Quality Elk 2013

[LabChamp]

Just a quick update for you all on my quality bull tag this year!

After making the move, my wife and I got into the new area around 5 PM on Monday. By 530 we were scouting out the area for sign and it didn't take us long to start seeing wildlife. First we started seeing mule deer bucks,  and I was impressed to say the least; being less than a week away from modern season. Judging from the number of camps that were set up, I assume the modern season will be busy. However, as we continued to explore the lay of the land... We continued seeing more deer with some very respectable 3+ point mule deer in the mix. As light began to fade, my hopes began to rise. The type of terrain is EXACTLY what I have grown up hunting elk in, over on the otherside side of the valley. Needless to say, elk love the steep, dense, buck brush ridden hillsides with broken meadows and it didn't take us long to start seeing elk. As my wife and I were making our way back from exploring the higher country, movement caught our attention easing out of the dense woods, into slightly thinned out timber we saw our first group of elk. Three cows and... Not far away a giant, by all means of the word. While cow calling, trying to ease into range for a shot... The lead cow spooked and took the big bull with her. This bull was HUGE (350+). Onward we went and we got into 3 more cows before dark. We sat quietly and observed these cows from 50-60 yards, until dark in hopes a bull would show himself at last light. No luck there, but we had seen elk and we were very excited to see what the coming days would bring for us.

Tuesday we had a much better feel for the land and began hunting more below the snowline. Much more sign down low, rather than up high. As the wife and I left camp, we immediately saw a 4x5 cross the road in front of us. What a great start to the morning! I tell you what coffee addicts, set the cup of joe aside... and look at a nice bull elk in the morning. MUCH more effective to get the heart going if you ask me. We let him pass by us before getting up to the area where we had seen the most amount of sign, as well as the big bull from the night before. The day passed us by with seeing a few more nice bucks, a bunch of does, as well as around 10-12 head of elk with a spike. Couldn't believe the little guy hadn't gotten his but kicked by some of the bigger bulls in the area. Everything pointed toward us being in the right spot, and we were just as excited to start the next morning.

Wednesday morning started off brutally cold. The cloud cover that had been offering us a thin layer of insulation had passed by, leaving clear skies to suck any remaining heat right out of your bones. I had never spent a night being so cold under a -20 degree bag in my life. In between the flashes of bulls, shivering and excitement of the upcoming morning I didn't get much sleep that night. My wife and I had been seeing a lot of sign down close to camp, so we decided to walk the roads. We got just above the public camp sites and began easing ourselves into elk country on foot. As the sun began to shine its light into the darkened valleys, my heart began to get a feeling of anxiousness. While moving along, we would stop cow calling once every 150 yards, it didn't take us long to hear a cow call back to us. At this moment we found cover and began to listen. There were 2-4 cows that we could hear above us in thick timber but we couldn't see any of them. After 10 minutes, their chatter back and forth began to be fading and seemed to be moving slowly away. Time to make a move. My wife and I gave another cow call, as we advanced another 30-40 yards in the last direction we heard the cows moving. Suddenly, a breaking branch caught our attention not more than 40 yards away. Immediately, we froze and looked into the direction of the sound. Slowly, I turn my head and see a nice 5 x 5 make his way into my field of view. Being the 9th, and season closing the 10th... This bull was VERY worthy of seeing what the knight muzzleloader was capable of. The bull lowered his head as he began to feed, seemingly unaware my wife and I were just a mere 30 yards away. I slowly lifted the knight to my shoulder, safety off, and began to squeeze. My heart rate slowed, my breathing was steady, the open fiber-optic sights firmly embedded behind a dandy bull's shoulder, and my finger slowly pressing itself onto the trigger. CLICK! The hammer drops on the cap firmly placed on the nipple, but a miss-fire! The bull raises his head to see what had made this "click" sound, and went back to feeding. I pulled the hammer back for a second try with the cap. CLICK! Same result, bad cap! Meanwhile I'm frantically trying to remove a smashed cap off the nipple of my muzzleloader. Finally, the dud cap comes off of the nipple and a new cap had it replaced. I quickly raised the Knight as the bull put his head into thicker cover, and put the squeeze on one more time. This time however, BOOM! A plume of smoke filled the morning air with the familiar scent of black powder, mixed with the fresh chilling bite of fall. While the smoke began to dissipate, I hear my wife saying "HE'S RIGHT THERE!" Still alive, the bull came into view. The bull stopped to look back down at us, when I realized he had a bright red spot right behind his shoulder that began expanding and dripping in crimson. The 5x5 turned to join the cows that could be heard trying to talk him into their position, when he got a little dizzy and decided it was time to lay down. Trying to teach my wife how to track animals the right way, I led her to where we had first shot the bull, and began looking for blood. Blood was easy to find and the blood trail led us to its maker. Not 30 yards from where the bullet made impact, lay our prize. An absolutely BEAUTIFUL 5x5 with the most gorgeous red/orange tint to his head gear! He sports a beautiful heavy horned rack, with great alder rubbed colors, and even has a little sticker that some would count as a sixth point off of his 4th on one side. My wife and I were beyond words, as we stood and took pictures enjoying the moment being together and being blessed to be where we were. We worked thru 2 PM skinning, boning out, and icing out our elk. I couldn't help but feel so blessed and thankful to the person who helped our family succeed.

I will forever be thankful of what you did to help our season turn around RT. Like I promised, I will have some elk set aside for you and your family to enjoy whenever you would like. From both my wife and I, THANK YOU for everything. Truly a memory we will both live with and will be engrained into our memories as long as we both live. One of the most memorable hunts I have ever taken part of, and none of it would have been possible without you. Thank you again for everything. If you ever need a hand, you know where to look.

[coachcw]

great hunt congrats !

[rtspring]

Glad to help!!! Great Bull....  Job well done sir!!!

[rtspring]

great bull RT is the man!!

BTW, whats up with that eye in the picture?

I believe thats his knee...

[Bshiftbc]

Well done! Excellent write up...thanks for sharing!

[Ridgerunner]

Beautiful five point way to get it done

[SniperDanWA]

Dandy of a story.  RT again, you are a generous and passionate person.  Great kill and I like the bull!  Congrats to you.

[Crunchy]

Beautiful bull, and looks like a big bodied bull at that.  Lots of meat on that one.

[BOOM!!]

Yeah, thanks for the help RT

Steve

[dewandgin]

Nice bull and great write up.

[buck man]

Excellent! Glad for your success. Awesome you got some help.

[Mfowl]

Congrats! Great write up! Good on ya too, RT!

[deerhunter_98520]

Congrats on your bull..way to go I know who I'm sending a pm if I draw a tag 

[FordGuy]

Congrats on such a nice bull!  Great write up as well!   

[Elkstuffer]

Good looking bull! Congrats!