Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Calling all ELY NV. Beeeg-Bulls ...

My (lucky) cousin Chris, drew a Non-res rifle Elk tag for the units around Ely NV.
I am going to forego my N.E. Oregon Elk season-opener, to scout and asssit him on this hunt. This will likely be a once-in-a-lifetime tag for him, since it took so many years to draw and he's now in his late 50's. We have been intensley poring over BLM and National-Forest maps for months and I have printed out detailed TOPO's on waterproof paper for him, covering the areas we want to pre-season scout.
We are driving down from the Portland, Oregon area, and plan to place a 22-ft travel trailer on the valley floor (around 6,500 ft) as a base camp. He is also bringing along 2 llamas as pack animals and he is prepared to spike-camp out with them, if it helps him access a promising remote location.

The hunt dates are Nov. 4th - 14th. Watching the weather there, its been highs in the 60's lately with lows right around freezing. It appears to be a dry-side part of the state, with an average monthly rainfall of only .6" for November and November highs/lows around 48/18 F.
This hunt covers 7 units around ELY and East to the Utah Border. With only 160 or so tags, the harvest stats are amazing. Something like 120 (6x6 or larger) bulls were harvested last year. Chris is in good shape and a great spot/stalk hunter. He will be carrying his trusty .300 Win mag and has my ATT .300 Weatherby along as a back-up.
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Soooo ... my questions for anyone who may have done this particular hunt (in the last few years) or may live in the area:

1) Are there any gotchas" ...we should loook out for ?
I'm assuming the increasing cold, will negate snakes, scorpions, Veloci-raptors, etc.
2) Is this a High winds area, where snow drifts or blown-down trees are potential problems?
3) Are the National Forest roads over there well signed ?
4) Are the roads mostly gravel ... or will any wet roads be extremely slick/gooey ?
5) What are the GPS coordinates of any 400+ bulls you have (recently) seen ?
6) Does this cammo pattern make my Butt look big ??

7) Does the map-dot named Majors-Place actually have gas and diesel ?

Thanks for any inputs ... Film at 11.


Silver Bullet

168gr TSX ... just an "Einstein" below the speed-o-light

I'd suggest you do two things.
First, have MyTopo.com make you a set of 1 to 30,000 scale maps of your hunting area. These are far more up to date than the USGS maps and show alot more useful info than the USFS or BLM maps show. I've hunted Nevada some and have learned this the hard way.
Second, after looking up that's area's information on the Nevada Dept of Wildlife's website, get on the phone and talk to the area's biologist. They are tough to catch, but well worth the effort.
Yes, some of the roads are not for anything other than proper 4WD trucks w/o an RV either on them or behind them. So find out what the scoop is.
I understand you may well need the llamas. The elk are typically very high and in remote areas there.
Yes, Nevada has alot more really big, quality elk than anybody else. Getting a tag is the only problem. E

E I think you will find more and bigger elk in Utah but Nevada has it's share...I'd even pick Arizona over Nevada if I was looking for quality!

Have not hunted there but worked there. Private land owners are extremly protective of their lands, beware of private land. The roads can go to hell with some moisture, temps and wind could be very cold without snow. Take tire chains and keep the RV on the good roads. Glass extensively and good luck

Know Sir. Never have but look were any sane person would and than start from there. Best of luck and let us know.

Yep. That is the same area where a husband and wife from British Columbia, in a van, got lost and stuck last February, or so. Forty three days later, some shed hunters found her in the van, very near death. Her husband's bones are scattered and bleaching somewhere out there now.

It never hurts to be prepared for an emergency in that country.

L.W.

Worked at Great Basin NP near there,,, wonderful country it is,,, good luck and yep be prepared.

Thanks E. (and good-luck on your quest) The 7 units together, cover several thousand square miles and almost half of that is potential hunting area ... so it would take a lot of maps ! He does have 6 of their hunt-unit maps (at $15/pop). I've tried to print terrain details of specific canyons and bowls, that from my Elk-chasing experience, have the ingredients to atract and hold post-rut Elk.

Once the travel trailer is dropped off and the llamas tethered, we'll be motoring around in a Dodge Ram 3/4T 4x4 and my Denali AWD ... both carrying chains x 4 (and shovels). Also plan on having an extra spare wheel/tire along, for each rig. I will be the designated gopher, for any gas, diesel, water re-supply and flat repair trips to town, etc. We are typically wall-tent Elk hunters (when we know a specific location we will be hunting). But, with the widely dispersed range of areas that he could potentially hunt, the travel trailer was simply a way to quickly move the base of operations from the foothills of one mountain range to another (50-60 miles apart). On a 10-day hunt, cutting the round-trip commute time/distance down from 100 miles/day to 10 miles/day or less, eliminates a lot of stress on the hunter and gives you more time for planning and "recuperation" (aka: Sleep).

We plan to separately video the canyons (and any bulls) that we scout, then view them on a flat screen computer monitor each night, back at the trailer. Chris is a Pareto-principle hunter ... he's one of the 20% of public-land (hard-core) DIY hunters that annually harvest 80% of the bulls. While he has taken several bulls in the 300-320 range, this could be an opportunity for a 340+ class bull.

We did note that since Feb. 2010, you can now carry a firearm through a National Park, so it makes potentially skirting the edges of Great Basin Nat-park (to access nearby basins), less problematic.
Any recent input on Majors-Place ? ? Gas / Diesel / Cheese-boogers ?

... Silver Bullet

Whack-em ... Stack-em ... and (llama) Pack-em

Sounds good to me SB. I've learned that mobility and flexibility in elk hunting are very important. The idea of scouting some potentially good places and taking lots of time doing it is just what I'm doing now. Heck, I'm headed out there again in about 25 mins.
My best to both of you. E

Please give us a summary of your hunt when you return. I have 6 Nevada PP and expect to hunt that same area before I die. Good luck and get there as early as you can before the season starts.

I have spent lots of time around that general area of nevada. your hunt is going to really really depend on the weather. if it snows a bunch that will move the animals out of the high country and down lower, at this point there is really no telling whats going to happen, it will depend totally on the amount of snowfall the area gets. other than knowing the area I don't see a whole lot of use scouting the area unless its right before the hunt. elk move all over, and they can be thick in one area and be gone the next day. why not arrive 2-3 days early before the hunt starts and get to know the unit, perhaps animals you might see might still be there when the hunt opens. the area is remote and the roads are generally all gravel, be prepared, shovels, winch, (or high lift jack for winching) a ground anchor like a pull pal would be nice. tire chains, etc. this is some very very remote country. I recommend a benchmark map of nevada. be prepared for just about any weather condition. I love the hideserts of that part of nevada.

Have been perusing several of the Outfitters web sites that guide in the area and based on their (bragging-wall) photo galleries, they take some very nice bulls. Found it interesting, that while several of them mention possibly hunting on horse-back, as well as from 4-wheelers (ugh !), they don't seem to offer any wall-tent "camps" ... located out in the hunting areas. They prefer to have their hunters stay in Motels in ELY and get picked up each day, then driven (along with their box lunch ?) to different hunt areas. Hmmm ... I may need to re-negotiate my Bwana agreement ? ... could get used to a hot shower, a steak dinner, a warm bed and maid-service ??

But, that also leads me to the conclusion that with the mountain ranges (that generally run North/South) only being 8-12 miles wide, that these elk get pushed around a lot and the supposed guides just drive their clients around, until they (or one of their assistant guides) spot something worth taking a run at.

Watching the Ely Weather lately �. It's been 14 degrees overnight, with about an inch of snow so far above 7,500 ft and 15 mph winds. I may need to order-up another inflatable Halle Berry doll, to help keep me warm at night. Certainly have been sorting through my Hunting clothes, deciding on what to take, based on their "warmth" factor.

I did pick up a used Laptop to take along, so we can continue to examine the National Geo TOPO maps in the evenings ... and borrowed a Swaro 20-60x spotting scope, that is guaranteed to "hook-em and fry-em". But afraid I can't offer any Emericus-like story updates, until the hunt is over, as there's no coverage out there. Film at 11 ...

... Silver Bullet

One riot ... One Ranger

Got to admit a hot shower, a warm camper and sleeping between sheets at night sure helps keep me rested and fed. We old guys need all the help we can get. E

It always rains when I go; or snows before, then melts. Roads are very gumbo-y. Temperature in Nov. right brisk. I had a canteen freeze solid one night when I was camped up the mountain from Comins Lake. I only have 2wd these days and can't get back very far. Good luck.
Karl

What do Long-underwear, 8000 ft, Nevada and November ... all have in common ?
.
.
yup ... COLD !

Well, the Beeeg-Bull season in our Nevada hunt-unit runs until Nov. 14th ... but I'm already back home in Portland, so that can only mean one of two things ....

A) I froze to death and like the European Ice-man, they shipped my desiccated body home ... or
B) my cousin whacked a Beeeg-Bull ...

I'm in a bit of a pickle here, cause I want to share all the details/photos of this recent hunt, but the shooter is considering submitting a Trophy magazine article ... so I will give you some lead in and try to answer the general questions a few of you had about the hunt units themselves, the terrain, our strategy, as well as what I observed while scouting ... till this all shakes out.

Nevada ... one of the few states where you can drive for 5 hours though endless-nothing ... and when you get there, still be surrounded by "nothing". I will say in all fairness, that I'm not tough-enough, to live (at altitude) in Nevada ... It's cold, it's barren .... its sparsely inhabited ... there's no cell-phone coverage ... Did I mention that its Cold ?? Mornings were anywhere from 4 to 7 degrees at the basin floor (@ 6,200 feet) and the 15-35 mph winds generated wind chills that would turn even Bill Clintons "Wille" ... into a "Wee-Willie". The upper exposed ridges of the North/South running mountain ranges, with peaks from 9,500 to 13,000 feet, looked truly uninhabitable.

On the way down there, I was driving the Denali, cruise-control set just a smidge above the speed limit ... but was regularly passed by BMW 6 and 7 series, Audi A8's and Mercedes C-class coupes ... (see any pattern here) ? Oh yeah ... and big Dodge Pickups ... often-times towing something ... even if it was an empty trailer.

You know you're approaching serious Elk country ... when you leave Wells NV, heading South on highway 93 toward Ely and the yellow warning sign says "Elk Crossing .... next 57 miles " !!
This area was also likely the birthplace of smoke-signals as a means of communication ... because it takes so long to get anywhere ... even when driving a 4WD. Note-to-self ... Never pass an open gas station (without filling up) ... because they are truly scarce ... and no, the "town" (really just a wide-spot in Highway 50) called Majors Place ... has neither gas nor diesel.

Much of the terrain in the foothills looks like the backdrops from old Gene Autry and Roy Rogers movies ... scattered Junipers, interspersed with "rea"l house-sized rocks/boulders (not the paper machie boulders of the Star Trek TV series). The non-paved roads we traveled, were almost exclusively rock ... but not nicely graded crushed gravel ... but rather the sharp broken remnants of base rock, that was run over with a cat blade. 10-ply tires are highly recommend.
(to be continued)

... Silver Bullet

If it looks like a Duck, walks and quacks like a Duck .... ya better have a Duck-tag.

Yep, that's Ely. I live there. Which areas did your cousin hunt? There are some big elk in our area, more than mule deer in my opinion. The largest bull I've seen was in one of the mountains on that drive down to Ely from Wells. 22 cows in his harem.

Three years ago as I was using my Hootchie Mamma to call I was literally almost run down by a Bull deep into the rut. Had to yell and wave my arms to get him to stop. Of course I only had a cow tag.

OH Sure ... now that I'm back, you tell me you live in Ely. Where were you when I asked about the GPS coordinates of any 400-class Bulls ... ? - - - (just kidding).

After an evening stay in La Grande (Halloween), I had hopped onto I-84 on Nov 1st and ran non-stop to Wells, then on to Ely, where I picked up a few BLM maps and another Natl-Forest map (Humboldt). Since that was the last place for cell-phone coverage, I was supposed to have a voice-mail message awaiting me, as to where camp was set-up ... "Nada". So with just 1.5 hours of daylight left, off I headed, toward a 50-mile distant gravel road (that I had selected off Google-Earth) as a suggested camp site. The plan was to get a few miles off the paved road in the basin floor (6200 ft), have room to tether the llamas, but not climb anything too rough/steep, so the trailer could be easily moved if we needed to bug-out due to snow. I located the vacant camp trailer, 1.5 miles in at 6500 ft and left a note that I would be scouting till dark, from up near the end of the road (approx 6900 ft).

It was possible to glass the hillsides right from my truck and spot elk anywhere from 1 to 3 miles away, using Zeiss 10x Classics. It was usually possible to determine which Elk were Bulls by their coloration, body size, posture and location. When in doubt, a quick switch to my LP 20-40x spotting scope, could confirm headgear. As dusk approached and the light dimmed, or if I needed to count points and estimate a score, I would switch to a (borrowed) Swarovski 90mm spotter. <- - Don't leave home without it !
Returning to camp, I located my cousin and we compared notes (as he had already scouted for 2 days) and we formed a plan for scouting over the next 2 days, before the season opened on the 4th. We decide to split up and thus cover more ground.

Wed Nov. 2 ... With one cup-o-joe and an already stale Costco croissant in hand, I was in place to scout, 15 minutes before daylight. The morning dawned high-desert clear and cold. I was facing West, as the sun struggled to climb above the range behind me and draw a curtain of brilliant sunlight slowly down the faces of the peaks ahead of me. By 7am I had 15 Elk feeding about a mile away in yellow grass, atop a low ridge. The herd held a spike, a rag-horn, a small 6x6 (<300) and a Bull that would probably go 340 ... "If" his left antler matched his typical 6x6 right side. But it didn't, the left antler was a single long/fat beam with a fist-sized club on the end. Too bad.

Next, a herd of 6 Elk came out into the yellow grass, on the ridge right ahead of me ... all cows, with one mommas-boy raghorn. All of these Elk were within a mile of me. At 9:05am, as if someone rang a bell, they all drifted down into their adjacent draws and bedded out of sight.
Notice (another) pattern here ... same elevation, all feeding in yellow grass ... all out of sight by 9am. This disappearing act (at 9am) was a morning feeding pattern, that I was to observe over the next 3 days, regardless of the elevation, terrain or sex of the Elk. ... (to be continued)

... Silver Bullet

If you get the chance to sit-it-out ... or Dance ....
... DANCE !

Wednesday night, we headed South together in the Denali and battled our way up a rocky, narrow (scrape the paint off your rig) approach road, to glass from its terminus. Spotted 3 bulls (higher up), with just enough light left, to verify they were 6x6 +. We also spotted one additional access road, that led up to a short butte, but it had a pick-up already parked atop it, so we passed.

The plan for Thursday morning (our last day before the season opener), was to remain split-up for scouting and I was going to head over to the unvisited knob before daylight, to have the advantage of the sun behind me.
It was still black out, as I drove the paved road and took what I thought was the correct gravel road West ... but after a 1/2 mile it forked ? Taking the left fork, it became more and more narrow ... until it turned sharpley left and suddenly I couldn't see any roadbed ahead in the headlights. I stopped ...got out and using a big Maglite ... verified that the road dropped off (just ahead of my bumper) ... off a 5-foot cliff, straight down into a wash. Yeow ! ... twas a good thing I stopped.

Backed up, jockeyed a 4 point turn in the brush and took the other fork. I can now see a dim outline of a knob off to the North and I take a fork that leads toward it. The road goes down gently, into a couple washes, narrows and starts up the right side of the knob. This knob seems taller and more rocky than what I remembered from yesterday ... but I continue up steeply, as the road narrows. Losing momentum, I gas it and the rear-end breaks loose and heads down hill ... I keep my foot in it, counter-steer uphill and the AWD shifts torque to the front end and I climb back up onto the roadbed ... or what there was left of it. Now stopped sideways, the truck is listing to the right, like the Titanic and I stop, apply the parking brake and wonder as I cautiously get out, if the whole rig is about to turn "Turtle". The flashlight reveals that the "road" narrows into 4-wheeler trail (that based on the tall undisturbed yellow grass, hasn't been driven on, this entire Summer).

Great ... if this baby rolls over, I'll be trapped (upside-down) in a rig that is hidden in a hole, screened by Junipers, on a road that no sane-person will likely drive on, in the next 5 years. I scouted the area behind the rig, laid out some white limbs to mark a desired back-up path ... and with the side mirrors tilted down (seat-belted in, drivers window up ) somehow managed to back-up hard to the left (stopped at the apex) dial in a hard right and spin around downhill, fighting my way back onto the approach road. Even though it was only 15 degrees out, I opened the drivers window, cause I was "sweating".

Now it was just light enough out, to locate the correct knob, drive over and begin my 3 hours of glassing. If I can upload a photo, I will indicate on it, where the 13 branch-bulls I spotted that morning, were located. Hint ... once again, look for a "pattern".

... Silver Bullet

Rust ( and Gravity ) ..... never sleep !

More ! More ! Please...... ! E

Test - Embedded Photo below ...

Assuming the terrain photo has been posted above, this will be the key to interpreting the letter symbols. By the way ... all Elk sightings (over a 3 hour period) Thursday morning were Bulls-only. No cows were spotted. That's 13 Elk .... 13 Branch Bulls ... 4 of them 340 or better ...2 - "Monsters". For those familiar with this area, they may recognize the exact location ... and they will know that the skyline is well over 10,000 feet in elevation.

A - a lone 6x7 Bull ... feeding unconcerned in the sagebrush, right at the edge of the timber, in bright sunlight.

B - a lone 6x6+ Bull, slowly feeding across a sagebrush opening

C - The largest Bull of the morning, long-beamed Monster 6x6+ (est. 380) ... bedded down under a Juniper, until 3 smaller Bulls fed across the sagebrush opening toward him (from D).

D - Spotted these 3 Bulls first (at 7am) feeding broadside across the hill. Two smaller 6x6's and one 5x5. They were out feeding for over an hour. When they got within 75 yards of the bedded Monster ... he stood up, stretched out, swaggered a few steps forward, raised his head, stretched out his neck, threw his antlers back and stared downhill at them ... like "What do you Boyz think you are doing ... on MY Hillside !"

E - Small 6x5 feeding alone in the Junipers ... bumped back into the timber, by 2 apporaching horseback hunters (don't think they even saw him).

F - Quintet of Bulls (all under 320) ... several were gently sparring with each other, on the steep but sunlit sagebrush hillside.

G - Another Huge Bull ... 7x7+ (lots of non-typical points) ... but he fed into the trees, before I could get a solid tine-count/estimate on him.

Anyone noticing any pattern(s) here .... ? ?

As before, when the 9am bell rang ... everyone was back into the timber, completely out of sight.

... Silver Bullet

Never trust a man - who doesn't reload his own "Boolits"