Can do...in our favorite area, we’ve been able to walk up to almost within touching distance of the animals before the season starts.
An old bull like to scared my son half to death - he was backed up into a large manzanita bush, fairly well hidden, and he bugled as we passed him at about 15 yards. Awesome sight, that was.
What was?
The bull? or the brown stain you left behind in your hasty retreat!
LOL!
I hunted elk on the Oregon border yers ago...
It was so dry that you could smell butterfly farts coming from Idaho...
Anyway...
I
was walking along this road covered with volcanic crushed rock/red dust...
I came upon the tracks of a lone elk that came out of the brush, and went straight down the middle of the road for about a mile....
I followed, thinking I’m gonna get a shot at any second...
after about 20 minutes, all of a sudden the tracks darted to the left, to the edge of the road!
At the edge of the road was a grade stake with a piece of ribbon tied to it...
The elk had been walking down the center of the road until it noticed the bright ribbon, it went over and looked at the ribbon, then continued back to the center of the road for miles!
I decided I’m never gonna be able to figure these animals out, so I went back to camp and drank beer for the duration of the trip!
I did bag an ugly-assed mule deer with a bullet hole in it’s ear though!