I just figured out how to resize by photos the other day
so now I'll see if I can come up with a short story.
We saw elk opening day but couldn't get close enough or get a shot off. The weather started out nice but turned ugly with wind a rain later on. Did a lot of hiking and seeing lottsa fresh sign and learning the area. Started raining pretty good and I didn't want to get soaked the first day since we were in a camper and no place to put wet gear so I put on the rain gear. I was going down an old skidder road to an alder bottom nice and slow and trying to be quiet and keeping my eyes open. How quiet can one be in rain gear?
Almost to the bottom and I see elk moving, busted!! Damn!!
Sat and watched for awhile and nothing then went back to the truck and told my huntin partner my sob story. Didn't see anything the rest of the day. Day two, same thing, covered lottsa ground and saw lottsa fresh sign and came across a gut pile or two but no elk
and still learning the area. Day three, now I'm getting discouraged cuz we didn't see anything at all and we're putting a lot of miles on the truck and still "learning the area". Day four, I'm back in the timber, more sign but no elk. We drive back where I saw real fresh sign on day one and we see really fresh sign where they had just crossed the road! The place is really torn up. So we pull up and park and I head out and get on this skidder road so I'm above and can look down into the thinned out timber. I get about a quarter mile in and I see a couple guys in the timber and it looks like they're guttin out an animal so I wonder on down and sure enough they got a cow down. Just my luck as usuall. So I'm talkin with 'em for awhile and congratulate the kid and his dad, great job. He says there were 30-40 animals in the herd and the road looked like it too where they had crossed. I go back to the truck and tell my buddy my "sob story" again.
I get back out after venting and get on the trail and follow til they're in the doghair and I ain't going any farther so I head back. The next morning we decide not to check out a spot we'd been checking every morning just across the road from the camper where we'd seen a nice bull down in a pocket opening day always hoping that there would be a herd in there. So we head back up the road and I want to go back and walk that skidder road again where I'd seen the fresh sign opening day and where the kid got his cow the day before. Right off the bat on the way in my partner goes; "elk"!!
Wasn't quite daylight yet and he'd got a glimpse of one crossing the road and it's right where they'd crossed the day before!!! So we go up to the skidder road and park and I head on out again. I get a couple hundred yards in and I spot tan!!! Call my buddy on the radio and tell 'em "elk", standby. Step over to the left side of the skidder road and try to settle down. I have tremors in my left hand bad enough but when I see deer or elk the tremors mulitply a whole bunch.
Ok, I settle down and ease back over to the right side and try to get a good look at this tan spot, it's a damn stump!!
Call my buddy, never mind, stump. Ok, settle down now. Ok, everythings cool again so I start walking nice and slow keeping my eyes peeled looking on the upside of the hill and down, I feel like a damned owl I'm looking around so much. Get about quarter mile in again and this time it's elk for sure!!! Go over to the left side of the road, settle down, catch my breath, yeah right. I ease back over to the right side and crawl up a little berm with Oregon grape on it and a fir tree so I'm really concealed. I see one elk but it's not really in the open too good. I put the glasses on it but they won't hold still!
Settle down damn it!! Ok let's try this again, it's a cow and she's alone or at least it's the only one I can see. I get a good solid rest on the berm and wait and she finally steps out in the open. Cross hairs are on the head, neck, crap shoulder!!! I squeeze and the Encore sounds like a 22 and no recoil and the cow runs to the right and then there's elk every where following her!!
I never saw any other elk the whole time (maybe 5 minutes)I was watching her!!! I mark the spot and stay put and call my buddy. He finally shows up and I go over everything with him and we go down where she was standing. WTF!!! No blood, just my luck, I missed!!!! We follow tracks for about 100 feet and jump the herd again but I can't shoot cuz I don't know if I have one down or not. Couple minutes later, I see a tan hump, YES!!! Sure enough, there she is piled up!! Thank You Lord!!!! High fives!!! While we're checking her out, here comes a calf running back up the hill right towards us. Bummer, I feel bad now. It's a big calf so he'll be ok. He finally decides there's no sense in sticking around so he peels off and heads back with the herd. Turns out those elk were right back in the same spot as the day before and I bet it wasn't 50' from where they got theirs. I think if it woulda been the first day I probably would have went for the head or neck but since it was late in the game I had to go for the shoulder. Who knows, weird things go thru your head when it's down to the wire. Anyway, there ya have it good or bad. Not much for write ups so I hope it's ok. Sorry if it's too long and boring. Can't wait til next season now!
