after seven days of hunting this year and never seeing an elk, today I scooted over a little bit on the map and decided try to try a different section of the area that I've been working in. This is my second year as a self taught, solo, DIY hunter, so I don't have super high expectations, but I figure if I'm going to have any chance at all I need to be out there as much as I can be. I've never killed any wild game yet, and had never seen an elk during hunting season before today. I seem to only see deer during elk season. Go figure.
I left the truck at 7AM, after scoping out all the other gates in the area to see where people were at. I hadn't walked 300 yards, down an ungated spur road right next to the high traffic road before I heard a bunch of crashing around in the reprod timber next to me. I hadn't even been expecting to see anything so close to the road, so I was just hiking, and not trying to be quiet. I flipped off the safety and got down on one knee just as a cow came crashing onto the road, saw me and wheeled around and went back into the thick stuff. Lots more crashing around, mewing and ruckus ensued, including mewing from deep in the timber behind me! Holy crap! After a few minutes of me trying to find a way into a spot where I could see them, they quieted down and I thought they might be gone. I finally found a huge old stump to climb on and sure enough, only about 75 yards away was a group of cows, grazing in the young trees. They didn't see, or hear me, even though I made some noise climbing up there, and the wind was in my favor, so I got to watch them for a while until they all disappeared into the reprod. I knew that eventually they would want to be in the timber on the other side of the road, so I got into a spot where I could see, and about ten minutes later, in a fast moving single file line, five cows zipped across the road into the timber followed by one young bull, but he was gone so fast I couldn't count points.
I moved down into the timber trying to hear them, but within a couple of minutes it seemed like they had just vanished. No sound, no visuals, just gone. It took me about 20 minutes to get back up and get my pack where I had dropped it at the first sound of the elk, and then wander around until I could find where they went into the timber. I finally picked up their trail, not where I expected it to be at all, and I followed them for the rest of the day, until nearly 2:30. It took about three miles and over four hours before I caught up with them, after losing and then finding the trail again many, many times. When I finally caught up with them, it was a big surprise to all of us. I had just started to smell elk on the brush, and was wondering when or if I might see them. I had just gone down a very, very steep ravine, across a creek and then up the other side, and was scoping around trying to figure out which direction they had gone when I stepped over a log and broke off a chunk of rotten bark. All of a sudden about 40 yards above me all hell broke loose again in the ferns, and off they went again. I still didn't get a count on the bull, but I could for sure see one forked horn, anyway. No chance at all to look for eyeguards, though.
At first I thought I had lost them for sure this time. When they took off they scattered, and there was no discernable trail to follow. I was bummed, but figured I would try to circle around a little and see if I could pick up the trail. I had given up, and was taking a break with some hot tea, when I realized that I was nearly standing on their trail again. I followed for a good long ways, thought I had lost it again when they hit a road, but then found it AGAIN, entering some more reprod. Amazingly, I was able to stay with the trail, through that reprod, through another ravine and creek, up through some more timber, but when it hit the next patch of reprod, I was doomed. It was so dense, and so criss crossed with tracks and droppings of all ages, and they had slowed down and spread out, and I finally lost the trail for good. I fought my way through the rest of that patch of reprod, came out on top on another road, and sure enough, there was fresh elk poop left there just to mock me I think. By this time, I was soaked to the bone, all out of food and hot tea, and about as tired as I've ever been. I had been following these elk for over seven hours and for more than five miles through terrain that they were much more adapted to than I was. I marked the end point on the GPS and hiked the mile back out to the truck, this time walking on nice, easy roads.
I've got three more days, but I have to say, I'm still pretty dang happy even if I don't see another elk for the rest of the season.
