07/30/2026
This is the absolute best Bull Elk interaction we've ever had! We took some time to go explore a new area that we have wanted to check out for years, but it is steep and deep and no one ever goes to this area because it is so gnarly. It was absolutely worth it!!!
I want to kind of explain why this is absolutely incredible. Yes, you can go to Estes Park, or Jackson Hole and see some incredible Elk and see them up close. Well, this wasn't in those super famous locations. This was within 4-wheeler distance to our house and then we hoofed it a couple miles to get to this area.
The following reasons are why this interaction was so amazing. We often see bull elk, but to see 6 or 7 just absolute studs all together relaxing was incredible.
1) For bull elk to get large, they can't hang out with the big herds that are easy to locate. So many people trophy hunt so they are always going to shoot at the biggest bull. The fact that some of these monsters are still alive is amazing and we watched them for about 10 mins from a distance of 40 - 50y before even 1 of them knew something was near them. Even when they started to become more alert, they were looking directly at us for minutes and we didn't frighten them off before significant numbers of pictures and videos that I will share over time.
2) It has been raining a little bit every day for the last week, so the ground, leaves, downed branches and brush weren't nearly as dry and loud as usual. It is impossible to walk quite enough in the area we were in to normally get this close to animals that are extremely familiar and comfortable in their surroundings to get that close. From watching them for the time that we did, you could tell they didn't have a worry in the world because they never have people walking up on them. People just do not hunt this area and they know it.
3) I am a loud human. I talk loud, I move loud, I do everything loud. The fact that I was quite enough to not scare these beautiful bulls off is nothing short of a miracle. For those of you that have spent any time around me, you know this to be amazing!
4) Wind. The way that we approached these bulls was very lucky because 99 percent of the time, the wind would have been at our backs blowing directly towards the direction of these bulls. For whatever reason, this was that 1 percent of the time the wind came from a different direction that masked our scent. Super fortunate and lucky.
5) Experience and Luck combined. We have easily put thousand+ miles each (not exaggerating) in on foot in tons of locations over the last 5 years or so. From all of our hiking, hunting, and experiences we can use OnX app to find areas we want to scour and scout to see what those areas are like. We have done this dozens/hundreds of times and never come this close to such an amazing group of bulls. We have come across a lone bull that is very nice tons of times, but not a group like this. A lot of times, we find new areas when we are exploring with our mountain sleds when snowmobiling, looking for mushrooms during wetter/warmer months and just always thinking of what areas are like in different times of the year.
There are so many other little things that the stars had to align perfectly for us to experience this. We feel so fortunate and happy to stumble across these amazing animals.
Before anyone asks, ZERO chance we are sharing the location of where this was near. We earned this over years and years of just randomly wondering and learning. You can't find these guys by glassing, doesn't matter what angle you are looking at, or where from. These guys are ninjas. They are hidden from literally every direction you would approach them from, except the one we randomly stumbled across them from by following game trails for miles in super awful terrain. This was absolutely an unforgettable experience and I can't wait to go kick our own butts looking for their sheds in the future. If you want to hunt elk, put in for cow elk tags and get the amazing meat. There is nothing more magical than finding these incredible animals sheds on the ground that they grow new and bigger each year come May 1st when shed season kicks off!
It is amazing what can happen when you get away from the norm and go experience the wild!
