After applying for 12+ years, Idrew one of two Independence Period 3 Bull tags to hunt Tule elk this pastOctober!
I contacted the biologist earlyto try and find out the best way to hunt the area. A few weeks before theseason opened, my wife and I drove up to scout for a couple of days.Unfortunately the biologist was unable to get back to me before leaving. Despiteour best efforts we could not locate a single bit of elk sign (much less anactual elk). Except for the marsh areas along the river, the place looked morelike a moonscape than elk country.
After playing phone tag for awhile I finally reached the biologist. (He has a lot of area to cover so Ireally appreciated his efforts to return my call). He was full of greatinformation! First of all, after explaining the area we scouted, he said thatelk were not normally found there (despite the river and the tules). He thenwent on to explain exactly where the elk hung out. He advised a couple of huntingstrategies, too! Then he wished us “good luck”.
My wife, my daughter, herhusband, and I drove up the day before the season opened to try and look overthe areas the biologist talked about and before you know it, we spotted ourfirst elk! Not just one but a bachelor group of six. They were a long way offbut with the still air you could hear them occasionally mashing horns. We werevery excited and watched them until it got too dark to see.
Opening day found us searchingfor the bulls. Before long we spotted a large group of elk running. It turnedout to be 20 cows being pushed by a single bull. There was never a chance for ashot. A little later we found the bachelor group again. We watched as they fed,bedded down, fed again and then moved off. We followed and eventually found thembedded not too far away. I debated whether I wanted the hunt to end right then,but we were just having too much fun so we backed off. Evening found uswatching them until dark.
The next morning we could notfind an elk anywhere! After hunting the morning we decided to back out andleave the area alone for the rest of the day. My daughter marked some waypointsand we strategized the next day’s hunt. On Monday we were in place well beforesunrise hoping the elk would show up. Sure enough, as the light improved, fourbulls materialized. They were grazing and slowly walking our way. I had achance to look them over carefully to try and take the most mature animal. Onlyone bull had both sides of his rack unbroken – a 4-point with fairly small andspindly horns. As sun beams began to reach the peaks around us, I chose thebiggest bull with the biggest one side of his rack. (Three points on the brokenside and 6 on the other). A single shot with my 30-06 downed him quickly. Thenthe work really began. As you can see from the pictures there were no treesaround to help with the butchering. My son-in-law and my daughter had neverdressed and quartered anything larger than a rabbit (and I’m 62 with a badback), but, with a little direction, and lots of hard work, they did a greatjob.
After a trip to Independence for$60 worth of crushed ice, we zipped up to the Meat House in Bishop. A littleover two weeks later I put 178 pounds of lean, boneless, delicious, elk venisoninto my freezer.
This was truly an unforgettablehunt of a lifetime!
BTW: I e-mailed the biologist toshare my success and he said “Awesome!”
I contacted the biologist earlyto try and find out the best way to hunt the area. A few weeks before theseason opened, my wife and I drove up to scout for a couple of days.Unfortunately the biologist was unable to get back to me before leaving. Despiteour best efforts we could not locate a single bit of elk sign (much less anactual elk). Except for the marsh areas along the river, the place looked morelike a moonscape than elk country.
After playing phone tag for awhile I finally reached the biologist. (He has a lot of area to cover so Ireally appreciated his efforts to return my call). He was full of greatinformation! First of all, after explaining the area we scouted, he said thatelk were not normally found there (despite the river and the tules). He thenwent on to explain exactly where the elk hung out. He advised a couple of huntingstrategies, too! Then he wished us “good luck”.
My wife, my daughter, herhusband, and I drove up the day before the season opened to try and look overthe areas the biologist talked about and before you know it, we spotted ourfirst elk! Not just one but a bachelor group of six. They were a long way offbut with the still air you could hear them occasionally mashing horns. We werevery excited and watched them until it got too dark to see.
Opening day found us searchingfor the bulls. Before long we spotted a large group of elk running. It turnedout to be 20 cows being pushed by a single bull. There was never a chance for ashot. A little later we found the bachelor group again. We watched as they fed,bedded down, fed again and then moved off. We followed and eventually found thembedded not too far away. I debated whether I wanted the hunt to end right then,but we were just having too much fun so we backed off. Evening found uswatching them until dark.
The next morning we could notfind an elk anywhere! After hunting the morning we decided to back out andleave the area alone for the rest of the day. My daughter marked some waypointsand we strategized the next day’s hunt. On Monday we were in place well beforesunrise hoping the elk would show up. Sure enough, as the light improved, fourbulls materialized. They were grazing and slowly walking our way. I had achance to look them over carefully to try and take the most mature animal. Onlyone bull had both sides of his rack unbroken – a 4-point with fairly small andspindly horns. As sun beams began to reach the peaks around us, I chose thebiggest bull with the biggest one side of his rack. (Three points on the brokenside and 6 on the other). A single shot with my 30-06 downed him quickly. Thenthe work really began. As you can see from the pictures there were no treesaround to help with the butchering. My son-in-law and my daughter had neverdressed and quartered anything larger than a rabbit (and I’m 62 with a badback), but, with a little direction, and lots of hard work, they did a greatjob.
After a trip to Independence for$60 worth of crushed ice, we zipped up to the Meat House in Bishop. A littleover two weeks later I put 178 pounds of lean, boneless, delicious, elk venisoninto my freezer.
This was truly an unforgettablehunt of a lifetime!
BTW: I e-mailed the biologist toshare my success and he said “Awesome!”
congrats
