Day 4: Went out very similar to day 3. Several herds of cows in the AM but no bull. Came up on a spike kill and a cow kill from earlier in the year.
Day 5: Got a little interesting. Ended up hiking pretty deep (as deep as you can there) only to have another hunter start shooting less than 200 yards from us. Dang it! So we marched on further in and located legs going through the trees. Big herd! Well, we start moving in as there is a smaller bull in there. Sure enough, they all start walking through a 10' long opening. One by one, all 30 of them. The bull was at the back and I kid you not, when it was his turn to cross, he trotted for 10' then stopped giving my dad no shot. Unbelievable, he was the only elk that did that lol. We kept on them but the wind swirled and they spooked. It was 11AM by then so we marched back.
We went out in the PM and decided to try a new area adjacent to private that somewhat looks like private because of higher cattle fences. We decide to do a loop and on the way back I hear the rumble of hooves. We freeze. A herd comes running our way. We don't move until they present a shot and my dad lets one have it on the run. We both know how good spike tastes! Could use some meat after losing a buck in AZ and killing a stick instead of the bull on the other side of it in Idaho. Great memories and a lot of learning hunting late-season elk in hot, dry, crunchy, country that you cant glass. I think I'll wait, build more points and archery hunt it again.