I first want to apologize for not writing you back for so long. I had a very stressful and busy year since the last hunting season. However, the 2013, bow hunting season reminded me of the great time you made possible for me to have in 2012. I truly enjoyed the experience and action I had hunting in the locations you gave me last year and cherish the memories. Thank you so much.

As I told you before, I have been working on passing the Bar exam and making a living. There was no way I could have been able to scout the land in order to have a good hunt.

I ended up hunting only 2 of the 3 locations you gave me in 2012 (Keating and Pilot Rock) because I had some car problems. Both of the locations were amazing. In 2013, I was able to make it out to the Pilot Rock and Starkey locations for a few days only. I was not successful during any hunts but I did have a lot of action. Below is a summary of the hunts. 

2012 Hunt: Keating Deer-Elk 

This place was amazing. There were times when I felt like I was at the zoo. This place was packed with animals. We even came across some wolf tracks the size of my palm. But the wolves did not scare the deer or elk away form the area. For that matter they did not scare anyone away-this place was packed with people. This made it hard to find a place to sleep and hunt.

This was the first hunting location I went to and I was not sure how to use the GPS. So it was touch and go. Furthermore, I only hunted this area one day because the transmission on my car went out the next day. Regardless, it was a lot of action for one day.

I tried to make my way to Two Color Lake. I tried to reach the GPS location from the north but it was packed with people. That’s why I decided to try to get to it from the south. So I took roads down and around making my way to Two Color Lake. But I’m not that good with the topo map. As I approached Two Color Lake on the road that leads to it, I ran into some steep, steep, steep, terrain. I made it up as far as I could with the car and then set up camp. I basically made it about three miles south of Two Color lake.

I literally had a hard time not slipping down hill. About 30 min into the “mountain climbing” I realized why I was the only person in this area as opposed to the north side.

About a hundred feet up the road, I ran into about 10 deer scattered around the area. This was an amazing deer spot. But I did not get any shots at a buck. I’m sure that if I would have stayed there all day I would have got a buck. But, I was compelled to move on toward the elk.

I made it to a split in the road. To the right was Two Color Lake, to the left was the Pass. I decided to follow the wolf tracks to the right for a little then departed from them. At this point I was at about 6,800 feet elevation. It was late in the day, around 2pm.

The open grasslands soon turned into forest. The forest soon turned dark and cool covered with lush vegetation. The ground was literally covered in elk tracks and droppings.

After calling a little and walking around this area next to Two Color Lake I was face to face with a spike elk. It was about 15 feet in front of me. It jumped and turned around, and ran about 50 yards away. All I could see was its head. I had no shot. As I sat quietly and tried to make this spike elk believe I was just a cow elk, I realized I was surrounded by elk. They soon took cover. After about 15 min of calling, the spike elk barked at me and ran off and with him the rest of the elk I did not see.

Pilot Rock

This was the second and last area I hunted. This place was also a zoo. There were a lot of elk. I hunted right underneath and towards the Private Property near the location marked “Elk Hot Spot.” This location was steep and hard to hunt. Furthermore, it was packed with people.

However, I had a lot of action. The elk in this location seem to be very aggressive and call a lot. It’s almost like they know people cannot reach them on the steep slopes.

I called in a 5×5 trophy but since I was so exhausted from walking up the hill and calling, I could not draw back in time to get a clean shot off. He saw me and ran down the steep terrain.

In total I saw about 4 bull elk in this location. But since it was so hard to hunt and because of other hunters I did not get any good shots. In fact this location is known by some very aggravating hunters. They come in on the weekends and act like the forest belongs to them.

On my last day of hunting this area I was calling a bull in and a gunshot from someone close scared him off. Furthermore, an airplane flew in close. It came down in a clear cut next to the private property fence and scared away a herd of elk which I had been following the entire day.

2013 Hunt – Pilot Rock

This year was very similar to the last but I only went out for one day here. The place is loaded with elk and hunters. I brought a large bull elk about 30 yards away but could not make sure he was a bull until it was too late. I then walked around until I couldn’t chase another bugle. Some were from real bull elk, and some from other hunters. I was able to spot a large bull on a ridge over but did not have enough energy to walk over.

Finally, I walked to the nearest bugle. As I got closer, I heard another bugle. The second was a group of 3 hunters. I didn’t know until I spotted the elk herd on the other side of them and I was within 20 feet of them. I walked into the open and let them know I’m another hunter. They seemed to be angry at me, but I was the one who just spent morning to night walking the steep terrain. Either way, I had a good time.

Starkey

Here, I hunted the “Elk Park” location only because I did not have enough time to wander around. I did not see any signs of bull elk at the Elk Park. However, I did see a 4×4 bull elk about 5 miles east of the Elk Park as I was driving out on Highway 52. I did run into a lot of cow elk (about 15 in total). There were a lot of bears in the area. One crossed Highway 51 near Highway 52 and I saw a lot of bear droppings and tracks.

Sincerely, Thank you,

The knowledge and experience of these locations changed my life forever.

It was the best hunting of my life.  Octavian Dogar

P.S. – My father has not been hunting for a long time since he has been working very hard in this troubled economy. This year he has drawn an elk tag and I was wondering if you could give him some advice too.