MT DIY Public Land Elk Hunt Semi Live

[mr_steve]

Well I am sitting here at home anxiously waiting for my flight tomorrow at 1pm. My buddy Shayne (yotkilr) and I are leaving tomorrow evening for the Pioneer mountains in SW Montana to chase after elk for our first time! I am flying from Omaha, NE to Dickinson, ND and then I will hop in with him and head west for 10 hours.

We applied for the elk/deer combo tag in MT (100% draw recently) and have spent the last few months planning. We have received advice from fellow hunters on forums as well as talked to the unit specific game biologist, but we still have no experience so it should be interesting! On top of all of it we are trying to film it all...

I can't believe how much time and work you spend preparing and then the time quickly arrives. We will be hunting for 9 days with some nights spent in an enclosed trailer but several nights living out of a backpack.

We will keep you updated as we go along on our journey. Wish us luck and stay tuned! Also any last minute advice is welcome.

 

[nidahunter]

Looking forward to the story and pictures. Good luck!

 

[jryoung]

East or West Pioneers? On paper what I like about the West Pioneers is the large tract of roadless areas. Good luck on your hunt, I'll be there two weeks from today!

 

[bjtc_brian]

Good luck, hope you both are successful!

 

[mr_steve]

Well I have landed in Minneapolis and thought I should check the weather forecast for where we will be going. Looks like we might encounter some rain...

 

[MT_elk]

Good luck!

 

[Bulldog0156]

Pioneers are a cool range, you guys should have fun!

 

[mr_steve]

View right before landing. One of the best "fly over" states.

 

[mr_steve]

Well shayne picked me up and we have hit the road. GPS shows ETA of 3:30 but I'm sure we will stop along the way.

 

[mr_steve]

Well we arrived at camp yesterday about 6:30am. Drove through the night. After getting base camp set up we decided to hike up to an opening in the top of a ridge, about 6 miles round trip. With about a half mile left we noticed black clouds moving in but we decided to continue on. As we reached the opening we spotted a black bear. We sat and filmed if for a bit but the the rain began and we took shelter. After a few moments we spotted the bear and it walked 24 yards from us! It never noticed us and continued on. The rain started to let up and we decided to get on our way. As we walked across the valley we thought we would go see what the bear was playing with. We found three elk carcasses with one being a 5x5. Evening was approaching so we headed back. Exhaustion is an understatement as we hadn't slept the night before. Later that evening we caught up with a local who said the wolves had moved in pretty good and on top of that three weeks ago the area had a small fire. Well in the morning we spotted three pickups parked at a trailhead that we planned to pack into. We decided to move more west by Jackson. We set up a new camp today and searched the area. Walked a couple miles and tried some cold call setups but no luck. We did shoot some grouse for supper and also a mule deer doe which was awesome. But not what we are here for! Tomorrow we plan to hike in a ways and camp for a few days. We only get a reception with the booster at base camp so it will be a few days before I can post. Hopefully with a better report. Stay tuned.

 

[ID_deerslayer]

Great update looking forward to the rest of this adventure you're on.

 

[----]

I'm going to have wolves start cleaning my skulls for me, that thing looks very clean for a fresh kill.

Great updates, good luck.

 

[Kevin W]

Nice update Steve, in Montana if find a deadhead like that; is it ok to take it and possess it or do you have to leave it?

 

[ismith]

Yes you can pickup dead heads like that, the notable exception being bighorn sheep.

 

[mr_steve]

Well we have hiked into the BIg Hole area of the Pioneers. Currently we have camp set up 6 miles in from a road. Yesterday we camped up at around 8300 feet. We tried some bugling as well as some cold call setups. Still have not see an elk. We are making a big circle around this ridge. Today we hiked down a creek valley where we spotted 5 definite wallows along the way. We are now at about 7000 feet where two creeks join. The creeks were dry up higher so we figure to come lower in elevation. We can now see the open valley as the picture shows. There is definite elk sign but not sure if we should be up more in the sticks or if we stay on the edge will they come graze later tonight? We have never done this before so there is a whole lot of learning going on. It would sure pick the spirits up if we saw elk!! Sure enjoying the scenery though.

 

[MT_elk]

Good luck. Keep at it. you'll find em!

 

[Pagosa]

I'd hunt the timbered ridges about 1/2 mile from those meadows and hope to catch them going to or coming from the field areas. Be close to water at dusk.

 

[mr_steve]

Called in our first bull tonight!! It was a spike though at 14 yards in a unit you can't shoots spikes. We are hooked now. Bigger bull was bugling like crazy so we will be back in the morning.

 

[Big Fin]

Good luck. With cooling weather and a waning moon, your best conditions are in the days ahead.

 

[mr_steve]

Well I apologize for lack of updating. Tough to update when living out of a tent. To catch up everyone up:

Day 1: arrived at 5:30am after driving through the night. Hiked to a shelf high up that was an open area with a wallow. Saw a bear chewing on a carcass and found the dead 5x5.

Day 2: moved camp over East of Jackson since a few campers were sitting at the trailhead we planned to hunt.

Day 3: hiked in 3 miles. Found a wallow but no elk were seen. We were near a saddle at 8200 feet in timber.

Day 4: hiked down a creek 2.5 miles. Saw 3 wallows on the way down and elk sign picked up but no elk were seen. Spirits were low. That evening we sat down at the edge of the timber were we could see the valley and then it happened... heard our first real bugle! What a majestic noise. It was a few hundred yards so we headed that direction. The area was sage brush and sparse spruce trees. We worked as close as we could and then set up. Shayne went to a tree 15 yards in front of me and I began giving some excited, whiny mews. We heard something getting closer but heard the bugles further away. After 10 mins this spike came charging in to 14 yards from Shayne. The only thing we can't shoot! He circled around and then spooked. The bull bugling got closer but never showed to our shooting lanes. We went back to camp pretty excited.

Day 5: at first light we hiked into the same area and were 60 yards fr cows but never had a clean shot. We worked further in and set up again. We gave excited mews and estrus calls. Along with that we gave a young bull scream. We had a bull screaming back. We came into 60 yards but was down hill and only Shayne could see his antlers. The bull moved on since the cow (me) would come to him. We went and grabbed lunch from the tent as they bedded up. We were back at 1:30 but it began storming. Eventually it hailed and never really let up. It was cold and miserable. No elk were seen.

Day 6: we hunted the same area in the morning but it was quiet. We were exhausted and out of food. We hiked back to base camp and it snowed the last half of the hike. That afternoon we shot some spruce grouse and rested up. A hot meal and rest in a heated trailer was exactly what we needed.

Day 7: we woke up at 5:30 and hiked down to the same area we had been seeing them. We decided to camp near a point that over looked the spruce trees. As we arrived to the lookout we spotted some cows walking around. We lost track of them and went back to set up the tent and such. We came back to the lookout early afternoon. We spotted a 4x5 bull and some cows. We lost all of them in the trees but watched a cow bed down. With a strong wind uphill, we decided to sneak down and surprise them. I followed Shayne with the video camera. It was a 450 yard stock approximately. When we were right we planned to be, Shayne spotted the young bull. He signaled to me to give some cow calls to have it stand up, as it was bedded near the cow we were originally after. A few cow calls later, the bull stood and Shayne put a great shot on at 60 yards. The bull ran less than 50 yards and passed. We finally did it! Little did we know how much work it was going to be as our base camp with coolers was 2 miles away and up 1200 feet of elevation. We took the last load to the tent in the dark and got all the meat hung up.

Last day: we decided we would switch places (hunter/cameraman) and hunt the morning as I still had a tag. We watched a 5x5 bull and some cows work toward water/feeding. We decided we would sneak in and try catch them on their way back. We gave some excited mews. Well sure enough we spotted the lead cow and the bull at 87 yards. We had a perfect shot at 50 yards if they continued. They inched their way closer. Heart was going good. Then suddenly a noise comes thrashing in behind us. A red fox showed up for the party at 10 yards! We he spooked up the hill into plain view of the elk causing them to run off. A feeling of confusion lingered as we asked "What just happened?". Oh well that's how hunting goes. We spent the rest of the day hauling back the meat and our gear. On one of the trips hauling meat we kicked up a real nice bull. Of course no bow though!

We had an awesome week, especially for our first elk hunt ever. From having a black bear walk 24 yards from us, finding the dead 5x5, shooting my first mule deer, shooting grouse, camping out of backpack for the first time, hearing a bull scream back at you, putting down our first elk, and lastly packing out our first elk, it was a very memorable week. Can't wait to do it next year!