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Welcome to Cutting the Distance Field Reports, breaking news from the Elkwoods, and now your host, Jason Phelps.
Welcome back to another edition of Cutting the Distance Field Reports. I'm here in Oregon with Charlie Smith just finishing up our elk hunt we were on. Pretty limited tag in this unit, and we're just going to kind of go over what we saw red action-wise, what worked, what didn't. We'll probably spend more time on what didn't work since we got a good education on some of these bulls, and they really reacted a lot different than what I'd say we're used to.
when hunting. So what would you say the overall action was here this week as far as were we hearing beagles, were we finding elk that wanted to cooperate? - We were able to locate fairly easily. That was good. - Yeah, so I think for the most part these elk were running the right game. We could get to a high point like we normally would. We could locate and if there were bulls there, especially
on that first bugle you know when you show up to an area that first bugle usually gets them going and then we would kind of struggle right and then maybe getting them answer a second or third time so you really had to listen very very closely for that first bugle to make sure you picked it up because a lot of times you could sit there bugle again in five minutes ten minutes they wouldn't bugle but sometimes it's one of those things and I don't know why they do it but if you maybe wait 20 or 30 minutes you can probably get them to bugle again it's just it's almost like they don't want to answer you too many times in a row yeah
So yeah, we were able to locate and had no problem locating bulls. So that part of our system, our program, we were running our program was working just fine. But where we started to run into a little bit of different issues
difference here and our system kind of ran into some trouble was you know getting close cow calling bugling let kind of give give a little rundown on a typical scenario you know we locate a herd bull we then give them what we do from there locate a herd bull we always try and cut the distance once we cut the distance to a safe distance from the herd where we don't think we're gonna scare them we might have to locate again usually with cow calls hopefully they respond
check the distance, figure out where they're at, move closer and start putting pressure on them. I mean, that's pretty much our thing, you know? Yeah.
And on this hunt, a lot of times we would cut the distance. We try not to beagle, but we would, hey, maybe we need to do a little squeal beagle, just something that we'll never get an answer back. If you got too close, you know, under 200, 300 yards, you typically, they would take their cows and leave. They would give us a couple of beagles, round up their cows, and they'd be out of there. And they'd keep a safe distance. A lot of times on this hunt, we learned early on that, all right,
bugling isn't working so your your first instinct is let's switch it up to cow calls so we move in very tight get the wind right do everything we're supposed to and i'm talking tight on cow calls i'm talking most of the time we were under 100 yards 120 we we did we did get very close to a lot of cows didn't really bump them but we you know obviously we spot them in the timber and we'd switch the cow calls and and those didn't seem to work you know they worked
At times but not very well not even on the satellite bowls that are around which really kind of has me scratching my head and we've got some theories and we might dive into here in a little bit on why these bowls were just not responding to cow calls either. Yeah, that was tough. I mean usually when you're cow calling near a herd you always get a satellite come in two, three little fives little sixes whatever and it just kind of keeps the momentum going with the herd bull sometimes you get those satellites bugling too and then the herd bull starts bugling a lot.
Especially in a unit like this with a lot of, a very high bull to cow ratio, you would expect for there to be a lot of, you know, those semi-mature satellite bulls, you know, that are just looking for any sort of cow. But our theory was maybe they assume that all the cows are already taken by herd bulls and they're a little bit reluctant to come in to those calls. So we noticed that cow calls weren't as effective as they have been in the past in other units and, um,
I would say we ran it 10 plus times, right? Once we realized the bugling wasn't working on herd bulls, we'd get in cow call, maybe get a response or two, wasn't really interested, and then either the cows would get frustrated with us and kind of bugger out, or the bull would just not even respond. They would just keep in their pattern and hang out. Yeah, and the next time they would respond, they'd be 300, 400 yards out. Yeah.
Yeah, and one thing I want to talk about a little bit, I would say there are wolves in this unit kind of scattered out. We only really found like a high concentration in one area that was completely void of elk for how pristine of elk habitat it was. The most perfect elk habitat period. Beautiful. No elk to be seen, completely void. And I'm not exaggerating. We probably walked...
two miles of road on the top end two miles of road on the bottom end and no exaggeration there was a pile of wolf crap every 10 to 15 feet on this road the entire length i've never seen so much wolf dookie yeah the first day we went through an area looked really good just like everything else we've hunted this entire time um went in we found a wallow so you could see what's been around um
in the mud and sure enough we've seen more wolf and cougar tracks than we did elk which you know I'm not saying that the rest area wasn't good it's just it's obvious that there are some dead zones in here and so there were some days or times where we you know we really wanted to check an area out and just void of elk which so the wolves had a little effect but I wouldn't blame you know wolves on on
you know non vocal elk necessarily we do think one day maybe they had moved through an area and kind of made some elk quiet because it was they were still there and yeah I mean seeing the tracks on the road and stuff you know it just kind of makes me feel like that the elk aren't gonna respond as easy but I mean even with some a few tracks and stuff here and there we were able to get them to talk but seemed like when you got closer is when they just wouldn't say anything yeah
Let's jump in a little bit because we always promote kind of running our system. And I think we found ourselves wanting to always go back to that because we even talk about it. Like our system, I would say, works...
20, 30% of the time. It's not fail-proof, right? But it works enough times that eventually it's going to work. You put enough pressure on the bull, you set up enough times, eventually getting close, close enough to that herd bull's cows, close enough to him, you know, and challenging him will work. Or if you know there are satellites around, you get close enough to the herd, you know, potentially pull the herd bull off with cow calls. So we do a very methodical system. And I think, as we mentioned earlier, you know, found out it wasn't going to work, but we always...
We would go into setups, right? Saying we weren't going to call it all. Yep. And we go right back to calling. It's just, you feel like it's eventually going to work. Like, yeah, maybe our odds are lower. Maybe it's 10% in this unit. But we found ourselves every time we're not going to call, we're not going to do anything. You just instinctively go back to it. And I think that's one of my biggest takeaways is you, I hear a lot of people say,
I we should have adapted earlier and been a little bit more like steadfast and we're too stubborn yeah we like to do it the way we do it that's the thing we've been doing it for 25 plus years maybe more than that and it's worked so well so many times yeah that it just it's tough to go in there and this is where like my biggest takeaway maybe we should have just flat out like stuck to a different system um
you know we'll keep that in mind and i'm more worried in future hunts and i'm not gonna i'm gonna be scared to death to bugle now just because all the results we got here i'm not my next hunt i'm bugling yeah i'm gonna go in your face i don't care if it doesn't work it doesn't work i'll fail how i know best
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So towards the, you know, probably about halfway through the hunt, the writing was on the wall. We're going to have to hunt these things like mule deer, which is a little bit frustrating because we come out in the woods with an idea of how we want to hunt these elk, right? We want to find a bull that's bugling. We want to find a bull that wants to be called in and we want to run the game our way. We want to get bugles. We want stuff bugling in our face. We did get that, but a lot of times it was a bugle in our face right before they left, you know, with the cows. So
I want to jump into another challenge on this hunt, which archery hunting very, very difficult rifle hunt. Of course, it would have been easier rifle, but this area has a burn that went through it and it changed the dynamic of we always talk about having terrain and vegetation for cover so we can move in close.
what this brush did was put us exposed 90 of the time out in the open and number two it was louder than hell number three it gave you very very little possibility to ever set up and shoot because even when we did call bulls in their vitals were going to be completely covered you know with brush and so jump into a little bit of how this brush kind of changed our hunt you know we focused on a certain bowl for two and a half days and then ultimately we just had to like
literally trying to get him to be in the perfect spot which there wasn't very many perfect situations you know where he would actually give us a shot i mean it's like you got to move with these elk as they're going to their feed or bed and hope that they get in these little i'd say what semi-open areas which there's not very many of them yeah and this this is where as an elk hunter
I, once again, I struggle. It's easy for me to tell everybody, like, you just have to like, know that there's no light at the end of this plan. You know, if you're, if you're going into these areas and you're hunting on a one or 2% chance of success, and you're really just like,
hoping and praying we just had to finally we looked at each other and we're like we got to get out of here we're never going to kill this bull with where he's feeding in a burn and he's bedding in a burn with even taller brush we cannot physically kill him we just we didn't have the time I mean that's
Maybe if you had three weeks to work the same bull. Yeah, you would wait for him to be in the optimum spot, which we kind of got him in on one attempt. But once again, we weren't really privy to how these cows were going to react. We thought we were dialed, right? We moved in to within 70 yards of this bull. It was...
That was a high percentage of having good success on that. His cows were there. Wind was perfect. We were real, real close. So on this instance, I think we raked before he bugled, right? Or did we, maybe you bugled first and he hit us right back. Yeah. And then we went to some raking and I could see the bull face us at about 70 yards. I'm like, oh, this is bad.
this is gold you know and he screamed at you again i think you beagled back one more time on your second beagle the cows his cows didn't like it and they went out and then sure as crap you know sometimes in that instance don't leave when cows spook right because a lot of times that bull will either push him off or they just know to leave and he's going to stand his ground and do his thing but in this instance i've seen the cows go and then he was right behind him he just kept going which you know so i always give it time and if you don't know that bull left um you know
Just stay, but yeah, everything you did right, like we couldn't have got any tighter to this bull. But yeah, it's just one of those things, finally we hunted him two more days. You have to just weigh your options and the chances of actually killing him. Another thing, on this hunt in particular, these bulls have a higher age class. They're experienced, they've had all these calls thrown at them, there are a lot of spike hunters in the woods. On these type of units, there's 20 guys hunting for one person's tag. There are people everywhere.
Educated bulls. Every landing. Every gate, every road, every spot a person can be. So very pressured, very educated elk. One thing I want to talk about, which we got bit by multiple times, is you get in on a bull, beagle, and then you assume that he left. Or you assume that he's no longer there because maybe you've seen him walk off.
We would give it some time knowing that there's the possibility he would still be there. These big bulls will literally take three steps and wait for you to show yourself again. And so I'm not very patient. We're not very patient. But just one thing to keep in mind that we could have maybe saved a few more of these stocks or situations is...
Always assume that bull still there move very carefully with brush trees vegetation in your way of where you last seen him go and try not to expose yourself You know where he's gonna be able to pick you off or don't provide him a different angle because a lot of times it seems like they move off just enough that they're trying to pick you off at a different angle versus if you can you know stalk straight in on where you've seen them keep some brush but multiple times we would come around a tree and there would be a cow or a bull or a
They're a lot more patient than we are. I mean, it's their home. I just, I don't know. It was tough. One other thing I'd like to know, I was able to just come from New Mexico where you hear a bugle and it sounds like they're, you can see them and you're like, oh, that's a mile away and I can hear a bugle playing his day. Here,
you know, North Pacific Northwest, you know, denser, thicker timber, everything we heard was way closer than we thought. And, and that's one thing to keep in mind. Like we should have recalibrated our brains a little bit. Cause we got caught multiple times moving in too close, um, where it was just because we were calibrated to like, Oh, that bull's way out there when really they were pretty dang close. Um, so we needed to just slow down a little bit. And yeah, cause then by the time we figured it out, we were too close and they were already leaving. Uh,
Because they've seen us coming. Yeah, one thing to note. No, rut action seems to be going good here. It has some high days where the rut seems to be rolling and then the next day it'll be shut off. But definitely doing good enough here in Oregon. The rut's going. Yeah, these are just some little takeaways from the way we normally hunt to the way we should have hunted this unit. Good hunt. I'm...
I was happy with the action. We're out here to play the game and Oregon didn't necessarily disappoint. It was fun. We had a lot of good action. It was good hunting. Found some nice bulls. Some real nice bulls. Thank you for
i'm coming to be my caller and uh trying to help out we haven't hunted together since 2017. i was able to call you in a little six by five on that hunt and uh we haven't really hunted since then no that's that was a fun hunt too yeah now i'm a little uh now i'm a little nervous that uh after hunting with you there's a little uh curse yeah i don't believe in any of that stuff but i'm a little nervous because uh
yeah you you've had a stretch of bad luck and i'm afraid it maybe you know might rub off a little bit so uh yeah kind of like it did to another friend of ours yeah no i'm not worried about it we'll be uh we'll get back at it we're heading to idaho next um so hopefully the well i'm heading to idaho you're heading home i'm heading home i'm gonna go hunt rosies with the muzzleloader there you go well good luck on that appreciate you being out here oregon's been fun um
Look forward to the next time we get to hunt together. But that is the field report from here in Oregon. Hope everybody's having a good season. See ya. Bye.
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