First off, thanks to Runamuk for the proper teasing lead in and frustrating as many as possible...
NOW,,, As promised,,, Better Late than Never..
Opening day of elk season started clear but a bit chilly. I had snuck down an old decomissioned road, where I could watch a steep hillside where I had seen cows on Thurs. evening.
About 10:40 I hear two shots a long ways off. Then a 3rd. I get on the radio, ask if that was anyone in our group... got a negative from one party..
Next I hear my brother come over the radio, saying BULL DOWN! .. He had gone up this trail to the top with his son, so I was already wondering where in the hell, he could have knocked a bull down at... I get back to the big meadow and put my binos to work, scanning the steep ass mtn, that I knew he should be at the top of, and sure enough.. I see Blaze Orange...
My first thought, was SON OF A BIOTCH! He was on an almost vertical hillside, and then he started shooting again.. after 2 more shots, he told us to get the pack frames and get up to him asap.. Well, the closest way to him was straight up the hill. BY THE GPS, he was less than 1/2 mile away from camp.... BY FOOT, it took us 4 hours of climbing almost straight up, around rock bluffs, and over blow down still laying there from when the Mt. blew in 1980. When we (me and his wife) finally got to where the elk was, it was 4 pm... I was totally exhausted. His wife took the boy, headed up to the trail and down that way to the truck.... He and I were spending the night..
Oh, and the bull?
It would have been a dream if he had died in the old decommissioned skid road... BUT NO.. he had in his last gasp, went over the edge, about 50 ft. Hung himself up in some vine maple/alder crap. Basically front and back was hung up on stuff, with the middle portions hanging out over nothing, as it was that steep. Makes for some real tense moments for the guy on the bottom side trying to work on him... ham
That was one cold wet miserable night.. It started pouring rain, as we worked on the bull till dark. So now we were soaked. I was slowly getting goofy.. I had had no real food, since breakfast, and had climbed up that steep ass mountain. 1900 ft. in elevation., We cut boughs and made a makeshift lean-to around a small Christmas tree. 3 weeks earlier we could have burned down the mountain... that night, we could not burn a damn twig... Thank gawd for Fire Paste... stuff is like Napalm.. (need to buy 2 more tubes) Needless to say, we spent a long wet cold night, trying to get some sleep bang We built 5 small fires with the Fire Paste with the wet dead limbs we had, through out the night. Those small fires really helped keep the moral up. It is amazing what even a very small fire can do for your spirits.
I was creating enough energy just shivering that my soaked "waterproof" pants were steaming...
Finally, after a long night of teeth chattering, shivering, and cussing.... it started to get daylight.
We had a breakfast of:
1 full sized Almond Snickers each
1/2 of an apple
1/2 of a can of sugared cola
A handful of trail mix.
Then back to work on the elk. We had it butchered out and the packs loaded by 10:30 am. We each had 100 lbs. of meat on our backs, plus my brother had the rack and his rifle.
We decided that going down was a much better plan that trying to go the 800 yards straight up to the trail.. So down we went.. one tentative step at a time. If you slipped you threw yourself backwards to avoid going head first down the mountain. We had to take 4 breaks (pull off the packs and literally lay back and try to breath) We finally hit the road where camp was located at 1:15.... Got to camp, let the others in camp deal with the meat. I got food, dry clothes on, and then was wandering around camp, in a fog... decided to lay down, woke up as dinner was served, and still could not think straight. Went back to bed and slept till time to hunt the next day. My brother made one last trip up the trail and down to the elk to get the last 60 lbs. of meat we had hung.. All this for a 4x4.
My brother did make one hell of a shot., 645 yards.. .
Sako .338 WM that I built for him, Leupold CDS scope with turrets, .225 gr. Accubond handloads at 2850 fps.
Here is a pic of him and his son on the mtn. with the bull head. Notice the bullet hole?
It did not kill the elk... flipped him clear over, bullet broke off pieces of spine, destroyed the liver... however, the bull got back up. bang bang
My brother and his son, with the head up on the mtn.. No, they did not pose very well...
