My late cow hunt-The ugly, bad and some good

[Ripper]

 The holiday got off to a bad start when I went to the dentist on Dec 23. I needed to be fitted for a crown and was assured that it was no big deal. It wouldn't affect my late cow hunt starting 1-1-10 at all. Well by the 26 I had a nasty infection, mass swelling and horrible pain. The dentist came in on his day off to reset the temp crown, give me antibiotics and pain meds. After a few days the pain and swelling eased a bit, but now I was developing a cough and chest congestion.
  On Dec.31 my buddy Jerry and I took off for Castle Rock. I quit the pain meds a couple days before and was feeling better except for the cough. New Years morning found us afield looking for a cow for the freezer. One person said it was like shooting fish in a barrel, but with an hour of shooting light left, we hadn't found the barrel! Then off on a side skid road I spotted a herd and yelled stop! I grabbed my stuff and started a stalk. After I'd snuck around for about an eternity, I finally got a good positive ID on a nice cow. About the time I got the cross hairs on her she moved. Now they were moving up hill through the timber and I was having a hard time breathing. I finally had to give it up, my lungs were on fire and once i started coughing, they were gone. By then it was about dark anyway.
  Day 2 saw us back in the same vicinity but up in a clear cut boarded by timber. We saw a herd right off heading into the timber, so I took off down along the edge hoping to catch them passing into some reprod. I took it slow to help my lungs but after an hour nothing came out so I started to make a long loop around the clear cut. I met up with another guy and we walked, compared notes then separated where the road y'd. I was on my way back to the truck and the road y'd again about a quarter mile later. The road separated two massive clearcuts and much to my suprise, the one on the right had a couple elk in it walking my way! They were about 150 yards out when I first looked them over with my binocs, they looked like twin cows. I set up my shooting sticks and let them keep coming. They walked behind a rise and massive slash pile, when they stepped out I looked them over again to see if one was bigger. One looked like it had something on it's head, but it didn't look like antlers, still I decided to take the other one, which was a little closer to me. They went down a little dip and when they came up about 100 yards away, I shot the lead one closest to me. Man I was excited! After a couple fist pumps, and thank you's to mother earth I called Jerry on the radio and said elk down get over here. I slogged my way through a very swampy clear cut, Jerry was coming in from the other way, when I saw I'd shot a small spike! I was in shock! I started yelling no no no how could this happen! One side was broke off almost flush and the other wasn't even as long as the ear. I went from being on top of the world to down in deep black hole. I've relived the moment before the shot a hundred times and still can't figure out how I missed it. I wasn't rushed, there wasn't anything in my way, I just didn't see it! 
  Jerry was great about calming me down, He knows what an ethical hunter I am, we've been hunting together for 20 years. I know mistakes happen, they just don't happen to me. I knew what I had to do so we got in the truck and drove to where we got cell reception, and called the wdfw. It no easy task getting someone on the weekend, but finally we got someone. I told them what happend and we agreed on a meeting place. Right when they got there, as if on Q, three quads came blazing down the road. Needless to say, they an arse chewing and tickets for the new year.
   We went to the elk, they took a report and luckily they had a charity on the way to take it. That was my biggest concern, was that it would go to waste. Jerry and I got it cleaned while the wdfw went to meet the charity and bring them in. We loaded it in their truck, it took 4 of us, and they took off. They are a mission that feeds about 90 people a day.
  The game dept said other than the shooting itself, we did everything right. We self reported, didn't clean the animal and throw it in the truck, helped the charity and showed remorse. They callled their supervisor and agreed to make me a deal as long as I don't tell anyone what it is. So don't ask.
  It isn't easy to put this out there, because I know the feedback isn't going to be all positive. I feel like chit about it, but hopefully by putting it out there, it might help someone else out in some way. I also feel that if you f-up, you need to man up. If anyone else out there ever finds themselves in a similar situation, leave the animal whole, where it lays and call wdfw. You can still end up with a fine up to $2540.00 and a loss of license for 2 years, But if you don't report and get caught, you also loose your vehicle, gun and all equipment used on your hunt.
  Be safe out there. I hope this doesn't happen to any of you.   
  BTW - the guy I talked to on the road herd me shoot, and when he came up to see if it was me, he saw and shot the cow that was with this spike about 150 yards away.

[SilkWWU]

I'll be the first post here.  Way to man up to your mistake.  We as hunters like to think that we have to make infallible decisions in the field, but on occasion, an honest mistake happens.  Kudos to you for manning up to your mistakes.  I hope some people take it easy with ya, I personally wouldn't have posted here, unless that's part of your deal 

[washelkhntr]

Well it takes a big man to admit to ones mistakes and fess up.

[markts]

Shot from his shooting sticks, Sorry for your predicament, glad you did the right thing and hope they went easy on you. Mark

[agchawk]

Ouch. I feel for ya but I wanted to say that what you did was absolutely the right thing to do. I hate to say it but I know that a lot of folks would have either left it to rot or tried to get away with it. I admire you for your decision and the steps you took to rectify your mistake.

[elksnout]

You have again shown that even sometimes by hunting well and with good intentions bad things can and do happen to good people. Kudos to you for owning up to your mistake and your actions showed great respect for that animal. As you stated, many hungry people will enjoy some warm meals that you, in the unplanned end provided. You should let that simple fact console you. And you most certainly have my respect. Here's to learning from our mistakes.

[Blsum]

I would like to comend you for manning up and doing the right thing. My old man had a similar thing happen in there hunting party. They where hunting in an area that was open for spike elk. They got on a herd of animals first thing in the morning. The two parties involved both took shots at the spike they saw. The whole herd took off. They realized then that there was a dead cow in the field. They did the same thing you did. They called WDFW and had a warden come out. They where told they had a charity on the way to take the animal. They gutted it and loaded it. Since one of the guy's had a borrowed gun (they are pretty sure this is the guy who shot the elk) the other guy took the wrap, had his gun confiscated and was written a ticket. After a very lengthy court battle the whole thing was thrown out because they couldn't prove they where intentionally poaching. Both parties split the court costs, but needless to say the guy's don't hunt with this one guy anymore. Sounds like you got lucky in finding a warden who was willing to give you a break.
Oh yeah. they went back later that day and found the spike that was shot. So not all ended bad that day.

[mtndew]

Pardon me sir, but your moral fiber is showing! Way to man up and do the right thing! Really sorry to hear that your hunt didn't go as planned.

[whacker1]

Those dark horned Roosevelts are sometimes hard to see.  I passed on a bull, because I couldn't tell if it was legal at 40 yards in the timber until he turned to go away from me leaving me no shot.

 I am glad to hear that you manned up to the situation, because many of  us don't even know for sure how we would deal with it until put in that specific situation.  

I am even more pleased that you told us the story and shared your predicament with your piers, so hopefully we can learn from your situation.

[high country]

tough lesson there. I hope they were fair to you. as much as it sux to have to tell the story,  thanks....good to know there is some honor left.

[Elk hunter4ever]

  Glad to hear you did the right thing and not leave the animal to rot. You probably have more balls then some of us on here to post this. Sorry to hear what happened, but what about your tag? Did the WDFW take it away?Are you going to go after it  one more time before the 10th?

[Ripper]

  Thanks for the feed back everyone. I am really surprised that it is all positive so far. I was prepared for a good reaming. I'm sure I'll get some before it's all over.
  They did take my tag, and even if they hadn't, I don't know what I would have done. I was going to say I wouldn't have hunted anymore anyway, but since the animal wasn't wasted, I don't know.
  As for posting this here, no I didn't have too, I just felt it was the right thing. Like someone just said, they wouldn't know what to do if it happend to them. I had no idea, because it had never happend to me. I just knew that I should contact wdfw so the animal wouldn't be wasted for one: and two: I didn't want to be a poacher. Jerry and I talked about what we should do for some time before deciding not to clean the animal first. We wanted to do that first so it didn't sour since it was about 50 deg. But if we had and some one saw us, and they called wdfw before we did, then we would have been treated as poachers.

[Shootmoore]

You sir clank when you walk.  Some would not have had the brass to turn themselves in. 

Sometimes bad things happen even to those with good intentions.  You did the right thing and thats what is important, and I don't think you will get reamed on this site for what happened.  If you had left it to rot or poached it you would probably then see the wrath of the YAR.

Good for you on being a sportsman and a man.

Shootmoore

[ICEMAN]

Ripper, you made a good thing out of a terrible incident. Congratulations. Good morale example for all of us.

If you really want an asschewing, I can PM you.

[shoot-em-dead]

Way to man up- you did the right thing
Do the right thing again and avoid Icemans pm