MHMT
Member
This season has been amazing to say the least. It was really nice to be tag-less at the beginning of rifle season this year so I could focus on helping my girlfriend, Kara, get her first elk.
Didn't have a lot of time for scouting, with starting a new job and helping a friend scout in his permit area, but we did manage to make it out a day and luckily my buddy spotted some elk at last light the weekend before opener. The elk were miles away, but after studying Google Earth and looking at maps, we had a game plan. It looked like it would be about a three mile hike into the area, until further investigation revealed the road I wanted to take was closed, so three turned into seven miles, O well. We backpacked in Friday afternoon, and made it about five miles and decided to call it good there.
Opening morning we started hiking down to where we had seen the elk a week ago. After making it about a mile down I glassed back up to see a herd of elk with a nice bull within rifle range of camp. We hurried back up, but it was too late, they had went to bed. I often nap during the day and wait for the evening hunt, but my friend had just informed me that ungulates supposedly have to eat every four hours, so by this theory, the elk were bedded by 9am, they should be out at 1pm. Figured it was worth a shot. Sure enough at 1pm on the dot, Kara spotted a cow feeding on the edge of the timber. We watched several cows for awhile and Kara kept asking me if she should wait for a bull. I told her it was up to her but you never know what might happen. As the last cow was about to disappear into the timber she made a great shot and killed her first elk. Hugs, congrats and pictures followed.
As we boned out the elk, two bulls were bugling and getting closer which encouraged us to go faster as Kara didn't want to see what could have been. I think it's good she didn't wait, I didn't want her to be ruined, shooting a big bull for her first elk
Our friends think we're crazy... or stupid, but I think it was well worth the five mile pack out for her first elk. Despite multiple attempts to load my pack up more, Kara refused to let me take any more meat than her, so we packed even loads.
Fast forward to November had us chasing mule deer. After quite a bit of hiking and turning up only a few does, we drove around and glassed a few areas, seeing some nice bucks on private, but not much for the public land. Eventually we ended up on an isolated state section and decided to go for a little walk. Topping the first hill, we spooked a small group of muleys. Luckily they were fairly cooperative and Kara was able to take her second deer.
The location of this deer was a nice treat, as my GPS revealed that the truck was a whopping 0.2 miles away.
Didn't have a lot of time for scouting, with starting a new job and helping a friend scout in his permit area, but we did manage to make it out a day and luckily my buddy spotted some elk at last light the weekend before opener. The elk were miles away, but after studying Google Earth and looking at maps, we had a game plan. It looked like it would be about a three mile hike into the area, until further investigation revealed the road I wanted to take was closed, so three turned into seven miles, O well. We backpacked in Friday afternoon, and made it about five miles and decided to call it good there.
Opening morning we started hiking down to where we had seen the elk a week ago. After making it about a mile down I glassed back up to see a herd of elk with a nice bull within rifle range of camp. We hurried back up, but it was too late, they had went to bed. I often nap during the day and wait for the evening hunt, but my friend had just informed me that ungulates supposedly have to eat every four hours, so by this theory, the elk were bedded by 9am, they should be out at 1pm. Figured it was worth a shot. Sure enough at 1pm on the dot, Kara spotted a cow feeding on the edge of the timber. We watched several cows for awhile and Kara kept asking me if she should wait for a bull. I told her it was up to her but you never know what might happen. As the last cow was about to disappear into the timber she made a great shot and killed her first elk. Hugs, congrats and pictures followed.
As we boned out the elk, two bulls were bugling and getting closer which encouraged us to go faster as Kara didn't want to see what could have been. I think it's good she didn't wait, I didn't want her to be ruined, shooting a big bull for her first elk
Our friends think we're crazy... or stupid, but I think it was well worth the five mile pack out for her first elk. Despite multiple attempts to load my pack up more, Kara refused to let me take any more meat than her, so we packed even loads.
Fast forward to November had us chasing mule deer. After quite a bit of hiking and turning up only a few does, we drove around and glassed a few areas, seeing some nice bucks on private, but not much for the public land. Eventually we ended up on an isolated state section and decided to go for a little walk. Topping the first hill, we spooked a small group of muleys. Luckily they were fairly cooperative and Kara was able to take her second deer.
The location of this deer was a nice treat, as my GPS revealed that the truck was a whopping 0.2 miles away.
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