First bull elk

[j270wsm]

For me, opening day of hunting season has always been the most anticipated exciting day of the year. There is nothing better than getting out in the bush not knowing what will unfold.

This year was starting off pretty rough with me having to work the first 3 days of bow season ( then being on holidays until sept 15 ) and then getting a 1am call( sept 2 )that my father in law had a stroke( he's doing well ). Need less to say my thoughts of hunting turned to the girlfriend and her family.

Sept 3 the gf was heading to Calgary to be with her family, Not wanting a huge crowd of people at the hospital, I said I would stay home with our younger son so he could finish his up coming 3 on 3 hockey tournament on the long weekend. After getting news that the father in law was doing better than we initially feared, I was able to relax and start thinking about hockey and hunting.

[j270wsm]

on the evening of sept 2 my girlfriend decided she was going to Calgary at 11 am the next morning and that she was taking our oldest son. Knowing how excited I was to get out hunting she told me to go out before she left and clear my mind.

Sept 3

5:30am I was picked up by a good friend and we headed out to our patch. That morning we spotted a bunch of elk and tried to make a play but nothing was working. This was the same scene that played out 3-4 times over the next few mornings/evenings. With everything that was going on I was only able to get out a few time but things were looking promising. I figured I'd have a good chance to get another elk with my bow........

Once my girlfriend was home and the hockey tournament was over, I had the time to get out and actually hunt elk.

sept 6-9 we hunted our patch hard, always seeing the same few bulls and cows. The one evening I found myself and evan( oldest son ) in between 2 6pt Bulls that we're going crazy screaming back and forth. Figuring we were in a great spot to get a chance for a shot, we snuck into a very well used patch of timber and did some calling. Over time the closer bull decided to walk away, so I decided to follow and try and close the distance. 1/2 a km later I was with in 100yds but ended up being busted by a calf that materialized out of nowhere.........game over for that stock.

[j270wsm]

The evening of sept 9 found us glassing our patch. Earlier in the day we had decided to sleep in the truck so we could get first chance on opening morning. We had spotted a spike bull and bigger bull and we watched them until dark. We drove down to our chosen camping spot for the night, got the back seat made into Evans bed and then got the lawn chairs out and started a fire. We spent the next few hours watching the clouds float past the moon, playing musical chairs trying to avoid the wind blowing smoke in our faces and talking about everything.

Open morning was full of excitement and anticipation. we were up at 5:40, had our granola bar and bran muffin breakfast and drove in to our glassing spot. Well it didn't take long before we seen headlight coming in our direction so we gave up on spotting and drove in to where we planed to park then walk the old road into the cut block.
While walking the road into the cut block we knew where we expected the elk to be and were nearing our planned sitting area when 4 shots rang out. Having a friend( Jason )and his son somewhere within the same area kept us hopeful........ 2 min after the last shot I felt my phone vibrating in my pocket, I was getting a call from Jason. He told me that him and gave were just getting out of the truck to walk into the block and try and get a shot at 2 of 3 Bulls when a silver jeep came flying down the road and slid to a stop with one guy bailing out and firing 4 shots at the Bulls. At that moment I realized I screwed up and should have know he elk we're going to head into the wind and move north in the night.......

[j270wsm]

http://i583.photobucket.com/albums/ss279/j270wsm/image_zpsoutq1so6.jpeg (http://s583.photobucket.com/user/j270wsm/media/image_zpsoutq1so6.jpeg.html)


http://i583.photobucket.com/albums/ss279/j270wsm/image_zpsr2thpngf.jpeg (http://s583.photobucket.com/user/j270wsm/media/image_zpsr2thpngf.jpeg.html)

[j270wsm]

After talking with jay and hearing 8 shots in total come from the north block, we decided to head home and come back in the evening. The evening of the 10th and morning of the 11th we didn't seen any elk that we could make a play on. The evening of the 11th we went into the patch early and didn't see anything except other hunters so we left around 6 and decided to drive what us locals call the loop. Two fsr's that connect 43km north of town. On our drive we spotted 3 black bears, one good bull elk( 3km from the road in a shi**y spot ) a few deer and then a 4pt bull elk standing 10yds off the main fsr

http://i583.photobucket.com/albums/ss279/j270wsm/image_zpsrx03wcnm.jpeg (http://s583.photobucket.com/user/j270wsm/media/image_zpsrx03wcnm.jpeg.html)

[835]

So far so good!

[j270wsm]

Spirits were pretty low when we got home that evening. We seen 2 elk when normally would have seen anywhere from 20 - 30, needless to say I was disappointed and didn't know where to look for the following morning.

I decided to head back into the patch the next morning. 5:30 we were on the road, 6:15 as we pull into the landing we run into a friends little brother and discuss each other's plans. He wanted to head into the south so we gladly decided to head into the north block. Half way in we got to our spotting location and started trying to pick elk out amongst the logs/stumps in the early light. 15-20 min later it was light enough to actually see what we're were looking at and I caught movement in the lowest point of the cut block. The animal moved too quickly to determine what it was and I wasn't able to find it again. I made a quick decision to say, screw it, it could be an elk it it might be the 7' grizz but let's just hike in,

10min later we were loaded up and walking the old road. Within the first 300yds we came around the first corner and I spot 2 elk 370yds away in the cut block, and I realize this is exactly where and how a failed hunt happened last year. As we slowly walked up the road trying to close the distance, one of the elk spotted us. Looking through my binos I could see it was a small bull with a little bit bigger bull above him. I quickly determined he was a spike bull and that we needed to close the distance a bit more. After walking straight at the elk for a few more seconds I determined that this was the closest we would get, and got Evan to open the bipods and llie down on the road, a quick look through the range finder showed 315yds. Knowing Evan and his rifles capabilities I told him to aim for the top of the back and come down 1/3 into he body. I reminded him to stay calm and breathe.......pretty sure his heart was racing but not as fast as mine was. When he was ready he fired his first shot which I determined to be a clean miss, I told him to relax and aim a little higher. Upon his second shot the bull ran up hill and got behind some trees.

[j270wsm]

We didn't have a shooting lane so we proceded to run around back and forth on the road trying to find a shooting lane, we even climbed up on a slash pile trying to gain some elevation...well all that accomplished was a kid losing a shoe and running up the road in his sock.....lol

what felt like forever, was only 30-45seconds, and the Bulls headed north across the cut block and revealed that there was 3 Bulls and one might be big enough to be a 6pt. Knowing the Bulls were going to head north and then cross the road we ran 50-60yds up the road and got set up again. Only 2 of the Bulls came out 10yds above the road I the first one was the spike bull. I told Evan he's in the lead and he's 309yds. Aim for the top of the back and you'll hit him exactly where you need to. His first shot was another miss and the bull stood perfectly still and remained broad side, I told Evan to calm down and take his time. After 15-20 seconds he fired his second shot and I could see the bull react and ran down onto the road. The bigger bull ran past the spike and down into the lower part of the block leaving the spike bull on the downhill side of the road facing us. I told Evan to reload and prepare to fire again. I knew the bull was in a bad position for Evan to shoot again, frontal shots aren't the best let alone for a 13yr old, especially at 309yds. After watching the bull for another 30 seconds I seen him try to take and step and he was very wobbly.

[FortBoy]

got me roped in! good story so far..... and then.......

[nolimits]

Another nail biter lol

[j270wsm]

At that point I turned my attention to the bigger bull that wasn't with the other Bulls. We started walking north towards end of the road and the spike bull when I spotted the big bull 170yds up into the cut block. I quickly looked up the road, and notice the spike had disappeared, before running up the bank into the block and resting on a stump. I immediately noticed the bull had 3 points up top and my hearts started racing. Thinking we were going to have a double header I cranked my rifle scope up to 14x and starred going over every inch of antler I could see. In between heart beats and branches I thought I counted 6 on the right side and was about to squeeze the trigger but decided it didn't feel right, so I headed back to the road.



Off to the dentiste.........finish the story later

[Ourea]

Evan is the man!!!!
Way to go!!!
And great shot......309 yards....WOW.

[ElliotMoose]

Screw the dentist, keep typing! Cant think of any better meat out there than a nice young fat spike bull elk

[Xenomorph]

Off to the dentiste.........finish the story later

Putting in my resignation as we speak, enough wasting time with irrelevant things.

Also, hooked up properly on this.

[rocksteady]

Jerk........

[Spy]

Jerk........
X2 lol ;-)

[rocksteady]

X2 lol ;-)


Probly not not a quick check up either...

Root canal or major dental surgery that we have to suffer just cause he is getting pain....

[j270wsm]

Sorry for the delay


As Evan and I walked north towards the end of the road, he said " where is he dad?, you said he was down " at this point I knew he was dead but started to get concerned that he made in down into the cut block. As we got closer to where they come off the high side of the road I could see a creamy blonde coloured object through the long grass on the side of the road. As I expected there was Evans first bull elk.

http://i583.photobucket.com/albums/ss279/j270wsm/image_zpspc8epffl.jpeg (http://s583.photobucket.com/user/j270wsm/media/image_zpspc8epffl.jpeg.html)


http://i583.photobucket.com/albums/ss279/j270wsm/image_zpsqsqwdmjy.jpeg (http://s583.photobucket.com/user/j270wsm/media/image_zpsqsqwdmjy.jpeg.html)

[325]

That elk looks delicious! Congratulations!!

[j270wsm]

I'm positive I was more excited than he was and though I've only spoke to his grand father(gunpower ) I'm sure he is happier than both Evan and I combined.

After we we got to the bull a friend called( he was in the block south of us ) and asked if we got a bull and if I wanted him to bring my truck to us. I told him about the other bigger bull and told him to leave my truck and drive in and get his spotting scope on the bull before he left the cut block. After a few min of carefully checking out the Bulls antlers, he drove up and said the bull was missing both his second eye guards. I was so close to pulling the trigger on that bull, with him slowing walking, my accelerated heart rate and tree branches I though he was legal but I'm glad I had a funny feeling about it.

I cant be 100% sure but I think this bull was one of the ones that buddy fired 8 shots at on opening day. There was another spike( longer lighter coloured spikes ) with him but he took off pretty quick when Evan fired the very first 2 shots.

[rocksteady]

Congrats to both of you...

was as slagging you cause you left us mid story... All is forgiven...

enjoy the the sweet meat

[BRrooster]

Great story , congrats to both your son and you. What kind of rifle does your son shoot?

[Bugle M In]

Hey Hey!....good job....enjoy the dinners to come!

[Weatherby Fan]

Congrats Evan, that's awesome, good shootin kid !
Thanks for posting the story and pictures.
WF

[Spy]

Good job thanks for sharing :-)

[j270wsm]

Evan is shooting a T3 in 6.5x55 with hand loaded 140gr game kings @ 2550fps. The rifle has been a tac driver since we first shot it. Evan was easily able to hit our 16" gong at 400yds.

I forgot got to mention that Evans last shot was low in the chest, through the heart and into the left front leg.

http://i583.photobucket.com/albums/ss279/j270wsm/image_zpsozsxheh3.jpeg (http://s583.photobucket.com/user/j270wsm/media/image_zpsozsxheh3.jpeg.html)

bullet weighs 112.4grains

[.264winmag]

Awesome meat bull, nice shootin. Congrats

[Shikari300WSM]

Nail biter story man. Beauty bull for your boy! Congrats looks like some awesome steaks to be had!

[Whonnock Boy]

Awesome. The kid must be flying high.

[604Stalker]

thanks for sharing an awsome story.

[Rattler]

That is awesome! Great shooting Evan! Nice eating bull there, knife not required.

Thanks for sharing.

[Ourea]

Evan, once again...... way to go and GREAT shooting!

[markathome]

Congrats to all of you - son - father and grandfather. Awesome story.

[charlie_horse]

Awesome Bull Evan congrats!

[Timbow]

Right on, looks like another hunter hooked for life. Congratulations on your sons first elk.

[boxhitch]

Good going guys
Glad things worked out despite the warning shots.

[kennyj]

Way to go Evan! Awesome first bull. Great story, really enjoyed it.
kenny

[Sitkaspruce]

Awesome Evan!!! Congrats to the young hunter!!!1

Some great eats!!

Thanks for sharing!!! Good to see these stories showing back up on HBC!!!

Cheers

SS

[300H&H]

oh man that's awesome Evan, congratulations

[j270wsm]

Evan has been hooked on everything outdoors since he was 2. When evan was 4, dad and I took him for a drive and I ended up shooting a small 4pt mule deer, since that day he's wanted to shoot everything that moves.

Thanks to everyone for positive comments.

[Seeker]

Congrats Evan! Your way ahead of the curve. Keep it up! Thanks for the story. There are a lot of good ones this year.