Well our elk season pretty much sucked
Mainly for a couple of reasons.
1st the state closed a large section of adjoining DNR land due to the fire hazard which put a ton of pressure into our area. Every dead end road had an average of 3 trucks, 2 campers and 4 ATV's. Apparently the area they closed is very popular. Not that it mattered much as.................
2nd the state decided that Sept 1 is a really good time to apply herbicides to the clearcuts. Apparently they used the "Elk repellent herbicide" as they just where not around. My buddy had scouted the last week of Aug and saw elk and tons of sign but we saw very little sign and I was the only one of the three of us to even see an elk. Yikes!
I did however call in my first ever elk. I had givin up on elk and was posted low in a clearcut where the trees from a V hoping to get the jump on a couple of blacktail bucks working the area. I was on a stump with good front cover and a great big bush as back cover. Around 8 am I heard a cow call and some crunching in the woods behind me which I figured to be other hunters due to the crowds noted above. I tooted on my cow call to let them know I was there and didn't think much of it. About 10 minutes later I hear a very soft mew behind me and see one lonely lost young elk peering out behind a brush pile. I answered her call and to my surprise she stepped out from behind the brush pile and started walking right towards me. With each step she let out a little itty bitty whisper of a mew as if to say, "not so loud there's hunters around." I got an arrow knocked and myself turned around but she was on top of me within seconds and stopped directly behind the bush that was my back cover not 5 feet away looking hard for the elk she thought was there. Niether of us moved for what seemed to be several minutes but was actually probably just seconds. If she had of just turned away for a moment I could have drawn, stood and maybe, just maybe, have gotten off a shot. But alas once she figured out there was no elk there she turned and in just a couple of leaps was back in the woods. I suppose this is why folks become so addicted to archery elk hunting
Is it Nov yet