Skunked in chetwynd!

[mark]

Just got home from 2 weeks of hunting hard, in an area of chetwynd ive been hunting for 15 years! This is only the second time we've come home without meat. The moose scene is pretty bad, I saw 1 bull moose the first day, turns out it was the only bull moose seen by any hunter we talked to in 2 weeks. We saw some cows but very few calves. We went primarily for elk, and there was lots of sign, and lots of action! We saw elk nearly every day of our trip and there was lots of bugle action! In our first few days we figured this would be an easy hunt and we'd be going home early! I personally called in 14 bull elk, over half I could of arrowed, and one as close as 20 feet! My other buddy called in 8 bulls, and an old timer we camped with (who cant even walk very far) still managed to pull 5 bulls! 27 bull elk and not a 6 pointer to be found anywhere :sad:! Yes we pulled some herd bulls and all were 5 points! All our honey holes for heavy bulls had light bulls in em. Our theory is, that all the 5 and 6 pointers that rutted last year didnt make it through the winter. We didnt even see any sign of any big bulls anywhere, and this is a first of all the years we've hunted there! Of all the hunters we saw and met in the 2 weeks we only heard of 2 elk being shot and they were small 5 pointers with 1 little extra point just to make em legal! Not bummed out or anything, it was probably the most fun Ive ever had, 14 bulls is about triple what I usually see up there, and bugling elk is about the most exciting thing there is in the hunting dept! I did take lots of pics of bulls I could of shot and i will add some pics tomorrow.

P.S. wow 5,300 new posts in 2 weeks, you people should get out more! :-D
If there was any great threads, or drama, or awesome kills I should know about send me the link!

[elkdom]

My theory is all the large bulls are dying from exhaustion ,runing here, runing there answering all those calls so when the cold and snow comes they are bored and lonely and they just dont have the will to go on! So I think I am going to throw away my elk bugle and cow calls and stop tiring out those big boys, LOL! EEEEOOWWAACHUHH darn there I go again !

[moosinaround]

hey there Mark, its moosin. Sorry to hear about the skunk. We did manage a 6x5 on the last day but he was just a little guy. It was a slow tough hunt. We heard maybe 12 bulls , and I had only 3 answer, but this was my first elk hunt, so I felt it was successful for me. We did see lots of cows, and followed your advice about getting off of the beaten path. Seen lots of sign, not many rubs, or wallows though. Never seen a whole lot of moose, but there was a cow moose drinking out of a water hole 30 feet in front of my camper, that just about ran my buddy over when we left with the quads at 4:30 in the morning. My 10 yr old son had a blast, and on the last day we seen you we parted ways at the junction, and went to a spot and had a little elk action so there was excitement. I'm hoping to do it again next year if the old camper can hang in there, the fridge gave up the goat on the second day. Any ways I found out why folks get so excited about elk hunting, and I think i'm hooked on elk too. Moosin.

[Stone Sheep Steve]

Glad you had fun Mark! Sounds like a great time.

I was talking to someone that talked to one of the bios out of FSJ......he said the ticks were the main reason of the moose die-off in that corner of the world this past winter. Funny that the ticks don't bother the elk as much. They must be better groomers like deer.

SSS

[Guido02]

Live in the NE and I am only an hour from Chetwynd. I am amazed at the lack of deer and moose. So far the elk are being seen and a few are in the cooler. A chat with the Co was astounding as one of the meat cutters had over 200 animals processed by the end of sept last year... todate 70 including doe deer.

I have been out recently and have bumped into two bull moose that are always in between size. Finally saw four mulie bucks together and four cow moose...no calves

It will be an interesting game count at year end, but still come up and enjoy the counttry..........