So, after the disappointment of the lack of deer when I took my daughter deer hunting a last month ago I was really hoping for a better result during elk season. Didn't take any kids as the environment out there is too extreme for having pre-teens out there.
Season opened November 5, so we headed out to the area by Willapa Bay on the 4th. I drew a special permit for an antlerless elk so I figured chances of success were quite high. We had planned to hit one particular spot on opening day, but when we got there we found 3 trucks already there, and someone heading up. For that spot that was too many trucks for us to be able to park and hunt too, so we went with Plan B, which was another area a couple miles away. Got out there, and launched little later than we wanted, but not too late in the morning.
Made our way up to an area we'd had success in hunting a few years ago, and eventually took a channel up to another spot. We weren't seeing any elk yet, so we took a lengthy lunch break to wait on the tides and hope for the elk to come out of the woods and out onto the flats. After that lunch break the other 2 guys decided to head down one fork while I took that channel back to the first fork and went a bit farther up. I got to a small stand of trees glassed the surrounding area for a bit. After deciding to head back as I went around the trees towards I suddenly saw a herd of elk a couple hundred yards away. They had been hidden from view from where I was glassing from which is why I hadn't seen them before.
I immediately hit the deck and got my rifle out. I put the rifle on top of a handy rest and watched them for a bit to see if there were any legal bulls in the group. I didn't see any bulls, so no reason to call up the other 2 guys so one of them could take the shot. At that point I started working on picking out which cow elk I wanted. While there was a bigger one that I normally would have preferred, only one slightly smaller elk gave me a good clean shot. She was also one of the farthest from the tree line, which I hoped would mean she'd drop before making it that far. So I settled the cross-hairs on her front shoulder and fired.
The elk all quickly, but in an orderly fashion, and without particular panic, filed off into the surrounding woods. I sent a text message to the other guys that I'd taken a shot and for them to head my way. Then I headed to the half fallen over tree they'd been milling around and got to looking for the elk. In less than a minute I found her.
As you can kind of see from the admittedly poor quality photos, the elk decided to go through a small opening to try and get to a game trail leading up into the woods. She didn't quite make it there and died in the middle of a very muddy hole. Her right side legs were both buried up the chest/belly in mud. The left side legs were both jammed up against tree trunks and roots. Unfortunately we didn't have a come along, block and tackle, or winch handy. Even with all three of us pulling for all were worth we couldn't begin to budge her from that hole. A block and tackle or come along would have helped tremendously.
We wound up having to basically dissect her in-situ. I prefer to save the hide for tanning into leather, but in this case there was no hope of doing so. We had to split the hide down the spine and then skin off the left side. Then we were able to get the left side legs off as well as the backstrap and tenderloin and quite a bit of meat from ribs. At that point we tried again to lift her from the hole, but it was a no-go. We were never really able to get the guts out. We eventually had to cut through the spine just behind the front shoulder as well as the meat and hide until we had the front of the elk separated from the rest of the body. Then myself and one of the other guys were able to finally pull that front portion of the elk free of the mud. Then we were able to get a rope around the remainder and pull it free, leaving the guts in the hole.
All told it was 6+ hours from the time we started working on it until we'd gotten all the pieces we could save off the carcass.
We got back just before official sunrise. Game warden came by and check on us (we had all our proper documentation, and were fully legal, so no problems there) while we were loading up. We got back to the campground about 6:30AM and proceeded to pass out for a few hours. Then we had to get up and clean up the meat and get it to the cooler so it could safely hang until were ready to head home.
We kept hunting trying to find a legal bull for one of the other guys to take, but no luck on that front. Got into dozens of elk over the next few days, but just couldn't find a legal bull. Thursday evening of the season we got home and dropped the meat off with a local butcher (TnT on Camano Is - fantastic butcher and I can't recommend the guy enough). We picked it up after church that Sunday.
All in all a great hunt. Would have been even better with a second elk, but I really can't complain. Lots of meat for the freezer (even after splitting it 3 ways), everyone stayed safe, and we had a lot of fun.
As an aside, last year when I shot that 4x4 bull I'd lost my rescue knife. I'd taken it out of the sheath as it was in the way of the rifle. Didn't realize until I was halfway back to the truck that I'd left it out there and there was no way in hell I was going back for it at that point. So this year I went back to where I'd taken the shot from the previous year to see if I could find it. I had a pretty good idea of right where it had to be. Didn't see it initially, but figured I'd dig through the grass a bit. Lo and behold:
