9-18-15 through 9-25-15

9-18-15 through 9-25-15
Elk hunting near Monarch and White Sulpher Springs Montana
Jeremy Pank and myself
It was our second annual elk bow hunting trip to Montana, and I had the same results, no elk! Jeremy had different results from last year, no elk!
Going into the trip we really did not expect too much. We were going into the area blind and we really did not have any guidance from anybody on what to expect.
The first five days were pretty much a bust. We were hunting about sixe miles east of Monarch Mt. I saw a cow and a calf run by me one morning at daylight and Jeremy saw a bull and about six cows and calves that were about one half mile away. I was hoping this area would be good, but it was a disappointment. We both did lots of looking but never really found much sign. The area had quite a few trails that were restricted to motorcycle only, so we brought the cycles thinking this would be the way to access hard to get at elk. This really did not give us an advantage and to be honest most of the trails were down right scary. The trails were steep, rugged, rocky, and narrow and the bikes were not geared low enough to handle the steep grades. Besides the trails being difficult, the area was crawling with people during the weekend. There were camps set up everywhere and there was way too much human activity to allow the elk to feel comfortable. Most of the people were not hunters, but I am sure they still had the effect of chasing elk out of the area. I did have a little mishap with my cycle and ended up tangling my bow up in a tree. In the process of getting untangled I knocked the peep off my string. The next day (Sunday) I wasted the whole day and had to drive 300 miles round trip to get it replaced.
Wednesday morning we both came to our senses and broke camp to search for pastures with more elk. We found an area southeast of White Sulpher Springs that bordered some private ranch land. We had seen quite a few elk along this area early in the morning on our way out hunting, so we knew there was a concentration of animals in the area. There was a good population of elk, but most stayed on the private land.
We basically had the two half days and the one full day to scout and kill an elk. The elk were definitely more plentiful in this area but the vast majority of them were sticking to the private lands. The green alphalfa fields and the lack of hunting pressure drew these elk to the private lands. In the short period we were at this last area we both came close to having an opportunity, and we both experienced some awesome bugling.
Even though neither of us was successful in harvesting an elk, it was still a good time. We got to experience the mountain scenery, and beautiful weather. We also saw plenty of whitetail and mule deer, ruff grouse and spruce grouse, coyotes and tons of antelope along the roads of Montana. I also was able to fish the streams and catch both cutthroat and brook trout.