Elk hunt to Livingston Mt

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Dan
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Re: Elk hunt to Livingston Mt

#21 Post by Dan »

Wow. Thanks for sharing your hunt.

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Elkman
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Re: Elk hunt to Livingston Mt

#22 Post by Elkman »

The hunt - Day 1 part 3.

We are now approaching late morning. We have went down to a little Aspen groove looking for sign. We find some that looks to be no more than 3 days old. We ease through the saddle and start up yet another ridge kinda side hilling into a little pocket. Now we have fresh tracks. They are from a single elk and look to be Bull tracks. That's a good sign! We follow them a ways and then catch the unmistakable smell of elk.
Time to setup again and do some cow calling. My friend has one of those Cow Elk decoys from Montana decoys. He sets it up about 40 yards or so behind me. He pulls out is video camera and gets ready. I set myself up with the wind in my favor. Not much cover but I am in the shadows and I am about 15 yards from a small trail that the elk tracks where on.
After about a 20 min calling session we deside to take a break before moving on up the ridge. Heck, I was ready for a knap!
After our break we press on through the little draw and on up the ridge further. After awhile we come across a game trail and follow it up the ridge. Oh, there's that smell of elk again. So we setup again and do another calling session. Nothing! We press on.
After awhile, maybe another 1/4 mile, the terrain started to look more elk like. Over the years I have came to recognize what could be an area that the elk may be hanging out in. I told my friend that we better not go much further and should setup the decoy and do some more cow calling. I look ahead and see some shadows near the edge of a steeper drop off to our left. That is where I will setup. My friend goes back and sets up the decoy. He then moves back even more and begins calling. When we setup we would both do the cow talking. He had 3 calls ready to use and I had 2. That way we would sound like many animals instead of 1. With one of my calls I would add in some soft calf mews and an occasional hyper calf or lost calf call.
Okay another 20 min session and nothing. I look back to my friend and he begins to pack up to move on. As I am looking back at him I thought I saw some movement up the hill above him so I start calling again as a sign to my friend to hold on a bit. He then starts calling again. After a few more minutes I hear noise over to my left where I was originally expecting the elk to come from. I see movement. Okay here comes something. I am ready and hoping that the animal is an elk. I knew it would most likely move to my right because of the steep edge and brush to the left. Then all the sudden out steps a nice 5 point Bull. 10 points for you guys back east. Nice! He's not the biggest in the woods, but if I can get a shot with my longbow, I will take it. He comes out from behind a tree and has this lonely mopey look on his face. He is walking from my left to my right. This is it. 5 more steps. I might actually get a shot. Then he sees the decoy. I will never forget the look on that Bulls face. He stops and stretched his neck out, his eyes and face almost looked like he was smiling. He was in love! That decoy sure got his attention! The problem is he quit walking and now was quartering to me very hard. I had to freeze. I have no idea what my friend was seeing. I knew that just a bit ago he was starting to pack up and move on. I hear noise behind me. The love struck look on the Bulls face leaves and the oh crap! look kicks in and he instantly hits third gear as he runs back to where he came from. The Bull had gotten to 20 yards of me and my friend didn't know it. He was so upset. It was all fun and part of the game. It is just awesome to have had one finally let us know he was even there.
We went up the ride a bit further hoping there were more. Nothing! We ate lunch and deside to cut over the ridge to some wallows on our way down and back down to the truck.
The wallow has been used. Not to long ago from the looks of it.
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We have a long walk back and don't really want to be up here when it gets dark. We are in grizzly country.

View of the crazy mountains on our way down.
The Crazies
The Crazies
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We make it back to the truck and get a couple more cool encounters with more animals.
This young bear didn't want to get off the road.
Black Bear
Black Bear
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A bunch of Muledeer.
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Calling Elk - Awesome! !€

stumper
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Re: Elk hunt to Livingston Mt

#23 Post by stumper »

What a hunt already and it’s only day one.
Nothing clears a troubled mind like shooting a bow.

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Elkman
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Re: Elk hunt to Livingston Mt

#24 Post by Elkman »

Yeah, I was pleased about how it was going at this point.

One more thing I forgot to mention about our hunt on day 1. We had an elevation change from the truck to where we ate lunch of about 1200 ft. I wanted to get to the base of the rocky stuff and get a picture from there. We just ran out of time.
Now I'm not going to lie. At times I was having a hard time. It was a lot warmer than normal. I hate getting all heated up when I hunt. The right knee that I injured while in the Navy was acting up here and there. My day pack was about 25 lbs and that sure added to the difficulty. Normally I am not doing day hunts like these and just have a fanny pack on. My friends pack was at least 5 to 10 lbs heavier than mine.

Oh! Dale I also had that knife you made with me. My friend thought it was a pretty cool knife.
Calling Elk - Awesome! !€

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Graps
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Re: Elk hunt to Livingston Mt

#25 Post by Graps »

I hope you get that knife christened.
"Maybe the truly handicapped people are the ones that don't need God as much." ~ Joni Eareckson Tada

Jaydogk9b
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Re: Elk hunt to Livingston Mt

#26 Post by Jaydogk9b »

Looks amazing. Enjoy your time, and good luck.
Never fear a man with many wepons. Fear the man with only 1, for it is an extension of himself.

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Shadowhntr
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Re: Elk hunt to Livingston Mt

#27 Post by Shadowhntr »

What a paradise!

Do you get the chance to moose hunt?
The element of surprise can never be replaced by persistence.

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Elkman
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Re: Elk hunt to Livingston Mt

#28 Post by Elkman »

Shadowhntr wrote: Sun Sep 30, 2018 4:43 pm Do you get the chance to moose hunt?
No, we have to put in an application that costs $10 and then pay $125 as a resident for the license fee if we get drawn. Only 370 are given out state wide. The odds are not that great. I may try again next year. Non-residents have to pay $50 to apply and if drawn pay $750 for the license.
Last weekend I saw 2 different Bull Moose that were not bad sized.
Calling Elk - Awesome! !€

Lowcountry
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Re: Elk hunt to Livingston Mt

#29 Post by Lowcountry »

Great thread. I've enjoyed following along. I've only hunted Elk one time. 10 or 15 years ago, I hunted with my brother who lived in Bozeman at the time. In November, we hunted Horse Thief mountain with only old Elk sign. We moved West of where you are hunting, to Big Creek. Saw lots of Mulies, but only day old dead Elk. We did have a very close encounter with a young bull moose, but no Elk.


Good Luck, and keep the pictures coming.

Captainkirk
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Re: Elk hunt to Livingston Mt

#30 Post by Captainkirk »

I am really enjoying this thread, Tom!
Aim small, miss small!

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