Continuing on the discussion of this thread of sorts.
http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=309919
Again, some extended family members were gracious enough to allow us to stay in their cabin on their 1000 acre plot in the Walla Walla unit in NorthEast, Oregon for elk season as we did for deer season a few weeks ago. It was not ideal elk hunting weather for it was dry and crackly making it pretty difficult to creep through the woods.
We heard several shots the second day (my first) and came across a camp where a gentleman was fotunate enough to bag a 130 lb male cougar. What an animal, his canines were about 1-1/4" long. The old pros estimated him at about 4-5 years old. The hunter said a doe past him, then the cougar followed as he sat on the trail in wait for a legal elk.
Okay, the fathers of the crew dropped us off in a nice bowl to work up the hill and they proceeded to the top where they hoped we would push some their direction. On their commute to the top, they saw one spike on the second morning, right next to the road on Skyline Road. But they stopped the truck and spooked him and a cow, off they went not to be seen again. Other than that, we did not see any more elk until we were back at the private plot of land looking over Couse Creek, a tributary of the Walla Walla river.
It's about 5pm and we are glassing the hillside when a partner further to the North starts whistling and waving frantically. We know he sees elk by his body language so we head down and do some glassing with him. There was a herd of 20 to 30 elk with one very large bull. We only have spike tags mind you, but this is the first herd we've seen and we suspected a spike may be hanging around the perimeter of the herd in hopes of picking up on one of the wandering ladies. It's too late to trek around or across the 1000 foot deep canyon, so we hope they graze for the night and will be there in the morning. And, they were.
I took the spotters position about a mile across the canyon while the other 4 in the party navigated around and put on the stalk. They were indeed still there and this time I had a spotting scope. We had cell signal and I communicated their numbers, location and that the big guy was in there. The branched bull was an ivory tipped 6x6 and he was rather large and his rack was perfectly uniform, quite a site. One guy stayed in the truck where we suspected they would cross the road if spooked and head into the deeper Walla Walla river canyon. The other three trekked through the woods and crept up on the herd. The herd headed East towards the sun as soon as it started hitting them in the face and one hunter got a good gunsite view of at least 12 of them as they streamed past. No spikes were seen, but he did say he got a 75 yard view through his 9x scope at the herd bull. Mind you, this is the guy who has been hunting this area for nearly 40 years, so I trust his jugement. He said that is probably the biggest bull he has ever seen in that area and had the most even set of horns he'd ever seen of any bulls from that region. Being the guy with the 45x scope across the canyon, I can attest that this guy was big, and the rack was even.
However, he was also very good at his job for we did not spot one spike in his harem of 25-30 cows, and I got a good look at all but one of them. There was one on the outskirts that would not come out into the grassy land to offer me a good background to check if it had any horns, this elk always stayed close to the trees and I could not make out any antlers one way or the other with the pine tree backdrop behind him. We suspect if there was a spike in there, this was him and he was keeping his distance.
They all went east and we lost them, the hunt was over by 11am, but we got a good look at all but one and the big bull, if it was the right season, would have been in the bag. What a wonderful sight that big bull was. I don't think I've ever witnessed one that large on the hoof like that. Watching them get all spunky and playful once the sun came up on them was quite a treat. I'll be returning to the area next year. Hopefully, with a branch bull tag instead.
jeepmor
http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=309919
Again, some extended family members were gracious enough to allow us to stay in their cabin on their 1000 acre plot in the Walla Walla unit in NorthEast, Oregon for elk season as we did for deer season a few weeks ago. It was not ideal elk hunting weather for it was dry and crackly making it pretty difficult to creep through the woods.
We heard several shots the second day (my first) and came across a camp where a gentleman was fotunate enough to bag a 130 lb male cougar. What an animal, his canines were about 1-1/4" long. The old pros estimated him at about 4-5 years old. The hunter said a doe past him, then the cougar followed as he sat on the trail in wait for a legal elk.
Okay, the fathers of the crew dropped us off in a nice bowl to work up the hill and they proceeded to the top where they hoped we would push some their direction. On their commute to the top, they saw one spike on the second morning, right next to the road on Skyline Road. But they stopped the truck and spooked him and a cow, off they went not to be seen again. Other than that, we did not see any more elk until we were back at the private plot of land looking over Couse Creek, a tributary of the Walla Walla river.
It's about 5pm and we are glassing the hillside when a partner further to the North starts whistling and waving frantically. We know he sees elk by his body language so we head down and do some glassing with him. There was a herd of 20 to 30 elk with one very large bull. We only have spike tags mind you, but this is the first herd we've seen and we suspected a spike may be hanging around the perimeter of the herd in hopes of picking up on one of the wandering ladies. It's too late to trek around or across the 1000 foot deep canyon, so we hope they graze for the night and will be there in the morning. And, they were.
I took the spotters position about a mile across the canyon while the other 4 in the party navigated around and put on the stalk. They were indeed still there and this time I had a spotting scope. We had cell signal and I communicated their numbers, location and that the big guy was in there. The branched bull was an ivory tipped 6x6 and he was rather large and his rack was perfectly uniform, quite a site. One guy stayed in the truck where we suspected they would cross the road if spooked and head into the deeper Walla Walla river canyon. The other three trekked through the woods and crept up on the herd. The herd headed East towards the sun as soon as it started hitting them in the face and one hunter got a good gunsite view of at least 12 of them as they streamed past. No spikes were seen, but he did say he got a 75 yard view through his 9x scope at the herd bull. Mind you, this is the guy who has been hunting this area for nearly 40 years, so I trust his jugement. He said that is probably the biggest bull he has ever seen in that area and had the most even set of horns he'd ever seen of any bulls from that region. Being the guy with the 45x scope across the canyon, I can attest that this guy was big, and the rack was even.
However, he was also very good at his job for we did not spot one spike in his harem of 25-30 cows, and I got a good look at all but one of them. There was one on the outskirts that would not come out into the grassy land to offer me a good background to check if it had any horns, this elk always stayed close to the trees and I could not make out any antlers one way or the other with the pine tree backdrop behind him. We suspect if there was a spike in there, this was him and he was keeping his distance.
They all went east and we lost them, the hunt was over by 11am, but we got a good look at all but one and the big bull, if it was the right season, would have been in the bag. What a wonderful sight that big bull was. I don't think I've ever witnessed one that large on the hoof like that. Watching them get all spunky and playful once the sun came up on them was quite a treat. I'll be returning to the area next year. Hopefully, with a branch bull tag instead.
jeepmor
