Pirates Of Archery THE MORE POSITIVE ARCHERY BOARD WHERE WARM BEER IS AN ACCEPTABLE SUBSTITUTE FOR BREAST MILK, EVERY DAY IS YOHON'S BIRTHDAY, AND HOWATTMAN SETS THE STANDARD FOR DEVIANT BEHAVIOR.

by **PAarcher** » Wed Sep 12, 2018 5:21 pm

I've been seeing lots of great scenery on Instagram, but none of the pictures included any elk.

by **superkodiak38** » Sun Sep 16, 2018 6:27 pm

PAarcher wrote:I've been seeing lots of great scenery on Instagram, but none of the pictures included any elk.

Wow, that'll leave a mark !

I'm pretty darn tired after the driving marathon Marc and I completed coming home. It was a great trip, I really enjoyed it. We hit it pretty hard for 15 or so days. We saw lots of game including Pronghorns, mule deer, bears, moose and even a coupe of elk !

We covered a whole lot of territory in a couple of units, the first week the weather was pretty good, just early for rut activity. The second week it got miserably hot in the afternoon into the 85 degree range and shut things down. We hiked up one morning to the top of one of the mountains south if us and found an outfitter camp. They were bringing guys in or horse back 4-5 miles where the had the camp we came across, the camp cook said they had a couple other big camps and some spike camps and none of their hunters had filled a tag. The one guy we ran into that had killed a 5 point was 8 miles in and it took three trip sand two days shuttling meat to get the bull out. We did get on a herd bull and Marc had a bugeling fest with him calling him down off the mountain only to feel the wind change

With it being so hot the wind was everywhere overriding thermals and switching it made it difficult by the time you where set up it would change. And it was punishing country to get into full of willows, oak brush and dead falls.

I'll post some more later and and some pictures, but for now I am going to sleep in a real bed !

by **superkodiak38** » Mon Sep 17, 2018 6:38 am

I know it's a terrible picture but we watched to bull moose for about 30 minutes feeding in a willow bottom, then they had a little shoving match and the bigger bull shredded a spruce tree... size 13 boot for reference on the moose track :shock:

by **superkodiak38** » Mon Sep 17, 2018 7:06 am

We went about an hour north to an area where Marc had killed a bull in 2011. It was only a little over a mile, as the crow flies from the truck but it was a tough slog through willows, oak brush and my favorite...dead fall

We got up on a bench and Marc thought the worst was over but there had been a fire since he was there last and the whole mountain was covered in dead fall. We took a break and as we were stopped I saw an animal moving fast right at me, It was in shadow and I couldn't tell what it was, either a big mule deer or a calf elk. I dropped to a knee, nocked an arrow and got Marc's attention. He cow called and a bull bugled about 200 yards away. Marc bugled back and the bull rounded up his cows and headed up the mountain. We spent the afternoon trying to re-locate them and re visit some of the "spots" Marc found last time. When we got to the top there had been some large ponds but we found them all dry other than a wallow or two including this one we set up on

by **superkodiak38** » Mon Sep 17, 2018 7:11 am

Some more from the top, including an old tree stand

by **Stykshooter** » Mon Sep 17, 2018 1:22 pm

Awesome scenery.... wish I was out there.

by **superkodiak38** » Mon Sep 17, 2018 5:49 pm

Randy, It is some beautiful country for sure !

Just the drive out was pretty awesome, watching all those pronghorn was incredible. The first spot we tried I was on a mulie doe right away, as she left I hit my cow call and had three others coming running in to about 10 yards, they wouldn't leave !

A couple of days later across the basin w were working up a ridge and blew something out, we thought it might be elk so we called and waited a bit, once we moved in there was a bunch of bear crap,beds and trails throughout so we continued on. A few hours later we stopped for a break near a water tank, Marc was asleep and I was getting something from my pack, I looked at the tank and there was a big cinnamon phase black bear there. He jumped behind a clump of Aspens so I stood up and rocked back and forth, he stomped the ground, chuffed and bolted up the mountain. :lol:

by **PAarcher** » Tue Sep 18, 2018 3:14 am

What an incredible trip. One day I will get out there.

by **superkodiak38** » Tue Sep 18, 2018 6:29 am

PAarcher wrote:What an incredible trip. One day I will get out there.

Don't wait ! If you want to go, go you won't regret it.

I really thought, felt it, we were going to kill an elk. We headed down to a chain of meadows along a creek bottom the last full day. We had been there before together and Marc went himself one morning. It was being used and had fresh sign. We set up in the morning and did some calling. We had two elk go just above us 80 -90 yards on a small bench. We decided to back out and not push it we would come back that evening, no calling just set up and let them come down to the meadows. We waited in camp until the thermals started to fall and hunted our way in. We agreed, no calling just wait and let them come to us. I set up in a nice little spot and Marc moved down to the next meadow and set up. After 20 minutes or so I heard a bugel, it wasn't an elk and I started to wonder if Marc had shot an elk and was letting me know but that was not in the options we had discussed. Shortly thereafter I heard cow calling then more cow calling from another direction. I was thinking maybe the elk were moving down. A few minutes later I see Marc coming towards me, I'm thinking he shot an elk ! The look on his face was not one of a guy who just shot an elk though

Once Marc got to me he said, there is a guy squatting in the middle of a meadow bugeling :roll:

Marc cow called and waived to get his attention but he just kept on calling. We headed out moving along trying to get to another spot, water hole, with enough light to either put on a stalk or at least glass for elk. As we are walking out we see the guy following us and he waived :?:

Instead of following us he dumped down in the creek bottom, we knew the elk bedded in there as Marc had found 8 beds in three different spots down there. So as Marc and I are moving along this "hunter" parallels us through the bedding and the next thing we know we have a cow elk blow out of the bottom below us and cross the trail just ahead of Marc, it sounded like a loose horse running on the rocks as the big blur ran by. We both stopped and just looked at each other, then we hear something else coming up from the bottom we nocked arrows, turned hats around and we are ready when the guy, and his dog, come up through. He had no Idea he blew out an elk, or how he killed the meadows with scent or a lot of other things. We had met the guy, a real estate agent from Florida, when we first got in camp he had been there week before season and scouting then hunting. He had a 5 point on video he tried to kill it on camera but screwed it up! He had left the week before and we had no idea he was back or that he was hunting in the area last we had heard he was going up north and then to Wyoming. The whole time we were out there I only saw two other hunters in the woods, Marc I don't believe had seen any then this guy... well it's public and anyone can hunt it. It was a sweet spot close to camp most other guys blew buy but it kept holding elk even if it was a group of cows I would have been thrilled to shoot one and bring home some meat. I am not disappointed though,we put on a lot of tough miles and hunted hard. Guys paying 6 or 7 thousand dollars a week with a guide weren't killing elk and we hunted the same ground. Over all it was a great time and I would do it all over again