Handgun Hunting Afield

2024 has been a unique hunting season. We have been without significant rain fall since early summer and the summer heat has lasted through mid October. Multiple large wild fires are raging across Wyoming and other western states. One wildfire had a direct impact on my season and the Handgun Hunting Afield group elk hunt, the Elk Fire.

The Elk Fire closed down half of the Bighorn Mountain range to hunting. I went up to our planned zone a week before season and the smoke was on the extreme side with the fire burning under 30 miles away. The first night I camped there I woke up to ash falling like snow. It was a tough decision but I had to cancel our group hunt. With the other zones in the area being closed due to fire it was going to pack our zone with deer and elk hunters plus the smoke made it a horrible living experience.

I had a general elk tag in my pocket and tried to form a plan B to salvage my season. I headed to a new zone along the Montana border and gave it a go.

I got into elk sign fairly quickly but most of it was older. I worked the area for a few days and failed to turn up fresh sign.

I added the locations and travel paths I found and marked them in my gps for future reference. I headed home and began working on plan C.

I found several open zones on the Colorado border. I packed up the truck in a hurry and made a five hour drive south with just a few days to spare.

I didn’t have much time to map scout before this trip. Every time I stopped to get gas I’d ponder at the map and work on picking out an area to focus on. When map scouting heavily hunted areas I look for a few things. I look for areas you can only access on foot, bedding cover, water, food, and most importantly I look for areas that most won’t go and that’s steep terrain.

I found such an area with multiple closed logging roads and between those roads was bedding cover, water, and potential food sources, everything was looking positive even tho I had about 15 minutes of planning going in.

I pulled into the entrance of a closed logging road and set camp for the night.

All of the reports for the year have been that the elk were staying up high due to the heat. My truck was parked at 9000 feet and I was going to work uphill to almost 11000 feet first thing in the morning.

Once I crossed the 10000 foot mark I began running into fresh sign, very fresh.

Tracks, droppings, and active wallows were around the hill side. By 9 am I had my first elk encounter of the trip. A small group made up of cows and a young bull were in the dark timber.

I set up with my gun on a stable rest on top of a log watching through a basket ball sized hole in the limbs waiting for the elk to present a shot. They presented everything but what I would consider a good ethical shot and I had to let them move on. I followed them the rest of the day until they ended up too far away for me to consider packing them out.

The next morning I started my hike earlier and went farther into the wilderness. On a hill about 2 miles away I spotted a herd with a good bull. I watched them until they bedded for the morning around 830 am. I then started to formulate a plan. How was I going to get there, where can I possibly shoot from, what do I think the wind direction is on the hill, and then I began to think about how I was going to get the elk out of there. Packing out an elk when solo hunting is no simple task. 4 or more trips at 70 pounds or more per load can become a multi day experience. So I began looking at the gps and it hit me, I was looking at about 5 to 6 miles one way per trip and some of that had difficult terrain to cover. A saying comes to mind, “a man has to know his limitations”.

So I left this group of elk behind and began working another side of the mountain. I hit a smell, a smell that I will never forget, ELK! There they were at about 80 yards. And I repeated the same experiance from the day before where I was unable to get in a position with an acceptable shot angle.

Sadly, hunting isn’t the only task in my life and I had to leave the next morning to tend to other duties. On the way back to the truck the elk had one last joke before I packed up.

Elk urine has an unmistakable smell and they had just done so within 100 yards of my truck camp.

For throwing together a plan C in a matter of minutes I am pretty happy with the results. It showed me that my standard map scouting method has merit. Did it end with an elk on the ground, no. My bull elk season did end with positive memories and I experienced new territory all while learning a ton.

Pulling the trigger is just one small part of what I enjoy in the field. Being out in nature, away from the hustle of daily life, all while in pursuit of big game is what it’s all about.

If the only way you measure success or find enjoyment in the field is when an animal hits the ground; you are missing the big picture.

The hunt is always about so much more than just the animals, it’s about the total experience. As a hunter and outdoorsman, the sooner in your hunting career you recognize that, the more joy you will find in the outdoors.