Summer scouting, mixed with a relatively easy winter and below-normal summer temperatures, had done its part to build up anticipation for the 2010 elk season. Several scouting trips into our hunting zone had yielded several elk sightings, including one of the highest calf-recruitment levels I have personally seen in the past 8-10 years. It seemed like every cow had a calf. Additionally, we had placed 3-4 trail cameras in strategic locations and they were confirming our findings as well. There were a lot of elk, and although we weren’t seeing big bulls, we knew they’d be there when the rut started.
Donnie and I headed up to get camp set up on the night before opening day and quickly ran to check 2 of the trail cameras in the area. The first one produced a handful of cows and calves, but not the number we’d been seeing all summer. The second camera, set up overlooking a wallow on a small bench, had nothing. But as we were sitting there trying to figure out where the elk had disappeared to, a bugle rang out from across the canyon. I pulled out my cow call and gave him a few calls, to which the bull immediately responded. After 3-4 minutes, we could see him working his way down the ridge opposite the wallow, still bugling every time we gave him a cow call. He came out on a knob 100 yards above the creek and bugled, then turned and began making his way back up the ridge to the patch of timber he had come from.
We scrambled down the mountain to the creek and back up to our truck. We had a solid plan for the next morning, but we weren’t finished yet. It’s always good to have a back-up plan, so we drove down to another basin we had scouted to see if there was any action there. On the way, we spotted 2 small bulls feeding on the edge of a burn on the ridge above us, as well as a mature bull across the canyon.
Watch video of bulls below…
We continued down the canyon and walked out a ridge overlooking a steep drainage below. With darkness now upon us, we got responses from 2 additional bulls across the canyon, one of which sounded very fired up for August 29th. By the time we dragged ourselves back to camp we had located 4 different bugling bulls. Our plan was to go after the bull across from the trail camera on opening morning.
The alarm clock sounded off and we quickly realized that it had gotten cold overnight. This was going to be perfect! We parked at the end of the road and hiked up-canyon a few hundred yards before turning straight up the mountain towards the timber where the bull had retreated into the night before. Reaching a good vantage point, I let out a bugle, tingling with excitement for the response that was nearly guaranteed. Nothing. Absolute silence. We figured the bull had fed over the backside of the ridge and would come back to his bedding area soon, so we worked our way to the top of the mountain and began working the ridgetop, bugling into the draws on both sides. After 3 hours and still no responses, we decided to leave the area and save it for later in the season when the bulls really fired up.
The evening hunt was completely unproductive and we couldn’t get anything to make a peep. The weather for the next day was supposed to be cold and rainy and we were excited for the bulls to kick back in and start bugling. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. Not a single bugle was heard on Tuesday morning so we packed up early and headed back to town to finish up some work details and prepare to return on Friday. Hunting early in the season can be productive, but the area we were in was completely quiet the first two days of the season.