2011 Elk Season - It was good !!

[AZ Jim]

Well, the 2011 Elk Season ended good for our family, 6 of them drew tags and 4 were filled, - two cows and two bulls. Lot's of meat in the freezers! My Daughter harvested her 2nd elk (first bull), my brother his first elk (a cow), my cousin his 2nd elk (a cow), and my nephew his first elk (a bull). They hunted in three different units, fought the long drives on rough back roads to access their hunt areas, cold weather, snow, mountain lions and competition from other hunters.


My daughter drew her elk tag in unit 6A. No tag for me this year, I applied for bonus point only so I had the duties of binocular and water carrier, elk spotter and field dresser. This was our last hunt together before she gets married, so this was a special time for us. I did a lot of pre-season scouting in the area of her unit I wanted to hunt, and although I did not see alot of sign in the months before, the last couple of weeks it started to improve as the weather got colder. We went in the week before, saw some good sign and some elk using the fence crossings I had been watching. We set up a ground blind a week before the hunt started and prayed for colder weather and snow. We got it. We arrived 2 days before the hunt started and set camp near the "Road from Hell" as we so aptly named the road back into hunt area and between us and ITDann's camp. Thanksgiving day we watched our area from a distance with the scope and scouted some secondary areas. Pretty much took it easy, and barbequed some steaks for Thanksgiving dinner, and despite all of the preparation with the .308 rifle she changes her mind and will be using the .270. A woman's prerogative, I guess. That is why I had her practice with both.


Day one, was wild, the guys that camped next to us got up at 2:30 A.M. and headed down the "Road from Hell" by 3:30 A.M. - Damn! that meant we had to get out there also or they would bust our area. So we dragged ourselves out of bed two hours early and headed out. We had a freezing rain / snow the night before so when we snuck into our blind at 4:30 A.M. there was ice all over the inside and outside. With the temps in the 20's it was like sitting in an ice box. We waited and waited for daylight, trying to be quiet and sit still, but needing to move around to stay warm. We broke out the warm packs to provide relief. As it became light the shooting started, this is normal in that unit, there is a lot of hunting activity, we were hoping to use that to our advantage, you see the area I picked is along a migration route, and the fence crossing was to a canyon the elk use as an escape route. The sun was getting higher, the shooting increased, but no elk came our way, it was getting a little warmer now. We heard some shots near us, so we were on edge, then some more really near us, no elk, but did they see our blind ? - I had placed hunter orange around it, but still what if they had not seen it? - Then it began, the so called hunter who began shooting apparently at every elk. 25 shots we heard from one rifle alone. Later on we found out a young women told a guy who stopped to help her gut her elk, "I shot at all of them" when asked what all of the shooting was about. He told us he turned her in to Game and Fish. Well we exited the blind to move around and get warm about 8:30 A.M., checked some more escape routes as the shooting continued, we estimated about 60 shots in the 2 square miles around us since daylight, but no elk came our way. My daughter was discouraged. We hunted along the top of the canyon for the rest of the day, and then headed to another part of the unit for the evening. No elk for Day one. Time to get some sleep and plan for tomorrow.


Day two:.... well I am tired now so I will continue later. Here are a few pics for now, more to come.

 

[Kentuck]

man, can't wait for the rest of the story. Last time I hunted our spot in Idaho there was a guy down the canyon that sounded like that lady near you. I guarantee the guy shot at least a box of shells the first our of light. I saw one elk he shot and an know it was at least 500 yards from him. Would hate to see how many wounded elk were on that mountain.

 

[AZ Jim]

2011 Elk Season - It was good ! ! - Day two

OK, so where was I ....., oh yeah, <u>Day two</u>​: <br>
<br>
So we were pretty tired after day one and got up later than we wanted to, rushed to get in a breakfast of protein bars, instant oatmeal, some yogurt, orange juice and split a stale doughnut. Headed down the "Road from Hell" again. Wait what was that noise, man if I only had 14 inches of ground clearance instead of 11, oh well I did not need that shock mount did I ??? "Let's get going dad", my daughters words snapped me back to focus on the hunt. We made it back into our hunt area, parked and walked to our blind. It was getting light already, and we did not have to use a headlamp to find our way to the blind. We put our hunter orange around the blind again, and settled in. We only had 20 minutes to wait this time before legal shooting light. We could see the fence crossing clearly now and heard a few shots in the distance, but not like yesterday. We waited, taking turns peering and glassing out each of the windows, hoping that bull would pass by within shooting range and give her a good shot. It was a few degrees warmer that morning, still cold, but no ice in the blind, a welcome relief. <br>
<br>
Then it happened, a bull appeared out of nowhere. It was a spike, as I looked out the window to my right, just standing there about 80 yards away. I had confirmed with my daughter before the hunt started what size bull she was looking for, she had told me anything legal even a spike she just wanted her first bull. I whispered to her there was a bull to our right. Her eyes bugged out and she quickly looked out the window to her left, saying where?, where?. I said again to our right, she looked left again. Then I said those funny words "your other right", and she finally looked in the right direction and spotted the spike still standing there, but getting edgy. He looked our direction and stared at the blind. My daughter brought the .270 up into position pointing the muzzle out the front window to her right, and I reminded her to take it off safe when she was ready to shoot. Just before she was to pull the trigger, I saw the spike looking at something through the tree, It was another elk, a bull, a bigger one. I was confident they were going to cross the fence together, so I told her to hold up to take the bigger one before the fence crossing about 100 yards away. It worked, they joined up and headed towards the fence as they came around some more trees I told her to take the one in front, the one with the bigger rack. She took aim at the vitals, and let a 150 grn. Winchester XP3 fly. The big bull flinched, jumped the fence and favored his leg when he landed, then they both ran away to the left along the fence line, or so we thought. <br>
<br>
She asked "Dad did I hit it", I said yeah, but not sure how good, let's give them a few minutes, then go look for blood. It seamed like we waited forever, but probably only 2 minutes before we made it over to where they where at when she shot, and then the fence crossing. We crossed the fence. I told to be in front of me and have her rifle ready. We looked and looked, no blood yet, and their tracks mixed with a hundred other tracks. Darn!, where did they go I wondered? We watched the other side of the canyon to see if they were making their way up the other side, nothing. I suggested we back track and look for blood by the fence crossing again. My daughter is great at finding blood and she found a small drop on the other side of the fence, then I replayed their reaction after the shot in my head. The spike headed left, then looked like it might have veered back right as he went down the hill toward the canyon. We started looking in that direction and found a primary, deeply rutted trail going down into the canyon. "More blood" my daughter said, we continued down the slope and we found more, brighter in color now, and looking like it was coming out both sides. Then I heard it down in the steep part at the bottom of the canyon, thrashing and death rattling as his lungs filled with blood. I positioned her for a finishing shot as we could now see it trying to get up and lifting its head. I set up the Trigger Sticks and she steadied for a steep angled shot and let another one fly. It was not necessary, the bull had died before she pulled the trigger. <br>
<br>
Elk one down ! We hugged and I congratulated her on a good hunt and a good kill. I was so proud of her. She tagged it, the calls went out to her fiance, and her grandpa (my dad) and her brother and my friend to help. Now we had to field dress it and get it out of the canyon. The hard work began and like the trooper she has been since she was a little girl she jumped right in and helped me tie the legs off to some trees, keep my knife sharp, and hold the rib cage open. I did not really want to cut it up and hike it out, so we devised a plan to connect all of our rope and tow straps together (250 feet) and pull it up to the top with the truck. I could get on the other side of the fence through an opening down line and position the truck to pull it up to the top.. She would keep the the antlers positioned as best as possible and guide the body through the trees and over the boulders. Slowly but surely we pulled it up to the top, stopping to take up the slack, backing up then pulling again until we had it up and under a big tree for shade. Well the cavalry arrived ( I told them of course when the hard work was done). A few more pictures later and then loaded it into my friends truck for the ride back to camp down the "Road from Hell". Well we transferred it to the trailer and headed right into Flagstaff with it to the butcher and celebrated the long successful day with a dinner out.<br>
<br>
Here are some more pics to hold you over until the story continues...... Day three and four next.<br><br><img src="http://www.jesseshunting.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=68309&stc=1" attachmentid="68309" alt="" id="vbattach_68309" class="previewthumb"><img src="http://www.jesseshunting.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=68308&stc=1" attachmentid="68308" alt="" id="vbattach_68308" class="previewthumb"><img src="http://www.jesseshunting.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=68310&stc=1" attachmentid="68310" alt="" id="vbattach_68310" class="previewthumb"><img src="http://www.jesseshunting.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=68311&stc=1" attachmentid="68311" alt="" id="vbattach_68311" class="previewthumb"><img src="http://www.jesseshunting.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=68312&stc=1" attachmentid="68312" alt="" id="vbattach_68312" class="previewthumb"><br><br>AZ Jim

 

[hunterdoug]

great story jim congrats to you and your daughter

 

[ltdann]

Congrats again!

 

[AZ Jim]

2011 Elk Season - It was good !! - Days three, four, and five

Days three, four and five..


Day three: we slept in, relaxed a little, talked about the hunt more. My daughter wanted to take a drive through the woods to Highway 87 and down to the Long Valley Cafe to get a breakfast with some the best bacon in Arizona. As we drove through the woods two bull elk ran across the road a spike and a 3x3 bull, they looked at us waiting for some one to get out and chase them. I kept driving and they ran along side us about 100 yards out, as the road turned they crossed in front of us again. Now on our right they stopped in the trees and looked back at us and I said "not today boys, we are done hunting". They walked off with what I imagined was a confused look on their face saying in elk language to each other, "boy are they stupid, don't they know it's elk season"? The other one would say back "yeah, but boy are we lucky, that girl looks like she knows how to hunt" We continued down the road looking at the elk hanging in some of the camps. When we got into Long Valley we stopped at one of the meat processing trailers that were set up in the parking lot. We saw some nice bulls from our hunt unit and others around us that had been brought in for processing. I asked one of the hunters if I could take a picture of a really nice rack from a bull he had taken out of unit 5A, it was on a trailer in the parking lot. He was proud of it and said yes. We ate breakfast and sparked up a conversation with the other hunters in the cafe, all of them giving my daughter congratulations, then headed back towards camp.


We decided to take the back way into our camp so we could stop by and see if ITDann and Chuck were back to their camp from the morning hunt, even if it meant another trip down the "Road from Hell". There camp was easy to spot, a cool fully camoflauged truck was parked there. No one was around so we left a note and headed back to camp. We stopped along the way to talk to a man and his 15 year old son, who said his son had taken a really nice bull, his first. We would find out later that day just how nice, probably in the 360 class. We got back to camp, and I cut off the skull cap from my daughters bull, and skinned it out. She wanted everyone to know it was a girl who shot it it, because all of the hunters that drove by were giving me the thumbs up and saying good job. She proceded to wrap pink ribbon around the antlers. She made a funny comment about the broken antler tips on her bull, she said "he was a fighter and a bully and I do not tolerate bullies, so I had to take him out". A cool fully camoflauged Ford truck was coming down the road to our camp, it was ITDann and Chuck stopping by before their evening hunt. They congratulated my daughter on her first bull. We told the story and shared some places we had seen elk, reviewed the map and made some suggestions of where to hunt. The boy who had shot the big elk and his dad came by our camp, with the very large elk, with a very large rack in tow on a trailer. We congratulated him and made small talk. This inspired ITDann and Chuck, so off they went to hit the woods in search of a great Wapiti. We took a drive down the road to look for wildlife, spotted some deer and anteope, then headed back to camp and made a fire. This was the first time we had to really relax by the fire. It was nice to kick back and enjoy the warmth and talk. We would casually pack camp the next day and leave because she had to get to work and the truck was making some funny noises.


Day four: We woke up, well I did, while the princess slept in. I made her a good breakfast then we casually started packing camp. Then the text message came in from one of my brothers who was hunting with my nephew in unit 3A/3C. Elk two down! My nephew had taken a nice bull. It was "very nice" as we could see by the picture that accompanied the text. "Lucky kid", I thought. It was his first time hunting big game where he carried a rifle in the field and took a big 5x5. Apparently while driving down one of the roads in their hunt area they spotted a herd on their left of about 40 to 50 elk feeding about 500 yards out. There were a couple of spikes in the herd they were watching, when a small group of 4 bulls and a cow came out of the trees to the right near their truck. My nephew jumped out and started after them, he could not get a shot at any of the bulls because the were running and had turned back into the trees then he saw the big one in the group who was behind the rest. He had an oppourtunity for a shot and sent a 225 grn. pill from his .338 Win. Mag it's way. He lost the bull in his recoil and did not see anything. He was not sure what happened, then my brother told him he had knocked it flat. They walked over and as they approached, could see it's antlers sticking up behind a big fallen tree, double lung and a shoulder, almost dropped in it's tracks. They spent the rest of the day dressing it out and moving logs to be able to back up the truck and load it. When he brought it in to the butcher he was told it was one of the heaviest he had taken in so far this season. We finished packing our camp, bungied the rack from my daughters bull to the back of the trailer for all to see and headed into Phoenix.


Day five: Day five I woke up and brought the Sequoia into Desert Rat 4x4 to have them check my suspension and lift kit, before I brought it in to the Toyota dealer for repairs and an inspection. Luckily nothing major, some tightening minor warranty work and I was on my way. I spent the rest of the day organizing, cleaning and purging gear I did need to take with me to help my brothers on their cow elk hunt. I left late and drove all night to Unit 9 near the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.


Here are some more pics; - Day six: Scouting for the Unit 9 cow hunt coming next.

 

[AZ Jim]

2011 Elk Season - It was good !! - Days six and seven

Day's six and seven:


Day six: Well after driving all night to Unit 9, I found the place my brothers had set up some tents and a table to save our camp spot while they were scouting the previous weekend. We chose a road that was centrally located in the unit to camp by so we could access any of the three main wintering areas for the elk. Our camp was at the upper end of the winter range so depending on the weather we could adapt to the situation. I dropped the gear trailer and headed out to start scouting, I did not see a lot of concentrated sign yet in the low range and only saw one bull that day near our camp. I made the determination, they had not fully migrated low yet and the cows were still hanging in the transition areas. I returned to camp and finished setting up the cook tent and rest of camp. It was going to be cold that night and had started to snow some. This was good, the snow and colder weather would help concentrate the elk and they would start to gather in larger winter herds. I went into Tusayan to pick up some supplies and talk to the locals about the weather report and where they had seen elk. This is very much a tourist town near the entrance to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon so you have to ask the right folks or you get the "your a mean hunter" evil eye. I returned to camp and hit the sack early.


Day seven: I woke up early and headed out at first light there was some snow on the ground around camp, the wind was blowing. I grabbed a quick breakfast and headed to lower elevations in the unit, stopping to glass the open areas at the bases of the juniper covered hills, and repair some wash outs in the dirt road. There are areas between the hills and sage / grassland flats the elk like to feed in. They are covered in scrub oak, cliff rose, wild grass, and cactus. As I passed the railroad tracks, I stopped on a high rise along the road and glassed north towards the migration routes. I spotted a herd of about 25 elk feeding in an open area slowly moving towards the treeline. This is where I would suggest my brothers start hunting the next morning on Opening Day for the cow elk hunt. It started snowing again, we were supposed to get more for the next 4 days. I moved down the road more watching the ridges and foothills. I found a road that went back in towards the foothills and checked some natural funnels between the ridges, finding more elk track than the day before. They had started to migrate ! This was good. I spent the rest of the day glassing and looking for access roads that they could get closer to the herds in the morning. I ran into some deer herds and some javelina. My brothers and cousin would be arriving later that evening. There was a winter storm warning out now for I-17, I 40 and the Flagstff area. My brothers would have to take a longer route to get there due to road conditions, below the snow levels. I went back to camp to wait for them.. When they arrived the snow had really started to come down. We ate, set up the rest of their gear, and reviewed the maps of the area. We got to bed semi-early to be prepared for opening day of the cow hunt.


More pics. - Day eight, opening day of the Cow elk hunt coming soon.






AZ Jim

 

[Kentuck]

This is cool stuff. Looking forward to the rest.

 

[AZ Jim]

2011 Elk Season - It was good !! - Day eight - Opening day for the Cow elk hunt

Day eight: - Opening day of the Cow Elk hunt


We got up early that morning and I led the guys out towards the lower elevation area I had seen the 25 elk the day before, there was snow on the ground out there, "that could change things" I thought to myself. The plan was to drop them off on a small jeep trail without cresting the hill overlooking the feed area. This would cut their hiking distance to the feeding area and treeline by half and still not disturb the elk if they were out there. They would walk in just before first light, stand quietly or still hunt. I would go back out to the main dirt road at an elevated location and glass and spot for them. It was cold, snowing intermittently, the elk's food had been covered slightly in snow, but was it enough to keep them from feeding, would they move down more? I was to meet the guys at 9:00 if I had not herd a shot before that. That was about an hour later than the elk were out the day before and hopefully account for them feeding out later if the snow and cold kept them bedded longer. I glassed and glassed and did not see anything, except for a fox, and some muleys. I thought I caught a glimpse of a small herd half way down a ridge, just under the juniper treeline heading out towards the winter range, but was it elk I was seeng?, they were over 2 miles away. I met the guys where I dropped them off, my cousin was still not back yet, we were concerned a little because he was unfamiliar with the area. We were also hopeful he had spotted some elk and was on there trail. I traveled down into the feed area and found his tracks in the snow, but on the opposite side of the road. It looked like he was making a large loop back around to the trucks. I did not notice any elk track, just some deer and javelina. By about 10:00, everyone had met back up, and no one had seen elk or track. This meant they migrated down further last night due to the snow and cold weather that kept coming. We checked some of the other areas we knew and watched along the roads for track in the snow. We snacked on some jerky and, my cousin broke out the mango licorice, damn good stuff if you ever get a chance to taste some. They were tired from the drive the day before, so we headed back to camp for a short nap, lunch and a plan for the evening hunt.


Day eight will have to continue later...... it is going to be good, sorry have to get up early for work tomorrow. A few more pics to hold you over.




AZ Jim

 

[AZ Jim]

2011 Elk Season - It was good !! - Day eight - Opening day for the Cow elk hunt ....continued

........ Day eight continued - Opening day of the Cow Elk hunt


Ok, sorry about that interruption in the story, - work got in the way.


I missed part of the story, and forgot to write something about opening day of the Cow Elk hunt, so I will add it in here as I eat some Andouille Elk sausage for breakfast. Before we headed back to camp, we went out past the ranch house towards the flats. This location has many open feeding areas and small ridge lines or fingers with cliff rose, intermittent junipers and high desert grasses. The open feeding areas are covered in sage, range grasses, a species of prickly pear and an intermittent cactus that looks like a staghorn. The smaller fingers and ridges lead up into juniper and pinyon covered hills and taller ridges. This landscape provides the elk with cover and escape routes through valleys that are not obvious until you get out hike around in them. We really just headed out there to see if the snow had pushed the elk down that far. Well it had, and while systematically moving and glassing from high points along the road, my cousin spotted a herd of about 15 elk about a half mile away moving out of the feeding areas up into the ridges. The plan was for the hunters to use a hidden valley between the ridges the elk were heading up, then pop up over the top where they thought they would be at. Well it almost worked. The herd unknown to us was part of a larger herd. I was to go to a high point and let them know what direction the elk were heading. As I turned around a bend in the road to get to a higher elevation, a herd of about 15 elk were crossing in front of me and heading toward the unit boundary fence a half mile away. Thinking this was the same herd that we spotted. I parked and hustled toward and then along the unit boundary fence hoping to let them see me before they crossed thinking maybe they would turn back down the valleys towards my brothers who had the rifles and elk tags. As I ran along the fence line I encountered the herd. At one point elk were passing me at 15 yards. Well they stopped and stared at me like I was a crazy when I asked them to turn around and go the other way. They had played this game before, "guy with only binoculars, no gun or tag telling us to turn around and go the other way", ? "I think not" the lead cow said to her girlfriends (or at least that is what I think she said in elk language), then they proceded to and along the fence, crossing it where they could.


I headed back to the high point to let my brothers know they missed their chance and that the elk had made it over the fence to the unit boundary in a different direction. As I pulled up to it I noticed two trucks parked along the side of the road. The hunters were out of their trucks and glassing a valley between two ridges, two of them were setting up tripods to take a shot. I glassed around and wouldn't you know it, here came the rest of that herd we had originally spotted. My brothers were crossing over another ridge into the wrong valley. Damn! oh well, that is why they call it hunting. I watched as these other hunters shot at a couple elk in the herd and helped them keep an eye on one they hit. It would bed, then get up go about 50 yards and bed again. It kept moving up and over the top as they got closer for a finishing shot. The rest of the herd made it over road and past trucks where the other hunter who had shot at one of the other elk started following them up into the foothills, that is the last I saw of him. I heard another shot later. Hopefully he got one. The guy who had shot the one that kept bedding finally caught up with her on the other side of the ridge and put a couple finishing shots in her. After that we headed back to camp for a nap and luch before the evening hunt.


More of Day eight continue as I get into the evening hunt ..... sorry it is taking so long, but have to take care of a sick dog, and I am going to get killed if I don't get the Christmas tree up.


AZ Jim

 

[elkguys]

Jim thanks for the great story!! Im sure you are like I was with my daughter on cloud nine,such at great thing to spend time with the family outdoors!

 

[AZ Jim]

2011 Elk Season - It was good !! - Day eight - Opening day for Cow elk hunt - cont. - Elk #3 down

Day eight, opening day of the Cow Elk hunt continued ... the evening hunt, Elk # 3 Down ! (and day nine)


So we headed out to the evening hunt and I suggested my brothers and cousin hunt some foothills in the lower part of the unit about half way between the railroad tracks and the ranch house. This where I had seen the track in the natural funnels between the ridges. They had about 2 hours to hunt and I told them to watch the foothills. The plan was catch the elk as they came out to feed for the evening. If they got one it would be fairly easy access to get it loaded in the truck. I would again find an elavated location and glass. I started to snow again. Well I should have known better, my brother the "Wild Mountain Man Ridge Hunter" (the nickname he has earned, Wild Man for short) dragged the other two to the top of the ridges as fast as he could. The whole time I am glassing the foothills. Well about 15 mins. before sunset I heard a shot a long distance off. A few minutes later another. The shots came from far away, way up high on top of the distant ridge. "Were there other hunters in the area" ?, I had not seen any. If it was my brothers and cousin what the hell were they doing up there? Did one of the guys get lost ?, disoriented by the snow thought ? For some reason I was not thinking they would have got an elk, because they were supposed to be in the foothills. I hear three more shots, now I am really thinking they are looking for each other and one is lost. I drove around on the low roads between the ridges that wove around at the base of the foothills to see if someone had come down. I saw no one. It was almost dark now so I broke out the coyote rifle I carry when i'm in that area and fired two shots. I waited and listened, two shots returned. Then I noticed I missed a call on my cell phone from my cousin. He was trying to call, but it would not go through. I tried to call him, but the signal would not stay connected. Now I am convinced they are lost and trying to find the trucks, so I drive up on top of a small hill. From there I can see the top of the far ridge in the last light.


It was snowing a little more now and quickly getting colder. I faced the truck in that direction and turned on the lights w/ high beams. I got out an old Coleman flashlight lantern I have been carrying around for years in my tool box. A few taps on the side and it light up, - dim, but worked. It just needed some fresh batteries. I remembered I got that lantern from Dandy Don, the guy who taught me to duck hunt, I thought I will have to call him when I get back and thank him again for the flashlight. I changed the batteries and started waving the light. It reflected well off of the snow that was coming down and made a nice beam. Then I saw it, a small but very bright light high up on the ridge. Slowly the light came down the ridge towards me. It was completely dark now. I put on my pack and walked towards the light working my way up the ridge with the lantern. Finally I ran into one of my brothers, the one we dubbed "Wild Mountain Man Ridge Hunter", who's head lamp almost blinded me. He let me go on talking for a minute about thinking they were lost, how bright his headlamp was, the fact it was supposed to snow all night etc.... We walked back down towards the trucks a little and I asked, "are the others close behind you" ? He said we needed to go back down to the trucks get the game retrieval packs and gear ready, get the trucks and get them as close as possible to where my other brother had shot his first elk ! Awesome ! That made Elk # 3 down for the family! I thought, why does he have to lead me on like that, just say it. It was funny though the way he did it. The shots I had heard were them signaling me they had got an elk not that they were lost.


Of course this wasn't going to be easy, my other brother had killed his first elk way up on top of the far ridge. "Wild Man" (for short) told me the story. He decided to change plans because it was snowing again. Instead of the foothills they would head high fast before sunset to catch migrating herds as they came across the top of the ridges and headed out to the winter range due to the snow. Well it worked and at the top of the ridge they ran into a herd. It was thick on top, they smelled the elk before they saw them. Then after stalking slowly, he spots them moving through the trees. He wanted my other brother to get a shot at one first, so he motioned for him to come over and set him up in a place where he could see the elk passing through the trees at about 50 yards. My brother sees a large cow start to come through, he has buck fever (well cow fever) bad. "Wild Man" calms him and he squeezes the trigger on the customized 30-06 Springfield O3-A3, sending a 180 Winchester Accubond it's way. The herd broke and some came towards Wild Man and my Cousin, then down hill along the side of the ridge. They pursued, but could not get a good shot, so they joined back up with my brother who was standing there pointing his rifle at the cow he shot, now only thirty yards away. She has in shock, and Wild Man thought my brother was also. He told him to shoot again, but he was hesitant and saying that snow was in his scope and because of his contact lenses it was hard to see. Wild Man said your only 30 yards away, point at the shoulder and pull the trigger. He was still shaking when he shot, but the elk came off her feet, flew back and slammed to the ground as the second Accubond slammed into her. One more finishing shot, slaps on the back, and my brother was tagging his first elk. They took some pictures. My brother and my cousin would start a fire and begin field dressing the elk. I loved listening to my brother "Wild Man" tell me the story as we walked back to the truck.


Well we put the trucks in 4 wheel drive and slowly worked our way in the dark on old small jeep trails up the foothills towards the top of the ridge. In some places we had to make our own route, being careful as possible of the vegatation. At one point we realized would could not access the downed elk going up the ridgeline due to the terrain. We backtracked down to the bottom again and then up the draw between the two ridges. We got in a far as we could with the trucks, about 3/4 of a mile from the elk. We realized we were going to have to pack it out the rest of the way. We backed one truck up to the hill to make it easier to load as we came down with the meat. I parked mine with the lights facing up hill so we could see the headlight becon as we traveled back and forth from the truck to the kill site. I GPS'd the trucks, grabbed some extra lights, retrieval gear, packs and glow sticks and headed up to the top of the ridge. It was about 8:30 PM now and the temps were down in the low twenties. I remember thinking how funny it was that the snow was sticking to the ground, building up on the opposite ridge and down where our trucks were parked, but not so much on the ridge we were on. I placed glow sticks along our route about every 100 yards or so to help us while we packed out. We got to the top and met my cousin who was with the elk and had a fire going, my brother had gone to look for "Wild Man" and myself. We were nervous now that he really would get lost in this stuff at night, but after a 20 mins. of calling and some safely directed signal shots we all reunited. I congratulated my brother on his first elk and on the good job they had done field dressing it. They had propped the chest cavity open with a stick to allow it to cool. Now the work began. We made a plan and worked slowly and surely so no one would get hurt and kept the fire going for warmth. We would need to skin it to cool the meat quicker eventhough it was cold out. We had sheet plastic and game bags. We started skinning and I thought to myself this is the first one I have had to skin on the ground. I took off my jacket as the work began. I was not cold as long as I kept moving. After we skinned one side, I cut off the shoulder and hind quarter we laid them on the clean plastic sheet to cool more, the exposed meat steamed in the cold night air as it cooled quickly. They packed the cut off meat in the game bags then the back packs. For safety reasons the meat would go down to the truck in parties of two. The younger guys would pack out while the old guy (me) worked on the skinning, quartering and meat cutting. I cut the neck meat off and laid that out. The process continued.


We rolled the elk over onto her skin using it to keep the exposed side meat clean. In the low light conditions I made the mistake of going to fast, got ahead of myself and stabbed my hand. Had to stop to perfom some first aid, then continue. We worked on it all night into early morning. We saved the rib cage with the back straps and tenderloins for the last trip. We put out the fire, picked up the trash, grabbed the last bit of gear in a pack, drank some water and placed the rib cage in a large wool blanket. We each grabbed a corner of the blanket and headed down slowly. The ground was slippery, snow and ice on the rocks. We would carry it about a hundred yards, stopping to rest when there was a glow stick to pick up. I remember stopping once and laughing our butts off at my cousin's new Cabela's jacket covered in blood where the packs had leaked. We were so tired we were slap silly by the time we made it down to the trucks. We downed some more water, rested a little to regain our senses then warned my brother who's my truck we had taken back in there not to let it slide down the hill as we headed back out to the third truck where we parked originally. A slow but careful trip out and we made it to Wild Man's 4Runner. We transfered some gear and headed out on the long road back to camp. I scrounged up some old two way radios out of one of my gear bags, should have handed them out before, but forgot. They have about a quarter to half mile range. Luckily the road was pretty flat, because we all dozed off at different times and had to pull off in the ditch to sleep. We tried to keep each other awake with the radios. We rolled back into camp at 4:00 AM Wild Man and my cousin passed out in the 4Runner and did not make it into their tent until after daylight. My other brother was pretty pumped up after getting his fist elk. I stayed up and talked to him while he cleaned up a little, then we hit the sack at 5:00 A.M. We would wake up when our bodies let us and take the meat into the butcher in Flagstaff. It was 18 degrees now, and the meat was covered in snow in the truck it would be OK until then.



Day nine was pretty much shot. Every body was dead tired. Wild Man and my and cousin hunted around camp and out towards the area we got the elk the night before, but did not see anything. I went into Flagstaff with my brother to the butcher to keep him awake. We found a laundromat and picked up a few supplies and first aid stuff for my cut. Day 10 continues tomorrow .... Some more pics for now. Hope you are enjoying the story.




AZ Jim

 

[Kentuck]

Yup, killing an elk is tremendous work. Learned that the hard way. One question though, why did you all carry the rib cage out? We just cut the meat from in between the ribs and leave the ribs at the kill site. All other meat is also trimmed off.

 

[AZ Jim]

Kentuck,

Yeah your right, that is what should normally be done, but the timing worked out that everyone would be back up on top and I was tired of cutting, so we threw the whole thing in the blanket, and let the butcher at it. I was going to get into day 10 tonight, but I have to do some Christmas shopping and make food for the work Christmas party tomorrow. That is after I eat some elk tenderloin marinated in Jack Daniels Tennessee Honey Whiskey, red onions and black Malabar pepper. I cut it into medallions and sauteed them in olive oil, red pepper, ground garlic and sea salt, then served with roasted red raspberry chipotle sauce. Darn good ! Yum.

 

[Orygun]

Thanks for sharing. Congrats on all the animals.

 

[palladin]

Epic hunt story. Thanks for posting it!

 

[henmar77]

Congrats!

 

[AZ Jim]

2011 Elk Season - It was good !! - Day 10 - Elk # 4 Down! - "The Big Easy" and "Elk Runner"

Day 10 - Elk # 4 Down! - "The Big Easy" and "Elk Runner"


So where was I ? Hmmmm........ let me ponder while I eat some Andouille elk sausage and rice. Anyone from the South ? - Good stuff huh !


OK, sorry about the interruption in the story, but I had to take time away from the computer to be with the family over Christmas. On Day 10 of this story, the 3rd day of the cow elk hunt. It was 6 degrees in camp that morning and we had a break from the snow as we headed out to the low country past the ranch house. It was just turning light as we weaved between a couple of small fingers in the terrain that opened up to a large valley just beyond a rise in the road. The temperature had warmed to a balmy 11 degrees. We parked just below the rise and got out to glass the the sage and grass filled valley below. I was focusing on the open areas on the foothills that surrounded the valley, watching for elk escaping back up or coming down to feed, when my brother "Wild Man" spots a heard of about 40 elk down in the middle of the valley feeding. They were far away, we initially estimated about 1000 yards. Later we would find out they were closer to 1500 yards. The majority of the elk herd had crossed a cattle fence that split the valley, three were hanging at the fence line, two of them looking for a place to cross. The problem was, there was no good way to make a stalk on the elk or get to their escape routes without being seen, so we devised a plan. "Wild Man" and my cousin would get out here and attempt a stalk using what natural dips and brush they could to to get as close as possible. My other brother and I would continue down the road slowly, letting the elk see us, while diverting their attention from the hunters. We would be able to maintain an estimated distance of about 1000 yards due to the direction the road took. If we stayed in the trucks and pretended to ignore them, maybe they would just watch us at that distance, thinking we were a rancher. If they did move off they would head in the direction of my brother and cousin. I headed off first to get to the next rise where I could glass back down in the Valley and watch what they were doing. My brother would follow, but stop half way between the next rise directly accross from the elk, while mainatining that far, non threatening distance. Well it was a good plan until the lead cow who, obviously had a degree in human intuition and elk hunting strategies, would have nothing of that plan. She took the herd right in my direction up the hills toward cover. She must have known I had no elk tag or rifle, because, by the time I made it to the next rise, parked and hustled into the trees the herd was running along side me at about 15 yards again. A few stopped and stared at me. They said to each other in elk language before they took off again "keep heading for the hills, it is just the guy with the binoculars" (I am getting pretty good at this elk language stuff). I was unable to convince them otherwise, to instead turn around back to the valley, even with bribes that they would be featured in this story. This is where I was dubbed the nickname "Elk Runner" by my brothers.


Well I will have to continue with the rest of Day 10 tomorrow, getting late.....


AZ Jim

 

[Oakley]

That is a great story! Congrats! Can't wait for the chance to go after an elk!

 

[AZ Jim]

2011 Elk Season - It was good !! - Day 10 cont..... Elk # 4 Down! - "The Big Easy" and "Elk Runner"

Day 10 continued .... Elk # 4 Down! - "The Big Easy" and "Elk Runner"


I called my brother who stopped at the half way point on the radio and let him know the elk had come my direction up over ther top and headed for the hills with thicker cover. I asked him if he could see Wild Man and my cousin out in the valley walking back. He said he could not see them anywhere. I glassed the whole valley, the surrounding foothills and the fence line and could not see them. I started wondering if Wild Man was trying to make up over the top and follow them into the hills, but man that would be a long way. Maybe I missed them somehow? , he does like to track. I remembered hearing a shot, but it sounded far off and not in the direction the elk had run, there were other hunters in the area, so I did not pay too much attention to it. I met up with my brother who was concerned and expressing that Wild Man "never sticks to the plan", "he is probably chasing that herd all the way back up to the top of the mountain", "going off on a wild goose chase", and that "we are wasting time here". We glassed for them about an hour and went back to where we originally stopped at the first rise to wait for them to come back to the trucks. After a while longer I went up the road to a tall knoll to gain an even higher advantage and set up the spotter. I thought to myself maybe they headed off in a different direction and from here I could see down into the tops of the foothills. I could not see them anywhere, but I spotted another large herd of elk and my brother in the truck spotted another in a different direction. The clouds were moving in and out again, clearing occasionally. It was supposed to snow again later. If Wild Man or my cousin would only answer the radio, we could get them heading after a different herd of elk.


At last my brother spots Wild man walking back across the valley along the fence line. He was by himself. He called me on the radio and I packed up the spotter and headed down to where everyone was parked. As I got closer, I see my brothers had met up in the valley and were talking. I got the call on the radio, that my cousin had got an elk. Awesome! Elk # 4 Down ! - Well what we did not know, is that when the herd headed my direction, one of them broke off and crossed back over the fence, to join the other two elk that were still on the other side of it. Wild Man and my cousin crossed the valley and pursued them up onto one of the small foothills. They were the ones we had first seen by the fence line. They ended up pursing the elk in the opposite direction of us. The elk went up on top to escape into cover and after some time my brother had picked up their trail and caught a glimpse of them through the trees. My cousin spotted a big cow at about 50 yards and raised his rifle, but decided not to shoot to allow Wild Man an opportunity at them also. The elk spooked and ran down and out into another large valley on the other side of the the hill they had gone up. They stopped out in the open. My cousin fearing he would not get another chance at them pulled up his rifle to shoot but was shaking too much so he took a knee. Still shaking to much he saunters over to a juniper tree to get a good rest, all the while the elk were watching him from their safe distance.... so they thought. Well my cousin tells it like this, "they looked a little far, so I aimed high, at the top of her back". Grandpa's (now my cousin's) old Remington Game Master pump action 30-06 barked, sending a 180 grn. Federal Premuim Trophy Bonded Tip bullet on it's way. At the shot the elk spun and started turning in circles and hit the snowy ground about 20 yards from where it was standing. Wild Man watched the whole thing. He was amazed ! This one would be easy compared to my brothers. There was an old jeep trail going up through this valley and we would be able to drive right up to it. That is where my cousin earned the nickname "The Big Easy". He and Wild Man had already field dressed the elk, so when we got to him all there was left to do was some more congratulating, backslapping, picture taking and load it up into the truck.


Just out of curiosity, I ranged from where the elk was standing to the tree he shot from. It was 440 yards. Damn! Hooray to man from Montana !. Now before you judge about the long shot, you have to realize he grew up shooting antelope and mule deer across wide open wheat fields. The bullet passsed through the back of the front leg, lung, arteries at the top of the heart, another lung and landed just under the skin on the opposite side. We loaded the elk into the back of the truck and "Big Easy" and my brother who had already got his elk, headed into Flagstaff to the butcher with another one !


Here are some more pics.


Day 11, the 4th day of the Cow elk hunt coming up .... stay tuned for the mountain lion part of the story.


AZ Jim