Merrill Finds Elk
I was so excited to have my brother coming with me on this scouting trip. It wasn't as much about finding elk, it was about being together. A chance to escape the world and talk and just be together. We have always been hunting partners, it is on of the best parts of my life. For the third week of our scouting Merrill and I decided we would use maps to locate a place we had not been but looked promising according to what we see. The conditions we were looking for is a canyon or habitat that is at the minimum a mile from any roads. No roads at all, not even a 4 wheeler road.
I think back to hunting for my dads elk. We were all standing on a ridge waiting for fog to clear. We knew that in the canyon below us there were elk, we had seen them on the days before and could hear them bugling below us. We were preparing to drop into the canyon, It was a steep hike in and out and once we were in we had a good view of the elks habitat. The fog cleared and as we were preparing our gear for the hike in two guys pulled up on 4 wheelers. They looked into the canyon, one of them had a rifle on his 4 wheeler so we assumed they also had a tag and were looking for a big bull. They sat there for a few minutes looking, I don't remember if they used binoculars or not. After sitting there for about ten minutes they left on their machines. If you assume they did in fact have a tag, you can't help but wonder what kind of trophy did they expect to take from the road? I also have to assume they were unaware that just off that ridge we had seen several, and heard approximately 4 different bulls bugling in the canyon. A tag to hunt in these mountains is so rare you need to take advantage once given the change.
Having never been to this area we were unsure about how far the walk would be. We have been at the top of this canyon numerous time, but never made the approach from the bottom to the top. Using Google earth and maps we located a trail we would try and follow that would essentially take us up. We started our hike at about 630 am. It was great weather. We hiked for several miles, to the south of us was a north facing hillside covered with pine trees. The great thing about this hillside is that the pines weren't too thick to see into. There were several open areas you could watch to see if you catch any elk moving through. The terrain was really beautiful, in the clumps of aspens there were huge boulders, and there was a lot of water. Several springs were running and there was a lot of lush green vegetation.
We had walked approximately 3/4 of the way up the canyon and had not seen anything, not even a deer. After walking out of clump of trees we were standing talking about the terrain and I'm sure making jokes about everything we could think of, Merrill pointed up the canyon and said, "elk". There was a beautiful cow grazing on the green grass in the valley of the canyon. She was a beautiful dark brown color with a dark neck. We then noticed a few more elk around her. We hiked slowly towards her and up the side of the canyon so we could see better. As we did we then noticed there were approximately 20 elk, some with newborn calves. I was then very happy to once again hear the bugle of a bull. Merrill looked at me with the same surprise I had the first time I heard them bugle this time of year. I was happy because I finally had another witness that these elk are actually talking and they actually do bugle. We noticed that this seemed to be a location type of thing, as if he was saying I am going over here, get over here. The cows and calves responded and walked right to him. We set up a spotting scope and watched while we had lunch. Again, we didn't want to scare them off, we wanted to see as many as we could and watch what they do.
After about a half an hour we packed up and started moving again. We continued up the canyon passed the elk and walked to where there was a water source. Water was flowing down and we wanted to see if it was coming from a pond or a spring. We walked up a steep hill, as we got to the top we saw a cow laying in some grass. She was about 30 yards in front us. We did our best to sneak up on them but they very quickly caught us. About 7 cows stood up and pushed one calf along with them while they ran from us. We watched them run for some time until they went to the top of the canyon out of sight. We then continued to the top of the canyon, once on top we had out first deer sighting. Again this was unusual to us, we believed elk and deer to share some of the same territory but have found that the last three trips this is for the most part untrue.
We had discussed walking over the top and down a different canyon, we decided that we would make better time heading back the way we came as it was late in the day. (and we are old and tired) As we headed back down to the spot we had caught the last 7 cows laying, we walked into something awesome. Laying in the vegetation in front of us was a newborn calf. Cow elk teach their young babies to hide, if a threat comes, the cow runs off as a distraction to the predator so they give chase to her rather than kill the young. This calf was being very obedient, we had accidentally walked within about 5 feet of this baby. Merrill and I were worried mama was going to come back and put the hurt on us. Luckily we were in an opening so we could see where she would be coming from. The calf was so beautiful, she stared at us with her eyes but wouldn't even move its head to see us. We took some pictures of it and left.
It was a great day finding the elk. This was a time that understanding where elk live paid off. We had found the top of a drainage, far from the road, and took a nice hike to get there. Everything we had read and experienced was exactly right, we had never been there, but knew right where to find them. We were also able to locate a great vantage point to use scouting in the future to locate elk.
I think back to hunting for my dads elk. We were all standing on a ridge waiting for fog to clear. We knew that in the canyon below us there were elk, we had seen them on the days before and could hear them bugling below us. We were preparing to drop into the canyon, It was a steep hike in and out and once we were in we had a good view of the elks habitat. The fog cleared and as we were preparing our gear for the hike in two guys pulled up on 4 wheelers. They looked into the canyon, one of them had a rifle on his 4 wheeler so we assumed they also had a tag and were looking for a big bull. They sat there for a few minutes looking, I don't remember if they used binoculars or not. After sitting there for about ten minutes they left on their machines. If you assume they did in fact have a tag, you can't help but wonder what kind of trophy did they expect to take from the road? I also have to assume they were unaware that just off that ridge we had seen several, and heard approximately 4 different bulls bugling in the canyon. A tag to hunt in these mountains is so rare you need to take advantage once given the change.
Having never been to this area we were unsure about how far the walk would be. We have been at the top of this canyon numerous time, but never made the approach from the bottom to the top. Using Google earth and maps we located a trail we would try and follow that would essentially take us up. We started our hike at about 630 am. It was great weather. We hiked for several miles, to the south of us was a north facing hillside covered with pine trees. The great thing about this hillside is that the pines weren't too thick to see into. There were several open areas you could watch to see if you catch any elk moving through. The terrain was really beautiful, in the clumps of aspens there were huge boulders, and there was a lot of water. Several springs were running and there was a lot of lush green vegetation.
We had walked approximately 3/4 of the way up the canyon and had not seen anything, not even a deer. After walking out of clump of trees we were standing talking about the terrain and I'm sure making jokes about everything we could think of, Merrill pointed up the canyon and said, "elk". There was a beautiful cow grazing on the green grass in the valley of the canyon. She was a beautiful dark brown color with a dark neck. We then noticed a few more elk around her. We hiked slowly towards her and up the side of the canyon so we could see better. As we did we then noticed there were approximately 20 elk, some with newborn calves. I was then very happy to once again hear the bugle of a bull. Merrill looked at me with the same surprise I had the first time I heard them bugle this time of year. I was happy because I finally had another witness that these elk are actually talking and they actually do bugle. We noticed that this seemed to be a location type of thing, as if he was saying I am going over here, get over here. The cows and calves responded and walked right to him. We set up a spotting scope and watched while we had lunch. Again, we didn't want to scare them off, we wanted to see as many as we could and watch what they do.
After about a half an hour we packed up and started moving again. We continued up the canyon passed the elk and walked to where there was a water source. Water was flowing down and we wanted to see if it was coming from a pond or a spring. We walked up a steep hill, as we got to the top we saw a cow laying in some grass. She was about 30 yards in front us. We did our best to sneak up on them but they very quickly caught us. About 7 cows stood up and pushed one calf along with them while they ran from us. We watched them run for some time until they went to the top of the canyon out of sight. We then continued to the top of the canyon, once on top we had out first deer sighting. Again this was unusual to us, we believed elk and deer to share some of the same territory but have found that the last three trips this is for the most part untrue.
We had discussed walking over the top and down a different canyon, we decided that we would make better time heading back the way we came as it was late in the day. (and we are old and tired) As we headed back down to the spot we had caught the last 7 cows laying, we walked into something awesome. Laying in the vegetation in front of us was a newborn calf. Cow elk teach their young babies to hide, if a threat comes, the cow runs off as a distraction to the predator so they give chase to her rather than kill the young. This calf was being very obedient, we had accidentally walked within about 5 feet of this baby. Merrill and I were worried mama was going to come back and put the hurt on us. Luckily we were in an opening so we could see where she would be coming from. The calf was so beautiful, she stared at us with her eyes but wouldn't even move its head to see us. We took some pictures of it and left.
It was a great day finding the elk. This was a time that understanding where elk live paid off. We had found the top of a drainage, far from the road, and took a nice hike to get there. Everything we had read and experienced was exactly right, we had never been there, but knew right where to find them. We were also able to locate a great vantage point to use scouting in the future to locate elk.
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