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Continued....

After 22 minutes the fog began to slowly dissipate exposing the area where the elk had been. I felt like I was playing, and losing, at the game of “Where’s The Elk” with a mountain side. They were gone ~ vanished into the ether....

I guessed they had either busted over the top of the ridge or went South into a stand of dense cover that was another ridge away from me....I was almost certain it was the latter and I had an idea why.

After the fog cleared, the sun followed and lit everything up. As I was looking at the dense cover I figured the elk had dived into, I see the orange hat of my hunting partner, Dan. He’s on the top of the ridge that had the best angle for seeing the edges of the cover. I’m watching him through my scope ——-Kidding ! Through my bins, and I see him paying a lot of attention to that area, then he drops his pack, goes into Elmer Fudd stealth mode by starting to move down the draw slowly. He’s seen something for sure.

I got front row seating to watch my partner kill a bull....I’m waiting for the shot to break and ruin the mountains silence, but nothing happens. Dan, walks back to his pack, hoists it up, and starts climbing out to the top cat road. I ditch my hopes at my spot, climbing down to the bottom cat road to start the long walk up to meet with him.

It’s a little past 8:30 AM when we finally hooked up. Both of us are pissed at being cursed by the fog and we share our mutual feelings about it with F bombs, and other tasteful expletives. Dan, did confirm that the elk went into the cover, and he saw the unmistakable single beam of a bull through the trees as it was disappearing from view. #Winning #Sorta

Here’s a picture of the area that shows a portion of the small, but dense standing cover that feeds up on the right side with the nearest clear cut to the left.



Dan, asked, if I had any idea why the elk would hit the timber so quickly just from light wind and fog rolling in? I figured the elk, being pressed hard by the weather the past 3 days, had sensed it was about to happen again, so they took to cover. It was a guess, but a good one...

I knew the elk were hungry and wouldn’t have stopped feeding unless spooked. I told Dan, I believed they would pop out at some point today or tonight ~ we should stay on this cut, cover it from two positions, and wait.

Dan, agreed, but it was the waiting part of my plan that was going to be tough on him. I asked him to choose which side he wanted to be set up. (Position A) was on the opposite side from where I took the above picture. It had a bigger part of the clear cut to look at, and it was where the elk had entered earlier. (Position B) was the small cut area to the left of the cover in the picture...I really didn’t care where I was going to be ~ both had to be watched, it was up to the elk to decide where they would come out.



Above picture is basically the same pic, but now to be known as Position B that I was left to guard after cock sucker Dan, picked the better of the two spots. I did make some structural improvements by adding timber across the cavernous opening of the cedar stump to place my pack. #GoodHouseKeeping

Quick Footnote. Dan, and I have a standing agreement when hunting together. If either of us has the opportunity to umm, find a creek, we should definitely fill the others persons canteen. Especially, when clean water sources are hard to find on the Coast.

It’s now almost 9:30 AM. I suggest Danno might want to make his way over to Position A to see what it offers him for a place to shoot from. That suggestion was met with “Yeah, that’s a good idea, but it’s only 9:30 and if the elk don’t come out until tonight”...”I think I will check a couple of places before I go there”.

Dan, asks me what I’m going to do? I’m laffin at him, because he knows me, if there’s animals in an area, I have patience to wait them out. I said I’m gonna watch for them....My final parting words to Dan was “I’ve seen a lot of nice Bulls be a no show at first light, only to step out around 10AM”....Then Dan, left.



Continued.....




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