2013 Idaho Elk Hunt (Long Read)

[Ranger91298]

Sorry guys & gals I have been holding out on everyone with this years annual hunting trip to Idaho. I had hunted October 10th -12th with nothing but Moose to be seen. I have hunted the clearing right below camp for the last few years while another hunting party hunted the clearing just to the west. That clearing had yielded a bull to that hunting party for 12 straight years (so they say) until last year. Over the last 3-4 years there has been a Bull with a distinct DEEP bugle. He bugles up until 9:00 in the morning, beds down and then starts bugling again between 5:00-5:30 in the evening. He always is in the tree line before light and never comes out before dark. By the sound of his bugle he is a big boy. For the clearing I have been hunting it always seems to be a matter of who get there first. Even though you get there first a lot of times the other party tends to sit on the far side of the clearing even with you in it. Every morning I headed to this clearing I always had company. On the evening of October 12th I was tired and decided I would sleep in on the 13th. I woke up at 0600 as normal and really did not want to get up so I dozed off. I woke up again and looked at my watch at 0621 and figured I could not shoot an elk from my cot. I quickly got dressed and headed down below camp to my clearing. Once I got to my stump I noticed a Bull Moose in the clearing. He walked under the area that the other hunting party usually sits. Once I saw that he did not spook, I figured nobody was sitting on that corner. They must have had the same idea I did to sleep in. I quickly dropped to the road and made my way to that corner. As I was glassing the clearing from there I heard a half bugle come from the adjacent clearing where they usually sit and watch. I made my way quickly to the clearing. Once there I heard a Bull Moose below me grunting. He was making it known that he was the king of the mountain, I have seen this Bull before and he is easily pushing 50+”. I got out my camera and tried to move further down the road to attempt to find him to get a picture. As soon as I started moving I heard a bull elk let out a bark and knew immediately that he was in the clearing. I then saw the bull moving through the trees. I began to run up the road and with the crackling of the frozen ground under my feet spooked the Bull Moose. He ran down the mountain, making as much noise he could possibly make. The Bull Elk stopped in his tracks and was looking to see what the Moose was running from. I ran further up the road but could not get a shot at the Elk behind the tree so I went back to my original spot. After getting a rest on a small tree I was able to lock in on him. It was awesome sitting there watching him behind the tree moving his head back and forth as his antlers swayed in the sunlight. At that distance and from the size of his antlers I figured he was a 6x6 and possibly the herd bull in the area. He then began to walk forward. On his third step I pulled the trigger and the whole hillside erupted with elk. It looked like he was running towards the road and so I ran up trying to cut him off. I saw a few cow elk running towards me but they quickly turned around when the saw me. I did see a bull walking away from me. After a few seconds I could hear a bull up in the far corner of the clearing bugling which I believed was the herd bull that I just missed. He had cows that were mewing and answering to my cow call. I could also hear a group of elk that ran straight down the clearing and a second bull down below the clearing bugling. I only saw a couple elk but I do believe there was atleast 10 or so in the herd. I really felt that I had missed the bull and tried to call my wife as I was frustrated. I could not get ahold of her since I had now service. As I was standing there I heard what sounded like an animal letting out air through a hole in the lung while trying to breath. I made my way down slowly to where the bull was standing. Once I got to the spot he was at I took three steps forward in the direction the bull was walking. I looked down and saw blood and pieces of lung. Then I heard something behind me in the brush. I turned around and walked 10 yards. I heard it moving again and so I walked another 10 yards to a 15 foot tree. I could tell that the bull was on the other side of the tree. I pulled the rifle up and put it on fire and got ready to shoot. As soon as I stepped from around the tree the bull was about a second from getting to his feet at 8 feet. He had his head down and looked as if he was going to charge me. I quickly pulled the rifle up and shot without aiming as my rifle barrel was only 3 feet from his nose at this point. As soon as I shot he dropped immediately and then saw that he was an amazing 5x5 Bull Elk. I cannot even begin to explain how intense it is being that close to a mature Bull Elk that you believe is about to charge you. To make things worse; I had bought a GoPro just before I flew to Idaho to film my hunts. Guess what? I forgot to turn it on to catch all the action…. So in the end there were three Bulls in the clearing to include the herd Bull but only saw the one. This is absolutely crazy; October 13th is my “Kill Day” and everyone in camp calls it that as well. On October 13th, 2009 I shot my wolf; October 13th, 2010 I shot my big Mule Deer Buck; October 13th, 2011 I shot my 2x3 Bull Elk; October 13th, 2012 I got skunked and October 13th, 2013 I shot the 5x5 Bull Elk.
The very next day on October 14th I went on top of the mountain where there is a big open Alpine meadow and ran into a guy named Mark that I have gotten to know over the past four years. Mark and his brother have hunted in the same area as we do. We were sitting there talking and he told me about a small herd of elk he saw just before dark on an open bald knob some 1200 yards away. He said that the Bull in the group was a MONSTER so I believe it to be the one that I have heard the last four years. I have never seen him but his bugle is what sets him apart. I think I just missed seeing him last year before he made his way into the trees.  As we were talking I looked over and saw a nice 4x4 or 5x5 Whitetail buck on the open ridgeline 500 yards from us. I am an aggressive hunter, so when I see an animal there is no waiting or calling to try and draw the animal in; I close the distance as quickly as I can. I began to run to get a closer shot at the buck. Mark was not able to keep up with me and said I got within 75 yards of the buck before it took off. I guess the buck was not by himself but had a second big buck with him. I had no choice but to try and get that close because there was no shot between 75-500 yards. Just as we realized that the bucks were gone Mark had received a text from his friend that was on a lower road. He was watching three Bull Elk playing around below him. We hurried down the mountain to catch up to him. His friend could not shoot them because he had the archery tag w/minimal rifle season. By time we got down to him the bulls were gone. He said that it looked as though there was a 5x5, small 3x3 and a unique non-typical where the horn was growing down.
On October 17th an older gentlemen that hunts in our camp was one clearing over from the one that I shot my bull in. It was about 2:30 in the afternoon and he had a herd of about 10 elk come out of the tree line above him. They were walking through a group of 10-15 foot trees and he said he saw the Big Herd Bull that is running around in the area. He was not able to get a good shot at the bull because the sun was directly above the bull so he didn’t want to risk a bad shot. By this time my wife had come up and we all decided to make a hunt for that herd that the older gentlemen had seen. I sat with my wife hoping that she would get a shot but nobody ever saw them.
On October 19th my wife and I headed back up to the top of the mountain where I had seen the Whitetail bucks. We went to “My Rock” where I shot my 2010 Mule Deer and 2011 Bull Elk from. We had just got to the rock and directly across the open hillside at 440 yards was a Mule Deer Buck looking at us. I immediately began to run to get closer. I got about 150 yards and stopped cold in my tracks. I wanted my wife to shoot him since I have a good Mulie Buck on the wall. So after she caught up we got to within 240 yards of the buck. I remembered to turn the GoPro on this time. We were on an open ridgeline with a 35 degree slope. My wife had to lay sideways on this hillside with me putting my elbow and shoulder into her side so she didn’t roll down the hill. She got off three good shots but she ended up missing. The last shot was “REAL” close if that counts! My poor wife thought I was going to be mad because she missed because she knows I am so intense when it comes to hunting. I explained to her that I had more enjoyment watching her shoot at that buck than actually shooting my bull.
The very next day on October 20th we went up to the same clearing. This time we had another guy from our camp named Kelly and his 12 year old son with us. As we were walking up the road through the clearing my wife spotted an elk about 400 yards away. I swear my wife has Eagle Eyes when it comes to hunting. The four of us hurried up the road to get a better visual of the Elk. Once we got into a better position I could not see what the Elk was because it had its head in the brush feeding. By the color I figured it was a Bull and then next thing you knew there were two of them and then I could see horns on both of them. Onc Bull looked to be a 4x4 or 5x5, but the first one was a good solid 6x6. His antlers were narrow but really tall. Neither my wife nor Kelly’s son have ever shot an Elk before so they both got into position. I swear it seemed like it took them 15 minutes to get into position to get ready to shoot; luckily both of the Bulls were feeding and not paying any attention to us. They started to feed down the clearing and making their way back into the tree line. We had to move again to get on them. This time everything happened fast. His son was in position first and shot at the smaller Bull. The shot was well over 300 yards and the Bull let out a mule kick and then went into the tree line and stopped behind some trees. At this time the big Bull stepped out and I told my wife to “shoot”. She was like “I can’t see it”. I was like “he is the only tan spot on the open hill side”. About that time he took a couple of steps forward and stopped behind a tree. His head and neck were blocked by the trunk of the tree. There were two branches with 3 feet of space between them but gave a good 340 yard shot right to the vitals. She kicked off the shot and you heard the “thwack” and he ran 20 yards into the tree line and stopped. I tried to get her to take another shot at him and then he walked further into the trees. Kelly and his son were like excited because they said her Bull was down and they could see him. I did not see him drop, nor did I see him laying there. All I could see was a buckskin tree laying in the brush. I told my wife to not get excited and that once we find the elk laying there; then he is down. We waited about 15 minutes to head down and then it took us another 15 minutes to get there. Once we broke into the tree line where his boy had shot at the Bull we heard it busting down through the trees but we could not see it. I personally think he gut shot the bull and that is why he was still hanging out in the area 30 minutes after he shot at it; but there was no blood or sign of a hit. My wife and I followed the tracks of her bull for well over 200 yards. At first the Bull was heading down so I thought she might have hit him and then he turned and went up hill. After following for a while going uphill and no sign of blood or a hit I felt so bad for her because she had missed him. I honestly believe the “thwack” we heard was the bullet hitting the tree. After a long while of looking we did not find either bull or see any sign of a hit which sucks. There for a 30 minute period we thought these two new hunters had pulled off a double on two mature Bull Elk only to be let down without getting one. But I guess that is hunting. Later that an older gentlemen hunting that area had seen two Bull Elk sitting up on top of the same bald know where Mark had seen the herd of elk previously. More than ever I want to see the herd Bull in this area after seeing those two bulls. For those two big Bulls to be kicked out of the herd that only tells me that the herd Bull in the area is incredible (so I think).
That same afternoon my wife and I left back to town to spend more time with the kids. The next morning Kelly and his son went up to the same spot that they had shot at those elk. He was walking through the trees when he saw what he believed to be the same narrow & tall Bull my wife had shot at. He tried to get a shot at it while running through the trees but missed. That is crazy they are hanging out in the same place even after getting shot at in the same spot the day before. I am excited for next year as we know where there are at least 4 mature bulls; maybe five to include two herd bulls. Sorry for the long story but it was a great season that I wanted to share. This was by far the best season I have had; I not only got a great Bull but my wife was able to shoot at a mature Mule Deer Buck and a big Bull Elk. My wife was diagnosed with cancer this June. We caught it early and she is kicking butt on it. I am so proud of her. I hunt extremely hard and cover a lot of vertical distance when I do. Despite being tired and sick from her chemo treatments I didn’t take it easy on her. She followed me up and down those mountains without skipping a beat. Even though she did not get the Buck or Bull; I am extremely thankful that her hard work payed off and she was able to get a shot at them. Most people go a lifetime of hunting without seeing a Buck or Bull of that caliber. This was her first year of hunting Elk so she may be spoiled at this point!

[Ranger91298]

Here are some pics

[huntnphool]

 

[Ranger91298]

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[Ranger91298]

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[Ranger91298]

Bullwinkle posing for a picture [/URL]

[blackveltbowhunter]

Great Bull!!

[Ranger91298]

What would Idaho be without wolves? In comparison this wolf track next to my Size 13 boot. [/URL]

[Ranger91298]

Here is the wifey enjoying her late afternoon hunt...[/URL]

[carpsniperg2]

Congrats

[MLBowhunting]

Nice bull 

[bowhunterforever]

Congrats

[Ranger91298]

Thank you for the compliments.... it was a rush and I had a blast...

[ELK SHOT]

Nice BULL elk and BULL MOOSE

[Slimdog350]

Congrats man! Sounds like a fun adventure! I hope your wife stays cancer free, that's a scary thing. I love hunting Idaho. Never seen so many animals in my life. It's a blast!