3rd Weekend

After such a disappointing 1st weekend, I decided to take the following weekend off from elk hunting and test my luck archery hunting for some river bottom white-tail does.  Although I had plenty of close encounters, I still have an empty tag and freezer.
This following weekend however proved more eventful than I ever could have expected.  I assumed the elk would begin rutting and talking more and my assumption was correct.  After waking up at 4:30 AM on Saturday, I was at the parking lot by 6AM with a hunting pal.  I decided I would try a slightly different spot and we walked a ridge above some fields bugling and cow calling every 10-15 minutes as we walked.  Montana at sunrise is such a beautiful place to be, and hearing some elk sure doesn't hurt.  At about 7 AM, we could hear a cow elk in the draw below us.  This is usually a wonderful situation since elk are herd animals and you can usually bring them in with some cow calls.  Unfortunately this young cow was too smart for us and would not come our direction.  After she bedded down for the morning, I put a 200 yard stalk on her which also ended in failure when she spotted me at only 46 yards.

Yesterday was even more eventful and I hope my luck continues this way.  After a very slow morning and sheer disappointed that the raspberry patch was devoid of raspberries, I was ready to head home when a chuckle broke the silence, if you have never heard a chuckle, hear is what it sounds like.

After a quick half-mile hike, I looked up to see a couple of cows feeding and bedding down on the other side of a draw. The cows were silent, but the bull was running around bugling and making a ruckus. It can be almost impossible to draw a bull away from his cows, they usually follow the guideline of an egg in hand is better than 2 in the bush.  However, since I was by myself this time, I had no choice, but to try and put on a stalk.  The wind was perfect and I figured I could sneak around them and come in from above without them ever smelling me.  I marked their location on my GPS and went to work getting around them undetected.  The entire time, the bull, which I have yet to see, is still bugling like crazy, helping me locate his exact location.  As I neared their location about .2 miles, I took off my shoes and backpack and began the slow walk directly towards them.  As i crested the ridge there not 60 yards away was the herd bull pacing around protecting his harem from any would be thieves.  If you never heard an elk bugle, let alone an elk bugle in your face this video will hardly do it justice.

As usual, this bull knew something was up, you don't get to be large in Montana by being stupid, and he herded those cows out of there.  I continued after them for several more hours, but I was never able to get a clean shot at them, but it was such a wonderful experience and I feel blessed to have been able to experience it.