Elk sign was all around but no talking yet.
Lots of fresh tracks but little fresh poop.
Really wondering if a wolf has things stirred up in this drainage.
Maybe, maybe not. They have been documented here.

Great pics! Thanks for sharing and good luck!

Enjoyed the pics and stories. Keep it coming.

Looks like an awesome trip!

Got back from our hunt and found out a wildfire popped up next door to the ranch we work for.
No damage on us but next door and it is still active.
Might affect elk hunting but hoping not.
High winds and rain for today may help or hurt !

Cool pics Wytex. Beautiful area.

Hope you have help putting that tent up, had a 16x32 in Colorado years ago and took 5 guys

Thanks for the write up. Great pics.

I’ve been enjoying following along Wytex. Beautiful country. Thanks for sharing. Good luck to you and your husband.

It's a 12x14 and we can get camp set in about an hour, tent up and everything setup.

Great pics Wytex! Good luck to you and your husband this year. We're headed to Laramie Peak on the 8th of next month for 10 days. Not to hunt, just some R&R. Hoping I get a chance to tag along with a buddy while he's elk hunting. Can't wait to feel some cooler weather.

If you ever need a camp cook let me know. I spent 3 weeks last year in the backcountry of Idaho in a elk camp as the camp cook and I loved it!

Travel safe holliday !!

Hubby took a good friend and his 17 yr old son up for a cow elk and a look around at the burned area.
Only saw 1 cow/calf pair and could not get on them. We'll try to get him back up later going into Nov.
They did see some bighorn sheep.

Rattlesnakes were still active as I nearly stepped on one moving cattle out of the horse pasture.

LO will be hunting Oct 1 for about 5 days then we'll get to elk hunt before they come back for a deer hunt.

Not hunting but going fishing today.
Good friend offered last night at the bar to take us out again so of course we said yes.
Not sure where we are going or what we are fishing for, he supplies the tackle and the boat, we just go along to catch fish.
Pics later today I hope.

Good luck Wytex!

Beautiful day on the water but the fish did not cooperate.
Boated 1 crappie and 2 walleye. Release about 5 under sized walleye.

The lake we fished is a draw down lake for irrigation downstream, it was at 17% pool and should start filling til next June any day now.
The ramp was about 150 yd backdown to get the the water.

Lake pics:





No one could get the crappie to bite.

LOs threw a little monkey wrench in our hunting plans.
Found out this morning they are back next week with elk hunters and no deer hunters later, we think.
Elk hunt will be off by a week but maybe we get deer season to ourselves again this year.

Any fishing is better than no fishing!

Headed up today to see if any WTs are still around.
LO and family found 1 cow elk and the others are not coming out this year.
The wildfire next door really spooked the elk out but they should come back later in Oct, we hope.

Another monkey wrench in our plans though.
Cattle are getting gathered and removed today , pastures are in bad shape and LO is not happy.
We saw this coming weeks back, no grass and little water.
Might be changes to the guy's cattle lease next year.

No WTs were spotted but saw quite a few mule deer doe and fawn groups.
Had a herd of elk make it's way towards the meadows right at dark but they were no where to be found the next morning.
Cattle will be gone this week we hope, and then pretty quiet on the ranch for the rest of the hunting season, thankfully.

Nice pics! Hope you get some moisture soon. The winter wheat is struggling here.

Hoping when the cattle leave the creek will rebound a bit. It has very few pools of water and very little flow.

We have a ton of ducks around right now though. Might have to pick up a duck stamp and take some teal off the pools.

Heading up Friday morning for the weekend.
Hoping the cattle guys didn't run everything off but if they did we'll find them next week.

Little cool front late in weekend and then finally Fall is coming next week with a shift in our weather patterns.

Any of you heading up to the mountains around the 15th or a little after check the weather, it will be cooler and chances of precip.

Deer opens on 15th and spouse took time off so we have 6 days to hunt then and again last week in Oct with pre rut activity.

We need to find some elk though.

Filled two elk tags this weekend.
Took a small 6 pt and a nice cow, still have 1 cow tag.

Saturday morning we had a plan to get back about a mile form the ranch house where the spouse saw a raghorn, cow and calf the night before.
Stopped before we crested a rise to glass a low area that is state land we have to drive by.
Sure enough about 35 elk were feeding there. 2 spikes a small 6 pt and a bunch of cows and calves.
Luckily they turned around and fed towards the ranch fence and crossed over.
We let them disappear behind the ridge then took off on foot to try for a shot.




Followed behind the ridge thinking they may stop and feed in a bowl we know of, nope, off towards the creek they were going.



Once they got to the creek they drank and we made our move down the mountain to get a shot.
Couldn't find the bull with the group so I settled on a cow. Just about to squeeze off when the hubby says there' the bull.
Change of setup and made the shot, down he went.
Cows below in the creek just stood around and looked confused so I settled on a lone cow and took her.
Double down.

Looked around and realized they were right along a 2 track , thank the Lord !!
The hike back to get the side by side was warm and brutal. Straight up for the initial climb then rolling rocky terrain.