2017 Colockum Archery Elk Hunt

[bowhunterforever]

Great Hunt. You gave it an excellent effort! Thank you for taking the time to share your story!

[Gringo31]

Most people (even on this forum) have never heard and seen the majestic fall events that you did and were willing to share.


Awesome and Thx!   

[elkrack]

Great write up sounds like an epic hunt!

[2MANY]

Super cool.
I had a similar experience with my East Wenaha tag a few years ago.

Shoot and you go home.
Screw that...............It's about time in the woods and being out there.

Horns are nice but memories are forever.
Way to go.

[de0827]

Congrats on a great hunt - so many great experiences!

[cedarriver]

 Great read Rainier, you have your priorities in order in every way! Thanks for sharing.

[Rainier10]

Thanks guys.  I was just messaging cmiller85 about his upcoming muzzy hunt and pressure on the elk and what they do.

One of the issues I had to deal with was pressure from other hunters.  This unit is still open to otc cow harvest so that puts a lot of guys in the area.  One of the spots that the elk like to retreat to when under pressure is quite a hike to get to.  Like I said in my story we would do the long hike one day and then give that area and our bodies a rest the next day.  There were three camps that I know of for sure and 8 guys that actually set up camp in that area to shorten the hike.  Great idea in theory and I am sure that they did fairly well.  The problem is the elk don't ever get a break, even at night they have pressure from the guys in camp so they end up pushing even further back into deeper holes.

This pressure really messed with the elk and that made it tougher to find them each day.  Just one of the drawbacks of public land hunting.  Luckily for me I also had my own private land to hunt and generally there were elk on it when the public land hunting was slow.

[blackveltbowhunter]

Great read!  Congratz on an epic season!

[Vandal44]

Thanks for posting your hunt,  I felt like I was ready a Tom Clancy novel.  I kept on reading and wanting more.

[Rainier10]

Great read!  Congratz on an epic season!

Thanks but this was just the beginning of my epic season.  This weekend is muzzy deer for my youngest, the next weekend is a muzzy cow tag for my oldest, then late archery deer at Swakane (hope to see you there) followed up by late archery elk at my cabin where I hope to take out some frustration on a tasty cow and final hunt of the year will be a cougar hunt with Bearpaw in Idaho.

Hopefully there will be many more stories to come.

[HUNTINCOUPLE]

Most people (even on this forum) have never heard and seen the majestic fall events that you did and were willing to share.


Awesome and Thx!   

    Reminds me back in '05 four of us drew that tag. Other three guys could only hunt for so long. I had the whole hunt time off work. I'd shot at 8 different bulls and all clean misses. Bull feaver? Anyhow I connected on the 12th evening on a great bull. It was just me and the old man in camp. He said out of  all the years rifle elk hunting I have never heard elk bugle and talk. Where we camped at ended up being complete rut fest all around camp those last couple days. Somthing every elk Hunter should get to experience!!!!!!!

[Rainier10]

So now that I am a couple of weeks removed from the hunt I can say that I am bummed I didn't fill the tag.  Actually a little surprised that so many little things just didn't fall into place.

I will say the more removed from the hunt the more I realize that I really have no regrets.  I gave this hunt as much effort as I could.  When I was tired but there was bull over the next ridge I pushed myself to get there.  When I was down because of a missed opportunity my friends motivated to move forward looking for the next opportunity.  When I had bulls in my sights that were less than where I had set my personal goal at I passed.

I think had I given up, had I settled for a lesser bull than my goal I would have regrets.  I am thankful that I can say I have no regrets.

Now second guessing moves that I made.....that is a tougher pill to swallow but I really do think that I made the right choices but because those choices didn't work I will always wonder what if I would have (blank) instead of (blank)?

Bulls were still bugling and going nuts this past weekend and I am really looking forward to hunting with my daughter next weekend for her muzzy cow tag.

Stay tuned.....

[cmiller85]

Well I can definitely attest to playing the what if I had (blank), what if I hadn't (blank) Game.

I think if you "settle" and shoot anything other than what you have predetermined your goal to be that you will have regrets unless it is on the last day (or around the end of the hunt). Otherwise there will always be what might have been. The problem is that, in my experience, opportunities don't usually come on the last day. 

Looking forward to hearing about your daughter's cow hunt!