2013 DIY Public Land Montana Elk/Deer Bowhunt

[Scoot]

Below is a picture-driven story of our 2013 do-it-yourself public land Montana elk and mule deer hunt. We were in the same area as we went to last year and our plan was essentially the same: backpack into an area a long ways away from any motorized vehicle access to get away from pressure and into more elk and elk that weren’t as pressured by other hunters. It was a fun, difficult, and at times frustrating hunt that dealt us some great opportunities as well as some significant curveballs. I was with two great buddies and we were in God’s country. Anytime we can get in the Rocky Mountains with good friends and a bow in our hands, we will most definitely have fun.

Doing backpack hunts like we did this year is tough. It’s physically difficult and psychologically more complicated than day-hunt type hunting, where you have a comfy bed and a good, warm meal waiting for you anytime you want. The physicality of the hunt is something that a person just can’t go into the hunt unprepared for. Between the three of us, we run, bike, lift weights, do cardio workouts, and do the dreaded weighted pack workouts on “the hill” (70 lb pack up and down one of the only hills in Fargo) so that we don’t get crushed by the mountain and the demands of the trip. Part of that preparation was our involvement in the Hard Charge mud run in Fargo this past June. It was a good way to guarantee that we’d be in good shape going into mid-Summer and would just require us to push a couple months with our conditioning to be ready for our hunt in September.

We really got into the spirit of the mud run and had team uniforms and team haircuts. We looked ridiculous, but had a lot of fun with it.

I think the haircut really gave me some extra intensity.

As you can see, my wife was really impressed…

Here’s our group- Jon, Gabe, and me (Team Elkblood) and our buddy Jake (Elkblood wannabe):

Here’s a pic just before the race.

…and here’s what we looked like after.

Finally, here’s a shot of my sister Nicole, who I talked into doing the mud run. She kicked butt!!!

The race was tough and fun and we enjoyed it a bunch! It was as physically demanding as you made it, but at a minimum it was a good test for us. It definitely motivated much of our early training.

Travel to Montana

I left from Fargo in an airplane. I had a conference for work in DC and flew into MT and met up with the guys there. It was an early start for me on Thurs morning.

My conference went well and I flew into MT and got a ride to the top of the mountain where Jon and Gabe would have the truck parked and all of my gear inside. This all went like clockwork and I arrived at the trailhead on Sat, Sep. 21st at about 2:30. The day before this, Jon and Gabe got to the trailhead mid-afternoon and headed in to the location we were to camp. Here’s a pic of Gabe just as he’s about to get all of his gear ready.

Here is a pic of Jon and Gabe’s packs and most of their gear before they headed in.

Here’s the trail to camp, which was 5.28 miles from the trailhead.

Jon and Gabe got to the place we’d decided to camp, set up their tents, ate some grub, and hit the rack looking forward to the happenings of the day to come.

[DonBo]

I think the haircut really gave me some extra intensity.

Intensity? You mean insanity, right?

Always love your stories, can't wait for the rest.

[BoxMN]

Always love your stories, can't wait for the rest.

-Ditto.

[Scoot]

Intensity? You mean insanity, right?

LOL- I'm pretty sure I had that going before the haircut, DonBo!

[dukhnt]

Looking forward to seeing how your trip goes!

[Bear55]

Keep em coming scoot, always a fun read. 5.28 miles to camp, that is a good haul, nice work.

[DonBo]

Scoot, you want to hurry and finish the write up today please? We leave tomorrow for our annual Black Hills trip and don't want to miss anything. Guess I could wait till we're back home again.

[NoWiser]

This is going to be good!!

Scoot, I forgot to ask you, how did you like those Denalis?

[Scoot]

Scoot, I forgot to ask you, how did you like those Denalis?

I really tried to like them, but in the end I really didn't. I worked out in them a dozen times and once with a weighted pack and that was it- I returned them. The shank was too stiff for me and they hurt my feet from toe to heel. I'm sure they're a rock solid boot for many, but not for me. My dang feet are so screwed up that very few boots end up working for me. I tried three different ones out and ended up getting the Meindl Ultralights. They don't work as well as my Perfekt Hikers (for me), but they were good and offered a lot more ankle support than the Perfekt Hikers do.

[huntnfish]

In the last picture you look like one of the trolls that the old ladies have with them at bingo.

Great story so far. Patiently waiting for the rest. And knowing how you roll, you're going to make us all wait.

[Scoot]

In the last picture you look like one of the trolls that the old ladies have with them at bingo.

LOL- thanks Nate!

[Scoot]

The Hunt: Montana vs. Team Elkblood

Day 1

With me en route, Jon and Gabe headed to an area Gabe had good luck finding elk at last year. On the way there, they bumped a herd of elk right near the area we set up camp last year. Soon after, with more light to help them, they spotted a spike bull. However, our tags didn’t allow us to shoot spike bulls, so he was safe. Soon after, they heard a bugle from several hundred feet in elevation below them. With the thermals not quite set up, they sat and waited for the shifty winds to settle down. Eventually the winds switched around and were more cooperative. They moved in close to the bull, called, and were greeted with silence. The bull would have none of it and never did respond. He was either call shy or the wind wasn’t as stable as they thought it might have been. After that, all was quiet and they didn’t find any other elk to chase.

There was plenty of fresh sign around, just like last year.

I arrived mid-afternoon that day and decided to hunt my way to camp. After climbing a mile on the trail towards camp, I dumped off a ridge and hunted a North facing slope for about two miles. About one mile into this process, I got a bull to respond to my calls. I moved in quickly, set up and got ready. Unfortunately, the wind was its usual uncooperative self and the bull left quickly and silently. Half a mile later I had the exact same scenario play out again. The bull responded to my calls, I moved in and set up. I was close- the musky cattle-like smell of elk filled my nose. Again, however, the wind juked and jived and the bull left without ever saying another word.

I hunted until 7:00, which gave me two hours to get back to camp with some light. I seriously underestimated how long it would take me to get there and gimped my way into camp well after dark. I was shot and ready for bed. With Gabe’s help I set up my tent and gear and crashed for the night.

Here’s a look at our camp once it was all set up.

…and the contents of our tent were pretty meager, just as they always are on backpack hunts like this. Inside each of our tents you’ll find a sleeping bag on a sleeping pad, a pair of Crocs, and a handful of other smaller items.

[Scoot]

I'm not sure if I'll get to this over the weekend, so I'll add another post now.

Day 3

We awoke to a little skiff of snow on everything and a lot of moisture on the ground and vegetation. It had rained and snowed off and on all night. Everything on the mountain was sopping wet. Jon and my bows (Gabe was smart enough to not leave his outside) were caked in ice and it took considerable work to remove all of the ice on them so they’d work properly. Our arrows probably weighed 600 grains, rather than 450 due to all of the ice on them! We cleaned them up and got our bows ready for the hope at a shot.

Jon and I went to the North side of the area he and Gabe were at on the first day. We saw and heard nothing. It was a pretty miserable day with rain, frozen rain, and sleet. About a mile away from this location was a little hidden bowl with a tiny lake that we’d never been to- I’d found it while snooping on Google earth and we decided to head over there to check it out. The area by the small lake was awesome- there were little benches and shelves in the few hundred vertical feet above the lake. About 400 yards from the lake I ripped off a locator bugle and we were instantly (and finally!) greeted with a bulge from a bull. I immediately turned to Jon and said “You’re the shooter. Do you want to be aggressive or just use cow calls?” “Aggressive!”, was his response. We turned to head towards the bugle, which we estimated to have come from several hundred yards away. Just as we got hustling towards the bull, after only a few steps, Jon crouched down and hissed “There he is!” Unfortunately, he was only 40 yards away and he caught our movement- he must have come in on a run from the second he finished his response bugle. The bull spun and trotted away. I immediately cow called and the bull stopped on a dime. I cow called again and the bull came back ten yards closer. He obviously wasn’t aware of what had spooked him. Jon was 15 yards ahead of me and about 80 yards from the bull. I was hidden from the bull and managed to get “Esther”, my elk decoy, out from the straps that held it on the pack. I popped the decoy up and the bull locked on Esther immediately. The wind had been perfect, but just at that time, I felt the frustratingly inconsistent mountain wind hit the back of my neck. Our scent hit the bull’s nose and the young 5 point bull wheeled and tore out of there in an instant. Grrrrrr! Finally, a good, close encounter with a decent bull and the wind got the best of us once again.

Here’s the lake we found at the bottom of the bowl. It was a really cool spot and one we’ll definitely be back to.

Gabe went to the backside of the big mountain. This area was new to us. It was beautiful country, filled with lots of new and old sign and well used trails. However, all Gabe saw was one muley doe. On his way back to camp Gabe found a spot where he could get data on his cell phone. He did a quick weather check and found out that the forecast for the next few days may result in over 30 inches of snow. Eeesh! With a 30+” forecast in the high country, who knows how much snow will actually fall or how big the drifts will be.

At camp that night we discussed the weather-related info and made the decision to pack off the mountain in the AM. None of us are happy about this decision, but we are all 100% onboard with it. If we get as much snow as the weatherman says we might, we might not get the truck off the mountain until June! Winter storm warnings may also put our safety at risk and make getting to the truck really tough.

This was a curveball we weren’t really prepared for. We literally had areas A, B, C, and D in case we didn’t find many elk or had too many hunters around, but all four of these areas were chosen because they were high in elevation and a real pain in the rear to get to. With the weather we had coming in, none of these areas would be a possibility any longer and we had no Plan E-Z.

…a few other pics from our A spot in the higher country.

Mmmmmm… peanut butter, bacon, and honey on a bagel!

Jon

Gabe

[Coach1310]

Thanks again for the story Scoot. You can't possibly have all of us wait until Monday to post again, can you?

[Sifty]

I hope we don't have to wait till Monday......

[mrklean]

another great read

[HooknHorns]

I'm trying to plan a hunt this next year, maybe solo. I'm dying to hear the rest of this.

[Scoot]

Day 5

After the trip we planned for over 350 days had the door slammed in its face, we were stumped. We weren’t very optimistic about odds of making something good happen- the only areas we knew anything about were in the high country. This area was brand new to us, it was accessible by truck so lots of other hunters can get there without too much effort, and these elk had certainly been harassed by other hunters already this year. In spite of that, we all agreed that we’d make the best of what we had to work with and we’d work as hard as we could to make something good happen.

Gabe and I headed down towards a large saddle and North facing slope in the new area and Jon headed a ways away to the North along a grassy hillside that had some beautiful cuts and draws below it. About ¾ of a mile from the truck Jon found himself slowly pecking his way through broken terrain. It was steep and had scattered pines and junipers. As he slinked through the trees he spotted a gray and white patch ahead of him and immediately recognized it as the backside of a mule deer. He soon saw it was a muley buck. Jon had a combo tag, which meant he could shoot an elk and a mule deer. Jon also had never shot a muley before, so it was game on! Eventually he cut the distance to the buck and when he was close enough, ranged the buck. He was slightly over 40 yards away. When the buck’s head went behind a tree Jon drew, steadied his pin, relaxed, and squeezed his release. In a flash the arrow was on its way and Jon head the sound of a “whap” as the arrow hit the side of the buck, a few inches behind where he aimed. The buck mule kicked and tore off at break neck speed. After a while Jon went to check the spot of the hit. When he got down to it, he looked off in the direction the buck ran. He saw the buck walking the hillside about 150 yards away. Soon, the buck crashed and never moved again.

While he waited to make sure the buck wasn’t going anywhere, Jon heard a cow elk call below him. He eventually sneaked to within 70 yards of the cow, but couldn’t get any closer. So he went back to take care of the buck. Jon field dressed the buck (stabbing himself in the meat of the thumb in the process) and packed the buck out in one trip.

Here’s the buck as Jon found him.

He readied his pack for the trip back to the truck.

Jon had a slip during the field dressing of the buck and unfortunately stabbed himself in the meat of his thumb. It was not a long cut, but a nasty, deep one. His hand looked like this for the rest of the trip.

A final shot of Jon’s trophy- his first muley ever. WTG Jon!

[Scoot]

Gabe and I also had an interesting day. Gabe spotted two different groups of bulls from a distance early on- this new country offers a lot more glassing opportunities than the higher country we were hunting earlier (this is ironic given that high country typically offers much more glassing opportunities than lower country, but not in this case). Getting on these elk proved to be very difficult and we couldn’t relocate them after we spotted them. We also bumped into a herd of elk on a North facing slope, but the lead cow pegged us the minute we tried to move in to close the distance. Late in the morning Gabe spotted three bulls on a hillside. We worked our way up the long hillside towards where we last saw them.

Unfortunately, the bulls were gone when we got up to where they had been. Soon, Ol’ Eagle Eyes, Gabe, relocated them on the next ridge over.

You can just see a bedded bull to the right of the center of the pic below.

We tried to call them over to us, but couldn’t get them to budge. We even employed Sonya, Gabe’s decoy!

We moved in on them, but the wind was dead wrong and we called off the chase without even getting down to them. No point in wasting energy on a long drop and climb that had no chance.

We tried several cold calling sets that morning, but to no avail. The typical set up would have Gabe and me split up about 80=100 yards and Sonya hung in a tree behind us 50-80 yards. Here’s Gabe waiting for a bull to sneak in on us.

Here’s how Sonya got comfy while we called to the mountainside without a reply.

One of the spots we stopped was a beautiful bench covered with these berries. Anyone know what they are? They are blueberry size and color, but slightly more oblong shaped. I tasted one and it definitely wasn’t a blueberry!

We’d seen elk all morning, but it was frustrating because we never had even close to a chance to get on them. Plus, we hadn’t heard a single bugle to chase, which gave us little optimism to find a bull we could get close to. We were discussing what to do and given that we didn’t have any reasonable options near us we considered going back to the truck early. Reluctantly, we agreed to head back to the truck. About 100 yards into the tail-tucked walk back to the truck we finally heard a bugle in the draw below us. It was a long way off, but it was something! We dumped into the draw and started dropping elevation quickly. We chased the bull’s retreating bugles for well over a mile.

When he finally stayed in on place for a few minutes, we moved in for a calling set. I dropped a cow call, and he responded. Before he could finish, I screamed a huge, aggressive, “don’t mess with my gal” bugle. That was it- he wouldn’t stand for this insult. He came strutting right in looking for a fight. The bull was coming on a perfect line- he’d be broadside of Gabe in about 20 yards. However, at about 60 yards away from Gabe the bull stopped. He called, looking for the “cow” that had originally called to him. I responded back. He stood and stared for a few seconds and took a few more stops forward. I kept looking at Gabe and screaming in my head “Draw, draw!”,but the bull wasn’t at the right angle for a shot yet and Gabe was patiently, and wisely, waiting for the right time to ready his arrow for release. Just then, I heard and saw a big wind blow through the trees above our heads. It was howling the right direction from the bull to us, but I knew what it meant. When the big gusts go through up high, they unfortunately come back through down low the opposite direction quickly after. “No, no, no!!!”, I thought. Sure as could be, I felt the return wind blowing back the wrong direction and after about a three count the bull swung his big 320” 6x6 rack, turned in a hurry, and left faster than he’d come in. Dang! So close…

Soon after this we again heard bugles. We again moved in and set up for another calling set. Before we did, I could see three elk bodies through the trees and we didn’t dare move any closer. Again, I get in a screaming match with a bull, but this bull is reluctant to come in. After a couple minutes I see Gabe tense up and reposition slightly more to his right. A minute later a medium 5 point bull cautiously works his way in to Gabe’s right hand side. The bull stops at 45 yards behind some brush. Gabe has no opening and the bull is positioned at a poor angle. I call and decoy, but the bull won’t come any closer. With my calling to this bull, I realize there are as many as three other bulls around us calling and making the whole scene quite chaotic. Eventually the satellite bull wanders off, but the herd bull is still screaming his fool head off at me.

We reposition on the herd bull to get closer, but he won’t respond to my cow calls again and he’s not bugling on his own. I grab a stick and start to rake a tree. The herd bull decidedly does not like this and he screams a bugle at me. I cut him off and he doesn’t like this either! However, we’re not quite in his comfort zone and he refuses to come in. Eventually, he won’t respond to cow cows or raking of trees, so I try a different trick- I cow call, then drop soft chuckles to try simulate another bull (me) trying to steal one of his cows away from him. Again, the bull is not happy about this and we continue our war of words. Soon, he tires of this exchange too and we chase him, but can’t get him to talk. Finally, I try to simulate a distressed cow and a spike bull who won’t let the cow get away from him. Once again the bull is unhappy with this and screams his discontent at me. However, he simply refuses to come in closer and show me who’s boss. As a last resort Gabe tries to sneak in and shoot the bull while I keep him talking from a distance. He cuts the distance, but is unable to get close enough to the bull to get a shot. Soon I’ve run out of tools in my elk calling tool belt and we run out of light.

We were over two miles from the truck and more importantly, had nearly 2000 feet of elevation to climb to get to the truck. It was pitch black, we were drenched in sweat, and totally shot. We sent Jon a text message and said we’d meet him at the main road about one mile below us.

It was quite a day! Jon had shot his first muley and although Gabe and I hadn’t even so much as drawn our bows, we had the kind of day that I dream about. The play we had with the elk this afternoon and evening was what has us thinking about elk hunting for some part of the day every single day of the year. Chaos, aggressiveness, screaming bugles, bulls charging in looking for a fight- we didn’t shoot an elk, but man oh man did we have fun!

[hugonian1]

Great stuff.

Congrats on a great mule deer and exciting hunt.

[engfish]

You're the James Patterson of elk hunting mysteries.

Next chapter, please.

[Coach1310]

Thanks Scoot. I wish you went on ten of these hunts a year! Great read as always. Keep it coming.

[DonBo]

Sounds like the new plan was a good call, what a day! A fine archery mulie, I'd sure be happy with that.

[Scoot]

I wish you went on ten of these hunts a year!

[mainbutter]

STUMPED! I get it

Great read, thanks for letting all of us enjoy your adventure vicariously through the written word and beautiful pictures.

Question:

When you do a hunt like this, multiple hunters with multiple tags over multiple days, if one of you scores do you pack out the meat that day and hike back in to continue hunting? Does everyone hike out? Even just hunting a short drive from the cities, the logistics of balancing meat spoilage with daily responsibilities is difficult.