elks96
Long Time Member
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Just throwing up a summary for my 2024 Elk season... My wife son and I all drew decent tags on the party draw. As a result I spent 24 days hunting elk before filling my tag. But in the process my son also got a lope and his first archery elk. I also had to break in the middle of the season to have a heart ablation done in Salt Lake. If you have afib and an ablation is an option don't wait, just go for it. 5 years of meds and feeling poor was gone in one day... Any ways the fall was awesome for camping, but hunting was hard. Simple hot and dry, temps in the upper 70s/low 80s kept the elk high and had them in bed by 8:00am and in the timber until after 5:30. IN the end it was an epic season. I passed on shots at several bulls. My 14 year old son killed his first archery bull at 10 yards. We snuck in a lope hunt the day after my ablation...
After the archery season ended I had the first 2 weeks of rifle off work to fill my tag. I passed up shots on 9 bulls the first day. Ended up passing on a bull I should have shot... The on the 8th I had a cut tire on the jeep and a check engine light so I came off the mountain to the house. That night got those things fixed and fell a sleep in my chair while waiting for dinner (needed the break I guess). Wednesday the 9th I sleep in to 6:00am and then get up. I leave the house at 6:30 and head to hunt my way back to camp in the jeep. I pull up to a spot at first light and am seeing a bunch of deer in the farmers fields and start glassing. Above the fields on BLM I see a ball of elk feeding away from the fields. I glass and see a few bulls worth a closer look. SO I maneuver around a closed bridge and get on a 2 track heading towards the elk. I drive the jeep up to a good hiding spot and get out quietly as I should be close to the where the herd should be... As I get my binos and pack on I hear the herd bull rip a bugle about 200 yards away.
I am close the wind is perfect and the rising sun is behind me. Wind in my face and the sun over my shoulder I sneak into a little saddle where I see the first elk feeding in front of me. I set up and spend sometime recording the scene. 20-30 cows all under 50 yards. A couple small bulls cross first and over, then a good mature heavy 5 is in the cows and the herd bull is still below me out of sight bugling... The herd bull shows up and at first I was going to let him pass like I had several others. But he bugles, he ends up 38 yards from my spot and a road is erally close. Not to mention my son who had school said I was not allowed to come home again until I tagged out... Those factors and the fact that he was definitely the mature/dominate bull let one rip and the bull was down about 30 yards later after crossing a 2 track. I called my wife and son. told them to call into work and school and come help me load the elk.
It was great day. We had a blast. Please enjoy a few photos from the hunt. Cant wait until next year... Every fall is such a blessing, especially now that my heart is back in a good place and I can cover miles on foot every day again...
My son and his lope 2 days after my ablation...
Well he was not nearly as big as some of the bulls we had been on.... But talk about a cool club bull for your first archery elk...
A bull I passed with the rifle... I ended up passing a ton of bulls before killing. There was one I wish I never passed on but this bull is not him...
When my bull came up I was videoing with my phone to send a tease to my son who was heading to school... Th
Then I realized I really should not pass this opportunity up...
My bull was down quick and soon my wife and son came from town to load him whole into the truck (not often I load a bull whole).
After the archery season ended I had the first 2 weeks of rifle off work to fill my tag. I passed up shots on 9 bulls the first day. Ended up passing on a bull I should have shot... The on the 8th I had a cut tire on the jeep and a check engine light so I came off the mountain to the house. That night got those things fixed and fell a sleep in my chair while waiting for dinner (needed the break I guess). Wednesday the 9th I sleep in to 6:00am and then get up. I leave the house at 6:30 and head to hunt my way back to camp in the jeep. I pull up to a spot at first light and am seeing a bunch of deer in the farmers fields and start glassing. Above the fields on BLM I see a ball of elk feeding away from the fields. I glass and see a few bulls worth a closer look. SO I maneuver around a closed bridge and get on a 2 track heading towards the elk. I drive the jeep up to a good hiding spot and get out quietly as I should be close to the where the herd should be... As I get my binos and pack on I hear the herd bull rip a bugle about 200 yards away.
I am close the wind is perfect and the rising sun is behind me. Wind in my face and the sun over my shoulder I sneak into a little saddle where I see the first elk feeding in front of me. I set up and spend sometime recording the scene. 20-30 cows all under 50 yards. A couple small bulls cross first and over, then a good mature heavy 5 is in the cows and the herd bull is still below me out of sight bugling... The herd bull shows up and at first I was going to let him pass like I had several others. But he bugles, he ends up 38 yards from my spot and a road is erally close. Not to mention my son who had school said I was not allowed to come home again until I tagged out... Those factors and the fact that he was definitely the mature/dominate bull let one rip and the bull was down about 30 yards later after crossing a 2 track. I called my wife and son. told them to call into work and school and come help me load the elk.
It was great day. We had a blast. Please enjoy a few photos from the hunt. Cant wait until next year... Every fall is such a blessing, especially now that my heart is back in a good place and I can cover miles on foot every day again...
My son and his lope 2 days after my ablation...
Well he was not nearly as big as some of the bulls we had been on.... But talk about a cool club bull for your first archery elk...
A bull I passed with the rifle... I ended up passing a ton of bulls before killing. There was one I wish I never passed on but this bull is not him...
When my bull came up I was videoing with my phone to send a tease to my son who was heading to school... Th
Then I realized I really should not pass this opportunity up...
My bull was down quick and soon my wife and son came from town to load him whole into the truck (not often I load a bull whole).
BacDoc
