Post by: Pathfinder101 on October 28, 2024, 04:41:30 PM
Of course I wanted to jump straight on and start a thread to let everyone know the good news and (of course) ask for help. I live close to the unit that I drew, so scouting wouldn’t be a problem, but the elk here are few and far between and the land is almost entirely privately owned. At least the land where the elk tend to live is privately owned.
And that is the reason that I didn’t start a thread to bring everyone along with me through this whole process. As much as I wanted to share my hunt, I had been warned by several landowners that if a bazillion people put in for this tag next year, they are not going to be happy. So, I waited until now to do a thread, and no; I am not going to say what unit this is. At the request of several property owners who put in for a tag to hunt the unit they live in and don’t want to see it get swamped. In truth, unless you live here and know a lot of these guys, it’s honestly not worth getting the tag anyway. Much of the permission I received was because one landowner called another and got me on. And to be honest, the three places where the elk usually live won’t give anyone permission, for any reason. That makes this a nerve-wracking hunt. Basically, you have to wait for the elk to get bumped off one place, and show up someplace that you can get on. Apparently, sometimes it happens and sometimes it doesn’t. The name of the game here is permission, and luckily, being a high school teacher, I had all summer to knock on doors and chase down leads. By opening day, I had secured access in one way or another to 16 ranches and farms.
Post by: Pathfinder101 on October 28, 2024, 04:42:18 PM
Post by: Pathfinder101 on October 28, 2024, 04:43:04 PM
I worked the next two days, waiting for the deer season in the unit to end and the elk to settle into some sort of pattern. I did hunt the evenings, or to be more accurate, I took my rifle for a long, romantic walk and did some glassing until dark. No elk. Period. As you can imagine, I’m not getting quality sleep at this point either.
Wednesday night my sister and brother in law show up to help spot. My plan was to put them on a vantage point to glass the next morning while I hiked to another one.
Thursday morning brought the first light freeze of the year. It felt good hiking in the dark to the spot where I had seen the bull opening day, cool and frosty, just the way elk hunting is supposed to feel. I settled in and started glassing at first light, but by 9 am all I had spotted was a bunch of mule deer and a ridiculous number of coyotes. I hiked back to the truck, planning to take my sister and brother in law on a tour of every place I had permission in the unit so we could come up with a plan for the evening glassing.
On the way back to them I hit a T intersection and was about to turn left. To the right was a small hill that overlooked a large piece of CRP. Back in July I had seen a herd there and had marked it on my map. I decided, what the heck, I’ll turn right and drive 100 yards to the top of the rise and take a look.
To my complete shock, I saw a small herd of elk about 2 miles out, in the middle of the CRP. I jerked out my spotting scope and confirmed 12 cows, a 5 point bull and a mature bull that clearly had a bigger body than the 5 point. Much bigger.
Post by: Pathfinder101 on October 28, 2024, 04:43:47 PM
After milling around nervously and covering a few hundred yards, the elk seemed to settle down. My sister showed up and we glassed them for a while, finally deciding around 10 am that they were going to stay put long enough for a stalk. I took off after them at 10 am.
The piece that the elk occupied looked almost perfectly flat. Not a tree in sight, and the only cover an occasional sage or rabbit brush, or a shallow draw. I used the terrain as best I could, but when I ran out of cover 45 minutes later, I was still 1500 yards from the elk. Crouched behind a sage bush I watched them for over an hour. For me to move, I would have to either run or crawl across a small saddle, in full view. As I watched and waited for a chance to move, I got to observe the herd. There must have been a second estrus cow in the group, because the big bull was making a nuisance of himself. Either that, or he was just an overly optimistic fellow. He wouldn’t let that 5x5 near any of the cows. Several times he physically chased him out of the group. That made moving even tougher, because even when the cows weren’t oriented in my direction, the 5x5 was standing overwatch.
Finally after over an hour, the elk fed into a shallow draw. Most of the cows went out of sight and the bulls were looking the other way, so I crouch-waddled as fast as I could to the adjacent draw. It was shallow, so I had to navigate it either crouched or on my knees, but after a while I had gained about 300 yards. Unfortunately, when I could see the elk again, they had covered 300 yards as well. Shoot. No net gain. I crawled behind some rabbit brush, pinned down again. Still 1500 yards from the elk.
Another hour and a half laying in the star thistle and waiting for an opportunity. It was now afternoon and the sun was getting hot. Although the heat waves made it hard to glass, I had a pretty good idea that the bull was a shooter. His tops weren’t great, but his fronts and thirds were massive and he had good beams.
Around 1pm the cows all bedded down in a shallow depression. Some of their ears were still sticking up above the grass and thistle, but I thought I was out of their view. The two bulls were still at it though. The big bull kept chasing the 5 point off about 100 yards from the cows. At one point he made a show of tearing up the ground with his antlers, flinging sand and grass all around him. Pretty cool to watch.
Then, after an hour of the 5 point trying to sneak back in and the herd bull chasing him off, they came to some kind of agreement. Both of them suddenly turned their backs to me and started walking away. I figured it was now or never, and hoping that the cows couldn’t see me and that the bulls wouldn’t stop and look over their shoulders I squat-sprinted to the next draw.
Finally, I got the break I needed. The draw was deeper than I thought. And better yet, it looked to run directly in the direction of the elk. With the wind more or less in my face now, I started to hike. Being so flat, it was impossible to mark on OnX exactly where the elk were, but I had managed to get one reading on my rangefinder of 1497 yards, so I knew how far I had to go. Keeping my old Army pace-count I ticked off 100 meter sections. 300 meters… 400 meters…. The draw wasn’t perfectly straight, but I knew I was getting closer. 700 meters…. 800 meters….
The draw ran out at about 1000 meters. As I started up the low rise, I began to feel the tension. I guessed that when I finally laid eyes on them again, they would be around 500 yards. Well within my effective range. If I hadn’t spooked them that is.
As I peeked over the hill, I spotted the 5 point almost immediately. Both bulls (having apparently reached some sort of temporary truce) were bedded down about 50 yards apart, 200 yards to the right of the cows (who were still mostly out of sight in their depression). Scanning the brush I spotted the big bull. Or rather, his antlers, sticking up out of the grass. I ranged the 5 point; 553 yards. I watched him with my binos for a minute. He would wake up, move his head a little, and doze back off. I had seen enough to know that I had no qualms punching my tag on this bull. I had been right about his tops, they were short, but his fronts and thirds and his mass were enough that I didn’t care. I would like to say that I scored him in my head and made a decision, but honestly I just looked at that bull with the sun shining off his bright white points and just wanted him. Occasionally I got a glimpse of his roman nose and I knew he was old; probably regressed a little, but impressive.
Post by: Pathfinder101 on October 28, 2024, 04:44:31 PM
Actually, there was. All day now (over 4 hours) I had been walking, crawling, kneeling and squatting in star thistle. A sea of it lay in front of me. No terrain to hide me, crawling forward would be an elbow, belly and knees ordeal. But, with 23 years of applying in my pocket, grass and thistle higher than my scope around me (at least when I was prone), and 2 sleeping bulls to my front, I figured that I could afford to dig a few more broken spines out of my skin. I started inching forward.
Post by: Pathfinder101 on October 28, 2024, 04:45:30 PM
15 minutes later it happened. I looked down at my phone for a second (updating my sister as to my progress) and when I looked back up, he was standing, facing me, quartering a little. I don’t think I have ever felt more confident in a shot before. With front and rear support, proned out in the thistle, I knew the shot was a hit before I heard the whop. He jumped a little and dropped right back into his bed. I racked another round and watched him through the scope for a full minute. His legs kicked a few times. His antler moved a little, then all was still. After a minute I raised up to my knees, assured that he was dead. I called my sister and told them to head my way with packs.
With plenty of time on my hands while pinned down for the past 5 hours, I had been updating several buddies as to my progress. I sent several texts “Bull Down!” and got some messages back asking my location to hike out and help. Overwhelmed by generosity and still coming down from the adrenaline, it occurred to me that I should probably go walk over to my dead bull and get some “As He Lay” photos while I waited for the people with the real photography talent to show up. I stood up and pulled on my bino case (I had been using it as a rear support for my stock) then picked up my rifle. As I did, I saw a shadow move out of the corner of my eye.
Unbelievably, there stood my “dead” bull, almost 100 yards to the left of where he had been laying. I stared for a second in disbelief, then shook myself out of it long enough to lift my rifle and put the scope on him. Was this a different bull? Looked the same. Huge body, long, heavy brows. Oh Lord; should I shoot him again? What if this is a different animal…?
He helped me out at that point by falling to the ground again. I watched through the scope as his legs kicked a couple more times and then went still. I started walking towards him at a brisk pace, rifle ready. 150 yards from him I saw him get to his feet again, so I shot him offhand through the shoulders again. He dropped straight down. As I walked up to him, he was still kicking.
Post by: Pathfinder101 on October 28, 2024, 04:46:19 PM
“He still moving Dad” he said
“Yeah, he’s dead.” I replied “It’s just nerves.”
We spoke excitedly for a while and I hung up. I got a couple more texts and calls from buddies that were on their way, and my oldest son, stationed at Ft. Moore in Georgia. Incredibly, the bull was still moving. I was only 6 feet from him, but every time I moved, his eyes followed me and he looked like he was trying to get up again. After almost 10 minutes, I called my sister.
“Uh, you guys are going to hear another shot” I said “I am going to have to shoot him again.”
Everyone I know that hunts elk has stories (including me) about how tough elk are. But I had never seen anything like this. One more shot, and he finally stopped moving.
Post by: Pathfinder101 on October 28, 2024, 04:47:11 PM
Post by: Pathfinder101 on October 28, 2024, 04:48:25 PM
That said; I hope I draw another quality tag before I’m 80… :rolleyes:
Post by: dvolmer on October 28, 2024, 04:58:50 PM
Post by: Woodchuck on October 28, 2024, 04:59:22 PM
Post by: crabcreekhunter on October 28, 2024, 06:08:37 PM
Post by: Ironhead on October 28, 2024, 06:30:48 PM
Post by: Threewolves on October 28, 2024, 06:42:02 PM
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Post by: Platensek-po on October 28, 2024, 06:51:45 PM
Post by: hunter399 on October 28, 2024, 06:57:48 PM
Man that's a beautiful bull.
Post by: High Climber on October 28, 2024, 07:00:40 PM
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Post by: Boss .300 winmag on October 28, 2024, 07:35:14 PM
Post by: fishngamereaper on October 28, 2024, 07:35:53 PM
Great story and awesome bull.
Post by: redi on October 28, 2024, 07:55:37 PM
Post by: full choke on October 28, 2024, 08:04:09 PM
Two ole warrior's tangling...
Post by: Caseknife on October 28, 2024, 08:24:04 PM
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Post by: jstone on October 29, 2024, 08:24:31 AM
Congrats
Post by: Pathfinder101 on October 29, 2024, 09:19:51 AM
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Post by: Birdguy on October 31, 2024, 08:13:23 PM
Thank you for taking us with you!
Post by: Pathfinder101 on November 01, 2024, 07:01:26 AM