Speaker 1: And we're back with another episode of Cutting the Distance podcast.
Speaker 1: I'm Dirk Durham and today I've got a couple of
Speaker 1: cool guests on here, my hunting buddies, Cody Wilson and
Speaker 1: Bradley Demmerman. Thanks for coming on the show today, guys. Yeah,
Speaker 1: thanks for having us, Dirk.
Speaker 2: Yep, thanks Dirk.
Speaker 1: This Uh, this episode is basically going to be kind
Speaker 1: of a mid season update.
Speaker 3: Uh.
Speaker 1: We're at Elk Camp and uh, actually we're in town
Speaker 1: by Oak Camp. We came into town to get some
Speaker 1: more ice and and get a get a burger. We've
Speaker 1: been on the mountain for a few days and uh,
Speaker 1: you know, a season for us down here has kind
Speaker 1: of started.
Speaker 2: Off with a bang.
Speaker 1: We were backpacked in and we've been in there. How
Speaker 1: how many days were we in there? Days? I think five,
Speaker 1: wasn't it four or five?
Speaker 2: Four or five? That's what I just said. Four or
Speaker 2: five is what I was thinking.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I think we've been into Elk and Herd
Speaker 1: Bugles and Chase Bugles every single day and had some
Speaker 1: really close calls. Now, this kind of country we're hunting
Speaker 1: is a little bit different than we're normally used to. Now,
Speaker 1: probably Cody you probably get to hunt some kind of
Speaker 1: open type country being you're a woman guy.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean it's very similar. It's not this open
Speaker 4: per se, but a lot a lot of similarities. Good pockets,
Speaker 4: a timber and then you got some sagebrush, ridges and
Speaker 4: draws and stuff like that. But pretty similar, just a
Speaker 4: little less open.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, I know, Bradley, were you you hunt and guide,
Speaker 1: then it's a lot like the country I kind of
Speaker 1: cut my teeth on hunting and lots of brush.
Speaker 3: Yeah yeah, I mean where I hunt, it's like you
Speaker 3: can have a forty yard pin on there, but you'll
Speaker 3: never use it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, okidding, right, less for some weird reason, you catch
Speaker 1: one standing a clear cut, which don't happen too often now. Yeah. So,
Speaker 1: uh so the three of us are hunting, We have tags,
Speaker 1: we got cameraman Dusty follow us around capturing it all
Speaker 1: on film. So you guys will be able to see
Speaker 1: this show on on the YouTube's here at some point
Speaker 1: on probably next year, after the first of the year.
Speaker 1: So so far, so good. Like we none of us
Speaker 1: have really hunted elk together before. Bradley and I have
Speaker 1: hunted bears and mountain lions. Cody and I have hunted
Speaker 1: bears together, but never elk. How do you think it's
Speaker 1: going guys.
Speaker 3: I think it's going great. I mean, first day it
Speaker 3: was the first time i'd, like Dirk said, I'd hunted
Speaker 3: elk with him, and he is. He's good at what
Speaker 3: he does. He had a bowl in my lap. He
Speaker 3: had a bowl in my lap the first morning, and
Speaker 3: I messed it up. But you know that's archery el cutting.
Speaker 3: And you actually called two bulls in already or the
Speaker 3: first day. One came in so islent. If I would
Speaker 3: have stayed put there, who knows what would have happened.
Speaker 2: But you know, my A d D. I kind of
Speaker 2: slipped down the hill a little bit.
Speaker 3: But the other bull come in, and uh, I was
Speaker 3: really what I was really you know they call you
Speaker 3: the bugler, but I'm really impressed with your cow talks.
Speaker 1: Really, yeah, you think they're good, They're awesome. That's my
Speaker 1: biggest I feel like that's my biggest weakness. I'm my
Speaker 1: cow calls suck.
Speaker 3: I'm embarrassed to blow my cow talk all you guys.
Speaker 3: Codes are codis are great, but uh, these elk there,
Speaker 3: we've been We've had some really close calls in the
Speaker 3: last five days and uh, but they've made us work
Speaker 3: for it where it's not easy train and they're they're
Speaker 3: definitely educated. You know, we're seeing hunters and these bulls
Speaker 3: have been hunted a lot, you can tell. And uh,
Speaker 3: we're just getting right there, but we haven't quite put
Speaker 3: it together yet.
Speaker 2: But we've got quite a few more days, so I
Speaker 2: know it's gonna happen.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, we got time. Yeah. Yeah. On that first
Speaker 1: calling set up we did you there was a bullet
Speaker 1: came in that was bugling, so you you snuck down
Speaker 1: there and got it right on him. And then another
Speaker 1: one snuck in quiet that didn't bugle at all, and
Speaker 1: he came in and almost right to Cody, kind of
Speaker 1: in between where you guys first initially set up, and
Speaker 1: then he kind of come in there and got got
Speaker 1: we got a senate or something.
Speaker 4: I think he caught my wind because I was up
Speaker 4: above you guys, and I think he just got past
Speaker 4: me and slipped by me without me seeing, and I
Speaker 4: think he just caught my win and took off.
Speaker 1: Spooked out of there. Yeah, and then later that is
Speaker 1: that the same day, then we got on another big
Speaker 1: six point same day had a big six point just
Speaker 1: ripping bugles and and our motive operation. Since it's such
Speaker 1: open country and and and all. Then we've kind of
Speaker 1: like tried to keep the color like the color back
Speaker 1: a ways and not put too much pressure on the
Speaker 1: bowl and keep them talking and let the shooters like
Speaker 1: snak sneak in, slip in and get close and let
Speaker 1: you know. If the bull comes, great, If not, then
Speaker 1: you're you're getting getting get into position and get a
Speaker 1: narrow into him. But that was a nice bowl. He
Speaker 1: kind of gave you the run around there for a bit. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he did, you know.
Speaker 4: He piped off when we were headed down the hill,
Speaker 4: and me and Dusty slipped up and I caught a
Speaker 4: glimpse of him through the trees moving and so he
Speaker 4: kind of went underneath the little ridge line there, and
Speaker 4: I knew we could get closer, so me and Dusty
Speaker 4: slipped up more. And when I got up there, he
Speaker 4: bugled again. But when I popped over the hill to look,
Speaker 4: he was down there with his head in a tree,
Speaker 4: just getting after raking, and I I just motioned to
Speaker 4: Dusty like let's go.
Speaker 1: And if he stayed that.
Speaker 4: Tree, you know, I could slip up there and put
Speaker 4: an arrow in him pretty easy, but as it being
Speaker 4: what it was, you know, he popped his head out
Speaker 4: and looked up, and I don't know of I'm sure
Speaker 4: he had cows down below, because he popped his head
Speaker 4: out of there and then looked down the hill, and
Speaker 4: he went down the hill after him. And then boy,
Speaker 4: you guys slipped up and I think you yelled at him,
Speaker 4: screamed at him. Yeah, and no, sooner than being dust,
Speaker 4: he'd get around them trees. All I seen was antler
Speaker 4: tips just coming over the hill. And by the time
Speaker 4: I got clear of the trees where I could shoot,
Speaker 4: he was almost there.
Speaker 1: I just hit my.
Speaker 4: Knees and drew my bow and he'd come up there
Speaker 4: frontal and all I could see was like from his
Speaker 4: brisket up and I just wasn't comfortable taking that shot
Speaker 4: at sixty I don't know, it might have been sixty
Speaker 4: five sixty.
Speaker 1: I didn't have a chance to range it. But it's
Speaker 1: a long shot from them. Yeah, yeah, even at broadside
Speaker 1: for most people, that's a pretty long shot. So yeah, no,
Speaker 1: you did the right thing. It's kind of hard, you know.
Speaker 1: You guy gets in that situation, You're like, oh man,
Speaker 1: it's a beautiful bul.
Speaker 2: I want to.
Speaker 1: I think I can do it, but man, that's a
Speaker 1: that's a poke, especially for frontal.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's just not a shot that I'm comfortable taking.
Speaker 4: I mean, I would rather not take that shot than
Speaker 4: boon that bowl. And you know, just have that all
Speaker 4: my conscience.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, you never know, and you know he may
Speaker 1: move off and you may be able to get back
Speaker 1: in a position to shoot him at twenty yards. It's
Speaker 1: you have so many I've had so many times where
Speaker 1: I've passed marginal or poor shots to where then another
Speaker 1: one that was a chip shot was presented to me.
Speaker 1: So no, it's it's okay to pass him up. And
Speaker 1: sometimes you're just like, dang it, I really wish I
Speaker 1: would have got that bull. Maybe I should have shot.
Speaker 1: But if it goes bad, then you have to carry
Speaker 1: that monkey around on your back for a while, and
Speaker 1: that that gets in your head and your next shot
Speaker 1: might be bad. And it's it's hard, it's really hard.
Speaker 4: So Well was fired up. You know, he was screaming.
Speaker 4: He wasn't silent, right, he was yelling back at us.
Speaker 4: And you know when a bull's fired up like that,
Speaker 4: I just feel like, you know, if you just wait
Speaker 4: just get that good shot. You know, if he's fired
Speaker 4: up like that, I feel like the chances of having
Speaker 4: that opportunity or higher, you know.
Speaker 1: Yeah, what do you guys think about the weather here?
Speaker 1: How's the weather been?
Speaker 2: Well, we got snowed on dr.
Speaker 1: Man, We've seen it all. We've seen beautiful bluebird days.
Speaker 1: We've seen rain, saturating rain, we've seen snow and fog. Again,
Speaker 1: we're on another bowl that was bugling pretty good the
Speaker 1: other day the other morning and the fog Cody got
Speaker 1: got up there in position, and man, I thought for
Speaker 1: sure we're gonna get this bowl. And then it starts
Speaker 1: snowing and sleeping, and the fog was thick as peace suit. Man,
Speaker 1: you couldn't see sixty yards. And I'm like, this is
Speaker 1: gonna happen, This is gonna happen today. And it's just
Speaker 1: those slippery old bulls just slipped through your fingertips.
Speaker 2: Sometimes, yes, they do. Yeah, I think.
Speaker 4: What the first three days we were here, it rained
Speaker 4: all night, every night, every night, and yeah, yeah, I
Speaker 4: think the third day we went up on the mountain anyways,
Speaker 4: even though it was foggy and rainy, and got up well,
Speaker 4: that's when we chased that bull, and we thought it
Speaker 4: was going to happen, and I thought it was too
Speaker 4: because being dusty were I bet that bowl wasn't sixty
Speaker 4: eighty yards three different times and then one time we
Speaker 4: had him, he couldn't have been forty Yeah, I mean
Speaker 4: he was close.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean the weather's been.
Speaker 4: So hit and miss, but hopefully it cleared off today
Speaker 4: and it's been nice and hopefully we get three or
Speaker 4: four good days like this.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, what do you guys think? You know?
Speaker 3: What I thought's odd down here where we're hunting is
Speaker 3: what is it the twentieth of September? Yeah, yep, sure is. Yeah,
Speaker 3: So what do you guys think about the like these
Speaker 3: satellite bulls we're seeing, you know, just feeding by themselves,
Speaker 3: And is that strange to you or is that just
Speaker 3: I mean, I feel like.
Speaker 2: I just feel like that.
Speaker 3: There was a rut fest before we got here in
Speaker 3: the and the bulls are kind of this, you know,
Speaker 3: the five points in the rag horn. The little rag
Speaker 3: horns are kind of timid and they're not really interested.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 3: Most of the bulls we chase, besides the two you
Speaker 3: called in, have been the herd bulls. Yeah, yeah, and
Speaker 3: that's kind of really the only action I feel like
Speaker 3: we've had as far as calling. But the you know,
Speaker 3: we seen those bulls last night, those little rag horns
Speaker 3: just feeding and bugle at them, and they wouldn't even
Speaker 3: lift their.
Speaker 2: Head, you know.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's so weird. And my my buddy Corey Miller,
Speaker 1: which been on the podcast before, he's hunted this area
Speaker 1: before a couple of years ago. He said, yeah, it
Speaker 1: was the it was September twentieth and he's seen two
Speaker 1: five points just feeding side to side on a hillside
Speaker 1: and he'd bugled him. The wouldn't lift their head. And
Speaker 1: so I don't know if it's the if they man
Speaker 1: really established some pecking order and get kicked them little
Speaker 1: balls out and they know better than to come towards
Speaker 1: the bulls that are bugling, or if they just haven't
Speaker 1: felt their oats yet or smelled the you know, smell
Speaker 1: the cow and heat, or I don't know what the
Speaker 1: deal is the right answer is to that, that's kind
Speaker 1: of it's kind of weird. But for the big bulls,
Speaker 1: they're acting pretty ready, you know when you get on them.
Speaker 1: Yesterday I had the opportunity to get really close to
Speaker 1: a big bull, and he only bugled once, maybe when
Speaker 1: when you were relocate him. It's like, so we set
Speaker 1: up and I started Dusty and I started walking to
Speaker 1: him where It's like, okay, he sounded like he was
Speaker 1: up here. We'll just walk that way and surely he'll
Speaker 1: pipe off a few more times. Bradley'll keep him talking
Speaker 1: and we'll just slide in there. And then he just
Speaker 1: kind of went quiet, and so me and Dusty got
Speaker 1: up there. I think I feel like we sat there
Speaker 1: for twenty minutes, maybe at least or or or better.
Speaker 1: And and no, not a peep, not a sound from
Speaker 1: the bowl. But then Dusty said, did you hear that?
Speaker 1: I'm like, I thought I heard something, but I thought
Speaker 1: it might be a little bird or something, but it
Speaker 1: just went Mick. It wasn't me, it was just ah.
Speaker 1: And then I heard it again. I'm like, I don't
Speaker 1: know if that's an elk or not. But I thought, well,
Speaker 1: maybe we should all move up. So I thought, well,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna I'm gonna bugle here and see how far
Speaker 1: off in the distance. Maybe that thing's moved around the
Speaker 1: hillside and I'm in a little better position to cast
Speaker 1: my bugle than Bradley was because you were faded back
Speaker 1: there quite a ways. Maybe he's just not hearing you.
Speaker 1: So I ripped a bugle and bam, he bugled right there.
Speaker 1: He was probably yeah, like eighty yards away. I was like,
Speaker 1: holy cow, they're right here. As soon as I bugled.
Speaker 1: Then I started seeing elk and I could see a
Speaker 1: cow or two and they started filtering over towards us,
Speaker 1: but down low, out of sight. We couldn't really see him.
Speaker 1: But then I seen that bull moving around back there.
Speaker 1: I'm like, oh man, and he started bugling a little
Speaker 1: bit more. For whatever reason, he would Bradley would would
Speaker 1: call and he wouldn't talk, and then Cody he split off.
Speaker 1: So we made kind of a triangle. And so Cody
Speaker 1: would call, Bradley would call, and he wouldn't answer either
Speaker 1: one of you guys, but he would answer me. And
Speaker 1: I don't know if it's because I was so much
Speaker 1: closer that he felt like I was a threat, like
Speaker 1: I was. I was close to his cows, and he
Speaker 1: was like, I'll bugle at you because you're in my
Speaker 1: in my zone or whatever. But man, he got at first,
Speaker 1: and it was he had such a weird bugle, as
Speaker 1: like he was. He kind of kind of got us there.
Speaker 1: I kind of was thought on, this thing's like a
Speaker 1: little five point and he had kind of a squeaky
Speaker 1: bugle and these really crappy chuckles, just the just really
Speaker 1: bad chuckles.
Speaker 3: And those chuckles, yeah, they I went and told Cody,
Speaker 3: I said, I think that's a guy.
Speaker 4: Yeah, had that conversation, like we met up and he's like,
Speaker 4: that's a guy, and I'm like, but right after that,
Speaker 4: we were still together and talking and that bull lit Buldon,
Speaker 4: I'm like, that's a b Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah. He was giving us those real whimpy, shitty bugles
Speaker 1: and chuckles, and then he let one rip a big, grally,
Speaker 1: wheezy aggressive bugle. It's like, oh yeah, And I thought
Speaker 1: that might be a good bull. And then I seen
Speaker 1: him and I'm just like, holy cow, he's a really
Speaker 1: good bull, like trophy and just about anybody's eyes. He's
Speaker 1: just a really big, beautiful bull. And man, that thing
Speaker 1: he would be kind of paces back and forth, and
Speaker 1: I didn't want to. I was kind of exposed. I
Speaker 1: wasn't a good place to be calling from. But then
Speaker 1: then I could his cows were coming towards me more
Speaker 1: and more and I'm like, I'm gonna be The cows
Speaker 1: are gonna pop up any second, and I'm gonna be pegged.
Speaker 1: So I'm gonna just challenge him for these cows right here,
Speaker 1: right now and see what happens. And I did, and
Speaker 1: probably within about three or four bugles here he came.
Speaker 1: And I'm like, oh, Dusty, here he comes, and man,
Speaker 1: what a what a beast man. He had a huge body,
Speaker 1: huge neck, he just he was just coming in straight on.
Speaker 1: I'm like, well, he's just walking along. I'm like, all right,
Speaker 1: if he gets to those trees right there, that'll be sixty,
Speaker 1: and then he gets in front of him, be fifty five.
Speaker 1: And if he gets it around fifty to fifty five broadside,
Speaker 1: and you know, everything's good. He's not watching and not
Speaker 1: looking at me, I might just send an arrow. Well,
Speaker 1: he got to about sixty and stopped. He's seen us.
Speaker 1: He looked and seen us. We were just out in
Speaker 1: the middle, and we had a lot of sun on
Speaker 1: us too. At that by then the sun had come
Speaker 1: up and was like was shining off the one side
Speaker 1: of us. So we stood out like a like a beacon, right,
Speaker 1: and he turned around and left as soon as he
Speaker 1: turned around. I screamed at him, and he like stopped
Speaker 1: and stutter stepped and turned back around. But I wasn't
Speaker 1: quick enough with getting my bugle tube down, so I
Speaker 1: had to hold it free spring, you know, out the
Speaker 1: side of my mouth here. And he stared us down
Speaker 1: for a while and then turned again, and I screamed
Speaker 1: at him again, and he looked back, and we did
Speaker 1: this two or three times and then then he's just like, eh,
Speaker 1: you're not a threat. So he just kind of walked
Speaker 1: back in behind the scenes, right, he kind of just
Speaker 1: kind of disappeared right about that time. Out pops the cows.
Speaker 1: Here comes one, here comes another. We had like five
Speaker 1: cows right right there in front of us at anyway,
Speaker 1: I don't know, fifteen to twenty yards maybe probably maybe
Speaker 1: even less than that, and they would kind of graze
Speaker 1: and they'd look up and look look up at us,
Speaker 1: chewing their chewing their grass, and then like put their
Speaker 1: head down, and I'm like, I don't know how these
Speaker 1: cows are and just not turn it inside out? How
Speaker 1: are we not done for? You know, cows are usually
Speaker 1: the smartest, you know, they're really looking for the things
Speaker 1: that are out of place. But then Finally, after a while,
Speaker 1: one of them pegged this and then they spooked, and
Speaker 1: I screamed at him like, okay, here's my chance. As
Speaker 1: they run off, that bull's gonna boil out of there,
Speaker 1: especially since I screamed he's gonna boil out of there.
Speaker 1: He's gonna run out to that little spot that's about
Speaker 1: fifty to fifty five yards and I'm gonna get him.
Speaker 1: And he ran out there right by those cows. But
Speaker 1: I had a great big limb on a fir tree
Speaker 1: that was covering his whole body. There was no shot whatsoever.
Speaker 1: I'm just like doug on it away he goes. They
Speaker 1: all take off, So I'm like, well, if I can
Speaker 1: dog them and if I can push them, he may
Speaker 1: just push those cows off and turn around to fight,
Speaker 1: so which I've done this a lot. So Dusty and
Speaker 1: I just are double timing towards him, and we'd scream
Speaker 1: and he'd scream and we'd get close, and then the
Speaker 1: next time he'd scream, he'd be about another one hundred
Speaker 1: and fifty yards, so we'd go at him again. I'm like,
Speaker 1: we're gonna catch him, or he's gonna catch us. We're
Speaker 1: gonna probably slip through one of these openings. He'd be
Speaker 1: standing there looking at us. But then finally, the last
Speaker 1: time I heard him, you was quite a ways away.
Speaker 1: It's like, no, he's getting the heck out of dodge
Speaker 1: with these with these ladies. He's not no, he don't
Speaker 1: want to fight. He's just gonna gonna push him off.
Speaker 1: So but that was a pretty close encounter, dang it.
Speaker 2: It was really close.
Speaker 3: And man, dude, when you find a runner where we're hunting,
Speaker 3: they run.
Speaker 1: They run. Yeah. Yeah. And then last night again we
Speaker 1: had we got on one of we walked stepped down
Speaker 1: that bowl. We called and he was like, I bet
Speaker 1: he was within shot shooting range. Shit, they're not been trees. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you guys, Yeah, I mean he wasn't far, that's for sure.
Speaker 1: But within a minute he was. He was moving out,
Speaker 1: moving out with the with the ladies.
Speaker 2: And yeah, well yeah, he was so close. You know,
Speaker 2: you guys.
Speaker 3: I set back call and you guys slipped up there
Speaker 3: and I bugled. I'm like, the cody or there, just
Speaker 3: because your guys with bugles sound great too, by the way.
Speaker 3: They just bugle, you know, or without a helm, like
Speaker 3: surely they wouldn't have bugled.
Speaker 1: It was way too close.
Speaker 2: To me, right, Yeah, it was just like it was
Speaker 2: right there. Yeah, I'm like, I walked into this thing.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I thought one of us was going to get seen,
Speaker 1: like it was that close.
Speaker 2: Yeah, man. And then he didn't.
Speaker 1: He didn't like us. He he pushed those cows and
Speaker 1: and Cody and Dusty took in after him. And it
Speaker 1: was a foot race across his steep, rocky tree covered hillside.
Speaker 2: Man.
Speaker 1: It was it was hard terrain probably to keep up. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it wasn't easy. I mean just the loose rock, yeah,
Speaker 1: and about nine thousand feet elevation and just trying to
Speaker 1: get up there with him. And it was he beat
Speaker 1: us by a long shot. And we watched that bull.
Speaker 1: He crossed into the next drain eache up the other side,
Speaker 1: and then he crossed across this big open flat and
Speaker 1: he dropped elevation. He dropped probably a thousand feet or better.
Speaker 1: And pretty soon the next thing you know, he's out
Speaker 1: in the middle of the desert. Like they all changed
Speaker 1: zip goats, yes, and just just dogging along with them
Speaker 1: cows just you know, I don't think there's any way
Speaker 1: he smelled this. I think he just figured I'm taking
Speaker 1: these cows were out of here. Yeah, he said, I don't.
Speaker 1: I probably don't stand a chance against some of these
Speaker 1: big bulls here. I'm just going to take this thing,
Speaker 1: these cows and get out of here. But the funny part,
Speaker 1: you weren't bugling like a big bull. You're just doing
Speaker 1: an average bull bugle, right. You weren't being aggressive. And
Speaker 1: we didn't push on him hard.
Speaker 3: No, And I stayed back, as you know, quite a
Speaker 3: way because me and you talked about that. Remember it
Speaker 3: was Cody, you and then me and then I kind
Speaker 3: of caught up to you and we kind of made
Speaker 3: the call like we felt like he was going to run.
Speaker 3: So we you know, we gave ourselves three four hundred
Speaker 3: yards from the bull just to keep him bugling. For Cody, yeah,
Speaker 3: we can barely hear him at the time, just because
Speaker 3: we thought maybe if we stayed back enough, he won't run.
Speaker 2: And Cody, you went high, which was yeah, move the way.
Speaker 4: The wind was yeah, I mean the wind was going
Speaker 4: up when we first started. I mean the bull was
Speaker 4: right there, and then the next time he bugled, he
Speaker 4: was at the top. So I told Dussie, I said,
Speaker 4: we got to get above him or else it's going
Speaker 4: to be able before it even starts. And no, sooner
Speaker 4: than we got to the top and he was clear
Speaker 4: down the ridge on the top quite a ways away,
Speaker 4: like five hundred yards. So we booked it across the top,
Speaker 4: and by the time we got to where it dropped
Speaker 4: off down the ridge, he was already gone. Like he
Speaker 4: bugled once in that saddle and then he dropped off
Speaker 4: the other side.
Speaker 2: He was gone. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I mean he didn't stick around for nothing, right, crazy.
Speaker 3: Yeah, he just he had his five or six girlfriends
Speaker 3: and he was happy and he just figured, ain't gonna
Speaker 3: take no chances and fight. I'm just gonna get him
Speaker 3: out of here.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, don't be greedy. Yeah, take these ladies and
Speaker 1: run right.
Speaker 4: The weird thing is we haven't seen like big herds,
Speaker 4: Like there's not you know, a bull, a giant bull
Speaker 4: with thirty cows or forty or whatever, and you have
Speaker 4: like ten or fifteen satellite bulls around it.
Speaker 1: I mean, that just hasn't happened. No, they're all broke
Speaker 1: into like small herds. Yeah, very So there's been some
Speaker 1: some like that bull that we're talking about here, that
Speaker 1: was that that tookies ca. He's a nice bowl, but
Speaker 1: he wasn't a giant, no. And then we've seen a
Speaker 1: couple other bulls about that size with cows and then
Speaker 1: those big bulls with cows too. But but it's almost
Speaker 1: like they've kind of broke up the big herds into
Speaker 1: little herds. And then they're as soon as soon as
Speaker 1: they get they hear a bugle and a little bit
Speaker 1: of a little bit of pressure close to them, they're like, oh,
Speaker 1: we got to get out here, ladies. I don't want
Speaker 1: to share you time to go.
Speaker 3: Yeah, on that bowl last night, you know he had
Speaker 3: his well you guys were watching them more night, what
Speaker 3: four or five cows or six maybe, But then he
Speaker 3: also had those three spikes. Yeah, yeah, No like little
Speaker 3: satellite raghorn or nothing with them.
Speaker 1: He just had his yep, just a little family there right,
Speaker 1: looked like well they had just went. The funny thing
Speaker 1: is that they just went across a hillside and left
Speaker 1: the country where that we and then like ten minutes
Speaker 1: later we look up on the hill and there's those
Speaker 1: two two raghorns we were talking about, there's feeding next
Speaker 1: to each other, and they went right by them. And
Speaker 1: those bulls didn't get into the action at all. They
Speaker 1: just they just let everything back by Ye, so.
Speaker 4: They didn't even act like they were interested. No, yeah,
Speaker 4: they just kept on feeding.
Speaker 1: Well, I'm a shift gears here, guys. We've got our
Speaker 1: our our Q and a segment. It's sponsored by Pendleton
Speaker 1: Whiskey Letterbuck. So here's the question. This is from Instagram
Speaker 1: profile names Jaden Maine. I think and it's a dude. Yeah,
Speaker 1: let's see question. I live out here in Utah. I've
Speaker 1: heard and seen from my other buddies they've been on
Speaker 1: elk in a rut frenzy. Last night when I went out,
Speaker 1: I had a good bowl with eight cows and a
Speaker 1: raghorn all together. Not a couch erp a bugle anything.
Speaker 1: We bugled, cow called and nothing. It's a pretty good
Speaker 1: trail that a lot of hikers, bikers and what not
Speaker 1: are on. So I'm not sure if the elk are
Speaker 1: just quiet because all the traffic, But we couldn't seem
Speaker 1: to get a callback from them. Is it best to
Speaker 1: try and sneak it? Sneak in just quietly spot in
Speaker 1: stock Also he was pawing the ground raking brush. Just
Speaker 1: never heard of bugle or would commit to the cow calls.
Speaker 1: What are your thoughts, guys, what would you do if
Speaker 1: that was if those elk were in your hunting spot.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean that's kind of a tough situation. The trains,
Speaker 4: you know, going to play a role in that. But
Speaker 4: I would say, if he's not answering to anything, bugles,
Speaker 4: cow calls, they just won't answer. If you can hear
Speaker 4: him raking, I would rake as well. I would use
Speaker 4: them little things, you know, break brush, stuff like that.
Speaker 4: And I've seen it before where will not respond to
Speaker 4: bugles or cow calls, and if you just take the time,
Speaker 4: you know, if you can, if you kind of know
Speaker 4: where they're at and get as close as you can
Speaker 4: without bumping them. I would assume if if you can
Speaker 4: hear a bull raking, you're close enough. But I would
Speaker 4: I would just move mcham. I would use you know,
Speaker 4: breaking brush, raking trees. And I've seen it a lot
Speaker 4: of times where if you do that without even bugling
Speaker 4: or cow calling, he will finally get tired of it
Speaker 4: and he will respond and you can pinpoint him and
Speaker 4: play the game from there.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, what do you think?
Speaker 3: Yeah, No, I agree with Cody, but well, it sounds
Speaker 3: like a lot of cows there sounds like me. And
Speaker 3: one thing for sure, there's apparently not a cow in
Speaker 3: heat right now, because I believe he would be making noise.
Speaker 3: My first thoughts were, well, he mentioned that it was
Speaker 3: kind of a lot of hikers around there and stuff.
Speaker 3: But I mean, I mean, as there are a lot
Speaker 3: of hunters as well. If there's if it's not where
Speaker 3: you think there's a lot of hunters, you know, you
Speaker 3: might just give it a day or two and and
Speaker 3: and come back and not bump them out of there,
Speaker 3: you know, And you know, I mean, those cows are
Speaker 3: going to come in heat any day, you know, and
Speaker 3: then you can hear some noise. He probably won't I
Speaker 3: feel like a bull like that with that many cows,
Speaker 3: he probably won't leave his cows. But if you had
Speaker 3: a buddy, you know, kind of like we're doing, you know,
Speaker 3: keeping them bugle bugling in, and then you could slip
Speaker 3: in on him.
Speaker 2: A lot of eyes there. It sounds like, you know,
Speaker 2: something you might try.
Speaker 3: But you know, if you feel like there's going to
Speaker 3: be a hunter park there the next day, and you
Speaker 3: better go for it now. I definitely try what what
Speaker 3: Cody said, and and you know, maybe just quiet down
Speaker 3: on the calls and breake some brush and and be
Speaker 3: patient or you know, try to stalk, you know, and
Speaker 3: and you know, but you know how that.
Speaker 2: Is with with all the eyes right, all the cows.
Speaker 2: But what's your thoughts, Dirk?
Speaker 1: No, I agree one hundred percent with both of you guys.
Speaker 1: I think and sometimes I think people get in too
Speaker 1: big of a hurry, myself, myself included. Probably I'm probably
Speaker 1: the worst one. Well Bradley just raised his hand. But
Speaker 1: I have a hard time of like playing the slow
Speaker 1: game on some of these elk and I have to
Speaker 1: always have to remind myself I'm on the elks time schedule,
Speaker 1: not mine, and they have nothing better to do than
Speaker 1: eat and then go lay down or fool around or
Speaker 1: whatever they're doing. That's what they that's what they're doing,
Speaker 1: and if I try to change that, it may or
Speaker 1: may not go my way. So if they're not calling
Speaker 1: like that, then I would definitely just put away the calls.
Speaker 1: And I love I love that whole getting close and
Speaker 1: raking things. Some of that non vocal noise elk noise
Speaker 1: you can make will sometimes just get them coming. He
Speaker 1: may not even bugle, but he just may come over
Speaker 1: there and he if you keep your head on this swevel,
Speaker 1: he may just wind up right in your lap doing
Speaker 1: that stuff. How close would you say?
Speaker 2: Like? What what?
Speaker 1: Let's say you've seen them, you you tried your calls,
Speaker 1: nothing work. Let's say there you're on one hillside there
Speaker 1: on another with a little intermixed intermixed trees and stuff.
Speaker 1: How what are you gonna do? Are you gonna try
Speaker 1: to get a little closer maybe? Are you gonna get
Speaker 1: above them? Below them? Same same topographical topographical line? What
Speaker 1: do you what do you think? In Cody?
Speaker 4: I mean for me, it's you know, it all is
Speaker 4: get a very on terrain cover. You know what the
Speaker 4: wind's doing. But if I can come in on the
Speaker 4: same level and have cover or some terrain feature, that
Speaker 4: is gonna you know, cover me when.
Speaker 2: I'm moving right.
Speaker 4: I mean, I want to come in on the same level.
Speaker 4: I want to make it as easy as I can
Speaker 4: for that bowl to come to me. Yeah, you know,
Speaker 4: if I'm going to try and call or you know, rake, whatever,
Speaker 4: I want that bowl to have like the path of
Speaker 4: least resistance, you know it. If I'm trying to call
Speaker 4: him uphill, I would say seventy five eighty percent of
Speaker 4: the time that bull's not going to come especially if
Speaker 4: there's you know, thick brush or dense timber downfall stuff
Speaker 4: like that, he's gonna be he's just gonna be like, no,
Speaker 4: I ain't doing that right, But ideally I want to
Speaker 4: come in on the same level right and it you know,
Speaker 4: just keep the wind right and you know it should
Speaker 4: work out.
Speaker 3: Make sure they can hear you, you know, I mean,
Speaker 3: because you know, like you said, the train, you know,
Speaker 3: if there's a little ridge or something in front of you,
Speaker 3: you know, that really cuts down the sound. He might
Speaker 3: not hear your raking. But you know that's a fine line.
Speaker 3: You got to be dang careful you don't blow the
Speaker 3: herd too.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but if you can get in there where you
Speaker 2: know he can hear.
Speaker 1: You, yep, calling it for me, calling of any kind,
Speaker 1: you have to make sure you make it super easy
Speaker 1: for that elk to come to you.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: So if you see obstacles, do you see like a
Speaker 1: patch of let's say there's been an old burn there
Speaker 1: and there's a whole bunch of extra timber that had
Speaker 1: fallen down with reprod growing up to the middle of it.
Speaker 1: That's not fun to go through. Even for an elk.
Speaker 1: So if you have a barrier like that between you
Speaker 1: and that elk, you're gonna have to like figure something
Speaker 1: else out. Maybe there's a big rock face and it's
Speaker 1: just like man, I don't you know it's it's gonna
Speaker 1: be really hard. So you have to like play kind
Speaker 1: of play that smart tactical game and then like like
Speaker 1: I said, play be patient. Maybe right now when you
Speaker 1: see them, it's just not a good move. There's no
Speaker 1: good moves to make. That's one hundred percent fine. Just
Speaker 1: sit down and watch them. Just you know, be lazy,
Speaker 1: be passive, whatever you want to call it. Just just
Speaker 1: give it some time, because that those elk are going
Speaker 1: to stay there all day. Eventually they're going to move
Speaker 1: off somewhere else to where it's a place that you'll
Speaker 1: have a better approach, Maybe you'll have better cover, Maybe
Speaker 1: they're gonna go lay down somewhere. Just just take your time,
Speaker 1: and usually, you know, something will a situation will present itself.
Speaker 1: It's it's better than the one you're in right now.
Speaker 4: Right, I mean, some of them bulls that won't answer
Speaker 4: are not very vocal. I mean sometimes you have to
Speaker 4: played a long game with them.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, just.
Speaker 4: Sit back and observe and wait till they are in
Speaker 4: the right spot to where you can either stop them
Speaker 4: or wait for him to fire up.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And like Bradley said, if you're in an area
Speaker 1: where you don't if you don't have a bunch of
Speaker 1: hunters competing for these elk, then yeah, I would sometimes
Speaker 1: even leave elk. I mean they say that kind of
Speaker 1: goes against the old don't leave elk to find elk.
Speaker 1: But sometimes if if that's the game you're trying to play,
Speaker 1: you know, to call one in. Maybe I'm gonna let
Speaker 1: him simmer for a couple of days and you come
Speaker 1: back and it's a whole different elk. Like day to
Speaker 1: day is so different on elk. You know, well, yeah,
Speaker 1: go ahead, Bradley, Sorry, Cody, you know, just being back
Speaker 1: to being patient. You know, if you if you can want,
Speaker 1: especially if you can see him bed. I mean you
Speaker 1: call it midday madness.
Speaker 3: You know, I wouldn't be surprised, you know, this guy
Speaker 3: just kind of was patient, and his cows betted he
Speaker 3: might bugle on his own in the middle of the
Speaker 3: day or something, you know, or he might finally answer
Speaker 3: you back.
Speaker 2: But I always like to bet a bull.
Speaker 3: I mean, you're in a pretty good position if his
Speaker 3: cows are laying down and he's kind of just he's
Speaker 3: more I feel like I've had better lucky than bulls,
Speaker 3: especially the herd bulls coming to me when his cows.
Speaker 2: Are laying down. Yeah.
Speaker 3: And there's a lot of cool tricks, you know, with
Speaker 3: base map and on X and stuff. You know, you
Speaker 3: can drop little pins if you know where they're betted
Speaker 3: kind of, and you can get you know, two hundred
Speaker 3: yards up there and he and then do the old
Speaker 3: rake the tree like Cody's saying, you know, once they're betted,
Speaker 3: and that bull, you know, he knows all his cows
Speaker 3: are laying there and they're kind of betted. He he'll
Speaker 3: sneak over and Okay, who's trying to intrude here. You know,
Speaker 3: I've had really luck betted cows, you know, and betted
Speaker 3: bulls in the middle of the day, having them come
Speaker 3: in you know. Yeah, yeah, yeah, they're more likely to
Speaker 3: get in their zone.
Speaker 1: Yeah and there. Yeah, they're more likely to leave those
Speaker 1: cows if their cows are content not going anywhere.
Speaker 2: Yep.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 4: Well, and it also begs the question, I mean, it
Speaker 4: sounds like it's close to a main trail, Like, maybe
Speaker 4: they're not talking because the milk have already been bumped
Speaker 4: two or three times.
Speaker 1: If there's hikers and.
Speaker 4: Stuff like that, Yeah, you know, maybe he's already been
Speaker 4: disturbed several times.
Speaker 1: So yeah, right, yeah, well that's a that was a
Speaker 1: good question. Thanks Jaden. If if anybody else has questions
Speaker 1: you want us to answer on here, email us at
Speaker 1: ct D at Phelps game calls dot com. All right,
Speaker 1: so well we have we've what's our next plan. We're
Speaker 1: gonna go out try a new spot for a couple
Speaker 1: of days, or I think we're gonna try a couple
Speaker 1: just day hunts. We're not gonna backpack in until we
Speaker 1: kind of get get some uh some verification that there's
Speaker 1: some elk in the country, some water in the country,
Speaker 1: because that's pretty more important to if you're going to
Speaker 1: be staying back there camping, that we have to have
Speaker 1: water for drinking water and for food. I think tonight.
Speaker 4: Kind of talked about maybe just going up here and
Speaker 4: finding a camping spot down low and we will all
Speaker 4: jump in the same truck and bomb up there and
Speaker 4: go do some glass and some road bigling and see
Speaker 4: what we can't here, and like you said, do a
Speaker 4: couple of day hunts and see if we can get
Speaker 4: into them, and if we do, we'll go in there
Speaker 4: and stay a few days.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think also looking for where the other hunters
Speaker 1: are at. Are there Are there a lot of hunters
Speaker 1: in the area. Do we want to commit and spend
Speaker 1: a bunch of time here or are the trailheads just
Speaker 1: covered up? Are there people just everywhere? Just try to
Speaker 1: find a place that there's not a bunch of people
Speaker 1: and then then we can commit to something like that.
Speaker 1: Right where do you think Bradley is a pretty good plan?
Speaker 3: I think that's a good plan, you know, try to
Speaker 3: find us a little home. The weekend's rolling up on us.
Speaker 2: You know. We just drove down the highway a little ways.
Speaker 3: And I noticed a lot of over half those rigs
Speaker 3: were hunters. Oh, like you know, so I think it's
Speaker 3: I think it's going to be a busy weekend. So
Speaker 3: I think just kind of it's kind of fun to
Speaker 3: explore a little and find a new spot. And we
Speaker 3: hunted that spot what three days?
Speaker 2: Four days?
Speaker 3: And I just like to find new country and new
Speaker 3: elk and and see, so I think it's a great plan.
Speaker 2: Yeah, great plan.
Speaker 1: Well, I think it's good too.
Speaker 4: I mean there's a lot of areas right next to
Speaker 4: the main road that people drive right by and overlook. Yep,
Speaker 4: right road blind to night might be a good thing.
Speaker 4: We might find a pocket full of belt right that's
Speaker 4: not far off the.
Speaker 2: Road, right.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Well, like we're that bull roan that that ran
Speaker 1: off the mountain that didn't want to fight out in
Speaker 1: the desert, down in the desert, out in the like,
Speaker 1: he's pretty close striking distance.
Speaker 2: To a row.
Speaker 1: So you might just see some elk pretty easy, a
Speaker 1: quick hike from the road or whatever, and you be
Speaker 1: on them. So I feel like this time of year,
Speaker 1: elk are moving, whether they're running or whether hunters are
Speaker 1: pushing them around, so they could turn up just about anywhere. Right. Well, man,
Speaker 1: this has been so fun so far, really great hunt.
Speaker 1: We've had some tough conditions. The terrain is not easy.
Speaker 1: It's very vertical, very high elevation. We've had every big
Speaker 1: whether you can ask for, except for blazing hot and
Speaker 1: today's pretty warm. But I look forward to the rest
Speaker 1: of our time here. It's been fun with you guys.
Speaker 1: You've been easy to easy to be with and hunt
Speaker 1: with and I can't wait for some more fun to
Speaker 1: unfold here. I think we're just getting started, really, I.
Speaker 4: Think it's just a matter of time. We'll have some
Speaker 4: hopefully a couple of oak on the ground. And you know,
Speaker 4: it's been good. Camaraderie's awesome. Camps have been great. I
Speaker 4: mean it's been awesome.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, Well all right, Well I'll give you guys,
Speaker 1: our listeners, uh, more updates here after hunting season's over,
Speaker 1: when Jason Phelps and I get back together and we'll
Speaker 1: get on here and kind of rehash and kind of
Speaker 1: tell how the seasons ended up. So hope everybody's out
Speaker 1: elk cutting right now. If not, maybe next year. But man,
Speaker 1: just if it's just a weekend, you know, I guess,
Speaker 1: you know, just make it happen. Just get out and
Speaker 1: have some fun and enjoy the set what September brings
Speaker 1: every year. So thanks for listening, everybody. Thanks, uh Cody
Speaker 1: and and Bradley. Appreciate you guys coming on and we'll
Speaker 1: see everybody next time.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, appreciate it.
Speaker 5: Thanks for having us, Thanks for having us.
Speaker 1: A