This is day number 5. It rained most of yesterday evening and last night. Thankfully, no thunderstorms like the first night here. This was an easy, peaceful rain. Perfect for sleeping in a tent. It was like rain on a metal roof. I stayed in until 6:45 this morning. I needed that after yesterday. I hit the trail around 7:30. I had barely gotten out of sight of the truck and heard a bugle. Possibly two separate buglers. I was certain one was above me, so up I go. Straight up. My legs are feeling good but I’m sucking air by straw again. I go up until I think I’m at his elevation and sit for a bit. He sounds off. Perfect. While the thermals were starting to change, I start in his direction. Then, I hit deadfall. A serious log jam of deadfall on steep ground. This throws my course off a touch. Every barkless log is slick as grease from the rain. It’s extremely dangerous with broken limbs like daggers. I slowly work my way through the almost impossible “maze of greasy daggers” to where the slope started rounding off to north-facing. I hear him moan a few times as I make my way. I know I’m relatively close, so I stop. I bugle, but he doesn’t reply. But I hear one sound off from somewhere that I couldn’t pinpoint.  It starts to rain, and the temperature drops. It’s cold but bearable. I’m already wet from knees down due to the wet grass. So, I hunker down and wait. 

Some time and rain pass. I decide to make a move. I gear up. Take a few steps and hit a sunny spot where I feel the warmth run all over me. I decide to throw a bugle out just to see. Bam! He fires back. I bugle again. He responds and quickly closes the distance with more bugles. There was no doubt it was on. I check the wind. My powder makes a loop. I check it again. The wind is bad, swirly. It’s blowing in three directions. The weather and clouds are making the winds very unstable. Not good. I could not make the move I needed due to all the deadfall, and he was closing the distance fast. His bugles are assuring me of that. I knocked an arrow but know this one will not get the chance to take flight. He bugled one last time from 80 yards or so. I could see him for a few seconds, then he vanished. Not a minute later, I hear a bugle again from where he came from. So I decide to make a loop and come at him from a different angle. You never know, he may strike back up. As I start around and up, a big boom of thunder. I look up to see clouds again. It quickly grew dark as the thunder became more intense. I hurriedly find a thick top pine, shed my pack to find my rain jacket. Just as I settle in, the rains start. Lightning strikes a little too close, but I just sit in my nest like it didn’t happen. The winds pick up, and the temp drops as it starts to sleet. Now it’s colder. I wait it out. The clouds pass on. The winds are high but seem to be fairly stable at my location. Time to move. So I moved, climbed, bugled, climbed some more, bugled a few more times. Nothing…. I ended the day on a different trail. A very unproductive yet peaceful hike. Turned around soon after I see the bear track, to keep it that way. 😜

Another encounter that I could not capitalize on. Knowing what I know now, I would’ve been in a different position altogether before I bugled. Also, his position wasn’t quite where I thought. 

I have one more day to make it happen before heading back to real life. This is only a dream I get to live out for a week or two, once a year. I am thankful to be healthy and very thankful my wife does not give me a hard time about doing this. She may be a little upset if I do not bring home some meat, though. I only spend a week here but spend months and months preparing for it. I read books, articles, listen to podcasts, watch videos, and talk to other elk hunters to educate myself about an animal that is halfway across the country from me. I train psychically for months. I tune and shoot my bow. Then I retune and shoot my bow more. Those are all great for preparation purposes, but nothing compares to boots on the ground and spending time on a mountain. I learn something every day on the mountain. This is a Do-It-Yourself public land elk hunt. This is real hunting!