My first elk bowhunt...

[montana_hunter_16]

Elk hunt 02
It was September 13, and my dad and I were on my first bowhunt for elk. We were hunting the Sweet Grass Hills of north-central Montana. We were there and on our way through the timber before the sun came up. We walked along the side of the hill on the main butte, listening and watching for elk. We had gone about a mile when we came over a hill and overlooked a huge valley, surrounded by the buttes to our left and in front of us, and to our right was the open prairie. Down below us about 400 yards was a cabin the landowner owned, and standing within 100 feet of it was about 30 head of elk. We crouched down and watched them feed slowly into the timber. We went wide around to the left, making our way partially up the butte, then coming back down behind the elk, hoping to cut them off on their way up into the butte. We knew there was a bull in there because we heard a few bugles on our way to get in position. When we finally got there, they were gone and we decided to leave them alone and not go push them out of their bedding area. We sat down and glassed for a while, hoping to see some other elk. After only a few minutes I spotted another herd of probably 25 elk, grazing slowly across an open hillside on the butte directly across from us. They were over a mile away and making their way into the timber, so we just watched them. There were two bulls in the herd, one really nice 6 by 6, and a smaller 5 by 5. They bedded down on a hillside in the shade, and seemed to be staying there. I looked around them and thought that if we circled behind the elk and came over the hill from the other side, and crept slowly down above them, I would probably be in a good position for a shot. My dad reluctantly agreed, because to get there we had to go over 2 miles of steep hills and draws. We finally arrived on the other side, and the wind was in our faces, everything was perfect, except one thing. We had went too far to the right of them, and they were another 200 yards to our left. We didn’t realize that then and kept going along the other side. I was walking above my dad, trying to be as quiet as I could because I thought the elk were just over the hill, when he motioned me down. “There’s 40 head of elk right over that little hill in that bowl ahead of us, just stay put they’re acting like they smell us,” my dad said. Sure enough, the wind was at our back and before I could get a good look at them they were gone and cresting the next hill. I was really disappointed, and mad that we had blown our chance. My dad however, seemed to think that they were a different herd of elk, and that the herd we had seen grazing on the hillside was still bedded in the timber. I knew that it was the same herd, but agreed to go check the other side just to make sure. I walked up to the top of the ridge, and noticing I was too far over, began walking back to my right. The whole time I was thinking how dumb my dad was to think that there was that many elk in this little area. I finally reached the spot directly above them and strolled down into the timber, not carefully at all, because I knew that there was no elk here! I came to the edge of the timber and looked down into the clearing where they had been, and much to my surprise, scattered in front of me was 30 elk struggling to get up and find out what had interrupted their sleep. The whole herd was within 40 yards of me, and I quickly scanned for the bull but couldn’t find him! Before I could get my bow up, the whole herd bolted to my left, and disappeared into the timber. I had worked hard to get here and I wasn’t going to give up, so I took off running. They were in the patch of timber only 50 yards below me, running parallel to me across the side of the hill. I put in my diaphram call as I ran and began cow calling. The whole herd stopped running when I called and that gave me time to get ahead of them. The timber ended and there was huge open meadow up ahead. I reached the edge of the timber, knocked an arrow, attached my release, and waited for the elk to come by. A few elk were already out in the meadow, and I could hear the rest of them coming. I drew back my bow, and watched a few cows and calves run by in front of me just out of range. Then, out came the big bull, and he was only 30 yards away. I cow called as he came out and he stopped broadside to look at me. Now that is a perfect situation and theres no way to miss! But I was tired, my adrenaline was going, and I was shaking so bad I could hardly settle my pin on his body. The bull turned his head and I knew I didn’t have much time so I flipped the release hurriedly, and watched as my arrow sailed past him without even touching him. He took off with the rest of the herd and I knew I’d blown my chance. I was mad at myself for getting so nervous and not calming down to make a good shot. I knocked another arrow, hoping for a shot at the other bull, but passed by as I was attaching my release. The whole herd, minus a few stragglers was standing in the middle of the meadow, well out of range, looking at me. I was now hoping for a shot at a cow. Finally, a lone cow came out of the timber and I called once to stop him. I drew my bow back, took a slow breath, calmed down, aimed, and slowly squeezed the release. I knew before I shot that it was good because this time I had actually taken my time and done everything right. I watched the arrow hit its mark, low, behind the shoulder and pass completely through. The herd took off running and the cow tried to follow but only made it 20 yards then collapsed. It was a perfect heart shot and I had finally done it. I was really excited, even though it was a cow, and set down my bow and pack, and ran back to tell my dad about it. He was really happy for me, and couldn’t believe I had got an elk on my first time out. It was a great day, but the fun ended when I made the shot, because from the top of this butte, it was a long way to the truck. All the dragging was worth it though, and it was one of the best hunts I’ve ever had. On top of getting my elk that Saturday, the next day I went out bowhunting for antelope with a friend, and arrowed a 15 inch buck. I would say that’s a pretty good start to bow hunting. Next year, I’m getting a bull…hopefully.

 

[Speckmisser]

Great story, Montana!

That cow probably tasted just as sweet as any trophy bull (sweeter, probably), and you won't even miss the horns.

I'm still planning my first archery elk hunt. Hope mine turns out as well as yours did!

 

[snoopdogg]

Thanks for the detail, Montana. I enjoyed your story.

 

[browning 1]

Great story montana i just recently moved from great falls i seen some monsters up on kings hill and in agusta

 

[FTTPOW]

I'd like to add my '02 elk hunting story. I went on my third Montana elk hunt this past November. I flew from Columbus, Oh to Spokane, Wa then took Amtrak to Libby, Mt where I was met by a friend that's lived there for about 20 yrs. We threw my gear in his rig and headed for his house where I changed and loaded up for the first day of a 2 week visit. The first few days were spent walking to get the feel of Montana dirt under my feet. Northwest Montana has some very verticle terrain with a fair share of grizzlies for added thought. From then on we used horses every other day to get in to where the elk were, as they were still in summer range, due to a lack of sufficient snow in the Cabinet Mnts to force them from the high country.
On day 9, I saw a few animals as they were pushed past me by his son as I sidehilled above a good feeding/bedding area in the timber. There were about 4 cows and calves at first, then a spike followed by a much larger bodied elk. I couldn't see if the larger one was a legal bull or not, in the few seconds I had. They crossed over the top of the mountain and bailed off the other side for parts unknown.
On day 11 his son and I rode back in for a few hours to a mountain where we'd been a few days earlier and had seen lots of fresh sign. As we waded though knee deep crusted snow following old tracks, I couldn't help but feel like it was another exercise in futility because of all the noise we were making just trying to walk, and no really fresh sign. We circled around the mountain and crawled through alders following the tracks that looked like they were going nowhere fast. The whole time his son was getting more and more optimistic that we'd find the elk that made these old tracks. His optimism was paid off at 11:00 am when he spotted elk bedded down in an open clearing in the timber across a canyon about 3/4 mi away. That kid's got some game eye! The only way I could recognize them was with binos. We closed the distance to 565 yrds (range finder) and spotted a legal bull (3x3) with 1 spike and 8 cows. No way could I stretch that '06 to that distance and make a good shot. We'd have to go around the canyon and come in from above where we thought they were bedded. He dug out his topo map and plotted our course to where we hoped they'd be. When we thought we were close, we dropped our packs and checked our guns. Our final approach was so noisy I never thought we'd keep from being heard. Every step crunched and about every 4th step we'd break though to our knees. We'd only gone about 250 yrds from where we left our packs, when he spotted elk. The first one we saw was the bull. I had a hole in the brush about a foot in diameter half way to the bull, which was about 100 yrds away, still bedded down with his back to us, quartering away. I figured I'd hit the last rib and angle towards the off shoulder. It was now 1:30 pm.
At the shot the hillside exploded in running elk. We ran down to look for any more possible shooters, found the bull still on his feet, but unable to keep up with the rest of the herd. He laid down, got back up and laid down again just as I got to where I could see him. The second shot rolled him down the mountain.
After back-slapping and handshakes, we took some pictures and then rolled him even farther downhill to a somewhat level spot to start butchering. I worked on the bull while he went back to bring the horses to hopefully within 300 yrds. As I finished up with a maglight between my teeth at 6:30, he showed up saying that the horses couldn't get any closer than 1 1/2 mi. The crusted snow was too much for them to lunge through. We each tied a front quarter to our packs, hung the bagged meat in the trees and started for the horses. By 10:00 pm we had packed up the mountain and down the other side to the horses, loaded and started leading them down. We considered spending the night, but had no feed for the horses. We reached the rig by 1:30 am. By the time we got back to his house, unloaded and cared for the horses, cleaned up and got to bed it was 4:30 am.
At 6:30 am we were up and loaded up for the rest of the meat, before the lions found it. (we saw fresh tracks while stalking the elk) His dad and brother went with us with pack frames to help finish packing out. With only three horses and four men, his dad walked while we rode. We stopped several times to rest the horses since 2 of them were used the day before, and nearly reached the top before we caught up with his dad on foot. We tied off the horses and took a shortcut (?) to where the meat was still hanging. Luckily nothing had been touched during the night. I'd like to think that the light stick I left hanging in the trees helped keep critters away. We tied on the rear quarters and divied up the rib and neck meat. The only thing left was the hide. It would have taken one extra trip just to bring out the hide and it just wasn't worth it. The last thing we did was kick it down to the gut pile so that the lions and coyotes had something warm to lay on while they fed on the gut pile and then had a chew toy for dessert. We packed out and started down with the horses by 5:30 pm. While the others walked 2 of the horses loaded with meat down the mountain, I rode. My flatlander butt was dragging. We stopped at a roadside bar and grill to fill our bellies, and went home. That was one hunt I'll never forget.

 

[snoopdogg]

POW - Good readin'. I love reading good stories; now throw in some pictures!

 

[wmidbrook]

Sounds like it was a good hunt alright. Glad you got one~!

 

[FTTPOW]

What I hope are the best pictures are still on a roll of film in a camera in Montana. When he sends me a copy, I'll have to figure out how to post one or two. I was lucky to have the hunt end with meat, but that was just the material reward for the effort that was spent. The true reward came from having the chance to spend time with friends in the mountains, enjoying the scenery, and doing what every hunter should have the chance of doing. I tried to give an example of the amount of work that takes place once the sound of the shot echoes though the mountain air. It was worth every drop of sweat and tired muscle just to have the experience.

 

[hunthog]

About 10 years ago I was hunting with 2 friends in the blue Mountains of Oregon about 10 mile West of a little mining town called Granite. For a week we hiked about 4 miles each morning into a remote area where the roads were blocked off and out again in the evening. That entire week the weather was warm, the Elk weren't talking and they were bedding down early. We spent all our time jumping them out of their beds. To say the least we were tired and frustrated, but, we still had 2 weeks to go. On Monday evening, the next week, I decided to leave my friends and hike across to the next trail, across the mountain, and have them pick me up at the trailhead after dark. They continued down the main trail to the truck. It started to cloud up and get very cold and on my way back I had 3 different Bulls bugle hesitantly to my call. It got too dark to push them and I backed off, marked the spot on the trail and met my friends at the trailhead.

That night we went to bed with sleet falling and woke up at 3:45 AM the next morning to about 2 inches of snow and 25 degrees. We decided to take the long hike again. We decided to split up with one of my friends taking the main trail and my other friend and I heading up to where I had heard the Elk the night before. We reach my mark about 10 minutes before shooting light and sat and listened. Nothing but silence. There is nothing like the silence of the woods right after a snow fall but, as far as we were back in the woods the silence was amazing, even though a bit disapointing. We wouldn't be disapointed for long.

Once it started to get grey we tested the wind and figured it was best to get properly set up before I bugled. What a smart decision that turned out to be!! I backed off about 40 yards down wind and slid my grunt tube around and let loose with a high long bugle that echoed through the woods and even gave me goose bumps. Once the echo died I immediately got an answer from out in front, then another from in back, then another from the right, another from the ridge to our left and one very deep dragon like bugle from about 250 yards away, upwind. For about 20 minutes I never made another sound as the 5 bulls continued to bugle and grunt to each other in increasingly hostile tones. The chorus of the Gods!! What an amazing experience. So many goose bumps that I got the shivers every time they broke the silence.

Once the war of words toned down I started cow calling softly with my best come-hither tones and turned my grunt tube behind my back and tried to sound 100 yards to the rear. God, what a reaction!! Out from the trees 100 yards away came crashing a huge 6 point and he started running toward us grunting and growling with every step. I was about 40 yards behind my partner and the bull was running straight at him. He glanced slowly back at me and I'll never forget how big his eyes were or how bad his bow was shaking. He had to put his finger on top of the arrow to keep it from falling off the rest. Hell, I was even shaking from head to foot and the bull wasn't bearing down on me. I waited until the bull got about 15 yards to the right of my partner and bugled right in his face. He put the brakes on next to a small lodgepole pine, grunted twice and began thrashing the tree with those huge horns. That gave my friend the chance, and the courage, to draw, shoot and place an arrow right in the bread basket. The bull jumped straight up in the air, trotted about 20 steps to within 25 yards of me. As he walked behind a tree I drew and put an arrow right next to where my friend had hit the bull. The bull took off running and fell 50 yards away in plain sight of us. God what a sight!! It was his first bull. He was jumping straight up and down and fell over the dead tree he had been hiding behind. I ran up to see if he was alright and all I saw was the biggest S_ _ T eatin' grin I have ever seen on his face as he looked back at me from flat on his back. After all the hugs and high 5's we went to see his bull. And what a bull it was! 12 hours later we finally had all of him in the truck. Whew!!!

Even though that bull is not on my wall I can't help but say that it was by far the most thrilling hunt I have ever experienced. The look on my friend's face when he walked up to that bull makes it the most rewarding as well. I didn't get a bull of my own that year but I can honestly say that every time I see that bugling mount on his wall I get those goose bumps again................and I go over there often.

It's called therapy.

hunthog

 

[Speckmisser]

Hunthog,

Another great story! Can't wait to make an archery hunt up to Oregon next year! Hope it's half as exciting.

 

[fpscabs]

okay, who is paying for my keyboard that shorted out with all the drooling! Great stories. Can't wait until my story gets made so I can tell it.

 

[hunthog]

I going up again this year with a new Elk hunter and his 16 year old son. My greatest thrill would be to call in a bull to the kid. We have decided that will be our first priority. I've already done the evil thing and got them primed by loaning them my copies of "The Truth, Big Bulls 3, 4, 5, and 6". Terrible ain't I.

The last trip up was 7 years ago and I called in my Herd Bull and had to be satisfied to watch him walk by 15 yards away because I didn't have a clear killing shot. He was Pope and Young for sure but I was unwilling to risk a bad shot. What a thrilling experience it was though. What the heck, here's the story.

4 days and 4 bulls called in. No good shots. We were being picky and for good reason. The country we were hunting was going to be miserable to track in and impossible if we made a marginal shot. What a year it was turning into though. 4 days before, when we arrived, we asked around and everyone said, "no bulls, no rut yet and no bugling." Pretty discouraging. That is, until we hit the woods and took our 4 mile hike in.

We had both passed on cows because of the numbers of answers we were getting to our calls and our discouragements had been replaced with daily thrills and chills. On the 5th day we decided to split up and hike in, a ridge apart, on different trails and meet where they came together several miles in. A no show would mean an Elk down or hit. It had rained the night before and the woods were cold and quiet. I hiked in about 2 miles and noticed that the breeze was blowing down off the North ridge and I decided to walk up to a wallow, we had marked with the GPS 2 days before, and wait there for a while to see what would amble by. It was turning grey and I was about half way to the wallow in heavy cover when I heard cows chirping not too far away. They seemed to be headed toward the wallow so , rather than call from the heavy cover, I sat down and let them go on.

About 30 minutes later I started sneaking slowly toward the wallow. I hadn't gone 100 yards before the toughest, most bad-ass bugle I had heard for quite some time came echoing down the ridge from above. I kept quiet and began climbing ever so slowly toward the wallow, with the wind in my face, starting to look for an open spot of some reasonable size in the heavy cover I was in. About 50 yards from the wallow I found a spot about 30 yards in diameter that was going to have to do because of all the activity I heard at the wallow. Looking under the cover I could see several cows and one very large Elk that was circling the herd constantly but being really quiet about it. Only an occasional low grunt or bark.

I settled in behind a dead lodge pole and found myself a large stick to rake with if I needed it. Now or never, I thought and slid the grunt tube around. There didn't seem to be any other bulls around so I hoped the direct challange method would work. I took out my heavy weight double reed, pointed the grunt tube at the herd and screamed right in the bull's face. HE DID NOT LIKE THAT AT ALL!! Before I finished my scream he cut me off with a hair raising scream of his own. He was not a happy camper! He began circling his cows, thrashing trees, throwing stuff around and generally doing everything he could to scare me off. Honestly, he was so pissed I almost left.............NOT! After 45 minutes of screaming, cow calling, and raking I suddenly heard all the cows and calves stampeding up the ridge. My first thought was that he gathered his cows and left like they often do. How wrong I was. The next thing I heard was the heavy cover crashing and breaking in front of me and then I saw him coming straight through the cover thrashing his way to come and kick my butt. What a sight! He was grunting growling and drooling, he was so pissed, and coming straight at me. 6 points and all herd bull with the darkest brown mane I had ever seen. As he approached the small opening I was in he turned to my right and continued to thrash the cover to make his way through. When he got 20 yards away I drew the bow. I never had a clear shot as he crashed through the cover 15 yards away. He turned behind me as he passed the opening and winded me and busted. I was shaking so bad I had to sit down for 30 minutes before I could stand back up.

Even though I never had the chance to take a shot I'll never forget that morning and I still feel like I did the right thing. It was and still is one of the highlights of my hunting career. One of those magic moments that few people will ever experience. I'm glad it happened to me. I just wish I hadn't seen such a clear vision of that bull on my wall when I drew the bow. It makes me disapointed everytime I look at that spot on the wall in my family room. Maybe this year will be the one, I'm due.

One last thing.........we shouldn't have passed on the cows. Both of us went home skunked. Figures, huh? That's why they call it hunting.

hunthog

 

[FTTPOW]

Skunked?! Hunthog, you may not have gotten any elk, but you just lived lots of hunter's fantacy. Great story and good writing. Man, I put myself in your shoes. That was great.

 

[340mag]

heres a few hunting true stories Ive posted elseware
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I really enjoy teaching new guys how to hunt ELK. this is a quick version of FRANKS first ELK.
opening day found us 3 miles deep into the aspen on a western facing slope where a small stream has formed a narrow side canyon, the side caynons walls are extremely steep forming a grouve in the mountain in some places about 100 feet deep and 100 feet wide but in most places is about 50-70 feet wide and 50-70 feet deep, it forms a natural barrier that forces all game to follow its edge upward or downward for almost a 1/2 mile before the slope widdens out and becomes shallow enough to cross without great difficulty , the lower end of the side caynon enters the main canyon at a point where a large outcrop of rock forms a natural ledge about 30 feet above the upper egde of a steep rock slide of what appears to be loose shale.
as the first light of dawn enters the caynon at about 6am Ive placed FRANK with his 30-06 winchester bolt action here with firm instructions to stay prone on top of this large outcrop of rock , use his back pack as a rifle rest and keep his scope turned down to the lowest setting and just remain alert with his rifle as I still hunt the caynon, knowing from experiance that other hunters entering the canyon from lower down the caynon will tend to push the elk along the main canyon walls but because most hunters tend to walk the canyon rim the elk have learned to follow the natural barrier of the side canyon downward instead of up and out like in most canyons, this will tend to keep frank busy watching deer and elk working their way up the main canyons slopes as they hit the barrier and get funneled by the terrain right bye franks rock outcrop.
now I want to get frank a good elk so Ive got a second plan that almost guarantees he will get a shot, I purchased 8 cheap watchs that have an ALARM feature, (the $4 kind you get at flea markets) I slowly work my way about 3/4 mile down canyon on the far slope and I place those watches each set at 5 minutes later that the last one about 300-500 yards up from the canyon floor and I place them about 300 yards apart , the first is set to ring at 9am, then 9:05am 300 yards further up the canyon ETC. giving me time to place the watches and return to franks location bye the time they start going off in series in the lower canyon. by 8:45AM Ive worked my way back to frank, and ask him what hes seen so far, unbelievably he say he has seen nothing although Ive seen 3 cow elk and 4 doe deer already that morning. we settle in and I cover both of us with a piece of camo netting and fold out my bi-pod on the 340wby mag and tell frank to get ready, ready for what he asks, why ready for any elk or deer that the drive forces past us I answer! (what drive he asks?) just watch I say, theres more PLANNING than you might think INVOLVED IN SUCCESSFUL ELK HUNTING!
well about 9:30am hes getting antsy and wants to change locations, I tell him , just wait 30 more minutes and if he wants to we will start still hunting, 5 minutes later we can hear running hooves and breaking branches and here comes several elk right on schedual. he picks out the first legal bull and fires, at 70 yards even thought I told him not to fire as long as the elk was getting closer, its a miss as far as I can tell and since theres no big bulls Im not going to shoot this early in the hunt, as the raghorn turns to run up slope frank fires again , (a hit in the liver) not a wound that will drop the elk but a sure killer, as the elk turns frank fires again , the elks now at 120 yards but franks third shot drops the elk with a spine hit! franks so excited that he jumps up and screams ,I GOT HIM, he turns to me and asks how do we get down to him? (its 15 feet strait down from the rock we are on on the down hill side, but only 3 feet down on the up hill side) joking I say , well you can always jump, and before I can say Im kidding he does jump! luckly he hits and skids on the loose gravel without hurting himself and is up and running to his first elk. I calmly walk over 50 yards and follow the rock slide down to frank! hes busy trying to turn his elk around on the slope, 4 hours later we have it dressed out, hung, and most of the meat back in camp, Im dreading the necessary second trip for the rest of the meat but FRANKS still talking about his great third shot and his great elk hunting skills (and Ive got a confirmed ELK hunting partner)


several years ago one of the guys, (rocky) I hunt with on some occasions got this great idea! we would take my canoe about 6 miles back into the management area that I hunt in fla. and set up our climbing tree stands on a couple of large pine trees that were about 400 yards apart on a large strip of mixed trees and brush on the edge of a large open grassy area far from any road access. well it worked very well and we both killed a deer over the first week of the season,,rocky decided to leave his tree stand chained about 35 feet up in the branches of his favorite tree, (he used screw in tree steps once he had it mounted) over the next weekend while he went home to do a few chores, I lugged mine back to the canoe every day as it cost to much to chance having it stolen. well rocky got into a minor car accident and for several weeks could not hunt, the season ended and his tree stand remained hidden deep in the woods where it stayed till the following season. opening day of the following season found us taking the canoe back to "OUR SPOTs" we beached the canoe and used flash lights to follow light reflective thumb tacks we had stuck on trees back to our favorite trees, we had split up and gone our seperate ways to our tree locations, we reached our trees just as dawns first light was slowly filtering into the eastern sky, I quickly hooked up my climbing tree stand while rocky walked to his to climb up and seat himself, he had been kidding me about how dumb I was for carring my tree stand in and out each day while all he needed to do was to climb up and sit down, well about 3 minutes after I had gotten seated and hooked up my saftey harness I heard a bunch of loud cursing and a few loud creaking noises followed by a scream, a loud thump!! a loud crash and more cursing!
It was obvious to me rocky had somehow fallen from his tree stand and 35 feet was a very long way to fall! climbing down and rushing over to what I was sure would be rockys broken body, I met rocky,about 1/2 way to his stand , he was running over bushes and bouncing off trees and cursing, in the cold morning light , he was a sight, covered with muck and scratches and several dozen large red bumps on his face and arms he informed me that someone else had taken temporary possesion of his tree stand and refused to give it BACK! (luckly they had stopped chaseing him by that time),as he had climbed into the stand he had heard a loud buzzing sound, at first he had no idea what was going on but soon it became very painfully obvious..............several hundred very upset hornets were objecting to him trying to sit on that great aluminum (BRANCH) they had carefully built a 15" dia. home under!!
we rushed rocky to the doctors, it took all week for the swelling to subside! we laugh about it now but we also BOTH CARRY OUR STANDS IN AND OUT NOW

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It was about 1969-70, I was on my first hunt in the california WARNER WILDERNESS
http://www.diggles.com/bnb/2002/0209E-07_W...erness_sign.jpg
http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/modoc/images/modoc_map.gif
Id flown out to San francisco and rented a truck along with some friends to go mule deer hunting, we had driven most of the day to the camp site and after setting up a tent camp next to a HUGE redwood tree that was about 10 feet across at the base (first Id ever seen) we cooked dinner and got ready for the openning day hike into the next drainage the following day, into the mill creek drainage, it was snowing lightly as we went to bed, and very cold, I had two sleeping bags rated at (ZERO) I put one inside the other to keep warm, bye 2am, the temp had dropped to about +2, and by that time weere half frozen, got up at 4am and packed our gear for a days hunt,(SLEEPING BAG MANUFACTURERS LIE ABOUT HEAT RATEINGS WORST THAN LIBERAL POLITICIANS LIE ABOUT TAXES)
we followed a logging road (LONG SINCE BLOCKED OFF) into the drainage. everyware I looked was small dirt piles about 6"H x 12"W obviously made by some animal,and dead dry plants that looked vaguely like tobacco, that russled noisely in the slightest breeze(in the clearings between the huge conifers, this made hearing movement very difficult ) But in the shaded areas thick green moss on long dead fallen trees and large ferns. here was a far differant type of area than the eastern mountains and FLA swamps and maine mountains I had hunted before.the altitude was about 8000ft and walking anyware took effort to breath,the newly fallen 1" to 3" deep patches of snow on the ground in places the sun could not reach showed us there was plenty of deer in the area. but after several hours of sneaking through the timber edges we had seen only silhouettes of fast moving deer in the shaded distance. bye 10am we were ready for a rest, we sat under a hollow formed by a huge redwood on the ridge crest, where it leaned on a huge rock ledge at the upper edge of a steep field that dropped away for several hundred yards, sam my partner pulled out a small can of sterno , lit it and heated cold coffee from a thermos and made us two hot cups of coffee. I made peanut butter and gum drop sandwithes (SAM HAD DROPPED AND BROKEN OUR ONLY JAR OF JELLY SETTING UP CAMP)we wispered, discussing plans as to how to hunt this new area, neither of us had ever been too,and kidded each other about getting a patend on gum drop/peanut butter sandwhiches)(NOT AS BAD AS THEY SOUND IF YOUR HUNGRY) and which we only knew from weeks of studying topo maps. about 10.30am we were about to pack-up when sam noticed a hunter in orange about 800yards away on the far edge of the clearing,several minutes passed and then we say several deer trotting up hill toward us,we had placed ourselve at the crest of the ridge, when we sat down and picked our resting spot so I dropped back over the crest of the ridge out of site of the on coming deer and I quickly moved about 100 yards away from sam to extend the chances that one of us would be in their direct path. at a distance of about 30 feet the first buck spotted sam and as it turned, sam fired his SAKO 30-06, the deer stumbled but continued to gain distance from sam , a second and third shot brought no responce other than the deer slowed some,(DUE TO ONE HELL OF A HEADACHE IM SURE) finally on his fourth and last shot the deer dropped!
there were several does that ran past me as the herd split up and I was busy watching sams buck when I noticed a second buck that had lagged about 100 yards back and was now gaining distance from us fast! I swung my browning single shot 30-06 with him , leading him by about 18" and fired, at a distance of about 120 yards he dropped at a full run like his front feet were suddenly tied together! sams buck had rolled about 30 yards after it fell, sams first hit at 30 yards was a glanceing shot in the deers lower jaw,that entered the roof of the deers mouth and exited, the 130 grain bullets sam used look like it exploded,in the deers mouth, the next two shots were missed but the fourth was directly in the base of the neck breaking the spine and instantly killing the buck! sam was thrilled (HIS FIRST BUCK EVER) (21.5" spread/4x4)
my buck was smaller at (20" 4x4) but heavier in mass, he had been hit to far back with the 200grn speer bullets I used(upper liver and spine) and passed clean thru,the buck, but still the buck had dropped cleanly (NO THANKS TO MY LESS THAN PERFECT SHOT) but still it resulted in a dropped deer, we spent next two days dressing out and packing the deer back to the truck, THE GUY DRESSED IN ORANGE WE HAD SEEN ON THE FAR SIDE OF THE OPEN AREA SHOWED UP 30 minutes later, he told us that what we didn,t see was that an even larger buck had skirted the opening, by running thru the brush on the edge, of the huge field, (we would be back next year)(AND BOTH SAM AND I WERE HOOKED FOR LIFE ON MOUNTAIN DEER HUNTING!


.california was great to hunt but they changed the regulations, makeing it impossiable to hunt a third year in the same area!
heres what happend the next and last year I hunter californias warner wilderness,
I had learned, and purchased a -20 degree rated north face sleeping bag, a better pack, and warmer clothes (naturally that year was warmer) we set up camp in the same spot and opening morning found both SAM,ED,and I, seated along that same ridge crest we had shot from the previous year,that ridge was several miles inside the wilderness area, so we were sure that the large steeply slanted meddow would prove to give us a few more deer, now as most people know theres no vehicals allowed in the wilderness areas, we had walked in well before first light and go possitioned on the ridge, it was about 30 degrees but cold and clear, we sat quietly waiting for dawns first light. the morning chill caused our breath to fog, in the starlight I could see ED,s breath and SAMs breath even though they themselfs were just barely visiable in the darkness. It seemed to take hours for the dawns first pink light to filter above the far mountain peaks, we were sure that the guys getting out of camp far below us would soon push any deer thru the area and most likely get at least one of us a shot! WRONG! dawns first light reveiled some total JERK! sleeping in a SLEEPING BAG on the back of a JEEPSTER (MILES INSIDE AN AREA ,NO VEHICALS ARE ALLOWED IN)worse yet this idiot gets up and starts making breakfast, clanging pans and lights a coleman lantern dead center in the center of a meddow thats about 600yards bye 1200 yards long seperateing two huge fingers of redwoods that are in the lower areas or ravines. we quickly get together and form a plan to still hunt the thickly timbered ravine the timbered area is crossed at odd intervals with fallen trees at odd angles that you must follow along for hundreds of feet because they are to tall to climb over, (makes for a very weird feeling like youve been reduced to the size of a mouse!) several hours later finds all three of us at the edge of a wide stream about 30-50 yards wide but only inches deep in most places. we follow the stream about 1 mile up streeam then spread out about 500 yards apart, and at a hand signal we all start walking directly and slowly up hill, planing to meet on the ridge crest about a mile away. within one hour and 700 yards I hear a single shot.... followed by 3 more in very rapid succession (most likely EDs pump reminginton 30-06)I stop and listen for 20 minutes... not a sound, KNOWING ED, if he had hit anything he would be yelling his head off!, I continue still hunting up hill,...30 minutes later Ive reached about 1/2 way up the slope, Ive seen no deer yet, heard no movement and its now about 11am. I find a fallen tree with a branch that makes a good seat and rest for awhile, drink some water (tastes crappy with those iodine tablets in the stream water, but a spoon full of tang orange drink powder helps partly hide the taste)while Im waiting I see SAM slowly working his way up hill from below, he has not seen me, I wait till hes about 80 yards away then wave my orange jacket/vest, he spots it and walks over. we are both not used to the 7000-8000ft altitude. while we catch our breath, I spot movement, thinking its ED, I watch but it soon becomes obvious its a stranger, he sits down about 600 yards away down what appears to be a very old, over grown logging road (the only reason we can see him in the huge timber)about 15 minutes later I look and hes gone! we get our packs on and start up hill. within a few minutes I hear something walking , but can,t see anything, we drop to the ground and bend several large ferns down for a makeshift blind. we wait....five then ten minutes pass, SAM wants to continue up hill, in low wispers I convince him to wait five more minutes......IT PAYS OFF! first an old doe is spotted, then several younger does, minutes pass , no buck....then as if the older doe has signalled everythings clear the doe s start to feed and wag thier tails occasionally, the nice buck appears about 200 yards away and is almost impossiable to see except for brief flashes, I kneel and place the back-pack in front of me, I lay the browning 78 single shot over the top and wrap the sling around my arm, I get read with the cross hairs on the next opening, minutes pass... SAM says Im wasteing my time, Im about to agree , when the buck slowly walks into the small opening at about 210 yards, I place the cross hair high and forward on his shoulder and as he starts to step forward the 7x scope jumps as the slowly applied pressure on the trigger causes the gun to fire! the deer bolts at a dead run.I drop the lever and eject the fired case, sam starts to run toward the last known location,I pick up the pack, tie a orange ribbon to the shots location if we need it later and leaveing the action closed but now unloaded lower the hammer. I get up and follow SAM, on reaching the location I think the deer was standing in, theres a big scrape mark where the deer got a good launch, 30 feet away the deer lies where he landed in a heap! the 30-06/200grain speer bullet has driven through high over the heart, and exited! SAM and I drag the deer 100 yards up hill to a fallen redwood and use a large branch, that sticks out above us to use as a place to hook a block&tackle to hoist and dress out the deer. about the time its dark we reach the upper ridge crest , our paks are so heavy with venison we both need help getting them on, EDs waiting with good/bad news! we walk back to the truck and drop the venison in the cooler, SAM drives into the nearest town for dry ICE, while ED and I walk back with no rifles in the dark forest and empty packs, just two flash lites, and EDs 45acp in his pack for protection, to retrieve the buck ED shot early in the day, he tells us it was a 4 hour tracking job.... yes the deer only ran about 160 yards but ED spent that time on his hands and knees following drops of blood to the deer! (GREAT JOB!), we find and dress out the deer by flash lite, its 5am by the time we have the venison back in the camp cooler. we sleep most of the day, SAM hunts near camp all day with no results that day. two days later SAMS on his way to town for more dry ice when a nice buck stands by the road and unbelievably allows him to get out, load his rifle and fire, the result is one of the few times when everyone limited out!
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it was back in the late 70s I think,I was miserably cold for FLA, I remember the temp had dropped into the high 20s that day and my glasses fogged up as I walked to the tree where I placed my climbing stand the night before.
I had not dressed correctly as I was wearing only a heavy sweater under the camo so Id be warm on the stand. luckly the dew was now frost on the leaves as I brushed bye instead of the water that normally soaked my legs as I walked in to the stand of oak trees I like to hunt.
I got the stand up to about 30 feet on the large strait pine that grew on the edge of the thicket before dawn and got my safety harness hooked up and draped a large camo net over myself,the top edge of which is hung on a dead branch above so as to form a curtain around me hideing most movement, but even after settling in my glasses constantly fogged up.30 minute of sitting in the still woods made me realize just how cold it realy was as I began to shiver, I took several 30 gallon plastic garbage bags out of my pack and placed one on each leg and made two into pull over vests by carefully cutting neck and arm holes then slipping them on.this added slight heat retention as I waited for the sun to rise. by 8am I was finished eating my packed snacks hopeing the extra calories would help, when I noticed the first bit of daylight filtering thru the eastern trees. in the distance I could barely hear muffled car doors slaming from the road about 1 1/4 miles away, my hands were so cold I could barely stand it, my marlin 45/70 was accross my lap with the sling behind my neck and I was holding my finger tips under each arm pit as i sat ther 30 feet in the air shivering, thinking about the old saying"If your going to be dumb you better be tough , slowly the dawns light started to cast its golden tint on the tall dead grass and as I watched the first birds flitter about I noticed the trees dripping, (the temps going up just enought to get me soaked) thankfully the idiot in the stand (me)has a makeshift raincoat made from garbage bags already on.
as the day warms I think of my wife, kidding me about "hunting is really just a way to feed everglades mosquitoes, while keeping the gunshop in business"
AS Im thinking about how this is not all that much fun at the moment I catch movement out of the corner of my eye at the far side of the field, staying almost perfectly still
I reached, up and took the sling from behind my neck and got the rifle ready,slowly ,ever so slowly behind the camo netting, so no movement can be seen I watch the bushes move, into the field walks two guys, as they follow the far edge of the fields edge towards the far end of the stand of oak I watch them.
after they pass all is again quite and wet,ten minutes later I hear something walking behind the trees to my right rear,I think its the other hunters, but I slowly turn and see a nice 4x3 buck and a doe playing some kind of deer version of tag your it! for close to 30 minutes they are in and out of sight ,but never once give me a shot I can take. finally the buck stops at about 75-80 yards with his shoulder exposed at the correct angle. I slowly line up the scope,its fogged up but a quick wipe with the shirt tail gets it barely clean,I still can,t see well as the suns angle glares in the scope, like a jerk I hold the rifle against my shoulder with my right hand and shade the scopes front lense with my left hand, I place the cross hair low on the shoulder to cut the heart behind it and squeeze off the shot! The combo of a wet recoil pad, wet multi layered garbage bag vest and odd fireing angle, and stupid way Im holding the rifle allows me to smack myself in the cheek as the rifle slips off my shoulder.I get a slight nose bleed. "If your going to be dumb you better be tough the doe hauls butt.. but I can,t see the buck in the tall grass. I wait 5 minutes in silence ....no movement anywhere other than a few birds... I climb down and walk to where I think the deer was when I fired.. I can see his tracks in the moist dirt,he never even flinched when hit... he fell exactly where he stood on bullet impact! both lower shoulders and the edge of the heart have a hole the size of a nickle, on dressing the buck out theres very little meat in the front end thats salvageable due to internal flying bone splinters! 430 grains of lead at 1700fps does a good job of breaking things up (NOTE TO MYSELF ,..AIM BEHIND NOT THRU BOTH SHOULDERS)"If your going to be dumb you better be tough the walk back to the trucks warmer due to pulling the deer on the tree stand and the effort it takes but at least this will stop the wifes jokes (for this week anyway)
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[FTTPOW]

And people pay for magazine subscriptions to read this kind of story? Keep 'em coming. Come on guys, spill your guts. Pull up a stump and tell us a story.

 

[340mag]

I look at elk hunting almost like a huge chess game.
first you find and check all the terrain features, looking for natural terrain features that channel and limit travel, (deep caynons, sheer cliffs, rivers,ETC.)then you find all the likely camping sites,road access points and other likely pressure points that will allow the weekend hunting crowds to push the elk herds out of the area, next you look over the likely escape routes and likely safety areas the elk are likely to flow into when pressured to get away from the hunting pressure,next you locate the nasty, steep and difficult to access areas with both cover and access to water.
now on opening day you want to be on those points that limit travel about 3-5 miles from the nearest road or camp site before dawn that have the largest most difficult to access caynons just past them, after opening day you want to be still hunting those same difficult to access caynons, especially the heavy conifer pockets surrounded by aspen on the benches and steep slopes that are especially dificult to reach with 2-4 guys covering all escape routes out of those caynons
useing a drop back stalk works very well for hard pressed elk,thats where one guy still hunts about 1/3 of the way up from the caynon floor and a second guy follows about 1/3 of the way down from the crest of the caynon about 500 yards to the rear, elk frequently try to circle behind and up hill from hunters that don,t see them as the thermals raise as the day warms up, about 1-2 hours before dark the thermals reverses so at that time the upper guy leads . no its not fool proof but it works surprisingly well if done correctly with a small team of guys that understand what they are doing and why they are doing it and work as a team, we normally swap possitions in the team about every 3 hours and every guy gets an equal chance

now on this day in about 1985-1987. careful searching of the white river area topo maps had allowed us to locate a canyon that was the only canyon in this one area that did not have road access. we had setup camp in a grove of aspen about 50 yards from a old logging road, we had not seen any ELK for three days yet the canyon below our camp showed new elk tracks in the light snow every morning in the few patches that had yet to melt in the high 30 degree temps in the shadded areas, under the few conifer trees.after carefull thought it was thought that the ELK must have found a location to bed that allowed them to see us working our way down into the canyon early in the morning. the canyon was ringed along most of its length by cliffs, rock slides and slopes on the upper areas that were so steep that even useing both hands and feet allowed very few access points to the lower shallower slopes in the few places where the aspen grew, the canyon flow was criss crossed in numerious places by a shallow stream and willow in the bottom and sage slopes with scattered oak brush and aspen further up. the lower canyon was all but unreachable as it became a narrow rock gorge about 10 miles down stream where it crossed the interstate highway, where no parking or easy access was available,the upper canyon had no road access and few places that walking out was possiable. our plan envolved three phases ,
step one would be two of us (myself and frank) sleeping in a well hidden spot in a small side canyon with no noise or fire, cooking, sleeping only in a sleeping bag covered by a tarp.
step two would be two more guys in our camp (mike and RON) spending a good 3-4 hours hikeing to the upper canyon in the dark then dropping into the upper canyon at first light
step three , would be Ed walking into the canyon along the normal access route followed by SAM at about a 20 minute later time frame,
the idea was that if we all entered the canyon slowly and carefully , the ELK which we were sure were in the canyon,would most likely be watching ED and possiably SAM but at least in theory be un-aware of the other two two man teams. as dawn approched FRANK AND I found concealed sniper locations about 600 yards apart on opposite sides of the canyon and up off the canyon floor about 100 yards on my side and about 50 yards up on franks side. I told FRANK TO STAY CONCEALED .bye 8.30 AM we had seen about a dozen nice mule deer , but no ELK,by 10AM MIKE AND RON had reached the canyon floor and we could see them once in awhile about 2 miles up the canyon working their way towards us, ED AND SAM were just reaching the canyon floor when the first group of ELK burst out of the small grove of aspens just up canyon from them and trotted rapidly up canyon. neither FRANK OR I could get a shot but we were sure that MIKE AND RON should shortly see the oncoming group of ELK when a SECOND GROUP of ELK started up canyon from the lower canyon heading toward ED and SAM, still no shot was available to FRANK and I, the ELK fled past our location, and past ED and SAM (LATER WE FOUND THEY NEVER SAW THE ELK), 15 minutes passed when I heard a single shot from up canyon, I stayed put! in my location but FRANK got up and went to find ED AND SAM, the three of them were standing out in the open when the ELK that were turned back when MIKE dropped a small bull , with his 338 win mag as it fled by them at a range of about 300 yards, not a shot was fired by any of the three (HUNTERS"?) I counted first 4 then 5 more COW ELK fleeing past moving rapidly down canyon, figureing all the bulls were down or gone I was about to get up when I heard movement above me, slowly turning I had a brief glimps of what appeared to be nice antlers in the aspens above me, leaning on the large aspen next to me I strained to pick out the ELK about 120 yards up hill from me, in the 4x scope, just then FRANK YELLED, "SEE ANYTHING" the BULL WIRLED and STARTED TO RUN BACK trying to run strait up hill away from us! as he tried to cross a small shale rock slide I fired, the 250 grain bullet entered near the spine on the right hip and drove forward passing under the spine and exited just damageing the upper lungs, and exiting the left forward shoulder, the ELK DROPPED BUT WAS FAR FROM DEAD, HE WAS KICKING AND TRYING TO GET TO HIS FEET as HE SLID BUT WAS NOT ABLE to gain footing untill he was about 75 yards above me on the steep rock slide, as he tried to get to his feet I fired a second shot , it entered low in the chest but took out the area above the heart, the ELK FELL and died within seconds, still slideing he finaly slamed into a aspen and stopped moving, my ELK was a small ELK with 4x5 antlers about 3 feet long per side (HE SURE LOOKED BIGGER when I first saw him) MIKES bull was a 4 x4 that was slightly bigger than mine, it had run about 30 yards after the shot then stopped, mike was about to fire a second shot when it dropped. but dropping two legal ELK in about 15 minutes due to careful planing that resulted from solving how to be where the ELK were when we chose to meet them on their own terms was a great feeling, it took two long hard days to get both ELK packed out of that canyon.