DeDutch
10-08-2011, 09:20 PM
I am pretty new to this site, but I have been hunting for a few years now. Anyhow this year I was out looking for elk somewhere in northern BC, Day 1 I messed around prety high up in the mountians and heard maybe some bugles but it was tough to tell if it was actually elk with all the wind. I did find lots of elk sign in the area.....but after checking the direction of the prints, it was soon evident that all the elk prints from 4 different roads were headed in the same rough direction.....up and over the mountain.
Before I get too far I should mention that on this hunt I was hunting solo, and had failed to kill an elk thus far in my hunting career. Yes I had bugled in a 3 point and a 6 point in to 50 feet and missed them in Saskatchewan(a 2 years back) and last year I woke up on the first day of the hunt to a bull not even 200 yards from my camp.....I never did find my binos never mind bullets in time to see if he was legal never mind shoot him, later that hunt I bugled in a spike bull, failed to convince a larger bull to come out of the willow patch he was hanging out in, and a day later moved in on a bull who was bedded in an old beaver flood after hearing him bugle but well that one was mostly due to impatience.....I guess even bull elk don't always like yappy women(cows)....
With that many missed opportunities and looking at these fresh elk tracks in front of me, I decided that I really didn't need an elk that badly to make me climb all the way up that mountain.
Day 2, I woke up early and started hinking in towards the river bottom where I played with some bulls last year. It was a cloudy morning with a steady drizzle that really just reminded me of fall coho fishing but I was alreeady a few km from the truck and also wet, so I went on following the river bottom. After cow calling and bugling through 3 km of river bottom I decided to head back towards the truck, haveing yet to hear a response. I hiked back to within 3 km from my truck when the meanest sounding bugle I had yet heard echoed from only ~400yds ahead. After calming down I decided that since A) he sounded PISSED at something, and B) it wasn't me he was pissed at that I would sneak though the bottom to the edge of a big sandbar 150yds ahead. After peaking out from the edge of the willows, my heart did the old flip flop thing as I began counting .....cows I got al the way up to seven when I remembered......I don't want a cow, where the heck is that bull? Then I saw him standing about 150 yards away and staring down something on the far bank. The cows began milling around and he turned to settle them down and I counted on each side and then ....that last legal sticker point. Still in a semicrouch I settled the rifle and fired.....the bull gave a quick shake and turned to face the far bank. A few seconds later he turned broadside again I fired and this time he staggered and ran 50 feet and bedded down. Totally pumped I trotted out onto the sandbar and ran towards him, getting to about 50 feet, he turned and looked at me head held high....and I have never had so much respect for an animal but also quickly decided that he was far from dead. So i muttered sorry and chambered one last round and slowly pulled the trigger. The bull jumped up and began running, making it roughly 200 feet before collapsing. Then the reall work began as I had to butcher and backpack this old warrior by myself the roughly 2 km to get back to my truck....9 hours later I was done with all the meat and antlers in the back of my truck.3696
Before I get too far I should mention that on this hunt I was hunting solo, and had failed to kill an elk thus far in my hunting career. Yes I had bugled in a 3 point and a 6 point in to 50 feet and missed them in Saskatchewan(a 2 years back) and last year I woke up on the first day of the hunt to a bull not even 200 yards from my camp.....I never did find my binos never mind bullets in time to see if he was legal never mind shoot him, later that hunt I bugled in a spike bull, failed to convince a larger bull to come out of the willow patch he was hanging out in, and a day later moved in on a bull who was bedded in an old beaver flood after hearing him bugle but well that one was mostly due to impatience.....I guess even bull elk don't always like yappy women(cows)....
With that many missed opportunities and looking at these fresh elk tracks in front of me, I decided that I really didn't need an elk that badly to make me climb all the way up that mountain.
Day 2, I woke up early and started hinking in towards the river bottom where I played with some bulls last year. It was a cloudy morning with a steady drizzle that really just reminded me of fall coho fishing but I was alreeady a few km from the truck and also wet, so I went on following the river bottom. After cow calling and bugling through 3 km of river bottom I decided to head back towards the truck, haveing yet to hear a response. I hiked back to within 3 km from my truck when the meanest sounding bugle I had yet heard echoed from only ~400yds ahead. After calming down I decided that since A) he sounded PISSED at something, and B) it wasn't me he was pissed at that I would sneak though the bottom to the edge of a big sandbar 150yds ahead. After peaking out from the edge of the willows, my heart did the old flip flop thing as I began counting .....cows I got al the way up to seven when I remembered......I don't want a cow, where the heck is that bull? Then I saw him standing about 150 yards away and staring down something on the far bank. The cows began milling around and he turned to settle them down and I counted on each side and then ....that last legal sticker point. Still in a semicrouch I settled the rifle and fired.....the bull gave a quick shake and turned to face the far bank. A few seconds later he turned broadside again I fired and this time he staggered and ran 50 feet and bedded down. Totally pumped I trotted out onto the sandbar and ran towards him, getting to about 50 feet, he turned and looked at me head held high....and I have never had so much respect for an animal but also quickly decided that he was far from dead. So i muttered sorry and chambered one last round and slowly pulled the trigger. The bull jumped up and began running, making it roughly 200 feet before collapsing. Then the reall work began as I had to butcher and backpack this old warrior by myself the roughly 2 km to get back to my truck....9 hours later I was done with all the meat and antlers in the back of my truck.3696