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The next three afternoons we hiked hills and watched water holes; mornings where spent stalking elk in the same steep draws as the
herd had gone to the first day and we did see and get close to some elk. One evening, we got a nice five point at 50 yards but passed him, the big time bull were further out and scarcer each day. I mean
we would hear or glass elk but they would manage to be a mile away by the time we got to their original site.
All our hunting was done of foot, so after 4-5 hours of hot pursuit we would stop for lunch at camp and a mid day nap.
We were hunting in pinyon-juniper draws and canyons with yellow grass flats in the valleys and dried grass rocky south
faces. The elk would come out of the draws to feed then go back up at daylight, elevations are 6,500 to 8,500 feet and temperatures in the fall this year were unseasonably warm. On the evening hunts I
quit even taking a coat as every pound being packed made me sweat and stink and huff and puff all the more.
The game plan for hunting these elk was to hunt a previously spotted herd, or to listen in the dark to locate a new group then proceed on foot quickly and quietly to intercept them on the way to bedding grounds. The system does work but you must watch wind direction, stay hidden while stalking, and guess right where the elk are headed. Several groups of elk we worked obviously smelled, heard, or saw us as they altered the direction of travel drastically as we made our move on them.
About the third day of the hunt, I took a drive doe a break from the routine and visited the National Radio Astronomy Observatory
on the plains of San Augustine;
there are 27 Radio Telescopes on rails that are used to map the universe. The visitors center is near Ross Johnsons headquarters and is very interesting. Displays of the universe thru different electromagnetic images are shown.
On the fourth afternoon and next to the last day of the hunt, we took a dirt road winding way back into the hills to hunt an area
the elk kept heading towards.
About 5 PM we parked the pickup on a rocky ridge near a long canyon running to the north, as we proceeded on foot there were a few large elk tracks passing along the west rim which we were on. As we followed around the edges of little side canyons we would glass back an the north cooler faces where elk might be shaded up. Aaron spotted a couple old antique rusting canteens, laying on the rocks, one had a wire handle on it which he proceeded to unravel making quite a lot of racket. I commented to him that is should wake up the elk, and looking back I think it did.
We stopped to glass from a rock outcropping and I looked across to the dry sunny east side of the canyon, about a half a mile
across and I spotted a yellow dot pass thru an opening in the trees. Further study with our binoculars revealed one lone monster big time bull! We watched as he worked his way south for a ways then
headed down into the main canyon below us. At one point I was glassing him, while Aaron took a nature call, and the bull turned his head completely sideways to get past a tree with his antlers horizontal, the
lower beam almost touched the ground and the upper beam was way above his back, an impressive view.
With the bull headed our way we committed to go down after him, we dropped onto a draw headed east and down, it got rocky and
brushy and we were making a pretty good racket some times. We went around a very steep point trying to see the bull again but no sight or sound of him appeared. Aaron asked me to bugle which I usually do
right well with a Carlton mouth diaphram. My bugle turned into a squawk, my mouth was cotton dry, I worked up some saliva, tried again and got out two good calls.
We heard an answer which seemed was south in the canyon. It seemed we'd lost this bull. We proceeded into the draw on the north side of the point and stopped to rest in it's bottom. Aaron said "wait here" and took off up the open south face. I thought we was going to glass for the bull again, and I definitely needed to catch my breath. When he returned I was surprised to see he had retrieved a large six point shed antler from the hill and still no sign of the bull.
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