At Home Elk!

I decided to hunt the first afternoon and it’s HOT!!

Showing a south wind I knew it was good for our ladder set. As we walked down I felt the wind constantly swirling but knew that south would take over ……I hoped!!

Right as we got near the stand I walked in super slow and spotted elk above us up on their feet! WTH it’s too early I thought….. just goes to show we don’t know what any animals plan is. We rushed to get ready hoping they didn’t see us, camera arm and all set I was whispering a show open and heard cows & calf’s talking and then heard my first bugle for the year! Could actually hear him glunking as well and it is AWESOME!!!!

However I think one of them may have caught our wind a little bit and they are heading away from us. But it’s early and we know they like our waterhole..🙏🙏🤞🤞

At 4:39 we had a young chocolate bear come down the two track to the SW and he was headed up the mountain probably gonna eat up my Tracker😳😖.

The wind is swirling like crazy and some good southern gusts.

At about 7:00 we spotted movement where the herd had went to and sure enough we had some return, couple cows, calf and spike bull. The cows & calf went to the trough down below and the spike came right into the pond and drank then walked right below us to the cows and they fed off to the valley to the north. Really thought the bull would be with them but he must of kept going to the NE.

All in all it was a great first sit🙏👍saw elk, heard him bugle and glunking, saw a bear and a gray & white squirrel🙏👍

Day 2….

Well we got in a little bit earlier today and have decent cloud cover and seems a hair cooler than yesterday.

Got in really quiet so maybe we might get the bull action tonight.🤞🙏

A little bit of rain which is good we can use it but not enough to do anything😖 The wind is picking up out of the west.

There is just something about living here that truly is relaxing and soul satisfying if you know what I mean. The wind whistles thru the pines like nothing else we have been around.

Being up at 7600ft we see weather patterns coming, changing and then disappear. To live amongst elk, mule deer, black bears, cougars and other critters is truly incredible. It’s crazy, for one of my dreams was to someday be able to take an elk on our own land and here I sit patiently waiting to do just that. Never in my life did I think that someday my whole family would live on the same mountain top together….. a true blessing come true for me!

Had two does and fawns come in from the west valley they drank and then just went back, they are heading towards a nieghbors property.

Believe it or not I spotted a 2 pt buck way out there at 211yds as his velvet rack moved in the sun. So far that’s 2 doe, 2 fawns & 1 buck by 5:00pm! That’s an awesome sit so far!

At 6:15 we spotted a young bull to the west he came out of the draw and started to come towards us and the wind swirled and he stopped.

😖 he knew something wasn’t right but slowly worked a little closer, stopped and stood for awhile, turned walked away stopped turned and just didn’t like it and walked away down the valley. We have the wind swirling down here and not sure but we might have to move this set off the field and past the waterhole, just maybe it’s swirling in the opening and they are catching it.

Day 3…..

It’s still really warmer than usual and the elk are not playing fair at all! 😁

The wind is not playing well either!🤬
Our grey & white squirrel is the first to visit us today just getting in stand and he needed a drink.

After the other afternoon sit I made the decision to hang another set on the east side past the waterhole. My strategy is even if the wind swirls a bit maybe being in the trees and not on the field maybe our wind won’t swirl in the field due to us not being on the edge🤞🙏👍

With these exceptionally warm temps it really has slowed up the elk movement on us but we know we are in a good spot!

At about 6:20 pm we spotted an elk above us and to the east. We finally could see it was a spike he came from a totally different location however the wind swirling he never made us.

It’s difficult when you have game approach you above your location but we did everything right and he slowly came in, drank some water and actually walked all around us. At times right underneath and even smelled the steps on my ladder stand. He was all around for over an hour and in the process a small 2pt mule deer worked his way in and got a drink.

It was cool to watch the spike be a bit of a bully to the young buck. This is why I bowhunt, we had the spike elk directly below us, I swear he could hear our hearts beating, we never made eye contact, whenever he looked up I closed my eyes or squinted.

That made my night for sure, and all they both did was feed away.

We have almost an hour left and you never know what can happen in that time!

It wasn’t long and I spotted movement to the east where the spike feed out too…2 cows, 2 calves and a small 5 pt bull and the spike.

The bull came in and drank then the cows and calves, the bull splashed around then wallowed in the pond, they feed out into the plot and we waited till dark and as quiet as possible climbed down and hiked out of there. Was so happy for I didn’t hear any of the elk run, bark or anything so it was great!!!

Day 4……

Well are warm weather is still here but will be changing early next week, and yep that’s when I head out to UT but that’s ok, Vicki, Aubrey & RJ will be here hunting and maybe even Chett👍

We got down here to the new set super quiet and we have our prevailing S winds but still getting the kickback gusts that plague us all in any mountain or ridge style hunting.  No matter what I’m pumped to be here and have a chance to shoot a bull elk on our own property.

Ralph taking selfie with Eddie, the cameraman

At 5:00 we had a doe & Fawn come down to drink.

Vicki & Aubrey are having a tough go at it down with TopNotch Outfitters in New Mexico with Brian & Christian Newell and the family for they are dealing with heat in the upper 90’s🤬😖🤮

I didn’t get out yesterday for I had to go pick up RJ & Brandon @ Denver airport and it was great to hear all about their mountain goat adventure.

To get back to late yesterday I took the Tracker around the ridge and just wanted to glass the lower field and sure enough there were two bulls fighting pushing & shoving each-other so just maybe they will return this evening!🤞🙏👍

After the doe & Fawn drank they walked off to the south and a short time later my lil white & grey buddy came to drink

He is so cool, they must be a pretty solitary squirrel for we never see her with another.

I lied!!!! We just had two of them come by.

I watched one devour a pinecone so fast it reminded me of RJ eating pizza🤣😂

The wind really settled down by 6:15 or so and you could hear a pin drop. I did some light cow and calf calls to

Hopefully let them know elk are moving🤞🤞

We had one 3 pt come out of the draw to the west and then a smaller one came from the south then they just feed out there.

Day 5……

My last sit for we leave for KRO UT tomorrow morning. So I decided to give a morning a try down below.

We snuck down here super quiet and didn’t hear anything bust out. It’s very quiet and was hoping to hear some talking but no such luck. We can only hope the elk come thru to bed up in one of the valleys. I have done some cow & calf calls in hoping to create some movement in the valley.

As the sun rose above the mountains I knew the air would be warming up and our thermals would kick in but still no signs of animal movement. The elk are not vocal at all and can only hope that next weeks weather change will bring great activity for Vicki, Aubrey & RJ here.

So our morning was a bust but we were still out here and loving it👍

This afternoon we moved back to the original set on the north side of the waterhole. The wind is unpredictable for it’s swirling a lot still but mainly south with a little east so that is why we moved on the north side of the pond. Temps are still crazy warm or should I say HOT! But I have to try this will be my last here at home.

The sun is over the mountains and it’s my last hour of chance….. have not seen or heard any animal movement not even our white & gray squirrel wanted to show herself today….

I can only hope Vicki is having more luck with Christian @TopNotch Outfitters🤞🙏🙏👍

Unfortunately, I couldn’t check off a Bull Elk on our property from the bucket list this year but I will be back down below again this coming year! I thoroughly enjoyed being able to find peace in the pines on these hot September days. Til next year!