Ltbullken
09-18-2015, 02:11 PM
Well, I just got back from a trip up north to the 'muddy' Peace. My buddy Robert and I left Kamloops on Tuesday Sep 8 in the evening and drove as far north as we could, overnighting in Quesnel. We hit the road on Wed morning and after taking stock of things we still needed (i.e. 'forgot'), realizing that a chain saw was a critical item, I became the proud new owner of a Stihl saw! Anyway, we arrived in Chetwynd Wed afternoon, made our last fuel stop and phone calls home for a few days and headed into the Del Rio area. Got our camp and wall tent set up fairly quickly (thanks to a new chainsaw) and headed out on a quick late afternoon scouting trip. We found lots of elk beds and moose sign and felt good that we were in an area with potential. I took an elk out of there a few years ago. Did some bugling though nothing was talking back.
We got up early everyday and checked out a couple interesting areas, found some good sign but were getting perplexed that nothing was bugling back. Guess it was still too early. Our friend Brad joined us from the local area and we teamed up to work some other spots. We actually got a bugle back when we bumped some elk on the road. At least we came across tracks that were very fresh after a rain so we knew we were close. We did some chirping and then the bugling came back at us. We worked it til dusk then again the next morning. But no luck.
We decided to move to an area outside of Fort St John so packed up on day 4 and got in at night where we wanted to be. My buddy Robert tweaked his knee so he deicded to rest it up. Brad and I went out together on the morning of day 5. We soon encountered a moose on a large clearing and came across other promising elk sign. I decided I would work this spot later in the day seeing as the clearing was attracting wildlife. My buddy got tied up on an emergency vehicle repair so I returned to the same spot in the late afternoon. I did some bugling and chirping but no response.
I decided I would move over to a spot we checked earlier in the day and on the way over on a low and slow rumble on my quad, I saw some shapes and tan colours on the far side of the clearing! I immediately stopped and glassed it. Cow elk!! Several of them! In the margins of the meadow, I saw a much larger tan body and knew that had to be the bull. The wind was in my face so everything was perfect. My rangefinder indicated 800 yds. I bailed from my quad and did a low monkey walk to the clearing's edge. I slowly made my way along the edge stopping to glass and get a range along the way. In the meantime, the bull stepped out onto the meadow and I saw he was a 6x5 (thanks to a key ring hanger on his brow tine)! At 300, I felt comfortable to take a shot but had no adequate rest so decided to close to about 200 where I could do a standing shot if needed. Got to 200, slowly stepped out, got into as stable a standing position as I could, put the crosshairs on the bull and waited for him to turn broadside. He eventually gave a 3/4 presenting shot. Good enough! Took some calming breaths - buck fever was going hard! - squeezed the trigger on my Tikka T3 7x57AI, sent the 140 grain TSX on its way - boom-thwump! Hit. He staggered. He took a couple steps. I cycled another round and shot. Thwump! Hit. 2 more rounds and 2 more hits. His head dropped, he stumbled and he went down. (Thank goodness for 23 yrs in the infantry!)
I walked over to the bull and saw that my first ever bull elk was done. I put my arms in the air and let out a yell! On field dressing the bull, I saw the first round was fatal - it lunged him and exited the liver. I knew they were tough but I didn't expect it this much! Especially as I took a cow elk a couple years before with my 260 Rem and a 130 grain TSX with one shot DRT! The other shots were 1 more lung shot, a high shoulder shot and a lower shoulder shot. All rounds exited. Fortunately, there wasn't a lot of meat damage either. I was getting a little desperate that we were not going to see anything but that is also hunting. Anyway, Brad quickly joined me after he finished the repair on his truck and we got to work on the animal. We had the quarters loaded on the quads, backstraps and tenderloins and other meat retrieved and on the road by midnight. The animal was hanging and cleaned and us with beer in hand by 4 AM. At this point, we decided the hunt was done and made arrangements the next day to return to Kamloops and were back in by 0030 hrs!
Always grateful for wild game and for the support of my friends and most importantly my family!
Here are some pics...
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j381/LtBullKen/crkview_zpspnxbzvtb.jpg (http://s1083.photobucket.com/user/LtBullKen/media/crkview_zpspnxbzvtb.jpg.html)
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j381/LtBullKen/cbn_zpslqijotid.jpg (http://s1083.photobucket.com/user/LtBullKen/media/cbn_zpslqijotid.jpg.html)
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j381/LtBullKen/river1_zpshtqqk51d.jpg (http://s1083.photobucket.com/user/LtBullKen/media/river1_zpshtqqk51d.jpg.html)
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j381/LtBullKen/elk3_zpswnkricen.jpeg (http://s1083.photobucket.com/user/LtBullKen/media/elk3_zpswnkricen.jpeg.html)
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j381/LtBullKen/elkpose_zpsqwyom7yt.jpg (http://s1083.photobucket.com/user/LtBullKen/media/elkpose_zpsqwyom7yt.jpg.html)
We got up early everyday and checked out a couple interesting areas, found some good sign but were getting perplexed that nothing was bugling back. Guess it was still too early. Our friend Brad joined us from the local area and we teamed up to work some other spots. We actually got a bugle back when we bumped some elk on the road. At least we came across tracks that were very fresh after a rain so we knew we were close. We did some chirping and then the bugling came back at us. We worked it til dusk then again the next morning. But no luck.
We decided to move to an area outside of Fort St John so packed up on day 4 and got in at night where we wanted to be. My buddy Robert tweaked his knee so he deicded to rest it up. Brad and I went out together on the morning of day 5. We soon encountered a moose on a large clearing and came across other promising elk sign. I decided I would work this spot later in the day seeing as the clearing was attracting wildlife. My buddy got tied up on an emergency vehicle repair so I returned to the same spot in the late afternoon. I did some bugling and chirping but no response.
I decided I would move over to a spot we checked earlier in the day and on the way over on a low and slow rumble on my quad, I saw some shapes and tan colours on the far side of the clearing! I immediately stopped and glassed it. Cow elk!! Several of them! In the margins of the meadow, I saw a much larger tan body and knew that had to be the bull. The wind was in my face so everything was perfect. My rangefinder indicated 800 yds. I bailed from my quad and did a low monkey walk to the clearing's edge. I slowly made my way along the edge stopping to glass and get a range along the way. In the meantime, the bull stepped out onto the meadow and I saw he was a 6x5 (thanks to a key ring hanger on his brow tine)! At 300, I felt comfortable to take a shot but had no adequate rest so decided to close to about 200 where I could do a standing shot if needed. Got to 200, slowly stepped out, got into as stable a standing position as I could, put the crosshairs on the bull and waited for him to turn broadside. He eventually gave a 3/4 presenting shot. Good enough! Took some calming breaths - buck fever was going hard! - squeezed the trigger on my Tikka T3 7x57AI, sent the 140 grain TSX on its way - boom-thwump! Hit. He staggered. He took a couple steps. I cycled another round and shot. Thwump! Hit. 2 more rounds and 2 more hits. His head dropped, he stumbled and he went down. (Thank goodness for 23 yrs in the infantry!)
I walked over to the bull and saw that my first ever bull elk was done. I put my arms in the air and let out a yell! On field dressing the bull, I saw the first round was fatal - it lunged him and exited the liver. I knew they were tough but I didn't expect it this much! Especially as I took a cow elk a couple years before with my 260 Rem and a 130 grain TSX with one shot DRT! The other shots were 1 more lung shot, a high shoulder shot and a lower shoulder shot. All rounds exited. Fortunately, there wasn't a lot of meat damage either. I was getting a little desperate that we were not going to see anything but that is also hunting. Anyway, Brad quickly joined me after he finished the repair on his truck and we got to work on the animal. We had the quarters loaded on the quads, backstraps and tenderloins and other meat retrieved and on the road by midnight. The animal was hanging and cleaned and us with beer in hand by 4 AM. At this point, we decided the hunt was done and made arrangements the next day to return to Kamloops and were back in by 0030 hrs!
Always grateful for wild game and for the support of my friends and most importantly my family!
Here are some pics...
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j381/LtBullKen/crkview_zpspnxbzvtb.jpg (http://s1083.photobucket.com/user/LtBullKen/media/crkview_zpspnxbzvtb.jpg.html)
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j381/LtBullKen/cbn_zpslqijotid.jpg (http://s1083.photobucket.com/user/LtBullKen/media/cbn_zpslqijotid.jpg.html)
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j381/LtBullKen/river1_zpshtqqk51d.jpg (http://s1083.photobucket.com/user/LtBullKen/media/river1_zpshtqqk51d.jpg.html)
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j381/LtBullKen/elk3_zpswnkricen.jpeg (http://s1083.photobucket.com/user/LtBullKen/media/elk3_zpswnkricen.jpeg.html)
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j381/LtBullKen/elkpose_zpsqwyom7yt.jpg (http://s1083.photobucket.com/user/LtBullKen/media/elkpose_zpsqwyom7yt.jpg.html)