This morning I knew exactly where I needed to be at daylight. I had seen a bull on his way to bed with the herd the day before. It's about a half mile, as the crow flies, from where I park. I'm not a crow, so I have to walk around this big knob, drop a couple hundred feet of elevation and climb back up the same to a ridge. My route is about a mile in total. This ridge is a place I have caught them feeding in the past. I was fully anticipating hearing some bugles on my way in but the wind was howling this morning. I stopped short of the ridge and had to wait about 15 minutes for it to get light. Eventually I was able to see my pin and I began creeping up to the East end of this long sloping ridge expecting to see or hear elk at any moment. As I worked my way to where I had seen the herd the day before I picked up their tracks from yesterday but nothing from today. I took my time and made a few calf calls hoping to get a response but the wind made that a wasted effort.
It took me about an hour to get to the top end of the ridge where it runs into the side of the mountain...no elk. I had the wind I wanted to I decided to stay on the same line and crawl up to the top of this "mountain". It's not really a proper mountain, not by N. Idaho standards, but mountain best describes the feature and some people might call it that. The wind is really cranking now and it's starting bring in some fog. As I get near the top of this feature I cut some really fresh track on an old road that cuts side hill just below the top. It looks like 6-7 cows/calves and one really big set of bull tracks. I can't hear squat with the wind so I'm not going to bother calling and I just keep following these tracks down this old road. The fog is starting to get pretty dang thick now so I can't move very fast as I don't know if this track is 5 minutes or 5 hours old.
I stay on the track for another 10-15 minutes when I come to a massive downed tree. I pause for a second to look around for where the elk crossed the tree and I hear a pop just up the hill from me. There is a lone cow standing there and she has me pinned. We're in a 6 day window where cows are open. I have every intention of shooting this cow so I nock an arrow and go to get a range. She looks to be about 30-40 yards but fog can really mess with your depth perception. My range finder can't pick her up through the fog...damn it! I keep pushing the button and I get nothing. It doesn't take long before she decides she's seen enough and walks off. I'm watching to see where she goes as she's not spooked and moving very slow....until she get's downwind of me and then she's out! Oh well.
I cross the downed tree and pick up on the track again. This fog really sucks! I can only see 30-40 yards ahead of me. The wind is blowing hard and right in my face so I continue moving slowly but after another 1/4 mile or so I notice the track is getting longer. I'm getting the feeling that these elk are really close and I'm bumping them so I stop. I'm at the top of a pretty recent cut. It's not a big cut but it's probably 100 yards to the bottom where the tree line is and I can't see the bottom. I have cell service so I check my phone to see if this fog is due to blow out. The app says another half hour and it will be sunny. Every once in a while I can see the faint bright circle in the sky through the fog. I decide to chill in case these elk are in this cut. If they are maybe they'll feed long enough for this fog to blow out. About 10 minutes goes by and I hear the pop of a branch breaking in the cut; then another and another and then a calf mew. The tracks I was on are now moving through this cut and I can't see squat. Eventually the sticks stop breaking and the fog starts to break but the elk are also gone.
When I heard the second or third pop I had taken a knee in case they were moving toward me and I stayed down until long after the sounds stopped. As I stood up I see the silhouette of an elk on the edge of the fog and it's coming at me...right back down to a knee! My wind is blowing in the direction of the elk but it's below me by 50-60 yards. I can get away with a parallel wind when it's blowing as hard as it is. I look through my glass and see that it's another lone cow. She gets to about 100 yards and takes a trail down into the timber. Now it's around 9:30 and it appears as if everyone is headed to bed for the day. I'm about 3 miles form my rig and I need to get back to work at some point so I hump it back and into the office for a couple of hours.
