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MHF US Northwest => Hunting Wyoming => Topic started by: fish/hunt4ever on Apr 23, 2023, 10:02:53 AM
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Well it is almost time for us to apply for our tags. I know that the nonresident elk tag results should be out here in a couple weeks so we will see how people did. Pretty hard winter but around here the animals are doing good. See how the draw goes for us this year in a bit. Anyone else excited about this year, guess we will see if we can draw this year.
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I put in for a WY General Elk tag. A lot of talk about winter kill but they increased the tag allocations overall for Elk. I should know in a week or so if I drew.
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The elk numbers are good all over the state, deet numbers on the northern side faired well and it sounds like the western side sucked eggs for deer. Around me the deer and elk for the most part are doing good, elk better than deer in most areas though. Good luck on the draw and if successful good luck on the hunt.
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Thanks. I drew the general tag. Time to get serious.
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Good luck hunting 👍
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Good luck. Hope you get to the area you want without any problems
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Thanks. I drew the general tag. Time to get serious.
That's great Bruce, good luck, plenty of time to prepare.
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Thanks guys!
I basiclly prep year round physically anyway and ramp up in the spring. I need to hit the archery practice a little harder. Been shooting a few times a week lately.
I've hunted CO twice in the past 3 years and killed a cow with blackpowder last year.
I am very interested to see how WY compares to CO.
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Should compare some maybe not as many people at times though. Well we will see what we did not draw this next Thursday, then the planning on where to hunt starts amd what time off that we want and see if we can get it off.
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Well the big goose egg on drawing today. Guess general elk tag again.
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What would the drawing have given you??
Sounds like a general tag would be for either sex?? Or would it be just cows??
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I am guessing that he applied for a limited entry tag?
General tags work differently based on the season and unit. For Archery mine is either sex. If I use it for rifle it might be bull only in some units. It can get confusing.
I assume general tags are open to all residents?
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Yeah I tried for some special areas that are only allowed for so many tags a year, so the elk hunting is usually better as they are not hunted like a general area where whoever buys a tag over the counter, for residents, and goes and hunts the areas that are open for general tags. The deer hunt I put in for would allow the hunt to take place during the rut which most mule deer hunts are done long before the rut takes place. And then if we would have drawn an antelope tag we could hunt them, as that is a draw tag only.
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Can residents purchase preference points?
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We can only buy points for moose and bighorn sheep. Maybe mountain goat. I do not like the preference points system. I know people who like it and say you are going to draw a tag, but some areas would be a once in a lifetime draw when the points creep went up. The area I apply for has 175 tags with about 3000 applicants per year, not good odds but some draw it more often then others but still I have a chance every year besides knowing I will get a tag once every 20 years or so.
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Well some seasons opened up the other day, was really hot but now we have had rain and cooler Temps. Wondering if we are going to get the frost before the September 1st opening for doves and them all being gone. Only a couple more months before we are on the mountain chasing elk around. Can start with the rifle September 20th in one area, not sure if we will hit that one or just wait for October to be on the mountain.
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Gettimg close to being able to hunt some doves and archery season opens Friday. No archery hunting for us this year but did get the 6.5 PRC shot and a load that looks good, hopefully the turret shows up so we can shoot it a bit with that and make sure all is good. Now just to get all the rounds loaded for the other 6.5x284's and be ready chase everything around in October. Getting close, will see if we can find any grouse up on the mountain this weekend as we play and get the rose hips for the wife. Good luck everyone hitting the field this weekend.
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I am headed out there next week. I picked up a small game license as well. Are there many grouse in the mountains?
I shot a few last year in the mountains of CO.
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This year with the weather and all I have heard the grouse numbers are way up, hoping tonsee a few tomorrow as I head up on the mountain and play for a day and let the wife get some rose hips. My brother said some of the elk he has seen up high are talking a bit. Only a few more weeks and I will be up there chasing the elk around and the daughter wants a deer tag as well. Coworker has been down in Colorado hunting with his brother this week have not heard how his brother and friend have done down there. Weather might be moving in this weekend so that might help. Deer for rifle starts in some places the 15th of September and antelope opens the 16th for almost all the areas, some are open now. Cannot believe how fast it can all come up when you are working it away.
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I had a great trip out there! I only shot 1 grouse but I was able to get a bull last Wednesday.
Evening 1 - I was able to locate a bull to chase the next morning.
Day 2 all day - I chased that bull all the way to his bed. I worked around the herd and got above them with good wind. I got in tight around 3PM and made some calls. More times then not a bull just picks up the herd and moves away, same thing here. Then I had a calf come running in at 15 yards. Then I tried shadowing the herd because they were moving slowly. I had let out some calf calls to try and get a pinpoint on the bull but he stopped responding. Next thing I know a small bull pops over the hill looking at me. I was able to noc an arrow and range him at 43. I only had a frontal so I passed on that. I moved down the ridge a bit and had another smaller bull come walking broadside. He was going to step out at 20 but the wind changed. Then it got dark.
Day 3 all day - same area but much quieter. I bumped 1 elk midday. I mostly tried to get between bedding areas and calf call to pull something out. There was 1 bull with cows in there. At 5 PM he moved them down the drainage away from me.
Day 4 Morning - New spot. I worked up a ridge for the first hour and I was going to try calling over a north face because it looked like good bedding on the map. I get almost there and a bull bugles to my left. I sit tight because I think he was headed my way. Then another bull bugles. They start screaming and I can hear the 2nd bull glunking. So I decide to push in close. He had 2 cows and was raking. I get the wind right and move in to about 60 yards while he is occupied. I should have just sat tight because he may have moved my way since the other bull was pestering him but I decided to challenge him and of course he just pushed the cows up the ridge and went on screaming. Way too fast to keep up to though. Really awesome encounter like you dream of.
Day 4 Evening - I pick a new spot to call and listen for bugles. I get in to about 1/4 mile from where I want to stop to call and I bump an elk. I decided to sit tight and see what happens. Maybe 10 minutes later a bull bugles off the point where I wanted to go. Then 10 minutes later he bugles at about 100 yards. I let out a calf call. Then 1 minute later I catch him at about 60 yards going broadside and walking towards my wind. So I cast a calf call to my right into the wind. He turns on a dime and starts coming my way. He gets to 30 yards and I draw. Then he turns right at me. Before I have an opening to stop him he is at about 7 yards! So I put my pin
on his shoulder while he is walking and I release. I get a good hit. He turns and I send out a few calls and he stops at 20 on a hard quarter away. I send another arrow and it is another good hit. He goes maybe 10 more yards he stands for a few minutes and finally crashes!!!!!
I couldn’t believe that it all came together. I backed out and got my buddy. We got back before sunset. We quartered, deboned, hung the meat, and caped him out. We finished up at 1:30 AM.
We got a little rest and headed back in at 8 AM. It started to rain at 9. Then at noon it started to snow. We finished up at 2PM.
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Awesome job Bruce and beautiful bull..
Congratulations..👍👍✌️✌️✌️✌️✌️
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Thanks Dom. It was incredible. Know any good taxidermists?
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I have retired from mounting heads due to my hands don’t work very well anymore.. Just sticking to skulls now a days Bruce.. But your hunt sounds awesome..
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I take it you were able to bring the antlers and cape home??
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Awesome story with a great bull!! Congrats seems like a hunt of a lifetime.
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I take it you were able to bring the antlers and cape home??
Yes. I caped it out that night. Never caped out an animal before in my life. I just took my time. I actually had my sawzall with me so I packed that in and cut off the skull and cleaned it up the next day.
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That sounds and looks like a great hunt, what a bull. Would be great to get one like that. We are headed up next weekend to get up on the mountain and chase them with the rifle. Hopefully we can find some. We will hit October 1st for opener then have to cover my coworker while he tries to find a couple elk then I head up for a few more days to hopefully just get a legal one. We can kill any bull for the first 10 days then spikes excluded for the rest of the season. By chance what area did you harvest that one. Awesome job.
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Sent you a PM.
It is interesting how many different seasons and rules there are.
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Oh yeah and the changing of the regulations at times so always have to keep up on the latest, and sometimes the interpretation of the way it is written gets pretty interesting. Could have been rifle hunting kind of where I hunt this weekend and another area opens Tuesday for the rifle my area opens the 1st. But most opens the 1st around me so to many options at times.
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Well no shots fired, did see a nice 6 point that someone shot, we heard the shots and kind of know where he was taken, we had some action just would bugle and move on. It was fun but cannot wait to be back up there.
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Well we have 2 elk down and 3 to go. Will post later about the adventures.
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Very nice. Can’t wait to hear the stories.
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Just got off the mountain, had to come home early for a swim meet for the kids. We went to the mountain on the first of october and we had elk around and one bugling close but he would not come over the hill to show us what he was. The first elk we got on the ground we came back up to the mountain on Wednesday afternoon after work and got things thrown in the camper jumped in the side by side and headed up the mountain to see where all the pressure and snow was at. While heading in seen a cow standing up on a ridge so it was looking good the elk were up and moving. Drove to a glossing spot and was looking around and my dad said hey there are elk over there. Got the spotting scope over there and could not find them. So looked through my binos and seen I was way overlooking them. Found a cow and said if there is a bull we better get closer and walk in and see. Drove down closer and stopped and looked over and seen elk, so slide everyone out the drivers side and snuck over to the edge and started glossing. Seen a couple cows and calves. Seen something down a little lower and thought well maybe it is grass that I am staring at through the trees and then it moved and out stepped the bull, got the wife on the sticks and said he is 450 and aim here since the turret we ordered for the scope leupold sent the wrong one and have not been able to correct that yet. She leveled the gun and shot and we could not yell if it hit or not but the bull did not move far but trying to see his rack in the trees was being tricky. He moved again and I could tell that it was the bull and the wife shot again and you could hear the hit. He stepped over and I watched his hind in fall down. Then we drove over to the access to head in to drag him out. Found him just before dark. Took a few pictures and then quartered him up and started dragging. Got back to camp around 11 pm and decided to sleep in the next morning since I had been up since around 340 am and dad and the wife had not slept much the night before. Was a good afternoon hunt while we were just making plans for where we wanted to start the next morning.
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The next day we drove around mid day looking around and ran into some elk but could not tell what one was as we had it standing broad side at 101 yards and could not see it head. The kids showed up later that afternoon and we jumped in the SxS and headed up the mountain. Looked around and did not see much so went down the road where we had shot off of the night before and driving down the wife said hold up a minute and I looked through the window that I had just cut and made and seen elk moving. Jumped out and cows and a calf running up so since youth can shoot any elk got the girls on the guns. Oldest daughter is asking the younger sister which one she is going for and youngest is just focused. I told her not to worry and pick one. Youngest shoots and whap seen the blood running down good hit. The oldest starts shooting and I hear another hit as I am trying to get the youngest back on hers as it falls down. I watch another one go down it looks like as well. We go and park and head in to find the downed elk. Find the first one and head up higher to see where the other one went down and nothing. Come to find out both girls shot the same elk. But since the youngest drew first blood and was a perfect hit I gave it to her, oldest was mad for a bit but got over it later. Quartered up and drug down the horse trail.
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This was the first 2 night we were on the mountain.
Hunted a few more days in elk every day just nothing for good shots or close enough. Daughter had to head back Sunday night and we hunted more. Had several times could fill the youth tag but non around. Had several close encounters with bugling bulls but they would gather the cows and head away from us. But Thursday headed in early but was not able to hit the area I wanted bull bugle and we were not able to find him. Hit a spot the wife did not want to go any further as it was down hill and she did not want to climb back up it as we already did a bunch of climbing in the morning to get here. Circled down and around seeing what the elk were doing while the wife sat for a bit. As dad and I circled all the sudden seen elk moving. Spike was seen but the part of the season for spikes excluded had started. Then seen branched bull. Got settled and seen opening and boom could not tell if hit or not but seen elk moving around no other bulls seen. The one still standing there then moved so we could not see him. Snuck over to see if it was a hit and stepped around a tree and there he was laying there. Seen him breathing so hit him behind the ear. Dad's bull down.
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Dad had to head out to get girlfriend to airport and take care of house for a minute so he headed out and the wife and I headed back in to quarter and drag out. 5 hours later hit the old road and then back to camp. Got pictures later that night with dad and his bull.
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Driving around the next day seen a old buddy and his kid and his kid kept missing with his 257 so set him up with the 6.5x284 and set the turret and he shot and missed a few times but the buck came in closer and he hit him and we got him knocked down.
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The daughter came back up Thursday night and we hunted hard for her elk. Friday night we drove to a spot and I walked down to see where the elk had moved through in the morning when we drove into them. I thought I heard a cow call so got my calls out and called heard one talk back and called again. Thinking I better head and get the daughter and gun. And out stepped a calf. Ran back grabbed kid and her gun. Walked back down got her set up and she started walking back in and I stopped her with a cow call and the daughter shot and heard the hit. Jumped her up once and could not see another shot opportunity, searched around and followed minimal blood spots and as I circled around and searched about and hour after I walked around and looked towards where I just walked see and elk butt. Look and it is still heads up amd laying there. It jumped and took off. Found some clotted blood and nothing after that. She hit her in the hump. While driving towards camp seen a pick up in the road and while getting around them my dad says he is flagging you down. Stopped and asked if they needed anything and he said no just waving but since you stopped have a bull down and if we wanted to help pack out. Well I k kw the area and we drove down hooked up and drug back so we could get pickup close and close to quarter him up and not worry about the bear getting on there or us.
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Went and looked around a bit the next morning in another area and nothing much. Headed back to were the daughter hit the one to see if we could see anything of a dead elk and nothing she is doing good. Headed out to look at some other places we have seen elk and stopped at one I really wanted to check out started heading down and seen so.e movement and elk walking across. Ran back got daughter and guns amd went to see what was all there. Seen the one I seen to begin with and tried to set the daughter up but still not out if the trees enough. Snuck up and set her up and seen more on the other side so looked more cows and calves so nothing for me to shoot at. Daughter gets set, set turret and she shoots and hit. She runs a bit and falls down. Drive and grab her and get pictures and quarter her up and head to camp.
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The 15th our last day is when my dad's additional tag opened so drove over to that side of the highway and looked around. Nothing but some deer and moose. The boss was with and wanted to fill his deer tag and we did not find any bucks just does and fawns. They were looking good this year. More to come for the last week on the mountain to come later.
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Looks like the freezers are full..
Nice job..👍👍✌️✌️
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That is some great action! Thanks for sharing the stories.
Did you notice any evidence of a big winter kill? My BIL hunted in CO with a guide a little south of WY and his guide talked a lot about winter kill when they were not finding elk.
I know there were plenty of elk where I was in WY.
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The winter kill was mainly over on the western side of the state, I know this last winter on the winter range the game and fish had 11 to 15 thousand head of elk and they really only want a out 10 thousand head. The bad thing is they opened up some earlier cow tags, which is nice but the migratory elk they want to harvest are not moving at that time so we are taking the local herd instead. But maybe some of the migratory herd will full in amd stay a bit lower, change up some of the herd genetics.
I know my brother has hunted around this side of the state and said in some areas where he has seen lots of deer this year was not as bountiful. We seen a good sign of deer and elk where we hunted and lots of fat on all the ones we took. They are looking really good going into this winter.
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Well the last week of the month was fun and we chased a lot of elknaround, just not hunting the side we killed all the elk in the beginning but the side where my dad's cow tag were valid. He missed one and then the next night nothing came out, we found several grouse and killed a few for a good dinner. Seen a grizzly bear amd just a little while later dad killed a cow. Was fun and should go into more detail just been slow getting on. Quartered the cow up and down to the jeep forgot phone for photos. Then seen some the last morning of the hunt, came down for a swim meet for the kids and watched them.do a good job. Now on to pheasants.
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Great job.
I think it would be fun to just hunt grouse for a few days.
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Well the next season started and opted into buying the pheasant stamp to go hunt released birds. First spot one hen and a rooster the dog jumped way out and I missed and others had gun issues. Hit another spot found 2 roosters that people shot and lost and I knocked one hen down. Went to another spot and started jumping birds. Must have been 30 birds. Filled out the limit of all of us, lost one bird that went down in the cattails and we could not find it. But was a fun day. Went out the next day, a bit windy but still found a few birds.
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Got home today from swimming and had enough time to go hunting for a little while and found a couple that I got and missed a couple.
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Nice looks like fun…✌️✌️
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Well as the year comes to a close I am hoping to do one more day or so pheasant hunting to see what I can find, just this year being warm with a bunch of snow then nothing has been interesting tonsay the least to find birds and not have them just run away and not fly or run on to private. Then time comes to apply for tags and all, nonresident elk tags are due the end of January for the state. Good luck to all who apply.
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I would love to get back out West this year but my oldest boy turns 12 in July. So we’ll be concentrating on whitetails. I am hoping to take him for the mid September doe hunt here in NY for his first deer hunt.
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The nice thing with a youth tag out here is that allows them to take any animal with the rifle or archery. Well I guess they changed deer this year and they have to follow the rules as much as the adults just with the hard winter we had. But for elk it is nice that they can shoot anything. Have fun with the boy, the kids are always my first priority then the wife and dad, then me.