mcrae
09-25-2007, 01:24 PM
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i86/sako555/Picture204.jpg
I decided I had better put up a pic and a story because I was getting allot of request via pm for a story:smile:
My wife and I went out on the 9th and set up camp in the area I was looking to hunt. I decided on an area that was basically two big logged area's connected by a well used game trail. The area was steep,thick,cool,well watered and the most important factor the cows were all over! The past 10 years waiting for a draw plus numerous hours bear/deer hunting in the area gave me pretty good insite as to were to look for the bulls:smile:
We headed out early on the 10th and spent the morning watching elk. We saw five legal bulls all in the 5x5ish range. I was in the first three hours of the hunt:shock: and really tempted by a really big bodied 5x5 but I decided to at least wait till the evening.
I am a meat hunter and not much of trophy guy so it was hard for me not to take any of these bulls. We had a close call with a bull we only got a glimpse of around 10 that morning as well. We managed to get him to come to a bugle but in the end he figured us out. We caught a glimpse of a really big bull heading into the thick stuff. I have no clue how to score antlers but he was a 6x6 at least and really wide.
We headed back for lunch and waited for it to cool down a bit. The temp was in the 25ish range at least and it was very dry and hot all over the valley. We decided to go right back to the same spot and sit and wait. The bottom end of the cut we watched was the upper end of a really well used game trail. It wasn't long before a skinny little 3x3 bull started to feed along the edge. We amused are selves watching him and mulies until just before dark a decent 5x6 came out. I watched this bull for a couple minutes and then decided I would get closer. I crept up and got into posistion at about 50 yards when I realized he was a very small bull. He had a really skinny 6x5 rack but his body just seemed quite small almost sickly. I left him to his dinner and went back to camp to have mine!
The next morning found us on the oppsoste side of the game trail. The plan was to quietly walk in the 4km to the back end along a logging road and catch them along a stretch of dark timber. We were about 2km in when I realized my wife was in some serious pain, she had been suffering from a really bad back and it was pretty apparent she couldn't go any farther. We decided to hunt 3/4 of the way up so I sent her back to the ATV and moved in another 1km. It was a pretty quiet morning and around 7ish I heard my wife coming up the road with the ATV. Like a smart gal she turned it off and came in the rest of the way quietly. We started cow calling and managed to attract a mulie doe? We sat for about an hour when the morning stillness was broken by that sweet sound of an elk bugle! I challenged back and that pissed him off. My wife and I then did our best to sound like a group of cows. It must have worked because this bull was coming for sure we could hear him in the timber coming our way and he was at least 1500 meters away...
I set up at the top of the clear cut near the edge of the timber. My wife stayed about 200 yards back and continued to work him in with the cow calls. It took about 45 minutes but in the end the bull walked completely broadside to me at no more than 50 yards. He never knew I was there he was completely concentrating on that cow. I took him with my .270 using 130 grain Barnes TSX's. The first shot was deadly but this being my first elk I put another into him. Lucky for me he never moved I dropped him where he stood.
I took me about four hours to get him all taken care of and I can say without a doubt it was a very hard chore dealing with an elk on my own. My wife was so sore she really could only offer moral support and hold the odd leg that was trying to get revenge on me.
In the end I realized I had not shot the "monster bull" but I got it with my wife, she basically called the damn thing in, and it was an incredible morning. We ended up with a full freezer and that in the end gentlemen is whats really important to me.....
Jason
I decided I had better put up a pic and a story because I was getting allot of request via pm for a story:smile:
My wife and I went out on the 9th and set up camp in the area I was looking to hunt. I decided on an area that was basically two big logged area's connected by a well used game trail. The area was steep,thick,cool,well watered and the most important factor the cows were all over! The past 10 years waiting for a draw plus numerous hours bear/deer hunting in the area gave me pretty good insite as to were to look for the bulls:smile:
We headed out early on the 10th and spent the morning watching elk. We saw five legal bulls all in the 5x5ish range. I was in the first three hours of the hunt:shock: and really tempted by a really big bodied 5x5 but I decided to at least wait till the evening.
I am a meat hunter and not much of trophy guy so it was hard for me not to take any of these bulls. We had a close call with a bull we only got a glimpse of around 10 that morning as well. We managed to get him to come to a bugle but in the end he figured us out. We caught a glimpse of a really big bull heading into the thick stuff. I have no clue how to score antlers but he was a 6x6 at least and really wide.
We headed back for lunch and waited for it to cool down a bit. The temp was in the 25ish range at least and it was very dry and hot all over the valley. We decided to go right back to the same spot and sit and wait. The bottom end of the cut we watched was the upper end of a really well used game trail. It wasn't long before a skinny little 3x3 bull started to feed along the edge. We amused are selves watching him and mulies until just before dark a decent 5x6 came out. I watched this bull for a couple minutes and then decided I would get closer. I crept up and got into posistion at about 50 yards when I realized he was a very small bull. He had a really skinny 6x5 rack but his body just seemed quite small almost sickly. I left him to his dinner and went back to camp to have mine!
The next morning found us on the oppsoste side of the game trail. The plan was to quietly walk in the 4km to the back end along a logging road and catch them along a stretch of dark timber. We were about 2km in when I realized my wife was in some serious pain, she had been suffering from a really bad back and it was pretty apparent she couldn't go any farther. We decided to hunt 3/4 of the way up so I sent her back to the ATV and moved in another 1km. It was a pretty quiet morning and around 7ish I heard my wife coming up the road with the ATV. Like a smart gal she turned it off and came in the rest of the way quietly. We started cow calling and managed to attract a mulie doe? We sat for about an hour when the morning stillness was broken by that sweet sound of an elk bugle! I challenged back and that pissed him off. My wife and I then did our best to sound like a group of cows. It must have worked because this bull was coming for sure we could hear him in the timber coming our way and he was at least 1500 meters away...
I set up at the top of the clear cut near the edge of the timber. My wife stayed about 200 yards back and continued to work him in with the cow calls. It took about 45 minutes but in the end the bull walked completely broadside to me at no more than 50 yards. He never knew I was there he was completely concentrating on that cow. I took him with my .270 using 130 grain Barnes TSX's. The first shot was deadly but this being my first elk I put another into him. Lucky for me he never moved I dropped him where he stood.
I took me about four hours to get him all taken care of and I can say without a doubt it was a very hard chore dealing with an elk on my own. My wife was so sore she really could only offer moral support and hold the odd leg that was trying to get revenge on me.
In the end I realized I had not shot the "monster bull" but I got it with my wife, she basically called the damn thing in, and it was an incredible morning. We ended up with a full freezer and that in the end gentlemen is whats really important to me.....
Jason