To our frustration the morning hunts proved uneventful for both groups of hunters. We were covering a lot of terrain, but still had a scarcity of elk sign. Back at camp over lunch, Neil, Chris and I decided to hunt a much longer grassy meadow that ran into the East side of the area. There were many ridges running on both sides of the valley with a small hiking trail down the center along the water. We would hunt both sides and try to find good terrain for a ambush at dusk.
Starting out early in the heat of day, Chris would hunt the North side slopes and Neil the South, I was to go deep and also hunt on the South. We parked the vehicle and prepared for a long evening. Chris took a practice shot with his judo tipped wood arrow at a small stump and broke the shaft just behind the point. I shook my head and started down the foot path.
Well it used to be a foot path, but the trail was pounded into a muddy lane by numerous cattle and a few horses. I came to the conclusion that the ranchers had finally rounded up the cattle herds and pushed them out into the valley to be corralled at the reservoir where we started. I've heard many folks tell me that cattle activity doesn't affect the elk behavior and others that say they go far to avoid the areas where cattle were. In any event, I was heading about a 1/4 of a mile down the valley and then picking a nice drainage to explore.
I approached a nice elky looking bend in the meadow and fold going up and around a nicely timbered hilltop. Side-hilling around I was immediately confronted by a barbed wire fence! Huh, I didn't think there was private land in this area, but after consulting my phone maps I decided to shift strategy again and head directly across the meadow back to the North side. Perhaps Chis will move an elk in my direction. I entered the dark cool timber and started to gain elevation. Maybe a couple hundred yards from the meadow was a well trodden trail running parallel to the meadow. Above that is started to get really thick. There were blowdowns everywhere and the new growth was already many years old. I surmised that this area was beetle killed about 5-10 years ago and the huge trees were felled by differing winds over the years leading to a cross cross maze of gigantic trees.
I was creeping along slowly and heading around some of the deadfall when I notice movement to my left and only 25 yards to me front! There was Chris sitting on his big chair, whittling a taper onto his judo arrow with his pocket knife. He looked up seemingly at me, but went back about his work. I chuckled to myself and as he didn't see me, I decided to have a little fun.
I slide out my little cow call and blew a soft new in his direction. Snapping his head up he looked panicked. I could not believe it but he still did not see me! This WWII style Fred Bear camo of my Dad's really worked effectively. So I blew a second call and his face immediately flushed with relief and realization. He was set up watching the same good trail I saw. I told him I was going to try to get above him and go up and to the left, and we parted ways.
Immediately, I was challenged with getting through the deadfall. I decided I needed to get around this stuff. I went over, under, around, trying hard to get through quietly to no avail. Finally pushed my way through to a hillside and I gazed out over a continuation of the same tangled mess as far as I could see. The only thing left to do was go backtrack to the right to get around it. After only making it 50 yards from where Chris was just below it, was more of the same. I had to actually go straight back the way I came up to get out! Chris heard me snaking through the trees and that gave him a little excitement again when he thought I was an elk. I talked to him and told him that, "no wonder the trail was so well worn, it was the only way around this mountain!" I told him to sit there the rest of the evening and I would go back across the meadow and head another 1/2 mile down the valley on that side. I was again happy with myself for sneaking so close to a hunter in ambush, but also a little "fatigued" at the lack of sign and good hunting spots.
I had an uneventful hunt on the South side, but I thought Chris really had a chance on that trail if I left him and the area alone. I was hoping he would connect and when I emerged into the meadow as it was getting dark. I got a little anxious as I knew I was far from the truck, and for a minute I could not figure out which direction the truck was in. The meadow seemed to go down in elevation in both directions! Finally I told myself to calm down and consult the GPS and phone and headed out quietly scanning for elk as I trudged back towards the truck. It turned out neither Chris nor Neil had seen any animals, and we learned a similar tale back at camp from the others.
We had one more full day to hunt and get it done. We planned an all out assault on a new, very large drainage, the next morning.
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