brotherjack
09-10-2007, 09:29 AM
Well, my bow season certainly started out with a bang on opening day when I tagged that nice 5x5 whitetail. That was the high point (and a very high point that was, indeed).
But, from there on out, it's been pretty much 100% lows. We hunted the whole week as hard as physically possible - up at 4:00AM to hike in in the dark, and not home till long after the hike out in the dark, running on 4-5 hours of sleep a night. We tried hiking and calling. We tried sitting and waiting. We tried sitting and calling. We switched areas after a few days in one spot made it clear it was the wrong spot (though these are all spots where we've regularly seen elk). We tried everything we could think of. We pushed until I was so fatigued yesterday that when I went to let the crossbow down after the hunt, my hands gave out and couldn't hold the string and it dry fired (though, thankfully, only the string seems damaged. After putting a new string on it, and some testing in the backyard, it seems to be shooting as fine as it ever did). In short, I don't think I've ever been so tired, mentally and physically, in my entire life!
All that effort, and we didn't see a or hear a single elk until Saturday - and that was just a glimpse of a cow with a nursing calf on the far side of a clearcut. We saw lots of elk sign - stick to your boot fresh sign - tons of trees thrashed and broke off in the middle, fresh tracks on trails that obviously see use daily, etc. Guess we never found quite the right area or something. Though, I ran into a buddy of mine last night on the way out, who it turns out has been hunting all week about a kilometer away from the spot I'd been hunting, and he'd been seeing tons of elk every time he went out, and would be eating elk right now if he had a range finder (clean miss over the back, as the elk he thought was 45 was more like 25).
To add insult to injury, last night about 20 minutes before last shooting light on the last day of bow season, as I was struggling to keep my eyes open, a lone cow wandered by my position at about 40 yards - but quartering to me, and 180 degrees the wrong direction to get a shot off (ie: directly behind me). I did actually get excited for a few seconds, because the route she was on looked like it might put her coming around and down on the heavily (very very heavily) traveled elk trail I was sitting about 25 yards from, overlooking 3 freshly cleared shooting lanes, but no, she veered off and headed over the hill never to be seen again. Just like that, bow season was over, and now I'm faced with the un-inspiring prospect of hunting six point elk - the like of which I've only ever seen once in 5 years of hunting.
Anyway, I need at least a few days of rest before I can get psyched up to get out again. If you asked me right this minute, I hate elk and elk hunting and I don't care if I ever go again. But hopefully, with a few days of rest under my belt, I'll be looking forward to trying some more.
I hope the rest of you who were out for the region 4 bow season had better luck with the elk than I did.
But, from there on out, it's been pretty much 100% lows. We hunted the whole week as hard as physically possible - up at 4:00AM to hike in in the dark, and not home till long after the hike out in the dark, running on 4-5 hours of sleep a night. We tried hiking and calling. We tried sitting and waiting. We tried sitting and calling. We switched areas after a few days in one spot made it clear it was the wrong spot (though these are all spots where we've regularly seen elk). We tried everything we could think of. We pushed until I was so fatigued yesterday that when I went to let the crossbow down after the hunt, my hands gave out and couldn't hold the string and it dry fired (though, thankfully, only the string seems damaged. After putting a new string on it, and some testing in the backyard, it seems to be shooting as fine as it ever did). In short, I don't think I've ever been so tired, mentally and physically, in my entire life!
All that effort, and we didn't see a or hear a single elk until Saturday - and that was just a glimpse of a cow with a nursing calf on the far side of a clearcut. We saw lots of elk sign - stick to your boot fresh sign - tons of trees thrashed and broke off in the middle, fresh tracks on trails that obviously see use daily, etc. Guess we never found quite the right area or something. Though, I ran into a buddy of mine last night on the way out, who it turns out has been hunting all week about a kilometer away from the spot I'd been hunting, and he'd been seeing tons of elk every time he went out, and would be eating elk right now if he had a range finder (clean miss over the back, as the elk he thought was 45 was more like 25).
To add insult to injury, last night about 20 minutes before last shooting light on the last day of bow season, as I was struggling to keep my eyes open, a lone cow wandered by my position at about 40 yards - but quartering to me, and 180 degrees the wrong direction to get a shot off (ie: directly behind me). I did actually get excited for a few seconds, because the route she was on looked like it might put her coming around and down on the heavily (very very heavily) traveled elk trail I was sitting about 25 yards from, overlooking 3 freshly cleared shooting lanes, but no, she veered off and headed over the hill never to be seen again. Just like that, bow season was over, and now I'm faced with the un-inspiring prospect of hunting six point elk - the like of which I've only ever seen once in 5 years of hunting.
Anyway, I need at least a few days of rest before I can get psyched up to get out again. If you asked me right this minute, I hate elk and elk hunting and I don't care if I ever go again. But hopefully, with a few days of rest under my belt, I'll be looking forward to trying some more.
I hope the rest of you who were out for the region 4 bow season had better luck with the elk than I did.