there are spots and pockets where the elk don't see Hunters and that's where these bulls
will pull in from the real monsters that you haven't seen
you just don't know it can be a pleasant surprise
when he turns his head 'kay you on him yeah
did I shoot that off he's dead right below us he's a nice bull dark horn Ivory tipped
got a dead bull in the snow 20 miles back it's gonna be interesting
I'm going to take a look at the bull
dark horned bugger
it's not for the faint of heart it is not 70 degree days t-shirt weather
welcome to this special episode this is double hunt episode late season bulls big bulls I
love hunting this time of year the elk are just doing a little bit different things than
what we're used to it's cold it's snowy it's a lot of fun to be out there but it can be
brutal too yeah it's a wild card but it's not for it's not for the faint of heart
it is not 70 degree days t-shirt weather
things appear to be a little wintery up here
amazing the things we do for a stinky ole bull elk
i don't know what
the name of this coat is I can't remember
but I'll tell you what this thing is a bomb I just went up over the top of that ten thousand
foot peak back there belly deep snow on the horse blowing like crazy and this coat kept
the wind out kept the cold out and it's pretty lightweight it is awesome
older the better for sure a little bit of snow helps it's more in my experience it's
more about temperature than snow you've got to have that cold those temps have to get
down single digits or below zero and why is that like what how does that trigger the
elk to be out I I think it it's simple function they have to feed the furnace they got to
fill the furnace and so that puts them in predictable spots you know they change their
behavior enough to put them where they're just easier for us to get to to see to find
on those south facing slopes on those windswept ridges where the feed is they're just thinking
feed bed feed bed and those two things are usually within 100 yards of each other I was
going to say it's usually not far apart and if it's really cold or a lot of snow or maybe
after some rain they may just bed where they feed and stay on those slopes all day especially
if it's like 10 below and they want to stay in that sun right and so that makes it as
a hunter that makes it really easy yeah to keep that animal located while you move in
on a stalk and it extends your hunting at huntable hours per day significantly you've been on
with me on a few of those I mean we shot that bull late season Montana what like nine in
the morning yeah I mean it was late in the morning and no way that bull would be out
that time of day in the rut no way I mean they're timbered up by then your nights are
longer so you're not having to get up at 4am but the weather is the factor I mean that
part isn't yep so you know the worst the cold like I said the colder the better for sure
a little bit of snow helps but the it's more in my experience it's more about temperature
than snow your hunt that you were on this year that's one of those hunts where you need
to rely on that cold weather and that snow because you're you're hunting in in country
that has so much green timber in that country it we don't have those big open slopes and
and hillsides to look at it's more rolling timber and so it's not real glassable but
they have to come out that timber to feed
also we're hunting at the end of October when they're migrating you're hunting when they've
migrated did yeah I mean they're going to spend the whole winter there probably find their
sheds there you know ours are transitioning through but for the same for the most part
it's a microcosm of what you're seeing they stay in one spot for three or four days and
then move on they don't just push through they kind of just stage their way through
the country headed to their their winter range people tend to underestimate how much snow
the elk can handle it's incredible I you know we saw bulls that we couldn't even get to
with horses up high I mean over their bellies just cruising along and I've said this to
guys before late season hunts if you're seeing cows and small bulls you're hunting too low
yep the big bulls are way above those I really believe those big big bulls they love those
wind swept slopes up high they feel like they're above things away from the predators which
are down in the valley the the wind swept is exposing the feed and also they're living
on the inversions yeah yeah and it's 20 degrees warmer yeah up there it's like they have it
figured out and it's usually the older bulls so tell us about your kill in like the instance
in like what happened I mean it happened kind of quick yep the bull was on the hillside
we peaked up there's a drainage in the bottom we peaked up over the over the edge and he
was up on the hillside and he saw us moving or heard us I think he probably heard us as
really really calm and that's that's one bad thing about that time of year is you get those
super calm days with snow on the ground and it's just everything's crunchy you know we
rode our horses in there so they're hearing the horses come and they're kind of curious
we tie the horses up and we sneak up over the edge and and then we're not sounding like
horses anymore yeah and I think they were he was curious he was three other bulls there
and then we popped up and he saw us and he didn't know what to do and he went down into
the bottom instead of going up and out I don't know why he went down into the bottom and
I think he was going to go down the creek and out into there's a big willow flat down
below yeah he's an old bull and so I shot him and it kind of had happened pretty quick
I handed the camera to the wrong guy that didn't really know what he was doing so and
I shot shot the bull one shot and he piled up right there but he's an old bull
well that was a little fast pace that bull came down into the bottom and Jeremy decided
to pass on him because he knows there's huge bulls in here but he was good enough for me
so I hustled down got my gun on him Ryan couldn't quite get it on film but he stabbed
right below us he's a nice bull dark horned Ivory tipped Jeremy might regret that but
I don't know he'll probably kill a bigger one tomorrow but it was a lot of fun we got
a dead bull in the snow 20 miles back it's gonna be interesting let's go take a look at him
I'm going to take a look at the bull
dark horned bugger
got some shooters right
right there on the point
pretty bull yeah you're right that was awesome
we're headed to the meat pole
there's a situation we got a
bull elk we got this morning
had a humpback grizzly in camp about an hour ago dogs ate on him pretty good run them
out but now that we got a bull elk he's gonna be back it's gonna be a busy night here
at camp so we're gonna get the bull up in the meat pole the bears can't get to him
and uh it should be interesting
the late season elk hunting is a lot of fun and it's it's where it's at if you want to
kill a really big bull definitely I think definitely and that's why I enjoy them
usually you have plenty of time to watch them observe them that's why I like hunting this open country
this hunt headed out with Brad good friend of mine he came over to hunt with me and we
were middle of November so we were a little bit later than what you were hunting but we're
hunting winter range that is kind of the final destination of migrating elk
well we got a quick look at this bull this morning he's a nice frame bulll a nice looking bull
but he doesn't have thirds so not the bull we're after we're gonna keep looking
nice little climb this morning yeah
warmed us up warmed us up exactly
exactly
he's feeding now
it's above him and to the right he's coming down to him
we got a bull spotted up here we're just getting a closer look we're just packing in camp and it's not very far in
so I think he's a potential bull that we go after we're just getting a closer look so
what do you think Bradley is it good? does he look good?
I'm excited to see that good of a bull this early in the game
why I like hunting some of this country is
bulls show up that don't get seen or hunted during archery season
or general rifle season it's just like they have a sixth sense
yeah these bulls that they know where
to stay and they stay away from hunters during those general seasons but come late season
their guard is let down they're on the winter range and bulls show up that guys haven't
seen so I think that's a allure to me to late season elk hunting is you just never know
what's going to show up
really long fronts good beams oh yeah and he's wide
he's just a little weak on the back end
there's another one in the bottom there's another one
what do you think Brad
let's just keep just go slow make sure they don't see us
and contrary to what some people may think or believe there is country especially when
you talk about Wyoming Montana even Idaho that is so vast so deep so far then you add
the grizzly bear factor into it the the elk do not get hunted there are spots and pockets
where the elk don't see hunters for that reason or seasoned structure whatever the case may
be and that's where these bulls will pull in from the real monsters that you haven't
seen and it can you just don't know but you it can be a pleasant surprise
they're on this they're right here
just below a bit
you can see their whole body
can't see their legs
oh just their bodies I see their bodies
it was the first day of the hunt we spent all day up there located this bull and we
we kind of once you locate a big bull you kind of just sit back and enjoy the show and
let them move into a killable spot and that's what we did on this hunt and and that's what
was fun I mean other than it was so dang cold up there but this bull with a few other bulls
comes out of the timber and he fed down below us and he actually came in a less than ideal
spot where he was coming below us and he was becoming out of sight from the roll of the
hill so we had to slide down to him and so where you would hope that you know a bull
comes out cross canyon crack pop you're done it doesn't always work out like that and in
this case this bull came right below us and we wiggled right down to him and ended up
shooting him at 100 yards
he just picked his head up
just a minute when he turns his head
yup I got him go ahead
again
you pounded him
wait
got him congratulations thanks buddy got him
good job
he's sliding we had to get that done I was shaking too bad I know I'm getting cold too 125 yards
we didn't mean to get this close but it just how it panned out just happened
yeah that was awesome I'm like
I'm cold and excited
how did that happen
no way dude are you kidding did I shoot that off it broke on the roll
dude oh it did oh my gosh thank goodness we found it
stud bull
oh yeah look at that baby heck yeah brother yeah
that's what I'm talking about that's a bull dude that bull dude that's awesome awesome awesome
what stands out to you what do you like best about him would you say oh man honestly I like
his his seconds and thirds on both sides are crazy good that's way cool I love the character
and show me what happened to the back end
oh well read it out
that uh it gets to the point where it's gonna hurt it's gonna suck a little bit but
that's just the way it is so we are trucking out we don't have that far left really to go but we do have
some steep nasty thick stuff to go through down here a little bit last bull of the season
though it's been a long year I'm gonna end it on that right there