# South slope Yellowstone cow



## stimmie78 (Dec 8, 2007)

I'm not looking for help or anything. I just want to know if ppl are actually seeing any elk on this unit? I hunted many days during the rifle bull season and now I have hunted two days so far for the current cow season. I haven't seen an elk since September. Been a discouraging year for me this far.

Just had to vent. That is all.


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## goofy elk (Dec 16, 2007)

Tell ya what 78,

I spent 24 days this year on the S Slope unit .....

Never saw a single elk.

On the bright side tho, the deer herd seems to be increasing in numbers...

And the moose hunting aint too bad either..;-)..


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## stimmie78 (Dec 8, 2007)

We've see three bull moose and some dandy bucks. Oodles of does. My brother got a cow during the last hunt on private land. So we went there for mine and nothing so much as a track. It just bums me out. Id be happy to even see them a mile away.


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## Elkdude (Oct 25, 2014)

I found that to be the same situation for me during the general rifle season. I saw them in Sept. but nothing during the hunt.


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## sknabnoj (Nov 29, 2012)

Hunted up there for about 12 days total. Couple people in my group were able to pull out a couple bulls but, in all honesty, I hardly saw anything.


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## rosedude (Dec 26, 2010)

Day before the general hunt we saw a herd of thirty. During the hunt I felt like we saw everyone but ourselves take out an elk. Most bulls!!!


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## brendo (Sep 10, 2013)

I have plenty of pictures of elk on trail cams up in soapstone in fact I have more elk than deer sometimes. I have heard bugles before but I have never seen an elk with my own eyes up there. My wife's family hunts deer up there and camps quite a bit in the summer. Here is a pic of three spikes all hanging out together up there.


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## hunt_trap_life (Oct 18, 2014)

weather's made for pretty tough hunting out here this year. Killed a pretty good bull on the muzzleloader hunt but had to work for him. Saw plenty of cows and smaller bulls, the elk are out there but you might have to get out of the truck to find them.


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## inbowrange (Sep 11, 2007)

We also hunt Soapstone on the archery hunt and we see great numbers on are cameras but as soon as the hunt shows up they disappear. In 9 years of hunting there for elk n deer I've only seen 10-15 actually on hoof.


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## goofy elk (Dec 16, 2007)

inbowrange said:


> We also hunt Soapstone on the archery hunt and we see great numbers on are cameras but as soon as the hunt shows up they disappear. In 9 years of hunting there for elk n deer I've only seen 10-15 actually on hoof.


:shock:----If I dont see 10-15 plus a day, I'm looking for somewere else to hunt!!


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## bowhunt3r4l1f3 (Jan 12, 2011)

Right now they are all probably down on the res. Or nearly all of them.


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## inbowrange (Sep 11, 2007)

Goofy Elk we mainly hunt there for deer and just have an elk tag in are pockets just in case all the stars line up lol


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## goofy elk (Dec 16, 2007)

^^^^ That Makes sense..--The deer there seem to be IMPROVING!^^^^


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## Purogringo (Mar 20, 2008)

I hunted this area for the gen Bull, spent a total of 5 days of hard hunting, and then had a cow tag for Nov. Spent some more days hunting hard. Even talked to some older guys that had been there for the entire muzzy Bull hunt......out of all that, no animals were seen! We hunted Dry Gulch area above the Res. 

This yr it was just way too warm for the hunts. We saw quite a few moose, more deer in one spot than I've ever since since I was a kid back in the day and deer were everywhere, turkeys, grouse......

This areas success is highly dependent on the weather (snow) and bringing down the animals from up high.

I've drawn this tag 4 yrs now. Got into animals 3 yrs ago but the last 2 yrs the weather has been way toooo warm 

Still fun as heck to get away from work, the wife etc and have some fun playing mountain man with the guys for a few days


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## goofy elk (Dec 16, 2007)

-******-,
One of the biggest bull moose I found all summer was just west of Dry gulch pole area.

He was a SMOKER..:!:..

Lost track of him and killed my bull 40 miles west of there ......

Did any of the moose you saw happen to ne a REALLY good bull?


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## stimmie78 (Dec 8, 2007)

None of the bull elk we saw were anything special.. Remember that Disney cartoon where the tiny moose had massive antlers and the big moose had tiny ones? The two we saw were like the big moose with tiny antlers.. I kept expecting to see a midget moose with big antlers pop out of the trees..

I did end up seeing a cow, but she was way out of my range and by the time I got closer she was gone.. Maybe next time...


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## UWannaNo (Dec 18, 2014)

Last year I tried the January cow hunt. Most of the elk were up high where the wind had swept the snow off of the top. The depth of snow to get on top was too high for an ATV, and the snowmobile wouldn't do you any good where the elk were.

I did see some monster bucks that were hanging out right along the NFS/tribal boundaries. ..literally within 50 yards of the fence. 

It's tough to hunt that area. We kept on running into "No Trespassing - Tribal Land" signs that didn't match the DWR maps and the locals didn't think that those signs matched the boundaries. I actually think that some people were placing signs in the area, just to keep their special hunting spots.

I didn't want to take the chance, so I didn't violate the signs. I found the hunt very challenging last year and to be honest, I wouldn't do the late season hunt again, unless I had a snowmobile or the tags were still available to purchase in Dec. and my contacts told me they were down on the private lands.

It is tempting to do that cow hunt during the general bull hunt with the changes in the cow tag options.


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