Post by: highside74 on September 19, 2016, 01:54:09 PM
Big shout out to Duckslayer89 for all his help. He helped me scout and when I texted to say I had a bull down he showed up in just over an hour and packed out two 80# loads of boned out meat.
Post by: JBar on September 19, 2016, 01:58:12 PM
Post by: highside74 on September 19, 2016, 02:03:32 PM
Post by: highside74 on September 19, 2016, 02:05:44 PM
Awesome looking country! Better get the pic and story of your bull posted before I do it for you :chuckle:
Relax JBar it wouldn't let me post them all at once. :lol4:
Post by: JBar on September 19, 2016, 02:14:01 PM
Post by: Branden on September 19, 2016, 02:33:54 PM
Post by: jackelope on September 19, 2016, 02:38:22 PM
Thanks for sharing.
Post by: highside74 on September 19, 2016, 02:48:25 PM
Post by: Duckslayer89 on September 19, 2016, 03:05:08 PM
Post by: buglin4bulls on September 19, 2016, 03:11:12 PM
Post by: pianoman9701 on September 19, 2016, 03:14:17 PM
Post by: de0827 on September 19, 2016, 03:31:07 PM
Post by: powderbounder on September 19, 2016, 03:53:19 PM
Post by: rosscrazyelk on September 19, 2016, 04:41:42 PM
Post by: carpsniperg2 on September 19, 2016, 04:59:14 PM
Post by: Taco280AI on September 19, 2016, 05:55:24 PM
Post by: Huntboy on September 19, 2016, 06:41:43 PM
Post by: ElkBOW79 on September 19, 2016, 07:49:02 PM
Post by: brewdog on September 19, 2016, 08:06:38 PM
Post by: ShaneTyTrey on September 19, 2016, 09:20:08 PM
Post by: bowhunterforever on September 19, 2016, 09:24:42 PM
Post by: lewy on September 19, 2016, 09:49:10 PM
Post by: hunting4sanity on September 19, 2016, 10:04:06 PM
Post by: BoomWhop on September 19, 2016, 10:24:44 PM
Post by: coachcw on September 20, 2016, 06:36:59 AM
Post by: highside74 on September 20, 2016, 07:00:05 AM
Post by: highside74 on September 20, 2016, 05:10:07 PM
In late June I really put my mind to it and started walking between 2 and 4 miles a day with a 45# pack. I changed my diet and tried not to cheat. Sometimes I jogged, sometimes I went for a hike but I always tried to get something in 5 days a week. I started at 258# and figured every pound I lost was 1 more pound I wouldn't feel carrying my pack in for my hunt.
I did a few hiking day trips into the unit to mostly get the feel for how the land looked and get my mountain legs going. First trip was with Duckslayer and it was a rough 4 miles. I needed many breaks on the way up for that first trip. 2nd was almost 8 miles. 3rd was 11 miles. I cut the assent time for the just over 1.5 mile trip to the top of the ridge by 50% during my conditioning and I was pumped. My last trip in before the season was the Saturday of labor day weekend. I wanted to spend the night back there so I could get a sense of what animals might be around for the following week. My goal weight for my hunt was 240# and I hit the trail on that Saturday at 234#. I saw a small bull and heard some bugles that night and the following morning and it really got my blood going. In total I saw 25 elk on Sunday.
My scheduling for the hunt was, pack in Friday September 9th, hunt Saturday and Sunday and be home that night if I was unsuccessful because I have the great fortune of making babies in January and I have 2 boys with birthdays right smack in the middle of Elk season on the 12th and 15th. Birthdays out of the way I would leave on the 16th and not have to be home until the season ended.
Friday the 9th I hit the trail full of anticipation of what was ahead. I decided not to hike all the way down to the lake to camp but to set up camp on the ridge top and only make one trip down to the lake for water that first night. Filling my containers at last light I was welcomed by a far off bugle behind me on the other side of an adjacent ridge. He bugled at least 3 times while I was down there and I couldn't be more excited. As I hiked out of the lake bottom toward camp I was hit with a thunderous bugle directly in front of me at less than 300 hundred yards and just below camp. Holy crap was I freaking out. As I reached camp I couldn't help but think I might be camping to close. I went to bed with that bull and at least 2 or 3 others in every direction bulging all night long.
As I awoke on opening morning to the bugles of that close bull still ringing out, I ate a quick breakfast and got dressed as fast as I could. Only to sit and wait in the dark for daylight before I started after him. It took less than 15 minutes to completely screw that up. Lol. The wind was going every which way but a good way and instead of making a big loop to get better wind I made my stupid decisions and blew that bull out before I could even get eyes on him. Oh well, on to the next bull behind me down on the other side of the ridge that was answering the 1st bull note for note. As I headed south on the trail past camp I came to an opening about 3 or 400 yards on the back side of the ridge. I let out a bugle and instantly got a response from that bull. He was on my side of the basin headed up out of the bottom but he had moved north and was clearly past my camp. I quickly headed north past camp and covered another 150 or so yards to a knob jutting up out of the flat ridge top I was camped on. I figured if he was coming up it would be before that knob because that would be his easiest route and I was correct. As I came to a rock out cropping on the edge of the ridge, he was just coming out of the timber 40 yards below me. He was a 5x5 and he had no clue I was there. I decided to pass on him it being opening morning and all. But how exciting.
I left that bull and headed south to get around to the top of another basin and my bugle was greeted by the response of 2 other bulls down in the basin on the other side in the timber. I kept to my side and moved down the trail trying to pin point exactly where they might be. As it turned out one was headed down and away through a saddle on the far side and one was still in my drainage and headed down deep. He bugled on his own every 2-5 minutes unprovoked as we decended toward the bottom on opposite sides of the drainage. When I got close I made the mistake of bulging instead of cow calling and I think that set up what turned out to be 4 hours of cat and mouse. He would stay just out of reach and vision but continue to bugle like crazy. During this time I had a young cow walk in front of me at no more than 10 feet with no clue as to my existence. Very cool. I had also left my pack on the trail when I thought I was close and decided I better go grab it after I thought I had blew him out. I no sooner reached my pack and he was right back to bulging his head off. So I put my pack on and went after him again. With more of the same result. I dropped my pack and he would never let me get closer than 75 or 80 yards and stayed just out of vision. At about noon he decided to go silent and I lost track of him. I figured I would go get my pack and make a plan for the afternoon. Well it took me an hour to find my pack and I finally had to sit down and say a little prayer and take a 10 minute break because i was frustrated. After that I found my pack in 5 minutes. God is good. At this point I decided I would hike up the other side of the drainage to some lakes I knew were up there and figured I would take a rest up there and wait for the evening hunt. Man was that a bad decision and I wish I would have done it while scouting so I didn't have to waste the time and energy on the horrible nearly straight up climb to those little lakes. 1000 ft up and soaked in sweat I took off my shirt and boots and socks and tried to get them to dry out as I took a nap. My plan was to finish the day working the timber in the upper basin only to be greeted by 3 hikers of a 6 hiker group that were camped at the bottom of the head of the basin and they had seen no elk. What? Really? 6 hikers camped in the middle of Elk country having conversations you can hear from hundreds of yards away and you haven't seen any elk at all? Go figure. So I decided to go back over the ridge and head back to camp through the area that those bulls had started from. I bumped one cow and worked my butt off getting out of there but didn't hear another bugle until dark. Sunday was not nearly as eventful and I was now headed home to celebrate an 8 and a 12 year olds birthdays before returning on Friday the 16th.
Post by: DOUBLELUNG on September 20, 2016, 05:12:56 PM
Post by: Boss .300 winmag on September 20, 2016, 05:31:00 PM
Post by: pd on September 20, 2016, 05:38:13 PM
Why didn't the hikers hear or see elk? Because they talk so much, of course. Hunters do this all the time.
Post by: highside74 on September 20, 2016, 08:39:03 PM
Friday the 16th mid day I was climbing back up to my camping spot but decided to camp down by the lake to try and avoid some of the wind that I had encountered the weekend before while in my tent. The weather outlook for this weekend wasn't looking great and I was hoping for more protection. After setting up camp and filtering my water *side note* (Platypus gravity water filters are awesome) I headed up and over the opposite side of the ridge to see if I could spot a bull I had heard in the timber across the basin above a small lake the week before the season and opening weekend but never got eyes on him. It wasn't more than 20 minutes and I heard some activity down below. I trained my binocular's on the bottom in the lake and spotted what looked to be like a 6x bull and his cows. He would bugle and so would the bull that was further down the drainage that sounded to me like the bull I had heard on the way out last Sunday. I watched those elk until almost dark and headed to camp for a Mountain House and bed. I was awoke early Saturday morning to wind and rain. Shaking wind that would roar like a freight train and dissappear for a moment and then return with a fury that sounded like it was going to rip my tarp down. My normal shelter is a floorless 2 man and luckily I decided to leave that at home and borrow my buddies Exped Venus 2 man and pack a tarp just for this weather forcast. I knew I would be dry in the tent but I wanted the tarp for when I had to get out of the tent. I traded just under 3# in my pack for just over 8# but that extra 5# was worth the extra effort. I tried to sleep until my alarm went off but it never did. I awoke again to rain and sunlight. I contemplated staying in the tent and not hunting because of the rain and wind but figured I was there I might as well hunt.
Coffee, breakfast and rain gear I headed out to see if I could find that bull by the lake. It was almost 9 when I found him and his cows still close to the bottom but headed up towards what I figured was bed on a bench visible in the timber on the other side. It was a 2 mile walk around to get to a saddle about 400 or so hundred feet above that bench. So my decision was ton head south but pass that trail and look at the top of the basin with the little lakes that the hikers were in the week before and give that bull and his cows time to settle in for a windy and rainy rest time. I figured if I didn't get into any elk I would head back and go after him. Getting to my flat glassing spot in the rocks above the far basin about 3 miles from camp I ran into a Hilleberg tent tucked in the Noble fir trees just outside the rocks. I figured it was another hunters camp and that he was down in that basin so I took a quick scan with my binocular's and decided to head back to work on that bull.
An hour or so later I was at the top of the saddle with wind and rain all around. The wind was so bad I thought about not going down but the draw of a big bull sucked me in. Down I went picking my way through the timber in search of that bench. As I arrived I let out a few cow calls and received zero response. I thought for sure was going to be right in their bedroom. I worked the bench over and gave some bugles but still no response. The wind was bad my wind checker would look like a tornado swurling as it came out of my plastic squeeze bottle. At this point it's about 2pm I'm soaked it's still raining and the wind is just terrible so I told myself to climb out of there before I blew him out of there and hope to get back to camp with enough time to light a fire and dry my clothes before bedtime. Back at camp I did just that. Luckily I was smart enough to collect all the small would I would need to get a good fire going the day before when it was blue bird sky's and everything was dry. I had stashed it under the protection of my trap and it was waiting for me when I arrived. I got a good fire going and set out to collect bigger wood that would be enough to last until bedtime. It took over 3 hours to dry my clothes. They smelled horrible but they were dry and I was warm and full from another mountain house. The rain let up to a slight drizzle long enough for me to climb out of the lake bottom for cell reception long enough to talk to the family and head back to camp for bed. The wind picked up and was worse the the early morning wind from earlier. It was a sleepless night and the loudest wind I have ever encountered.
Sunday I got up and was glad the storm had ended around 4am. I went east down from the lake and to see if I could locate any elk down low but I didn't hear anything so I climbed back up past the lake and onto the other side of the ridge to see if I could locate that 6x bull. He never answered but that other bull down the drainage would answer whenever I wanted him to. I hiked south to see u f I could get anything to respond where they had been the week before. No luck. So I decided maybe I should hike down to my rig and go lower east below the lake I was camped at to see if the elk moved because of the storm and were to far to hear. This would also allow me to drive what looked to be about 8 miles to get to the bottom of the drainage that the bull was in that would respond when evet I wanted. Not finding any other elk I made my way down and around until I was at the creek drainage where it crossed the road. By my on X topo map on my phone there looked to be a flat spot in the creek bottom maybe a little more than 1/2 mile up through the timber. Silently at 1:30 I started picking my way through and up a beautiful elk trail. Don't get me wrong it had its share of blow downs but it was picture perfect inside that old growth tree and fern covered creek bottom. Not choked full of crap like most west side creek bottoms. You could see 100 plus yards with ease. I kept check the wind and it was perfect. I knew he was on the far side of the drainage when I was up on the ridge and that meant he would be on my right as I climbed up the creek bottom. The wind would blow right to left or down as I climbed. A short 30 minutes later and I was approaching the zone I had picked out. I had no sooner told myself to nock an arrow because I was getting close and that this was the spot and he let out a bugle. Just to my right less than 200 yards up the hillside. I picked out a big tree with a large stump next to it to stand in front of and let out a cow call. He responded with an even bigger bugle and I could hear him coming. Less than 100 and I can see him picking his way down through the ferns and trees. I take some shaky quick ranges as he's moving down and left. Stump is 40. Big tree is 28. He stops at about 80 behind some brush and bugles. I let out a soft cow and he is on a mission. He covers the last little bit in seconds. I was using a hand held reed call and hadnt put in a mouth call yet. I panic a bit and grab one from the bill of my cap. I can't make a sound with it to save my life and I want him to stop. He moves into a spot that I hadn't ranged anything so I'm guessing 35-40 broadside when he stops. I release my arrow and I hit him high. He goes down instantly with a spine shot. I feel great sorrow for his thrashing and quickly dispatch him with a couple more arrows. From the time he first bugled to the time I released my arrow wasn't more than 2 minutes. I gave him 15 minutes before checking on him and gave myself time to compose myself. I tossed some sticks to confirm he was expired before walking up to put my hands on this beautiful bull. Not a giant but he had a big mouth on him that was ultimately his down fall. I had heard him down here for over a week but I had it in my mind that going back down to my rig and driving around to better access was some how cheating on the hunt I had set out to partake in. Hindsight was that was silly because if I wouldn't have been hiking up there I would have never heard him down there. As I set him up for a few quick pictures I ranged back to the tree I was standing at and it was 25 yards. My shot was high because I was gapping my 30 40 pins. I'm not happy about the way my shot played out but I am thankful that I was afforded the opportunity to finish him quickly afterward.
I notch my tag, take some pictures and leave all my gear with him and head down to my rig to drive to cell service to try and get some help. Half way down to my 4runner I realize my keys are in my backpack so I have to turn around and hike back to grab my keys. A few miles later I'm talking with my 8 year old that is so proud of his daddy. I call my brother who has never been in this area before and give him directions on how to find me and he is on his way. A call to duckslayer goes unanswered so I send a text and wait. He responds shortly and says he knows exactly where I'm at. So I head back to get started on processing. Duckslayer was up there in no time and I can hear him call out as he is picking his way up the creek bottom. I give a whistle and he found me right away. We proceeded to bone out all the meat in hopes of making fewer trips. 8:10pm and we are at the road with our last load. Duckslayer was a beast and I am grateful for all he did from the beginning to the end. My brother got some bad advice on the main line and got turned in the wrong direction and never found us. He felt bad but at least he made an attempt.
What a great hunt!
Post by: Boss .300 winmag on September 20, 2016, 08:48:00 PM
Post by: highside74 on September 20, 2016, 08:55:08 PM
Post by: highside74 on September 20, 2016, 08:57:45 PM
Post by: highside74 on September 20, 2016, 09:01:00 PM
Post by: Mark251 on September 20, 2016, 09:03:26 PM
Post by: highside74 on September 20, 2016, 09:08:54 PM
Post by: Duckslayer89 on September 20, 2016, 09:28:14 PM
And finally the happy feeling of seeing the camp you left 2 days ago is still there for you to pack up and take home.
Nice dude great write up got the blood pumping reading all the details. Love that camp pic too doesn't get better
Post by: Buck Rub Jr on September 20, 2016, 09:45:59 PM
Post by: wsucowboy on September 21, 2016, 06:52:51 PM
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-J320A using Tapatalk
Post by: KM1986 on September 21, 2016, 08:19:27 PM
Post by: bracer40 on September 22, 2016, 09:27:32 AM
Post by: Falcon on September 22, 2016, 04:12:34 PM
Post by: Wanttohuntmore on September 22, 2016, 04:50:26 PM
Post by: HUNTINCOUPLE on September 22, 2016, 05:58:01 PM
Post by: PA BEN on September 22, 2016, 08:54:31 PM
Post by: jmscon on September 22, 2016, 09:20:16 PM
Post by: deerlick on September 22, 2016, 09:32:58 PM
Post by: quackkiller on September 24, 2016, 07:39:49 PM
Post by: highside74 on September 24, 2016, 08:37:07 PM
Congrats on the bull!!! Sounds like you had a blast! See any deer when you were up there??
In all my scouting and hunting I saw 3 deer. Really sad.
Post by: quackkiller on September 24, 2016, 10:32:47 PM
Post by: RadSav on September 25, 2016, 03:05:07 AM
Post by: swisski on September 25, 2016, 08:31:10 AM
Post by: videorc on September 25, 2016, 03:07:44 PM
Post by: scoutdog346 on September 26, 2016, 11:47:31 AM
Post by: DeKuma on September 26, 2016, 01:10:06 PM