What a RUSH so far!
Yesterday morning, we went back into an area adjacent to Sunday morning's encounter, figuring we'd give him some time to cool off and relax. When you are hunting with your best friend that you don't see often enough and haven't hunted with in 6 years, all kinds of crazy things happen. Since this is a family oriented forum, I'll leave those details out, but suffice it to say, my buddy and have been having a blast and our sides have been hurting from the laughter at stupid things we each do. On that note, I have another buddy who lives over in Kingman (he's been following the journal as a guest) and he sent me an email before my hunt reminding me what the hunt is really all about: time in the woods, slowing down from the rat race, forgetting work, remembering your family, and (most importantly), remembering why you hunt in the first place. I know you are reading this, Bill, and I can't thank you enough for the words. Every encounter we've had so far has made this hunt a success, whether or not a tag gets filled!
Back to yesterday, as we were working our way in deeper, I finally got the confidence to try my diaphragm bugle call (my buddy's bugle tube was taken from the back of my truck at Walmart Sunday afternoon :thrwrck
and we got a good response from a nearby bull. We immediately gave chase to cut the distance. He wasn't bugling regularly and wasn't responding to cow calls, but he gave us enough of a bone to head his direction. Just when he quieted down, we heard a bugle behind us, so I responded with a challenge bugle and we took off. The challenge was met a bit later. When we got to a road we crossed, I looked down the road through my binocs and saw three guys standing next to their truck, with bugle tubes! :thrwrck: I REALLY HATE road hunters, unless there is a valid excuse like a disability (which I completely understand and support). These guys were perfectly healthy, but driving the roads like the lazy SOBs they are and bugling every so often. They never saw us, so we went back in the direction we came from hoping that big boy would throw us another bone. It didn't take long and he obliged (did I mention he sounded BIG?) and we crossed the canyon we heard him call from to get ahead of him. We challenged and he fired back. When we realized that the wind would push our scent back down on him into the canyon bottom, we crossed back, side sloping to get ahead of him. That's when he called from the other side of the canyon!
We hustled back down and back up hot on his tail. We hadn't heard from him in a while so I figured it was time to challenge him again, since that was the only way he'd respond. He BELTED one out 100 yards directly across the canyon from us then, 10 seconds later, BELTED another challenge at us. We figured we had him, so I dropped to the canyon bottom and my buddy stayed mid-slope to try and call. I got to the bottom and had to scramble to find cover since I ended up in the open. I could hear him milling about above me, but then he ended up walking off. We collected ourselves and gave chase again, back up the other side of the canyon. I think this is the point where I realized the canyon was getting STEEPER the farther down canyon we got. We couldn't get him to sound off again, but kept picking up "that smell" of elk nearby. We had to shed some clothes due to the temps increasing and us crossing the canyon 3 or 4 times (lost count) and then grab a snack to replenish lost calories (something about bouncing back and forth across a canyon really burns calories). As we were sitting there, that big boy belted one out from across the main canyon (our "little" canyon turned out to be a tributary to a MUCH LARGER canyon). I answered his call and he and I ended up challenging each other off and on for about 10-15 minutes! :way: That was so much fun. We were debating on heading back to the truck and it was then that an email from Wayne (Bowman) clicked with me (thanks to having my smart phone in my pocket). He said "Hunt smart, hunt hard, and go that extra mile. Do that and you will experience success even if a tag isn't filled." I looked at Rob and said, "I have to try and chase him. If I walk away, I'll spend the rest of my days wondering and this is the time to go that extra mile." Our plan was to get on the ridge over there and draw him up to us. So back across the trib canyon we went, circled up and through a bowl, and realized that was the end of the road. What we couldn't see from our vantage point, was that the main canyon (did I mention it was WIDE and STEEP?) separated us again, with no connecting ridge line. We took a quick tally and realized we had less than 3 liters of water between the two of us, an MRE each, and no idea if there were any roads to ease the burden of packing an elk out. On top of that, the canyon walls were steep and rocky enough that it would have likely required hands and knees climbing to get up the other side. To go after this bull would have literally put our lives at risk and, as badly as I wanted him, I wanted to see my family again more. So back across the canyon we went again and started the long hike back to the truck. All told, we spent about 3 hours chasing this guy and hiked about 4 miles round trip (as the crow flies). 4 miles, itself, isn't a great distance for us, but when you add in 5 or 6 canyon crossings (same canyon), it adds up quickly!
We packed up camp and headed back here to home because my buddy had to leave to go back to Moab today. We went out this morning, heard a couple of bugles, but nothing materialized. I'm heading off to take a nap and then head back out this afternoon/evening. I'll hit it again tomorrow morning if nothing happens, and then I have to take a day or two break to see my family again. My daughter has a soccer tournament this weekend, so hunting this weekend is out, unless her and I can get away Saturday night to sit on a tank. If nothing has happened by then, my buddy from Kingman may come over Sunday night and help me for a couple of days next week. I've learned a lot of good lessons so far, but the most important one is the value of my family and their support and the value of my closest friends and their support.
Stay tuned. I may be worn out and tired after 5 days of getting up at 0330 and hiking myself into dehydration most days, but I haven't lost my will power yet! :way:
