For the second time in my life I have chosen to go out and harvest a wild elk to provide meat for my family. Last year I was able to shoot an elk in a short day, about 5ft. from my brother in law's truck. We drove right up to the elk, gutted it, and loaded it with relative ease.
This year's hunt has been very different. First, the hunting zone is different. The area of our hunt is in mountainous terrain, lots of thick pine forests and aspen groves. This is a contrast to last year's area that consisted of wide open, high desert, terrain. Second, the location is at a much farther distance from home. Instead of a thirty minute drive, to likely spot that elk would habitate, we are driving an hour to an hour and a half. Thirdly, the area is virtually unknown to myself and my brother in law. Before hunting here I had only driven through the area on a service road while camping. My brother in law had hunted the same hunting zone a few years back, but he admits to not liking the area much. Fourth, because the terrain is so rough we are not able to drive around like last year (not that I think driving around till you see something to shoot is really hunting). We have bushwhacked in thick forest for up to twelve miles at a time try to push out small groups of elk.
In all I have been into the area 4 different days now. I personally haven't even seen any elk, they are out there though. There are plenty of signs, often fresh, that elk are all over the place. Hoof prints, scat, and even fur rubbed off on trees are all testaments to the presence of the animals. I have even been in brush so thick I can hear the elk breaking branches with in 25ft. to my location but do not see a thing. Others members of our hunting party have seen elk but no one has even gotten a shot off yet.
Day 1 we took two loops near each other, trying to use the geography and topography of the land to our advantage. Maps 2 and 3 are combined, I had problems with my GPS tracking on my phone.
View Elk hunting 2011-10-22 13:56 in a larger map
View ELK HUNTING 2011-10-22 07:57 in a larger map
View ELK HUNTING 2011-10-22 11:45 in a larger map
The second day saw us using much of the same area, although we tried to get a little wider in our range to keep the elk in our loop. My brother and law split up for most of this day knowing that we both had GPS and familiarity of the area. My route is what you see on the map. The total distance was just over 12 miles, in around four hours time. It had snowed about a week earlier and there was 3-4 inches of slick snow on the ground.
View ELK HUNTING 2011-11-11 07:10 in a larger map
Our third day out we did two loops. The first was in a very thick area of the forest and down a trail not yet hunted by our group. Then we returned to more familiar terrain to try a loop we tried our first day. It was snowing almost all day. While walking the first route of the day it was blizzard like conditions. We returned to the truck to find a fresh 6 inches had fallen while we were out.
View ELK HUNTING 2011-11-12 07:39 in a larger map
View ELK HUNTING 2011-11-12 11:35 in a larger map
The fourth day wasn't tracked. I was hoping that a few days of snow would bring some elk into the open. I loaded up the family and we drove all over the hunting zone from the north boundary to the southern borders. Not a single elk was seen.
I am not sure if this is just not a good year to hunt in this zone or if I am doing something very wrong. I plan on going out and trying my luck at least one more time. In hopes I will bag an elk this coming Saturday and be able to fill my freezer with meat that will last us until this time next year.
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