The temperature is still a little on the hot side. I’m not sure if that is what is keeping the majority of the elk from being vocal or if it’s the number of people wandering around in the woods. In all of my experiences, I’d be willing to guess that it’s a combination of the two things.
This morning we decided to head up one of the 12,000-foot peaks to see what the action looked like up near the top. On our way up, we heard a few bulls bugling in the distance but not in an area we could get to before they bedded down for the day. We did see a lot of sign as we zigzagged across the mountain to get to the top. Once up there, we were a little disappointed to see that there wasn’t much sign.
Since we were at the highest point, we decided to hang out for the day and hope that a few bulls would sound off in the late afternoon. We would be able to work on them from above and have a distinct advantage.
We waited as long as possible and didn’t hear a thing. With a long way to go to get back to the tent, we started down the mountain at 6:00 p.m. We talked about it a few minutes, and I could tell that Brian wanted to hunt around the top rim of the mountain because he hadn’t been on the other side since we got here. I wanted to go back down the mountain the same way we came up it because the elk had the area torn up.
As we began our journey around the rim, the sign remained bleak. It definitely wasn’t like it had been in past years. Instantly, I knew we should have stayed on the other side and hunted our way down the mountain.
We came upon a dead cow that didn’t have much left except the bones and a few pieces of dried up meat on the legs. As we got closer to it, it was easy to see that mountain lions and bears had trails leading to and from the carcass. Cow elk have ivory on the front of their upper jawbone, and I felt like I had won the lottery when I saw both ivories sitting firmly in the jawbone. I had to use the help of a rock to knock the first one loose, but I lost the second one when I smashed it against a rock and it shot into the air and landed in a brush pile. We searched for it for a few minutes but couldn’t locate it. Knowing it wasn’t a good idea to stay around the carcass at a prime feeding time, we beat feet and quickly got to a lower elevation.
When we got to the bench below us, a few bulls began bugling in the area that was torn up. My guess was right: we should have stayed on that side and hunted our way down the mountain on that side. It was highly disappointing. Two of them screamed at each other the entire time we spent descending the mountain, and a few others occasionally chimed in. Sometimes you need to pay attention to your instincts and do what you know has the highest probability of leading to success.
When we got back to the tent, Dad was just arriving, too. He had a pretty good day, although it didn’t start off the best. On his way down the trail in the morning, he ran into a guy from Indiana. After a brief conversation, it was established that the guy was headed to the same water hole that my dad had put a tree stand on. Dad told him he had a tree stand there and was going to it, but it didn’t faze the guy, and he told him he was going there, too. I guess it shows the difference in people.
Since Dad didn’t want to put up with any type of interferences with his hunt, he decided to go elsewhere and sneak and peek for the entire day. He saw a fair amount of elk, and around 4:30, he found himself in the middle of a herd that was being dominated by a giant bull. The giant bugled like he owned the mountain, warning all challengers to stay away from him and his girls.
Without much cover, Dad ducked behind a few trees and waited patiently. He quickly ranged the distance to a tree that he thought the elk was going to pass, but the elk turned and ended up coming completely broadside to him. Settling the 50-yard pin behind the shoulder as the bull stopped in a hole, he released the arrow. Amazingly, he didn’t hear any type of noise at all, but he was sure he had sent an arrow through its ribcage.
A few minutes later, he realized that he had severely misjudged the distance after the elk turned and ended up broadside to him. The elk was only 33 yards from him when he released the arrow. A 13-yard mistake isn’t too forgiving with archery gear, even on a giant elk.
Sitting in the tent, he began beating himself up. How can we shoot 3Ds all summer and still misjudge a target by 17 yards? How can you miss an elk at 33 yards? I guess this hasn’t been our year for elk, especially if anyone followed my 3D archery adventures this year and saw the elk issue I had at the IBO World Championship. We are hoping that we can put the elk jinx behind us in the coming days.
I guess we can call today a productive day, even though not too terribly much happened. I’m coming down with a horrible cold. As we hit the sack tonight, I have a pretty high fever, and my head feels like it’s going to explode. I guess I’ll see what the morning brings. Since it’s so hot and there are so many people lurking around, I might have to see if I can let my body recuperate a little bit. I know the side effects of pushing my body to the limits at this elevation.