I am now more convinced than ever that animals can smell the hunting tag in your pocket. I took this photo last Friday on a deer hunt with my oldest boy. If you look (or zoom in) at the area just above the stump in the middle of the photo, you will see two of the many elk we came across on our
deer hunt. Our lack of an elk tag seemed to guarantee that we would run into more elk than deer!
This did provide a great opportunity to have my boy stalk them in an effort to get as close as possible without spooking them. On this particular stalk we got almost to that stump before they winded us. That put us just over 100 yards from this small group which included a spike bull and 3 cows.
Later that afternoon, while we were set up on a mountain side overlooking a gorgeous valley with a small water hole, a large 5x5 bull elk sauntered down the opposite hillside, walking almost directly at us. We watched the big bull for close to a half an hour before he busted us. Again, at right around 100 yards. I think he actually stuck his tongue out at us as he slowly moved into the trees. Is it possible for a bull elk to somehow give you the finger? He sure seemed to.
Still a wonderful experience in the hills with my boy.
I ended up taking a good sized doe, which if I have the energy, I'll post in a separate thread detailing my unexpectedly difficult deer hunt as I fell into the full throws of Covid while on the side of a mountain.