A swift kick in the .....
- Thread starter SFC B
- Start date
belly-deep
Active member
- Joined
- Oct 31, 2009
- Messages
- 3,459
That is a lot of damn elk.
elkantlers
Well-known member
I would shoot one of them standing on that two-track.
Jorgy
Active member
The way my luck goes with elk, they would all be on public land as I stood on RFW property.
I'm looking at your first photo thinking where is the (lone) animal standing on that sagebrush dotted hillside and then realized looking at the next photos that those "bushes" were indeed the subject of your photo! That is quite the mob of elk.
RUT JUNKEY
Well-known member
wow. . .I'd say thats a target rich enviroment!!!!
SFC B
Well-known member
So here is the story and the real "kick". This RFW hunt was my last of the season. Myself and my buddies father had tags for cows for one ranch and he had a doe tag for another ranch nearby. So, on opening day we head out. The dad and I get set up on a couple of high points overlooking several valleys and a large wheat field. Pretty slow going except for several deer and then at 0850 a HUGE cow walks out in front of the him and down she goes. Not another elk anywhere around our area. She was an old girl and apparently all on her own. So we started working on her. By the time we get to the bottom of the valley (we were about a mile up) with her there is a missed call from my buddy. He has his 10 yoa son with him and he has just shot his doe. So we hustle getting her loaded up and head to that ranch with the sled to help with the doe. We get there and are now loaded up and head back to camp. On the way the dad gets a call and finds out his mother has passed. He is 70 and she was 90. So now our hunt which should have been until WED will only be until COB Sunday. Saturday night it snows about 5 inches and things are looking interesting. My buddy and I go out and scour some drainages Without any luck. The weather moves back in and it starts snowing. We head in for lunch and on the way out we spot about two hundred elk in the spot pictured above. With my GPS and HuntMaps (first time using and it was good) it looks like they are in a spot on our property. We were only a couple of miles from the outfitters that runs the ranch so we scoot back there to check on exact property line. We are informed that the property line is at the BOTTOM of the hill they are on in the creek bed. We go back out to the hills and hunt the rest of the day. We only came across a lone calf. She was bed down 30 feet off the road and wouldn't move, even with us really close to her and moving around. She ended up skirting the road until she reached an open area (not on our ranch) and headed in there. Got within 20 yards of her several time but never any legal or ethical shots. Still stinging from that close encounter, we head back toward the outfitters to check out as my hunt was ending. We decided to cruise by the hill side again to check and see if the herd had come back. We turn the corner and saw what is pictured above. We almost wrecked the truck. Best guess on the herd (trying to do a count) is somewhere between 12 and 1500. The herd stretched over a mile on the hill side. We stopped and glassed just wishing for a sudden and massive movement 
As I looked into the sage I saw that there were a good number of elk in there and some moving down. I tell my buddy I have to give it a shot and approached through some sage on a finger that reached out overlooking the creek bed. SURELY there would be some elk down there, right? I got our there easily without spooking any of them and had PLENTY in range but as light began to fade the closest any got to the property line was about 200m above the creek. I stayed until it was fully dark It was incredible to see all those elk but MAN was that a tough pill to swallow. So ends my season.
As I looked into the sage I saw that there were a good number of elk in there and some moving down. I tell my buddy I have to give it a shot and approached through some sage on a finger that reached out overlooking the creek bed. SURELY there would be some elk down there, right? I got our there easily without spooking any of them and had PLENTY in range but as light began to fade the closest any got to the property line was about 200m above the creek. I stayed until it was fully dark It was incredible to see all those elk but MAN was that a tough pill to swallow. So ends my season.
belly-deep
Active member
- Joined
- Oct 31, 2009
- Messages
- 3,459
Looks like you guys need a few wolves to help out your elk numbers
SFC B
Well-known member
It was right on, just a question of judging distance. I would have had to walk right out to them to find the line on my own directly and probably would have blown them over the hill.
