Quick Turn of the Page!

Coach Potter

Coach Potter

Legend
Less than 5 days ago I was floating a river in Montana...this morning I was 85 yards from the biggest bull I've been close to with a bow in my hand. I'll be honest, I wasn't ready for that. Sunday was the opener here in Idaho and I got out for half the day. I fumble farted my way around and stumbled into a couple of bedded bull's mid-morning of the opener. I was moving way to fast and not paying attention to the sign I was seeing. I was seeing it but there wasn't anything telling me, "Hey dumbass, this sign is pretty fresh". I'm not in mid-season form by any stretch. I wish I could be sharp right out of the gate but I never am.

The herd I caught up to this morning, at first lite, was already on their way to bed. I just happened to be close to their path but not in it. I would have LOVED to launch an arrow at that bull! Fortunately, the best part of the season is still ahead of us and by then I might be a little more in tune. It's forecasted to rain every day for the next week. Maybe this change in weather will keep the animals on their feet a few minutes longer in the morning and get them back on their feet a few minutes earlier in the evening. The bugle fest we all hope for is still a week or more away. The bull this morning was pretty comfortable with the three rag horns that were hanging around his cows. He bugled very faintly bugles once at a cow but other than that they were pretty quiet. I'm guessing that he won't be so tolerant by this time next week. I didn't even bother talking to him this morning. I'll save that for a day when it seems more appropriate. I would prefer my cow call to be the last cow call he hears.

Good luck to everyone who is out chasing ungulates! Football is rolling and hunting season has begun...hard to beat that combo. I know my wife is over the moon excited about all of this:ROFLMAO:.
 
I love a person who is humble “while fumble farting their way around…….”😅😅

Consider it a pre-season game and learn from it coach. My over/under is 10 days before we read a positive outcome.
 
Well…to Vagabond’s point..I learned something on Tuesday morning and Wednesday morning I used it to put myself in a great position for multiple opportunities. I found them before first light and was 10-150 yards from the herd for the next 2 1/2 hours. It was as much fun and prolonged adrenaline as I have ever experienced.

It culminated with me in the middle of the herd at full draw on a decent 5 point after being anywhere from 10-150 yards of the herd for 2 1/2 hours. I didn’t end up with the shot window I expected when I drew my bow. The brush was higher on his body than I was hoping…his vitals were slightly obstructed. I held tight for what felt like an eternity, but he didn’t take the step forward I needed for him to clear his vitals. Instead he turned and faced me. I don’t love that shot to begin with, and I hate it when I’ve been holding as long as I had. At that point I knew I wasn’t taking a shot but I didn’t want to him to see me let down. Finally he turned and walked off far enough that I could let down. Unfortunately, the cow 10 yards behind me had seen it and she barked alerting the herd but they didn’t bust…just started moving off.

I spent the next 30 minutes in and around them but I wasn’t able to get another shot opportunity. This is a big herd. There are 13 bulls counting the 8 spikes. There are probably twice that many cows and calves. So man eyes to deal with. A herd that size tends to be really spread out and the bells tend to be toward the back. A herd that size can easily span 100 yards from the lead cow to the last bull. If all goes right, you are eventually going to have elk all around you and you can’t see the animals behind you. Lots of challenges and it’s hard to make decisions.

I couldn’t hunt today but I’ll be back after them tomorrow morning. Hopefully they maintain their current pattern.
 
Coach Potter said:
I found them before first light and was 10-150 yards from the herd for the next 2 1/2 hours. It was as much fun and prolonged adrenaline as I have ever experienced.
Click to expand...
That sounds like an absolute blast man. That's a lot of noses to avoid for a long time, especially with the thermals probably shifting somewhere in that 2.5 hours.
 
Well I totally botched it this morning! I overthought where I was going to be at first light. I should have re-run the play from Wednesday morning but I didn’t. Then I got impatient, gave up on the hunt, and walked right into a herd with a nice bull on my way out. It poured rain all morning! I bailed at 10:30 and headed home.

It was forecasted to clear up in the afternoon and I really wanted to head back out but I was supposed to go to a HS football game. The two schools I coached at were playing each other. I asked my wife if she wanted to go with me and she had zero interest BUT she said she’d be interested In hunting with me if I wanted to go…that made it real easy to decide.

We found a small group of cows with a spike about an hour before dark. I got inside of 100 but got winded and it was over. My wife and I haven’t hunted together in 10+ years and she’d never been around elk so that was really fun. I wish they had been vocal tonight so she could have experienced that but she had a great time. She’s notched quite a few deer and bear tags herself and she’s a sneaky little sucker.

Headed back out in the morning…🤞🏽
 
Coach Potter said:
Well I totally botched it this morning! I overthought where I was going to be at first light. I should have re-run the play from Wednesday morning but I didn’t. Then I got impatient, gave up on the hunt, and walked right into a herd with a nice bull on my way out. It poured rain all morning! I bailed at 10:30 and headed home.

It was forecasted to clear up in the afternoon and I really wanted to head back out but I was supposed to go to a HS football game. The two schools I coached at were playing each other. I asked my wife if she wanted to go with me and she had zero interest BUT she said she’d be interested In hunting with me if I wanted to go…that made it real easy to decide.

We found a small group of cows with a spike about an hour before dark. I got inside of 100 but got winded and it was over. My wife and I haven’t hunted together in 10+ years and she’d never been around elk so that was really fun. I wish they had been vocal tonight so she could have experienced that but she had a great time. She’s notched quite a few deer and bear tags herself and she’s a sneaky little sucker.

Headed back out in the morning…🤞🏽
Click to expand...
Get emmmmmmmmm
 
Saturday morning…got back on a herd with a decent bull but they gave me the slip. On my way back to my rig I found a couple spikes that were hanging out together. I thought these two dipshits would be easy to call in…nope!

My wife joined me again for the evening. We got into the path between where a herd has been bedding and where they’ve been headed to feed. About 30 minutes before prime time here comes a group of hunters…4 of them all walking together and they walked right through the area the herd had been using to access their feeding area.

It was frustrating but they were super nice young dudes and a young lady trying to help their little brother fill a cow tag. They had no idea we were there and they were stoked to be hunting. Hard to stay pissed about young people hunting together. We saw no elk that night😂. I decided to give them a rest today as I’ve been really close to them for almost a week. I really wanted to hunt them this morning but I don’t want to impact their pattern. Back after them tomorrow morning!
 
Long_Rod_Silvers said:
Am I the only one who's jacked to the tits excited to see how this ends!?
Click to expand...
@Long_Rod_Silvers You are not alone...I'm right there with you!

This morning I found myself "butt scooting" the edge of some ag for 300 yards only to come up about 50 yards short of getting to where I need to be to get a shot before they slinked into the tribal ground that I can't hunt.

So here is what I'm dealing with. I'm hunting a big cattle ranch. I think it's about 2,000 acres. It is private but I'm one of 100 guys that has permission to hunt it. That's a little bit of an exaggeration but I know of at least 5 guys who have permission and I have run into quite a few dudes I don't know. The ranch is mostly timber, but has some ag, and 3 sides of the ranch is bordered by tribal land. In the past, I have purchased a tribal permit so the borders haven't meant anything to me. As I stated in a previous post, the tribe suspended sales to non-members this year so those borders have become a force field and drastically changed this hunt.

In the past 3 seasons, the ag ground has been dead space as it was planted in barley, harvested in July, and hasn't been the attraction you might think. I can count the number of times I've seen animals in the barley on 3 fingers. This year it was planted in oats and it didn't do well so it wasn't cut and some of it is still green. It went from being dead space to a major. There have been elk in that field every single day since August 30th when the season opened. That said, three sides of it are bordered by tribal ground and the fence line runs within a foot of the filed, no buffer of cover on my side.

So far the program has been that they show up after dark (mostly) and they spend the entire night feeding/bedding out in the open. I have been there as early as 4:30 am on a clear night and been able to make out animals. through my glass. About 15-20 minutes after shooting light they start making their way to the timber. There have been as many as 60 elk and as few as 12. When they are out feeding it looks like one giant heard but it's really several smaller herds.

Up to date, my only play has been to get in front of them and attempt to cut them off as they head to bed in the timber for the day. It’s a tough deal when I’m not able to access 3/4 of their options. I can hunt tomorrow morning and then I'm done for the week as I'm headed to Oklahoma to watch my son play football.

I have noticed that there are fewer animals in the field everyday. I'm hoping they're getting back to that timber life and they start talking more. I have only heard one bugle and that was just a bull talking to some cows. I haven't seen any real rutting activity. Last year the 12th was the magic day when the mayhem began and that lasted all the way to the end of the season.

I would prefer to be bouncing around in the timber and using terrain rather than playing ninja every morning. I'm not complaining...I've had a lot of fun! I've been very close to elk everyday and I had a really good opportunity at close range that simply didn't pan out. I've been forced to use every sneaking tactic I've ever used, and had to make a lot of decisions. I think I'm now ready for my shot when the right bull gives it to me and I believe he will.
 
I’m also following this saga closely!

If you arrow one in the ag field, and it runs onto tribal land, will you be able / allowed to pursue and retrieve it?
 
Merle said:
I’m also following this saga closely!

If you arrow one in the ag field, and it runs onto tribal land, will you be able / allowed to pursue and retrieve it?
Click to expand...

I don’t know the answer to that Merle. I’m hoping it doesn’t come into play. I’ve thought about it quite a bit. If I can’t poke one tomorrow, I’ll probably be done with the ranch. When I get back from OK the rut should be going hard and I’ll get back into the mountains where I would prefer to be.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top