Hey everyone, I’ve been a member for a long time but I’m not much of internet poster person so haven’t said much lol, I’ve definitely learned a lot from this group and I’ve really enjoyed reading everyone’s stories so figured I’d give it a go now that I have one of my own.
A little background, My Dad hunted when I was younger but stopped when we moved from Alberta to Vancouver when I was 15, I didn’t hunt growing up but always had an itch to get out into the mountains and hunt. A handful of years ago a buddy from work and I decided to just get our licenses and get started, we went up and down mountains the first year with his cousins without rifles while we waited for our PALs to be approved. Learned a lot from the old boys and saw some amazing country. That buddy ended up moving to Alberta and as luck would have it another guy from work had also just started hunting so we paired up.
We’ve had some success with smaller bucks and of course bears throughout the past handful of years but I really wanted an elk, just something about a 6 point bull that always got me excited. We went north as I didn’t want to bring someone new into the spots I’d been lucky enough to learn from my first season, just out of respect for the guys that hunt it hard all year. That and the more liberal seasons should translate to more success, so we thought hahaha. The first two years we got skunked but saw more sign and more elk each trip as we zeroed in and learned their behaviours better.
Last year we had our first taste of Elk success when we were able to call in a bull and my buddy was able to connect, we finally had a 6 point on the ground. It was 6km into the bush and even with the reinforcements (my two brothers had finally gotten into the game and my Dad was back at it) was a heck of a pack out in the dark.
Fast forward to this year and I couldn’t wait to get back up there, hours of looking at the same Google Earth images, reading stories, replaying every elk encounter so far in my mind. My Dad had headed up a day early to get the spot we liked to camp before the weekend and we joined him late the next day after a 14 hour haul up with the trailer.
We slept in the next morning and puttered around camp, finally around 330 we headed in, aiming to be in the same area we had gotten the bull last year for the last bit of light. As we headed down the trail buddy was out front and tossed out a couple cow chirps, we got a quick response bugle and it was close… The worst bugle we’d ever heard. We looked at each other shocked. There’s no way that’s a bull we thought, someone else must be in here. A couple more chirps and another response, this time the bugle sounded much better.
We were still skeptical it was an elk but whatever it was, was close and we were in a bad spot for this to go down, we had already decided I was getting first crack this year and buddy calling was between me and whatever was bugling on a fairly open trail. He hit the deck as I set up to shoot. Finally a glimpse between the trees, it was definitely an elk and definitely over the 3 point minimum. I couldn’t tell initially if it was a 5 or 6 but I knew he was legal and it was my first real opportunity at a bull, the fever kicked in at this point haha.
I just couldn’t believe it was happening less than 500 yards from camp after all the hiking over the past 4 years, I could still see the old mans white pickup through a few spots in the bush! So many thoughts racing through my head, all the time and hard work we had put in, the fear of screwing it up now, I could hear my heart beating. I needed to calm down and fast. A few deep breaths and calming thoughts as the bull worked his way through the timber towards the trail. My buddy at this point can’t see anything and is just cow calling in response to his bugles hoping it was working, it was.
Just as the bulls head entered the trail he stopped and looked right at me, I don’t know if he saw me or winded me or was just looking for the cow but it felt like we made eye contact through my scope. At this point he’s about 80 yards away and frozen. I move the scope down and right, find the front shoulder through a perfect tunnel in the bush, put the cross hairs right behind it and touch the trigger. The bull does a 180 and we hear crashing, he’s definitely hit but we don’t hear him bundle up. I was confident in the shot so the concern was short lived.
We gave it some time as I calm down and then head in after him, tons of blood and he only went about 30 yards so a pretty easy find and finally I’m able to put my hands on a bull I harvested. Big hug from buddy and some celebration then he heads off to get the boys who luckily hadn’t gone too far the other direction and had heard the shot.
My old man came down to help gut him while the others cleared some trail and gathered up the stuff my Dad wanted brought in. He brings a shit ton stuff hunting, we always poke fun at him but I was glad he brought it all this time, pull alls and winches with a bit of trail clearing to get a quad in, we had the bull out whole and on the pole in a couple hours.
It’s a weird feeling to finally get success so close to camp on day one of the hunt after the past 5 years and to not have to pack it out, I don’t think it gets any easier than that haha. We hunted hard the rest of the trip, had a few more encounters with some bulls but the boys weren’t able to connect. Can’t wait to get back up north next year!
https://i.postimg.cc/NFDzrZgz/IMG-2450.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/4N4MT4Pk/IMG-4146.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/vmxkSPz4/Image-1.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/dtWfQMN7/IMG-4171.jpg
Reply With Quote
