Nv Elk Hunt

[sierrastocker]

Not my tag, but was lucky enough to get invited to go along on the hunt. My Father in law drew a 111-115 221 & 222 archery tag. Took him over 10 years to get it.
Thougt I would share the story with you guys.

Day 1: We left reno with about a 7 hour trip in front of us. I was towing 2 horses and he was towing 2 quads. We were planing on hunting on both wilderness and non-wilderness. Got to the general area we planned on hunting around dark. Didnt quite make it all the way to were we wanted to camp so we just slept in our trucks and would get into camp the next morning.

Day 2: Got up early and started getting the trucks up the 10 mile windy dirt road to where we were to camp. Took 3 hours to go 10 miles. Went from 7000' to 9500'. Long and nerve racking towing two horses up a grade like that. We finally got to our camp site around 1pm and didnt even bother to set-up. We just grabed our packs and hiked into the wilderness. As soon as we got on the trail we heard the bulls bugling. Was very promising! Hiked up to 11,200' and saw some awesome bucks....but no bulls...
Started the hike back down and we heard 2-3 bulls in front of us. Tried calling them in but no luck. They kept their distance, and this terrain made it nearly impossible to spot them or stalk them. Was getting dark so we made the trek back to camp. The hand held GPS came in very handy. I had camp marked and with out that we would have been walking in circles. It was very thick and steep country. In all this quick little hike turned into a 12 mile journey and put us back at camp around 11pm... (camp still not really set-up).

Day 3: Today we just planed a short morning hunt so we could get back and set up camp durring the day. We decided to get back into the cayon where we heard the bulls the previous day. We got an early start and the bulls were bugling. We would try calling them with cow calls and bugles but they would not budge. They were talking back but had no desire to come check us out. We figured the only way we could get on one was to get them talking and make a stalk. So I stayed back and made the calls. My father-n-law would then follow their calls and try to move in. Again way to hard in this terrain...We then decided to stay up on the mountain since we got so far from camp and it didnt make sence to hike back just to return for an evening hunt.
Right around fivish or so the bulls start screaming again. But we just cant get into them...Was getting very frustrating. Once again we get back to camp at dark, tired and hungry...

Day 4: Its hard not to go back into that cayon with all the noise coming from it! So my father-n-law decides to go it alone this time for a "another quick morning hunt" I was going to watch the mountain side he was hunting from the other side of cayon. This was easy because I could get their quickly. This side was not wilderness (the side he was on was) and I could drive a quad there. At about 8am he gave me call on the radio to let me know it was no use trying to hunt these animals right now. They just were not rutting yet. Meanwhile I spotted many bulls above him! I Told him not to give up yet and that he ought to make his way back up to the 11,200 mark and get ready for an evening hunt up there since it appeared thats where the bulls were hanging out. The wheather was perfect as of now...
I headed back to camp to get things set up. We still hadnt really unpacked anything. Then the thunder clouds came in...along with lots of rain/hail... My father-n-law was up in this mess with no jacket or lunch or matches. He was very unprepared to stay up there with this kind of wheather rolling in. But never heard from him on the radio so I assumed he was ok which he was.
I headed back to my spot on the adjacent hill to see if I could spot him. As soon as I rolled up I get a call from him saying "F this!" And he was heading down very wet and tired...That night since the bulls weren't rutting yet he decided it would be better to head out and come back the last weekend of the season. Even though he had a nice 6x6 come within 50 yards of him along with a rag horn that day it just wasnt very promissing at this point in time. I was pretty bummed because I knew I wouldnt be able to make the trip back with him...
Some pictures of the country we were in. Nevada can be pretty damn impressive, I always thought it was just a big flat desert

our camp

 

[sierrastocker]

Day 5: We woke up with plans on packing up and heading out after breakfast. During breakfast we heard the usually bugling all around us. Up to this point the only thing we had seen was bulls. Not one single cow, to us it was obvious that they were not in rut yet.
Then by chance I grabed my glasses and started to look over the hillside across from our camp...I spotted one huge bull with about 8 cows behind him! And it wasnt but a few minutes before they were over the hill and out of sight. Was a cool sight for sure. This gave us some hope that they were finally getting into the rut.
After seeing that he decided we would stay put. :bounce-aqua:

 

[weekender21]

and then.............

 

[sierrastocker]

After breakfast we went over and hunted the area where we saw the bull and cows. We finally were getting bulls coming into our cow calls. But because of the thick timber it was about impossible to get a shot. That day we saw 2 ok bulls come into our calls but no shots...
That afternoon we decided to build a blind near a water hole. After we finished the blind we went to check another waterhole. Found nothing there. On way back to camp and about .25 mile from the blind we built we saw a heard of about 30 cows with one GIANT BULL drinking right at our blind. :wavin hello: We could do nothing but watch...Our guess would put this bull around 400.

 

[sierrastocker]

Day 6: I got to sleep in this morning, but my father n law was up at around 4 to get into the blind in hope that the big fella would return...
That didnt happen
Today was gonna be kinda a lazy day we needed a break. We decided to take a drive out of the mountains to get cell service and check on family.
On the way back we thought we would check out a road that we hadnt been up yet. As soon as I got out of the truck I blew my bugle once and got a reply from 2 different bulls.
My father n law grabed his bow and went back into the timber with me about 50 yards behind him cow calling. This area was much thinner than the other areas we had been hunting. You could actually see over 100 yards.
I kept cow calling while he would slowly move deeper into the timber, when I saw him move up I would move up. Then we saw him. About 100 yards out a nice 6x6 was coming right towards us rayin :. He got at about 25 yards. Then my father n law let one fly!


He missed him . It couldnt have been more perfect other than the miss. We joked about how it was like what we see on the outdoor channel, but he missed...

 

[RoosterKiller]

Rats!!

 

[dw33]

Awesome looking country. I hope this story has a good ending.

 

[sierrastocker]

Day 7: We decided to go back to the area where we had 2 bulls come into our calls on day 5. Right away we located a bull and and had him coming in. He sounded like he was about 20 yards from us. We couldnt see him because of how thick it was. He must of got wind of us because all the sudden he went silent...Then we decided to go check out another cayon that we had found on a previous day. As we we're pulling into this canyon...the only other tag holder in the area was coming out.
He had a massive rack on his quad We were happy for him but felt like we were never gonna get a break. He did tell us that another big boy back in the canyon took over the cows from the bull he just got. So not all was lost and we headed into the canyon.
We located the bull at about 10:30am by bugling. Then we positioned ourselves and then took a long nap to wait for them to come out of timber for water and feed. Like clockwork they started to come out around 5pm. 1st 2 cows came out....we were getting excited it was almost too perfect. YOu could tell by his grunts and bugles he was a big one. Then he gave a call that pulled those cows right back in the timber...There was another bull coming into him. As soon as he heard the new bull coming in he gathered his cows and headed for the hills.
We then proceeded to call the smaller bull. Our calls were driving him nuts. I got him within 80 yards of me and 40 within my father n law. But he came from a side we didnt expect and could not get a shot on him. Wish I had my camera on me, he was a real nice 6x6...Oh well, was getting dark so we headed back to camp.

 

[sierrastocker]

Day 8: We woke up and headed for the canyon we hunted the previous day in hope of getting another shot at the bull we called in. When we got there it was silent . At this point we were feeling pretty dejected...We had been hunting pretty hard for 7 days and now we felt like we had accomplished nothing...We hopped on the quads and headed for another spot were we had heard a bull or 2 on a previous day.
We got close to that spot and then gave a blow on the bugle. We got plenty of response back. But it was coming from behind us, from the canyon we hunted the 1st 3 days...the STEEEP and THICK canyon...
The noise coming from there was intense! Bugling and the sound of antlers clashing. Through the glasses we watched a few bulls sizing each other up. I had never seen anything like this. It was awesome to watch and listen to the action. Right then we headed for camp to get ready for an afternoon hunt.

 

[sierrastocker]

That afternoon we got into that canyon. By the sound of it there was bulls everywhere. We set up and started calling, only to get a small rag horn come into our cow calls. It seemed the big ones/ones with cows wanted nothing to do with us. We could hear these big growly SOB's and we wanted one. It seemed like we had 2 different bulls with cows in front of us but we could not pull them in...so we just followed them. It was pretty wild. The timber was very thick and everynow and then you would hear branches break and somthing run off, it seemed like they were 10 feet away. We slowly kept following hoping we could get a glimpse of one...Finally we came to a big opening and got a glimpse of cows....
They would just bark at us, sounded just like dogs. We thought the gig was up.
We continued to follow since we had nothing better to do. Meanwhile the bugling is getting louder and louder and what was 2 bulls now sounded like 6. We kept pushing.
My father n law kept about 50 yards in front of me, and I would only move a few minutes after I saw him move. It was very slow going. Finally we got to a big clearing on the mountain side. Now the bulls were going nuts! I think what had happened was we had pushed these 2 heard bulls into a group of bachelor bulls, and the heard bulls were forces to stand their ground? Anyway it sounded like WWIII. If you didnt know they were just elk you would be running for your life. They sounded like lions and bears growling and screaming at each other.

 

[superduty]

I'm scouting elk again tomorrow for the Oct. 1st opener. Man you got me pumped. Let's here the next chapter.

 

[sierrastocker]

This clearing was about the size of a football field. It was still pretty steep and and was surrounded by aspens. There were a few junipers in the clearing.
My father n law found cover behind the junipers, I could no longer see him but didnt want to go any farther since the bugling sounded like it was 20 feet away. I just held back in the aspens and kept bugling hoping to add to the chaos.
I wasnt in that spot for more than 10 minutes when I heard my father n law yell. I thought one of two things either he got one rayin :! or he just wanted me to come check out the action because he wasnt gonna be able to get a shot. I came out of the aspen and over a small hill to see him standing in the middle of the clearing with his arms in the air! I still couldn't believe it since none of the bugling had stoped. I stood there with him and we looked all around us and you could still see these bulls on the outside edge of the clearing just tucked into the aspens a little bugling at each other accross the opening. One word to describe it was EPIC. I have never seen anything like this and it was awesome.

 

[sierrastocker]

Look what I found

Father n law said it looked like the bull was coming for a break or to check on his cows. He came within 30 yards of the juniper he was hiding in. The bull was quartering away and down hill. The arrow entered right behind the front left shoulder and exited out the upper neck. It sliced right through the jugular. It was a very quick death to say the least.

 

[sierrastocker]

It was getting dark, so we quickly found the bull. He went about 50 yards from the point where he got hit. The sun was now down so all we could do is tag em, and gut em. The bulls around us were still going nuts. We marked the spot on the gps and with plenty of ribbon and planed on returning in the morning with the pack animals.

 

[dw33]

This story is getting better.

 

[sierrastocker]

Day 9: Had to take the horses in to get him out.

Getting closer! You can see the opening where we saw all the bulls in the aspens.

 

[CAGWP]

I cant take it any more, lets see it:lol bashing sign:

 

[Duknutz]

This story's going to take about the same amount of time as it is for me to get drawn for my NV. elk tag....Six years going on seven.:lol bashing sign:
Post up the "Horn Porn"!!!!opcorn:

 

[JNDEER]

this blows!!! I read all that great story and I am at work (Gov't) and they are freakin blokking the pics!!!!!!!!!!!!

now i have to wait until i get home at 0200 to see this......

awesome read, can't wait to actually see the pics with the story

 

[weekender21]

This post is no good without the elk pictures!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!