chap_dog48
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- Aug 29, 2003
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So my Elk hunt came and went and it was a blast. Many of you know that I was a little concerned with all the traffic that I was seeing in the area of my hunt and was not sure what was going to be around come when my hunt was to take place. Well guess what? Exactly what I was afraid of happened. Everything in that zone was bumped, moved, or scared and nowhere around. So here is how my hunt went.
Friday I send up some “GUIDES” to see what was hanging around the area because I was not going be to able to get up there until late Saturday night. So I gave “Methane Outfitters” a call to help out. Now for those of you that don’t know these guys are a “GAS” to hunt with. With the Methane Crew in place I know something was going to happen and happen it did they straight up stunk up the place. They cruised through and found nothing in any of the place the elk had been hanging around during July and during the archery hunts of August. The Methane Crew did not find any elk Saturday to give me a place to start. So that “Stunk”! “The Crew” Scott and Dennis ran into some guys that had been hunting deer in the area and they said they hadn’t seen any elk at all since the end of September when the deer season started. They said if anyone saw them it was always the rear ends of them and they were haul-in’ ass! Just so you know the you should hunt with the Methane Outfitters it a Gas! Thanks for the help seriously guys. Just so everyone knows these are just my friend and are not real guides, they just love to hunt and help when they can, but watch out for the crop dusting they can do serious damage to scent control. J
So, I got up there late Saturday and looked around for a ½ hour but saw nothing, so we set up camp as it got dark. In camp that night was my wife and kid but coming in the morning was my Dad, my Uncle, and my Brother to help put eyes in the area. I sent the guys to Moffet Ranch and they walked the whole green strip while my Uncle glassed to see if anything bumped out of the area but hey found NOTHING! The wife, kids and I headed to the pasture and NOTHING for us either. We then moved to the areas around Manzanar NOTHING! I was starting to get a little worried that may be everything was truly gone from the area, but at 11:00am my kids Brock and Hailey spotted the first Elk way out in the flats west of Manzanar. About 40 elk 35 of them cows 2 spikes a 3x3, a 5x4 and 1 6x6 that was a little broken but a nice Bull. Finally we have some elk, but they were in the middle of the barren wasteland. So after looking for the rest of the day for other bulls I was getting a little worried that was all the Elk in the area. I really had my bulls picked out my #1 bull was “301” or the Big 7x7, #2 was an 8x7 what was broke up, #3 was the 6x6 in the herd that we saw. So I had the feeling that all the traffic of the guys driving around deer hunting may have buggered up the elk and they are out of sight.
I saw a few small bull and tried several times to get at them with the bow in that open ground and all I could get to was within 80. There just is not enough cover to make stalks in that open ground.
The next morning we saw nothing in the open so we walked a few drainage's and ended bumping a smaller bull out of some thick willows of one of the creeks but he too ran like hell into the wasteland. It was obvious the plan to take one with a bow was fading.
At lunch we headed back to camp and sat and talked up a game plan. I really enjoyed having my wife and kids and my Dad, Brother, and Uncle with me in camp we must have laughed at at my Uncle’s jokes for an hour straight. I really liked having by Dad and Uncle there because these are the people that taught me what I know about hunting, they have been there for everything in my life, and are my support circle. Well, my Uncle dropped a bomb on the family stating this was his last big game hunt he was ever going on since his body was giving out. He has serious affect of Agent Orange and his pancreas and joints have been real bad the last 10 years and now his arteries are disintegrating at a rapid pace and his knees are gone, it was evident in the fact he could only walk 20 yards at most, even in camp. I had a big lump in the throat know that the days of Deer and Elk camp with everyone was coming to an end and was a little sad. My Uncle drove down from Redding just to be there with my on this hunt and it was awesome having him there. Another thing he said he was he had to get home, he was worn out, so he was leaving the next day, and to top that off, my Dad had to get back to work and so did my Brother who flew in from Oklahoma just to be there.
So my plans changed into serious mode and out came the rifle. I was going to make sure we all were together this one last time and go out with a “bang”. I told my Uncle and Dad and my son to get out and find the big heard from day one and if that 6x6#3 was still in the heard I would try for him. My Brother, wife, daughter and I would look for the other bulls. Well we found nothing , so we drove over to my Dad and Uncle and my son and they saw the herd 2 miles west of Manzanar. After some mishaps and me getting busted and the herd running and running and running I was close.
After the herd got into walking mode again I saw that the 6x6#3 was going to be in the back and if he stops it was now or disappointment cause everyone was leaving tomorrow and they would not be here to celebrate with me and that is why they came. So I settled in for a 300+ yards shot and drilled one in him but it didn’t seems to do anything he kept up with the herd. He then started walking again so I drilled another one in the pump house and down he went. He is a nice 6x6, a little broke on his right side G2 and G3 but over all a great bull under the circumstances.
How lucky is this I walked about 20 yards to the south and BAM there was a road. I called my wife on my cell phone and told her to find the road and get the kids and my Uncle up her and after 15 minutes everyone was at the bull. I filled out my tag knowing my goal of the #1 “301” 7x7 was gone but knew that the best thing, and the right thing, had just happened to me and that everything just went right and we as a family ended this hunt on a high and everyone was there to enjoy the experience and that was what it was about for me.
I guess I am glad now that it was a general tag cause I doubt with all the pressure on them, and the fact they were only in the open flat wasteland, that getting one with a bow would be almost impossible, I am sure it could have done but there is just no cover to allow you to move.
Hope you enjoyed the read, Kurt
Friday I send up some “GUIDES” to see what was hanging around the area because I was not going be to able to get up there until late Saturday night. So I gave “Methane Outfitters” a call to help out. Now for those of you that don’t know these guys are a “GAS” to hunt with. With the Methane Crew in place I know something was going to happen and happen it did they straight up stunk up the place. They cruised through and found nothing in any of the place the elk had been hanging around during July and during the archery hunts of August. The Methane Crew did not find any elk Saturday to give me a place to start. So that “Stunk”! “The Crew” Scott and Dennis ran into some guys that had been hunting deer in the area and they said they hadn’t seen any elk at all since the end of September when the deer season started. They said if anyone saw them it was always the rear ends of them and they were haul-in’ ass! Just so you know the you should hunt with the Methane Outfitters it a Gas! Thanks for the help seriously guys. Just so everyone knows these are just my friend and are not real guides, they just love to hunt and help when they can, but watch out for the crop dusting they can do serious damage to scent control. J
So, I got up there late Saturday and looked around for a ½ hour but saw nothing, so we set up camp as it got dark. In camp that night was my wife and kid but coming in the morning was my Dad, my Uncle, and my Brother to help put eyes in the area. I sent the guys to Moffet Ranch and they walked the whole green strip while my Uncle glassed to see if anything bumped out of the area but hey found NOTHING! The wife, kids and I headed to the pasture and NOTHING for us either. We then moved to the areas around Manzanar NOTHING! I was starting to get a little worried that may be everything was truly gone from the area, but at 11:00am my kids Brock and Hailey spotted the first Elk way out in the flats west of Manzanar. About 40 elk 35 of them cows 2 spikes a 3x3, a 5x4 and 1 6x6 that was a little broken but a nice Bull. Finally we have some elk, but they were in the middle of the barren wasteland. So after looking for the rest of the day for other bulls I was getting a little worried that was all the Elk in the area. I really had my bulls picked out my #1 bull was “301” or the Big 7x7, #2 was an 8x7 what was broke up, #3 was the 6x6 in the herd that we saw. So I had the feeling that all the traffic of the guys driving around deer hunting may have buggered up the elk and they are out of sight.
I saw a few small bull and tried several times to get at them with the bow in that open ground and all I could get to was within 80. There just is not enough cover to make stalks in that open ground.
The next morning we saw nothing in the open so we walked a few drainage's and ended bumping a smaller bull out of some thick willows of one of the creeks but he too ran like hell into the wasteland. It was obvious the plan to take one with a bow was fading.
At lunch we headed back to camp and sat and talked up a game plan. I really enjoyed having my wife and kids and my Dad, Brother, and Uncle with me in camp we must have laughed at at my Uncle’s jokes for an hour straight. I really liked having by Dad and Uncle there because these are the people that taught me what I know about hunting, they have been there for everything in my life, and are my support circle. Well, my Uncle dropped a bomb on the family stating this was his last big game hunt he was ever going on since his body was giving out. He has serious affect of Agent Orange and his pancreas and joints have been real bad the last 10 years and now his arteries are disintegrating at a rapid pace and his knees are gone, it was evident in the fact he could only walk 20 yards at most, even in camp. I had a big lump in the throat know that the days of Deer and Elk camp with everyone was coming to an end and was a little sad. My Uncle drove down from Redding just to be there with my on this hunt and it was awesome having him there. Another thing he said he was he had to get home, he was worn out, so he was leaving the next day, and to top that off, my Dad had to get back to work and so did my Brother who flew in from Oklahoma just to be there.
So my plans changed into serious mode and out came the rifle. I was going to make sure we all were together this one last time and go out with a “bang”. I told my Uncle and Dad and my son to get out and find the big heard from day one and if that 6x6#3 was still in the heard I would try for him. My Brother, wife, daughter and I would look for the other bulls. Well we found nothing , so we drove over to my Dad and Uncle and my son and they saw the herd 2 miles west of Manzanar. After some mishaps and me getting busted and the herd running and running and running I was close.
After the herd got into walking mode again I saw that the 6x6#3 was going to be in the back and if he stops it was now or disappointment cause everyone was leaving tomorrow and they would not be here to celebrate with me and that is why they came. So I settled in for a 300+ yards shot and drilled one in him but it didn’t seems to do anything he kept up with the herd. He then started walking again so I drilled another one in the pump house and down he went. He is a nice 6x6, a little broke on his right side G2 and G3 but over all a great bull under the circumstances.
How lucky is this I walked about 20 yards to the south and BAM there was a road. I called my wife on my cell phone and told her to find the road and get the kids and my Uncle up her and after 15 minutes everyone was at the bull. I filled out my tag knowing my goal of the #1 “301” 7x7 was gone but knew that the best thing, and the right thing, had just happened to me and that everything just went right and we as a family ended this hunt on a high and everyone was there to enjoy the experience and that was what it was about for me.
I guess I am glad now that it was a general tag cause I doubt with all the pressure on them, and the fact they were only in the open flat wasteland, that getting one with a bow would be almost impossible, I am sure it could have done but there is just no cover to allow you to move.
Hope you enjoyed the read, Kurt
