CMR elk

[mtmuley]

Hunted 622 some years back. I did not encounter a ton of hunters during the 7 days I spent on the opener. Was mostly off the beaten path. I went back for the last 9 days and didn't see another human. Alone in the Breaks is pretty cool. mtmuley

 

[sra61]

I have had this tag a few times, and my brother a couple of times too. The first one was back in '94. On opening day we were parked on a road just out of sight of a big flat that the elk used to cross when chased out of U.L. Bend. I saw a group of 16 bulls in the coulee right next to us at first light, but no big bulls. Pretty soon after an hour or so elk started coming out of "The Bend". I watched and glassed and didn't really see much that was an eye opener. I looked back at the first group and then noticed that there were a couple of stragglers behind the first group that had come out of "The Bend", I wasn't paying very close attention, but when I started looking closer at those stragglers I instantly realized that the last one was a friggin MONSTER! His beams were super long and heavy. He would have been one of those bulls pushing 400 B&C, and I had let him run right past us within a couple of hundred yards! They were headed straight for the buttes where I could plainly see orange clad hunters who of course bumped them again. I have no idea where that bull ended up but it wasn't in the back of my truck. That's why I always hunt the first week of the season. Who knows what you'll find or might get chased right by you. I also am a big believer in the latter part of the season, after the deer season on the CMR has closed. The big bulls filter back into those hidey holes and are way easier to approach without all of the cows. I made sure I could hunt set aside as much time as possible, because how many times does a guy get to chase a bull in the breaks with a rifle. These days are much different than the good ole days in there, but I still use my chance up there every year.