RiverOtter
09-22-2006, 09:39 PM
Sept 16,
Packed up the truck and trailer and headed into 8-14 for an elk. Set up camp and had a short evening hunt and heard one distant bugle.
Sept 17,
Up at 4:30, had some hot porrage. Hiked into a valley and met up with two bulls on the trail. The front one was a 3-4 point and the one behind was a 5-6, but due to the lack of light I couldn't tell for sure. I cow chirped a bit in hopes of keeping them around until I could see better, but they moved off the trail and walked into the bush. I backed off a bit and waited for more light, but never seen the bulls again.
I went into the same valley for the evening hunt, but never seen or heard any elk.
Sept 18
Up at 4:30 and hunted a plateau above the valley where I seen the two bulls the day before. No activity until late in the morning when I spotted 4 cows on a bluff across the valley from where I was.
In the evening I hiked up to where I spotted the cows in the morning and heard two bugles, but the bulls would not respond to my calls.
Sept 19
Morning and evening were fairly uneventful, but I managed to find some new ground for the following day.
Sept 20
Up at 4:30 and hiked into a new area. My bugles went unanswered, but I managed to scare 6 whitetails out of a meadow.:lol: I hunted late that morning as the weather was changing and rain was on the way. I had a nap on the hillside and then made my way off the mountain and back to camp for some much needed nourishment. Around 11:30, I jumped on my quad and headed further down the valley to look for more area to hunt. I pulled into a little forestry campsite for a pit stop and to get out of the rain which had started to fall. I had no sooner shut off the bike when I heard a bugle half way up the mountain, followed by a reply from another bull. I joined in to see if I could get a bull to come down the hill, but they were holding tight. I grabbed my pack and headed up after them, bugling back replies as I went. Within 1/2 an hour, I was close enough to hear cows chirping and the bulls were getting real worked up. I chimed in with the cows and pretty soon I could hear a sattelite bull coming in from below me. He turned and ran off as soon as he winded me, but I didn't have much choice but to push on after the herd bull and hope for the best. The herd bull bugled from about 80 yards up from me and I made a move for a bit of an opening, hoping that the cows were above him. It payed off and I caught movement in the brush ahead, it was the big bull working a balsam over. I grabbed cover behind a tree and peared around the side and gave a few cow chirps. He seemed to ignore my chirps and continued with the tree for over 2 minutes. Then he turned and started to head across the hillside away from me, but I had no clear shot so I held fire and gave a couple more cow chirps. Finally I gave one last bugle and all hell broke loose as he stormed into plain view and right at the tree I was behind. I made a quick point count to make sure he was legal and then waited for him to lift his head and expose his chest. At twelve yards he slowed a bit and raised his head and I squeezed off a shot into his right shoulder. He went down hard and expired within a few seconds. I walked up and admired him for a few minutes and thought about all the time and effort spent leading up to this moment. Then the work began with gutting and quartering.
For those interested, I was shooting a Remington XCR in .338 Ultra. I used 225 grain Hornady Inter-Bonds on top of 91.5 grains of RL 22. I have no way to post pics, as my computer is too slow for my camera's software:mad: (Sorry) I'll get around to green scoring it this weekend, but a close guess would be in the 310-325 range.
RO
Packed up the truck and trailer and headed into 8-14 for an elk. Set up camp and had a short evening hunt and heard one distant bugle.
Sept 17,
Up at 4:30, had some hot porrage. Hiked into a valley and met up with two bulls on the trail. The front one was a 3-4 point and the one behind was a 5-6, but due to the lack of light I couldn't tell for sure. I cow chirped a bit in hopes of keeping them around until I could see better, but they moved off the trail and walked into the bush. I backed off a bit and waited for more light, but never seen the bulls again.
I went into the same valley for the evening hunt, but never seen or heard any elk.
Sept 18
Up at 4:30 and hunted a plateau above the valley where I seen the two bulls the day before. No activity until late in the morning when I spotted 4 cows on a bluff across the valley from where I was.
In the evening I hiked up to where I spotted the cows in the morning and heard two bugles, but the bulls would not respond to my calls.
Sept 19
Morning and evening were fairly uneventful, but I managed to find some new ground for the following day.
Sept 20
Up at 4:30 and hiked into a new area. My bugles went unanswered, but I managed to scare 6 whitetails out of a meadow.:lol: I hunted late that morning as the weather was changing and rain was on the way. I had a nap on the hillside and then made my way off the mountain and back to camp for some much needed nourishment. Around 11:30, I jumped on my quad and headed further down the valley to look for more area to hunt. I pulled into a little forestry campsite for a pit stop and to get out of the rain which had started to fall. I had no sooner shut off the bike when I heard a bugle half way up the mountain, followed by a reply from another bull. I joined in to see if I could get a bull to come down the hill, but they were holding tight. I grabbed my pack and headed up after them, bugling back replies as I went. Within 1/2 an hour, I was close enough to hear cows chirping and the bulls were getting real worked up. I chimed in with the cows and pretty soon I could hear a sattelite bull coming in from below me. He turned and ran off as soon as he winded me, but I didn't have much choice but to push on after the herd bull and hope for the best. The herd bull bugled from about 80 yards up from me and I made a move for a bit of an opening, hoping that the cows were above him. It payed off and I caught movement in the brush ahead, it was the big bull working a balsam over. I grabbed cover behind a tree and peared around the side and gave a few cow chirps. He seemed to ignore my chirps and continued with the tree for over 2 minutes. Then he turned and started to head across the hillside away from me, but I had no clear shot so I held fire and gave a couple more cow chirps. Finally I gave one last bugle and all hell broke loose as he stormed into plain view and right at the tree I was behind. I made a quick point count to make sure he was legal and then waited for him to lift his head and expose his chest. At twelve yards he slowed a bit and raised his head and I squeezed off a shot into his right shoulder. He went down hard and expired within a few seconds. I walked up and admired him for a few minutes and thought about all the time and effort spent leading up to this moment. Then the work began with gutting and quartering.
For those interested, I was shooting a Remington XCR in .338 Ultra. I used 225 grain Hornady Inter-Bonds on top of 91.5 grains of RL 22. I have no way to post pics, as my computer is too slow for my camera's software:mad: (Sorry) I'll get around to green scoring it this weekend, but a close guess would be in the 310-325 range.
RO