Not a good year for me.
Plan A was a herd near the house that had a not great but legal bull. It was shot three days prior to season opening.
Plan B was a herd I had located with two big bulls. Trouble is they were located in a sea of doghair. One open clearcut in there and I figured if I checked every morning I would eventually catch them. They crossed it three times during the night but were never there during shooting hours. I played cat and mouse with them the rest of the time, trying to predict where they might cross some small openings and seemed to always choose wrong. Heard them twice but figured it was just stupid to give chase where visibility was limited to 15 feet. They finally went into a closed area and never came out.
Last few days I spent checking out old haunts and the thing that impressed me the most is the lack of sign in most places where there used to be elk. I'm not talking about just fresh sign, no trails, horning, browsed brush or anything that indicates elk frequent those places. There is feed there so not a habitat issue.
The decline of our game seems to sneak up on you but when I remember what it was like 40 years ago makes me sad.
