On a whim and against the odds

[bucka]

I always wanted to Elk hunt the Koots. The wife and I had an opportunity to do so so we did. Truck broke down on the first day. Spent the next four days in the dealership and missed rifle opening. Got on the road drove all over and didn't see so much as a deer track. Decided to go home by day 8. Day nine I went for my last hike and where I've never been before. I saw a good shooter so I shot it. It was fun. I'll probably go back next year.http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c109/HBC/2014%20Elk/DSC01296_zps7e45af2e.jpg (http://s26.photobucket.com/user/HBC/media/2014%20Elk/DSC01296_zps7e45af2e.jpg.html)http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c109/HBC/2014%20Elk/Elk_zpscde6a2eb.jpg (http://s26.photobucket.com/user/HBC/media/2014%20Elk/Elk_zpscde6a2eb.jpg.html)http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c109/HBC/2014%20Elk/Elkb_zps97f2a9be.jpg (http://s26.photobucket.com/user/HBC/media/2014%20Elk/Elkb_zps97f2a9be.jpg.html)http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c109/HBC/DSC01316_zps62f18a12.jpg (http://s26.photobucket.com/user/HBC/media/DSC01316_zps62f18a12.jpg.html)http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c109/HBC/DSC01328_zps5d1e0000.jpg (http://s26.photobucket.com/user/HBC/media/DSC01328_zps5d1e0000.jpg.html)

[Bugle M In]

definitely a good shooter, they seem to be hittin' the dirt now.
Congrats, did ya pack it all out yourself??

[xfactor]

Damn straight that's a shooter!! Well done. Got bigger pics?

[bucka]

LOL guys! I have bigger and better pics but I can't seem to get them on here. Earlier I had written a complete and detailed story of this hunt. I apparently had too many characters (15,000 and I am limited to 10,000) lol, so I deleted it and started over lol. I'll work on more pics and some pointers in how to would be great.

[bucka]

and yes, the wife and I packed it out whole ourselves.
http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c109/HBC/DSC01307_zps0d623f2a.jpg (http://s26.photobucket.com/user/HBC/media/DSC01307_zps0d623f2a.jpg.html)

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c109/HBC/DSC01322_zps14720811.jpg (http://s26.photobucket.com/user/HBC/media/DSC01322_zps14720811.jpg.html)

[Steeleco]

Don't give up till, well you know the rest!! Well done. Having just dealt with my sons first, reading you and the Mrs just packed yours, make me go WOW!!

[coach]

Nice bull! Congratulations. There's some picture posting info in my sig line..

[itsy bitsy xj]

Congrats! looks lke t was worth the wat

[Duidery]

Thanks for sharing. Great looking bull. Looking forward to the story.

[markomoose]

Sometimes when shit goes wrong is when you have the best luck.Nice Bull!

[180grainer]

That looks like a cranker bull.

[Stone Sheep Steve]

Sometimes when shit goes wrong is when you have the best luck.Nice Bull!

I concur!
We have an expression to help keep our chins up when everything goes wrong......"It's gonna be a Booner!".

Congrats! Nice bull!

SSS

[markomoose]

I concur!
We have an expression to help keep our chins up when everything goes wrong......"It's gonna be a Booner!".

Congrats! Nice bull!

SSS
I like that!Our expression is "It's all part of the adventure"

[Stone Sheep Steve]

I like that!Our expression is "It's all part of the adventure"

We've probably had 10 vehicle breakdowns in our household since hunting season started this year and it's been our best season ever.
I can't wait for the next breakdown! :mrgreen:

[bucka]

Not exactly the "hunting" story I would have like to have written but here's the condensed version of what I've got... oh, and please pardon the grammar and punctuations. I'm trying to write this as I'm working, ssshhhhh

The plan was to head towards the Nakusp area and start from there. We've never been to the Koots ourselves and figured if not now then when right? So Sept. 9, 7am we'er off and shortly after we leave some friends of ours seen my posting on Facebook and replied with an invite to their place in Fernie. Why not eh? Detour! Hwy 3 it is! See ya in a few hours! Princeton, Greenwood, Grand Forks, Caslegar, Salmo... Just before the pass we pull over and shut 'er down to stretch and let puppy out to pee. 6 minutes later the truck won't start. (tried everything) No cell service. Flag people down and nobody stops. (I would) Thought people were friendly out here. Very disappointing. See a cop heading East and he stops, goes back a few K and makes a call to tow trucks. Tow truck tow us into Salmo and the guy at the repair shop there is such a piece of...work, we get the eff outta there and towed to Nelson. 4 days and $2300 later we're on our way. Truck still runs like crap (it's a Ford) but we get to Fernie. Our friends explain how quiet its been and they haven't seen any elk in two weeks : / Whaaaaaa?? So why the eff invite me??? lol Went scouting around for the next day on ATVs and didn't see ANY sign. After the short visit with friends I said goodbye (I'm here to hunt) we packed 'er up and headed back towards Salmo. Hunted the area and bumped into quite a few hunters that have been there for the past 7 days and they haven't seen much and they hadn't got anything (I always take that with a grain of salt) Super hot days now so we swam and hid in the shade. With our hunting days dwindling down, I decided to make our way closer to home and Nakusp, where I wanted to go in the first place. Getting dark now and finding ourselves somewhere between 'gar and Nakusp, we decided to pull over and camp out on the side of the highway where I spent the rest of evening reading maps. We decided that the following day, Sept 17th and the 9th day into our trip with not so much as even seeing a deer track that it would be the last day of our hunt. We initially booked 13 days but the way it was going and as discouraged as I got I just wanted to call it a trip. It got so bad there for a bit that I was totally contemplating hitting up some of you on HBC to possibly send me in some sort of direction!!! lol BUUUT with my stubborn 'do it on your own ways" I refrained. lol and that's the way it should be!! lol I woke up the next morning and explained to the wife what my final plan was. I explained that this is the last go and I'll be back in a bit. She decided to stay at camp (for the first time ever) so I took the trike up an old overgrown road and all the way up it I was literally saying to myself " God please don't let me see any sign of anything as I just wanna go home..." lol and believe me, that's not me, I'd hunt every day if I could!! On the way up all I saw was tracks, track everywhere. Poo, poo everywhere... dammit! Here we go again! lol Further up, I was surprised to see a guy driving down in a small pick up and we stop and chat for a second and he's all, Holy shit, there's a ton of elk in here, they're like everywhere, like, did you see the 4 cows as you came up? I'm like no. Then he's like I saw a nice bull chasing cows up there just now too! I'm like... and you're telling me this why? lol He goes on with how about you and I go after these guys together tonight. I'm like sure, let's meet up at 4:30 down by my camp and we'll take it from there. With no point in going any further the guy lets me turn around and lets me head out first and I make my way down the road and back to the camper. Back at camp, I explain to the wife who is just out of bed, that we'd be sticking around for another day or so! lol Just then the guy drives up and stops at the edge of our camp. I introduce him to the wife and we chat a couple minutes about meeting up later on. As we were talking I could hear cracking and crunching coming from up the hill behind his truck but don't put much thought into it. He drives away and as the wife and I are standing there, we hear louder crashing and breaking of branches. The wife says "do you hear that?" I'm like yeah. WTF? I pick up my gun that is still leaning up against the trike and put a cartridge into it (wink wink) and partially hold it up in front of me. Hear I'm expecting either another hunter or more likely than not, a bear to come out of the woods. Within a few seconds, this rack, this freakin good rack partially pushes thru the trees. I'm like 1,2,3,4... It comes out a little further, aaaand... 5 6! Not 30 yards away at the edge of our camp and there's a shooter bull with his rack hanging out from the trees! I wait super quiet for a few more seconds and let him make himself be shown enuf for a good shot. Dude comes right out, looking the opposite way from me and turns right broadside. I look back at the wife and say "are you shitting me", I look back and BOOM! Hit him but HARD. Dude does a cringe type thing and slowly walks along the edge of the camp and into the trees behind us. We're quiet. We're listening. No sense in chasing him, he's gonna fall. A few more seconds and a mighty thump he's DOWN! Hugs, high fives and I think I did a booby grab LOL. We waited a few minutes that felt like forever and we went in. Not 60 yards from where I hit him there he was buckled up on a mound. An odd trip but I'd do it all over again and exactly the same in a second... One I'll never forget. and now to figure out these pics...

[Foxtail]

Did someone order a big dumb elk??? anybody??? lol Awesome story! and a great animal!

[MooseKnuckle]

Hahaha Awesome man!! sweet bull!! sounds like you were due for some good luck!!!