Didn’t get my bull this year, but I have no complaints. In fact I feel so good about what I accomplished, that I didn’t even feel the need to tag out.
We hunted a new unit to us with only 1-1/2 days of scouting with boots on the ground. In the hour here and there over the last 6 or 7 months i was able to get a few areas dialed in very well.
However distance was the issue all week. My A spot had 6 bulls pass by on opening day. Unfortunately, they all moved through at 700 to 2000 yards out. Myspots continued like this all week with elk passing randomly in areas just out of my effective range.
We blew the 1 perfect opportunity on a nice 5×5. As I crept over a ridge, I spotted 2 bulls walking into burr oak. I dropped to the ground and shouldered up on the short mag while my brother in law ranged it. Through a lack of communication, we realized later that we were looking at different bulls. I had 2 bulls in a lower clearing at 400ish yards. He spotted 2 bulls at 570 yards that I didn’t know was there. Bottom line was I shot way high and never touched it.
Another cool encounter was a nice bull that walked 75yrfs from me. All I could see was it’s tips of its tines as it walked. Ad the evening thermal winds swirled down, it caught my scent and was gone.
My A, B, And C spots all produced encounters. My highlight of the week was a 7×7 grazing on one of my waypoints at 2770 yards from me. Do to all the dead fall on the hillside, it was impossible to make a move. Instead, I just laid back and watched him graze for almost 20 minutes.
All things considered. I found a lot of success in my scouting. Faint wait until next time
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