Hunting Washington Forum
Big Game Hunting => Elk Hunting => Topic started by: trophyhunt on October 22, 2010, 01:39:43 PM
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Well I'm not that good at stories but here it goes. My hunting partner and I left for Idaho on Oct. 8th set up our camp which we could have stayed in for at least a month. We both hunt elk pretty hard and some guys camped up the street told us that if you hunt hard you will get one, that's exactly what it took. My partner shot his spike 1.5 miles down in a hole 3 days before I shot mine, we spent the afternoon boning and packing his up out of the hole. I shot my elk 1.5 miles up the mountain which you would think would be an easier hike but when we got home and weighed our meat packs it's no wonder it was way worse than his pack even though it was down hill. The packs from my elk were 149 lbs and 130 lbs which was just the meat pack's and not including the head which I packed out first. My elk was shot on the day we left, little did I know that Eric had our camp all packed up when I showed up with just the head on my quad. So all the packing was done at night, by the way the Bushnell backtracker kicks ass. Like I had mentioned it was the last day of my hunt and on the way in I bumped some elk in the dark, I waited until I could see better and when I could see I noticed a bull looking at me about 140 yards away. He already knew I was there so I prepared for an off hand shot and just as I did shoot he moved out pretty fast, I wasn't quite sure of the shot and after looking for 3.5 hours found no sign of any blood or elk. Trust me I looked everywhere, I know how bad it would be to lose an elk. I decided to keep up with it and go up the hill a couple miles and side hill an area that had no roads for miles. After lunch I decided it was time to go home, as I walked down the hill side I blew my cow call and got an immediate response from a bull just 100 or so yards to my left. After a few minutes of cow calling I noticed 2 other bulls were in the area causing the herd bull some grief and I had called a cow within 30 yards of me. After seeing the cow so close I decided to bugle which I figured would really irritate the bull and bring him in to me, I was right. Soon after my bugle he screamed and then started dismantling a tree, the cow now could see me and was heading to the wind to make sure what she was seeing was danger. I knew at 20 more yards she was going to wind me and thought the game was about over, but he came in just in time. I shot him at about 80 yards and remembering the last bull that I had missed, I put my gun on a good rest and let him have it. He fell immediately but got back up and ran down hill towards the way out, every step he went was a step less I had to pack. I could tell the first shot did the job but put a couple more into him until he went down for good. We didn't get back to the truck with all the meat till midnight, drove 8.5 hours home and after a long hot shower enjoyed my first Ice cold beer at 9am. Hope it didn't bore you too much with the story. Just want to say thanks to my elk hunting partner Eric for an experience that only some here on this website can understand, by the way this is my best bull and first bull over 300. It did score 311 thanks for help bucklucky.
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Awesome Bull man, congrats!
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Thanks again for your help on the scoring.
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Sweet bull!!!!
I did not realize how big it was from the cell photo you sent me. He is awesome!!!!
Hunting THROUGH the last day is a new rule for me!
Way to go! :rockin:
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Way to Go Jerry!!! That thing is a TOAD!!!!! Way to get R Done!! :chuckle:
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Nice looking bull. Looks like you guys have a pretty good camp set up.
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Great bull man, i'm still waiting for my 300+ bull.
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great looking bull, like how the g-1s and-2s hook straight up. Congrats on a toad of a bull.
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great bull - are you going to post pictures of the other bull
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Thanks guys, those g-2 were awsome they were 17'' and 17.75'' long. As far as the other bull I never got any pic's of that one but my hunting partner did, I will see what I can do. I can't wait till next year!!!!
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Nice looking bull. Way to stck with it. That camp is pretty cool also. It does look like you had enuff wood for awhile. :chuckle:
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Nice Bull! Congrats
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;) Nice looking bull for sure, congrats to ya. :brew: Thanks for sharing.
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Nice bull congrats... Need another in your camp next year to help you pack? I am not having much luck this year in Idaho but it is my first year so I should expect that..
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Nice bull and camp! I could live there for a month too :drool: