Setting Stands
It has been almost a month since we set our game cams and its been obvious that the elk have been hitting our wallow. It was finally the day to set the stands and allow 2 weeks rest before getting in the stands for opening day.
- The toughest part of the day
Setting the stands took a little longer than expected, for we were setting two stands in the same tree so that we can film the hunt.
- Many branches to be cut
Planning where you put your pegs is a crucial part in setting stands and having easy in and out access.
- The tree stand setup
Here is some of our most recent animals cruising by where our stand is set. Can’t wait til September 3rd!
-Travis
Elk Scouting continued…
Warm weather has been upon us here in western Montana. Zack and I decided to trek out and setup my game cam on a wallow we encountered last year. The road allowing close access has been washed out during runoff, so we had to manage a 4 mile hike to the money spot.
After 2.5 hours of hills, we finally made it to within 150yards of our destination, when I noticed a large 5X6 bull elk standing exactly where I planned on setting up the game camera. We were stoked after not seeing an elk all day.
After stuggling to find a suitable tree to mount the game camera to we finally found a small dead pine and gave it a little natural foliage to keep it concealed.
Within the last 1000 yards of our hike back to the Dodge, I was excited to find the first elk shed of the year. Maybe we’ll get a chance to see that bull this year and hopefully he’s put on some growth.
It was a great way to spend our day off. Zack put together this short edit from the 3D archery range here in Missoula. CHECK IT OUT! Be sure to watch in HD full screen.
-Travis
Trail Cameras
Today we made it back up to our trail cameras which we had hung over a well used wallow.
- Hiking in
Checking trail cameras is like a mini Christmas…. you just never know what your gonna get. We ended up getting pictures of 8 different bull elk, two bears, a hawk, a mule deer, and a coyote. Pretty cool for only having them up for 12 days.
After checking the cameras and doing a little more scouting we dropped by the Clark Fork and did battle with muddy water and hordes of mosquitoes. Even though it’s now August the water clarity on the Clark Fork is still poor and the water is still high. You better be wearing a mosquito net in certain areas otherwise you might not come out alive.
- The only mosquito-free zone
- The only catch before the mosquitos sent us home.
Overall we had a good day and we’ll be back out on the rivers soon. It’s 3 weeks till school starts and the summer’s flown by so it’s a couple weeks of fishing and then school and elk season.
-Zack
Our Daily Antics
7/21/11
Today my brother and I headed out towards our elk stomping grounds from last year. We decided to set one stand to see if we could call in a coyote and then sight in some rifles. It was good to get behind a rifle again even though a couple gophers would have felt different. After that we headed up to a wallow we discovered last year to set up a couple game cameras in hopes of getting some photos of some good bull elk. On the way we saw a nice 5×5 in velvet and already I wonder what the cameras have on them.
- A nice 5×5
It was awesome to see a bull and here in a couple weeks we’ll be taking the photos off them and hopefully have some great pictures. Check out our edit from the day.
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- Sighting in the Sako
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- Shooting the 6×284
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- Rippin rounds
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- Shells
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- V-Max’s
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- One of many rubs
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- The Moultrie is up
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- Setting up my camera
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- The road in
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- A nice 5×5
-Zack
Pre-Season
The month of July is usually a great month for fishing here in Missoula, Montana. This year has been historic and most every river is still very high. Just this week the fishing looks to become substantially better. With the water high we decided to search down some coyotes and get back into the elk woods to do a little pre-season elk scouting. The day started early as we exited the interstate and started thinking about seeing some coyotes in the crosshairs.
- Getting ready for the 1st stand
On our first stand we didn’t see any coyotes but we did get to spot some cow elk feeding up the draw. We rallied the Subaru further up the road which was suffering the effects of some winter runoff. We crested the road into a large basin and set up again. Immediately we spotted 3 coyotes roaming the middle of the basin. The howler got them interested, but they hung up around 600 yards and the distress calls never got them closer than 450. We then hit the road and soon enough got a nice look at a good sized mule buck.
- A nice muley
- Him and his girlfriend
We then set up on a 3rd stand. We got a good response from the howler immediately but they seemed a ways off. We figured they were just over the ridge but as we crossed it and set up again we spotted 2 coyotes about 1/2 mile up the hill on the treeline.
- Travis scanning for coyotes
We mis-judged their position and they had spotted us crossing the ridge so our hunt was done. We figured if we weren’t getting a coyote that day then we sure had to get a gopher.
- Catch of the Day
On the way down we found a dead cow elk. She unbelievably got her back leg stuck in the very bottom strand of barb wire in the process of jumping the fence. How she did it amazes me but she spent her last day stuck in that fence.
Leg stuck in fence
Afterward we loaded up and drove to another spot where we did a little elk scouting.
- Heading up the first ridge
- Travis scoping the woods
The 1st ridge we hiked up we found a small wallow and a good trail with a decent number of rubs along it. It isn’t the best spot ever but it was a spot that we could definitely hunt.
- An elk rub
- Headed back to the car
We got done with that around 4 and decided to try some fishing on the way back to Missoula. We headed to Rock Creek which was loaded with cars at every fishing access. Definitely reminded me to never fish the Creek on the weekends again. We stopped at a few spots and Travis landed a couple small trout on a Parachute Adams. Overall it was a great day to get out and do some stuff your passionate about.
-Zack
The Scouting Starts!
My brother Zack and I finally had some time to head out and take a couple days to scout some new land for elk. We decided to head out east of Missoula and hike a couple miles back into the mountains.
On the drive out to the trailhead we spotted some whitetail right away that were bedded in some long grass.
The trailhead started out and we made our way around this privately owned lake. This lake is beautiful and you can see the thunderstorms brewing over the mountains.
We started the hike out, and decided to put our backpack raincovers on and rain coats, for we knew we were in for a downpour.
We spotted some young whitetails on the hillside. The deer on the right is a young buck, you can barely make out his small velvet nubs sticking up.
Most of our trails up the mountain were flooded with small streams, which we had to either walk through or bypass.
More streams cutting paths down the face of the mountain.
After hiking for 3 miles, we finally made it to the snow level and decided to camp next to a small mountain lake. The lake was still scattered with ice, and the surrounding landscape was covered in snow. This picture above is our campsite. It was tough to find any sort of dry wood to burn for a fire, for the last 3 hours was nothing but rain.
After setting up camp we decided to hike around the lake and found some pretty cool waterfalls.
More waterfalls.
Zack was stoked to have a fire to dry out some of our wet gear.
Our meals consisted of freeze dried foods, Cliff bars, and trailmix. Nothing gourmet, but still tasted great after a day of hiking.
This was our view of the high mountain sunset. Absolutely breathtaking.
Can’t go camping if you don’t have marshmellows!
The night went by smoothly. Zack and I both slept pretty good on our Thermarest Neo Air mattresses.
You can never have enough experience in the mountains, and this was a great trip to get our feet underneath us. We woke up around 9am the next morning and packed up camp and prepared for the hike down.
Hiking down through some beautiful Montana forest.
This trip was a success in the end. We saw plenty of elk rubs and poop to give us evidence that this area contains elk at some point during the warmer months. We didn’t see any elk, but we saw a mule buck and plenty of whitetail to keep our hopes up. It was great to get our first day of 2011 scouting out of the way and be looking for more scouting trips in the future.
-Travis