Rhyno
02-22-2012, 10:57 PM
This trip started back when I checked my LEH’s and discovered I was drawn for the late season antlerless elk in 7-20A for the second time in two years of applying :mrgreen:. To make the situation even better my hunting buddy got the same draw! Sweet we thought, no matter what happens during GOS, we have this ace in our back pockets, like shooting fish in a barrel. Well December rolled around, time to call our buddy in the Peace. Hmmmm, no snow and warm weather so the elk aren’t in the agriculture zone yet. Ok, no worries, it’s the Peace it’s bound to happen! January started with the same deal. My hunting buddy and I both work flexible jobs, so the deal was once we get “the call” that the elk are in the stacks it would be on. We did get the call, “I have 100 elk in my field right now, get over here! Unfortunately I was committed to some field work, so we planned it for the first day I had off. A few days before I was free to go the cold snap ended and the elk disappeared. Well, the plans were already set in motion, might as well giver a go. Since I was working in PG, my buddy drove over and met me there. By noon the next day we were sipping tea with the farmer, getting the latest on the elk report. None seen in the last 4 day, dammit! We quickly got settled in our cabin and headed out for a drive to look for some fresh sign.
The first evening proved to be uneventful, no elk, not even any tracks. The next morning started with much of the same, except when we pulled out of a side road I heard my buddy say.. ELK! About 70 yards away was a spike bull, I piled out of the truck hoping he had some ladies with him. Well he darted across the road, but no followers. Upon inspecting the tracks, he was the last in line of 4-5 animals. Ok, cool, at least we saw something. 5 minutes down the road I heard, ELK! 2 cows crossed the road like they were shot out of a cannon, no opportunity there. We did a bit of driving that afternoon and the next morning until we felt like we had the lay of the land and determined areas were they seemed to like to cross. We broke out the boots the afternoon on the 3rd day to see if we could find them in the bush, hopefully not moving at mach speed. I had some neat encounters with a moose, but no elk. My buddy spotted a herd to 40+ at the end of legal shooting light. Over a few beers we made a sure fire plan for the next morning. He was going to go back to where he had seen the elk the night before and I was going to sneak around back of the bush they appear to be hanging out in. We parted ways well before daylight to get into place. A few hours passed and I hadn’t heard any shooting, so I kept walking. I hit a bit of a cut line and looked up to see an elk looking at me….binos up, not another freak’n spike! I watched him for a few seconds and a cow squirted across the clearing. I caught one more glimpse of her then she was gone. The bull continued to look at me; I decided not to push them as the snow was crunchy and the wind all wrong. I walked back to meet my buddy to see if he had any more success. Since he wasn’t at our determined spot, I started making my way in the direction of his tracks. We met up and started filling each other in on the morning events. Apparently a pack of wolves decided to harass our elk as the tracks took off every which way. More and more this was looking like we may be going home empty handed. I had been away for a few weeks and missed my family so I was only going to give it one more day. I was actually ready to head home then, but my wife insisted I stay, she wanted the freezer filled! I had just finished drawing a map in the snow of where I saw the elk, when my buddy said….There’s an elk! We hit the dirt and sure enough there was it was. We waited a few seconds and a 3 more popped out. I dropped the first one that we had seen and the other started off. But not spooked as the wind was fairly strong and must have carried the sound of the shot away from them. The others were moving, but seemed to be looking back to see why sally wasn’t following. I stayed put, while my buddy took off and snuck up over a small rise between us and the direction the elk were heading. I watched him lie prone, then boom! He stood up, pumped his fist, Double Header! How quickly it went from the prospect of an empty freezer to tagged out! We called the posse and with the help of a few buddies had the animals quartered and hanging in no time. We had a few extra brews that night and told the story over and over (even though we were both there). Great hunt, good friends, and perfect weather. Next up….late season billies, then wife wants to find a bear this spring as her intro to big game hunting!
The first evening proved to be uneventful, no elk, not even any tracks. The next morning started with much of the same, except when we pulled out of a side road I heard my buddy say.. ELK! About 70 yards away was a spike bull, I piled out of the truck hoping he had some ladies with him. Well he darted across the road, but no followers. Upon inspecting the tracks, he was the last in line of 4-5 animals. Ok, cool, at least we saw something. 5 minutes down the road I heard, ELK! 2 cows crossed the road like they were shot out of a cannon, no opportunity there. We did a bit of driving that afternoon and the next morning until we felt like we had the lay of the land and determined areas were they seemed to like to cross. We broke out the boots the afternoon on the 3rd day to see if we could find them in the bush, hopefully not moving at mach speed. I had some neat encounters with a moose, but no elk. My buddy spotted a herd to 40+ at the end of legal shooting light. Over a few beers we made a sure fire plan for the next morning. He was going to go back to where he had seen the elk the night before and I was going to sneak around back of the bush they appear to be hanging out in. We parted ways well before daylight to get into place. A few hours passed and I hadn’t heard any shooting, so I kept walking. I hit a bit of a cut line and looked up to see an elk looking at me….binos up, not another freak’n spike! I watched him for a few seconds and a cow squirted across the clearing. I caught one more glimpse of her then she was gone. The bull continued to look at me; I decided not to push them as the snow was crunchy and the wind all wrong. I walked back to meet my buddy to see if he had any more success. Since he wasn’t at our determined spot, I started making my way in the direction of his tracks. We met up and started filling each other in on the morning events. Apparently a pack of wolves decided to harass our elk as the tracks took off every which way. More and more this was looking like we may be going home empty handed. I had been away for a few weeks and missed my family so I was only going to give it one more day. I was actually ready to head home then, but my wife insisted I stay, she wanted the freezer filled! I had just finished drawing a map in the snow of where I saw the elk, when my buddy said….There’s an elk! We hit the dirt and sure enough there was it was. We waited a few seconds and a 3 more popped out. I dropped the first one that we had seen and the other started off. But not spooked as the wind was fairly strong and must have carried the sound of the shot away from them. The others were moving, but seemed to be looking back to see why sally wasn’t following. I stayed put, while my buddy took off and snuck up over a small rise between us and the direction the elk were heading. I watched him lie prone, then boom! He stood up, pumped his fist, Double Header! How quickly it went from the prospect of an empty freezer to tagged out! We called the posse and with the help of a few buddies had the animals quartered and hanging in no time. We had a few extra brews that night and told the story over and over (even though we were both there). Great hunt, good friends, and perfect weather. Next up….late season billies, then wife wants to find a bear this spring as her intro to big game hunting!