grndhntr

Sun. Jan. 7

OK, I started out today on my cow elk hunt. I wasn't sure how all our snow was going to affect the hunt, but I found out quick. After I got stuck trying to park, digging myself out and cutting branches to put under the tires, I was set. I started to hike and found out quickly that I wasn't going anywhere without snowshoes. I went back to the car and got them and started up the trail at 7:30. I use trail lightly. It's not on any map, but it takes me where I want to hunt.
The snow was from 2-3 feet. It was up to my knees sometimes with the snowshoes on. This was going to be tough. I discovered that I couldn't be quiet with the snowshoes on either- hopefully I would find an elk where I could take them off for the final stalk.
15 min. from the car I saw an elk so I cocked the crossbow and very ungracefully started my snowshoe stalk. It turned out to be 5 bulls so I continued.

Dnk

Grnd, I assume this is a self guided hunt. Where exactly are you? Very cool picture, small but cool.

grndhntr

Sorry guys. Didn't mean to do an attachment.

grndhntr

Yeah, dnk. my camera is slow and this is the best I could get on these bulls. They didn't get the memo that I had a cow tag so they took off quick.

grndhntr

So I continued over the ridge and down the other side. I found 1 set of tracks and left them alone assuming it was another bull. In my experience it's rare for a cow to be travelling alone. Now the drainage I was in leads to a creek which leads to another creek which is where I was headed. The north side of the valley where the last creek is (I'm being a bit vague in case others might want to invade my little spot) is fairly open and I was hoping a herd might be digging through the snow on that south facing slop to get to the grass. BTW, we normally don't get this much snow here at this time of year so I'm a little unsure of where the elk are going to be. Here's my valley.

grndhntr

Oops, That's a picture of the deer I saw on the way in. Hopefully this is the valley picture.

grndhntr

I continued to hunt through the day, but my legs were giving out. I probably walked about 5 miles total but it felt like 20. I had to pick up more weight every time I lifted the snowshoes. After building a fire and having lunch, I decided to follow the tracks I found earlier to see if I could find the bull. I like to follow tracks even if I don't end up sneaking up on the animal. I learn a lot about where they like to bed and eat. About 1 PM the wind picked up.

grndhntr

I followed the tracks for over an hour, but never saw the elk. It saw me though. I could tell by how it was running. He tried to shake me by going down and through the roughest country he could. I finally had to give up as it started to get dark and I was beat. Here's a pic. of his tracks diving off a steep slope to try to shake me.

grndhntr

More tomorrow...

Dnk

Goodnight grnd! Have a good sleep, sounds like you earned it. I huntied near Buford one year and I the slopes were steep and you could see for miles. Do they talk about quakies and parks and dark timber?