Hunting Washington Forum
Big Game Hunting => Elk Hunting => Topic started by: Optimusprime on September 15, 2013, 02:37:34 PM
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Well, the Lord was gracious to me this year and allowed me to harvest a nice spike bull. This is my second year bowhunting and my first elk, and now I really understand why elk hunting is so awesome. I took him up in the Naneum on day 2 around 4:30 pm at 50 yards. Walked into a large stand of timber after a long hike and found a herd of about 30-40 elk with probably 6 shootable spikes. Made my way around the outside, spooking pretty much every elk back into the timber as they all seemed to be on the outside edges looking out. Found a nice spot to sneak in to after about an hour of waiting and started calling. I heard a loud thump come from behind me only to find a calf that had pounced and landed around 30 yards behind me along with the most glorious spike I have ever seen...') He stared strait at me for about 5 minutes then walked back behind some rocks. All I could see was the tips of his antlers so I kept an eye on him while he moved about. After about 20-30 minutes of a game of calling him in and gaining better cover, he finally bolted out and came strait towards me at about 50 yards. He then turned completely broadside to his right and started eating a tree! I drew back and took the shot and heard a loud sickening sound we have all heard. The loud thwack of an arrow hitting a tree. I literally dropped my head and thought I just screwed up the best shot at getting an elk I would get. After 15 minutes, I decided to retreive my arrow from the tree. I was having trouble finding it due to the range, but I noticed it about 15 yards from where the elk was standing sticking out of a log burried in the ground...with blood on it!!!!! I was ecstatic. After half an hour of trying to find blood trails in the dry grass, I found him about 50 yards from where I last saw him. It was a double pass through high double lung shot. Man, I love my FMJ's and Shuttle T's! It was probably the most exciting moment of my life, next to getting married:) Pack out wasn't too bad, 2.5 miles, mostly uphill for the first out, and then my buddy helped me get it off the hill to my truck which was much closer, around a half mile. Got it all bundled up and hauled in around 6 1/2 hours. It was a great week of hunting. Although we didn't get my buddy a bull, we still saw probably 80-100 elk and 9 or 10 monster bulls. We got onto a hillside and called in 2 6x6 bulls in within 10 yards of my buddy and had a 7x7 come in at 100 yards. What a cool, cool way to spend a week. Thanks all for the great advice you gave me with all my annoying questions. It was all used to the utmost.
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Way to get it done :tup:
Nice spike
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Thanks Jonathan_S. What a rush taking an elk is. Indescribable really.
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I can only imagine. I had a 30 yard encounter during my first archery hunt this year with a 4 pt and nearly had heart palpitations.
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nicely done!!
Thanks for sharing.
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good job :tup:
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Those heart palps are awesome! Pretty sure I had a small heart attack:)Did you get your 4pt Jonathan? No prob Dan O. Thanks for reading.
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Nice spike,congrats :tup:
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Those heart palps are awesome! Pretty sure I had a small heart attack:)Did you get your 4pt Jonathan? No prob Dan O. Thanks for reading.
Hah! No I didn't. He busted me and I couldn't even find a raggedy 3 pt after that
That spike sure looks tasty :EAT:
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Congratulations on your harvest of a nice spike elk!
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Very nice, congrats!!!!
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:tup: :tup:
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Good eats right there. Happy dance for you !!!
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congrats. definitely a spike, no debate there
:tup: :drool:
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Awesome dude. Great story glad you filled that freezer.
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Nice elk, sweet spikes :tup:. Good story as well, and a great move to thank those that helped you. All that is left is :cue:
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Thats a dandy spike Optimusprime, :tup: I'm glad you were able to put your hunt together and tag your elk.
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Congrats on the spike :tup:
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Very nice, congrats!
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:tup: great bull
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Heck yeah
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Nice spike!
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Way to go! Congrats! :tup:
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Looks like a kudu
Great job!
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Nice write up. Cool spike too. Congrats to you.
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Great job....I really like that area...I used to bow hunt up there for years till they stop allowing cows....way to fill your freezer....good job
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Congratulations, nice true spike!
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Thanks for all the positive comments guys! Hopefully the rest of you also filled your freezers. I know it was a bad fire season and lots of spots were probably ruined. For those of you who used to love the Naneum, I talked to the state biologist for that area and he said since the herd is so big (5700), they are most likely going to open it up for cows again next year. Talked to an old timer up there who has hunted that area forever and he said they are going to be issuing 1000+ cow tags or something like that. Ironically, with the lack of bull tags they give out (2) for archery, it actually would have been easier to bag a monster than a spike. Cows were basically as abundant as crows. Never saw a single deer while I was there though.
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How many big bulls did you see up there?
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congrats
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How many big bulls did you see up there?
Saw 6 or 7 5-6pt or bigger bulls up there. Smallest bulls were the 7 or so true spikes and a 2x2 and a 3x2. Biggest was a 7x7 or 7x6. It was bulls galore. The bugling sounded like a symphony with surround sound. It was sweet.
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congrats
carpsinperg2, that is the biggest animal I have ever seen with horns on your picture. Where the deuce did you find that thing? And did you find it with 4 human sized turtles and a talking rat?
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:chuckle: No but the kiwis do talk a little funny :chuckle:
It's a red stag from new Zealand. That is the smaller one of the stags that I have taken. That was my last one from 2011.
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Way to get it done. You scored one of the toughest animals to get with a bow, a TRUE SPIKE in the colockum. It is a needle in a haystack when you look at the numbers of true spikes compared to all other elk. There are tons of cows and getting through all of them to get to the spike is tougher than getting through the silvers at Sekiou to get down to the kings.
Way to go man, that is a true spike trophy and good eats at that. Hang those antlers and ivories proudly.
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Good job!!
