Post by: WapitiTalk1 on July 06, 2018, 10:08:00 AM
If a bull continues to answer your calls each and every time as you approach him, but, seems to continue to move away....... he's using your calls to locate you and move his pack o' elk away from an amorous bull who would try to steal what he has gathered up!
Post by: Pete112288 on July 06, 2018, 10:16:43 AM
2 years ago was the first time I ever got into it with calling back and fourth with a bull that has cows with him. That is exactly what he did. Kept calling but then would move off.
My biggest mistake was not aiming small enough. I was only about 20 feet away. In thick brush. Last week of late season archery. Big lead cow comes up through the brush and walks clearly into the only clear shooting lane there was. This was mostly young growth filled in with vine maple and blackberries. I let it fly when I saw that all my pins rested on solid vitals, instead of picking a point and aiming with one pin. There was a vine maple twig that had stuck up in the way closer to me than the elk. The arrow ended up stuck in the tree inches above the elks back. I am just glad it didnt turn into a bad shot and lost badly hit animal.
Post by: vandeman17 on July 06, 2018, 10:31:38 AM
Post by: Woodchuck on July 06, 2018, 10:54:54 AM
Stay outside the truck with weapon handy, they will show up in the oddest places.
Post by: pianoman9701 on July 06, 2018, 10:58:16 AM
Dang, Right there is a great purpose for a thread like this.
2 years ago was the first time I ever got into it with calling back and fourth with a bull that has cows with him. That is exactly what he did. Kept calling but then would move off.
My biggest mistake was not aiming small enough. I was only about 20 feet away. In thick brush. Last week of late season archery. Big lead cow comes up through the brush and walks clearly into the only clear shooting lane there was. This was mostly young growth filled in with vine maple and blackberries. I let it fly when I saw that all my pins rested on solid vitals, instead of picking a point and aiming with one pin. There was a vine maple twig that had stuck up in the way closer to me than the elk. The arrow ended up stuck in the tree inches above the elks back. I am just glad it didnt turn into a bad shot and lost badly hit animal.
CAB and I had this happen last year, didn't we, Jason?
My recurring mistake (and i think I've broken myself from it), was moving too fast through the woods and bumping animals. I've gotten to a point now where I'm seeing them first, which is cool.
Post by: WapitiTalk1 on July 06, 2018, 10:59:49 AM
At the truck waiting for a couple other guys to come out. Decided to sit in the truck and listen to the radio. Some minutes later look up to see a herd crossing 20 yards behind the truck in my rear view. They went over the hill and out of my life forever. :bash:
Stay outside the truck with weapon handy, they will show up in the oddest places.
Instant classic ;).
Post by: Woodchuck on July 06, 2018, 11:13:47 AM
I was pretty bent at myself for a bit.At the truck waiting for a couple other guys to come out. Decided to sit in the truck and listen to the radio. Some minutes later look up to see a herd crossing 20 yards behind the truck in my rear view. They went over the hill and out of my life forever. :bash:
Stay outside the truck with weapon handy, they will show up in the oddest places.
Instant classic ;).
Post by: gaddy on July 06, 2018, 11:50:32 AM
The one thing that we had not thoroughly discussed was that only one side had to be a spike, not both. :bash: He had passed on a 6x spike. We grabbed the reg book off the back seat and showed him the definition of a spike and he about cried. Not long after season I heard of a 6x spike being taken in the general area.
Post by: JWEBB on July 06, 2018, 09:03:12 PM
Post by: Old Man Yager on July 06, 2018, 09:36:19 PM
Post by: Dan-o on July 06, 2018, 09:41:55 PM
Post by: Mr Mykiss on July 06, 2018, 10:22:43 PM
Post by: ruttnbuck on July 06, 2018, 10:56:18 PM
I cow called at a bull from 7’ away...it didn’t work.
Sorry that happened but that's good stuff right there ,can't stop laughing :chuckle:
Post by: bearpaw on July 07, 2018, 02:31:28 AM
Learn What Elk Tracks and Rubs Look Like Before Hunting Season!
I grew up in the NE Corner of WA, when I was a kid most areas here had very few elk and very few moose so I wasn't knowledgeable at all on knowing the difference in moose and elk tracks and rubs. The first year myself and some other teenage buddies hunted in Montana we went over almost every weekend during archery and rifle season. We wasted 1.5 weekends hunting areas for elk because we saw what we thought was big elk tracks and rubs. After a couple weekends we finally figured out the difference due to the fact all we kept seeing was moose, bulls, cows, and calves. Once we figured out what moose tracks and rubs looked like we finally found good elk areas and had a blast chasing rutting bull elk. There are enough online resources now that anyone can get this learning curve mostly out of the way before ever going on a hunt so you don't waste your time chasing moose sign thinking it is elk sign like we did. :chuckle:
Post by: Jpmiller on July 07, 2018, 06:24:59 AM
Post by: jmscon on July 07, 2018, 08:12:13 AM
Post by: PlateauNDN on July 07, 2018, 09:54:12 AM
Post by: kselkhunter on July 07, 2018, 10:47:40 AM
I guess my favorite was an archery season in Oregon. Walking to pick up my buddies late one morning to head back to our backcountry camp for lunch. Come around the corner and sure enough...an elk herd is walking right towards me. I immediately freeze as I'm completely exposed and in the open. Amazingly none of the elk saw or smelled me and kept browsing right towards me. I know my buddy is set up to the right of me, closer to the elk. I'm standing as still as I can, waiting for the herd to clear in front of where I know my buddy is so he can shoot one. There's about 15 cows and a large 6x6 bull, spread out a bit a they browsed. This is an any sex tag area....a cow stopped broadside 20 yards in front of my buddy and HE DOESN'T SEE IT because he hunkered down so deep in a bush he can't see anything in that direction. Nor did he see the 6x6 bull that I was guessing was 40 yards in front of him. After more waiting, they're getting so close now that I can't believe they haven't noticed me. I'm in full camo including face camo, but have a bow in my hand with an arrow knocked as I knocked it before I started walking. I really want my buddy to shoot any darn elk as this was his first archery elk hunt, so I'm hoping he's just waiting for a good shot on one of these elk and I stay frozen.
Alas, impatience got the best of me when the 6x6 bull turned perfectly broadside to me, and the nearest cow was way to close to me now that I was certain she was going to notice me any second (having already walked right past my buddy and he didn't shoot). My rangefinder is in the pocket on my hip belt, but I don't dare rustle around for it. I have a 3-D archery range in my back yard and shoot enough to be familiar with distances (or so I think). So I "guess" the bull is at 30 yards, quickly draw and fire. WAY too low. My 3-D archery range is all just smaller deer targets and is what my brain was calibrated to on judging size and distance. My brain didn't compensate for size of elk in guessing distances. Needless to say my arrow went just under the belly just behind the front leg and THWAPPED the tree behind the bull ridiculously loud. Poof goes the elk herd. No amount of calls would stop them for a second shot. We searched for quite awhile to make sure I did indeed miss and no blood splatter.
Total buck fever moment, and impatience. My buddy had just hunkered in so deep he didn't have good visibility through the bushes on my side of him, but it turns out there was a smaller raghorn bull that was trailing behind the herd and to the right that he was focusing in on.....and he was pissed when he heard my arrow as he was about to shoot the bull on the other side that I didn't know was over there.....was just giving it a couple more steps to get a better shot. Doh!
I kick myself every year for what I could have done differently on that hunt as my buddy still hasn't filled his elk tag.
Post by: TommyGun496 on July 07, 2018, 12:11:20 PM
Post by: HikerHunter on July 07, 2018, 10:18:40 PM
Post by: elkrack on July 09, 2018, 06:19:51 AM
When you are calling for your buddy and he is moving in on a bull that is only responsive to bugles and you have a 320” 6x6 satellite comes flying in because your cow calls your throwing in here and there don’t forget to keep bugling to keep the herd bull talking so he can keep moving in on him. Buddy still ended up getting the herd bull but I almost blew it
Post by: yakimanoob on July 09, 2018, 09:58:56 AM
First question is whether or not elk are present. If you aren't even sure they're around, it's time to bounce to the next spot on your list.
Post by: buggy on July 09, 2018, 10:34:04 AM
Post by: NRA4LIFE on July 09, 2018, 10:48:52 AM
Post by: nitroelk on July 09, 2018, 11:41:50 AM
Post by: nitroelk on July 09, 2018, 11:50:39 AM
Post by: vandeman17 on July 09, 2018, 03:30:07 PM
Post by: W_Ellison2011 on July 09, 2018, 04:47:27 PM
Post by: WapitiTalk1 on July 09, 2018, 07:21:22 PM
Don't bring friends that get overly excited... Took a buddy of mine who had never been hunting in his life or seen a big bull before. When we came around a corner in a trail and he saw the bull he screamed out BULLL as loud as he could.... yeah.. he never gets to go with me anymore...
Lol, that’s awesome :chuckle:
Post by: W_Ellison2011 on July 10, 2018, 02:56:03 PM
I wish I was joking about this situation but sadly I'm not... come around the corner and 30 yards is a good bull and that's what happened. Bull was probably in the next county in seconds... Funny enough I'm good friends with that guys younger brother and he is not even close to being like that. The younger brother is super quiet and is really putting in his time to learn about hunting, especially archery. His first year he shot a decent doe with his bow and when we see animals he doesn't start screaming at them lol!Don't bring friends that get overly excited... Took a buddy of mine who had never been hunting in his life or seen a big bull before. When we came around a corner in a trail and he saw the bull he screamed out BULLL as loud as he could.... yeah.. he never gets to go with me anymore...
Lol, that’s awesome :chuckle:
Post by: KP-Skagit on July 10, 2018, 04:11:38 PM
Post by: Shawn Ryan on July 10, 2018, 05:48:10 PM
At full draw on a very close cow; pin settled just behind her shoulder; couldn't see enough of her through the bow site to know if she was a full-size cow or a yearling because she emerged from the brush so close; leaned my head to the side to look outside the bow site to confirm her size--she didn't like seeing my face and was gone.
Thought for sure those weak bugles were Dave. Nonchalantly walked up to the ridge to find that Dave was a bull.
Left my spoon at camp, so had to eat the kippered snacks with the "key."
...and so many other mistakes.
Post by: Buck Rub Jr on July 10, 2018, 06:56:19 PM
Later that season another buddy and I dry fired our muzzleloaders on cows then got redemption the next morning. Learned to check our powder after damp mornings..
Following year my buddies release fell apart mid day, tried to see if he good draw using just his fingers and dry fired and broke his bow.
Year after that we got on a group of cows, got one to stop straight up hill at 45 yards. My brain and mouth decided to not work together and I told my buddy 40 yards and she got a nice hair cut. Been a rough go around so far hahaha
Post by: dewandgin on July 11, 2018, 07:10:00 PM
opening day of season my father takes and drops me off at top of some big timber I had seen some elk in the last couple of weekends of deer season. I wait until it is light enough to see and start down through the timber walking very slow and looking constantly finally see some elk about 1/2 way through the timber and I am watching them trying to find a legal bull (3 point) and all i find are cows calves and one spike. Wait for them to feed off and stand up to keep walking a hear a loud snort and turn around just in time to see a nice 5 point bull that had walked up behind me and was watching me take off like the road runner with no chance for any shot. I know it was a 5 point because 30 seconds later I hear a loud boom, boom, boom. I walk about 1/4 mile towards the sound to see a guy just standing over it and look up at me and tell me " I had to shoot him he was going to run me over" :bash: :bash:. Guy had never killed a elk or field dressed so I helped him out and started to walk out. Get down to where dad was going to pick me up and unload the gun and set it in the back of the crew cab and start heading back to camp. Less than 300 yds from picking me up there is a nice 6 point bull standing right in the middle of the road. Stop truck and try to get out and the rear cab locked because truck was still in gear. Finally get the truck unlocked and get the gun out and the bull is still standing right there. Grab the clip throw it in and try to rack a shell and realize that I grabbed my empty clip that was sitting on the dash not the loaded one on the center console. Bull decides he has seen enough and exits stage right to hear a boom,boom. Drive around corner to see a young kid standing over the elk that ran right in front of them. Help him and his dad field dress it and load it and take off for camp to get some food. Get to camp and there is a raghorn bull standing in our camp. This one ran off but I did not hear that one get shot thank god.
Post by: spottedhand on July 12, 2018, 08:39:55 PM