# Elk Camp 2020



## srconnell22 (Aug 27, 2007)

It’s been a great year for us so far this fall in the elk range. We have filled 23 tags , I believe, with 15 falling in the first four days (September 1-4), and 8 more tags being notched in the second four days (September 18-21). Many of our guides (including myself) are tagged out, and just helping fill tags for other guides at this point in the season. 

I am going to work on putting together some pics and partial stories over the next few days to get caught up to this point. This summer/fall has been a whirlwind of planting Elk food plots, scouting, hunting, family time, work, etc.. but I am going to try to bring everyone up to speed this week. As usual, I will not post pics & stories for known members of MS, as I would rather let them tell you about their experience (or maintain their privacy in some cases) in their own words. My apologies for the delay.


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## scott7030 (Jul 20, 2010)

I've been looking forward to this.


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## IT.Fisherman (Aug 10, 2012)

Cant wait for the pics and reports!! And meeting you to hopefully notch my bull tag in December!


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## FireDoc66 (Oct 9, 2005)

Nice! I was wondering the other day how this was going.


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## Firefighter (Feb 14, 2007)

Heard it was a slow year...


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## srconnell22 (Aug 27, 2007)

Firefighter said:


> Heard it was a slow year...


The only thing getting slower each year is me! 

After a first morning very close call with my #2 shooter bull and his cows, I spent the next few days hunting him almost exclusively. So much so, that I asked one of my cow hunters, Kyle, pass up a cow at 14 yards as we waited for the bull and his harem to come down into one of my planted rye fields. He obliged, but the bull and his girls never showed. 

This is the bull I was hunting:










Since I was so focused on that one bull, I really didn’t have much action until the last evening of the September hunt, when I took my youth cow hunter, Donovan, out for his first hunt with me. He didn’t hunt mornings because I didn’t want him missing any school, and he only hunted evenings when his dad could be there to share the experience with him. He did a great job sealing the deal on the cow that I made Kyle pass up the first evening. Donovan was ecstatic because his Dad was there with him when it all went down.


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## srconnell22 (Aug 27, 2007)

Leading up to the beginning of the second hunt, I had a familiar bull in my home turf. This bull showed up toward the end of the rut last fall (right after elk season) and stuck around for a couple of months before heading back into the Pigeon for the winter.

He was a great 6x7 in 2019, here are a few of the many pics I had of him last year:


























I truly believe he was on this property during the first hunt, he just never came out in the daylight and mostly avoided my cameras. With that being said, as soon as the first four days were done, he was on every camera I had on the property.

Here is one of a bunch of pictures I had of this bull. That’s a water trough that the bull was drinking out of in their main food source, an 80 acre food plot with standing corn, alfalfa, rye, clover, brassicas, etc..










After discussing the options and showing pictures of different bulls to my Pure Michigan hunter, Mike, he said that this was the bull he wanted to focus his attention on. I sent Mike to watch the field the bull and his cows liked the night before season, hoping he would get a glimpse of the bull to confirm that’s the one for him. Sure enough, around 7:30pm, the cows started filtering into the food plot. Shortly behind them was the bull, and Mike had no doubts that this bull would work just fine for him.

The next morning, things got a little hairy as we did not get an opportunity at the bull in the field. They left to the south before Mike could get a shot off, so knowing they loved bedding to the west, I walked a trail west of the animals, tagging them to the south. About 400 yards down, the cows started crossing the trail in front of us, heading west. Knowing the bull would likely be in the back of the group, I waited until most of the animals went through and started cow calling when I saw the end of the line. Sure enough, the bull was in the very back, and I got him to stop in the middle of the two track, broadside, with the cow call. Mike made his shot, and the bull separated immediately from the cows, slowly walking to the south west, while the cows moved northwest. We knew we had a bullet in him, so we moved to the next road south and started following that to the west, looking to get another crack at the bull. It wasn’t long and we caught him walking ahead of us in the road and were able to finish the job. Mike had his Pure Michigan bull, and I had my #3 target bull on the ground.










As it turned out, I had a left side shed antler off this bull from about 6 years ago at home. I gave that antler to Mike as I felt it should stay with the bull.


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## fishnpbr (Dec 2, 2007)

That is an amazing specimen! Nice job to all. Thanks for posting the pics and outcome.


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## Stubee (May 26, 2010)

That’s a nice bull!


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## Due51 (Oct 26, 2005)

These are the best threads on the site.

Heck of a bull


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## 22 Chuck (Feb 2, 2006)

80 acres of hay, corn etc..(post #7 above) I wonder if those were farmers trying to make a $$ or hunter trying to kill critter.
I know farmers who have planted 40 A corn and never harvested an ear!!

Funny to see a bull w/ 30' of wire wrapped in its antlers. Will the taxidermists leave that in the antlers or remove it for the mounting??


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## srconnell22 (Aug 27, 2007)

CL-Lewiston said:


> 80 acres of hay, corn etc..(post #7 above) I wonder if those were farmers trying to make a $$ or hunter trying to kill critter.
> I know farmers who have planted 40 A corn and never harvested an ear!!
> 
> Funny to see a bull w/ 30' of wire wrapped in its antlers. Will the taxidermists leave that in the antlers or remove it for the mounting??


The field is a food plot planted for wildlife viewing and hunting purposes. We’ve planted nearly 200 acres of corn, and another 60ish acres of other food plots this year for elk, deer, bear, turkeys, etc.. to enjoy. None of it will be harvested. 

As far as the wire in antlers, I have no idea what you’re talking about. There was no wire in the bull’s antlers.


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## RNHunter (Nov 4, 2018)

srconnell22 said:


> It’s been a great year for us so far this fall in the elk range. We have filled 23 tags , I believe, with 15 falling in the first four days (September 1-4), and 8 more tags being notched in the second four days (September 18-21). Many of our guides (including myself) are tagged out, and just helping fill tags for other guides at this point in the season.
> 
> I am going to work on putting together some pics and partial stories over the next few days to get caught up to this point. This summer/fall has been a whirlwind of planting Elk food plots, scouting, hunting, family time, work, etc.. but I am going to try to bring everyone up to speed this week. As usual, I will not post pics & stories for known members of MS, as I would rather let them tell you about their experience (or maintain their privacy in some cases) in their own words. My apologies for the delay.


I am anxiously awaiting your stories!


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## srconnell22 (Aug 27, 2007)

RNHunter said:


> I am anxiously awaiting your stories!


That field should look pretty familiar to you, sir!


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## srconnell22 (Aug 27, 2007)

As far as what happened the next morning, I’m thinking Dale87 should be around here soon to fill you in! 

At this point, I was tagged out, so another guide had asked me to take his cow hunter the next morning so he could spend time with his wife who was in the hospital. I obliged, of course. 

Fast forward to the third morning, when after our first option didn’t pan out, we were able to go into another of my private properties and catch up with my #4 most wanted bull and his cows. I was able to call the lead cow out away from the group and Rob made his shot at about 50 yards and dropped her. The bull then stood there with her for about 5 minutes before moving off with the rest of his herd, reminding me how much of a rookie move it was to go anywhere without a bull hunter in mid-September. 










I then proceeded to get back with my brother’s bull hunter and hunt that bull for the next day and a half with no luck. He stayed on the neighboring property, and although I could get him to talk in the very early morning (before daylight), he never said a word during shooting hours.


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## Baraga-Need Guide (Jun 16, 2004)

Great to hear about the successes!

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## RNHunter (Nov 4, 2018)

Congrats on your elk! I am still enjoying mine from last years winter hunt. Great story thanks for sharing.


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## Dale87 (Dec 19, 2008)

srconnell22 said:


> As far as what happened the next morning, I’m thinking Dale87 should be around here soon to fill you in!


Hopefully I've built an adequate amount of suspense haha.

So to tell my story I need to rewind a little bit on what Scott has covered thus far. So to begin, it's the first morning of the first hunt in which we meet Scott at his elk camp. From there we piled into his truck and headed to a place we'd end up spending a lot of time at. On the way there Scott informed me he had a big bull on camera that night/morning and I might just get lucky enough to get a shot at him. Of course I asked him how big of a bull we were talking here however he intentionally left that detail vague in order to not add to the nerves of the first morning hunt.

Once we arrived we met up with a cow hunter and his buddy and together we made our way down a two track through a field leading to the area which we intended to hunt. However, before we even made it out of the field, the cow hunters friend pointed out a cow elk we had apparently been walking directly towards. In fact I believe that cow probably watched us get out of the trucks. Unfortunately no shots were presented and we continued on our way.

Finally we made it to the area we suspected the bull and cows were likely at and just as we crested the field overlooking the valley. We were greeted with the sight of about a dozen cows and the big bull tending them. It was a picture perfect sight, however for a hunter it was a little bitter sweet as the big bull we were after was on the wrong side of the property line. Scott cow called in vein but the big bull apparently had no interest. However, it did allow plenty of time to watch him in the binos and about the only thing I could think was holy crap he's big.

The rest of the first hunt was spent walking around in the mornings and spending the evens waiting on that hill for that big bull to return. Luck was not on our side this hunt however.


The next hunt, the first morning I was lucky enough to get to watch Mike take his bull which was quite the hunt and quite the way to start my own hunt. Also, almost identical to my previous hunt, Scott once again got my bull on camera. This time however, he wasn't in the field in the middle of the night but instead he was there in the middle of the day. At 1:30pm, my bull and 25 of his cows made their way past one of Scotts cameras. Of course, elk aren't supposed to do that so when he was there we were back at camp napping.

Revitalized by the recent sighting, we once again headed up that hill and waited for him to come back that afternoon. The sit was relatively uneventful apparent from a couple of spike elk which just about live in that field. However, near dark we heard a close bugle and Scott gave a few cow calls and a young 5x5 charged in who at first looked like a shooter but got smaller the closer he got. While the 5x5 mulled about in the field, probably wondering where his lady went we made our way back out towards the woods. Scott and I paused at the edge of the woods waiting for my dad to make his way over when Scott noticed something at the edge of the woods further down from us. Looking through his bino's he saw a cow and directly behind the cow was my bull standing there looking our direction. We hurriedly got down on our hands and knees and crawled out of the field through the woods terrified we were going to ruin our chances at him. Spirits were low on the drive back to camp but luckily we got the big bull on camera that night, no worse for wear.

The next morning we headed back once again to that field hoping for a repeat of the first morning hunt, this time with different results. This time, when we crested the hill the big bull and the cows were in our field, fair game. The challenge this morning was a little different though, the bull was close to 400 yards, which is a long shot for a deep woods hunter where a 100 yards is a long shot. Just like the previous night, we got on our hands and knees, this time we crawled further into the field. Scott ranged the bull at 312 yards and we got settled in for the shot. Scott had previously warned me his rifle had a hair trigger but it felt like the moment I touched the trigger the gun went off. Luckily I had the cross hairs where I wanted and the bullet found its mark. Scott had mentioned elk are tough critters and Mike's hunt had proven it so I racked another round and sent it down range. Rinse and repeat 3 more times and as I went to reload the gun Scott told me the bull was down.



















Overall, I had an amazing time and everything worked out exactly the way I wanted and ended up with an incredible hunt. I can't thank Scott enough, had such a great time and wish I could go again next year.


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## RNHunter (Nov 4, 2018)

Congrats on that bull. Surly a trophy of a lifetime.Thanks for your story.


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## obeRON (Dec 15, 2007)

Congrats to all hunters. Maybe someday I’ll get to experience a MI elk hunt!

What does these mature MI bull elk score compared to a western elk? Is there much of a difference with a elk from MI vs. a western state? What’s the state record MI elk score?


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## Stubee (May 26, 2010)

Man, that’s another great bull! Congrats!


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## SPITFIRE (Feb 10, 2005)

Excellent work Scott/Dan.


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## Jaspo (Dec 9, 2011)

Awesome Bull! Congrats


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## Horseshoe (Oct 15, 2003)

Awesome is right! Congrats.


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## shotgun658 (Dec 16, 2008)

I am glad I was able to be there, we will remember that hunt the rest of our life.


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## Rockokloco (Nov 29, 2013)

obeRON said:


> Congrats to all hunters. Maybe someday I’ll get to experience a MI elk hunt!
> 
> What does these mature MI bull elk score compared to a western elk? Is there much of a difference with a elk from MI vs. a western state? What’s the state record MI elk score?


Not sure what the record is. My '13 Bull scored 288 4/8.


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## Baraga-Need Guide (Jun 16, 2004)

https://www.mlive.com/outdoors/2010/01/kalamazoo_hunter_downs_states.html


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## Baraga-Need Guide (Jun 16, 2004)

That link is from last year...yet there were questions on records...

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## tjhuntfish (Oct 7, 2015)

good job ! like every year!!!


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## Dale87 (Dec 19, 2008)

I believe our elk are roosevelt elk, or some mix with them. Probably why they weigh so much but never score as high as the ones out west.


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## Whitetail_hunter (Mar 14, 2012)

Not sure what kind of elk they are but here are the records straight from cbm.

Typical









Non typical


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## fowl (Feb 15, 2003)

They’re Rocky mtn elk. 


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## Baraga-Need Guide (Jun 16, 2004)

Does the CBM show a list that could be photo shared?? Mine scored just over 340...always wondered where it ranked....

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## Whitetail_hunter (Mar 14, 2012)

Baraga-Need Guide said:


> Does the CBM show a list that could be photo shared?? Mine scored just over 340...always wondered where it ranked....
> 
> Sent from my SM-G981U using Tapatalk



I can look on their site and then PM you as to not derail the thread farther. If you buy there book which i think comes out every 3 years they will have a list.


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## Ieatshrooms (Sep 19, 2019)

Dale87 said:


> I believe our elk are roosevelt elk, or some mix with them. Probably why they weigh so much but never score as high as the ones out west.


Roosevelts only live in a very small region of the Pacific Northwest. As was mentioned, we have rocky mountain elk here.


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## Dale87 (Dec 19, 2008)

I thought the same thing too, however I happened to stumble across this article https://www.jstor.org/stable/1382303?seq=1 which studied our elk's DNA and compared it to other known populations. They found that our elk are more closely related to elk found in the olympic mountains then those found in yellowstone. It would explain a lot since our state record only breaks the minimum for entry into boone and crockett by 2 inches, seems our elk just don't grow as big of antlers.


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## Ieatshrooms (Sep 19, 2019)

Dale87 said:


> I thought the same thing too, however I happened to stumble across this article https://www.jstor.org/stable/1382303?seq=1 which studied our elk's DNA and compared it to other known populations. They found that our elk are more closely related to elk found in the olympic mountains then those found in yellowstone. It would explain a lot since our state record only breaks the minimum for entry into boone and crockett by 2 inches, seems our elk just don't grow as big of antlers.


Interesting. I had always heard we have RME, and they are classified as that in record books. They even have more of a RME look to me. Maybe someday they will actually be able to find their origin.


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## kotimaki (Feb 13, 2009)

From my experience the elk from Etolin island AK taste just like the elk found in Wyoming which taste just like the ones here in northern mi.


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## srconnell22 (Aug 27, 2007)

Okay, I’m going to finish this, although at this point, I think I have 4 done and 31(ish) more to go. It may take me awhile and these may be more abbreviated than past years. I apologize, but this year was a blur. Strictly from a number of tags filled standpoint, it was our best year ever.

Here is one I know I won’t get wrong....

Since I was tagged out, I was helping another guide fill the remainder of his tags.

One of his hunters, John, spent a lot of the season sitting on food sources trying to fill his bull tag but was unsuccessful. John is handicapped, and due to some prior medical issues, is just not as mobile as he used to be.

One of the toughest things about elk hunting is being mobile enough to keep up with the elk and move when they move. Especially during the rut (these last two sessions), it’s not uncommon to be literally running from place to place, in order to stay on bulls.

John hunted all 12 days of the September elk season without squeezing the trigger. He assured me that the last few days his tag was no longer a bull tag, but truly an “any elk tag”. On the last morning, by the Grace of God, I checked one of my properties before daylight and saw a bull bedded down in the field all by himself in the full moon light. This was the opportunity John needed.

I ran back to the truck, jumped in and drove around to the south side of the 600 acre property to open the gate. The wind was out of the North, so we would approach from the Southwest corner. Plus, with this approach, I would be able to drive John to within 250 yards of the field, without risking bumping the bedded bull.

We get to the gate only to find out the lock is frozen. I do everything I can to warm it up holding it in my hands, but no dice. John offers me his lighter and here I am heating up the lock with a Bic as shooting light is creeping in. The lock finally breaks loose, and we’re off like a rocket. We drive to about 250 yards south of the field corner and get out of the truck. John grabbed his gun and bullets while I grabbed everything else (shooting sticks, bugle tube, etc..). I told John to just start walking toward the field and I would catch up. So as we are finally getting close to the field, through the trees I glassed the field and saw the bull still bedded down, right where he was. Not only is he bedded down at 226 yards, he is facing the opposite direction as us! What are the odds? We had all the time we needed to get John in position and set up for a comfortable shot.

So we get John to the corner of the field and get him set up on the sticks for a shot. I had no idea who the bull was, or what he was, but he was an elk and John had an “any elk” tag, so he qualified as a shooter on the last day.

Here is a picture I took, standing behind John while he was on the sticks, as I was trying to cow call to get the bull to stand up. If you zoom in, you can see the bull bedded down.










Finally, after a series of cow calls and a bugle, the bull stood up, turned and started toward us very slowly with a noticeable limp. As soon as he turned enough to where we could get a quartering to shot, I told John to kill him. The rest, as they say, is history.

John killed an old bull that was going backwards. The bull was a gnarly, gimped up old warrior 4x5, with huge bases and a bad leg, not unlike John himself.


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## RNHunter (Nov 4, 2018)

Amazing story,Great pictures and a bull of a lifetime.Congrats to all the hunters and guides!


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## Baraga-Need Guide (Jun 16, 2004)

Love the stories...keep em coming!!!

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## srconnell22 (Aug 27, 2007)

On the second morning of the last period, I planned on taking a cow hunter, Kevin, and his wife Karen into one of my planted rye fields. This would be their last day of hunting, as they had previously made plans to celebrate their 27th wedding anniversary beginning the third day of the last hunt period, prior to being notified of Kevin’s success in the drawing. The pressure was on, but I was confident we would be able to get a look at a cow if we put in a whole day of hunting hard for one.

As we were getting out of the truck, I could hear the bull bugling down in the field, so I knew we would at least get a look at the animals.

We had to wait about 10 to 15 minutes past “legal shooting hours” to approach, as it was still so dark at that time, we would have never been able to cleanly identify a cow versus a small spike. As the sun began to crest the ridge to the East, we slipped down the mowed trail toward the field.

Before we were able to get to the field, I noticed a calf about 50 yards away in the poplar regeneration munching away. While watching the calf, we were able to pick up cows and the bull moving around in the thick brush as well. The herd was filling up on poplar buds, leaves and whips prior to going back to bed on the nearby ridge for the afternoon.

We stood there, watching the show without a clean shot for about 5 minutes, when finally, the bull (a big 5x5 I knew) busted us and moved out into the field. The herd of cows followed, and we got Kevin on the sticks and I hit them with the cow call to stop them.










We picked out a cow on the far left side of the group, clear of other animals, and Kevin squeezed the trigger. The shot was back, so he shot her again, this time in the rear leg. The cow made it across the fence line onto private property, but struggled to climb the ridge with the rest of the herd. I don’t have permission to shoot across the fence (nobody does), so all we could do at this point is watch. 

I contacted the caretaker of the private property whom got back with me and gave us permission to track the cow and finish her off if need be. We picked up the track and ended up bumping the cow out of her bed twice (over about 4-5 hours) before I paused the search to give her time to lay down and expire.

Before going back to resume the trail, I called my brother, and asked him to bring his tracking dog, Memphis, to help. I can track with my eyes, but the dog is alot faster than I am with his nose, and I wanted all the help we could get to find her.

We started Memphis at the beginning where she climbed the hill, and it only took him about 15 minutes to get to where we left the cow (right after bumping her up the second time). From there, Memphis drug my brother down the two track I expected her to go down, and right into the thick stuff straight ahead about 75 yards from where we left her track. He took us right to the freshly expired cow, and we knew we had made the right decision to back out and give her time to lay down. 

Kevin and Karen were ecstatic. They went from the lowest of lows to the highest of highs in an instant. The stress of having a wounded elk out there somewhere was lifted off his shoulders. They could celebrate their wedding anniversary without the gray cloud of remorse over their heads. 

As a guide, one of the most dreaded situations we deal with is a “leaker” (as we call them). We want nice, quick, easy, clean kills, but it doesn’t always go that way. If you do it long enough, it’s going to happen. We need to do everything in our power to find the animal (if it’s dead). In this case, with a little patience, we were able to wrap Kevin’s once-in-a-lifetime tag around a beautiful Michigan cow elk.


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## deepwoods (Nov 18, 2002)

Thanks for taking the time to share all of these.

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## Oak (Oct 12, 2020)

Looks like you guys worked the details carefully, 
Beautiful pictures, thanks for sharing.


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## srconnell22 (Aug 27, 2007)

Alright, I’ve been pretty awful with the updates this year. For that, I apologize. 

The opening day of the December Elk hunt brought with it a snow storm the likes of which we haven’t seen in quite awhile. I wasn’t complaining though, as I full well expected to be hunting bare ground up until that point. In December, snow is our lifeline. Elk leave tracks, if you follow those tracks long enough, you’ll find the elk that made them. We had unseasonably warm weather leading up to the hunt, but right one que, this storm blew in on opening morning. 

My hunters and I started off at one of the private properties where I plant corn fields for the elk. I had checked the field the afternoon before and had cows in the field literally playing two hours before dark. I knew there were shooter bulls in the area, so I was sure we would have an animal or two down there the next morning. 

As the sun peaked over the ridge to the East, we snuck up the hill to glass the field. A snow covered twenty-four acre standing corn field all to ourselves. It was as beautiful a scene as you could hope for with one exception... no elk. It’s nice to be reminded once in awhile that my “foolproof plans” are made by a fool.

The situation was too perfect (private property standing corn, snow storm blowing in, cows in the field in daylight yesterday), so I left a cow hunter in a deer blind there to watch the field all day, if need be. The elk would be there, it was just a matter of time. 

The rest of us proceeded to check both private and state land, trying to find tracks to follow. Bull tracks or cow tracks, I didn’t care which, I just wanted to get out of the dang truck. After checking a lot of my usual country for tracks, and finding nothing. I slipped down into some state land that was recently opened into “Area X” that all of my hunters could hunt. We passed 9 trucks on one road, whom must have all been looking for elk, not elk tracks, because shortly after talking to one group, we found a very good looking bull track crossing that same road. All of the trucks must have driven over it. It was snowed in at the road, but it had been snowing all morning, so that didn’t mean anything to me. It was a track, the only track we’d found all morning, and would give me an excuse to get out of the truck and actually hunt. I let my hunters know that I had no idea who the bull was, but we were going to follow him and see if we could get a look at him to see if he was a shooter. 

We started in on the track and weren’t following them long when the tracks freshened up. We had jumped the bull, who was still on his feet feeding, only about 400 yards off the road. The telltale dirt kicked up on top of the snow was a sight for sore eyes that day. This gave me my first real good look at the track which had been pretty snowed in up until this point. It was a big, round lone bull track, exactly the kind of track you’re wanting to see when you have a bull tag in your pocket in December. It was game on. 

The jumped bull crossed a road going into area H, so I told my area I cow hunter (Andy) and I bull hunter (Kyle) to loop back around to the truck on the road. There was no sense in them walking into area H and burning their legs out when they couldn’t shoot there. 

Dave (my area H bull hunter), his two teenage kids, his brother and I slowly poked along on the track, which was now headed up into the hills. 

At this point, we still didn’t have any idea who the bull was, but I was thinking he would be a shooter by his track. Another guide had hunted the area where we originally found the track in September, and had told me about a big bull with palmated tops that spent a lot of time there. I had to wonder if that was who we were following, but without seeing the bull, it was just a hope in the back of my mind as we went step for step with the tracks ahead of us. 

As we moved along slowly, I caught the bull standing in the thick pines ahead of us at only about 60-75 yards. I had Dave come up along side me and get on the bull with his rifle, but told him not to shoot until I aged and sized the bull up. I could see a good bottom half frame, the hump on his back and the pot belly of an old bull, but couldn’t see his tops in the pines. The bull must have thought he was more hidden than he was in the pines with the snowstorm, because he wasn’t in a hurry to go anywhere. Finally, after 20 seconds or so, the bull moved his head and everything above him moved. I still didn’t know who he was exactly, but I knew he was big enough to just shoot and figure it out when he was down. 

I told Dave to kill him, and he made short work of his end of the bargain. There, on that pine knob in the PRC, with his family 40 yards behind him watching it unfold, Dave filled his once in a lifetime bull elk tag on a beautiful 7x7 with palmated tops. I didn’t have any idea who the bull was until we walked up and pulled his rack out of the snow, but it was without a doubt the bull the other guide had told me about from the fall.

For a guy that started the day just driving along behind me and enjoying the overall experience with his family, fully not expecting to fill his tag on opening day, Dave ended up winning the Atlanta Elk pole with his opening day bull.


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## srconnell22 (Aug 27, 2007)

We did a lot more hunting the rest of the first day, with a good opportunity at a cow a few minutes before the end of legal shooting light, but ended the day with no other shots fired and a long walk out of the woods after dark.

The second morning we went back out into Area I in the PRC to work on cows. This was the same area we had been in the night before. The snow had stopped in the middle of the night, and we had a bunch of different options to choose from for tracks. I settled on some tracks heading East, and we waited in the truck for daylight.

When it got light enough where I thought we would be able to identify spikes versus cows, we started in on the tracks.

Side note for future cow hunters, “legal shooting hours” is not always a good time to start hunting for cows, it is advisable to wait until you have good enough light to cleanly identify a cow versus a small spike bull. This is usually 10-15 minutes after legal shooting hours in the morning, but sometimes longer depending on weather conditions, cloud cover, etc.. The extra 20 minutes of hunting time on each end of the day is not worth making a costly mistake. Just my opinion.

We snuck along on the cow tracks, finding where they were digging up acorns, eating grass, and then they circled back into their bedding area where we caught up with them. They had just bedded down, and we got them up out of their beds. This was another close encounter, as it was very thick pines and oak trees. It took us quite awhile to get a shot, but finally we had an animal in a clear shooting lane and Andy made a good shot to fill his cow tag.

Andy and his friend, John, were awesome hunters who I beat up pretty good with walking the first day and they never complained once. It was a great experience to be with two good friends as they shared their hunt together. Through guiding these hunts I get to meet some of the best people, and Andy and John are no exception.










After getting through the DNR check process, and loading the elk, we dropped Andy and John off at their truck and sent them on their way.

Kyle (my bull hunter), his brother and I swung over to a private property where my other cow hunter, Mike, had been bouncing between a couple of different deer blinds trying to get a look at a big herd of elk that were residents of the property with no luck.

We picked Mike and his friend up and went to the south end of the property where we immediately found the herd of cows around 10:30 in the morning. Mike had been hunting the West and North side of the property, and the cows were mostly staying on the southeast end of the 600 acres. We got out of the truck and started working our way toward them, and it didn’t take long until Mike squeezed the trigger on a big cow.

We weren’t sure where he hit her, but Mike, a seasoned hunter, was immediately unhappy with his shot. We couldn’t identify her in the group, so we didn’t shoot again. Another side note for future cow hunters: you shoot one time, and go investigate your shot location. Do not just shoot again thinking it’s the same elk, because it very likely is not. 

When we got to where she was when he shot, we found a little bit of blood and no elk. We slowly started following the track and the cow split off immediately away from the herd. We caught her a few times on the track, but just couldn’t get another clean shot at her in the timber. With very little blood, the cow crossed to the southernmost road on the property we had permission on, heading into the neighbors 160 acres that does not allow elk hunting. Knowing the property line was only another 50 yards or so, I marked the spot where she crossed the road and called in the “leaker” to the DNR check station. They sent a CO out to the site to get an idea of what we had going on, and in the meantime, we went around to the neighbors house to ask for permission to track the cow onto their land, which was granted.

I met the CO at the south end of the property and took him, and a camera man from the show Wardens who was following the CO, to the marked location where we left the cow heading into the neighbors. We talked a little and he told us to take up the track and keep him updated as to what happens.

Mike and I started in on the track, and after about 250 yards, we caught up with the cow which had since expired. The CO and the camera man had only been gone a few minutes when we called them back in to tell them the good news.

Mike’s shot was back a little, in the liver, but still a fatal shot. Looking back on it, I think she turned away from him right when he shot. In this case, giving the cow time to lay down was the best thing we could have done and it worked out.

I’m sure you’ll get to see Mike, his cow, and my ugly mug on the TV show Wardens whenever the episode airs. All’s well that ends well, and in this case, it ended well. Mike is a great guy and a hardcore hunter, the likes of which I’ll never attain. I was honored to be able to spend some time in the woods with him and his friend, Tim.


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## srconnell22 (Aug 27, 2007)

Kyle and I spent the next day and a half following bull tracks, both cold-trailing and jumped, without finding a bull old enough to get excited about.

There was a nice, young 6x7 and about 8-10 little bulls that were with the herd that Mike shot his cow out of. I had told Kyle before going there that we were going to pass on him. He was a nice bull, but likely only 4 or 5 years old. He needed a few years to develop.

We worked on a few others, including my #1 shooter bull both days. He subsequently kicked my tail and made us look like fools both days. This would be the first time I’ve ever actually been able to hunt him in the three years that I’ve known about him, and the first time we’ve ever found him in December. We jumped him both days, but that’s as close as we got.

After working on a lone bull that ended up being a one horned spike on state land all the way up by Indian River, we had about an hour (ish) left of shooting hours. I decided we would drive down to Joburg to spend the last 20 minutes or so of daylight. Our guys down there were out of bull tags for the time being, so it only made sense to get a bull tag down there in case someone found a bull.

I called the guys that were hunting down there and let them know I was a long ways out, but I was on my way. About halfway there I got a phone call that said Mike Pedigo of Campbell Farms had found a big bull feeding in one of their alfalfa fields, and where to meet him.

We got down there, Joe Ferguson jumped in the truck and we headed out to the field to meet Mike. After meeting Mike and discussing the situation, we started walking over to where Mike had last seen the bulls. Mike, Joe, Kyle and I crested a knoll and saw the two bulls feeding about 300 yards to our West. We slowly slipped down along the edge of the hill to close the gap to about 250 yards where we set Kyle up on the sticks. The bull on the left was considerably larger than the one on the right, and they were separated by 75 yards or so, so it was an easy situation to manage.

Kyle did a great job shooting, and filled his tag on a big 6x6 with a lot of mass. Huge thank you goes out to Michael Pedigo of Campbell Farms and Joe Ferguson on this one as without them, it wouldn’t have happened. Luckily I have friends that make me look good from time to time. 

Kyle was an awesome hunter whom worked his butt off for his bull. He took everything in stride and never complained once, despite all the miles and little bulls we saw. He got to see a few other people fill their tags and was just truly happy to have the opportunity to hunt these Michigan Elk.


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## srconnell22 (Aug 27, 2007)

On the fifth day of season, a guide in our group found a group of animals on private land and worked out a deal with the landowner that our group would help his cow hunter (who wasn’t there at the time) if he would allow them to shoot one of the cows in his field. He obliged, so when his hunter got there, Joe Ferguson and I took the young man (named Hunter) and his father in on the tracks of the remaining animals.

The animals worked their way along the edge of a big hill, and when we caught up to them, they were bedded on the next ridge over from us. We could see a big cow, two small bulls and a couple of calves. The cow was standing up, keeping a watchful eye out, while the others laid down. We got Hunter into position, and when he was comfortable with the shot and had the cow safely clear of the other animals, he carefully squeezed the trigger, undoubtedly killing an ironwood tree. I knew this was a miss for a fact as I saw the tree shake and all the snow fall out of it upon the shot.

The cow jumped at the shot and spun around a little closer and a little more clear of trees that may jump into a shooting lane. Hunter kept his composure, racked another shell in quickly and lined up on the cow again. This time he made a great shot and the cow tumbled down hill slightly.

This was another instance where we didn’t get to spend much time with the Hunter, but a deal’s a deal, and we had to make good on our end of it. I love helping kids with elk hunts anyways, so I was very happy to see Hunter successful.










After getting Hunter’s cow out of the woods, I grabbed my brother’s cow hunter, Jimmy.

The cows with the herd Mike shot his out of were back, and I had a good idea where they would try to feed in the daylight. I set up a heater and a couple of extra propane tanks in a deer blind and we put Jimmy and his son in the blind for the rest of the day around 1:00pm. I had him positioned between the hills on the neighbor’s property that we had found Mike’s cow on (where I thought they were bedded) and a clearcut that the elk were feeding in on their way out to a corn field to the north. This was right where Mike had shot his cow, and in a well used travel corridor for these particular animals. I let them know why they were there and where to watch for the animals to come from.

Around 5:00pm, after making my rounds checking tracks, I pulled into the property to watch the field about 3/4 mile North of them, just in case my “foolproof plan” got busted again and the elk came out to the field first. I was only there a few minutes when I heard Jimmy shoot. I pulled out of there and hadn’t made it down to them yet when I got the text “cow down”!

My foolproof plan had worked for the first time all season, which means I can ignore all previous plan failures, and all future foolproof plans must work too, right?

As it turned out, the animals read the script and the whole herd had come down out of the hills, heading to the clearcut. At 80 years old, Jimmy was able to take the second Michigan cow elk of his hunting career, with a 45 yard shot from a deer blind with a heater and lounge chairs. Not to mention, when it was time to load her up, I was able to back right up to her. If only they would all go this easily!


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## dntnddb (Jan 15, 2009)

srconnell22 said:


> On the fifth day of season, a guide in our group found a group of animals on private land and worked out a deal with the landowner that our group would help his cow hunter (who wasn’t there at the time) if he would allow them to shoot one of the cows in his field. He obliged, so when his hunter got there, Joe Ferguson and I took the young man (named Hunter) and his father in on the tracks of the remaining animals.
> 
> The animals worked their way along the edge of a big hill, and when we caught up to them, they were bedded on the next ridge over from us. We could see a big cow, two small bulls and a couple of calves. The cow was standing up, keeping a watchful eye out, while the others laid down. We got Hunter into position, and when he was comfortable with the shot and had the cow safely clear of the other animals, he carefully squeezed the trigger, undoubtedly killing an ironwood tree. I knew this was a miss for a fact as I saw the tree shake and all the snow fall out of it upon the shot.
> 
> ...


Great job and great stories as always.

Congrats to all the hunters! Enjoy the many meals!


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## DaBruin (Jan 20, 2006)

Great stories and memories congrats to all.


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## Luv2hunteup (Mar 22, 2003)

Thanks for updating this thread and sharing your adventures. Congrats to all involved.


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## Stubee (May 26, 2010)

What magnificent animals. I’ve never hunted elk and probably won’t but sure do enjoy these stories. Thanks!


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## Firefighter (Feb 14, 2007)

Fantastic for everyone involved. 

Michigan elk season is truly an experience to be cherished!


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## Martin Looker (Jul 16, 2015)

I bow hunted elk one time out in Colorado and came home empty handed but had a ball. Now I am thinking maybe I should try it here at home but use a rifle.


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## IT.Fisherman (Aug 10, 2012)

Awesome write up Scott! It was a blast hunting with you and the other hunters! I have relived that whole weekend over a hundred times in my head!


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## Horseshoe (Oct 15, 2003)

Thanks for taking the time to write these up. I look forward to reading them every year! Always hopeful to draw a tag.


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## Biggbear (Aug 14, 2001)

No joke Scott, your elk hunts are my favorite posts of the year.


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## Baraga-Need Guide (Jun 16, 2004)

Hey Scott I think I read yesterday that the success rate this year was around 83% in both the early and late hunts...Is that lower than usual?

Sent from my SM-G981U using Tapatalk


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## srconnell22 (Aug 27, 2007)

The last gentleman I helped in December was Elwood at 83 years young. I say young, because while telling him about the “older gentleman” I helped the day before at 80 years old, he was certain to tell me that “older gentleman” was 3 years younger than him. Foot meet mouth.

There is no way I would have ever put Elwood at that age. He got around good, still very active in rental houses, and home/building remodeling. He was a joy to have around for a couple of days.

Elwood’s guide was a friend who is still in high school online classes, and had been elk hunting longer than the teachers wanted him to as evidenced by the “where are you?” text messages from his teachers he was trying to hide from me while in my truck. I told him to go back and do his school work, and I’d take care of his cow hunter.

The second day I was with him, we ended up hooking up with our group down in the southern end of the elk range who were working on a small group of cows. We ended up getting in front of Joe Ferguson who was tracking the animals, and no sooner did I get set up, a spike bull stepped out of the thick pines and into the trail. We had Elwood all set up on the shooting sticks, so I told him not to shoot and just hold tight. The others would be out soon.

The spike moved along, and a minute or so later a nice big cow stepped out into the trail. I confirmed cow in the binoculars and told Elwood to take her. His 300 WBY Mag barked (and when I say barked, it had a muzzle brake and I was standing beside it, Wow, Does that thing bark!). He hit the cow hard, and racked another one in quickly. She spun around a little and ended up a little closer to us and still in a shooting lane, so I told him to hit her again (since it was the only visible cow). He made good on his end of the work, and a little while later we were walking up on his trophy.

Once again, this was an entire group effort as we had help from Joe Ferguson, Mike & Cody Proctor, Michael Pedigo, and my brother Dan. It’s fun to do the hunts on your own, just you and a track, but it’s also a lot of fun to have the support of a great team around you to get the job done. It certainly makes the hunting a lot more fun.










With that, I was done. The guys kept going and killed a few more animals, but I missed my family and was eager to get out with my son on a late season doe hunt he had been patiently waiting for.

I spent the last morning of elk season in church (pics below), and the last evening in a deer blind with my 7 year old hunting the late antlerless season (pic also below). I couldn’t think of a better way to end the 2020 season!


























As a group, I believe we filled around 65 elk tags this year between the September (35ish) and December (31ish) elk hunts. Understand this is a small sample of what we took for the year, but as this continues to grow, and my work being absolutely bonkers this year, I failed in keeping up with pics and stories for the other guides in our group. For that, I do apologize. There were a ton more awesome hunts and animals that were taken by our team throughout the year that I don’t have pictures of at the moment. This is by no means a one man show, and without the other guys in our group and their devotion to fill tags and create memories for hunters holding a once in a lifetime lottery tag, none of this would be possible.


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## srconnell22 (Aug 27, 2007)

Baraga-Need Guide said:


> Hey Scott I think I read yesterday that the success rate this year was around 83% in both the early and late hunts...Is that lower than usual?
> 
> Sent from my SM-G981U using Tapatalk


I think that would be right about on par given the increased number of antlerless tags this year. I believe the DNR hit their expected harvest quota at that mark, so I would say all’s well that ends well.


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## BucksandDucks (May 25, 2010)

Sounds like another awesome season. Gotta say that a couple years ago someone posted your phone number on here and I quickly saved it to my phone. 

So if on the day that they post results next year you get a call from a number you don't recognize, please answer 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G891A using Michigan Sportsman mobile app


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## srconnell22 (Aug 27, 2007)

BucksandDucks said:


> Sounds like another awesome season. Gotta say that a couple years ago someone posted your phone number on here and I quickly saved it to my phone.
> 
> So if on the day that they post results next year you get a call from a number you don't recognize, please answer
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G891A using Michigan Sportsman mobile app


I always get a ton of phone calls the day tags come out each year. Check your results as early in the morning as possible and call or text immediately if you’re wanting to hunt with me or our group. If I’m full, we typically have a conversation about elk, elk hunting, your abilities and what type of hunt you want, and I point you in the right direction based on the guides that I know and recommend (both in and outside of our group). 

There are a lot of good options for guides on the guide list for Michigan Elk. I think the most important thing for hunters to have a good hunt is matching the type of hunt the hunter wants, to a guide that provides that type of hunt. 

A hunter that wants to hike, track and stalk is going to be miserable riding around in a truck all day. Someone that would prefer a truck hunt due to physical ability, age, or mobility issues is not going to be happy with someone that wants to walk 15 miles a day. Just my opinion.


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## RNHunter (Nov 4, 2018)

Congrats to all the hunters and guides. Scott, Your stories are so enjoyable.Thanks so much for sharing.


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## bluealaskan (Sep 18, 2011)

Thank for sharing. Beautiful monster cow for your last hunter, and congrats to your son on his late season doe. Very special!! We love the updates. Thanks again.


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## sparky18181 (Apr 17, 2012)

Scott. What s your gut tell you about number of tags next year. Usually around 200 but this year I believe 260.


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## SPITFIRE (Feb 10, 2005)

Thanks for Sharing Scott, enjoyed the ride. Hope to chase one with you and Dan if ever pull a tag.


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## srconnell22 (Aug 27, 2007)

sparky18181 said:


> Scott. What s your gut tell you about number of tags next year. Usually around 200 but this year I believe 260.


I believe they set tag allotments on a 2 year cycle. Since last year would have been the first year of the new tag allotment, I would say they would most likely have the same number of tags again next year.


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## FireDoc66 (Oct 9, 2005)

Another great season and read! Nicely done!


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## sparky18181 (Apr 17, 2012)

srconnell22 said:


> I believe they set tag allotments on a 2 year cycle. Since last year would have been the first year of the new tag allotment, I would say they would most likely have the same number of tags again next year.


I like that The more available then the better my chances of getting one


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## srconnell22 (Aug 27, 2007)

srconnell22 said:


> I believe they set tag allotments on a 2 year cycle. Since last year would have been the first year of the new tag allotment, I would say they would most likely have the same number of tags again next year.


2021 Elk Season Dates & Tag Allotments will be the same as 2020:


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## Skinner 2 (Mar 19, 2004)

sparky18181 said:


> I like that The more available then the better my chances of getting one


My ten years is up so I can apply....


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