WY Late elk....

A good friend of mine had a late season elk tag, and called last week to see what was going on with the elk. After all the snow we got, most of the places that I usually find elk, there really wasn't much going on. He decided to make the trip anyway, and even tough elk hunting beats work.

Saturday, we found quite a number of elk, but not in places we had access to. Finally about 12:30 or so, we cut some fresh tracks that had crossed the road. We glassed the country they walked into, and didn't see where they cut over the top of the ridge. We figured they were likely still between the ridge and the road, so we gathered up our stuff and started working our way uphill following the tracks.

We finally came to a place where we could see they went into a draw with some junipers and didn't come out. So, we circled around above them and sat down and started glassing the draw. We couldn't see them and after about 30 minutes, I decided to drop downhill about 50 yards closer while my friend remained on top. I got down to a lower rock outcropping and finally saw one of the cows edging through the junipers. I waited until she fed out at about 150 yards or so, and shot her with my 7-08 and 140 nosler Accubonds. She crumpled at the shot. I knew there were more elk in the junipers, but couldn't see them. My friend made his way down and just as he got there, another one stepped into a narrow shooting lane. He shot his at 211 yards with a 7RM, also just crumpled at the shot.

We quartered them last night and got to the truck right at dark. On the drive home, we came around a bend in the road and noticed 3 largish animals jogging down the road. Turned out being a female mountain lion and 2 half grown kittens. Only the 2nd time I've seen lions in Wyoming.

We left this morning to get the elk out and about 1/4 mile from where we saw the lions last night, I happened to look under a rock over-hang and spotted a large bobcat sunning himself. The bobcat was not interested in going anywhere and we set up the spotting scope and got some OK pictures.

Anyway, I'm sure late elk hunts can be better, but this one was about as perfect as I've ever had. Just a great time with the elk being the icing, seeing the lions and bobcat, less than 12 hours apart...well, that just isn't likely to happen again in my lifetime.

My friend with his elk:



Me with my elk:



Some country:



Is that what I think it is?:



Yep, it is:

Good eating. You dont see to many bobcats around...or lions.

Congrats. Great pics.

Cats in the wild are always a "didi I just see what I thought I saw " type of thing for me.


Congrats on the elks.

enjoyed story and pics. thanks for sharing. u always make everything seem so easy.

Congrats on the elk. I see more bobcats than I do coyotes around here, but I expect that to change once we get a season for them.

Congrats, looks like really good late weather.

Buzz, Looks like you guys had a great hunt. Congratulations. I've never seen a live mountain lion but was lucky enough to see a bobcat while deer hunting in SW Nebraska a few years ago. Interesting animals- thanks for sharing your story and pictures.

Cool to see the cat. Unusual that he had no worries.

Awesome!

Congrats!

Are bobcats a rare sighting there? We have quite a few of them around here. I usually see a few each deer season.

Very cool hunt, especially the cats.

Congrats on the kills and freezers full of meat!

Wish I would have been there!

schmalts said:

Cool to see the cat. Unusual that he had no worries.

Click to expand...

Actually, it's probably much more the norm. I had a friend/co-worker who did a graduate study on bobcats using radio telemetry collars. He would go out and track their movements, and he said it was not unusual to be 30-40 feet from a bobcat without seeing it. They have a tendency to rely heavily on their camouflage, and he said they were often quite nonchalant about human presence.

I saw two bobcats this year while chukar hunting, and their behavior tends to support this. Both times, I saw the cat at very close distance. Neither time did they beat feet out, rather they were sneaking and using cover and concealment. Both times, I think they only thing that spooked them out of the rocks was my dog.

Sounds like a pretty tough day to beat, all the way around. Congratulations.

Very cool. Congrats on a great hunt and some interesting sightings!

Nicely done! Congrats on the elk, with bonus cat sightings.

Very well done! I need to do that again in the not so distant future.

BuzzH does it again! not surprising though, one of the best hunter's on this side imo..... congrats to you and your friend,
Matt