Another MT public land Bull Elk

If you have ever elk hunted, you quickly learn the value of snow. Snow makes the elk come out of the 'high country.' Snow aids in tracking either hoof prints or blood trails. Snow takes away their ability to blend in and hide. You can glass miles of country and if there is no track in the snow, there are no animals present and vice-a-versa. Mother nature gave us a great snowstorm last week so a huntin' we will go. I have always wanted to find a lone bull track and track him to his bed and this year I got to. I tracked a bull to within 75 yards of his bed but with the wind at my back, watch him run away is all I could do. The heightened awareness and anticipation of knowing you are right behind a bull is very invigorating. It was an hour long adrenaline rush. Not feeling disheartened because I knew the elk was going to smell me before I saw him, I walked back to my original destination and found my dad. He spotted a giant heard, 200-ish, laying down a couple miles away, a distance spanning some private land we did not have permission to cross, so back to the truck we went. After a small lunch and a quick power nap, we approached the hill that the heard had bedded down on from the opposite side. We split up a mile or so before we got to where we thought they were and I was the first to get a visual. They had moved closer to our afternoon departure (further from where we saw them that morning) and were laying down about 350 yards in front of me in their entirety. I dropped to my belly, put my bipod down and belly crawled until I could see a bull. 30 elk, then 40, then 50... after crawling about 25 yards over this gradual hill I saw the bull I ended up harvesting. I have a bad habit of shooting the first thing I can and thats exactly what happened here. I knew there was a whole bunch more elk if I kept on cresting the hill but I had horns in the crosshairs and just couldnt resist. The whole herd stood up after I shot and there were a couple of bulls larger than mine but not exactly wall-hangers and since my moto is 'on the wall or in the freezer, no in betweens' I got a perfect freezer bull. He got to spend the night in the woods one more time before we were able to get him out and never got touched by a scavenger. Thanks elk gods, I have never harvested a bull two years in a row.

Walking out while the sun was setting. 

My dad on the left and his hunting buddy Warren, founder and president of the Phi Cappa Fart house (his hunting cabin)

Walking in the next morning with the game cart. 

The whole elk in one trip. That cart is made in Libby MT and worth every penny. Seriously, dont waste your time with any other cart unless you only shoot antelope. 

We shed a few layers on the way out. 

Ready for the butcher!