Large Predator Encounters in the Elk Woods

[WapitiTalk1]

Big cats, bears, wolves, or marauding pack of ravenous yotes -  -, please share a story or two of too close for comfort predator encounters during your time in the elk woods. Can be from this year or a previous year.

[RadSav]

I've tried to come up with a realistic number of days I've spent in elk woods in my life.  Best I can guess is it's in the neighborhood of 3,000 and 3,500.  In that time I have encouraged black bear charges for fun when hunting in Canada, I've had some crazy fox encounters while varmint calling and I have had some exciting moments tracking wounded bear while guiding.  But, not once can I think of a situation where simply being in the elk woods had led to a close predator encounter of any concern.  Seen plenty up close and personal, but nothing of concern to myself or clients.  Had more than one encounter with two legged creatures that led to serious concerns!

[nbk]

The cat in my avatar was at about 20'-25' coming at me hard when I shot her

[pianoman9701]

I've had a big black bear stand up on his hind feet at about 5 yards, huffed a couple of times and took off.  And two years ago, a smaller black bear and I were on opposite sides of the same huckleberry bush before we knew each other was there. I don't know who was more startled.

[vandeman17]

Had a cat just off the edge or an old skidder road do the guttural growl at myself and my hunting buddy a few years back. Did it a few times and couldn't have been more then 15-20 yards over the edge but never saw it. Did smell something dead so pretty sure it was sitting on an old kill. This was last night and talk about a creepy rest of the hike out. 

[TommyH]

This year while out elk hunting I was watching over a large basin, after a few cow calls I seen movement. I thought all right here comes some elk. At first movement was all I seen, then some legs as it was stopped behind some small trees on the other side of the draw. Cow called again, then out it comes from behind the trees, and I now see that it's not elk but it's a big cougar running down the finger ridge. It would only go around 40 yards and stop/look/listen. When it would stop I would cow call some more and it would sneak down the ridge closer. It also had a 1 year old trailing behind it. I watched it cover a lot of ground strait down the hill. After it was down in the draw in the thick brush and trees, I couldn't see it any longer and knew it was getting close. The north facing side that I was on was extremely thick and the only shot possible would have to be on the road I was on, since I figured it wouldn't just jump out on the road, I decided it was time for me to get going!! My mt.bike was more than a mile down the old road. It was a quick mile back tho!!!


Had another encounter last year also. Heard noise pretty close to me and soon seen a calf moose trotting down the ridge with a cougar right behind it. The moose stopped and held it's ground for a minute, the cougar would back up and the moose would advance. Then the cougar would advance and the moose would back up. This went on for a few minutes then the moose ran strait at me with the cougar right behind it. I thought don't bring that cat to me!!!! They were now about 40-45 yards away. I waved my arms around and probably cussed at the moose. It stopped and looked at me for a minute befor changing directions. I never seen or heard which way the cat went... My way back threw there later that evening was at high speed on my bike with the bow in one hand! The one and only day I left my sidearm in the truck!

[baldopepper]

Not an elk hunt encounter, but a deer hunt encounter.  Several years ago, in Utah , I was hunting opening morning with my young son. It had snowed all night and there was about a foot of new snow on the ground when we finally reached the small opening that I knew was crisscrossed with deer trails.  We had only been there about 10 minutes when a nice 3 point popped out and I dropped him in his tracks.  After cleaning him we decided to sit back down at the edge of the clearing and rest a bit before dragging him down.  As we sat there I noticed the buck brush below us moving and whispered to my son that another deer was coming out.  Much to our surprise a mountain lion came out and immediately sat down on his back haunches not 20 feet from us.  We were both taken back by how beautiful he looked, golden colored with a long tail that he swished back and forth with the white snow background.  After about a minute he got up and disappeared into the brush.  I was quietly telling my son how lucky we were to see a mountain lion in that setting when his eyes widened and he said "there he is again dad" .  I looked across the opening and there he was, only this time he was crouched down sneaking into the small opening towards the downed deer.  I confidently stood up and waved my arms thinking the movement would make him disappear, but quite the opposite.  He crouched even lower and even from the distance of about 50 feet I could hear a low growl.  At this point I shouldered my 308 and put the crosshairs on him and started yelling at him.  After about a 30 second stand off he slowly backed off into the buck brush, and left my son and I both shaking.  We waited another 10 minutes and finally went over and started dragging the deer down.  Going down the way we had come up we discovered he had cut out trail about half way up and had walked in out tracks the rest of the way up. I came to a long meadow and sat down and told my son if he came down our trail we would have a rug.  We waited another 15 minutes and he never showed up again.  I must admit that 45 minute drag down that mountain with heavy brush all around us and my then 8 year old son staying as close as he could to me was a long , long 45 minutes.  We both laugh about the event now, but we weren't laughing when we finally got that deer down to the jeep and were out of that thick brush.

[BOWHUNTER45]

I only had one in my hunting adventures but kid you not it had my blood pumping ...I think I told the story before  but since I had a shower and I am relaxed now I will tell it again ...I left home for Unit 336 and was packed to stay for a week ..got my camp all set up and was ready in the morning ..I was headed for this steep canyon I have taken elk from before ..with a bow and muzzleloader ..I was bow hunting this trip ... I started out in the morning while it was still dark .I started down the trail and about an hour into it I came across a tree that fell over the trail .. I stop for a minute when all the sudden I hear some snorting and me and sounded like something was stomping at the ground .. Then I heard a familiar sound a bear makes  As my eyes focus on a round looking figure coming toward me I thought to myself ( Holy Crap ) it is one peeeeesed off bear ..It gets to about 10 yrds and I yell and kick dirt at it and was yelling get bear ...get the  heck out of here bear but it kept coming ..Now I have a decision to make and I just got to my elk hunting area and I do not want dead smelling bear part around  It finally gets about 6 steps from me so I draw my bow and it is stomping its feet at me and yes I am sheeeeeting my pants So I pointed at its throat and WHACK ...It runs 10 yrds does the death moan and party over ...I am sick how I just ended my elk hunt and it gets even worse ....As I walk over towards her I hear something to my right ...  You should be able to figure out the rest of the story ...It made me sick to my stomach ...but I gave her every chance to leave but she was not having anything to do with that ..like 18 inches from the tip of my broadhead 

[boneaddict]

I was calling moose (in the elk woods) and it was just before dark.  I heard a limb crack and I turned to see a grizz standing about 10 yards away or less.   THANKFULLY it spooked from me.   It was a long walk in the dark back to Idabooner and the truck though. 

[undertoad]

I was calling moose (in the elk woods) and it was just before dark.  I heard a limb crack and I turned to see a grizz standing about 10 yards away or less.   THANKFULLY it spooked from me.   It was a long walk in the dark back to Idabooner and the truck though.

WOW!

[big wood]

Well I have lots of encounters, one in particular is about 5 years ago i was packed in the bob marshall wilderness 28 miles hunting elk end of september. My buddy and i took the horses up this huge drainage, east of camp, about 5 miles and bailed over the side of the trail on this elk trail which was heading south and uphill toward some beautiful basins about 2 miles up. After picking our way that gh blowdowns,brush and rocks we tied the horses up and preceeded toward the basins. When we got there it was beautiful elk country about 8,000 ft elevation. Sign was everywhere and stunk of elk but not an elk one. We preceeded east through a saddle into the next basin to find the same results. We headed through the next saddle into the next basin to find the same results no elk! We started north and west to skirt the bottom side of the basins to head back to the horses. We stopped at this rock to take a break so I ripped a bugle to see if we could get a response and a bull stood up about 75 yards. The timber was lodge pole and only allowed me for a shot at his bulging front shoulder. As i was squeezing the trigger he swung to his right away from my aim point and fortunatley i missed him clean. I knew i missed him but coulnt stop my squeeze in mid shot, so we headed down to look for blood and could not find a drop as i presumed. I was telling my buddy that 100% i missed him and as i was looking at him when on the hill behind him i caught some movement, about 200 yards, it was a wolf and it was sidehilling this rockslide with 2 more behind him. As we were watching them angling down semi toward us, some brush moved and another wolf popped out as another and another and so on. One looked staight at us and bolted right for us. As it ran toward us it was like all the other ones said it is on and started the chase as well. Within seconds we had 14 woles circled and sorrounded us at my 20 ft. We were back to back yelling at them with our rifles raised when one barked once and they all backed off about 20 ft and squared back up when another bark resulted in them leaving. They were gone as fast as they were there. Needless to say it was a love ng hike back to the horses and a longer ride back to camp in the dark.

[RadSav]

I was reminded of an incident by an old friend that read my earlier post.  I've never thought of it as a concern, but some do.

I had backpacked in to the Eagle Caps about five miles to a favorite elk spot.  Setup camp in a hurry in the darkness back when we never carried a flashlight.  So camp was a bit of a mess, but good enough to have a quick meal of cornbeef hash out of a can and get some sleep. 

At day break I'm awaken by elk bugles.  I grab the bow and head out in a rush.  The elk got the best of me and I was back at camp about four hours later to get things arranged correctly in the light of day.  I get the ground tilled up well, all rocks removed, anchor the tent and lay down to make sure all was comfortable in the sleeping bag.  It was so comfortable I decided to take a little nap before cleaning up from last nights meal.  I wake up to something big outside rummaging through my stuff.  About the time I realize it is a bear he sticks his head inside the tent for a good look see.  Well, he sees me sit up and it scared the boogers out of him.  He takes off so fast he runs into an anchor line and breaks the end off of one of the poles partially collapsing the tent. Unfortunately I never saw him again.  His head was beautiful!

 

I always get a kick out of watching animals eyes dilate when they realize they've been had.   I wonder if that is what I look like to them just before saying, "Wholly Sheeet!"  Few things in life are more fun than close black bear encounters. 

[RadSav]

I did have a cow moose charge too close for comfort while elk hunting Idaho.  Most moose charges seem short and they forget what they were doing half way to you.  Well this one was serious enough I dropped my bow and made for the nearest tree with hooves gaining on me in a quick hurry.  Luckily her calf that was caught up in some huckleberries broke free and they went on their marry way.  Not a large predator, but it is one of the few times I've had concern for my life in the elk woods.

My wife laughed at me for dropping my bow.  Apparently she found the concept of leaving something for the moose to trip over quite amusing!

[rasbo]

I had a black bear charge me before light while on my way in to hunt deer..I had just enough time to raise my gun and fire at damn near point blank range..The bear went over on its back and ran,while I was back peddling and jacking another round in the chamber..I went and found my partner and we followed the bears blood trail.I found what I thought was parts of his tongue or gums.He had a 6inch plus front pad..we followed him for over a mile and a half and rain finally washed away any sign...I have had several bears at close range while calling,but never had a bear get after me for no reason,however I did have a ravenous mountain beaver Im sure was on acid try to attack while myself and my partner were hiking in one morning,evil lil dude with sabortooth fangs and grizzly sized claws

[TommyH]

My brother had a black bear come in to his cow calls last year. He thought it was the bull we were after...... It appeared at 15 yards and they looked at each other for a moment before it charged right at him. He released his arrow around 5-7 yards. It turned after the hit and ran off. It was a good shot and the bear didn't go far.