 Welcome back everybody. Good morning, at least where I am. This is day number two, officially being out here. Yesterday was setup day. Saw some sign there at the end of the day of some elk, which is great. So starting out fresh today. I got this platypus system. I filled up with water last night and it's literally just, it's like an IV system. So it's filtered water and this is what I'm using to make my oatmeal and my coffee this morning. And then we are gonna go into the woods and try to see some elk. So last night the area I found, I marked some spots on my GPS. I'm gonna track back that way and keep going deeper. I went up about a thousand feet, which kicked my ass. It was, I was just out of breath. It was bad. I'm gonna lighten my load a little bit on my pack and I'm just gonna day hunt today and see if we can find at least more sign. Really just put together these clues. I've also been communicating with Lunkers TV through our in-reach devices, our GPS devices. And so we're comparing notes and everything. He's been out here a lot longer. He's given me some some good tips. So let's go make our coffee. Can't get the day started without a good pot of coffee. Let's get in the woods. Okay so we've made it up here about 500 more feet in base camp. And I'm along one of those trails that I, where I'm trying to find a good elk trail that I was seeing yesterday. I am burning up. It's 41 degrees and I'm burning up. I've got a lot more to climb. I'm gonna try to get as high as I can and then just stay on that plateau and walk a few miles and see what I see. I think that they're gonna be pretty high this early in the season. But the thing about this area is it's so thick. You can't really see too far so I might just end up running into them. We're gonna sweat a little bit. Let's keep going up and see what we see. I found a creek right here. I'm starting to see tracks. Like they'll definitely walk along this creek line. So I'm gonna follow it up and then I'm gonna push farther north, northwest and just ride this plateau. If you look at it on a map you'll see a lot of these just they're not like sharp mountain. They seem really sharp when you're up here. But they kind of flatten out and there's some grassy patches on top. I think that's where they're feeding either that or just smack dab in the middle of woods and it's gonna be hard to see on an aerial map but this is thick. It's absolutely gorgeous though. Alright, catch my breath. Let's go up another 500 feet. This area I'm getting to is more open. It's like I've busted through the thick thick stuff. I think all these trees are laid down. It's a pain to get over them. This is so much steeper than what it looks like on camera. I noticed that on my New Zealand hunt. Like it was so brutal. It didn't look as bad on the camera but trust me the calories are burning. I'm also starting to get into some rocks. These more open areas that grow. I've decided to just go after these elk. After ranging that spot is 350 yards away. Probably take me an hour to get there. I go all the way down but I just walked up here and I found a little chute and that's gonna cut my time about half. So this is good. This area right here is prime. I'm feeling I might need to spike out here. I don't get it done today. It's high hopes if I get it done today. But first thing I see it's not a spike. Anything it's legal. Cow, legal bull. Arrow's going. That's fine. So we've got to cross this little ravine here. This river, creek, stream whatever. I think they're going deep into the woods right now so I'm gonna go where I saw them and then track from there and just make sure the wind is right. Oh yeah see where elk cross here too. See I was gonna have to go through here. That is looking like death. This is perfect. I wonder if they bed right here. All this is laid down. Tons of tracks. Fresh, fresh poop. Oh my gosh we're on the juice. Tons of poop. This hunt just got. I'm pretty much above them now. I'm above where the trees grow. I'm like right on the line. I'm gonna stay above and I'm just gonna keep going where I saw them and I'm gonna try to get above them and just just look and see. It's gonna happen. I'm gonna get the chance. This is the area where I saw the elk. I've worked my way up here. Came back around. Didn't see any and I just just wanted to stop right here and see. I mean it's just they were all up in here and the tracks are just everywhere fresh. So what I'm gonna do is I'm just gonna follow their tracks. I'm gonna follow where I saw all of them exit through here and just keep stalking them. The wind is actually good. It's blowing up the mountain a little bit in my face walking this way so I might be able to stalk them. I don't know how fast they're moving but I know they got much bigger legs than me and they do this every day. This is so exciting. I consider today a win just being able to see elk and get within 350 yards. Now I just got to figure out their little movements. I know their bedding areas. I know this is a key feeding area and what they're doing at certain times of the day. I know about 8.30 this morning it was rocking so go see if we can find some. Maybe they're bedded down. They're being real silent. I haven't heard anything so keep trucking. It's not the top but it's closed. There's a big wallow out there and I just heard a bugle. I don't know if this is the same group of elk. There's more bedding areas over here. I'm definitely at the right elevation. I'm seeing tons of sign. Try to call a little bit. Get a little closer to that bugle call. Just made it off the mountain y'all. Wow my quads are on fire. What an amazing morning of hunting. That was my first experience with elk ever and it was a workout. I mean I was all the way up there and more and then some deeper on the other side but I figured out where they are living. I know a vast expansion of area where there's tons of fresh sign and I was seeing them. Unfortunately I spooked those ones when I got around that waller area. That was about 40 yards and they kind of split up and then I went down to another spot. Tried to kind of follow them and there was there was a spike. I was glad to know it was a spike like it was just laying down and I've glassed it. Recognized it was an elk. Got ready and as soon as I got up it got up too and I saw it run off and it was a spike so I can't shoot those. So the strategy now I think I'm just gonna have to go up there and sleep with them like take my tent and just take food and be up there for a number of days. Unfortunately that's not gonna be this afternoon. I need to go get some more supplies for my big camp so that I can eat stuff there and then have stuff for up in the mountains and it's a lot to think about when you're out here getting a game plan together to have a successful hunt and fishing trip and just make your experience more enjoyable. What I love is you know I'm just sitting here parked on the side of the road here in the National Park and I'm trudging up the mountain and I'm seeing elk and I never saw another hunter y'all. So this is a pretty awesome experience that anyone can go do. It just costs you I think it's $680 for a elk hunting tag and of course I mean you gotta have some gear if you want to be a little comfortable. But thank you guys for tuning in. Of course we will be after these guys again and doing some more hunting and fishing trips. I spotted some other fishing areas that I wanted to go to on the map today. But thank you for being here. Make sure you smash that like button for seeing elk for the first time here in Bugles and the Great Outdoors. And I will see you on the next one.