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Author Topic: 2022 Season hunts  (Read 23299 times)

Offline huntnnw

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Re: 2022 Season hunts
« Reply #60 on: September 26, 2022, 02:37:34 AM »
We now have a spot picked out to move to, so now it was time to travel a couple hours to a totally new area and place I haver never been in MT. As we approach the National forest boundary I see a little road to a ridgetop and what could be a camping spot, so I walk up and this is where we will camp. This area looks very elky and I tell my wife that hill across from camp should have elk on it. We finally get camp all setup and take the side by side up to the end of the road to just look around and see what is going on. There is almost nobody around, so we go back to camp and are going to head the other way to glass the mountain when my wife says I see something across from here, sure enough a herd of elk is feeding out of this elky hillside :chuckle: there is 16 cows and a 5pt bull. We now have a plan for the morning and a newfound excitement that had disappeared days ago. As it gets dark we can hear bulls bugling around tent and as we awake there is at least 3 bulls below camp screaming. We are waiting for it to get light so we can glass the hill we saw the elk on last night and sure enough they are still there so we look at a map and decide how to approach them. We begin working down near elk around camp  and realize these elk are on private and seem to be working away from us. We continue on to the elk on the hill and begin to second guess this plan we conjured up to get up near these elk as the blow downs were so bad we were barely moving. About 6 hours later we arrived :o we set up and call and no responses, so we moved 200 yards and called some more and nothing. We moved down the private boundary to glass around and spotted the herd near camp it was 53 elk and 5 bulls nothing of any size and not close to public. We eat lunch and take a break and my wife spots 60 more elk below on private bedded in the wide open and not a tree for miles. This herd has a 330 6pt bull in it. Then further east I spotted 18 elk with what appeared to be a big bull, but it was a ways out to really tell. We decide we should make our way back to camp and hopefully glass some more before dark. We get to camp with about 20 min of light left and where we had been and called here comes elk outta timber! dang it!

 Next am my wife has to head for home, so I get up and glass from camp and sure enough there is a herd up on the hill. After now hiking around up there the previous day I had a better idea how to get up there easier and faster, but it was still 3 mi one way and up and down 2-3 ridges. I get up there and hear no elk and see nothing, so I continue to the private boundary to glass below and notice the big herd with the big 6 is not visible, and now I'm thinking they may of moved up here. About then I hear a bugle then another and cows calling everywhere holy cow they are right here on public land. I start sneaking thru a sparsely treed hill side to the draw I hear the elk and I start seeing cows feeding and bedded cows in the sage brush spread out over 300 yards. Wind is good and I am running outta cover, I slide on my butt for 2 hours slowly to a large tree with lots of shade under it to hide me from the elk and is going to get me very close to shooting range or at least the ability for elk to come by me. I have now spotted 6 spikes, too many cows and 2 small 6 pts, but can hear the herd bull bugling. I continue inching closer to my spot I want and here comes 12 cows and some spike 50-60 yards past me! this is perfect then I see the herd bull hes right in front of me at 125 yards and its the 330ish bull. I am thinking this may work! he comes and checks these cows I am getting a shot he then heads towards me and my heart starts pounding I ready my release and hes at 94 yards and stops and chases a different cow away from me. I now am just watching and waiting to see if he circles back to me as he chases bulls and cows for the next 30 min. Its 12:30 now and I have noticed a couple cows wandering down to the fence and they jump it.. crap they headed down and on to private they are going to water. Then it was 5 more cows then the whole herd started moving and in 20 min the whole herd moved 500 yards down and on to private and watered and bedded. I decided to just stay put and see if they would move back up later. I made lunch and took a nap. Weather forecast was for rain and thunderstorms that afternoon and I thought the weather would possibly move them back up well that was the complete opposite :chuckle: the wind started ripping like 50+ mph then lighting I decided I need to leave as I am packing up my bow a cow came tearing out of the timber across the draw from me and ran all the way to the bottom and joined the other elk. I sat there and thought that was odd then here comes 5 more on a full run... the wind had them freaked out in the timber. I continued to sit there thinking that's 6 cows and there is no bull? about 10 min go by and here comes 16 elk and black muddied up 5 pt bull running at me :yike: the bull is running as hard as he can as hes trying to get in front of the cows and stop them as they are headed to the big herd. He cuts them off and stops the herd in front of me at 80 yards hes doing his best to keep those cows and is running ragged trying to keep them from slipping by. I start inching closer and have him at 65 yards , but the wind is way too much to shoot.Then the cows made a dash and you could see that bull just give up and watch as those cows ran 400 yards to join the now 130 elk in this herd. I pack it up after all of this head for camp.

 That night I got hit with torrential downpours twice 40-60 mph gusts and it ended around 3am. I get up and once again glass from camp and there's elk all over hill! off I go. I get up there and there are 2 herds about 400 yards apart. One herd is the muddy 5pt from day before and the other also is a 5pt. I make a plan and one herd is in a good spot to sneak in on that's when it all went downhill. Had terrible winds and swirling and I blew all the herds out and all ran to private. There was lot of rain coming so I backed out and headed for camp and decided it was a good day to run and get ice and few things from store. As it got dark I glassed hill from camp and here comes elk outta timber above when I thought I had blown them all off the mountain.

 Next am full of excitement and a plan, also my last day I hear the first truck since I have been there and they park by tent and head in :(   well I am not going in and fighting over elk, so I got in the truck and drove down road and glassed some stuff further out. I glass up a herd of 50 elk or so on public land and this bull is the biggest I have seen on the trip. I look at maps and find a road near, so I made the drive. 3 mi later and pretty much a trail all the way there I had gotten to where I dropped a pin. I am inching over hill glassing and I hear a bugle in next draw. As I crest the next ridge I see him standing on the opposite side with a cow and he chases her off the other side and outta sight. I'm looking at this little timbered draw and I start picking elk out in it! just then I hear him bugle and here he comes up the hill and hes coming into the timber. I figure out what I need to do to get into that timber, so I crawled 300 yards so the elk couldn't see me. Then once outta sight I hurried to the head of draw and started working down the bottom. I cow called and then bugled to sound like a satellite bull had some cows. I hear a cow call and I see 2 guys across from me  :bash: I had a far better position and wind. I worked to about where I had seen elk in timber and slowed way down and got a shaded spot to sit. I sit down and look across from into the dark timber and there is 2 cows bedded 70 yards away and have no clue I am here! I decide to just sit and wait that bull will come thru here at some point, but I had those guys in here. I hadn't heard them call in awhile, so I figured they left. nope here they come with bad wind and blowing away on calls the cows stood alarmed looking their direction and they busted out! ugh. I walked up on ridge took a break and ate snack and walked out. Got to camp and the truck that showed up in the am was still there and the guys were walking back. They were the 2 guys who were calling  :chuckle: That ended my archery portion of MT and will rifle hunt later in season, but now its time to head to ID next for my wife and I annual rifle elk hunt.
« Last Edit: September 26, 2022, 02:47:00 AM by huntnnw »

Offline huntnnw

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Re: 2022 Season hunts
« Reply #61 on: September 26, 2022, 03:31:52 AM »
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Offline huntnnw

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Re: 2022 Season hunts
« Reply #62 on: September 26, 2022, 03:33:41 AM »
127 elk in that green spot

Offline huntnnw

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Re: 2022 Season hunts
« Reply #63 on: September 26, 2022, 03:34:13 AM »
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Offline huntnnw

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Re: 2022 Season hunts
« Reply #64 on: September 26, 2022, 03:37:41 AM »
The 330ish bull at 94 yards

Offline huntnnw

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Re: 2022 Season hunts
« Reply #65 on: September 26, 2022, 03:38:17 AM »
The muddied up 5pt trying to keep his cows

Offline huntnnw

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Re: 2022 Season hunts
« Reply #66 on: September 26, 2022, 03:39:59 AM »
Between the aspens is a cow bedded

Offline huntnnw

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Re: 2022 Season hunts
« Reply #67 on: September 26, 2022, 03:41:05 AM »
The big bull on my last day

Offline jasnt

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Re: 2022 Season hunts
« Reply #68 on: September 26, 2022, 05:22:45 AM »
Sounds like a great time. 
https://www.howlforwildlife.org/take_action  It takes 10 seconds and it’s free. To easy to make an excuse not to make your voice heard!!!!!!

The commission shall attempt to maximize the public recreational game fishing and hunting opportunities of all citizens, including juvenile, disabled, and senior citizens.
https://apps.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=77.04.012

Offline nwwanderer

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Re: 2022 Season hunts
« Reply #69 on: September 26, 2022, 05:58:15 AM »
Thanks!!

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Re: 2022 Season hunts
« Reply #70 on: September 26, 2022, 08:01:49 AM »
Nice pictures! Thanks for sharing.  :tup:

Offline bornhunter

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Re: 2022 Season hunts
« Reply #71 on: September 26, 2022, 09:20:38 AM »
Great story!

Offline huntnnw

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Re: 2022 Season hunts
« Reply #72 on: October 16, 2022, 06:19:58 AM »
Wife and I made it to Idaho for our annual elk hunt we do. Taken elk last 3 years and almost all on opening day. This year the weather was FAR different than the previous 3 years . Last 3 years was basically winter in there and chains on truck to get in and out. For 6 days we barely  saw a cloud and was in t shirts almost all day other than a few brisk mornings. We hiked in the afternoon before with our goats and brought in all the luxuries salmon, ribeyes, sausage, chicken and fresh veggies, plus spike tent and wood stove and had cut wood in august.

 We arrive at 4 pm at spike camp and get situated and eat steak. At last light we hear 2 bulls bugle down the mountain! Sweet! Like the previous years. I barely could sleep that night. Morning comes and bull is bugling just below. We make our way to a hillside they like to feed in and realize the elk are down in timber bottom. We decided to leave them be as accessing them was going to be difficult and they had no clue we were here. We will come back in evening and wait for them to feed up on the hill. They never showed or did we hear them. We realized these elk were never going to come into the areas we had normally seen them. They were bouncing around this big timber bottom and trying to locate them everyday was tiresome. I had flashbacks of Mt view elk tags hiking into those bottoms.  :chuckle:

Next morning we went to another basin and glassed and turned up 20 muleys and 9 bucks. 1 buck I’ve watched now for 2 years and is getting to be really nice. Next year I’ll get a tag and hope he’s still there.

Offline huntnnw

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Re: 2022 Season hunts
« Reply #73 on: October 16, 2022, 06:43:01 AM »
Day 3 we finally pinpointed where herd was and made a plan. We drop in and make our way over 2 fingers and 2 bulls are bugling then a small bull joins in. I set wife up and back over ridge with goats busting stuff and calling and these bulls are going crazy! They are getting close as I’m expecting to jump from a rifle shot any second. 30 min of this and probably 70 bugles it ends pretty abruptly.  :( Kinda baffled as wind was great and never blew to them ( may of figured out what happened here 2 days later)

Day 4 back to that area and nothing! One bull always calls back when I cow called. Hmm off to other areas and nothing.

Day 5 we decide to hike 2 hours in the dark to a new spot as we are 1/2 mi from where we wanted to sit a bull screams then another and then the small bull! It’s the herd we have chased all week! I knew where they were now as I ran to the vantage to look in this big saddle. We get there and bull Is just inside the timber I get rifle set up for wife. 404 yards to saddle. I start calling and hear a bugle! He’s really close to being seen. Then silence!  :dunno: I’m once again sitting there wondering wtf! I hear hooves running now below us . I grab the rifle and run down the mountain and don’t see them. Come back up to wife and start talking about what happened wind is blowing up hill and didn’t see us. I start glassing into saddle and wife says “ wolves coming” here comes 10+ down a game trail looking at us, what they saw was our goats feeding . She ranges them and says 470 yards. I’m looking at a few trotting down trail and pick out what looks like a big one and boom! Thinking I missed as wolves scatter I’m looking to shoot again and wife says you hit that wolf it’s up gimping. I howl at it and it turns broadside at 475 and boom! Rolls down into ceanothus and vine maple hillside. We get down there and can’t find it! No blood! I’m thinking what the ! Shot it twice with 215gr Berger’s there should be something. We are crawling thru brush where we could see 2-6’ in front of you and so thick in places I would get stuck. My wife yells he’s right here behind me! Holy s$&@ seriously? I was about to give up. The wolf made it about 80 yards in heavy brush with heart blown out and broken leg. Pretty cool to finally be able to shoot one.

2 days previously when elk just shut up we now think wolves came in and pushed elk out and why we didn’t hear them the next day the elk moved a mile over a ridge to where we got on them day 5

I’m returning Thursday and got weather coming! Should help and buying another wolf tag !

Offline huntnnw

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Re: 2022 Season hunts
« Reply #74 on: October 16, 2022, 06:48:06 AM »
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