Too many elk can be a problem

Elk hunting is always tough. Unlike Montana deer which can number 15 to 45 per square mile, the best elk county in Montana holds only 3 to 5 elk per square mile. Elk also are herd animals, and a herd of 10-20 elk may represent most of the elk in several square miles. So there is lots of vacant land in good elk country.

Good elk hunters can hunt for days in good elk county and not see an elk. So is there an occasion with too many elk?

I opened the rifle hunting season with a trip to the Dillon area, Montana's best elk county. It was the second day of the season as we drove across rolling sagebrush lands to the forested mountains we intended to hunt. We decided to do some glassing from a vantage point.

As we glassed up a large coulee we spotted a large herd of elk. We estimated somewhere between 60-90 elk. There was several spikes, a couple of 4-5 point bulls and a good six pointer. All the bulls were legal game. Wow, what an elk hunting opportunity!

We formed a stalking strategy. The elk were moving slowly to the south. My son, Erik, and his friend Buddy would hike south a coulee or two, then move up a coulee to the elk.

My friend Bill and I would drive further up the road and come into the elk from upslope. If the elk were spooked by Erik and Buddy, they would likely move towards us.

Bill and I followed the elk for the next two to three hours. The open sagebrush country made it difficult to approach the elk without being seen. Finally Bill and I separated in an attempt to find the elk which had disappeared over a large ridge.

I was working my way down a high ridge when I spotted elk at the head of a small side coulee, about a half mile down slope from me. I hiked over the ridge, into the next coulee for cover, then moved down towards the elk.

As I came back over that ridge and looked for the elk, I saw the elk bedded in a small side coulee.

Then I glanced into the main coulee and saw Bill, with his pack off, sneaking in for a shot. So I backed off and retreated to the ridge top. I'd let Bill finish his stalk. When he made his shot, the elk should come up a fence line behind them, moving in front of me, less than 200 yards away. How could I not fill my elk tag?

The wind was erratic and the elk winded either Bill or myself before he could close in for a shot. As predicted, the elk came out of their coulee, up the fence line in front of me. But they came as a closely packed herd, not single file.

My rifle scope was full of elk, at least 40 or more. There were several bulls, but they were surrounded by dozens of cows and calves. I couldn't shoot.

They moved past me about 200 yards, then turned away from me. My scope was full of elk butts, with no clean opportunity to shoot.

So I had experienced a rare problem in elk hunting, too many elk!

Then Erik and Buddy popped up out a coulee, just three hundred yards from where the elk were bedded. They too were making their final stalk into the bedded elk and were salivating at the thought of getting a bull or two.

The four of us literally had the elk surrounded, but in the final analysis, the elk won.

But we had a great stalk and will recall this hunt many times in the future. Later in the week Erik and Buddy bagged a nice spike bull, so we came home with elk meat.

Over two weeks remain in our rifle season for deer and elk. Deer are just coming into the rut, so the bucks should be on the move during daylight hours. Take a child or old friend hunting.