4point&over
09-18-2011, 08:19 PM
I've been on this site for a while now with limited posts, but I had to post the pics from my most recent trip up to the Kootney's for Elk. I've never been to that part of the Province, and man is it beautiful! We got up to our camp a couple days before the season opened and did some scouting with limited sign. The days were long and very hot, luckily to kill time during the day there was lots of trout running in the river behind camp which made for some good fishing.
Opening morning we got out early on our way to a spot we wanted to hunt but we were a little early and it was too dark to venture into the bush. We stopped along the creek bed across from a nice looking ridge and decided to give a couple bugles. To our surprise we got a quick response from the other side of the creek. We kept calling but the bull had gone silent. I caught some movement on the ridge as I was glassing and saw a nice size bull running up the mountain. We hunted and scouted the mountain for the rest of the morning and compiled a strategy for the evening hunt. To much dismay we never heard from that bull in the evening hunt. We decided we would keep hitting that area hard until we caught another glimpse of the bull as he looked like a legal 6 point when I first saw him. For three more days back to that mountain side trying to get him to talk back to us. On Monday night my dad had found a good rub and hunkered down for the evening and started calling. With about 30mins or so of light left in the day he got a response but didn't get shot. The next morning we were up early and in that same spot an hour before light. We got a response to the call as soon as we got into place, but again he didn't come out of the bush. That night was my last night for hunting as I had to fly home the next morning, so of course, we went back to the same spot. We got up to our spot around 5pm and started calling around 6:30 and then a quad drives up. This guy drives right through were we were hunting even after talking to my dad and being told that there was three of us in this spot, I thought right then the hunt was over but we stuck around for last light. We kept calling and as the sun set and the light was dwindling, we got a call back! Within 5mins this bull came out of the tree line and gave me a shot. I popped him right in the chest and he took off back into the bush. There was only about 10mins of light left so I was a little nervous, but we found him about 300 yards in and he was down. I was so happy, my first elk! Then the work started, we didn't get him out of the bush until 2:30am and then hung and skinned by 5:30am. We had to be up by 7:30am to get back into town so I could make my flight home. All in all a great trip. Lots of wildlife and beautiful country. I know this may not be the outcome of our hunts every year, but I will definitely be heading back up there next year. Sorry for the long winded story but it was such an awesome experience for our first elk hunt. Hope the pictures work out.
http://i1191.photobucket.com/albums/z467/Russ_Mckinlay/IMG-20110914-00180.jpghttp://i1191.photobucket.com/albums/z467/Russ_Mckinlay/IMG-20110914-00179.jpg
Opening morning we got out early on our way to a spot we wanted to hunt but we were a little early and it was too dark to venture into the bush. We stopped along the creek bed across from a nice looking ridge and decided to give a couple bugles. To our surprise we got a quick response from the other side of the creek. We kept calling but the bull had gone silent. I caught some movement on the ridge as I was glassing and saw a nice size bull running up the mountain. We hunted and scouted the mountain for the rest of the morning and compiled a strategy for the evening hunt. To much dismay we never heard from that bull in the evening hunt. We decided we would keep hitting that area hard until we caught another glimpse of the bull as he looked like a legal 6 point when I first saw him. For three more days back to that mountain side trying to get him to talk back to us. On Monday night my dad had found a good rub and hunkered down for the evening and started calling. With about 30mins or so of light left in the day he got a response but didn't get shot. The next morning we were up early and in that same spot an hour before light. We got a response to the call as soon as we got into place, but again he didn't come out of the bush. That night was my last night for hunting as I had to fly home the next morning, so of course, we went back to the same spot. We got up to our spot around 5pm and started calling around 6:30 and then a quad drives up. This guy drives right through were we were hunting even after talking to my dad and being told that there was three of us in this spot, I thought right then the hunt was over but we stuck around for last light. We kept calling and as the sun set and the light was dwindling, we got a call back! Within 5mins this bull came out of the tree line and gave me a shot. I popped him right in the chest and he took off back into the bush. There was only about 10mins of light left so I was a little nervous, but we found him about 300 yards in and he was down. I was so happy, my first elk! Then the work started, we didn't get him out of the bush until 2:30am and then hung and skinned by 5:30am. We had to be up by 7:30am to get back into town so I could make my flight home. All in all a great trip. Lots of wildlife and beautiful country. I know this may not be the outcome of our hunts every year, but I will definitely be heading back up there next year. Sorry for the long winded story but it was such an awesome experience for our first elk hunt. Hope the pictures work out.
http://i1191.photobucket.com/albums/z467/Russ_Mckinlay/IMG-20110914-00180.jpghttp://i1191.photobucket.com/albums/z467/Russ_Mckinlay/IMG-20110914-00179.jpg