Roadrunner
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jul 10, 2001
- Messages
- 107
Well I just got back from my elk hunting trip to Montana.
The good news is that I had an excellent guide this time. Unlike my ill-fated trip to the Wind Rivers range in Wyo two years ago, this time my guide actually KNEW HOW TO HUNT!
The bad knews is that I didn't get an elk.
The Ugly was the weather, it was well just sort of TROPICAL. In my six days of hunting only the first one or two days had any sort of decent elk-hunting weather. For the last four days the temp's were in the high's in the 60's and 70's. I remember thinking that it was kinda odd to be standing at 7500 feet in the mountains of Montana in the early winter, while looking at my Kestrel 4000 reading 75 degrees (in the shade). It was colder in frigging San Diego for those four days then it was in the moutains of Montana.
Which leads me to the conclusion that I don't think that I'll go elk hunting again out west. I just can't plan a trip for a year and a half, put all that money into it, drive for three days out there, and have everything get screwed up by the weather. Man, like who would think that the mountains of Montana in the early winter would have weather on a par with Miami??
(Just as an aside, for those of you who aren't elk hunters: warm weather screws up an elk hunting trip more then anything. In early winter elk are coated with a layer of thick fat and can easily overheat. In hot weather they just spend the entire day laying under some tree somewhere and not moving. They are virtually impossible to find. With little to no snow on the ground they can eat around the same tree where they are lying. Hot weather also makes for crunchy snow, so any attempt to stalk them in the trees is fruitless.)
I now understand how elk hunting is just a sport for locals. With a season five weeks long, the locals just hang-out during the season waiting for the weather to turn cold and snowy (perfect for elk hunting). They can then pick and choose their weekend for maximum success.
As an aside, I had some interesting interactions with my guide regarding long range hunting. My guide was used to guiding guys with meodocre, if best, rifles. Trying to get him to understand that I could take an elk at greater then 150 yards was a challenging thing to do. When I first arrived in the camp he told me that my rifle was quote: "the talk of the camp". He told me that in twenty years of guiding he had never seen a rifle like mine (AI/AWM in 338LM). I also get the feeling that he and the other guides (whom I also spoke with about shooting) didn't really understand how to shoot long range (as defined by any shot greater then 200 yrds). I knew something was up when my guide asked me "what do the three little knobs on your scope do?" My scope is a NSX 5.5-22. Although very smart and able to hunting very well, he just had never seen anybody like myself with a rifle like mine before. As he stated, "some guys will come back the next year and say that they hadn't shot their rifles since they last sighted them in at the camp the year before".
But finally as the week wore on, I educated my guide and finally he was taking me to open parks where I could set up and cover large pieces of territory. But unfortuately by then the weather had turned warm; and no elk was ever seen again.
Sorry for the long post.
The good news is that I had an excellent guide this time. Unlike my ill-fated trip to the Wind Rivers range in Wyo two years ago, this time my guide actually KNEW HOW TO HUNT!
The bad knews is that I didn't get an elk.
The Ugly was the weather, it was well just sort of TROPICAL. In my six days of hunting only the first one or two days had any sort of decent elk-hunting weather. For the last four days the temp's were in the high's in the 60's and 70's. I remember thinking that it was kinda odd to be standing at 7500 feet in the mountains of Montana in the early winter, while looking at my Kestrel 4000 reading 75 degrees (in the shade). It was colder in frigging San Diego for those four days then it was in the moutains of Montana.
Which leads me to the conclusion that I don't think that I'll go elk hunting again out west. I just can't plan a trip for a year and a half, put all that money into it, drive for three days out there, and have everything get screwed up by the weather. Man, like who would think that the mountains of Montana in the early winter would have weather on a par with Miami??
(Just as an aside, for those of you who aren't elk hunters: warm weather screws up an elk hunting trip more then anything. In early winter elk are coated with a layer of thick fat and can easily overheat. In hot weather they just spend the entire day laying under some tree somewhere and not moving. They are virtually impossible to find. With little to no snow on the ground they can eat around the same tree where they are lying. Hot weather also makes for crunchy snow, so any attempt to stalk them in the trees is fruitless.)
I now understand how elk hunting is just a sport for locals. With a season five weeks long, the locals just hang-out during the season waiting for the weather to turn cold and snowy (perfect for elk hunting). They can then pick and choose their weekend for maximum success.
As an aside, I had some interesting interactions with my guide regarding long range hunting. My guide was used to guiding guys with meodocre, if best, rifles. Trying to get him to understand that I could take an elk at greater then 150 yards was a challenging thing to do. When I first arrived in the camp he told me that my rifle was quote: "the talk of the camp". He told me that in twenty years of guiding he had never seen a rifle like mine (AI/AWM in 338LM). I also get the feeling that he and the other guides (whom I also spoke with about shooting) didn't really understand how to shoot long range (as defined by any shot greater then 200 yrds). I knew something was up when my guide asked me "what do the three little knobs on your scope do?" My scope is a NSX 5.5-22. Although very smart and able to hunting very well, he just had never seen anybody like myself with a rifle like mine before. As he stated, "some guys will come back the next year and say that they hadn't shot their rifles since they last sighted them in at the camp the year before".
But finally as the week wore on, I educated my guide and finally he was taking me to open parks where I could set up and cover large pieces of territory. But unfortuately by then the weather had turned warm; and no elk was ever seen again.
Sorry for the long post.
