September 20, 2015 by Shawn Chittim
Shelley and I are fortunate to have been presented with the chance to guide elk hunts on a spectacular private cattle ranch in Northern California. It is a great opportunity for us and we are grateful to have been recommended to the ranch for their elk program.
Each fall for the last 24 years, you could find us working with Bryce and Peg Logan, owners and operators of Sarvis Prairie Outfitters. It’s a great place in Oregon to hunt bucks and bulls, but we are so excited to work on a new private land elk program in our own backyard
We knew with our network of friends and prior clients we would have no trouble in finding a hunter, if we could pull a tag. It didn’t take long for us to have a list of potential clients that would be interested in the hunt. Once the dust settled, Steve W. would be our hunter for 2015. We would be archery hunting the lava rock, oak studded canyons and plains for a trophy bull, and we couldn’t be more excited.
The 411 season was set for September 2nd thru 13th and due to the exclusiveness of this hunt we were committed to hunt the whole season if necessary. Steve has hunted with us several times in Oregon and previously in California on a Lassen Antelope tag, so our familiarity with each other would be a huge asset during this hunt. After all this would be a new ranch for us to learn and we had a short time to put it all together to insure a quality hunt for our client and our landowners.
September 2nd arrived and Steve and I found ourselves out in the predawn hours listening for the elk we had patterned during July and August, the hitch was the big bulls had just began to show on the 26th of August and patterns were being busted. We had walked about ½ mile through the oaks as listened intently, it was early but trail cameras had revealed we had some early rutting activity on a great old mature bull and it was him that Steve and I had intended on targeting. We located the elk and they were in the creek bottoms, it was Steve’s first live look at the bull and he didn’t disappoint.
For the next several days, the elk dictated the hunt and we obliged laying off any pressure, we had no reason to rush. It seemed everyday we checked trail cameras we had new bulls moving into the ranch in search of cows. The only thing that was weighing on my mind was the ominous 100-degree weather forecasted daily as the hunt advanced. Shelley had now joined us for the hunt and we prepared for the difficult conditions, once the elk headed to the bedding grounds the hunting stopped and the work began. We checked and moved trail cameras, set a ground blind and a treestand. While our primary objective was to call a giant bull to Steve, however we wanted to insure we had fallback plans if necessary.
Most of the elk activity was taking place in the cover of darkness, each morning found us behind the herd and they were being real quite on their comings and goings, so things were difficult but we knew we weren’t hunting ghosts. On this particular day Steve and I were working the break between the oaks and the plains, while Shelley was on the ridge to the north. She located the elk they had changed their pattern once again. We met up with Shelley, just in time to watch the herd disappear into a canyon with our big bull and several satellites in tow.
Late afternoon on the 5th day of the hunt found us heading towards the canyon, when we walked right into our big bull literally bedded in the creek. Amazingly he was by himself and had no idea of our presence, what a gift.
With Shelley and I at 51 yards and Steve at 30, we got the bull to stand with a few soft cow calls, at the dump of the string the shot flew high, as the bull crossed the creek another few calls stopped him again but this time he was behind a small willow, finally he gave us one last stop and look back just out of range. We had worked hard as a team for this opportunity and not to capitalize was brutal on all of us, but that’s archery elk hunting. Keep the chin up and keep on at it.
Over the next couple of days we hunted mornings only as the temperatures would reach the high 90’s before noon and the elk were in shut down mode in the heat. 
On the 9th day of the hunt, we sat in complete darkness at the edge of the plains and the oaks, when we heard a single mew followed by a distant bugle. We gathered our gear and headed quickly towards the elk talk, our timing couldn’t have been better. The darkness was giving way to the light and a bull was now screaming just to our south, it didn’t take long before we knew he was committed, but before he could arrive another great 6x6 was bearing down on us from the east. Just goes to show you, that Mother Nature is completely unpredictable.
The bull to the south was the first to arrive putting on an impressive show of dominance, with ear piercing bugles he came into 27 yards, but was not the bull Steve was after, it was the big one horn bull.
After a few minutes of searching for either the intruder or the cows he had intended on taking, he finally knew the jig was up and headed east to confront the heavy six headed our way. Steve had just experienced what we dream of when we think archery elk hunting during the rut, and he was impressed and fired up. We moved around looking to locate our big bull he was doing what a herd bull does and was tending his cows as they moved across the plains.
We were able to get on the herd bull each of the next two days but were unsuccessful in getting him, to make a second mistake and come into range for Steve. As the sunset on the final day of the hunt we reminisced over our time afield, we had a great hunt. While Steve didn’t punch his tag, we were able to experience the full gamut of an archery elk hunt and do it on a beautiful ranch in the oak foothills of Northern California.
Posted in: California Rocky Mountain Elk Hunting
