Wrayzer
09-27-2015, 08:08 PM
I wasn't going to post a story as it seems less and less guys are, but I enjoy reading others adventures it only makes sense I do the same in hopes others will follow. Also I hope some fellow elk hunters may learn a thing or two, like I have and every time I chase them, about these creatures.
We headed east for our annual Kootaney elk hunt in hopes of the same success we had the season before with .300wsmImpact! Dropping a nice bull.
After a bit of preseason scouting that .300 was able to do while the rest of us were unable to make it, we found there to be some good inventory around the area.
We did a quick evening hunt after we arrived and set up camp, I had my eye on cut that was a couple years old, with such a dry summer we had, had a creek running just inside the tree line for their water source, as well as thick timber that has miles of untouched timber leading up to the high country. Made sense to me that the elk would be around an Area like this. We checked the cut and sure enough there was fresh elk sign.
We hunted the cut the next day without any luck, regrouped at camp and went back for the evening. Finally after a locator bugle and multiple cow calls we had a chuckling bull in the timber. Dusk was setting in so I decided to leave the bull for the evening and hope he doesn't travel far.
I set up at 9:30am (checked another spot first the boys had more action at the night before) thinking it'll be too late to get that chuckling bull going but thought who knows, lets giver a try.
i set up behind a large Boulder, wind in my face watching the furthest corner of the cut and tried a bugle with the mouth diaphram and tube and multiple cow calls using the mouth diaphram as well as a primos cow girl bite and blow. The strategy behind the two different calls was to create a multitude of different sounding calls to sound like a herd. My experience with a mouth diaphram or Reed has been greater than a hoochie mama at creating different sounding chirps.
Sure enough, after a frenzy of mews and chirps I scanned the timber and through the trees I see a tan body about 350 yards away. I put the calls down as not to spook the elk. Not sure if it's a cow or a bull, he finally walks out of the trees and I can see a rack. He's coming head on so I keep the binos on him trying for a count. Finally he turns just enough I get a count of 6 including a small split. He looks like a small 6 to me. I told the boys earlier at camp anything legal is hitting the dirt. At this distance he looked like a squeaker 6. He takes a few more steps and turns his head and I realize the "small split" is actually his 6 and 7 tines. Holy smokes.
Now I've had Bulls in close, bugling, thrashing antlers, beating up trees and making a racquet. But this guy, a 700lbs animal came in as silent as a church mouse. Literally wouldn't have known he was there if he came in downwind behind me.
Hes coming head on through the fire weed but I can only see his neck and head. Finally at about 150ish yards he turns broadside still scanning for the "cows". I click the safety off, but he's still in the fireweed and don't want to screw up a shot through the weeds.
Im starting to get bull fever. This is it. I'm going to shoot a bull after 6 years of chasing. He walks through the weeds and hits a skidder trail. BOOM I let him have it. He starts trotting. And then I grab my diaphram and start doing cow chirps to slow him up. Boom I hammer him again. This guy ran. Straight for the creek in the steep dark jungle timber. Crap.
Then about 75 yards from the timber he slows and stops. Throws his head back thrashes his antlers, does the wobble and lays down. He's down. What a rush.
After a quick call to the rest of the guys and giving the bull some time, we made our way down to the bull and got to work. Thanks guys for the helping hand.
http://i836.photobucket.com/albums/zz287/Wrayzer/Mobile%20Uploads/1cfb6ef6-4ca6-4124-9282-e5440b8ada0e_zpstn7j6hxg.jpg
We headed east for our annual Kootaney elk hunt in hopes of the same success we had the season before with .300wsmImpact! Dropping a nice bull.
After a bit of preseason scouting that .300 was able to do while the rest of us were unable to make it, we found there to be some good inventory around the area.
We did a quick evening hunt after we arrived and set up camp, I had my eye on cut that was a couple years old, with such a dry summer we had, had a creek running just inside the tree line for their water source, as well as thick timber that has miles of untouched timber leading up to the high country. Made sense to me that the elk would be around an Area like this. We checked the cut and sure enough there was fresh elk sign.
We hunted the cut the next day without any luck, regrouped at camp and went back for the evening. Finally after a locator bugle and multiple cow calls we had a chuckling bull in the timber. Dusk was setting in so I decided to leave the bull for the evening and hope he doesn't travel far.
I set up at 9:30am (checked another spot first the boys had more action at the night before) thinking it'll be too late to get that chuckling bull going but thought who knows, lets giver a try.
i set up behind a large Boulder, wind in my face watching the furthest corner of the cut and tried a bugle with the mouth diaphram and tube and multiple cow calls using the mouth diaphram as well as a primos cow girl bite and blow. The strategy behind the two different calls was to create a multitude of different sounding calls to sound like a herd. My experience with a mouth diaphram or Reed has been greater than a hoochie mama at creating different sounding chirps.
Sure enough, after a frenzy of mews and chirps I scanned the timber and through the trees I see a tan body about 350 yards away. I put the calls down as not to spook the elk. Not sure if it's a cow or a bull, he finally walks out of the trees and I can see a rack. He's coming head on so I keep the binos on him trying for a count. Finally he turns just enough I get a count of 6 including a small split. He looks like a small 6 to me. I told the boys earlier at camp anything legal is hitting the dirt. At this distance he looked like a squeaker 6. He takes a few more steps and turns his head and I realize the "small split" is actually his 6 and 7 tines. Holy smokes.
Now I've had Bulls in close, bugling, thrashing antlers, beating up trees and making a racquet. But this guy, a 700lbs animal came in as silent as a church mouse. Literally wouldn't have known he was there if he came in downwind behind me.
Hes coming head on through the fire weed but I can only see his neck and head. Finally at about 150ish yards he turns broadside still scanning for the "cows". I click the safety off, but he's still in the fireweed and don't want to screw up a shot through the weeds.
Im starting to get bull fever. This is it. I'm going to shoot a bull after 6 years of chasing. He walks through the weeds and hits a skidder trail. BOOM I let him have it. He starts trotting. And then I grab my diaphram and start doing cow chirps to slow him up. Boom I hammer him again. This guy ran. Straight for the creek in the steep dark jungle timber. Crap.
Then about 75 yards from the timber he slows and stops. Throws his head back thrashes his antlers, does the wobble and lays down. He's down. What a rush.
After a quick call to the rest of the guys and giving the bull some time, we made our way down to the bull and got to work. Thanks guys for the helping hand.
http://i836.photobucket.com/albums/zz287/Wrayzer/Mobile%20Uploads/1cfb6ef6-4ca6-4124-9282-e5440b8ada0e_zpstn7j6hxg.jpg