LVHunter
Member
- Joined
- Jun 15, 2012
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- 6
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- 5
This is more for information for other apprentice elk hunters than anything. My son drew a Bishop 2 Apprentice Elk Cow Tag. I was lucky enough to draw an X9A tag and was not able to hunt the area until the last week of the season. My plan was to deer hunt with a friend for three days and then have a another friend bring my son up Thursday night after school. My son plays high school football and just happened to have a "bye" on the Friday before the elk opener.
So, my friend and I went hunting in X9A at the beginning of last week and hunted three days. We saw about 100 plus does and yearlings, but no legal bucks. We did camp next to a family from Thousand Oaks, who had camped and hunted for two weeks. In total, they shot two forkies and one nice 3x3.
On Thursday, we drove my trailer down and camped near Bishop. I called the DFG Office in Bishop (as instructed in the Big Game regs booklet) to see if there would be a meeting for the apprentice hunters and to see if they were going to maybe share info as to where the herds have been frequenting, since it is a large area. I finally got in touch with a female that stated, "Oh, I haven't been in that area in awhile, so I can't help you." I'm sure a warden would have helped, but I was not going to ask for any favors, because we know those guys are spread thin. I still had confidence since I had two days to scout the area.
My friend and I scouted for elk Thursday and after 4 hours of beating my Suburban up on jeep trails, we spotted a bull and a few cows. It was very apparent after two days of watching this small group, that they have been chased and shot at several times. A local deer hunter told us he had been deer hunting in the hills to the west of 395 (outside our elk boundaries) and said he saw a big herd of elk, which he stated he had never seen them up that high before.
On Saturday, my son and I spotted the small group about a mile away at about 7:15 in the morning. The wind was not right so we started making a large 3/4 mile stalk on foot around the south side of the elk. After 1 1/2 hours of walking and jumping over a barbed wire fence, I started to turn west around the back of the group. About 15 minutes later, I looked up and saw the antlers of the bull. They had moved south about a half a mile! AND, of course, as luck would have it, the wind shifted about 10 degrees right towards the elk. My guess is that they were about 300 yards away.
I told my son that this was going to be the closest shot because they are going to run. He wrapped his arm in the rifle sling and set the stock of his rifle on the shooting stick. Since they had not run, but were acting real nervous and was ready to run I told him he would have to take the next best shot he can at a cow. He took a shot and I didn't see any flinch or blood coming from any of the cows as they trotted and then walked out of the area. When they got out at about 700 yards they took off again at a full gallop. We checked for blood in the area where the cow was standing, but nothing. We followed their tracks south for 2 1/2 miles and never found any blood. I called my two friends to pick us up at the next road, which was 3 miles away from my truck, where we started.
It was a bummer that my son missed, but I didn't plan on him having to take that long of a shot. I would have told him to hold off if I knew there was another herd that we could go after as a back up. I just wanted to share this because I have heard statements in the forums how DFG has meetings before the hunts for the apprentice hunters, some state it's a culling hunt they (DFG) wants you to be successful, they will drive you out there and point out where the herds are for the young hunters. I don't know how it has been for apprentice hunters in the past, but none of that was the case for me and my son. If you get picked for an elk hunt in California and don't have a week to scout, I highly suggest a licensed guide who can make your hunt more complete, especially for our young hunters.
The important thing is my son and I had a blast and my son experienced the down side of hunting, which is missing a shot. I feel more to blame since I told him to take the shot. He has taken two wild pigs before a 100 yard shot and a 200 yard shot. I do believe more is learned through failure sometimes, especially in hunting. I know it has for me as a bowhunter. You learn something everytime you hunt. Since we both had X9A tags we went deer hunting Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning. We were up northwest of Bishop up in the hills, looking over the world. Unfortunately, he had to get back to school for Monday which cut our hunting trip short. Maybe next time. He has a football game this week so unsure if we are going back to Bishop this weekend for another try at the elk.
So, my friend and I went hunting in X9A at the beginning of last week and hunted three days. We saw about 100 plus does and yearlings, but no legal bucks. We did camp next to a family from Thousand Oaks, who had camped and hunted for two weeks. In total, they shot two forkies and one nice 3x3.
On Thursday, we drove my trailer down and camped near Bishop. I called the DFG Office in Bishop (as instructed in the Big Game regs booklet) to see if there would be a meeting for the apprentice hunters and to see if they were going to maybe share info as to where the herds have been frequenting, since it is a large area. I finally got in touch with a female that stated, "Oh, I haven't been in that area in awhile, so I can't help you." I'm sure a warden would have helped, but I was not going to ask for any favors, because we know those guys are spread thin. I still had confidence since I had two days to scout the area.
My friend and I scouted for elk Thursday and after 4 hours of beating my Suburban up on jeep trails, we spotted a bull and a few cows. It was very apparent after two days of watching this small group, that they have been chased and shot at several times. A local deer hunter told us he had been deer hunting in the hills to the west of 395 (outside our elk boundaries) and said he saw a big herd of elk, which he stated he had never seen them up that high before.
On Saturday, my son and I spotted the small group about a mile away at about 7:15 in the morning. The wind was not right so we started making a large 3/4 mile stalk on foot around the south side of the elk. After 1 1/2 hours of walking and jumping over a barbed wire fence, I started to turn west around the back of the group. About 15 minutes later, I looked up and saw the antlers of the bull. They had moved south about a half a mile! AND, of course, as luck would have it, the wind shifted about 10 degrees right towards the elk. My guess is that they were about 300 yards away.
I told my son that this was going to be the closest shot because they are going to run. He wrapped his arm in the rifle sling and set the stock of his rifle on the shooting stick. Since they had not run, but were acting real nervous and was ready to run I told him he would have to take the next best shot he can at a cow. He took a shot and I didn't see any flinch or blood coming from any of the cows as they trotted and then walked out of the area. When they got out at about 700 yards they took off again at a full gallop. We checked for blood in the area where the cow was standing, but nothing. We followed their tracks south for 2 1/2 miles and never found any blood. I called my two friends to pick us up at the next road, which was 3 miles away from my truck, where we started.
It was a bummer that my son missed, but I didn't plan on him having to take that long of a shot. I would have told him to hold off if I knew there was another herd that we could go after as a back up. I just wanted to share this because I have heard statements in the forums how DFG has meetings before the hunts for the apprentice hunters, some state it's a culling hunt they (DFG) wants you to be successful, they will drive you out there and point out where the herds are for the young hunters. I don't know how it has been for apprentice hunters in the past, but none of that was the case for me and my son. If you get picked for an elk hunt in California and don't have a week to scout, I highly suggest a licensed guide who can make your hunt more complete, especially for our young hunters.
The important thing is my son and I had a blast and my son experienced the down side of hunting, which is missing a shot. I feel more to blame since I told him to take the shot. He has taken two wild pigs before a 100 yard shot and a 200 yard shot. I do believe more is learned through failure sometimes, especially in hunting. I know it has for me as a bowhunter. You learn something everytime you hunt. Since we both had X9A tags we went deer hunting Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning. We were up northwest of Bishop up in the hills, looking over the world. Unfortunately, he had to get back to school for Monday which cut our hunting trip short. Maybe next time. He has a football game this week so unsure if we are going back to Bishop this weekend for another try at the elk.
