My "Kill Day" is officially October 13th **PICTURES ADDED**

[Ranger91298]

I just got back to Hawaii from my 2011 Idaho hunting season. This will be a lengthy story so bear with me. I managed to kill my first Elk; a 2x3 Bull on October 13th. I will get to the story shortly but I have officially called October 13th my "Kill Day". On October 13th, 2009 I killed my 2009 Idaho Wolf. On October 13th, 2010 I killled my mature 4x4 Mule Deer Buck and of course the Bull this year.

Back to my story: The opener to the 2011 rifle season was looking to be a great season. With the late heat wave the rut was 3 weeks late this year so everyone was excited. For the first three days; October 10th-12th we woke to a continuous rain & fog. The weather channel said several times it was going to break but with each waking morning you could hear the rain hitting the canvas tent. You were soaked by time you even started your hunt. Since I figured the elk were going to be holed up due to the rain I chose to go for deer.

October 11th: I went to the same mountain where I shot my 2010 Mulie. Since I really wasn't familiar with how to get the meat back to Hawaii on the plane I decided to go for something I could put on the wall. I would then give the meat to my dad for consumption. That morning I decided to take the lower road which goes below the huge alpine meadow above. Right away that morning I jumped a whitetail doe & spike which are legal in this area. I had them both broadside at 10 yards but chose to pass on them. I walked a little further down the old logging road when all of a sudden a group of five Mule Deer exploded. Initially all I saw were does which are not legal to shoot in this area. Then I saw a large Mulie Buck step out a 100 yards straight up from me. He was about the same size as the one I shot last year. I brought the rifle up but all I could see was his neck & head as he was walking behind some brush. He did not stop and I wasn't going to take a risky shot like that with him moving. I ran straight up the hill about 200 yards in the direction he went but I was not able to see him after that point. Either way I was excited and enjoyed the opportunity to see another mature Mulie buck. I saw one other whitetail doe that day but wasn't interested.

October 12th: Another hunting partner from our camp decided to go on the same lower road I saw the deer on the day before. He grabbed the "Old-Timer" in our camp since it was easy walking. They left camp in the truck an hour before first light. It is about a 20 minute ride to this location. The last camp on this road is 100 yards from the start of the road. Since they were there so early I think that camp was caught by surprise. As our hunting partners were still getting their equipment ready nine guys from that camp blew by them to get up the mountain first. Are you kidding me; 9 guys hunting the same alpine meadow? To get to this meadow you have to take the upper road which takes about 15 minutes to get to. Well my buddy was already taking the lower road so no harm done. But to me it is just the principle that these 9 guys wanted to essentially take the meadow by "Force" and screw everyone else in the process that pisses me off; but that's hunting right? My dad and I got out of camp late and we took the upper road; we had not known about these 9 guys at this point. At the very top of this mountain we ran into 4 of them in the thick fog and they were getting out of the area since they could not see. My dad and I decided to leave after the 40-50 mph winds, sideways hail/rain beat us up for an hour.  Once we were back at camp that is when we had learned about those guys racing to beat them up the mountain.

October 13th: So after 3 days of rain & thick fog I woke up and was able to see stars. I was so excited and hurried to wake my hunting partner in the next tent. I know I had a grin from ear to ear. One of our other hunting partners made the comment "hey, today's your killing day". So off to the alpine meadow we go. We started up the trail just at shooting light. Fifteen minutes later we broke into the clearing and right away I ran into one of they guys from that last camp. He told me that he had three other guys on the backside of the ridgeline looking into the big bowl and that he had 2 other guys further up the road in the clearing. I thanked him for the information and told him that I was going to head away from them all; I knew from his explanation that they were not covering the side where I shot my Mulie last year. When I told him this he did not look happy that I was going to stay in the area; as if I was invading his mountain. I got up to the two younger guys and one of them was like "Oh man, you just scared the bull I had below me". I was thinking to myself "are you serious, there was no animal there". So needless to say I just went past them and after about 50 yards they both picked up and were walking behind me now. I got up to the corner in the road and dropped down 50 yards from the road to the same rock outcropping I shot my deer from last year. From the road; 50 yards above you can't see this rock outcropping it's so steep. I looked back up the hill and could see those young guys looking down at me as they were going to head to the same place I was already at. After they went back up I looked down and saw a Mulie Doe taking off in the same exact area my deer was in last year. After a few minutes I heard a "Bark" come from down below right in the same group of trees my deer crashed in. I started looking and couldn't see anything so I brought my rifle up and started looking through the scope. I still couldn't see anything; I was looking under every tree; behind ever tree and nothing but the barking still continued. I first thought it was a deer but then the more I heard it I was thinking it was an Elk; but where was it? I moved four feet to my right to look down the basin on the opposite side of the rock outcropping. I immediately saw the hind quarter of an Elk walk into a group of trees. My blood got pumping and I sprinted 50 yards to another rock outcropping along a 75 degree hillside. I layed down on the rock; hanging off a 30 foot cliff straight down. I could see the Elk walking through the trees but wasn't sure if it was a bull or cow as it was bulls only. There was a clearing below me at 150 yards but I still needed it to walk into the clearing. Next thing I know he appeared and I could see antler so the rifle came of safe; pointed kinda high up on the back as he was what seemed directly below me with the steep hillside. I squeezed the trigger and he did a couple of sideway flips through a big bush and through a tree and then he was gone. I knew he was hit hard but wasn't sure how far he would fall with the hill.  I called my buddy over to the rock and pointed out where I shot from & where the bull went down and sent him to go get help. I tore off down the hill and hit my butt more than a few times. I got to where the bull was standing and there was no blood. I knew I hit him high and that chance are there was not going to be blood. I started to zig zag looking for any sign. Once I got to the tree that he went through I could see the broken branches where he crashed through and then I could see the dirt that was kicked up from where he slid down. I followed it for another 50 yards and heard him in the thick brush below me. I immediately got off his trail so that I wouldn't continue to push him down. I ran to the ridge nearby and down 75 yards to a big rock sticking out to where I could look down into the brush. That is when the bull stuck his head up to look around but didn't see me. All I could see was his head & neck so I shot him in the neck and next thing I heard was "Kathump, kathump, kathump" as he tumbled down the hill then all went quiet. I knew he was down but didn't know how far down he actually fell after. I hurried down to him and found him piled up due to his antlers and head getting caught up under him. If it were not for that he would probably still be falling. I quickly tied his antlers to two seperate trees to secure him. After that I saw he was a 2x3 and put my tag on him and then moved his bodily to get him in position to dress out. At this point I realized that we were about 500 yards straight down from the road and this was going to be an all day chore to get him out.

As this is going on my buddy is running back to camp. He got to camp and nobody else was there. Then my dad came back to camp as he forgot his license/bullets and realized my buddy was there. He told my dad I shot the bull and so he ran back to get the others he had just dropped off 5 minutes down the road. If it were not for my dad forgetting his stuff and having to come back to camp he would have been over a half hour away. They got back to camp and got all the packboards and called our other two camp members with horses who were a half hour away but already well into their hunt. After a few hours my dad was the first one to make it down to me and let me tell you it was an emotional time for me. My dad has killed many bull elk in his time but this was my first elk and I wanted to share it with nobody else but him at that time. We started to dress him out as a few of the others made their way down. After another few hours our buddies with the horses made it up to the top of the mountain. They were able to sidehill with the horses to get down there but it was real slow. By this point my dad and the other two already were on their way up so I was the only one down there. We got the horses on the only level ground around and got them loaded with the meat and head. Up the mountain they started until the saddle/saddle bags slipped under the belly of the white horse causing him to fall to his rump on the 75 degree slope. We quickly got the saddle/saddle bags off of him. We got the saddle back on him and then really tightened it down. We then put the saddle bag back on him and started to load him again. Up the trail we go again for a good distance and then the saddle bags slipped again. We got all the stuff off of him again. Then the horse took a step to the left and hit some shale and began to slide. My buddy tried to hold the horse up as best as he could but the horse pulled him off his feet as it began to fall downhill. The horse did two siderolls before it got caught on a tree. This tree is the only thing that stopped it from falling any further. After my buddy got his bearings he tried to get the horse up; after the third try the horse layed its head down and I just got sick to my stomach as I knew he was giving up. This horse was about to lose it's life trying to get my elk out... My buddy gave him one final nudge in the side and the horse found the strength to get to his feet. We let him rest a few and then put the saddle back on and NO WE DID NOT PUT THE MEAT BACK ON. My dad came back down and grabbed the rear quarter and I carried the cape/head out from that point. I shot my bull at 7:20 a.m. and we got it all back to the truck at 4:20 p.m. and back in camp at 5:00. Just before we got the elk out the "Old-Timer" ran into the older guy I originally ran into that morning. He proceeded to say that the bull I shot was "Their Elk" and they were the ones that called it up. I refuse to believe that this bull could hear them on a completely different side of the mountain. I had to shoot my rifle into the ground just for my dad to find me when I whistled; and he was on the same side of the mountain as I was. The Old-Timer just said "If it was your elk, then why did we shoot it?" In a way I feel extremely happy that inspite the fact that they were trying to occupy the entire mountain top I was able to go in the middle of all of them and shoot the bull. On the other hand I am not the type to crowd someone else's hunting spot; I am a better sportsman than that. As we drove by their camp with the bull the older guy wouldn't look at us.

I happen to know the Warden that works the area; he stopped in and checked my tag and everything was fine. I told him the story about them accusing me of shooting their elk. He was like "Well that's funny because I just wrote one of them a ticket". I guess one of the young kids that said I scared their bull was talking about being up there and hunting elk. He asked them all to see their licenses and tags and that kid didn't have either. So he got what he had coming to him.

So this brings me to the last part of my story. As if it couldn't get any better for me since I got my first elk; but it did. Not to be outdone, my father shot a 4x4 Bull on the same logging road that I shot my wolf on in 2009. This pack was a lot easier than mine so I have to take lessons from the older generation. Shoot the animals ABOVE the road so that you can roll it down to the road. Shoot the animals 500 yards from the trailhead with a max of 5% grade on it. His pack-out took us a total of 2 hours at most. This was his first bull since 1995; he has shot numerous cows since but this was his first bull in 16 years. I packed out a front quarter right away and my dad packed out a front quarter. As we were getting ready to pack the rest of the elk out we had wolves right above us howling. There were 4 of us and we had 1 hind quarter, 1 front quarter, heart, liver, flank, breast, neck and rib meat, head & entire body cape, 1 chainsaw, 3 rifles, 4 pistols & 2 backpacks to carry out. I did not want to deal with the wolves as it was already dark by this point so I got everything to fit on 4 packboards. Let me tell you every pack was over 100 lbs but we got it out.

WHAT A SEASON! Both my dad's and my antlers are getting done by BLKBEARKLR. I am having them both put on a plaque and will put them up on the wall together with our pictures in the middle of them. I am at work now but I will post pictures later. If your still around and have read the entire story I appreciate you taking your time. Scott

P.S. I never did get a deer; I ended up passing on about 15 deer as they were not "big enough" but I am ok with that. I also ended up bringing 85 lbs of meat back with me on the plane to Hawaii. 

[PlateauNDN]

   This doesn't count unless you post some pics!   Sorry I just wanted to be the first one to say that before anybody else got the chance.     Good job and thanks for sharing.   Can't wait for some pics.

[DeKuma]

Great Stroy Scott, I enjoyed the read.
Congratualtions.

[BOWHUNTER45]

  I can not believe I forced myself to read all that without one freakin picture 

[Ranger91298]

I can not believe I forced myself to read all that without one freakin picture 

I promise I will get pictures up ASAP. I got a few weeks of borrowed time to go hunt in Idaho and left the wife at home in Hawaii. If I would have tried to type that story up at home I might have been sleeping on the couch so I had to do it at work.  I can get away with doing pictures at home. 

[BOWHUNTER45]

since your defending our country I can forgive ya 

[sebek556]

  good read and good job 

[Ranger91298]

[Ranger91298]

My dad's bull

[PlateauNDN]

You sir, are the MAN!!!!  First you wrangle him and then jump on his back and break his neck!!!!   I have found my new hero!   Again, thanks for sharing he definitely looks like he will taste good!

[coachcw]

looks like a great trip . Steep country !

[Skyvalhunter]

Good job and congrats on your elk!!! Good story too. But your friend doesn't have to wear a flourescent orange block on his head in Washington to be legal!!

[400out]

  great write up! hope you get to go back soon 

[SniperDanWA]

Great job Scott.  I think your approach is above reproach.  You did it right, had a great hunt with friends and family and have a great bull to show for your efforts and a lifetime memory with your dad.  Awesome.

[colockumelk]

  This doesn't count unless you post some pics!   Sorry I just wanted to be the first one to say that before anybody else got the chance.     Good job and thanks for sharing.   Can't wait for some pics.

Hey Pot stop calling the Kettle Black.  Where are your pics.  I'm still waiting on your elk pics.   Of course without pics I am choosing to pretend that you actually shot a chipmunk instead.