Date/Time: 27 September/10:56 AM
Location: Somewhere in the elk woods
Hunt Pressure Status: Moderate (there are other hunters camped in the general area you’re hunting, off the main access road, but you haven’t ran into any of them yet once you’ve gotten back off/in between the main trail systems Terrain: Large east facing mountain side with multiple E/W facing draws and ridges
Tag: Archery season; branched bull only
On a solo hunt today, you’ve hiked in up a NF ridge trail a few miles and stopped to glass a semi-open N facing hillside on the other side of a draw. One, two, three, yep, at least 6 or 7 elk including one visible branched bull are finishing their morning breakfast on a series of stepped benches towards the bottom of the hillside. You hear and see the visible bull bugle a few times as he runs in and out of the small herd of cows which is now moving from the breakfast bar SW up the N facing slope they’re on. You figure they’re heading for the Motel 6 and decide to close the distance by contouring around the draw to a place you feel they may be headed. That worked pretty well, took you a bit over an hour and a half, and you’re now within 80ish yards of one pretty vocal bull with an obvious upstart chiming in on occasion. At this point in time, you’re to the W of the elk, pretty close to being on their same elevation, with the thermals really starting to threaten to completely change from downhill to uphill. As you are deciding on your final play on one of the bulls, you hear what is probably a hunter’s bugle way down the draw; it prompts an immediate response by the herd bull. The bugle down the draw may be 3-400 yards away.
What’s your game plan at a bit before 11:00 to maximize your chances of bringing a bull home for dinner?
