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Instead of having a ton of different threads as the season gets underway, I thought it might be cool to have an ongoing thread for hunting updates, reports, pics, etc from across the country (and the world) all in one place. So here it goes….
The first 36 hours of my season have been a blast. Had a nice muley buck well within range yesterday morning, but he had me pinned and there was no way I could draw on him. So we just stared at each while he tried to figure out what the heck I was.
Then, this morning, I had a black bear walk right in on me, and was this close to filling my tag, when (lucky for him) he decided to keep quartering toward me, nose to the ground, oblivious to my presence. Arrow nocked, ready to draw as soon as he gave me a broadside, which he never did. When he was about 12 feet away, I said in a low voice, “Hey bear.” He looked up startled as all get out, and then ran about as fast as I’ve ever seen a bear run in the opposite direction. It was hilarious, and awesome.
5 minutes after that, the first bugling of the season started in the canyon below me.
All in all, a great start!!
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Busted a herd of elk cows pre-dawn this morning. They were bedded down in some thick, dry brush that would never have allowed us to get close anyway.
No bugling this morning at all, and it’s a warmer day than normal for this time of year. We figured they must be bedded down in deep timber to beat the heat, so we did some sitting and listening, combined with a lot of scouting/stalking this morning, but not a lot of fresh sign to be found. Stinkin’ hot by mid-day, so we hiked out to do the smart thing – drink cold beverages and lay low and conserve energy for the next push. Supposed to be much cooler and rainy tomorrow, which will help alot…
Some of this:
And a lot of this:
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Had a bugling bull right off the bat this morning, but he was on a mission and I couldn’t get on him. Still, it was a good sign – the bulls are turning on.
It rained hard for most of the day yesterday, and last night. After a very dry August, it was great to see the wet forest in early morning light:
I was having such a great morning out there, with no one else around, and nowhere else to be, that I just decided to spend the whole day up on the mountain today. Once things warmed up and it was clear that the elk were bedded down, I did a little more scouting and looking for fresh bear sign, and built a few ad-hoc blinds along some well-used game trails. And then it was time for the glorious mid-day nap:
It got pretty hot again this afternoon, and it was clear that there wouldn’t be much action, but I didn’t feel like hiking out, just to hike back in again in the evening, so I settled in for a little reading:
Some cool lichen I came across:
And my bow up against a big old tree:
By 7pm this evening (usually just about the time the bugling kicks in again) there was an ominous wall of darkness on the horizon, and nearly continuous thunder and lightning, moving my way. I got out of there just in time, as all heck broke loose shortly after I reached the truck.
Already looking forward to tomorrow….
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Good day. Did some scouting. Found a deer trail, and tracks just where I expected. Near a stream I fish frequently. Poor pic, but that IS a deer track.
Also think I have the documentation coming that will allow me to get a hunting license, without the time & cost of taking a firearms safety course. Gory details omitted.
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Jmsmithy wrote: Well…
In Northern Maine the drenching has stopped but the incessant, swirling, at times gale force, wind has really kept the local bruin population anywhere but out and about!
Hope the weather turns around for you, JM!!
Man, what a morning – I wasn’t 20 minutes up the hill in the dark and had bulls bugling. One was on my left, down in thick aspens/undergrowth that experience has shown me they never seem to be lured out of, no matter how seductively you call, and that it’s impossible to stalk them in.
The other was in a drainage down on my right, sounding like a bigger bull in the full throes of pre-rut madness, so I opted to chase him instead. A steady wind was coming down the drainage, so I maneuvered below him, while he was screaming his head off. Suddenly, I hear a second bull respond from the hillside above, and shortly after, I see him coming down the hillside to join the first bull. And before I know it, I’m in between the two of them and just slightly downwind, while they bellow back and forth, at times each of them no more than 100 feet away from me. But the vegetation in the bottom of the drainage was so thick, I still couldn’t get close enough.
Even though I know they didn’t wind me, something might have made them suspicious because eventually they clammed up and moved farther up the drainage. I continued working my way up, and discovered an excellent series of recently-used wallows that I hadn’t known about before.
All in all, a fine morning with some adrenaline-filled moments, and some new info for the map. Gonna head back out this afternoon and sit above that wallow…
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Spent 14 hours in the mountains yesterday, from pre-dawn to sunset. Other than a few distant bugles in the morning, it was pretty quiet. Still, I didn’t feel like hiking out pre-maturely, and I knew that if I went home, all I would be thinking about was being back out in the wilds.
Came across this very recently destroyed sapling and torn-up ground. Hard to tell from the pic, but the tree and the ground around it, were really torn to hell. The bull who did this must have been seriously worked up!!
By mid-day, it was clear that the morning’s activity was done, and everything was bedded down for the afternoon. Seemed like a good idea, so I thought I’d take a cue from the rest of the animals. Last week, I packed in my hammock and tarp, and stashed them in a dry bag in a centrally-located spot. Since I planned to spend the whole day up in the hunting grounds, this seemed like a perfect time to lay low for a while and put it to use:
Sets up and takes down in a flash, and the whole thing weighs just over 3lbs. The mid-day spike – one of the best ideas I’ve had a in a while, if I do say so myself! 😀
Significantly cooler weather this week – can only help the hunting…
Good luck to everyone.
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Got out extra early this morning, and just as I was crossing an open meadow, I spied the body of an elk moving into the meadow from my right. I had just enough time to drop to my knees and pull my neck gaiter up over my face, but I was pinned in the open. A decent 4 x 4 came into view, about 100 ft. away. He looked me over several times, but apparently thought nothing of it and kept meandering at a leisurely pace toward the timber on the far side of the meadow.
As soon as he was out of sight, I took a shortcut to try and get ahead of where I thought he was going, and get set up. Waited, waited…did a couple cow calls…nothing. He vanished. Later that same morning, about a 1/2 mile from there, I accidentally busted him from where he was bedded behind some big, downed trees. Ouch.
A few observations so far:
– Despite it seeming like things were really starting to “turn on” toward the end of last week, this second week of the season has been weird. I figured that the cooler weather we’ve had recently would only help, and instead it’s been unusually quiet. And I’m not seeing any recent wolf sign, etc. that would indicate that they had been pushed out of my area. They’re there – they’re just hunkering in the thick stuff and not vocalizing much at all.
– It just doesn’t seem like there are many bulls around in my zone right now. And the two that I have been hearing on occasion are definitely not big, mature bulls, by any means (more like the 4×4 I saw this morning).
– Some friends of mine were scouting over on the Wyoming side yesterday, and they said they were seeing elk all day long – tons of them. But they didn’t hear a single bugle all day. In the middle of September?!?
Anyway, nothing to do but keep getting back out there every chance I get. Sunrise over Nunya Mtn. on the southern end of the Tetons this morning:
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First day in the mountain!!
Wallow located at 7:10
Sitting over wallow at 7:15
Heard first bugle in the distance at 7:20!!
Should have gone after him but I stayed put, just to soak everything in, just incredibly happy being there!!
At 9am the wind was swirly and I got busted by a mule deer who was coming in to drink!! At 11:30 I climbed up to where bugle came from, got a good vantage point on a ridge, had lunch, glassed and listened for bugles. Then I still hunted until sunset thru aspens/ponderosas. Great first day!!!
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Things sound exciting, Bruce, but difficult. Hang in there.
I’m interested to see what happens in SW Colorado, too. Thanks for the updates.
It wasn’t the opening week I had in mind here but I’m not complaining. I set up camp for a planned 3-day hunt at a favorite site, snapped a picture, and moments later received a compelling phone call about an ill family member. In the end everything is okay, but in the moment I rolled up camp and split. Sure was a pretty camp though.
Scouted new land today. At first glance it looks unpromising (especially, I’d think, to folks who live in forested lands)…but I see opportunity. Rifles and motorized vehicles are strictly prohibited on this land, leaving the lot to archers on foot. I found fresh deer sign ~1/2 to 3/4 of a mile in, which is much deeper than most folks seem willing to hunt when they must drag their kill out. The place is an archer’s challenge but, possibly, a pocket stash for the right hunter. By the way, if you’d like to give it a go, it’s in southern California.
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Congrats to everyone who has already filled a tag!
Alex – greatly enjoying your updates. Keep at it, compadre!
My stomping grounds have gone completely silent since we saw those wolves a few days ago. I think I’m going to hike in to a different area this evening…
Really enjoying this thread!!
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After several discouraging days, I decided I needed to check out some new country. So I drove a whopping 10 minutes from the house (as opposed to my usual 3), and hiked up a ridge I’ve hunted the lower reaches for grouse. It turned out to be easier travel than I expected, so I just kept going, and finding more and more recent elk sign along the way, including some of the biggest elk tracks I’ve ever seen. I really want to see the bull that made those…
A stand of Mountain Mahogany, a tree that I always have soft spot for, for some reason. Maybe because they always seem to be on the most exposed, dry ridges:
As soon as I poked my nose over this ridge into the dark timber on the north side, I was hit with an intense wave of elk scent:
So I backed off and hung out a bit, cow calling occasionally, but never got a response. Still, they’re in there, and it’s the closest I’ve been to elk in a few days. Heading back in tomorrow morning…
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Rupe wrote: One of the.coolist things that happened was when I.sat down on a rock taking a break and a spike Elk walked with in 10 yards of me, Looked at me, then gave me a great 1/4’ing away pose and walked off slow.
He knew I didn’t have an Elk tag I just know it!
Rupe
DOH!
Of course, that doesn’t happen to me, simply because I do have an elk tag in my pocket…
Another dead quiet morning in the elk woods, even though I’m miles from where I’ve been hunting the last few weeks, and even though there is plenty of recent sign around. It’s like the rut just stopped, right as it was just getting going.
Well, nothing to to but explore and take pics…
Thick, nasty blowdown terrain. Elk heaven:
Looking for movement across the valley:
Aspens are starting to turn:
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wahoo wrote: What a sight a young man as myself chasing chickens thru the forest – I made sure no one was watching
Oh man, I’ve been there…Glad you’re gettin’ some action, compadre. Looks like crappy weather, and maybe even some snow, might be moving our way. It can only help things at this point…
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Took this small 4×4 at 4 yards. Complete pass through with a 750 grain grizzlystik Alaskan tipped with 200 grain kodiak giving an FOC of around 25%. Bow was a 57 lbs recurve. Harvested in northern Alberta. First morning out seen some cows headed down a cut line before they seen us. No bull with them but figured one would be along shortly being the middle of the rut. Maneuvered to a shooting position on their trail after they had gone by and 4 minutes latter this young guy showed up on the trail with his nose to the ground and his eyes rolled in the back of his head! He made me look good. After the shot he went 30 yards and fell dead within seconds. My hunting partner got within 30 yards of two different 5 x 5’s with no shot opportunities.
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Yesterday was the last day hunting at the Downing camp. Joey and I decided to go back down the canyon where we saw the most elk: where I missed the bull Saturday while the spike was watching.
We setup on the ridge and called once the wind was in our favor on the west slope. Nothing for about an hour and a 1/2.
At about 11:30, we decided it was time to hike/hunt/cowcall back up to camp, pack and come off the mountain. So basically my hunt was kinda over! At that time we heard a bugle and a monster roar down the sunny east slope! And another, closer! We quickly setup, Joey on the ridge, me 20 yards down the slope. A few minutes after calling, I saw an elk coming up. I was ready for a close shot if he came to Joey. He stopped, looked uphill, and instead of coming up in my shooting area, he continued to traverse 10 yards downhill from me, stopped behind trees, kept going. By the time he was open, he was 1/4ing away and too far for an ethical shot. he was a magnificent 5×5! Minutes later we saw a zillion cows galloping thru the ridge above us, and we heard that monster roar again! That 5×5 was shadowing the herd and what Joey said must have been a really big herd bull!
So, Another incredible encounter in the Elk mountains!!
Slept at Dave and Caroline last night after dinner in town with them and TDowning! Nice hunt this morning close to Dave’s house. What a great hunt this week has been! Tons of knowledge, memories…. Until next year, because I’m now a stage 2 or 3 Elkaholic!!!!:D
I missed the bull Saturday down this hill. Yesterday’s encounter was behind me, in the sunny steep slope:
Sometimes the best way to be silent in blow downs is to navigate on logs! Beware a wet log, though!!:D
Grateful for my Bikram yoga training right there!:D
Oh yes, snow!
Gear
My tired ass!! I don’t look like a happy hunter, but I am!!
😀
At durango airport. tomorrow i will wake up in my bed in Harlem, NY!!! I’m not ready to leave this high country quite yet, but I play 2 nights in Cleveland this weekend, sooo gotta go make the doughnuts!!:D
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Weather changed here a bit over night:
Came across a nice 5×5 early on, but he was silent, and wouldn’t come in to any calling (same story we’ve had all month). So we kicked back for a bit, and then set off tracking him across hell and back for the next 2 hours. The next time we saw him he busted for the next county.
But I did come across a nice consolation prize:
More snow on the way tonight, and then it is supposed to warm up a bit for the last few days of the season. Weirdest rut I’ve seen so far…
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Rain continues to plague us here, including this morning, with the general archery season ending Sunday. Like last year I may have to go into overtime to make meat on a cow tag–bowhunting in rifle season.
This is a particular tough season with rain setting elk free of waterholes and now that they’re all herded up the bugling has stopped, so ends my stalking buglers. But on nice days it’s still a joy to be out there as something interesting is always going on, if only we look closely enough. Last evening this doe and big fawn came in where I was sitting in a hillside ground blind and hung around well within range for half an hour, allowing me to get a bunch of photos and learn a few more details of deer behavior when they’re relaxed. I love having non-target animals come in while I’m hunting, because it tells me I’m doing good work. For example these deer are right where I walked through a couple of hours before, so I obviously didn’t leave a scent trail. When I’m sitting I always have a camera right beside me, and if I’m able to use it to take pics, then I’d also be able to get my bow up and draw if it was a target animal. And of course it’s always fun and a privilege to be able to observe wary wildlife in a natural setting. Notice how much scruffier these prime muleys are than whitetails. I have a buck tag but much prefer eating elk. Good luck to all. I’ll be back at it soon’s the rain and wind move on.
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Finally got free today (retired don’t mean all free days by any means 😀 ). Quite often muleys bury up in these mesquites in the shade when it’s hot but……nary a track. I oozed all over this about mile square area, lots of little divets, gullies hidey holes but nada. At least I know to leave that alone for awhile.
At least 3 under still seems to be working for me, always a stump buck
around somewhere.
After 90* plus with 25-35 mph winds coming off the Sahara:D, nuff was enuff. Tomorrow, 1st real blue norther so it’ll feel like wind coming from N. pole. Sunday morn, ha!. 34*. That’ll gett’em up and about methinks.
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Spent a great day in the woods and hiked about 6 miles at a very slow pace so as not to make a noise…I saw 9 deer…no Bucks. Best part of the day I had a mama bear with two cubs pass by me at 50 yards without any idea that I was there! Phone was in the pack so I could not get a pic. Mama was mostly brown in color and cubs were not so little any more.
Hunting with my custom camo bow…
These kind of rock formations always amaze me…there was a good sized deer bed in the shadow of the rock…not recently used.
A little break before heading back…
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So with being in my current last semester of college, I dont’ have very much time to hunt. I usually hunt at my dad’s which is a few hours away from my school, but well worth the trip to me.
Opening day here in PA was this past saturday, which ended up being about 85 and sunny. In other words – terrible. The only deer I saw all day were two doe that I jumped around 11:30 about 100 yards away, and they were still bedded. Still felt great to be in the woods with the recurve though.
The picture of the three of us is my dad, brother, and I. My brother can’t use his right hand so he uses a crossbow to be able to still come out and archery hunt with us. Even not seeing anything is a great time when it’s spent with family.
Love seeing all of the updates here! Keep up the good work
Alex
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Reddog55 wrote:
Took this small 4×4 at 4 yards. Complete pass through with a 750 grain grizzlystik Alaskan tipped with 200 grain kodiak giving an FOC of around 25%. Bow was a 57 lbs recurve. Harvested in northern Alberta. First morning out seen some cows headed down a cut line before they seen us. No bull with them but figured one would be along shortly being the middle of the rut. Maneuvered to a shooting position on their trail after they had gone by and 4 minutes latter this young guy showed up on the trail with his nose to the ground and his eyes rolled in the back of his head! He made me look good. After the shot he went 30 yards and fell dead within seconds. My hunting partner got within 30 yards of two different 5 x 5’s with no shot opportunities.
Nice job fellow Albertan!! Was up in 344 early season, saw one bull, but no shot!
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I finally was able to hit the NY woods yesterday for the first time since the October 1st opener. I arrived at my honeyhole at 6AM, This doe came at 8AM. I really picked a spot and made a very good 15 yards shot. The Zwickey Eskimo tipped arrow from my Shrew Classic Hunter made a full pass thru. The doe ran 45 yards, fell, kicked and died 15 seconds after the shot… I counted! Great day!
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So the journey begins…. I have been waiting 10 years for this day , and he has been practicing for for the last 6 years waiting for this moment.
Some warm up shooting this morning. Going to hang our stands @ 11 have lunch hit the woods @ 2.
We just want to take a minute to thank our sponsors
Java Man Archery
Wedge Lok
Hunter Specialty Safety Harness
On our way the stand for afternoon hunt.
Up we go . . .
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Well I missed a doe from the ground this weekend. She was only about fifteen yards away. She must have heard me draw my bow because as soon as I came to full draw she was looking right at me. I picked my spot and released the arrow and she ducked, the arrow went flying by. I did have another opportunity but I decided to pass. I was able to take pic of the deer. I hope to see this buck again in about three years. Hopefully I have better luck this weekend. 🙄
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Who woulda thought that there’d be only one set of deer tracks at this tank in a dry land.
Perhaps this being 50 yds. away, a new scar!
The landowner has taken the cattle out so I betcha when it cools down again life will continue, deer come anyway I hope. All the green, looks like forest is salt cedar (tamarisk). Bad stuff it is. Sucks up all the water from the land.
Anyway my main plan was busted this morning.
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Ben, they buried a pipeline in that. Natural gas I imagine since that’s the big thing in the Panhandle now. They seed it with some kind of grass but they never look good. Always an ugly scar. But I guess if we want the modern lifestyle we gotta give something. Just not in the middle of my mule deer country. We can’t burn buffalo chips anymore and if we could the **A would shut us down:D. I imagine it’ll settle down in a while. Hope.
There are some nice deer that live around here. One I took a few years back.
The deer cross from one drainage to another in this area but now not so good. Of course the weather changes patterns too. It was nice and cool then yesterday it was 85 deg. Dang it.
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Hey gang –
Haven’t been around in a bit, since my archery elk season ended I’ve been trying to catch up on all the work I blew off to chase elk, and I’ve been doing lots of bird hunting with my favorite shorthair. Didn’t get an elk with m bow this season (nor did anyone else in the area that I’ve talked to…), but here are a few pics from the final days:
The elk were there, but silent and very hard to find. And I never was able to call a single bull in. It was just an odd rut this year. But as always, it was time very well spent.
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Since we all love hunting pics, I don’t believe I’ve posted this one before. It was taken two weeks after general archery season closed. That day the middling 6×6 had 23 cow. Next day he had 46. A week later too many to count, around a hundred. Either there’s a real shortage of really big bulls here this year, or this guy has amazing social skills. Hard to see the tops of his antlers, but the bull is to the left. During bow season T. Downing called him into 50 yards of us, but since T is not an unethical long-shot jerk he stayed safe and soon returned to his cows and resumed his sore-throat bugling. At that time, mid-Sept., he had only 8 cows. The poor guy must feel as ahagged-out by now as a high school football hero. Right or wrong, after all the time I’ve watched and listened to and photographed this bull and his metastasizing herd recently, and after all he’s accomplished, I really hope he isn’t killed from a long impersonal distance by a rifle hunter who didn’t rub the skin off his knees and hands earning the honor.
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Here’s a story I shared with some friends after my hunt yesterday:
I came upon a large doe in the bottom of a dry creek, and it began. With the wind in my favor the stalk progressed quickly but I had to halt when, with only forty yards between us, a covey of quail crossed my path. What better alarm system can the woods have than quail? Both the doe and I watched, motionless, for the fifteen or so minutes it took the birds to pass. I continued. At fifteen yards I edged around a tree and braced…the doe stood broadside to me and all I needed to make the shot was the split second it would take for her to look the other way. (You do not shoot at a deer when it can see you: they’ll dodge your arrow or, far worse, take a non-lethal hit while attempting to dodge your arrow.) But then the wind swirled; she sniffed once in my direction, stomped, and trotted back the way she’d come. I pursued, just out of range, to a meadow on the property adjacent to the one I have permission to hunt. As I stood tucked in a cedar at the edge of the meadow, pondering the meaning and mystery of land ownership (and, I’ll admit, cursing my luck), something came into focus out of the corner of my eye…there, off to the left…an ear…a rabbit!! A drop of the string and a few minutes later I walked out of the woods, supper in hand, proud to be an ethical hunter. While it’s not the venison I’d hoped for, rabbit is probably the tastiest wild meat available in this area and I’m absolutely thrilled to bring home something for the cookpot. It was a good hunt.
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Way to go!
My day yesterday, no fog until shooting light then fogged up big time. Couldn’t see 10 yds. Cows were bawling and raising Cain then the ranchers feed truck with his siren started in. Seems he’s moving cows from pasture to pasture and the cows just follow along like they be on a leash. Noisily:evil: Why the cowboys were pushing from behind? Just cause that’s what a cowboy gotta do I guess:D.
Afternoon. Spotted bout 25 turkeys coming out of river. Ha, Gonna head them off. Much easier to ambush turkeys than catch up to’em. Everything going my way, turkey sounds getting closer, closer….. siren starts again, cowboys hollering at each other…s*** from my end. What birds? So I climbed a hill to watch. Finally all, cowboys, cows, feed truck headed of to the west to another pasture about a mile away. Thank goodness. Was gonna stump shoot but the rancher sprayed to kill mesquites a few years back. They’re pretty much gone but replaced by multitudes of tumbleweeds.
.Not particularly a good place for a blunt in this junk.
Going out tomorrow morning and hopefully my part of the hunting world has settled down.
I did call a coyote in on the way out. No shot. Some may not believe this but coyotes have a 7th sense. Wait, wait, he’s almost at full draw, NOW, haul ass! Was a blast though getting him closer and closer.
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So it’s been a while since I’ve been able to post on here – I graduate with my Bachelors Degree in 3 weeks, and let me tell you it has been a mad dash to the finish line.
I have been as busy as I have ever been with school work and projects, all while trying to get as much time in the woods as possible, mixed with job hunting. Bad news is that the early PA archery hunting season was a bust for me, but the job hunting season was good (I will know this week if I landed the job I’ve been wanting so badly). Fingers crossed for late archery season which comes in the day after christmas, as well as the rest of my job hunting season 😆
Here are a couple quick pictures I got throughout the few days I was able to spend in the woods.
My Dad, Brother, and I (Dad and I both hunt traditionally, and my brother who is unable to use his right hand uses a crossbow, glad he is able to get out and enjoy the fall with us in the woods.)
I’ve decided to pass the month and a half between early and late season by building my first dozen woodies from scratch, so I’ll be posting some pictures of them soon. Also I wanted to post a big thank you to Smithhammer and Forager for being class act guys – both offered me hunting knives to get me through the season until times aren’t so hard once I graduate in December. You guys are all the best and I thank you all again for your knowledge and willingness to help out with anything you can without expecting anything in return but passing on this wonderful tradition.
Happy hunting for those of you who still have some season left.
Alex
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