BlacktailStalker
09-29-2010, 11:36 AM
"So I'll start early and skip lunch, I need more time to pack before my trip," I said.
I was home and packed ready to go by dinner, pumped for my first of two hunts.
Up at 3 a.m and on the first ferry, 5:15 a.m put me in camp at 7:30 mountain time, just enough time to get set up for the next day of hunting.
The guys were out when I arrived and when they came in for the night, they were pretty glum.
The bulls werent talking and they werent seeing anything, however, that seems to be the general consensus in any type of hunting and worried me little.
2 hours before light I was headed in with Robbie and WW, to one of my favorite spots, a spot that always holds a big bull, the same spot I had a 342" bull shot out from under me 2 years prior.
I wont ever forge that bull coming in hot & heavy, towered up for my sleezy estrous talk... all to have my spirits smashed with the crack of a rifle, of someone outside our hunting party.
Still beats hunting behind a fence though.
We didnt even get to our spot and split a herd of cows headed up to bed in the timber with a good bull held up behind them. He didnt want to leave them but he also didnt want to hang around long enough for us to get an good I.D on his tine.
Perfect, ten mins in and a promising candidate for future days... that I would not need.
We split and I checked my favorite "bedrooms" to find new trails since 2 years prior that were now pounded right out, a cow moose, many whitetail and a funky looking black bear that looked hybrid.
WW wanted to hang out til the p.m hunt since it was such a long drive back to camp but I wanted to cover the country and check a few more spots for sign.
So thats what I did, covered 3 more areas and found promising sign in all spots, interupted briefly by a broken brake line, which I had a spare of in the truck.
Bleeding of the brakes later on in camp led me to discover a cracked frame, over half way through in the drivers side wheel well :shock:
Later that evening found me well over 60kms from the bull we planned to hunt and no time to make it back, so I opted to walk in a deactivated road where I had some good action 3 years prior during mid day, when all other areas were quiet.
I walked about 5 kms and was very unhappy with the lack of fresh sign, abundance of wolf shit and how grown the cuts had become since my last visit.
However, I sat at the back bowl, by the only decent trail coming off the top of the mountain... and waited.
30 mins before I felt light was going to start falling and what was a long stint of silence, I located and let out a series of mews, a couple minutes apart.
A minute later I heard the reply of a bull, authentic wapiti or human I was unsure as it was so far away it was faint at best and the drone of road hunters made me have my doubts.
I started the walk back to the truck and was about 10 mins into it and I caught the last half of a bugle, a bit closer but again, unsure of the creator.
I thought to myself, "If it is a bull, he will never make it to me in time anyways, light is falling."
As I rounded one of the many snake bends I had to walk, with steep ravines between I heard rocks falling, 5-600 yards directly across.
I kneeled and scanned the timber to catch the tawny buckskin silhouette half hidden by a clump of 15' pines.
There was no hesitation in his walk, other than to ensure solid footing as he barreled straight down the bank, hitting the road with a full note bugle and not stopping to release it.
"Its a bull and a good one, he looks wide!"
In a brief second I had it planned exactly how it would play out, we'd meet on the dog leg of the turn as we met face to face, at less than 40 yards.
With me aware of his presence and him not mine, I had my binos up when he peeked around the corner at me, at my unnatural stance of a 2 legged predator whom he's surely been educated from before.
The disbelief in an animals eye is always comical when they see me, they know, but they second guess themselves almost every time and this wasnt the first time it resulted in the demise of their life.
1,2,3,4,5... 1,2,3,4,5.... good sticker, maybe 2 ! He bolted straight down the road, I take two steps to get on his "six" and chirp twice, he climbs the 15' bank like it wasnt there and looks back, quartering away.
He likely didnt have time to settle the weight on his feet on the awkward incline when i slipped the 168gr tsx projectile perfectly through his heart and both lungs.
He lunged forward with futile unsure steps as his life had left him before he hit the ground and the finishing round I cycled for good measure never had to leave the barrel.
My shot was heard across the valley and soon the truck found my headlight as I worked to 'untie' his legs from the blow down he came to settle in.
I thought it'd be fun, quick and easy to drag him to the road, kick him off the bank and load him whole.... which we did in well over an hour :lol:
He is an older bull and lived out his prime, clearly evident by the subtle points which he has lost with age. He's wide, has good tine length on his fronts, good bases but he is just a "meat bull" and another one for the memory book.
http://i1024.photobucket.com/albums/y305/TaylenJames/Sept2010ElkGoat012.jpg
http://i1024.photobucket.com/albums/y305/TaylenJames/Sept2010ElkGoat011.jpg
Another flawless TSX
http://i1024.photobucket.com/albums/y305/TaylenJames/2010elk168gr.jpg
On this trip I was able to meet Gamehunter60, heck of a good guy and his stories were quite enjoyable as well as his hand with dealing with the elk around camp. Cheers Neil.
I was home and packed ready to go by dinner, pumped for my first of two hunts.
Up at 3 a.m and on the first ferry, 5:15 a.m put me in camp at 7:30 mountain time, just enough time to get set up for the next day of hunting.
The guys were out when I arrived and when they came in for the night, they were pretty glum.
The bulls werent talking and they werent seeing anything, however, that seems to be the general consensus in any type of hunting and worried me little.
2 hours before light I was headed in with Robbie and WW, to one of my favorite spots, a spot that always holds a big bull, the same spot I had a 342" bull shot out from under me 2 years prior.
I wont ever forge that bull coming in hot & heavy, towered up for my sleezy estrous talk... all to have my spirits smashed with the crack of a rifle, of someone outside our hunting party.
Still beats hunting behind a fence though.
We didnt even get to our spot and split a herd of cows headed up to bed in the timber with a good bull held up behind them. He didnt want to leave them but he also didnt want to hang around long enough for us to get an good I.D on his tine.
Perfect, ten mins in and a promising candidate for future days... that I would not need.
We split and I checked my favorite "bedrooms" to find new trails since 2 years prior that were now pounded right out, a cow moose, many whitetail and a funky looking black bear that looked hybrid.
WW wanted to hang out til the p.m hunt since it was such a long drive back to camp but I wanted to cover the country and check a few more spots for sign.
So thats what I did, covered 3 more areas and found promising sign in all spots, interupted briefly by a broken brake line, which I had a spare of in the truck.
Bleeding of the brakes later on in camp led me to discover a cracked frame, over half way through in the drivers side wheel well :shock:
Later that evening found me well over 60kms from the bull we planned to hunt and no time to make it back, so I opted to walk in a deactivated road where I had some good action 3 years prior during mid day, when all other areas were quiet.
I walked about 5 kms and was very unhappy with the lack of fresh sign, abundance of wolf shit and how grown the cuts had become since my last visit.
However, I sat at the back bowl, by the only decent trail coming off the top of the mountain... and waited.
30 mins before I felt light was going to start falling and what was a long stint of silence, I located and let out a series of mews, a couple minutes apart.
A minute later I heard the reply of a bull, authentic wapiti or human I was unsure as it was so far away it was faint at best and the drone of road hunters made me have my doubts.
I started the walk back to the truck and was about 10 mins into it and I caught the last half of a bugle, a bit closer but again, unsure of the creator.
I thought to myself, "If it is a bull, he will never make it to me in time anyways, light is falling."
As I rounded one of the many snake bends I had to walk, with steep ravines between I heard rocks falling, 5-600 yards directly across.
I kneeled and scanned the timber to catch the tawny buckskin silhouette half hidden by a clump of 15' pines.
There was no hesitation in his walk, other than to ensure solid footing as he barreled straight down the bank, hitting the road with a full note bugle and not stopping to release it.
"Its a bull and a good one, he looks wide!"
In a brief second I had it planned exactly how it would play out, we'd meet on the dog leg of the turn as we met face to face, at less than 40 yards.
With me aware of his presence and him not mine, I had my binos up when he peeked around the corner at me, at my unnatural stance of a 2 legged predator whom he's surely been educated from before.
The disbelief in an animals eye is always comical when they see me, they know, but they second guess themselves almost every time and this wasnt the first time it resulted in the demise of their life.
1,2,3,4,5... 1,2,3,4,5.... good sticker, maybe 2 ! He bolted straight down the road, I take two steps to get on his "six" and chirp twice, he climbs the 15' bank like it wasnt there and looks back, quartering away.
He likely didnt have time to settle the weight on his feet on the awkward incline when i slipped the 168gr tsx projectile perfectly through his heart and both lungs.
He lunged forward with futile unsure steps as his life had left him before he hit the ground and the finishing round I cycled for good measure never had to leave the barrel.
My shot was heard across the valley and soon the truck found my headlight as I worked to 'untie' his legs from the blow down he came to settle in.
I thought it'd be fun, quick and easy to drag him to the road, kick him off the bank and load him whole.... which we did in well over an hour :lol:
He is an older bull and lived out his prime, clearly evident by the subtle points which he has lost with age. He's wide, has good tine length on his fronts, good bases but he is just a "meat bull" and another one for the memory book.
http://i1024.photobucket.com/albums/y305/TaylenJames/Sept2010ElkGoat012.jpg
http://i1024.photobucket.com/albums/y305/TaylenJames/Sept2010ElkGoat011.jpg
Another flawless TSX
http://i1024.photobucket.com/albums/y305/TaylenJames/2010elk168gr.jpg
On this trip I was able to meet Gamehunter60, heck of a good guy and his stories were quite enjoyable as well as his hand with dealing with the elk around camp. Cheers Neil.