Post by: SilkWWU on November 15, 2009, 04:07:36 PM
So my goal going into this hunt was to hold out through Wednesday for a 5 point or better, then take the first bull I saw after that. We had some really close calls throughout the week, but nothing that was huge, and a LOT of cows and blown hunts by ourselves and others. On Tuesday night, one of the guys in our group (never shot an animal in his life) got the shakes and missed a very very makeable shot that made the tree behind the elk very unhappy, so I decided to go back with him the next night and see if we could get another shot at that bull. After glassing for about an hour, we had about an hour left of light and he made an offer to push through the reprod and see if he could push anything out to me. I set up on the landing above a clearcut with a perfect rest to where I could see three different clear cuts, and was able to glass some reprod across the way. About twenty minutes in, I see some movement through the timber at the bottom on the cut across the way, I put the glasses on him and saw he was a nice little spike. I thought about it as I watched him and realized that with twenty minutes left on my personal "goal deadline" that I would take the shot. This being my first bull I was a little nervous but was definitely not shaking as I put my gun up on my rest and took aim. I guessed he was at 325 yards as I didn't have a range finder with me. (Turned out I was a little wrong when we ranged in the following day it was 284 yards) and touched off. The Bull didn't move and looked around. I touched off again and he turned and walked 10 yards to the right. This is when i almost smacked myself in the head and realized I didn't account for the decline into the bottom of the cut. My third shot rang true and he buckled and stood up and started to trot off. I had a bad experience in my past with a monster mule deer and have the mentality to shoot until he's down so I hit him again and he went down. He was trying to get back up and so I shot again before I calmed myself down and realized he was in his death throes and I needed to get over there and put a kill shot in him so he wouldn't suffer. FIRST ELK DOWN! But I wish the story ended there.
So at this point I still down see my buddy who was in the reprod so I run back down the road about a 100 yards to where I had parked my truck and was driving back around to the other side to put the kill shot in (I couldn't cross there as there was a sizable creek) I was looking for my buddy and did not see the giant pothole in the middle of the road. My truck hit it and died right there...Unbelievable. At this point it's about 20-30 minutes left of light, I have a bull down, my buddy is in the reprod and we are 10 miles from camp. *censored*. Well first thing is first and I need to get over there and get a kill shot in and mark this animal so we can round up the camp crew and pack him out. Lucky for me some guys in a Toyota show up and help us out. Needless to say we didn't get back to camp until 9pm that night. Crazy hunt. First picture is at the kill site, and the other picture was taken on Friday, the last spike was killed Saturday afternoon so it wasn't on the jeep (which is our camp classic picture).
I will also note, the Toutle is a really fun unit, and there are some nice bulls in there, I just never was able to get on them, though I did see some nice bulls come out, nothing that was out of this world. Now that I have the first bull monkey off my back, I can start to focus on getting a bigger bull every time I go out. Shouldn't be too hard :)
Post by: Jason on November 15, 2009, 04:10:19 PM
Post by: Huntbear on November 15, 2009, 04:19:51 PM
Post by: grousetracker on November 15, 2009, 04:29:43 PM
Post by: SilkWWU on November 15, 2009, 05:42:44 PM
Post by: hunterofelk on November 15, 2009, 05:54:13 PM
Post by: Bob33 on November 15, 2009, 06:08:57 PM
"those people who hunt Toutle without tags are jack-offs." Jack-offs AND also poachers.
Post by: SilkWWU on November 15, 2009, 06:14:58 PM
Too bad you couldn't reach an enforcement officers for the poachers. Turn them in and you could possibly get 10 bonus points. You might get a Toutle tag two years in a row that way.
"those people who hunt Toutle without tags are jack-offs." Jack-offs AND also poachers.
Well I couldn't prove they did anything wrong, they had no elk in their car and I didn't see them fire any shots...Also...shockingly, I didn't see a warden up there?
Post by: Bob33 on November 15, 2009, 06:22:39 PM
Alas, the enforcement officers are spread too thin.
Post by: rjm5 on November 15, 2009, 06:31:48 PM
Post by: SilkWWU on November 15, 2009, 11:35:55 PM
Congrats Trav, glad you guys had a good hunt.
Thanks man, I wish you were closer, would have been sweet to have your expertise along.
Post by: PacificNWhunter on November 15, 2009, 11:41:45 PM
Post by: carpsniperg2 on November 15, 2009, 11:46:37 PM
Post by: fc2038 on November 16, 2009, 12:41:38 AM
Post by: THINK_N_ELK on November 16, 2009, 09:14:06 AM
Quote
toutle is any bull , i heard that there was a lot of non hunters cruising the roads screwing up the hunts for others.
That's what happens when everyone wants the gates opened up. Their is no one around to help prevent this.
Post by: funkster on November 16, 2009, 10:13:10 AM
It is funny how Wey co. can't seem to win,early archery wants the gates open(usually closed to fire danger) to access the unit. We couldn't even hunt AT ALL until the last week two years ago. Then they open them up and everybody complains...you just can't win! Although it sucks, the unit is legally open to other types of hunting. It would be to much work and $ to man all the access gates in that unit. If we cause to much trouble they will just lock us all out. Let's just be happy Wey co. allows us as hunters to go on their land(which is some good hunting grounds IMPO)..because they don't have too.
Post by: SilkWWU on November 16, 2009, 10:24:29 AM
Congrats on a successful hunt! Anyone who has pulled that tag knows it is sure a fun one.
It is funny how Wey co. can't seem to win,early archery wants the gates open(usually closed to fire danger) to access the unit. We couldn't even hunt AT ALL until the last week two years ago. Then they open them up and everybody complains...you just can't win! Although it sucks, the unit is legally open to other types of hunting. It would be to much work and $ to man all the access gates in that unit. If we cause to much trouble they will just lock us all out. Let's just be happy Wey co. allows us as hunters to go on their land(which is some good hunting grounds IMPO)..because they don't have too.
I'm not complaining about Weyco, It was just a little frustrating to think about how many "bear" hunters or people who didn't understand it was a permit only unit may have spooked my big bull before I got on him. Anyways, soooo many animals so I'm not whining to hard :)
Post by: Bob33 on November 16, 2009, 10:34:00 AM
Post by: C-Money on November 16, 2009, 10:42:25 AM
Post by: SilkWWU on November 16, 2009, 10:58:03 AM
Just curious: I didnt' see any of the hunters wearing orange. Is this an archery only hunt?
Well the pictures on the jeep were taken in camp, as far as I know it's not required to wear orange in camp. I figure the giant tent, the 6 vehicles the fire, and loud drinking is enough to deter even the stupidest hunter :)
Also, after getting everyone rounded up and taking off some layers to skin the elk at 730 pm in the pitch black, I would assume most hunters know that elk with flashlights two hours after shooting time don't exist...
Yes we all wear blaze orange while hunting.
Post by: TheJack on November 16, 2009, 01:08:09 PM
Post by: engelwood on November 16, 2009, 01:14:24 PM
Post by: SilkWWU on November 16, 2009, 01:18:03 PM
Post by: rackattack on November 16, 2009, 01:52:24 PM
Post by: Watimberghost on November 16, 2009, 03:31:58 PM
Post by: funkster on November 16, 2009, 07:19:57 PM
Congrats on a successful hunt! Anyone who has pulled that tag knows it is sure a fun one.
It is funny how Wey co. can't seem to win,early archery wants the gates open(usually closed to fire danger) to access the unit. We couldn't even hunt AT ALL until the last week two years ago. Then they open them up and everybody complains...you just can't win! Although it sucks, the unit is legally open to other types of hunting. It would be to much work and $ to man all the access gates in that unit. If we cause to much trouble they will just lock us all out. Let's just be happy Wey co. allows us as hunters to go on their land(which is some good hunting grounds IMPO)..because they don't have too.
I'm not complaining about Weyco, It was just a little frustrating to think about how many "bear" hunters or people who didn't understand it was a permit only unit may have spooked my big bull before I got on him. Anyways, soooo many animals so I'm not whining to hard :)
Silk,my statement wasn't aimed at you, Way to get er' done! How many points did you all have? My dad pulled with 5.
Post by: Michelle_Nelson on November 16, 2009, 07:56:52 PM
SilkWWU whats this I hear about you crying like a baby while working on Brians elk? :chuckle:
Post by: SilkWWU on November 16, 2009, 08:48:36 PM
Congrats guy! Sounds like you had a fun hunt.
SilkWWU whats this I hear about you crying like a baby while working on Brians elk? :chuckle:
By Brian I assume you mean Ryan :) Sorry about the cape, I'll go further next time. If you want the TRUTH everyone kind of freaking out when the knife went into my leg until no blood came out and just muscle was showing. But then they wouldn't let me do anything and I got yelled at when I tried to throw a quarter over my shoulder! (It was only a 50 yard pack to this little side road in the middle of the clearcut). :chuckle: :chuckle: They wanted me to drive almost two hours to the nearest hospital then sit another two hours there to get stitches and then drive two hours to get back to camp...you're out of your damned mind! It was nearly whiskey hour when we got Ryan's bull out! :)
Post by: Michelle_Nelson on November 17, 2009, 07:18:53 PM
No problem on the cape. It was pretty short. Glad he wasn't getting a shoulder mount. You live and learn. Can't learn if you don't try. The next one will be better I am sure of it.
I told Ryan it was to good of a story about you sticking your self that I couldn't let you get away with out getting a little crap. LOL.
Post by: SilkWWU on November 17, 2009, 09:06:20 PM
Post by: bow4elk on November 18, 2009, 11:55:00 AM
Post by: SilkWWU on November 19, 2009, 01:56:43 PM
Congrats on the bulls, and please start a new topic about that big Willy's rig!!
Hahahaha, it's amazing. End of story :P
Post by: Diesel on November 20, 2009, 11:50:45 AM
Post by: Magnum_Willys on November 20, 2009, 09:14:12 PM
Post by: Magnum_Willys on November 22, 2009, 07:24:18 PM
Post by: Wenatcheejay on November 22, 2009, 08:08:57 PM
Post by: funkster on November 22, 2009, 09:13:34 PM
Post by: SilkWWU on November 23, 2009, 01:25:18 AM
The 2nd spike and the 4th spike look like they could be brother's! Again congrats and a successful year.
Actually I think they were. They were shot about a half mile from each other. Their antlers measure the exact same length and they have the same curve characteristics exactly. Kind of cool actually.