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Old 01-23-2023, 03:40 AM
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Elk Nut Elk Nut is offline
 
Join Date: Jan 2023
Posts: 4
Default Suffield 2022-2023

I agree, definitely not a cull hunt anymore. These elk are into hiding now. This was our first time on the base. Was down on the 18-20th to help fill my wife’s bull tag.

Day 1 was foggy until about 1pm. With nothing to glass I decided we should walk into an area that my research lead me to. When the fog lifted we were able to get in on a big herd of cows with a couple smaller bulls in it, nothing big enough for day one.

Day 2 was also foggy until about 1pm. My wife decided that maybe one of the bulls in the group was big enough and we went back in the fog to track them down. Unfortunately the group had moved way deeper. There was some gossip of a group of bulls in a near by are. We got out and found the group of bulls. Definitely a couple decent ones in the group. They had figured out the game and were acting more like Rams now and bedding on large lookout points along a drainage a couple miles out.

Day 3 was crystal clear. We tried for the first couple hrs to track the group of bulls down but they had also moved deeper. We decided to make a last stitch effort and track them down. We ended up tracking them down about 5 miles in. As we setup there was others joining the group of bulls which was at about 100 animals now. In the back drop was a scene I will never forget. The whole valley was crawling with elk. Had to be about 1500 cows and calves mixed in with a few bulls. We were able to get about 800 yards from the main group of bulls with a couple being closer. The closest bull was just over 500 yards away. It was a smaller 5 point bull but with no way of getting closer without being busted we decided to setup on him. Gave him a good range, made the adjustments on the NF scope. My wife made a clean shot dropped him on the spot. We quartered him up and got half out on day 3. Was definitely a grind. They gave us a permit to retrieve for day 4 which is not actually supposed to be in the hunt.

Day 4 we got a special escort from two military personal. We spent 5 hrs hiking in and back out with the second half. At the time it seemed like a horrible decision but now I’m already looking forward to the next trip.

I definitely think this has turned into a real hunt as the numbers are way down from previous years. I also think the military personnel were great to work with and all in all it was a great experience.
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