Well my wife completed her trifecta last night. I got off work at 0800 and came home to pack the jeep. We had 4 days to get it done and after hearing all the stories about the Colockum, I was a little worried to say the least. Now keep in mind, we have never hunted the colockum so we were going in blind. The couple summer scouting trips were really to get to know that roads. I figured when the camps, trucks, people and shooting started the animals would leave any summer habit they had.
Left the house at 0930 and were in the gmu in about an hour. Man there were a lot of camps and road hunters.....matter of fact, We didn't see any hunters outside of there truck.
We even saw a few trucks sitting under the powerlines glassing for animals from the warmth of their cab.
We finally make it a ridge we want to hike. Pack on and boots laced tight we take to the hills. We do about a mile and half loop with very sparatic sign and no animals spotted. We decide to relocate so headed for the jeep. Make it the jeep in a hail storm and warmed up while eating lunch. Make a 45 minute drive dodging all the road hunters and countless camps.
As we approach our final destination we realize we must be in a good area. We had 2 rigs in front of us and passed 5 side by sides and 6-7 other rigs.
. The two thoughts I had were.... 1. all the elk are dead or we just hit the mother load.....surely there can't be this many people in one are without any elk residing there.
2. This sucks complete BUTT!!!! I hate being around this many people.
Well with two hours of light left we decided to check the gps, point our nose in the direction we wanted to go and start hiking. We left the jeep and made tracks....the plan was to cover ground to get away from the road. About a half mile into the hike we spotted 5 deer...all does with no bruisers sniffing. We press on. As we reach a timberline we decide to slow our pace. We are seeing more sign here that we have seen anywhere. I literally could have filled a 5 gallon buck of elk droppings in about 2 minutes. There was fresh elk poop everywhere.
Now this is where the fun begins. As we enter the timber we immediately here elk hoofs. My wife sits down scanning under the trees and notices two elk about 40 yards in front of us. It is to thick to get a shot and all we can see is legs so we maneuver slowly for a shooting lane. We were so close we could here them chewing as they grazed. We sit for about 2 minutes when we see them moving toward the shooting lane. My wife is sitting with gun shoulderd......I am shaking like a leaf in excitement. Well the elk stop just short of the shooting lane..
A minute for two passes when they must of winded or heard us and the hastily exited. I hit the cow and calf calls imediately and the woods went quite....I figured we had stopped them. We wait a few minutes with nothing coming in so we decide to start a slow stalk inthe direction they left.
About 50 yards further down the ridge we spot two elk feeding. They are about 100 yards our. Neither a huge, but heck....who cares, they are elk and I have always been taught to never look a gift horse in the mouth. My wife gets set on the sticks and waits for a broad side shot. Finally the shot presents and BOOOOOM!!!! I am watching through my bino's and.......nothing. The elk is still standing there. No flinch...No nothing, clean miss. Wife jacks another round in and the elk decide to leave town. I hit the cow calls and stop them. We have a huge slash pile in between us now so we have to maneuver. Multiple times over the next 5 minutes I have to all these elk back with cow and calf calls. For whatever reason they did not want to just run....probably because they have been trained that running will get you killed by one of the other 500 hunters.
As the maneuvering continues, I finally get the bigger of the two stopped at about 70 yards. It is a very hard quarting away shot which I know is not a good shot for my wife to take. I put her on the sticks and we wait. The thing just stands there. I finally give her the instruction to put the crosshairs on the base of the neck and shoot.
BOOOOMMMM!!!!!! ELK DOWN!!!!! She absolutely flattened it with a wonderfully placed neck shot. No meat wasted on this little bugger.
Now the work begins. We were .83 miles the way the crow flys from the jeep. I checked out the gps and found a road below us. I hiked the road out....2 miles and sure enough it was drivable green dot. That hike sucked, but it was better than the alternative.
Drove the jeep in and got the elk out whole.
It is not a monster, but we don't care. It is my wifes first elk ever and it was BULL!!! That's right, it had a dingus and nubs under the hide. Her antlerless tag was filled with her first bull ever.
I couldn't be more proud.
Sorry for the long winded story, but it was a great hunt. We got close, we heard them moving/eating, we got to call and hear them talk a little too and my wife got to kill her first elk. All this in an area I have never hunted with heavy pressure. OH YEAH....and the pack out was incredibly lucky and easy. All in all a good day in the woods.
My wife harvest three animals in 3 1/2 days of hunting. She is a natural.
