Memories of some past hunts.

[wilsongideon]

very sweet pics. . . .I am very jealous haha

[Head-shot]

Very cool post WAPITIHUNTER. You are a killer! Was also kinda cool looking at you get older as the pics progressed, almost like looking back at school pictures from when we were all kids. Nice bunch of hunting memories you got there, thanks for sharing them.

[257 Wby Mag]

You've killed some good bulls WH.  That big hill in the background looks real familar, used to cat hunt up there years ago. Good genetics in that country. Congrats on some nice westside bulls!! Later

[coastalghost]

Damm fine animals.  You got it down.  Congrats!

[LongTatLaw]

I am seriously enjoying your post here brother...kudos. The only thing that might have made it better is a lil 3-5 sentence blurb about each pic...but its great without it!

I challenge all you long hunters on here to do one of these with each year's elk...  just use the same tag line with ur name-

                                             MEMORIES OF SOME PAST HUNTS_johnsmith

very nice!

Thank you for posting!

Id do it to if it wouldnt be just an endless string of sucklings...lol
 

[WAPITIHUNTER]

Ok here is how the first elk I ever killed happened. It's the big 6x6 in the first picture.

We got permission from the landowner to hunt on the weekend. This was back when if you applied for a special permit you had to wait to hunt for the first three days. So Wednesday through Friday they had killed 5 big bulls on the Ranch. We were all feeling pretty sucky. Every day they would call the office and say that they had killed another bull or two.

So the weekend finally rolls around and we go out to hunt. The property owner that morning spots these two big bulls and gets a shot off but misses and hurts his knee running after them. We hunted all morning and never see an elk. So we go to town and eat lunch and decide to go back and give it one last chance.

I am walking along in the ferns and alders looking down at my feet thinking to myself this sucks, we are not seeing anything. As I look up I see this big brown rock. In my head I keep thinking to myself elk or rock....elk or rock.....elk or rock......Finally I looked to the left just a little and behind these thick fir branches I see this big black face looking at me...................HOLY CRAP!!!!!!!..............BIG RACK!!!!!!!!...............BIG FREAKING ELK!!!!!!!!!!.....I never counted points, as soon as I made eye contact they started trotting to my left. The savage .270 came to shoulder automatically and I swung the rifle onto the elk right behing the shoulder.....BOOM...............BOOM..............BOOM.....as I am shooting at this elk another bull is running back and forth I can see out of the corner of my right eye. Shove a couple more rounds in the gun and I swing over at about 80 yards in the alders and put the crosshairs on his shoulder just off the edge of the tree he is behind...BOOM........he turns and runs staight away from me. I work the bolt and swing the crosshairs onto the back of his neck.......BOOM.......and in the scope I see him drop straight down. Holy crap what just happened? I go running up the hill and there laying on the ground is King Kong. I had just killed my very first Elk and it was a 290" bomber. one..two...three...four...five...six....the rifle goes right up over my head and I am dancing around yelling I got a six point over and over as my brother Finnman comes running up. I tell him that I shot at a different bull and point to where he was and tell him to go after it and I will stay and take care of this one. I am sitting there wondering how on earth to take care of this 1000 pound animal when............BOOM....BOOM...................BOOM..BOOM.........and a whole bunch of whooping and hollering......so I go running down there and he had walked up on this bull and it was standing there so he promptly filled him full of hot lead from his BAR in 7 mag. So we then proceeded to hug and slap back and jump in circles for quite awhile. My ex boss finally shows up and we tell him what happened and he gets on the radio to our dad and tells him to get his butt up there because the boys have two big 6 point bulls on the ground. Well it was 2:30 in the afternoon and we have two big bulls on the ground and it is about a mile either direction to the road. I get sent to the truck to get the knives and saws etc.

My brother gets sent out to the ranch house and they send their grandson out with a tractor and we hook up both bulls to it and drag them out to the barn where we skin them and drop them into the back of the truck.

That was the best trip home ever. For an entire year everytime I thought about the hunt a huge smile would come across my face.

[robb92]

Great pics!!! Thanks for posting them!!!

[Mtn Hunter]

Awesome Post WAPITIHUNTER!
I love the pics! You and Finnman have had some great hunts together!(by the way, what a gentleman...he waits for you to shoot first, up to 15 minutes) He waited about an hour on our hunt this year with me! It is awesome to tag out so quickly!  ...THanks again for all the help packing out!! It would have been tough without you! 
Let'sgo huntin some time.
Anytime you want to chase these Giant bulls in Oregon let me know!?

[WAPITIHUNTER]

Thanks for the offer Jared. I would love to hunt some elk in Oregon with my bow.(there are some big ones down there for sure) I like that you can buy archery tags over the counter and it does not mess with your points. You line up some elk down there and I will be down for sure. I am still not sure what will be happening on the rifle draw this year for Oregon. If we don't draw then I would like to come down for some archery action. Mom lives there too so it would be nice to hunt and visit some friends and family.

How's your bull eatin. Good I hope. Are you still mad at the birds for tearing up the straps?

Having a freezer full of wild game that you killed and took care of is a fealing that is hard to describe. Sitting back with a mouthfull of elk reminiscing about the hunt is hard to beat!

Anyway tell Amber we said Hi and hang loose.

[PacificNWhunter]

Great thread! Congrats on the elk, really enjoyed the story too.

[Alchase]

Wapitihunt, is that a 5x5 from Pac Forest? I have been chasing one in there for three years, lol. I see him during deer season. I have seen him hunting grouse and bear, never even got a glimpse of him during elk season. 

Congratulations

[WAPITIHUNTER]

Wapitihunt, is that a 5x5 from Pac Forest? I have been chasing one in there for three years, lol. I see him during deer season. I have seen him hunting grouse and bear, never even got a glimpse of him during elk season. 

Congratulations

Yeah got him in the Pack. You didn't see him cause I got him on the second day of archery. I am pretty sure I called in this same bull last year too. Man he was so freaking fired up. He came from a long way off bugling like crazy. The last little calling sequence was absolutley crazy. Deep gutteral grunting and trampling hooves and thrashing antlers. He was very pissed off. He came up the trail to about 35-40 yards head on. I wouldn't shoot him in the chest and when he turned he was gone in an instant. Called him in again two days later but he had wised up. He came crashing in again but did a big half moon around me in the thick crap and only chuckled once. His time was up this year though cause I wised up and got him.

[Alchase]

I was talking to the superintendant of Pac Forest during late buck this year. He was telling us of a very big black bear that was causing the crew grief. He was hoping someone would take that bad boy out soon.

[bowsandhose]

great critters