What would you have done?

[ID_Paul]

LAST EDITED ON Sep-25-05 AT 03:25PM (MST)[p]After several years of not getting out for archery season, this season I finally was able to make time for a brief hunt. Since I have been very busy all summer, scouting was unfortunately not possible. My best option was to return to the area I had hunted a lot when I bowhunted more.

This area was thick with elk when I was last there. There were areas where you couldn't go more than 50 yards without running across fresh sign. Though I never got an elk here, I was always confident they were there.

Friday afternoon I headed up. I saw one doe 1/2 mile from camp but nothing else. As soon as my tent was set up, it started to rain lightly. That continued all night. The next morning I started out. The area was recognizable, but much has changed. It is much brushier now, and the trails I remember are gone. Here is a typical section of what it is like here now:

It was misty, and very poor visibility. After a short walk through the brush I realized that without the elk trails to follow I was going to be very noisy and very wet. I looped back to the road and walked back toward camp.

While walking, I noticed wolf tracks and wolf droppings on the road. The tracks were wider than my boots, and I wear a EE width. The amount of wolf droppings was surprising. It was everywhere.

I decided the only way to hunt this would be to follow the old logging roads. Everything is overgrown here. The first time I came to this area I followed behind a friend driving a Geo! He wouldn't be able to drive that thing 1/4 up the mountain now.

There was no sign of any recent human use on these old trails. There was also no sign of any recent elk use. All day yesterday, I found one pile of elk manure, very old, and maybe 4 sets of elk tracks - and some of the tracks had plants growing in them. I would walk a little bit, then stop in an area that would allow a shot, and cow call. I never heard anything in response.

After walking several miles on the old trails I decided to bag it. It had rained on me all day and there was nothing to indicate there was an elk anywhere in the vicinity. Since I was alone, the thought of breaking and rebuilding camp in a new area did not sound good. I let disappointment get the better of me and now I am home a day early.

What would you have done?

I'm still trying to learn from my experiences and mistakes. Any input and advice is appreciated.

Thanks.
Paul

 

[bonefreak]

That sounds like tough luck.
tough to say what i would really do without knowing the area
but first would be pull out the topo
then get into the next drainage or mountain.
ive done this several times and have found some of my favorite 'meat holes' that way.
i know its tough to stay motivated in the rain.
That is something i really had to learn over here in the northwest.
good luck
keep the faith

 

[CountingCoo]

LAST EDITED ON Sep-25-05 AT 10:52PM (MST)[p]I would find another area to hunt. I know that in this case you had no time to scout, but if the sign is not there it is time to move!

Not sure you could have done any thing different given the circumstances, but at least now you know an area NOT to hunt if you get to go out again. It seems pretty obvious that the elk have not been using this area with any frequency for awhile. My guess is that they have likely shifted to somewhere in the area, perhaps in response to pressure from the wolves? A mile away, maybe 10. More than once I have been close to writing an area off due to lack of sign, only to round a corner and find fresh sign everywhere.

Ditto bonefreak's advice to look in surrounding drainages and I would also try to contact the game biologist for this area to see if he can shed some light.

Think you did the right thing heading to an area that you had some experience with, and you may find the elk yet, just a couple of canyons over.

 

[c3]

Sounds like my season. If there isn't any sign there aren't many or any elk around. You did the right thing. Now lift your chin and go for a run with your bow in some new areas that you think might have elk and not as many wolves.

It's hard work, but you can find these areas by scouring maps on the net. TopoZone.com for instance is a great one for planning scouting/hunting trips. I use it all the time to find new pockets I think might hold elk. For the last few years it has been working well. This year they all moved out before the season and I couldn't find where they ended up.

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

Cheers,
Pete

 

[ID_Paul]

Thank you for your replies.

I won't get time again before the end of bow season, but have two more seasons available on my tag. You can bet I'll be spending a lot more time looking at maps between now and then so I have some other options.

If you haven't seen Google Earth yet, check it out at http://earth.google.com . It is a great scouting aid. In some areas the photos are sharp enough to see individual trees.

CountingCoo makes a good point I have been struggling with. I was trying not to let the absence of tracks & droppings discourage me too much, remembering the rare occasions I have run into animals in other areas with no fresh sign. No such luck this time though.

The main 2 lessons I am learning from this hunt are:
1. New boots should be worn several times, not a few times, before elk hunting. My feet cramped up so bad that I could hardly hobble back to camp. I thought the boots were broken in better than that.

2. If my only mode of transport is my feet, then camp needs to be mobile so it can be moved quickly to a different drainage - especially on a solo hunt. Putting up and taking down a 65-pound canvas tent is not fun by myself, and was the final straw in my decision to quit.