I have hunted elk five times now. I had a cow tag the first year and while I did see elk my then hunting partner wasn't up to going down in the canyon after them. The second year I had a cow tag and the first thing I saw was a five point bull. I got my new partner and we managed to get on him after another hunter spooked him down the canyon. He was near the bottom in dead fall city and it took two more days to get him out. I had one day left to get a cow, found some cows, and another hunter spooked them just as I was getting ready to shoot. I didn't get anything.
Three years ago my partner and I both had either sex tags. We got on a herd at 400 yards on the last day. We only saw cows at first but then I spotted a bull up higher. I use a 300 Weatherby which was 10" low at 400 yards with that load. I held a little high since he was over 400 yards but we were shooting steeply down hill and I shot over him. My partner killed him and I killed a cow so at least I had my first elk.
Last year we went on a high dollar guided hunt in Montana and never saw a legal bull.
I was frustrated and this year I was determined to get my bull. I am 62 years old and not getting any stronger so I figured it was now or maybe never. My partner couldn't go this year so my wife went with me. We drove to Grand Junction and I bought a second season OTC bull tag. We then went back to the steep little canyon where my partner and I had taken our last three elk. It is right next to the road and you can drive all around the top. It is a haul getting up but it is easy once you reach the top. It is steep though so it gets very little hunting pressure and it has elk. We got there Thursday and set up camp and then went looking in the evening.
Saturday morning they were gone. Later I spotted the big five point down in the next little side canyon. He was feeding in a strip of deadfalls running down hill. We drove around the top and went down the ridge across from him. By the time we got down about level with him he had laid down in the timber. We were at 500 yards. I could see a patch of hair through the pine boughs with the spotting scope. I got my sticks set, consulted my drop card, dry fired a few times and settled in to wait for him to get up. While we were waiting I took a closer look at how we would get him out. He was in the dead falls which was bad enough but there was also a rim rock above him. There was a shallow draw up through the rim rock that maybe we could get up but it is probably near vertical. Above the rim rock the slope eased some but it was still full of dead falls. There weren't any good routes. I finally decided to leave him be and we climbed back to the top. He was back up feeding, broadside, when we reached the top.
We didn't see another bull that we could reach until Tuesday. He was a raghorn with a broken tine on one side. His brow tines were well over five inches so he was legal but with the broken tine he was a 3 X 2. I couldn't get motivated to go down in the canyon to kill him so we just watched him until he disappeared. No bulls Wednesday but it snowed about four inches. Thursday started out dead but I spotted my bull at 11:00 AM. He was feeding. It was the small five point we saw Friday morning.
