Back from 10 Days of Heaven

[Jetboater]

this year we left on our annual elk Pilgrimage, a little later than the typical peak of the elk Rut, we let at 3 AM on saturday of the 4th of october, 2 thermos' of coffee and a quick lunch at Husky and we pulled into our camp around 2 PM, everyone was extremely excited as usaul on the first day, as they filled the trappers cabin with all the food and bedding Me and My wife Radine leveled our trailer and focused on stting up camp for the long haul, we had planned on staying for 18 days, the rest of the group only had 10 days to stay,

As usual everyone dropped everything and got their gear on for an evening hunt to have a good look at the area, Radine and I stayed in camp to make sure everything was taken care of, listening to everyone leave got the better of me and I convince Radine that we needed a bigger pile of fire wood...

I told her we would just head down the main road in the valley find a dead snag and head back,after five KM down the main road we were pulling past a slash that was cut a few years earlier, it was now looking prime, low and behold around the next corner is a blond patch in the corner of the slash, a quick look reveals its a cow, as usual I get out with the cow call and give a really estrousy call, as soon as the call finishes I look and a bull steps out from behind the cow out of the timber........in sheer disbelief I stand there counting as quickly as I can, revealing a very heavy horned 5 point....Wow cant beat that 10 Minutes of the first evening... with the uplifting sighting we carry on... now I have convince Radine we should head back to the old burn and see what is going on, as we cruise down the road at 5:30 I look at an avalanche slide to my left and spot a bull standing 100 yrds up the slide...I let Radine know what I just saw a we pulled down the rd a KM....check the wind a sneak back down to the slid as I peer in I can see the bull, so we get a decent vantage point and start calling... the bull doesnt call but I can hear him sneaking in quietly... after 20 minutes I cant handle it , I start circling where I heard him and run into him face to face at 20 yds .... a quick count tells me hes only 5 on both sides.... wow 2 bulls day one and we still have light to look some more as we head down the raod for anther 10 KM we pull over on a river bottom and start to glass the burn... after coming up blank , I decide to let out a couple really loud cow calls..... immediatly a response... as we start watching about 800-1000 yds away a bull steps out, good bull smallish 6 point as we watch this bull we hear another bugle from behind that bull....out comes a really nice forked 6 point....it was now getting dark Very Quickly....as we decided to put these bulls to bed and head back to camp, we were really excited, the whole goal for me on this trip was for Radine to get her First 6 point....catch is she didnt want to shoot a 1 inch sqeaker bull as her first.........To be continued....

[Brambles]

Get typing, sounds like its revving up to be a good story.

[riflebuilder]

I saw my first legal bull yesterday. the count so far is 35 bulls 1 legal, i have never seen so many 5x5's. Oh well time to chase swamp donkies.

[Stone Sheep Steve]

Don't leaving us hanging!!! :mad:

So, did you get your firewood or what??

Waiting impatiently......


SSS

[Jetboater]

Well Needless to say firewood was going to be cut later down the road.... as we left the truck on day 2 an hour before daylight we headed down the valley with the wind in our face to the location of where we last saw the legal bulls....
as we cow called through the valley we heard a bull way above us on our side of the valley, he sould good but far away and he sounded as if he was heading farther up the mountain... we left that bull alone for now and would return and work him when we were done working the other bulls...

after a few hours of looking for the other bulls with no luck we went back after the first bull of the morning.

This time when we cow called to him he was a lot closer and a lot more Keen to investigate what was going on in the valley bottom. as we got set up in a shooting position we could hear the bull coming down fast... all of a sudden Radine spotted the bull above us around 400Yds away... he was leary to come any closer but the cow calling kept him taking one step at a time.... looking and bugling.
at 300 Yds I could tell he had a 6th point but it was barely a couple inches yes legal but not something either of us want to kill or to cut a tag on the first day, had it been day 10 it would have died....after Video taping this bull for over 25 minutesd we decided to Name him Blackie.... pure black Cape and a good framed Rack.... if he makes till next season he will be a good Six point....
here is the hill we called the bull down
http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w159/tnt3113/P1010989.jpg



as we hunted Hard the rest of the day we only had a couple smaller 4 point bulls come in...Day 2 ended with a total count of 7 bulls .....To Be Continued again....Wait till you hear about Day three

[mijinkal]

day 2 out of 18 and I'm already hooked on the story. Sounds like a great start to the hunt. Can't wait to hear the rest.

[Tikka7mm]

Good story so far...looking forward to more. Maybe you could post a couple minutes of video of "Blackie" for us?

[Leaseman]

Not fair Thomas......:eek:

Sounds like a good trip so far...... now where is the rest!!!

[Elkhound]

I have my finger on the ban button........LMAO.


More...we need more

[CT.45]

AND.......? Come on, get to it man.

[Jetboater]

Morning comes a little too quick on day three, maybe its the fact that we are hiking our butts off or the temerature drop that we have felt, but we roll out of bed at 5AM put a cup of coffee in the system and hit the road to the same area we stopped the day before....same routine as usual... the morning felt good, as the calls went across the valley and the fog slowly lifted we heard Blackie screaming at us all the way through the valley... but still no other really potential bugles, after an hour of working our way through the river bottom we finally got a answer that sounded good, we were within 800 yds of the bull and we could tell he was heading our direction but he was on the other side of a small river....nothing we could deal with.... as we headfed off running into the direction of the bull and a small knoll that I sat on the day before I Knew roughly where the bull would come out... the only catch is it is about a 300 yd shot unless you can get the elk into the valley bottom....

I knew Radine can make these shots so I was not worried...as we awere about 500 yds from the bull and heading to the knoll I checked the bull with a cow call and he screamed back hard....as we were just about set up I looked at where the bull should be and spotted a big bull walking through the timber above the cut bank... a quick look showed a huge whale tailed bull heading around the ridge 300 yds away... only catch was it was only a 5 Point....DOH..... but as I am watching that bull, now set up, we here the bugle again but that 5 point did not bugle....right then all I can see is white tips...his right antler has a solid 6 point... I let Radine know but she wants to count for herself....as the bull is looking for the cow Radine gets the count for herself, she lets me know shes ready to roll as the bull is slowly picking its way through the timber ...I hit the bull with a stopper cow call and tuck in behind my scope if neccesary at the report of Radines rifle the bull rocks hard, I follow up with a solid ht as well and the bull takes 2 steps and crashes hard in plain Veiw...I have never seen so many different emotions go through Radines face as I was pounding her on the back ....
I think I was more excited than she was....
heres her bull
http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w159/tnt3113/P1010928.jpg

after rounding up the troops we headed back for a photo session of Radines first bull,and of course the pack trip out, unfortunatly my younger brother fell over backwards and wrnech his back pretty bad while packing....if he wasnt in great shape and steel worker he would have been hurt really bad.... nonetheless I agreed to pack whatever he shot during the trip so he would not hurt himself more.....Big Mistake......

To be continued...

[rocksteady]

Nice bull...Congrats to the Mrs.

Patiently waiting for the other 7 days....

[Kitimat Killer]

way to go nice bull thats a gooder for the first one im with rocksteady want to know what happends the rest of the 7 days

[farside]

hmmm me thinks there is yet more to this sorid tale

[hunter1947]

Very nice bull Radine ,I know your are very proud of this bull.

It goes to show you that holding off for a bigger one pays off ,you could have taken that smaller legal bull ,but you chose to wait for a better one.

Congratulations on a very ,very fine animal ,also congrats to the one that helped you achieve your goal http://www.huntingbc.ca/forum/images/icons/icon14.gif.

[guest]

Sounds like a great time!
Congrats to you all, way to go on your first 6pt. Radine !
C/T

[Stone Sheep Steve]

Congrats to Mrs 3113!!!
Good mass on that guy!!!

Keep typing!:smile:

SSS

[mark4]

Awesome bull Radine !!! - welcome to the six point club lol !!! great story too.

[Jetboater]

with my younger brother licking his wounds and me a little sore from Day 3 Radine decided to stay in for the morning and I would take Chris Whitetail hunting for a road hunt....the deal was if he was still beaten and Hurt by noon we would head in for an X-ray at Cranbrook Hospital. Well noon rolled around and he had already shot a couple chickens and chased a few whiteys across the mountainside... we rolled into Camp...

funny part was as we rolled into camp we realized that my Dad and his partner hadnt showed up yet.... nothing out of the ordinary but you still wonder where they are... as we were making breakfast the guys pulled right into camp.... normally they back into camp.... so they were hiding something.... Sure as Shite the killed a beauty little tri horned Whitetail.....typically we dont try to kill deer while working a bull but they could not pass on this deer....

here is the deer nothing huge and the picture does not give it credit......
http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w159/tnt3113/P1010937.jpg

[rocksteady]

Type faster, type faster......

This is getting good...

[Jetboater]

Day 4 in the evening had me climbing an avalanche chute after a bull that made me excited...

I had set my goals for a decent bull at the start of the trip and nothing short of that would do this year... especially with a dead bull in Camp....With my Dad and his partner hand signalling me that a great bull came out in the chute my hopes were as high as they could get, and my legs carried my fat but up the mountain with diminish llight I was nearing where the bulls were... there was actually 2 bulls and 13 cows in this basin ....what looked like an easy 20min hike turned in a gruelling 2 hr climb...the bull on the right side of the chute was a six point that only had three inch forks and the bull on the left side of the chute I could not get a good look at ... even with everyone down at the bottom with hand signals were telling me he was a 6 and huge... I could still not get a good look at him to put him down... at only 250 yds I watched him till dark and left him on the mountain.... the next morning would have me in the same spot at daylight...

it would be an early morning for sure...

to be continued again........LOL

[Brambles]

your taking too many coffee breaks, get back to work.

[Mr. Dean]

lookin' Gewd!

[Jetboater]

Day five had us climbing hard at day break as we were out a little latter on the mountain than I would have liked...

on the evening of day 4 I had agreed that my younger brother Join us on the terms that if he had the chance he would take the smaller bull that I passed on, and I would look for the big guy, but which ever bull we saw would be the first bull shot whether him or me.....

as we were blasting up the mountain and just started to see the cows filtering out into the chute and the bull in tow we had another 500 yds to go before we could set up, the creek running down the chute covered our sound and the wind felt good.....three quarters of the way to where we going I felt a gust hit me on the back of the neck and knew we were in trouble....
immediately the head cow had our wind and was barking at us....If you have never heard a cow elk Bark you will roll over laughing your A$$ off ... as we nknew the lek hadnt seen us we slowly backed down the hill and rolled to the left hoping any more wind would pass beside them, as we kept creaping up the head cow lead the group to the timber edge with both bulls in tow....just over 500 yds away.....

we slowly crept down the mountain dejected and tired.... here is a pic of the mountain the elk were in the top opening....http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w159/tnt3113/P1010986.jpg

This story isnt done yet...... as we left the mountain with the truck, with still plenty of primetime we decided to walk the river bottom where we Killed Radines bull... thinking maybe Chris could Kill Blackie....

as we were walking The River bottom Chris saw something running down the middle of the river in the water.....up goes the glasses and reveals a nice 4 point Muley truckin out of the valley, this boy was movin out of the area.... as me and Chris Put the legs into high gear to sprint to a decent vantage point which was 400 yds away we set up knowing the buck was within Veiw... we just hadnt seen him yet... Chris was the shooter and I was the spotter... as we watched the area we caught the buck sneaking up a cut bank accross from us at about 300Yds Chris tucked into his 270 and sent a couple noslers through the buck.... Woohoo... Now like usual we have a buck on the other side of the river, no waders with us and the pack frames at camp...(of Course) adn I have a lame younger brother that cant even help drag his deer out.... and my wife isnt the stongest of packers.....

so Chris bolts accross the river like hes walking on air...almost Chris Angel Like!!! and radine blast across... with me in tow , we run across the hill to his buck... a nice buck with a massive body... (of Course)so I gut it drag it and pull up the hill to the truck exhausted and happy we head back to camp....
Heres Chris Buck

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w159/tnt3113/P1011025.jpg
http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w159/tnt3113/P1011015.jpg

[Jetboater]

Day Six had us in the same slide looking over a couple small 5 points and one small six that was just over an Inch Chris decided to Keep hunting a spot was hitting really regular as he was seeing lots of bulls in the spot, and they were all responding to cow calls...
Day six my dad and his partner missed a gimme bull on the road... as it walked down the road with its back to them ... one cow call , quick count and a quicker miss....bettter that way as I dont believe anyone deserves a bull off the road...

Day seven had me going to town in the day witha visit to mountain man ....
in the evening we managed to get on a good 6x6 but his 3rd point was busted and his right side was weak for the sixth point... had it been better I would have killed the bull... but we still had time to go.....

the Story pretty much ends here as we did not kill any more elk... not because of not seeing elk, more because of choice... we called 4 bulls in on the 9th day of the trip and had a couple shot out from us in different areas.... we watched a couple guys kill a 5 point in the area my brother was hunting and reported them yesterday...as they were trying to hide the bull, that put a lot of damper on Chris' spirits as he had a 6 point coming when they killed that bull. sad part was that bull was in the same clearing for 5 days in a row, but he had 4 points on the top but was missing a brow tine... gotta count them all....


we had a great camp and between Radine and I we saw 33 bulls not recounts.. and had 8 different 6 points in front of us within shooting range, I think there is a lot of 5 points around but a lot of the 5s this year were pushing nubs that looked like they would be sixs shortly in the next year or 2...
the best was watching two really cool shots go down in front of me... I would have loved to break in my new weatherby ultralight on my own bull but went hope happier and more at peace than ever....
we ended up leaving on day 10 of 18 to get the meat home plus it gives me a 10 day hunt in november mulies which I am really stoked about......
here is a few more pics of the trip....
http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w159/tnt3113/P1010926.jpg

[BlacktailStalker]

Right on 3113, nice trip, good story and even better animals!

[rocksteady]

Great stories...Great Pictures....Great success....


GREAT THREAD, one of the best, you may challenge bartell Flat-Toprs story with this....He only had 1 critter to show for it...

Thanks for sharing


If you don't mind telling, what part of the East Kootenays???? All those damn rocky treelines start to look the same after a while...

[Stone Sheep Steve]

Great stories...Great Pictures....Great success....


GREAT THREAD, one of the best, you may challenge bartell Flat-Toprs story with this....He only had 1 critter to show for it...

Thanks for sharing

I'll second that!!
Good way to spend the afternoon....checking the computer when I should have been working:redface:.

Great write up!!

SSS

[ElkMasterC]

Really nice write up, and great pics.
Great self-control in passing up legal bulls, too.....lol
No regrets?

[sparkes3]

can i go with you next year

[twoSevenO]

nicely done. what beautiful pictures and write up to boot. Your wife's elk takes the cake though. That is one awesome looking bull! Well done both of ya.

[sawmill]

I love the E.K.,So lucky I get to live here! Great writing,I`m wishing I could get a week or two this time of year but this is our busy -get ready for winter time.Maybe next year,Congrats on a great hunt!

[Jetboater]

Really nice write up, and great pics.
Great self-control in passing up legal bulls, too.....lol
No regrets?
I dont carry a single regret, the only bull I really wanted was one I could not count , even though everyone else could... doesnt mean it is time to pull the trigger...I have shot enough elk in the last few years not to worry about small barely legal bulls...the only way they get bigger is to pass on them....
as for Radine ... she held her own anyone who says a 7-08 is not enough for big game can look at the pictures...our 2 bullets were 2 inches apart which was amazing....if I can figure out how to download video, I can show you blackie....
I love elk hunting... it's as addictng as mule deer... we called a small six point in where at 20 yds he was looking for the cow beyond me....

[NaStY]

Awesome pics and write up Thomas. Looks like you had a great time and when the time came, the wife knew just what to do.

Hope to try that myself one day maybe.

Thanks for sharing........

[ElectricDyck]

Awesome story! Congrats on an epic hunt! Hi Radine.

Andrew

[Rattler]

Wow! Thanks for the great stories...

That sounds like one heck of a hunt.

[shoot to kill]

I have never seen so many different emotions go through Radines face as I was pounding her on the back .keep those comments to yourself thomas :tongue:

[BCrams]

Great story and hunt you guys had! Good on Radine!!

[Caveman]

Great Story and pictures, Congrats on a great trip.

[Freshtracks]

Another great recant, love the pics and congrats to Radine on her first bull and the group on a fine trip.

[twoSevenO]

keep those comments to yourself thomas :tongue:

hahaha, nice one :D

[gordo]

ok im waiting for the rest of the story,hooked now

[Gun Babe]

WOW....great pics and story....thanks for sharing.....I lived that hunt through your telling....wonderful!

[kayjayess]

Thanks for taking the time to write and post the pics. I really enjoyed all of it. Congrats to your wife and all in your party. A great time indeed!

[ELKOHOLICBC]

Great story and pics. Love to see women getting into the elk hunting. My wife comes with me every year on our elk hunt and loves its. That whole area around cranbrook is a great spot for elk. That 6pt rule is sure producing smoe quality bulls now. I have the same attitude as you Blacktail3113. I've passed up some smaller 6's looking for that trophy and no regrets either. Well congrats on the hunt and love the story. Elk hunting is where it's at.

[mark]

Real nice mixed bag hunt there Thomas! Sounds like a heavenly hunt alright!

[newhunterette]

way to go Thomas and company

magnificient photos and what hanging on story - super

congratulations

[1/2 slam]

Wow!! It sounds like a fantastic trip.