It's been a long time old friend. 12/3 pics and 12/6 a must read ending

[rougheye]

awesome , cant wait for the more detailed story . Way to got er done brother    . Tonight ill be drinkin a little whiskey toast to you . Course its a little warmer here 

[rosscrazyelk]

[/qCourse its a little warmer here   
 
 
 
uote]
Rub it in rougheye

[HuntandFish]

6x6 I am so very happy for you and it sounds like you had a great hunt all and all. I know that I have chosen to bring up an issue that has plagued the bow hunting culture for many years, and I did so on your thread. I apologize if I have taken away anything from your great bull and even better story, it was not my intention. The issue I brought up I stand behind strongly, and it sounds like you went over and above that which most hunters due when faced with a wounded animal, and not that it means anything from me but I commend you for that.


colockumelk I do not wish to start a personal battle with anyone. I did not mean to imply that you go around shooting animals and leaving them. I do however think that you have "shot of your hip" so to speak in a few of the posts I have read of yours, I know that this does not mean it is indicative of the type of person or hunter you are.

Losing animals is a part of hunting for sure, I certainly have, it is like motorcycle riding there are though's that have been down and those that will go down, this applies here as well. I hope everyone can appreciate my thoughts on this issue and look past them so we can all enjoy the story and pics that are yet to come from 6x6. I can't wait to see this big boy!!

[agchawk]

CONGRATS 6X6!!! I can't wait to see the pics!

 Also glad to read that huntandfish and 6X6 have said their peace and can live with eachother's opinions/insite. Quite frankly you two have shown how two MEN can discuss a topic without turning the entire thread into an online pissing match. Sure wish all disagreements on here could go, and end, in that manner.

 Let's leave it at that and get on with the CONGRATULATION!! Again...bring on the pics!

[tlbradford]

First off, Congrats 6x6.  Great job, and I can't wait to see the final write-up and photos.

Secondly, I think huntandfish expressed himself very well, was making a general statement about ethics, and did so in a non-accusatory manner.  I am sure all of us are happy to hear of the effort 6x6 put in trying to recover that animal, and based on the additional info he provided, I am sure it will heal and survive.

Clockum - I think you kind of jumped all over someone with both feet a little too quickly.  To be perfectly honest, I was wondering the same thing.

[mkcj]

 

[colockumelk]

 

And yes from comments you have made today and on previous posts I believe you would shoot and wound many animals and continue hunting. That is your right under the current law,

So Tlbradford and Mkcj how was I supposed to take that personal attack?  He still couldn't drum up any posts that would imply that I do this. 

For my comments on the "Wolves in Manastash" I realized I was a complete A-hole and have made two appologies on that thread for my comments.  I am 100% sorry and wish I could take them back.  As for this forum I now see what Hunt-Fish was getting at.  However with the same knowledge I had yesterday I still would have said what I said.  I am getting sick of some people on this site.  The people who instead of seeing a picture of a harvest or hearing a story instead of saying "good job" they nit pick it apart and talk about how much better they are or how much more ethical they are.  So yeah negative people are a pet peave of mine.  And since Hunt-Fish only had about 2 posts and is very new I was thinking who the F is this guy.  If he'd been on here for a while and had shown himself to not be like that then I wouuld have gone about it a little bit different. 

Hunt-Fish I think we agree on about 99% of stuff.  As far as that 1% we are both entitled to our opinion.  I have no ill-feelings its just that you came off as a very negative know it all and was pissing on 6x6's parade.

[WenHunter]

6x6 Congrats 

I have been following this post hoping you scored big, way to go!!!

Now hopefully 300WSM can seal the deal his hunt started today I believe!!

[tlbradford]

So Tlbradford and Mkcj how was I supposed to take that personal attack?  He still couldn't drum up any posts that would imply that I do this. 

I think if your tone was better in your response to huntandfish, that comment would never have been made.  Like I said, you jumped on him with both feet, when he had asked a question in a very respectable manner and without any personal attack.  Sometimes overeacting to a post leads a thread down a bad path, rather than letting it get back to what it is about.  How many posts are on here now in response to the comment, rather than the hunt? (12 or so)  It could have been settled in 3.  I certainly respect someone that is willing to jump to the defense of others, I am the same way most of the time.  Anyway, it worked out in the end.

[GoldTip]

Congrats 6x6, can't wait to see further updates and pics.

[Austrian Hunter]

Congrats 6x6!!!!! Cant wait to see the pics, now I have to come back here every 2 minutes to check

[6x6rack]

If I thought our first dance was fast, boy was I in for a surprise. I think we could call dance two the deer magnet samba...


Even after the first week it was obvious, as much as I was patterning the elk, they were patterning me. The only chances were at long range or just minutes before or after dark. I again watched Mr. Big at 50 yards and could either see my pin or see him. It was too dark to see both and almost painful as I let down my draw knowing I had missed by only a minute or so of light. Exhale.

Now things would get interesting as I needed to go deeper into their domain to get earlier shots. This would not be easy. These bulls were huge for a reason and had chosen a spot that allowed them to see everything that could get close, with the exception of my hidey hole they were starting to avoid.

After really thinking it through I had one option. Get in there at 4AM and sit like a mouse on an open hillside for daylight. This would require sitting in 15 degree weather for 3 hours, plus taking an hour to sneak up to the hillside spot. Added to my equation was the commute. As most of us know we married women who may not understand the hunt, but have learned to accept it...to a point. I had reached my point. At the end of week one I was now on borrowed time and making the 4 hour round trip so I could be home at night. Needless to say 4 hours of sleep a night was getting hard. It was starting to feel like I had both my wife and Teanaway working to have more time with me. Such is the life of a man with a mistress, and I was willing to take some heat at home to spend more time with Teanaway.

The first morning of this proved cold and downright difficult. Belly crawling in an hour with snow piling into every nook and cranie possible, then sitting like a popsicle, motionless on a hillside while all that warming snow in your clothes starts to melt. Little Hotties fail when they get wet. I get even colder and can't move to warm up because I am 200 yards in clear view above the feeding bulls. This goes on until daylight and it looks like it is going to work until the elk deciede to go the other way and get to their bedding area through private property. This went on for the next two days and now only 2 of the 6 real big bulls were showing up. A huge 5 point and a really big 6. 1, 2 and 3 on my hit list had vanished.

That afternoon I went out with a fellow Hunt Washington member who had the muzzy bull tag and showed him some of what I had been seeing. We glassed a huge herd of cows in a honey hole and spent a while glassig the bulls I was working up in their beds. A great time and that night I got in early and set up at the edge of the private property. With my knees melted into the snow I notice a visitor of the deer variety. She decides I look interesting and comes in to take a peek. Then a closer peek. As I'm debating slapping her if she takes one more step I decide blowing her out would be a bad idea, so I softly say "get out of here" her ears perk up and she starts walking side to side just feet from me, craning her neck to see what the heck is behind the wierd looking stump. "get out of here" a little louder and off she slowly walks. 1/2 hour later Dusk is approaching and what appears coming right for me, but the doe with two yearlings in tow. I can practically hear her "come on, hurry kids, you just have to see this talking stump"

CHIT here we go again. I needed to move this time to get them to leave and figure out it was no stump. Off they went, quietly to my relief, looking over their shoulder as if to say "now that was odd".
As darkness approached, so did another surprise. This time a big 3 point buck was coming in, nose to the ground as he followed the does trail, obvlious to what was in front of him. This could be bad...and it was. What happens when a big mature buck walks straight in and finds himself face to face with a hunter. Well he does a momentary freeze as the lightbulb goes off, an olympic calibur half pike with full rotation and crashes through the woods. I think my swear word was a little louder than a whisper.

The elk crossed private again but cut across the corner I was on. The monster 5 who I had decieded was a shooter crossed at 49 yards. Draw and once again, light was just a minute gone. I could put my pin on a silouette, but could not put a front shoulder on the huge body to shoot behind. I let the draw down and smiled. I'll see you again tomorrow, Teanaway.

The next day brought more of the same and a home made snow Gilly suit to try to blend in. It also brought more curious deer and a group of elk that were proving more and more elusive. Teanaway was
pulling out all the tricks and frankly slapping me across the hillside like a scorned lover. Well, she had 6 more days to do it because I wasn't going to burn a tag...not this tag.

Friday morning brought another close call but the realization I needed to give this group of bulls a rest for a few days. I would leave them and make a play the last two days of the hunt if I needed to. I was leaving the land of the monsters and going to public property. With this came the realization I needed to lower my expectations, and now any 5 or 6 pt bull was on the radar.

I hit state land for both a scouting trip and to see if I could intercept a bull I had passed on twice already who I saw heading that direction in the morning. I knew the area from scouting and following the monster I had shot at a week before. I thought I would sit on the trail he and the other bulls had used to travel to a distant piece of private ground. Within 10 minutes of sitting quietly I see movement, horn tips! Drats, more deer. After an hour of peek-a-boo the three bucks finally moved off and I thought I would wander closer to the boundary to see if elk had been there crossing in the morning. They had.

Within 80 yards I heard movement and peeked over a hill to find head and horns staring right at me. It was the bull I had seen earlier, the bull I had already passed on twice, standing fourty yards away and he was suddenly more than worthy of a try. Game on.

For 20 minutes we did the motionless stare down. He flinched first and took a few steps which allowed me to belly crawl in a direction that would intercept him if I didn't blow him out. Peeking over the edge of the draw there he was at 55 yards and all I could see was his head and top of his back facing my direction. Another short staredown and he put his head down to feed. I stood up. Over the next what seemed like an eternity I inched closer each time he moved. I was on an open hillside and the gilly suit seemed to be working, creating more curiosity than fear. We closed the gap to 44 yards when he turned slightly into me, getting ready to get out of there...the curiosity had worn off. From my tiptoes I could see the upper 3/4 of his body now, quartering just slightly into me. I drew my bow, aimed just above the grass line, big breath, let half out and squeeze. I watched my arrow sail down the canyon...NO WAY...NO FREEKIN WAY.

I crested the trail to see him standing 50 yards away, with no second shot available. Then he did a funny thing, he bedded after standing there for 10 minutes with a slight front knee buckel. My heart flew...I saw my arrow fly down the canyon...I must have drilled him with a clean pass through!

I quietly left to come back an hour later and find him where he had bedded. Dead.

A hush filled the woods as a tear filled my eye. A prayer for this beautiful animals spirit and that of my Dad. Ashes. A war whoop that shook the canyon and the tear that had filled my eye rolling down my cheek as I stared down at my first mature bull. The fulfillment of a dream, the rekindling of memories no longer painful and lessons I will hold forever.

Teanaway my old friend, Thank You. I will be back. I don't know when, but I will be back.

[LittleJohn]

Can't get enough of this 

[6x6rack]

Pictures are coming! kind of like waiting to fill the tag, It aint dead until you see it for yourself! I will have them up today I promise!

[rasbo]

great write up,Love reading your stories..