[returnofsid]

LOL, sounds like somebody is getting a bit punchy, since his Big Bull season isn't for three more weeks! 

"Click"...

I'm unsure who or what you're referring to...

[WalleyeJason]

I'll admit to being tired and frustrated...lol.

Ya, I hear what your saying. Its frustrating when you put in all that work and have it spoiled.

[WalleyeJason]

LOL, sounds like somebody is getting a bit punchy, since his Big Bull season isn't for three more weeks! 

"Click"...

"Click"

Sorry Returnofsid, Skillet and I have a big hunt coming up, and I think we are choping at the bit to get in the woods...

"Click"

[Skillet]

LOL, sounds like somebody is getting a bit punchy, since his Big Bull season isn't for three more weeks! 

"Click"...

I'm unsure who or what you're referring to...

Ah - I forgot to quote WJ's infinite wisdom in my post...

More to the point, I've been there too, with deer not elk.  After busting my arse to get down the hill into the thick nasty north side of a gated area for whitetail, not long after dawn a couple to jerkwads on scooters come down the logging roads in the canyon I was in.  No, they weren't disabled (physically, anyway).  I knew this because I had words with them at their camp the next day about what a locked gate on a road meant.

Very, very  frustrating.

[Skillet]

LOL, sounds like somebody is getting a bit punchy, since his Big Bull season isn't for three more weeks! 

"Click"...

"Click"

Sorry Returnofsid, Skillet and I have a big hunt coming up, and I think we are choping at the bit to get in the woods...

"Click"

Oh man, I've chomped clean through my bit and am flossing with a boresnake to get the brass out of my teeth!  I'm ready to go!!