10-17-2006, 07:34 PM
[font "Arial"][red][size 3]October 1st, my hunting buddy and I headed out to secure our hunt camp. We set aside 9 days this year for our spike hunt. Unlike most years we left a tent as a campsite marker instead of his nice 5th wheel trailer that got snowed in 2 years prior.
We scouted the area for several weeks and pinpointed where the elk where hiding. The night before the opening I was driving my durango on a scouting trip and unfortunately got it stuck in a nice mud bog. After hours of trying to get it out, my friend pulled me out at the expense of my front axil[mad] Luckily it was still drivable and thankfully fixed at this time.
Saturday Morning we hiked the canyon we had seen and heard elk for weeks, and sure enough they were in there. That morning I seen 5 bulls that would have easily scored in the mid 300's. Tons of cows and one spike at 900 yards. Spent the morning pushing the herds around and seeing many nice bulls.
We were camped on the canyon rim and that evening my buddy decided to walk to a look out from our camp and like an idiot I stayed behind. Next thing I heard 3 shots coming from his direction (100 yards from camp) 9 head of elk came out of the trees and started heading towards the ridge to decend down. He made a nice shot on a really tall spike. Luckily right on the road.
Next morning I followed the same hike I went on opening morning. At about 9:30 I heard a shot right below me. Right after I could hear many bulls start to bugle. I followed the bugling and after about 2 miles I found myself right inbetween two herds. Sure enough the two herds met right infront of me with out knowing I was there. It was an amazing sight to watch two herd bulls fight 35 yards from me. I watched as 40 elk mingled together, no spikes. I later learned that the shot I heard earlier was made on a spike from one of the herds. As I sat in the middle of all these elk, I watched another very large bull thrash a 12 foot tall pine trees broughs to nothing. Very cool.
Pretty much the same story for the next few days, lots of cows and big bulls. No spikes. Tuesday came along and I recommended to my buddy to take his elk to the butcher shop out side Duchesne. Heading on our way, while doing homework in the truck I looked up on the side hill and noticed 35 head of elk. After taking several swipes up and down road to make sure we were not on private land we noticed 3 big bulls and a spike along with 29 cows and calves. I managed to get the spike out of the herd. Not bad for heading to the butcher shop.
We had planned to stay from Friday till Sunday (10 days) and we were not going to let getting our elk end that. Plus my buddy had family coming up on Friday to hunt with us. So for the next few days we scouted our deer hunting possibilities. Seen many more big bulls and cows. Probably many duplicates, but always fun to see again. Friday night we decided to put on major sneak on 18 elk we had been seeing every night to see if there was any spikes for the upcoming relatives that had tags. We managed to get within 20 feet of a nice satelite bull and 17 cows. Unfortunately no spikes. Was an experience to basically be once again right in with the elk and to know I can put on a quiet sneak.
We took the family members out on the Sat. hunt and for once we did not see elk. Too bad since we talked the area up to them after there non producing trip the week before by Soldier Summit. We tried within ourselves to do the full 10 days but chickened out. We figured that 9 days was enough.
Probably the best hunting experience I have ever had. Even more so than our trophy producing deer hunt a couple of years previous. I was able to see a monster deer that I hope to encounter Saturday morning.
[/size][/red][/font]
[signature]
We scouted the area for several weeks and pinpointed where the elk where hiding. The night before the opening I was driving my durango on a scouting trip and unfortunately got it stuck in a nice mud bog. After hours of trying to get it out, my friend pulled me out at the expense of my front axil[mad] Luckily it was still drivable and thankfully fixed at this time.
Saturday Morning we hiked the canyon we had seen and heard elk for weeks, and sure enough they were in there. That morning I seen 5 bulls that would have easily scored in the mid 300's. Tons of cows and one spike at 900 yards. Spent the morning pushing the herds around and seeing many nice bulls.
We were camped on the canyon rim and that evening my buddy decided to walk to a look out from our camp and like an idiot I stayed behind. Next thing I heard 3 shots coming from his direction (100 yards from camp) 9 head of elk came out of the trees and started heading towards the ridge to decend down. He made a nice shot on a really tall spike. Luckily right on the road.
Next morning I followed the same hike I went on opening morning. At about 9:30 I heard a shot right below me. Right after I could hear many bulls start to bugle. I followed the bugling and after about 2 miles I found myself right inbetween two herds. Sure enough the two herds met right infront of me with out knowing I was there. It was an amazing sight to watch two herd bulls fight 35 yards from me. I watched as 40 elk mingled together, no spikes. I later learned that the shot I heard earlier was made on a spike from one of the herds. As I sat in the middle of all these elk, I watched another very large bull thrash a 12 foot tall pine trees broughs to nothing. Very cool.
Pretty much the same story for the next few days, lots of cows and big bulls. No spikes. Tuesday came along and I recommended to my buddy to take his elk to the butcher shop out side Duchesne. Heading on our way, while doing homework in the truck I looked up on the side hill and noticed 35 head of elk. After taking several swipes up and down road to make sure we were not on private land we noticed 3 big bulls and a spike along with 29 cows and calves. I managed to get the spike out of the herd. Not bad for heading to the butcher shop.
We had planned to stay from Friday till Sunday (10 days) and we were not going to let getting our elk end that. Plus my buddy had family coming up on Friday to hunt with us. So for the next few days we scouted our deer hunting possibilities. Seen many more big bulls and cows. Probably many duplicates, but always fun to see again. Friday night we decided to put on major sneak on 18 elk we had been seeing every night to see if there was any spikes for the upcoming relatives that had tags. We managed to get within 20 feet of a nice satelite bull and 17 cows. Unfortunately no spikes. Was an experience to basically be once again right in with the elk and to know I can put on a quiet sneak.
We took the family members out on the Sat. hunt and for once we did not see elk. Too bad since we talked the area up to them after there non producing trip the week before by Soldier Summit. We tried within ourselves to do the full 10 days but chickened out. We figured that 9 days was enough.
Probably the best hunting experience I have ever had. Even more so than our trophy producing deer hunt a couple of years previous. I was able to see a monster deer that I hope to encounter Saturday morning.
[/size][/red][/font]
[signature]
] Good on ya polo! Glad to hear that you had a great time and an elk to boot. Better to be lucky than good sometimes. I have had trips like that in the past where we stayed the whole time that we set out for. years later when we look back on it, they were the best times we ever had. 
