Kentucky Elk carnage!

[Kentuck]

HA! that's true. Last time I went turkey hunting back there with a friend of mine, we got back to the truck and I told him I was calling the police on him. He said, " what for?" And I said, "Attempted Murder! You tried to kill me running up and down them hills!" I swear that guy is half deer.

 

[FTTPOW]

Great job Incher. I'm glad that everything worked out for you. Elk steaks...Ummmmm.

 

[NastyNate]

Congrats man, I hope to draw an elk tag one day.

Nasty Nate

 

[inchr48]

When we started out Tuesday morning it was really foggy. We had hoped to be able to spot some Elk, preferably a lone Cow, then figure out how to get ahead of them or plan a stalk using the terrain. We were hunting a working Coal operation. Parts of the area had been reclaimed, and this was one of the original release sights when the Elk were re-introduced. Due to the fog, I couldn't even see the vastness of this land.

We happened to cut some fresh tracks crossing the road, so we geared up and started tracking. Within 5 minutes of me actually hunting Elk, I see this:

 

[inchr48]

As the fog begins clearing, I spot a lone Cow climbing a hillside while we're driving to a glassing spot. We drive around the hill and glass, and never see her come down, so hope she is bedded on top. I get to do my first KY hill-climb, and am hoping I don't have to draw my bow right when I get to the top.

We stalk into the wind, searching the chest high cover. We work across the plateau to the trail where she came up, but can't find her. So it's back down, and off the the vantage point to glass.

 

[inchr48]

On the drive to the next glassing spot, we round a bend and flush a flock of 30 turkeys off a recently Hydro-seeded grass plot. My guide, Wes, says he knows where he'll be setting a Fall turkey blind up.

I spot two cows on the opposite side of a large bowl. They are close to the top, but working their way down, and toward us. I range them at 308 yards. December has two 1-week Cow Rifle seasons, and I'm sure some will be taken in a situation like this. Before they reach the bottom, they are joined by two more cows, and start to head from our right to left. I range them now at 265 yards. We are hoping these are the ones Wes has spotted bedding on the next hill top over. We decide I will head to the end of the bowl and set up above them, hoping they use the draw to come out of the bowl, and climb the next hill. It will be a 25-50 yard shot if they come out that way, and I have good cover for an ambush. After 20 minutes, Wes sends a text that all 4 turned around and headed into the deepest timber in the bowl. That ended my first morning of KY Elk hunting.

 

[inchr48]

Tuesday afternoon I had 2 great stalks, that were unsuccessful, but taught me alot about the Elk. Just as we got onto the hunting property, Wes got a call that someone had eyes on at least 8 cows in a CRP type area. We got to the area, got downwind, and started stalking through the cover, using trails for ease and quietness. We spotted the Cows, slightly higher than us, about 80 yards out. We found a nice trail that would give me a shooting lane, and set-up for an ambush. A couple "Lost Cow" calls got them heading our way. They hadn't moved 10 yards when 3 Bulls stood up that had been bedded between us and the Cows. The Bulls pushed the Cows away from us. We backed out quickly and tried to cut them off before the next road, but they had already crossed that and were still moving.

Time for plan B. We had further intel from James, of a lone Cow in a small grassy bowl. I had another hill climb to do and as I approached the edge of the bowl, I tried to locate the Cow. She was no longer there, but I ranged the bottom at 57 yards, most of it straight down, so it would have been a relatively short shot. The Cow had returned to the small herd and was bedded on a grassy hillside with about 10 Cows and the herd Bull. I was able to get to around 80 yards using the lay of the land to hide me, but with falling light tried to make the last 20 I needed to cover for a chance at a shot. The Bull finally got up, and he and his Cows headed down into the Timbered Hell Hole. (THH)

We tried to find the herd we had put the stalk on earlier on our way off the property, but ran out of daylight. James called and said he found a nice sized herd, and this is where I would be heading in the morning before first light.

 

[inchr48]

We drove to the area above well before daylight. Our headlights caught a small herd of Whitetails working a hill side. We expected the herd to gather in the flat, then follow a draw to the left before going down into a Timbered Hole. JJ and I circled the hill and got into position above the draw, staying concealed behind the ridge line. John worked up the hill to the right to spot for us. The Elk gathered in the flat as expected, but then began to work away from JJ and I. We circled the next hill hoping they would feed down the next draw, but they kept going up this hill, towards another Timbered Hell Hole.

 

[inchr48]

JJ and I beat feet back to the truck, and using a Montana Cow decoy were able to cover about half a mile over level ground without spooking the herd. We got below the Elk, most of which had already made the descent into the Timber, but a few were straggling. Staying behind the decoy, we climbed the hill and as we crested the top ranged the closest Cows at 80 yards. We needed to be under 60 for my comfort zone. We were able to take a couple more steps before they all finally went into the THH. We hunkered down in some brush, and Cow called, but got no takers. JJ and John said they had never seen this herd move in this direction. But we knew where they would bed down for the day, so we would be back for the evening move.

Driving to another known area, we spotted a couple cows on a hill, the next road over. We drove over there, John dropped JJ and I off, and the stalk was on. It was chest high CRP type cover. We worked around the hillside using a two track. We had the Montana decoy. We could see a couple cows standing, and others bedded under some trees. As we turned a corner on the two track, we could see two pairs of antlers. 2 Bulls were bedded with the Cows. One was a very nice 6X7 with nice ivory tips. The Bulls stood and started to push the Cows away. It turned out there were 7 or 8 cows. We backed out and tried to cut them off, but they were already across the road we drove in on, and almost to the next. We drove one road over and got on their trail, but they never stopped until they hit the deep timber.

By this time it was pushing 11 AM, some drizzle had started, and we decided to break for lunch and regroup at 3:45 for the PM hunt. By then, the rain had stopped and it was in the low 60's, very comfortable for an evening hunt. JJ and John thought they would put me in a Rock Pile that they had used a couple weeks earlier for a client. He took a Cow at 47 yards. This rock pile was on a flat planted with sorghum that the Elk used when leaving the timber we watched them go into on our first hunt that day. We set the decoy up at 30 yards, and a couple big rocks out at 40 and 50 using my rangefinder. JJ and John left to go back to the truck to spot for me. You can see them leaving in this picture. A small Bull that had been booted out of the herd was grazing ahead of them.

 

[inchr48]

About 20 minutes, and I get a text message from JJ, "Seeing anything". "No", I answer. "Get over here NOW, they are coming back out the way they went in this morning".

I leave everything but my rangefinder and bow, and beat feet along the base of the hillside along this road. A couple bulls and three cows were already sidehilling, having come out of the timber, and would see me, but the main herd is still on top or over the next ridge, so I still have a chance to make a stalk.

 

[inchr48]

JJ meets me where this hill tails off, and we work around the end to stay hidden from the Elk up on top. They are coming and going in and out of the timber, but with overcast skies, it will darken quickly after sundown. I had left the Montana Decoy at the Rock Hide, so we only have the hillside for cover going up. We reach the crest and peek through the sparse grass. No Elk! We stay put kneeling and crouching on the ground. There is no square inch in a reclaimed coal mine that doesn't have gravel in the dirt. I finally found a place where my knees weren't getting jabbed by rocky points.

"Clip your release", JJ whispers. "A Bull and a Cow just came out." "Give my your rangefinder, 57 yards, but the cow is facing away from us."

You may have to zoom to see us, but we are on the left side of this hill, trying to watch the Elk, right on the treeline.

 

[jerryt]

Keep it up

 

[inchr48]

It seemed to take forever. JJ was getting as impatient as me since this was as close as I'd come to getting a shot in 2 days. More pokes in the knee every time you tried to change position. I tried to get squared up in a shooting stance. I had never shot standing on a hillside. Where I live it's as flat as my Junior Prom date.

"The Cow's turning", JJ stammered. "Get ready, Draw, Stand Shoot!"

I don't remember drawing the bow. I shot enough all summer to practically wear a path to my bow targets. I knew holding my 50 yard pin at the very top of the Cow would get me to 60 yards. I remember sliding my bottom pin up her front leg, and stopping about 4" down on her shoulder, and touching it off. I watched the arrow arch without any wobble, about 7/10's of a second later, "THWOP". "You hit her", JJ whispered.

Then I started to shake.

JJ called John and he met us as the base of the hill. We checked our watches, 6:30 PM. They kidded me about shaking, and I said that I was glad I didn't start doing it before the shot. It seemed like forever before 7 PM. We put on our headlamps, and grabbed some flashlights, and went to find where she was standing at the shot. We found hoof scuffs from her bounding into the timber, but no blood. John started into the timber, and about 8' down he finds my arrow. It's a black FMJ, but it's covered in green/black material, stomach matter. I find one vane with a streak of red blood. We decide now with the lack of a good blood trail to back out and take up the search in the AM. It will be a long night.

Wes joins us at the sight at 8 AM. JJ and I will take up the trail and Wes and John will come into the THH from opposite ends. While in the timber, John pushed some Elk on a trail to us, 2 Cows and a Bull at 25 yards. This timber hole would fall 60, 80 or 200 yards, then have a bench flat. Every flat was loaded with Elk sign, beds and rubs.

 

[inchr48]

JJ and I had worked the benches down to about 600 yards or so, and were working our way back up. We are almost to the top when JJ's phone rings, it's John and he's spotted my Cow about 40 yards from the top bedded off the trail. It turned out she went 40 yards down and turned left, going about 60 yards and ending up almost directly below from where I took the shot. After we got on her with the glass, we determined she was dead, and work was going to start. It turned out, that she must have turned, quartering towards me at the shot. I hit her mid-chest, entering exactly between 2 ribs. The 100 gr. montec went out of her chest, through liver and stomach, and exited out her right flank in front of her right rear leg. About 40" of Elk.

 

[inchr48]

I'm glad I bought some Alaskan Game bags. 4 bags held the 4 quarters, backstraps, t-loin, neck roast, brisket meat. 6 bags would have been better. We cut her up and I headed to town, iced her down and made it home by 10PM Halloween night. I finished butchering last night, it has been quite a last 10 days.

 

[jls456]

You got 'er done. Congrats.

 

[BelchFire]

That. Is. AWESOME!!! I love how you wrote this up. Great job on a great hunt. Great pictures, and most of all .... Great shooting!

Pass through at Fifty. Seven. Yards! YOU DA MAN, inchr! ^5

 

[Kentuck]

Great right up. Enjoyed it very much. As much as people poo-poo strip mining and mountain-topping, as you now know without that, there would be no openings in those hills.

 

[spectr17]

I love huntin stories like this. Congrats Incher, that elk hunt in the midwest it something I hope to do some day.

 

[Calif_Mike]

Congrats! But don't they call them ekks out there??