another gift

[dirtpoor]

last year I was lucky enough to harvest a great elk even though the circumstance's were all against it, that was my first gift. This year I put in for 4th season in Colorado because I like to hunt in the snow and it's relatively easy to find the elk herd that late in the season.So along come's 4th season and there's no snow on the ground /full moon and bluebird skie's, for me this really suck's because my karma has been bad all season, I've been on 4 hunt's this year and killed nothing !! I figure that this is probably just another extention of my bad luck but I've already paid for the tag so off I go to Pagosa Spring's . I arrived 2 day's early so that I could scout but on the first day I couldn't even find a fresh track and the local's told me that 3rd season was a bust so don't expect too much! Just before dark I spot a HUGE herd of elk with at least 3 shooter's 2 6x6's and a 5x4 plus various raghorns and spike's. The herd is at least 200 strong so I watch them until dark and start to make my plan. the next A.M. I'm in the wood's before light watching the herd and I put them to bed and then head back to camp, about 3:00 pm I go back and make sure they are still there , they are and they are starting to feed so I know if nothing spook's them they will still be where I left them the next morning opening day ! Barely slept that nite and I was heading for the wood's at least 2 hr's early, it was about 6 degree's with a light wind so the little bit of snow on the ground was very crunchy. The first 1/2 mile going up the hill I was able to stay below the horizon so theycouldn't hear the crunchy snow noise, but as I got about 300 yd's from the herd I was sure that the noise would give me away. The wind was in my favor so if I could just be quiet everything could work out. It was to cold to think about taking my boot's off like I do during bow season so I sat down to think what to do because I still had at least 1 hour b/4 shooting light. The moon was so bright that I cast a shadow and didn't even need my flashlight toget into the wood's. I could just barely see elk feeding about 300 yd's away so as first light started I decided to get out of the meadow and go into the wood's where it wasn't as loud walking. I moved veeerry slowly taking about 30 minute's to cover 50 yd's , I was sneaking along a very steep brush covered canyon rim and trying to watch both the meadow and the canyon below but I started working my way away from the canyon rim and more toward's where I had last seen the elk. Now this is where the gift part come's in, I can barely hear, my family say's my favorite word is " HUH " so when I hunt I keep my eye's moving constantly to make up for my hearing loss. I'm now about 10 yd's from the edge of the canyon when I hear a LOUD cow call, oh crap !! it's too loud to be a real elk so it must be another hunter letting me know he's already in this area, I cow call back to let him know that I'm aware that he is there, I move quietly to the canyon rim and cow call again so that the other hunter will know I'm moving toward him. I look over the edge to locate the hunter and what do I see ,a line of elk at least a hundred yd's long moving single file along the middle of the hill heading down toward's the road about 600 yds away. They aren't spooked apparently because I cow called back to them and where they will exit the thick brush is about 200 yd's below me so I get into position leaning against a dead tree and wait for my shot. They keep coming into the open area cow/cow /calf/raghorn 4 more cow's and then I see antler's coming toward's the opening. I know that there are 2 6x6's and a 5x4 in the herd but I decided that I would take the first legal bull that gave me a shot, the first bull is the 5x4 and he's moving along but not so fast that I can't take a shot. I'm 64 + yrs old and have taken 5 bull's so I shouldn't be excited but, I'm so excited I can barely keep the crosshairs steady! I take my time let out my breath slowly and pull the trigger, BLAM, just over his back , in my excitment I forgot to allow for the steep angle, the herd start's to run but stop/s after only about 50 yd's , trying to figure out where the shot came from,I pull the trigger again BLAM, but this time there's a loud THWACK and the bull goe's down,I chamber my last round and as he start's to rise BLAM and another loud THWACK and he's down for good!! My gift was that I can barely hear and I don't know how I was able to hear that cowcall, if I hadn't heard the call I would have gone in the opposite direction and never would have known they were there! I guess I got my good karma back.

 

[hntnnut]

Congradulations.

Richard

 

[bighorn67]

Great story. It's awesome how hunts workout sometimes. It can be zero to "OH MY GOD I SHOT ONE" in a split second. Congrats on the elk

Dave

 

[sagebrush]

Thanks for the story. Congratulations.

 

[One Track]

That's a great story. You're one tough hombre. Good things come to those that make it happen. And, you made that happen. Well done. Are we going to see a pic?

 

[baboltin]

great story, lets see some pics.

 

[Speckmisser]

Congrats on your elk, and thanks for the tale! Well done, no doubt. Sometimes, it's much better to be lucky than good... the opportunity to hear that cow call was truly a gift.

 

[dirtpoor]

Actually I'm the original lowtech redneck and I'm computer posting challenged but, one track has some photo's that I e-mailed him and maybe he will post them for me, Hmmm. maybe he might even post the one from last year, nah, that's too much to hope for...LOL , Bill

 

[Common Sense]

Thank's for sharing.

 

[One Track]

Just wanted to bump this up. I'm going to try and post the photos of Dirt Poor's bull. I just have a hard time getting it out of HP Share, resized, etc. Wish me luck.