wankerjake
Member
Well, here's a recap of our elk season. My dad and his hunting buddy Greg got 5B south bull tags this year, and I had the late cow hunt in 5B south. We are familiar with the unit and have our usual "hot spot" but due to various circumstances, we camped and hunted a new area this year (at least for the bull hunt, not to be done again). Anyway, a family friend who used to cowboy in the area showed my dad a spot that looked great. Scouting produced lots of elk and a number of bulls, right up thru the weekend before the hunt. They were both excited to finally get bull tags again, and had taken the whole season off. A little background before we start, we are all meat hunters who also enjoy a good set of antlers. We put in for cow second choice and usually get cows every other year. In my family there are 4 of us who put in so we get at least one cow about every year. Anyway, we almost always fill our elk tags, there have been a very few blemishes. However, Greg is about the most unlucky hunter any of us have known. We bag animals more often than not, but he usually goes home empty handed. If he's hunting cows, he sees bulls. He'll jump animals and hear shots from where they ran. He's just unlucky.
DAY 1
Anyway, season opener comes and the bull hunt is on. Everybody's excited. Much to our dismay, however, opening morning the spot was swarming with people. It seemed like the majority of the tags were hunting right where we were. Twice there were hunters right where my dad wanted to hunt, and he glassed a bunch more. My dad and my brother (playing guide) saw five bulls the first day, one whopper a LOOONG way off, and that was it besides a handful of deer. They couldn't have shot any of the bulls. Greg and his son Andy saw about ten cows and a bunch of antelope. My sister and I hiked around all day to see what we could se, and all we saw were some antelope, 6 cows, and one decent six point bull. Tracks and poop suggested there had been a lot of elk in the area recently, but nobody was seeing many animals. We were kinda missing our old spot but with all the sign, decided to give it another day.
Day 2
My brother left that night, so next day I was with my old man. Same thing, we get to where we want to set up and somebody's already there. Move to another and get out and hike. LOTS of sign and no elk. Saw a couple deer. The only elk we saw that day was what looked like a good five point in the back of a truck
Well we were bummed getting back to camp. Greg and Andy weren't back so we got a fire going. About fifteen minutes later it started spitting snow. Well just as soon as we remarked "well heck, I hope they didn't get one" because we were tired and didn't want to skin an elk in the dark/snow, we hear the truck approaching. Sure enough, this was in the back!
Story as follows: second morning they weren't seeing anything either, so they headed back out to the old hot spot. By this time Greg was down in the dumps again, remarking to Andy "typical hunt, they're here before the season starts, but when I get here they all disappear and all I see is a few cows." I believe he was still grumbling as they parked and headed up a hill that leads into a good bedding area. About halfway up Greg stopped to take a breather and looked behind them out into some big open country. Sure enough he can see a herd of 8 elk moving thru it at 2:30 in the afternoon a good thousand yards away.
Andy got on the binoculars and looked them over. "Cow, cow, cow, cow, spike, spike, spike...hey dad that's a nice bull." He picked out a landmark where he thought they could cut them off, and said "ok dad, we're gonna have to run to get ahead of this herd."
Greg says "son, it's too far. Let's go find a different one."
Andy says "Dad, this is what we're here for, now lets go!"
So they headed down the fenceline, stopping for greg to catch his breath a time or two along the way. They got to the ambush spot and Andy says "ok dad, they're gonna be coming thru here from the left."
Greg says "no son, they've already crossed the fence to the right."
Well about a minute later here they come at about 150 yards from the left. Right thru a clearing. SO Greg got down on one knee and was waiting, Andy calling them out. "Cow, cow, cow, cow, spike, spike, spike...ok dad the next one is him"...BANG! The 30-06 put him down, and Greg bagged his first bull. Scored 342, not bad a tall.
Day 3
Well we decided the night before after a few victory beers to make the drive out to our old spot. It snowed that night a little so we had a way to follow tracks. About a mile before our old area on the rough, rough road we started cutting elk tracks. By the time we got there we had seen an incredible amount of tracks. We had found the elk again. After such a lousy second day though my dad was saying he was gonna shoot the first bull he saw. I tried to talk him out of it, it was day 3 of 7, but he wanted me to be there to help him get it out. Mostly he wanted to get one that day more than he wanted the horns. Like I said before, we're meat hunters. Anyway, sun came up and we're hiking. My sister and I split up to see what we could see. Lots of tracks and a few cows/calves. Heard lots of shots. About 11:00am we heard a shot and my dad got on the radio and said he had a bull down, so we headed to him. He'd been hiking all morning, and was seeing cows. It was very cloudy all morning and a fog and wind set in around 10:00am. He ended up sneaking up on a herd of cows that had two spikes. They were only about 100 yards away and didn't see him...it was too perfect so he put one down. He's still kicking himself a little, but he know's it'll be worth it with every bite of burger. The meat is the importand part and that's what he got, so he's happy. Can't eat the horns anyway! Besides we could drive right to it.
My cow hunt:
Well the next friday my cow hunt started. We decided to gamble and not camp out, just because it is kind of a pain to set up the big wall tent for only a night or maybe two and we'd save some gas-I couldn't get away from school/work until late thursday night and we figured it wouldn't take long to get a cow, so it was drive separate and camp or drive together and just go get one. SO, the exact plan was to drive out early friday morning, hunt for about an hour, make a spot and stalk (no fun to shoot them from the road), put a cow down, drive to it, skin it and have all day to let it hang in the cold until late afternoon, and then get it home and in the fridge just before dark...no sweat right?
Well about 1 minute after leaving the house, I spilled hot coffee all over my lap--I cussed myself for the spill and for conciously making the decision to not wear my long johns, which would have done at least a little to cushion the scalding coffee...So we head to the old hot spot, just as it's getting light enough to shoot. No sooner had we commented "looks like we're the first ones down this road" we see a toyota truck about 100 yards ahead of us. Crap. Oh well, we pulled up to a clearing and figured we'd get out to glass it for a minute and let them get ahead of us. We knew where we wanted to park anyway. Well we got out and about 1 minute later we hear a BANG from about 200 yards ahead of us. Of course. Still undaunted, it's no fun to shoot from the road anyway, we got back in the truck and rolled past them. They were parked, presumably tracking an elk so we didn't stop. We drove another half mile where we wanted to park, and started hiking. We picked this spot because it generally holds lots of elk, and it's generally open enough to drive to your game. About 1 minute after leaving the truck, I realize it's COOOOOLD today, I'm guessing around 10 degrees, and the coffee I spilled is now a block of ICE against my skin. Again cussing the decision to not wear long johns...anyway we hiked about half an hour when I decided to glass a semi-open spot around 800 yards away. I couldn't really see much but I had a feeling. Sure enough, I see the body of an elk in a shadow. After a minute there are two bodies, and no obvious antlers. It looked like fairly open country to just head straight for them, but the wind and sun were right so we gave it a shot. About half and hour later we were at the spot we thought they had been, no good landmarks, but we got to looking around and sure enough I could see the butt of an elk. Then I could see a few, in a clump of trees with clearings on each side. They were just feeding and didn't see us. 200 yards. So I got down on my shooting sticks and waited for one to come out. The only elk I could see well was of course a spike, but it was inevitable, they had to go somewhere and I would have a shot. I could see a few heads grazing, and thought I could dome one but my old man kept saying wait, they'll come out and then you'll have a better shot. So I waited. Then kind of out of the blue a big cow starts walking thru the clearing to the right. She wasn't grazing though, she was going. So I barked at her and my dad kissed at her. Finally, just as she was about to walk past the clearing, she decided she better look at the noise. Her body stopped first before her head turned to look, but my crosshairs were already on her neck and as soon as she stopped I dropped the hammer. Well she dropped like a ton of bricks, always a good thing to see. We got a good look at the heard after that, two calves, a spike, and another cow. The one I got was definitely the biggest animal in the herd. And just as planned, we could drive right to it.
We forgot to get a picture before we loaded her in the truck, but here's one of the important part. With two elk in the freezer we'll be eating good all year. No need to buy beef. It's a beautiful thing when a plan comes to fruition!
Well that's a wrap up of our elk seasons. All said and done we're happy to have gotten the chance to chase these beautiful animals around another year, and can't wait for next season. The freezer will be running on empty and it'll be time to do it all again. Just like last year, I had some good bonding time with the old man out in the woods, where there ain't no city, highways, bells and whistles, stop lights or neighbors. Out with the critters and the cold, doing what we love to do. Can't beat that, and we wouldn't have it any other way.
DAY 1
Anyway, season opener comes and the bull hunt is on. Everybody's excited. Much to our dismay, however, opening morning the spot was swarming with people. It seemed like the majority of the tags were hunting right where we were. Twice there were hunters right where my dad wanted to hunt, and he glassed a bunch more. My dad and my brother (playing guide) saw five bulls the first day, one whopper a LOOONG way off, and that was it besides a handful of deer. They couldn't have shot any of the bulls. Greg and his son Andy saw about ten cows and a bunch of antelope. My sister and I hiked around all day to see what we could se, and all we saw were some antelope, 6 cows, and one decent six point bull. Tracks and poop suggested there had been a lot of elk in the area recently, but nobody was seeing many animals. We were kinda missing our old spot but with all the sign, decided to give it another day.
Day 2
My brother left that night, so next day I was with my old man. Same thing, we get to where we want to set up and somebody's already there. Move to another and get out and hike. LOTS of sign and no elk. Saw a couple deer. The only elk we saw that day was what looked like a good five point in the back of a truck
Well we were bummed getting back to camp. Greg and Andy weren't back so we got a fire going. About fifteen minutes later it started spitting snow. Well just as soon as we remarked "well heck, I hope they didn't get one" because we were tired and didn't want to skin an elk in the dark/snow, we hear the truck approaching. Sure enough, this was in the back!
Story as follows: second morning they weren't seeing anything either, so they headed back out to the old hot spot. By this time Greg was down in the dumps again, remarking to Andy "typical hunt, they're here before the season starts, but when I get here they all disappear and all I see is a few cows." I believe he was still grumbling as they parked and headed up a hill that leads into a good bedding area. About halfway up Greg stopped to take a breather and looked behind them out into some big open country. Sure enough he can see a herd of 8 elk moving thru it at 2:30 in the afternoon a good thousand yards away.
Andy got on the binoculars and looked them over. "Cow, cow, cow, cow, spike, spike, spike...hey dad that's a nice bull." He picked out a landmark where he thought they could cut them off, and said "ok dad, we're gonna have to run to get ahead of this herd."
Greg says "son, it's too far. Let's go find a different one."
Andy says "Dad, this is what we're here for, now lets go!"
So they headed down the fenceline, stopping for greg to catch his breath a time or two along the way. They got to the ambush spot and Andy says "ok dad, they're gonna be coming thru here from the left."
Greg says "no son, they've already crossed the fence to the right."
Well about a minute later here they come at about 150 yards from the left. Right thru a clearing. SO Greg got down on one knee and was waiting, Andy calling them out. "Cow, cow, cow, cow, spike, spike, spike...ok dad the next one is him"...BANG! The 30-06 put him down, and Greg bagged his first bull. Scored 342, not bad a tall.
Day 3
Well we decided the night before after a few victory beers to make the drive out to our old spot. It snowed that night a little so we had a way to follow tracks. About a mile before our old area on the rough, rough road we started cutting elk tracks. By the time we got there we had seen an incredible amount of tracks. We had found the elk again. After such a lousy second day though my dad was saying he was gonna shoot the first bull he saw. I tried to talk him out of it, it was day 3 of 7, but he wanted me to be there to help him get it out. Mostly he wanted to get one that day more than he wanted the horns. Like I said before, we're meat hunters. Anyway, sun came up and we're hiking. My sister and I split up to see what we could see. Lots of tracks and a few cows/calves. Heard lots of shots. About 11:00am we heard a shot and my dad got on the radio and said he had a bull down, so we headed to him. He'd been hiking all morning, and was seeing cows. It was very cloudy all morning and a fog and wind set in around 10:00am. He ended up sneaking up on a herd of cows that had two spikes. They were only about 100 yards away and didn't see him...it was too perfect so he put one down. He's still kicking himself a little, but he know's it'll be worth it with every bite of burger. The meat is the importand part and that's what he got, so he's happy. Can't eat the horns anyway! Besides we could drive right to it.
My cow hunt:
Well the next friday my cow hunt started. We decided to gamble and not camp out, just because it is kind of a pain to set up the big wall tent for only a night or maybe two and we'd save some gas-I couldn't get away from school/work until late thursday night and we figured it wouldn't take long to get a cow, so it was drive separate and camp or drive together and just go get one. SO, the exact plan was to drive out early friday morning, hunt for about an hour, make a spot and stalk (no fun to shoot them from the road), put a cow down, drive to it, skin it and have all day to let it hang in the cold until late afternoon, and then get it home and in the fridge just before dark...no sweat right?
Well about 1 minute after leaving the house, I spilled hot coffee all over my lap--I cussed myself for the spill and for conciously making the decision to not wear my long johns, which would have done at least a little to cushion the scalding coffee...So we head to the old hot spot, just as it's getting light enough to shoot. No sooner had we commented "looks like we're the first ones down this road" we see a toyota truck about 100 yards ahead of us. Crap. Oh well, we pulled up to a clearing and figured we'd get out to glass it for a minute and let them get ahead of us. We knew where we wanted to park anyway. Well we got out and about 1 minute later we hear a BANG from about 200 yards ahead of us. Of course. Still undaunted, it's no fun to shoot from the road anyway, we got back in the truck and rolled past them. They were parked, presumably tracking an elk so we didn't stop. We drove another half mile where we wanted to park, and started hiking. We picked this spot because it generally holds lots of elk, and it's generally open enough to drive to your game. About 1 minute after leaving the truck, I realize it's COOOOOLD today, I'm guessing around 10 degrees, and the coffee I spilled is now a block of ICE against my skin. Again cussing the decision to not wear long johns...anyway we hiked about half an hour when I decided to glass a semi-open spot around 800 yards away. I couldn't really see much but I had a feeling. Sure enough, I see the body of an elk in a shadow. After a minute there are two bodies, and no obvious antlers. It looked like fairly open country to just head straight for them, but the wind and sun were right so we gave it a shot. About half and hour later we were at the spot we thought they had been, no good landmarks, but we got to looking around and sure enough I could see the butt of an elk. Then I could see a few, in a clump of trees with clearings on each side. They were just feeding and didn't see us. 200 yards. So I got down on my shooting sticks and waited for one to come out. The only elk I could see well was of course a spike, but it was inevitable, they had to go somewhere and I would have a shot. I could see a few heads grazing, and thought I could dome one but my old man kept saying wait, they'll come out and then you'll have a better shot. So I waited. Then kind of out of the blue a big cow starts walking thru the clearing to the right. She wasn't grazing though, she was going. So I barked at her and my dad kissed at her. Finally, just as she was about to walk past the clearing, she decided she better look at the noise. Her body stopped first before her head turned to look, but my crosshairs were already on her neck and as soon as she stopped I dropped the hammer. Well she dropped like a ton of bricks, always a good thing to see. We got a good look at the heard after that, two calves, a spike, and another cow. The one I got was definitely the biggest animal in the herd. And just as planned, we could drive right to it.
We forgot to get a picture before we loaded her in the truck, but here's one of the important part. With two elk in the freezer we'll be eating good all year. No need to buy beef. It's a beautiful thing when a plan comes to fruition!
Well that's a wrap up of our elk seasons. All said and done we're happy to have gotten the chance to chase these beautiful animals around another year, and can't wait for next season. The freezer will be running on empty and it'll be time to do it all again. Just like last year, I had some good bonding time with the old man out in the woods, where there ain't no city, highways, bells and whistles, stop lights or neighbors. Out with the critters and the cold, doing what we love to do. Can't beat that, and we wouldn't have it any other way.
