I’ve been slacking on my posts of late, but with the best reason I can think of. I was scouting and hunting Tule Elk in the Owens Valley of California.
I was one of five lucky bowhunters who drew an archery tag for a stretch of real estate that covered most of an area from Bishop to Highway 190 along Highway 395, a main North-South artery for the region between Los Angeles and Reno.
Over the 4th of July weekend my father and I got to know the unit and even saw some elk. I had some intelligence from previous tag holders and became intimate with the roads and access points to areas they had seen animals. by July 5th I had a plan on where I wanted to concentrate on opening day that arrived on August 14th.
I got to the Unit Wednesday night, the 11th and found a high spot where I glassed a lot. Found a few groups of elk but mostly in Early morning and late evening. Not much action midday when temps hit triple digits. This coastal boy was HOT!
I had a bunch of help from family and friends. My Father stayed with me Wed-Sun, and my running partner Leigh came Fri, Sat and Sun. I even had my uncle Sat and Sun. They were an outstanding support team. We had time to do a little fishing during the heat of the day before the season opened.
We stayed in a private home in Independance and it was nice to have room to spread out and still have a cool spot to chill out. Motels were all booked up this weekend, and having a shower and fridge and freezer to make Ice bottles was a definate mood enhancer.
We determined that I was going to hunt opening morning in a swampy area with a couple of friends, Cindy and Rich Krug who are both accomplished elk hunters. They volunteered to come up and call for me on opening day. The tules in some places were 10 ft high and stretched for huge distances. The elk made trails through them that you couldn’t see from the bank, but were crisscrossing the whole 300 acres of tule jungle.
Coming up next, Opening Day!
