Good thing I killed an elk during archery season because I didn't even see one during rifle season.

Opening morning was all orange, my area that is normally uncrowned was just the opposite. I walked all morning since my planned spots were occupied. I saw some nice bucks but no elk.

Sunday was a sleep in due to hard snow and low visibility. We got 6" to 8".

The rest of the week I managed to find an area off the beaten track and void of hunters but with few elk. I saw only fresh tracks of a few single elk passing through.


We had 12 hunters in two camps this year. There were two small bulls and one cow killed. None of our hunters saw large numbers of elk.

As far as crowding, look at the bright side. Next year it'll be deserted, everyone will go someplace else to avoid the crowds......

Weird year, for sure--that's two in a row. I couldn't connect with the bull that I was after, but my buddy got his best in 30+ years of chasing elk. He just wanted the head, so I took him up on his offer to let me have the meat, and I continued with my futile quest.

Bringing home three big coolers full of boned out elk sure takes a some of the sting out of not killing one...