GLEDEASY's HAC 2013 Part 2

GLEDEASY

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Time to split them up so the page doesn't get too big.
Here's the link to part 1
Part 1

Some scenery I forgot to post
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Sep 3rd
Today marks the first day with not seeing an elk. Went through some great country, just didn't get so lucky. So I decided to take the family for dinner down in Loa.
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Sep 4th
Knowing that the bull I had set my sights on had moved a few miles up over the hill I decided to try and figure out where and how he may have done so. I hiked up the opposite ridge where John and I had found a few bulls less than a week ago. While doing so I could tell that this would be a good vantage point to see the few openings that existed down below. However; my objective was to figure out where he crossed over in case he was to cross back.

The hike started with a first for me, a dead porcupine. It had been dead a while but was still interesting to see. I've seen a handful in the wild wondering but never too close. Hiking the ridge I decided they would be limited to two spots where they could cross over based on maps and the lay of the land. I decided to trek across at the higher point as it was about as far up the canyon as we had seen the elk previously. Most of the hike was through deadfall only seeing old sign every so often. I finally reached a place where things opened up a little when I jumped a raghorn 5 point. I grabbed my cow call and he started coming closer to me. As he briefly looked away I was able to get my camera and video as he came within 15 yards of me. It was lightly raining at the time but then the sun broke through and shined right down on me. I think between that, him knocking a branch, and becoming uninterested led him on his way. That was fine with me as any closer I might have had to scare him away.
close encounter
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Whatever left this I didn't want to know. My wife laughs at me for taking a pic, but I was surprised how much of this I came across.
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This area was becoming somewhat discouraging. The more I felt I was learning by spending time in it the more I realized how little I knew. After my excursion to the opposite side of the hill I decided to go back to my advantage point and watch how the night played out. I glassed a bull bedded 1,046 yards away in one of the meadows. Had I only brought my spotting scope. I opted not to bring it as the place was so thick. Watching him he decided to get up at 5:30 p.m. About this time a storm with rolling thunder had been inching its way closer. I didn't think too much of it as I was focused on the bull and occasional bugles. Soon I heard a little bit of a crack of thunder and knew I needed to get off the mountain. I started going down and when I got to another lookout I looked back at the two meadows. There was a bull in each. I did not know how big they were but could certainly tell they were number 2 and 3 in size of what I had seen so far. Another crack of thunder, shoot I need to hurry. And then the rain and hail came pouring down. I was completely soaked and scared to death by two lightning strikes above my head but made it back safe and sound to my truck.
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As I got to my truck another truck had parked next to it and a hunter was in the trees doing some calling. I couldn't help but wonder if this person had seen ?my? bull and was trying to hunt him, but looking up on the hill and seeing a spike brought me a little comfort.
 
Sep 5th
I took things easy today, even slept in, driving around and looking at new country. I forget how big this unit is and all the pretty scenery that goes with it. Tonight I decided to watch the mountain side until dark to see if I could locate the bull I have been hoping to harvest. The area was really fired up with bulls bugling all over and with an occasional glimpse of an elk here and there. I went to a different view point where I was hearing most of the bugles and ran into antlerrick. His boy was up on the mountain chasing the elk with his bow. It was good talking to Rick and interesting to see the elk coming from out of the woodworks.

Tonight brought excitement for my hunt, but it also has made me even more nervous. If one could only look into their crystal ball and see what the future holds.

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Sep 9th
I'm starting to see more bulls coming out of the woodworks and gathering their harems. I heard bulls bugle up until about 10:30 this morning.

5 point
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Tonight I finally got a descent look at a heck of a bull. I knew he was where he was at, as I've caught glimpses of him from time to time, but he is in some thick stuff and only shows early morning and late night. I went with a friend who had heard of the bull hoping the sets of eyes would hopefully get us a good look. Tonight was no different than other days as he came out pretty late but we were able to get a good enough look that I know he makes the other bull I've had my sights on seem not so big. He is in the same area and multiple cars have been there to watch so we'll have to see what happens. Go after him opening morning or play the odds that others will go after him and be at a possible escape route? Guess I will determine this based upon how many people are watching come Friday night. Even though this bull is considerably bigger than the other I would still have to believe if the one presents himself opening morning there will be no second guessing to take him. Only 4 more days!!!

Mr. Big
 
Sep 10th
I was able to get some ok video of Mr. Big (I'm not really one to come up with names, but it's getting hard to keep track of everything when talking to family). About a dozen of his cows were pushed out by a hunter this morning so it will be interesting to see if he stays in his pocket or not. After watching him this morning the family and I took a trip to town.
The evening brought emergency response vehicles driving through the valley and eventually life flight helicopters. Don?t really know what happened, but from hearsay it sounded like a 4-wheeler accident. A reminder to be careful out there and that life can bring a number of twists. All of the commotion I believe kept the elk quiet.

I'm starting to believe more people know about this bull than those who don't. Certainly no one is being closed mouth, but maybe at this point it really doesn't matter.

Sep 11th
Woke up remember those who fell on this day 12 years ago. Boy has time flown by. May the victims rest in peace.

Had rifle season been today, Mr. Big would not have survived. He came a long way down the mountain from his whole and spent a lot of time running in and out of clearings as he gathered some cows. A mistake I wouldn't mind him doing Saturday as long as I'm in position :). Videoing wildlife at 1,500 yards in low light as they move in and out of trees is proving to be harder than one would think. It certainly doesn't help when the head doesn't lock up right where you want it to.

I decided to investigate a tip about a bull in an area. I had some doubts, but if it was there it would be worth my time. Like every other day a good rainstorm came through, so I opted to sleep in my truck until it passed. Finally, I started my ascent through the foggy canyon. As I neared the top I saw some elk sign but never heard or saw anything. When I approached the meadow the person had mentioned I found a dead elk carcass in some trees. The lower jaw and one leg were there, but everything else was missing. Then ~50 yards away I found the head at the base of a pine. It was clearly a bull which had its horns sawed off. Shortly after I broke for lunch and tried to come up with a game plan. I found a meadow on my GPS using birds eye and headed that direction.

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In the meadow I began cow calling with no response. After a while I decided to let out a bugle and instantly I had two bulls respond. I decided to head towards the bigger sounding of the two. On my way I found a busted back-end of an antler.

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Inching my way closer I was worried about the wind. Before I got to the meadow the wind was blowing towards the bulls direction but once in the meadow it switched. Now that I was nearing it was starting to shift again, but not before he walked within 30 yards of me. It was interesting to see how he acted. As I watched him sniff the air he periodically would let out a half-hearted bugle. He was either trying to sound that he was further than he was or was trying to make his presence known without being too forceful. Just as I thought I was going to get some cool video of a descent 6 point up close, he caught my scent and turned away.

Hiking to a small ridge my phone picked up service. Here I thought if I could get a hold of my wife I would have her pick me up at another trail head rather than walking back to my truck. I was able to make the connection and began cow calling again. The other bull responded again and he was making his way towards me. I got into position, but knew once again the wind wasn?t right. He still walked within 30 yards, but before he walked into the opening he caught my scent and went away as quickly as he came. He was a 5 point and another missed chance at some cool video.
As I ventured on I looked to my right and saw what I thought was an elk shed. Sure enough it was, at 9,700 feet in elevation. It turned out to be a 5 point shed from this past year. It's back-end makes it seem like it would be a 6 point but it was a dinky first and missing a second.

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It then began pouring rain. Boy was I sure glad in my investment in some good boots and rain gear. I finally made it back and then started my adventure in looking at elk for the evening.
I found another bull around the same area as the other 2 nice bulls. As I watched him I realized that he looked much like the 6 point that John had trail cam pics of that hung around the bull with the long 4ths. Maybe I'll call these two bulls curly and 4th gen. to keep things simple. Curly certainly looked better in real life compared to his trail cam pics. I have now confirmed 3 bulls in this area, which to me, are shooter bulls. I haven't seen 4th gen. in over a week, but I'm hoping I know where he's hanging out.

Curly

With an hour of light left I saw a big storm approaching and rather than fighting the rain again today I decided to call it an early night.
 
Sept. 12th
Mr. Big has been hunted hard the past few days. This morning he got pushed and left behind what few cows he has left. I decided I better test my guns out one more time, so I drove out in the open country and started pounding rocks at long distances. Everything looks fine with the rifles. Tonight was dead. Not many people out looking and not many elk to look at.

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Sept. 13th
Today rolled in with thick fog. I went and listened for Mr. Big and afterwards left to go check out a point out of the valley. Didn?t see many elk but did run into the little buck I saw a couple of weeks ago. He is now hard horned. I came back to the cabin and took a well-deserved nap to calm my nerves. Tonight a few more 6 points showed up that I hadn't seen before. Curly was out doing his thing. He?s not a bad little bull but he sure has an attitude.

Tomorrow is the big day.
 
Sept. 14th (Day 1)
It was hard to determine what to do today not knowing how many people would be in the area and what would give us the best chance at Mr. Big. We decided that we would have my little brother on look out and I would come around from the North end hoping to catch him on the hill. I never heard or saw anything, but Brock caught a glimpse of a bull going over top. We figured it had to be him so we spent the rest of the day on top trying to locate him. The day was dead. No bugles, no gunshots, just rain off and on all day.

As night came I noticed some trucks parked on the road. They had been there for hours watching, when I noticed some elk coming out of the trees across the valley. I could tell with my binos that one was a bull; just about that time one of the trucks took off. I grabbed my spotter to see an impressive and unique bull. At first I thought it was a giant 5 point with a long third, huge fourth, and a loooooong main beam. However; it did have at least one point after his fourth. The hunter got a shot off just as I was trying to get some video of him. I don't know whether the bull was hit or not.

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Ole trusty
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It just wasn?t the greatest day of hunting today. I feel as if 1 of my 9 days was wasted, but I have to remember that this is a marathon not a sprint. So what if the first day was a wash, tomorrow is a whole new day.

Sept. 15th (Day 2)
Knowing Mr. Big could possibly make a mistake any morning we decided to give him a shot in the morning to see if we could catch him on his way up. He was a no show. Our back-up plan was to go up in the area I had always planned on hunting before Mr. Big showed up. I took another approach to the area thinking we could walk into the backside of their bedding area where the view was more open. That idea did not turn out to be a fun one with the amount of deadfall we had to go through to get there. We saw a few elk on the way up and ran into one feeding while up there, but that was it other than a lot of elk sign. We spent most of the day up there and came down to the lower ponds just before dark.

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While at the lower ponds we could hear a bull bugling. His bugle was unique, which still rings my ears, a long ~10 second wail. It took us a while to determine where it was coming from but it was getting closer. As it became apparent he wasn?t coming to the ponds right away, his bugle sounded like it might be in a nearby clearing. With the little light we had left we took off for that opening in the trees. As we got close to 100 yards of the bull, some of his cows busted us. The bull stayed put and we hoped he may walk through the opening so we could see him. He never did and the sunlight faded.

On our way back to the cabin we noticed a bull in a truck parked at Bowery Haven. One glimpse and I knew it was the bull from the night before that I watched get killed. We pulled up and talked to the kids who had it. The bull was impressive, a 7x6 which more or less was a 5x6 considering its fifth and sixth points on the right were just a couple of inches. They told us they had taped him at 377? and had only seen him that morning.
 
Sept 16th (Day 3)
My friend Brad came up to help for the day since his brother had killed a 371? bull on the Beaver unit opening morning. We went back into the area from last night hoping to get on one of the bulls. As light hit they started bugling and we headed back for that clearing. We waited as things got lighter hoping a bull would walk through. Our hopes didn't come to pass so we began the chase into the thick stuff. We weren't gaining any ground on the herd bull so we hunkered down and began calling to see if we could get anything to come in. After a few minutes a bull worked his way in, close to a hundred yards, but he only came in for a quick investigation and left before we even saw him. The bulls had stopped bugling and we had no action for a while so we left the area and I decided to hunt my back-up spot for the evening.

My back-up spot I knew held a ton of elk and gave big country for glassing. Just a couple of weeks ago I had seen ~150 head and an archery had seen another ~100 head just a few miles away. As long as things hadn't been hit hard the two previous days pushing the elk into the CWMU I knew this would be a good spot. As we hiked to the top we heard some crunching in the trees. We decided to let out a bugle and instantly a cow responded. We inched our way closer so we could see into the creek bottom when I spotted an elk walking in the timber. It was just a cow, but we could also hear antler hitting timber. We waited and finally got a look at the bull in a small opening in the trees. Brad had his spotter on him and the first thing he said was that it had a cheater on his sword. Hearing this got me thinking this was going to be a shooter. A few more seconds goes by and Brad said he didn't think it was that big but wanted me to look through the spotter to verify what I wanted. We never did get the good look that we had hoped for, but from what we saw he was a young 7x6. Considering we had just gotten to the area and thinking we would see a ton more elk I opted to pass. The evening came and went with no bugles and no elk. I was surprised and very discouraged. I really thought the day I went in there would be the day I got an elk. There were tracks everywhere. Either the elk are being really nocturnal or they got pushed out.

These pics are from 3 years ago during my dad's LE tag.
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Now I had to re-think my strategy with everything. Looking back at my hunt thus far, I really think one of the best ways to kill is spotting a bull from the truck and then get into position to take a shot. I decided that's what I would do in the morning even though it almost seems wrong.

Sept. 17th (Day 4)
Riding the roads this morning in hopes of seeing a bull to kill almost happened today. We spotted a bull and when I put my spotter on him I was almost certain it was 4th gen. as he had the same look head on. I noticed other hunters in position and my heart dropped as this bull was one I really was hoping for. One more look from the spotter as the bull turned his head and my fear went away. It was a different bull, but a cool bull, and one I would shoot. Not wanting to spoil the other hunters? plans I waited for a minute. The bull was currently standing 946 yards, broad-side to me. As time kept going by they weren't taking the shot. I thought to myself, if they are going to pass on this bull then I'm going to get in there and take him. So I grabbed my gun and started to close the distance. Now that I was 800 yards away they finally took a shot. The bull didn't move. I looked through the spotter, he wasn?t hit. I thought ok keep closing the distance and we'll see what happens. The hunter was flinging lead like crazy at the bull but he never flinched. On approximately the tenth shot the bull started moving. Crap, I'm not going to shoot at him now. Looking through the spotter they had busted his back leg at about the knee and he was gimping to the trees. They?ll never find him I thought and he's not going in there to die either. They continued flinging lead his direction. At their angle I'm not sure how they were even seeing him at this point. The bull had disappeared to my view so I backed out to my truck. Antlerrick stopped and we chatted. He told me that he saw the bull drop on the last shot. I was glad to know that the bull had been harvested and wasn?t going to be sitting wounded in the trees.

Looking back at it, I probably really could have gotten in sooner and possibly harvested that bull myself, but I'm glad that I didn't go and step on other peoples toes. Besides; it's only the fourth day and Mr. Big, 4th Gen., and Curly are still out there waiting for me.

Tonight we set up a blind in a clearing where the elk have been moving through morning and evening. A couple of evenings ago the herd bull was right on the edge of it bugling really well, so we hoped for some magic to happen. It took a while, but at 6:37 p.m. we got our first bugle. It was a small sounding bull. Slowly more and more bulls began letting air out of their wind pipes. They were coming from all different directions and were still a ways away. Having around an hour of light left we took the trail to some ponds trying to see where we could get closer to them. As we got there and listened nothing happened, so we went back to our blind. The bugling really just stopped. Maybe we made a mistake by leaving, did we spread our scent too much. Whatever it was they never really were screaming like the other night.

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Let's be aggressive with our calling I told my brother. We began chirping, bugling, and raking trees. A bull quickly responded to our efforts. As he stepped out of the trees and I put my scope on him, disappointment hit. He was a raghorn 5 point. Tonight was my little brothers last night to hunt with me and I really wanted to kill with him there, but this 5 point was all we could get to come in. I walked out feeling sad but also glad that at least we were able to have a little excitement take place.
 
Sept. 18th (Day 5)
Today is my birthday and I woke up with a really bad sore throat. In the morning I went in to try and get on a bull that my brother and I heard bugling on our way out the night before near the trailhead. I got within 100 yards in the trees, but could never close the distance. He would bugle to my cow calls but kept his distance as I tried moving in. Two other vehicles came in behind me and the bull made his way over the ridge.

At this point in the hunt I was beginning to get discouraged. The hunt was half way over and nothing had really produced. I was by myself for the time being, so I took a little ride hoping I might come across something. On my way back into the basin I saw Antlerrick and his boy packing up camp. His boy?s bull was in the truck so I needed to stop and take a look. The bull was a gorgeous 7x6. Talking to them had given me some insight to what had been going on and got my mind motivated for hunting again. I ran into another hunter and friend from a neighboring cabin. We chatted for a minute which only added fuel to the motivation. The slow change of pace to the afternoon definitely was needed.

My wife had offered to watch my friend?s (Brad) kids for the rest of the week so I could have help on my hunt. Needless to say my wife is and was awesome through this whole experience. She would now be watching 4 kids (instead of our 2) aged 3 and under. Brad had asked if I would be ok allowing one of his friends to join and help us. After some though I decided the extra set of eyes and muscle for a possible pack out would be useful. As I waited for the arrival of Brad and his friend Daryl, I took a quick trip to Loa with my wife and kids to pick up some groceries.

After they both arrived we decided to go glass and hopefully find a bull to put to bed for the following morning. Initially all we saw were some raghorns and a spike. We had been told of a nice bull which had come out of his hiding spot a couple of days ago just prancing in the meadow. We made a final effort to try and locate him and just as it got dark an elk came out which we assumed was him. We decided that we would try and get on him in the morning.

We came back to the cabin, had some birthday cake, and went to bed.

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Sept. 19th (Day 6)
The morning didn't pan out as we hoped. By light the elk were already long gone into the trees and wasn?t letting out a peep. As we sat there I glassed an elk a couple of miles away running in a meadow which appeared to be a bull. We hurried and jump ship to where we hoped we could go get a better look at him. We were unable to do so but on the other side watched a small 5x6 push some cows.

At this point we were getting tired of fighting the crowds and decided we needed to leave this place to get away from everyone and try some potential sleeper spots. First we went to the low country where both Brad and I had hunted spike elk in. On our way a coyote was running in the flat. I jumped out and got my gun. I let out one shot just before he was to disappear into the bushes. The shot was just under him. I kept joking, how was I ever to hit an elk if given the opportunity. Although we found tracks, the low country didn't pan out. We stopped and ate at Koosharem Caf? before trying another sleeper canyon where I had seen big bulls during past deer hunts.

The canyon was deep and nasty, a prime spot where a pressured elk may turn to. We wanted to get to the top of a peak where we could sit and glass all of the ridges. We kept going and going but were never able to find a place to glass. We went further than I had intended and pretty soon, with the fading light, we found ourselves in a predicament. It seemed better to continue up to the nearest road rather than go down back to the truck. The decision to hike where we did wasn?t one of the smarter things I've done while hunting. We saw one lousy elk, a shooter bull, but he took off into the thick stuff as soon as we came upon him.

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When we got to the upper main road we were still 5-7 miles from the cabin so we approached a camper and asked for a ride. The gentleman was a very kind fellow and was more than happy to do so. We really appreciated his generosity. We decided to go back and retrieve the truck and four-wheeler that night rather than leaving them at the bottom of the canyon. This made for a long night.
 
Sept. 20th (Day 7)
We got to a late start. I didn't even hear my alarm go off. The only reason I got up was because my wife woke me up asking when we were leaving. Since we got a late start we decided to ride the road on our way to a canyon we decided to hike into the night before. We caught a glimpse of a bull just before heading into the trees and determined that if the canyon hike didn't pan out we would come back for this bull in the evening.

The canyon we chose to hike into was the same canyon which a bow hunter had given me a tip of a big bull hanging out in. I had been in there a week prior and had seen two small bulls and a few tracks here and there. As we hiked up the canyon I could tell that Brad was a little discouraged. This made me nervous as he is usually optimistic and I was already discouraged myself. I kept thinking that I should have turned my tag back in when it had crossed my mind and that I was probably going home without a bull, or at least nothing to be too excited about.

As we reached the top of the canyon both Brad?s and Daryl?s optimism began to climb. They liked what they saw and were happy to finally be out of the thick stuff. As we got into the flat it was quickly apparent that there were more elk in here than a week ago. We found a nice lookout point and took a nap.

At 10:30 a.m. all three of us were wakened to the sound of a bugle. This was encouraging as we never had heard a bugle later than about 8 a.m. In fact there were two bulls bugling back and forth; a mature sounding bull and then a satellite. We knew we needed to stay up here until dark. The bugling lasted until noon and then they stopped. Then at 4 p.m. we heard the bigger sounding bull bugle again. We got set-up just in case he came out. After a few minutes, Daryl spotted some elk moving in the timber. We knew this was a shooter bull, especially concerning the circumstances, and waited for an opportunity for his harvest. Eventually the cows backtracked and went through the timber to our left. I thought I had missed my chance for a bull. Then I hear, ?There he is!? I look to where I last saw the cows and nothing. ?No! over there? said Brad, so I looked to a clearing to my right where the bull was headed when I last saw him and yet again nothing. Finally, it was made aware that the bull had left his cows and was walking towards us in the bottom clearing. The sight was majestic as I waited for him to turn broadside. Brad ranged him at 217 yards just as he turned broadside. I let out the first crack sending a 180 grain accubond his way, a hit! The bull hunched and stood there. As I tried to chamber another round I must have not brought the bolt back all the way as my second shot was a dry fire. Luckily the bull was just standing there the whole time as I made sure I chambered a round. ?Boom!? another hit. As Brad and Daryl describe it, it looked like a balloon popping as the bullet came out of the other side. He was hit good, but I chambered another round just in case. At that time he began doing the death wobble and fell over. The excitement was now reaching an all-time high. After some high fives we began to gather our stuff to head over there. At that point the bull was trying to get back onto his feet. I was going to put another round through him just as he fell over again. As we began our routine all over again the bull stood up for a final time before I let the 3rd bullet go, finishing him off.

As we walked up to the bull we were realizing that this bull was much bigger than had been initially thought. We were all excited. It had been such a difficult hunt and now we were rewarded with a beautiful bull for our continued efforts. We took pictures before getting him field dressed.

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Brad and Daryl were awesome. They took the reins and wasted no time in field dressing the bull. I had never caped an animal before (all I had ever done was gut deer and then did the rest back at the cabin). We packed our packs heavy consisting of the head and cape, neck meat, tenderloins and back straps. We left all the quarters hanging in the trees where we would come back to get him in the morning. It was a long exhausting hike back, especially with our hike the day before, but we finally made it back to the cabin.

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When we got back we put a quick tape on him and got 360 2/8?.
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Sept 21st (Day 8)
What a relief. I no longer had to wake up not knowing what do to and if things were going to work out like they did. We went back after the quarters and while on the mountain built a fire where we roasted hot dogs and cooked fresh elk steak. It was fun and very relaxing. Eventually, after the break we finished packing the elk up and headed down the trail for the last 2.25 mile trip.

Once back at the cabin Daryl left to make his 3 hour trip back home. Brad and I got the skull plate cut off the head and then he left as well, but not before taking pics together with the giant bull his brother took on the Beaver unit this year. The rest of the day I spent gathering things together in preparations for the ride home tomorrow.

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All I can say is that I am grateful for good friends and wife who were so good in helping make this an experience one I will always remember.

I have one more post left for this particular hunt, which will include a conclusion and compiled film before I move on to the rest of my season.
 
Conclusion
I really wasn?t sure what to expect going into this hunt. I had hoped that I would have opportunities to take/pass a bull each day and enjoy the excitement of the rut. My only other experience hunting big bulls on this unit in September came 3 years ago. It was a long, hard hunt with hot temperatures and a full moon. My dad had a few opportunities at smaller bulls but the hunt left me questioning whether or not I wanted to continue putting in for the tag. Hearing from locals that the particular year was one of the toughest they had seen in the unit and wanting to hunt the unit I grew up in I opted to continue to stick with it.

Even though I ended up with a great bull the overall experience was not even close to what I had hoped for. In fact my experience was far less exciting than it was three years ago. During the hunt I kept thinking to myself that I wouldn't burn the points all over again for this hunt. However; Fish Lake is my unit and now that I have a better understanding I probably would do it again. A friend that had spent a lot of time on another unit had stated that the bulls had been rutting hard for a good month and that it was like elk fireworks with bugles all around. That's what I really wanted out of the hunt.

There are some things I would certainly do different. A lot of the unit is so thick making it really easy for the elk to hide, especially when they aren't talking, and hard to get a shot off. You can cover a lot of area by driving the roads and as I learned on Day 1, if you commit yourself to a specific spot you may be watching helplessly as a smoker bull is taken from the road. In fact I watched two great bulls killed right off the road. The problem is, is that everyone else knows this so you are continually running into multiple hunters. We figured that there were ~75 tag holders between all the auction tags, etc. and I would not doubt that there were nearing a dozen tag holders all in the 1 to 2 square mile area. I'm sure this doesn't help when it comes to the elk being vocal. In the end it was finding a place that had open terrain and away from any road that lead to the harvesting of my bull.

I feel very fortunate to have harvested the bull I did. For those who have had a similar tag you may understand when I say that the hunt was mentally exhausting. If you can keep a positive attitude and show some patience the opportunity will find you. I certainly put my time in, but having lady luck on your side sure helps. I'm glad I had the time I did to put towards scouting as I learned a lot about the unit that was new to me even though the majority of my hunting has been on this unit.

I want to thank all of those again who helped in numerous ways to help make a child hood dream come true.

I hope you have enjoyed following me through my LE elk hunting experience as much as I have bringing it to you.
Watch this video as I recap the hunt.
LE Elk Recap

Even though this tag was the major tag of the season stay tuned in as I share the rest of my 2013 season, including an awesome kill shot my wife placed on her first buck.
 
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