Hiked up the crest trail yesterday and heard only one bugle. We then went to some of my normal honey holes east of the pass and didn't hear a bugle one for the last two days. I was talking to elk last week over there. I guess the weather turned em off.

Anyone else notice this?

On a good note I did have a bear at 41yds yesterday but he did not present a good shot. Seen two other bears, but they were in the back of trucks. Bowkills though.

Glowball, They are not talkin because they are waitin for me at the end of oct.I also noticed this the last couple of trips in to the woods.Just a few grunts and alot of cows.I'm sure the weather will turn things around for them the freezing level has dropped quite a bit in the last week and a half they should get out of there summer mode and get down to business.But it sure wouldn't hurt my feelings if there where some big bulls runnin around thinking of breeding and not about hunters come the 20 of october.

Where did you draw a tag for? I've helped a few friends and family get bulls in rimrock over the years and they always seem to talk a little the first few days of the big bull hunts on the east side.

Good luck to ya.

GB, Check your mail.

Gotta admit I haven't een in the woods this week to know whether they're talking or not.

I am curious as to whether you think they'll still be bugling Oct. 18 in Eastern Oregon. I'm headed there for the first time ever. Going to Murderers Creek and Beulah - never been there before. I got a muzzleloader tag and am really excited to go.

One more item: How do you get within 41 yards of a bear? I don't think I've been quite that close. Bowhunting for bears (withut bait) seems incredibly challenging....

Thanks for any insight you might have.

BTW, don't you suspect that the river you asked about earlier would have to be picking up after this rain?

Thanks,

We were walking up the trail (1118) heading towards the crest trail and he just happened to be standing there. He was 52 yards away then walked closer to get a better look at us. He was a really pretty bear. Had long hair and a cinnamon head. We guessed him to be around 200lbs. But you never can guess bears right so who knows how big he really was. I'm almost glad he didn't turn broadside because that would have been a long pack.

Today produced the same results as the last few with no elk talking. We did see a REALLY nice bull that will easily go over 300. We've been seeing a lot of turkeys over there too this year. Maybe tomorrow will be my lucky day. I'll let ya know how it goes.

Good luck Glowball.

I've also been seeing lots of turkeys. I've had them come right up to me while elk hunting the past few years. I still haven't figured out how to hunt them.

Well we did get some up close and personal action with a good bull, but I don't have a bull tag so away he went. His cows never did let us get close. He was bugling though so it was exciting. We got into another herd of about 20 elk and my buddy had a cow at 20 yds but there was a small pine in the vital area so he tried taking a step for a better shot and they all took off. I had to give him props for not taking a bad shot.

I'm taking a couple days off of hunting while the weekend warriors battle it out then I'll resume again on monday. Another buddy will be joining me and he has a bull tag.

Oh yeah I seen a little deer that had a bunch of white on its chest and front shoulders. I took a picture it was 71yds away(we like our rangefinders) and the camera doesn't have a good zoom. I'll post it if it shows the deer at all.

Hey Glowball... well I was just over the east side of the crest and a bit north of I-90 for the last 6 days farely high up... they elk were starting to talk a bit... coming off the full moon doesn't seem to always be in our favor... two nights at about 2:00 am there was a bit of squeeky talking happening and 2 mornings had a couple of big boys coming in and out to some calling...

As far as other animals... we are hunting an area that we haven't hunted before (my partner scouted it while scouting and area we used to hunt) and we are seeing all kinds of game... but the thing that is amazing is how many bear... we have seen 7 bears in 8 days afield... so far... we also have seen a bunch of gobblers...

I love the early fall, the colors and the smells are fantastic! ... Hopefully with the temp dropping fast and the little bit of snow that happened yesterday that things will get hot!

On a scary note... we talked with a guy that was camped by us with his sons (late teens 16-19) and one of the boy had shot a bear with a rifle..... the scary part was when the boy said that he had only seen the bear for a few second and then it went into the brush so the boy said "... I just placed 3 shot equally spaced into the brush and hit it in the back quarters..." as a bowhunter sharing the wood with rifle bear hunter those kinda comments really scare me!!

Anyway good luck to all afield!!!

Some one needs to slap that kid silly!