Spike Report !

[gunrinwa]

Man its been slow in 342. We filled a cow tag today but other than than i think weve seen about 4 elk sunce the opener.

That's sounds like our camp. Couple of guys with cow tags yet to fill them. Not much hanging on the meat poles off 1701.

[Ellensburg]

Man its been slow in 342. We filled a cow tag today but other than than i think weve seen about 4 elk sunce the opener.

That's sounds like our camp. Couple of guys with cow tags yet to fill them. Not much hanging on the meat poles off 1701.

Have you glassed along sheep co road?


Tomorrow is my last day to fill my 342 cow tag. Seen about 200 camp sites. No meat hanging. Today was the first day that anyone we spoke to had seen anything. Probably the worst year I've ever seen in this unit. Bad year for a cow tag I guess.

We have glassed a lot of country and put on some boot miles. No fresh sign and no elk. It was raining pretty hard and fogged in on top of quartz early today but no snow.

[206]

I did not read any of this.  The guys who score live 9 days where the elk live and know where they go when the pressure comes.   

[Ellensburg]

I did not read any of this.  The guys who score live 9 days where the elk live and know where they go when the pressure comes.

Deep

[palousehunter]

We got one Spike out of 328 only elk I ahd seen, One of our guys had a Cougar following and a Hunter from another camp Shot it, It was a different from Last Year, Worse Year in 15 to See Elk

[Jonathan_S]

I had my first ever shot opportunity on a "true" spike.  I am kicking myself for not pulling the trigger but I think I made the ethical decision.  I had him at about 150 yds, crosshairs on the forhead, and looked about 10-15 seconds just making absolte certain there were no suprises on those sticks.  I confirmed , and moved the scope down the neck towards the crease in the shoulder, and damned if a big arse bull ran right between , and whoosh, both were off and running into the thick! I keep running it through my mind... why theheck didnt I shoot??? Its simple really, I dont think its a sure kill shot, if your off and inch or two, thats a wounded animal, and secondly.... Ive never done that..... thinkig back, all my shots have been in the crease.  I will be bummed awhile, but I think it was the right choice.

Well good on you for being careful but I think 1-2" is a little tight of a margin for an adequate elk caliber   

[Scottystyle]

yeah, the more i think about it, i should have shot, i have a 300wsm, and it would have more than done the trick... just never done a head shot before, or even considered it.  i know, about 99 % of hunters would, just never been a consideration for me.  going back out this afternoon, maybe get in there earlier and get settled.

[brick]

Man its been slow in 342. We filled a cow tag today but other than than i think weve seen about 4 elk sunce the opener.

Just talked to my uncle in 342, hasn't seen an elk since Monday.  2 guys in camp have cow tags, needless to say he's bummed.

[vandeman17]

yeah, the more i think about it, i should have shot, i have a 300wsm, and it would have more than done the trick... just never done a head shot before, or even considered it.  i know, about 99 % of hunters would, just never been a consideration for me.  going back out this afternoon, maybe get in there earlier and get settled.

Personally, I don't and won't take a head shot on big game. I have taken lower neck shots but never the head. I am confident in my shooting ability but I just don't feel comfortable aiming for the head. I think one of the biggest reason, as crazy as it sounds, is I don't want to walk up to a dead critter with a hole in its skull and brains scattered everywhere. 

[woodywsu]

We went 3 for 5 on spikes. Passed on a lot of 1x2s prior to pulling the trigger.

[Scottystyle]

yeah, the more i think about it, i should have shot, i have a 300wsm, and it would have more than done the trick... just never done a head shot before, or even considered it.  i know, about 99 % of hunters would, just never been a consideration for me.  going back out this afternoon, maybe get in there earlier and get settled.

Personally, I don't and won't take a head shot on big game. I have taken lower neck shots but never the head. I am confident in my shooting ability but I just don't feel comfortable aiming for the head. I think one of the biggest reason, as crazy as it sounds, is I don't want to walk up to a dead critter with a hole in its skull and brains scattered everywhere. 

yeah, i hear you on that... i jus personally dont want to stare in the eyes when i pull the trigger. call me weak but thats ok lol

[vandeman17]

yeah, the more i think about it, i should have shot, i have a 300wsm, and it would have more than done the trick... just never done a head shot before, or even considered it.  i know, about 99 % of hunters would, just never been a consideration for me.  going back out this afternoon, maybe get in there earlier and get settled.

Personally, I don't and won't take a head shot on big game. I have taken lower neck shots but never the head. I am confident in my shooting ability but I just don't feel comfortable aiming for the head. I think one of the biggest reason, as crazy as it sounds, is I don't want to walk up to a dead critter with a hole in its skull and brains scattered everywhere. 

yeah, i hear you on that... i jus personally dont want to stare in the eyes when i pull the trigger. call me weak but thats ok lol

I agree. I know it would be a quick kill with no meat wasted but I prefer the vitals shot or neck.

[Rooster1981]

I had my first ever shot opportunity on a "true" spike.  I am kicking myself for not pulling the trigger but I think I made the ethical decision.  I had him at about 150 yds, crosshairs on the forhead, and looked about 10-15 seconds just making absolte certain there were no suprises on those sticks.  I confirmed , and moved the scope down the neck towards the crease in the shoulder, and damned if a big arse bull ran right between , and whoosh, both were off and running into the thick! I keep running it through my mind... why theheck didnt I shoot??? Its simple really, I dont think its a sure kill shot, if your off and inch or two, thats a wounded animal, and secondly.... Ive never done that..... thinkig back, all my shots have been in the crease.  I will be bummed awhile, but I think it was the right choice.

I'm not a big fan of head shots myself, so I would have done the same thing in your situation. A muffed head shot can be as bad as a gut shot or worse since the animal can just take off with out slowing down 

[tazman2800]

Two spikes down. We were in unit 329. On Saturday we saw 5 deer all day until dark when we saw 2 cows bed down. So Sunday morning we headed back in at o-dark 30. As we near the spot that we had seen the elk the night before we see a flashlight moving through that spot. As the sun came up we could now see 8 hunters within 400 yards of us. We were thinking that this canyon could become the shoot out at the O.K. Corral if a herd of elk came through. About 10 a.m. the rain began adding a nice effect to go with strong winds. So we are now setting in the rain and cold and we hear
3 shots in the next canyon. We start looking around and Brian locates elk coming down the ridge. They cross within a 100 yards of 2 hunters but they don't see them. When they get about 400 yards we can see that we are looking at 21 cows no bulls. They work down the draw avoiding the hunter directly accross from us and head up the next draw where they spot another hunnter and turn back down the draw and cross below us at 120 yards. We get a good view and see that their are 18 cows with 3 calves. So now the wind and rain does not seem as bad as it was 20 minutes ago. Seeing elk makes us forget about the nasty weather for awhile. Well now the rain really starts coming down hard and we watch all of the sensible hunters head out. About 11 a.m. we decide we have had as much of the nasty weather as we want for one day and we decide to head out. Just as we are getting up to leave Brian spots another group of elk coming through the same spot as the last group. As we watch we see 1 bull in this group of 16 elk. When they get to 400 yards we see the bull
has wide, tall, thick dark colored horns. So we can tell he won't be a true spike. When the cross at 150 yards we see the bull and can tell he is a mature bull. We see that his main beams are about 45" tall that fork at the top on each side, he is the biggest 2 point I have seen in my 30 plus years of hunting. Now we have forgot the nasty weather once again, all is right in our world we saw elk and a bull. About 1 p.m. we are starting to feel the wind and rain again and feeling the nasty weather again. I ask Brian why we are doing this and he replies that it is for the fun we have. A short while later we spot another group of elk there are between 75 and 100 elk coming our way. As we try to dry our binocular lenses enough to find the elk in them we finally see that the first group has a true spike and a 2-point in it. The second group has a big bull  and the third group has another true spike. Now we can't feel the rain or the wind life is good. When they get about 350 yards away the first true spike gets out in the open and Brian takes the shot, nothing happens the elk turn and start walking away from us. We head after them with Brian in the lead. As I am glassing the herd I notice off to the side there is a elk bedded down by itself. As I'm looking at this elk I hear 2 shots from Brians rifle. After the shots the bedded down elk stands up and low and behold it is the first true spike that we saw and he is trying to sneak away in the other direction. So I range him at 400 yards and get a steady rest and pull the trigger and down goes the sneaky elk. Wasn't quite sneaky enough. Brian comes back ands says that he dropped his and asks if that was my shot he heard. I point to my elk piled up across on the other side. We spend about 10 minutes slapping each other on the back and then it dawns on
us that we have just killed 2 elk in the bottom of this steep canyon and in 4 hours its going to be dark. We decide we better get them taken care of before it gets dark. As we spilt up to take care of our elk the sun comes out and it quits raining, all is right in our world again. The sun was short lived and as I reach my elk it starts pouring rain again. So we are each gutting, skinning and quartering our elk. At 5 p.m. I finally have my elk taken care of so off I go with head climbing out of the nasty hole. All this time it has continued to pour rain on us and wind continues to blow. At dark I finally reach the top of the ridge and I can see Brian and the truck only a quarter of mile of level walking away. This is the greatest sight I have seen since watching my elk go down after my shot. When we get back to camp and get dried off we now realize how much work we have to do on Monday. We decide we need to find some man power to help pack these 2 elk out. We start making calls and we get 2 of Brians brother-in-laws that will drive over from North Bend in the morning to help and I call my son Nate who I helped pack his elk out on this hole 2 years ago. So first thing Monday morning I head to Quincy to get my son and when we get back up to the canyon I find out that Brian talk to the camp next to us and the guy had a horse that he would take in to help pack out the elk. So needless to say with 5 guys and 1 horse we had both elk out of the hole in 3 hours. I was home in time to watch the Hawks on Monday Night Football.

I posted a picture of the heads because I didn't take any pictures in the field. I just wanted to get to camp and get dry and warm.

[krism83]

Spent 6 days in the Bethel unit and saw 8 cows, 1 doe and one of the biggest muley bucks I have seen in person. Got a few REALLY close looks at a couple of the cows but we didn't see any bulls and only saw a couple camps with meat. It was our first year on the eastside and everyone we talked to said that it was the worst year they can remember in that area. That's how it goes sometimes though.


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