***2015 Best Elk DIY Public lands hunt / Elk harvest write up posting thread ***

25contender

Veteran member
Mar 20, 2013
1,638
90
The time is is here!! Here is the thread to post your 2015 Stories and Photos. Cant wait to read the stories and see some photos so post away. No cell phone pics accepted do to the poor quality of the photos when blown up for publishing.

Please refer to the thread link below for the rules of the contest. Please do not enter a story on this thread if requirements are not met. If you have any questions about the rules please post your questions on the below thread link as well. Thanks

http://forum.eastmans.com/showthread.php/11821-***Best-Elk-DIY-Public-lands-hunt-Elk-harvest-write-up-contest-2015-***
 
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dukhnt

New Member
May 7, 2014
8
0
Never Give Up

After Nick raked the tree for the 2nd time, the bull made his way closer. Now he was 30 yards away and there still was some brush between me and him. I knew you couldn't slip an arrow through it, but I was muzzleloader hunting and was confident I could put the slug where it needed to be. As I raised my weapon, I was praying that the gun would work like it should. I took aim, cocked the hammer, pulled the trigger, and all I heard was "click."

I decided to try for a muzzleloader tag in 2015, usually I bow hunt. With 1 point I was surprised I drew a tag. I knew Colorado had different laws. I had to change the powder I was using and also the type of bullet. After a couple trips to the range I was confident I had everything dialed in. Everything worked as it should.

We left MN early Friday morning for the 15+ hour drive. There was still a glimmer of daylight when we finally reached the trailhead. As we hiked up the mountain, the light gave way to darkness. Finally at our location for camp, I slipped my backpack off. Looking forward to getting my tent set up and going to sleep for the night. As soon as I did that, a light came on in another tent. Someone beat us to our preferred camping spot. We put our packs back on, searching for a new spot to camp.



Opening morning came and my buddy Louis and I had a plan to hike down a trail and overlook a couple of meadows. We never made it there because of the bugles we decided to chase before we made it to the overlook. After a couple games of cat and mouse, we made our way toward the meadows again. Only to be interrupted by another bull bugling. We headed into the timber after it and were just about ready to setup for a calling sequence when we heard a couple of hikers on the trail. The elk must of not liked them because they made their way to us. Stopping 40 yards from us. In the herd was a 5x5, a spike, and a bunch of cows. The two bulls would run around the cows and every time the 5x5 stopped, he was behind trees. Finally after the 3rd time he stopped, I had a clear shot. I took aim with the muzzleloader and pulled the trigger. "Click", was all I heard. Just then a couple of cows winded us and the herd took off. I didn't know what to think. Every time I shot at the range, the gun performed flawlessly. I couldn't believe I was that close to punching my tag on opening morning. I was bummed but knew I had a week to hunt and was hopeful for another chance.

The third day of the hunt, I was again hunting with Louis. It was close to mid day and we set up for another calling sequence. It was my turn to be the shooter. Louis started with some cow calls. He wasn't calling for a minute when a cow elk came running to the sounds. I had an either sex tag and just wanted elk meat in the freezer. She stopped at 40 yards and was broadside. I took aim, pulled the trigger and the only thing that went off was the primer. She spooked a little but stopped 50 yards broadside. I quick loaded up another primer, took aim and pulled the trigger. Again, only the primer went off. She went a little further but stopped at 75 yards. I was getting upset at this point. I put another primer in. This time I rushed the shot, probably because I was not real happy with the way my equipment was working. When I pulled the trigger the third time, the gun went off. My aim was also off and the cow elk ran away. At this point I wanted to throw my gun off the mountain. I took it apart and did a thorough cleaning. I didn't know if I would get a third chance at an elk but was still hopeful. I had four more days yet to hunt.



Day 5 found me hunting with Louis's brother, Nick. We hunted hard all morning with no luck. Around mid day we ate our lunch and decided to take a nap. I woke up to Nick whispering my name. I looked at him and he was pointing off to our side. Wouldn't you know it. A herd of elk were walking right up to us while we were napping. The closest cow was at 20 yards and there wasn't anything we could do about it. We gathered our gear and continued on the hunt. It was late afternoon when Nick ripped off a bugle. A response was heard down the mountain. We dropped some elevation and Nick bugles again. A response is again heard, but it doesn't sound like he is coming any closer. We close the distance and bugle again. This time when the bull responds he is close. Nick bugles again, the bull chuckles. From this point on, every time Nick bugles, the bull only chuckles. I can see the bulls legs and part of his antlers through the brush. He is stuck at 50 yards in heavy brush and won't come any closer. Nick decides to rip a branch off a tree and rake it. This gets the bull walking closer, but still doesn't offer me a shot. After a couple more bugles from Nick and the bull always answering with a chuckle, Nick decides to rake the tree a second time. Which brings us to the beginning of the story. I pray that my gun will work, pull the trigger and hear "click." I was thankful that if it didn't work, at least the primer didn't go off. I quick cock the hammer again, take aim, pull the trigger...BOOM. The bull hits the ground and regains his footing, crashing through the trees. It wasn't long and we only hear what sounded like antler rubbing against a tree. Nick is quick to say, "That is the sound of a dead bull." I couldn't believe it. After my gun malfunctioning as many times as it did, could I actually have my biggest elk yet. I didn't believe it until I saw bull piled up into some trees. I responded with a short happy dance.



After getting the meat in the carcass bags it was time for a long dark hike back to camp. Nick and I finally made it back around 10:00pm. When we got back to camp we learned that Louis called in a nice 6x6 for his dad and we had harvested two elk that day. The next day found us getting a couple of horses at a local rancher to pack the meat out. I am not a big fan of horses. But seeing them do the work they can do makes me appreciate them more than I ever thought I would.



Sub # 647372
 
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sra61

Member
Apr 21, 2015
51
0
Kalispell, MT

When I saw the drawing results and called my brother and told him that we had both drawn bull tags in the breaks and he said, "Oh No", I said what? He was already in Yellowstone living out of his camp trailer working on this season's project. Most of the summer was filled with high stress and very long hours, sometimes as many as 100+/week. My brother is 52 and I'm almost 54, so those hours are a lot rougher on us than they used to be. Needless to say diet suffered as well as exercise. So of course when we finally closed out one of the season's biggest projects only one week before the opening of Montana's general rifle season we were nowhere near ready gear wise, attitude wise, or physically. We loaded up and headed over east on the the 8 hour drive with four horses and the camp trailer. The plan was to pack a little dome tent into a little stock tank about six miles in and pick which bull we wanted opening morning and head home. We had done that two years prior with a couple of cows and it worked perfectly. We pulled into the Campground at 1:30 AM and got settled as quickly as possible without making too much noise on Thurs. night. Friday afternoon we started the ride in to our spike camp. Before we were even 1/2 a mile from the truck I heard a string of choice words from John and he had gotten too close to my old gelding and gotten kicked! He said he'd be okay so on we went. At the bottom of the hill we saw a camp and three trucks. They had a number of youth hunters and were headed in to the same area we were headed for. We talked a little and found out that they had been shooting cows out of my honey-hole for two days prior. That didn't bode well, but on we went. On the ride in we heard a bull bugle and saw the small herd bull with a dozen cows or so. That was a good sign. When we got to our camp spot we found that the stock tank was bone dry! So no water for the horses! Not good. Opening morning we were so tired we were a little late getting going It was 9 AM before we were saddled up and headed the 3/4 mile for my planned glassing perch to spot our bulls. As we got up onto the ridge we saw 3 different groups of hunters much to our surprise. We talked to each group that we met up with. Every person we met was nice and we enjoyed talking with everyone, but it was just a little crowded. By the end of the day we had heard very few shots and counted 12 hunters besides us on our ridge. Because we were camped there we were able to stay until dark to glass and we saw three different groups of cows with "decent" herd bulls maybe 275 - 300 type 6 point bulls. There were quite a few bulls maybe 15 or so, but no shooters that we saw. Sunday morning started with light rain on the tent at about 4 AM. I had neglected to bring any raingear so stayed in until the rain quit about 9 AM, so a late start again. As we arrived up on the popular ridge and introduced ourselves to some new friends and some old ones we had a couple of other horse hunters ride past us. We followed behind them and pretty soon they stopped and one of them grabbed his rifle and went down into the coulee, while his partner held the horses. We stayed back about 10 yards away so we wouldn't spook any game they might be seeing. As it turned out he shot a 6x7 "decent" bull not too awfully far off of the trail. There was a "lot" of shooting Sunday. We watched a herd of close to a hundred run out the bottom. There were a number of bulls in that group, but no shooter bulls that we could see. The rest of the afternoon we saw no more elk, there was just too much action, both from the lake and on top too. We decided to pack back out the next morning to the truck and spend a day at the campground. As John was mounting his horse his little green pack horse got his lead rope under his mount's tail and that lead to him hitting the ground really hard with his elbow in his ribs. So now he had either cracked ribs or at least bruised ribs, not to mention that when he bent over he would get a nose bleed that wasn't very easy to stop! We packed camp up and headed out even though it was raining lightly, but there was no breaks in the clouds and I was a little nervous about pulling a gooseneck trailer with four horses out 6 miles on a wet gumbo road. We made it out with nothing more than a lot of mud on top of my old Dodge, but the rain kept falling. It rained all day and night Monday and stopped early morning Tuesday. Everybody knows the Breaks and rain, stuck in camp. Our next door neighbors in the campground were going home and I asked if they would text us to let us know how the roads were because we were considering taking the two problem horses back to Kalispell. They told us that as they got just West of the campground the roads got drier and actually dusty, so John and I decided maybe it was worth a drive to the west end of our Unit to check the roads and see what we could see. The farther we went the fewer hunters we saw, and more game we saw. Pretty quick we had seen a good sized group of cows with at least one "decent" sized bull that we planned to check out as we made our way closer. I had some places that I had seen bulls in past years that were always overlooked. As we made our way that way and stopped to glass, sure enough there was a group of five bulls totally at ease and up feeding and lounging with no hunters in sight in any direction. As I glassed through the spotter, it was obvious that three of the bulls were pretty good, and one was really good, and best of all they were pretty close to the road! We parked and hiked up the coulee and pretty soon we were laying behind some sagebrush looking at five bull elk who had no idea we were there. Back in the summer I had told John that I wanted him to have first shot. He had only had one Breaks bull tag before, and had taken a good bull, but he was due to have something good happen, of course being who he is, he was laying there trying to talk me into shooting the big bull, but there was no way that was going to happen, so he settled in behind his 300 RUM and settled in to mine. Johnny shot and hit the biggest bull.

I shot and missed, which isn't normal, but it happened, so I shot again, and again, and again. Now one thing we had done was make damn sure that our rifles were on before we left, but I was sure my rifle was off. Surprisingly the four other bulls were not that spooked. When we got to his bull, and made sure he was dead, we made our way the short distance to the top of the ridge and the four other bulls were still there only 200 yards away!. I took a good rest and shot and they didn't even move! I rested and shot again, and again they didn't move! My brother handed me his rifle and down the second biggest bull went!

Those bulls reacted like the Gardiner bulls used to act, like they had never been shot at in their lives. I hope I never forget how beautiful those big blond bulls were in that afternoon sun. Johnny's bull was indeed a really nice bull with a small 8th point on each side. My bull was smaller, a 6x7 with some nice qualities, and easily bigger than any of the other bulls we had seen yet, so all in all a most excellent outcome after a much less than auspicious beginning. It was very cool for both of us to have bulls down within a coupe of hundred yards between them. We gutted both bulls and propped them open, because we had no game bags with us and would have to come back on Wed. morning to skin and quarter both bulls and pack them the 3/4 mile to the truck. The quartering and packing went without a hitch although it did really kick in the carpal tunnel in both hands! I was glad that I had talked with the biologist before going over so that I could get a good idea of just how big of bulls to expect. In the "good ole days" I would have been tempted to hold out for a bit bigger bull, but I think after talking with some locals who are in-the-know, both bulls were good bulls to take. I am especially proud of the bull my brother was able to take. Congratulations Johnny on your best bull so far!
 

huntabsarokee

Member
Feb 27, 2012
51
0
Northeast PA
The Hedge Hog Bulls

I said good bye to my wife and 3 children one more time. Cooper, who is 4, and Emma, who is 7, both gave me good luck charms for the trip. Cooper’s was a small stuffed animal he won by shooting a cork gun the night before at the town festival and Emma’s was a key chain with a picture of a moose. I put them on the dash of my Tundra and Jeff and I waved good bye as we pulled out. We made a quick stop to pick up my retired father who was tagging along as camp cook and we were off on the 30 hour ride.

The unit Jeff and I chose for this archery hunt was known to have an abundance of elk as well as an abundance of hunters. We talked to a biologist and a game warden and thought we had a good plan A, B, and C. We got very lucky with help from Eastman’s forum member libidilatimmy. I never had talked to Tim but sent him a PM with a few questions about fishing the area for my dad after seeing some of the fish pictures he posted. After talking with Tim about the upcoming elk season, we realized that not only were we headed to the same unit, but the same trail head 1 day apart. What are the chances? Tim not only answered all of my questions on the area in regards to fish and elk he called me 3 days prior to our departure to offer to take Jeff and I into the wilderness on a resident permit. I said sure.

We were up gathering our hunting gear at 4am. I checked my pack one last time and tossed in Cooper’s good luck charm. Jeff and I decided to walk out a closed dirt road in the darkness that paralleled a small basin. Not too far into our walk we heard some bugles on the other side of the basin. Since we weren’t familiar with the area we didn’t want to rush down in the darkness so we just continued on. At the end of the road there was a small patch of timber that led to a small meadow. Soon we heard a bugle and we were off after it, but unfortunately the bull was in his bed on the wilderness we couldn’t hunt without Tim. For the rest of the day we chased bugles, but could never get any of them to come in to cow or bull calls. We logged 10 miles and knew we found a new honey hole.

When we got back to camp Tim’s tent was set up and he was having a beer with my dad. Jeff and I introduced ourselves to Tim and he joined us for dinner. We decided the three of us would hunt together the next day. We were out the same road in the darkness. It was quiet and we didn’t hear any bugling. At this point Jeff and I were asking Tim a million questions on strategy and everything elk hunting. We wanted to know what a real elk hunter did in these situations and to us Tim was the first real elk hunter we ever got to talk to in person. We could tell he was an expert by the way he touched the tracks to verify if they were fresh or not. We read all the forums and listen to all the podcasts by the experts, but it was different having someone who has done it in the field with you. We decided to try a locator bugle. Tim pulled out his tube and left out a pathetic screechy bugle interrupted by a partial cough. I thought to myself some expert and gave Jeff a little eye roll. Tim quickly said he didn’t practice all season and had some type of “cold”. I asked him if I should bugle and he said yes. As soon as I finished we got a response and I gained some confidence it my calling. We chased after this bull and a few more the rest of the day, but never could get close enough to any of them. We probably heard a dozen bugles and even heard hooves approaching a few times, but we never laid eyes on an elk.

The next day we decided to split up and hunt to lunch and then meet back at camp. Jeff was going to hunt the ridge behind camp. Tim and I would walk out or now familiar road and I would hunt the ridge above the road back to camp. As Tim and I walked out the road in the darkness we heard a lot of bugling from the bottom of the basin. Tim redeemed himself by pulling out his bugle and got an immediate response. It sounded like there were at least 3 bulls down there. Tim told me he was going after them so I headed out the remainder of the road by myself. At the end of the road I made a right turn and started up hill. I cow called a few times and was just still hunting as the sun came up. As I moved higher and higher I finally turned west to head out the hill side back towards camp, but unfortunately the wind picked up and was now at my back. As I checked my GPS I realized I had a waypoint marked that was titled “good spot”. I didn’t remember making it, but assumed it was from something I noticed on Google Earth. I figured since I was close I may as well take a look. When I got to the spot I could see why I marked it. It was the top of the ridge and transitioned from thick pines to much more open pines full of grass openings. Problem was the wind picked up and was now blowing so hard I couldn’t hear a thing. I figured I may as well drop back off the side a bit and much to my surprise the wind shifted 180 degrees and was now in my face. This lifted my spirits and I started still hunting through the open woods. Soon I came to an area where there were a bunch of rubbed trees. I stopped to take a look and surveyed the area for possible spots later in the week.

I only walked 100 yards when I spotted and elk walking towards me and about 50 yards lower on the hill side. I immediately realized I had the wind on my side and moved 10 yards down hill behind a small pine. The elk was a decent bull and was working its way up towards me on a slight angle. He stopped to smell the air and I ranged him at 44 yards, but knew he would be coming closer on his current path. I clicked my release to the string and after he took a few steps gave him a mouth noise I can’t quite explain and he stopped in his tracks right behind 3 trees. At first I thought I screwed up, but used the concealment of the trees to draw my bow. He took 2 steps from behind the trees and I put my 30 yard pin just behind his front leg and squeezed the trigger. I could see my lighted nock sticking out of his body as he turned and ran down hill. I though the shot looked perfect left and right and maybe an inch or two low. I marked the spot on my Garmin and realized I was only 0.96 miles from camp so instead of waiting an hour to go look for blood I walked back to camp to see if I could find help.

When I got back to camp Tim was there and I asked him if he wanted to help me find my elk. He said sure and we were off. Luckily we spotted my elk before we even got back to the shot location. He ran less than 100 yards. Tim and I ran up to him and exchanged high fives or as Tim told me high sixes because it was a 6x6. It was such a great feeling of accomplishment after 5 years of trying. I was glad Tim was there to share the memory and of course to help with the field care. He was the expert. We quartered and deboned the bull. We got all of the deboned meat in five TAG bags and Tim offered to carry out the head and antlers. It took me another 3 trips to get out the rest of the meat, but I was so pumped the “work” became fun.
 
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huntabsarokee

Member
Feb 27, 2012
51
0
Northeast PA
Jeff and Tim hunted that afternoon together and again the next 2 days. I made sure to give Jeff my good luck charm. Since Jeff had a partner I didn’t bother tagging along and spent my time relaxing and cooking our meals. Each night we had dinner and drinks together and the hunters would share their close encounters. They ran into elk almost every day, but never close enough for a shot. On Saturday afternoon Tim packed up his belongings. We said good bye to our new friend. It was great having Tim there with us and we were sad to see him go. I told Jeff without Tim I was back on guide duty.
The next day we woke in darkness, had a quick cold breakfast, and headed down the road. It felt good to be back hunting again even though I wasn’t carrying a bow. We decided to head up past my carcass to an area Jeff had an encounter with a bull the previous morning. We had him coming in with cow calls at first light, but the wind gave us away. We followed the ridge line east and would soon run out of ground because we were nearing the wilderness border. When we got to within a half mile of the wilderness we climbed up small rock outcropping that gave us a good view of the other side of the basin. We pulled out our binoculars and scanned the far side for elk. I said as I picked up my bugle, “may as well let one rip from here”. I made a short location bugle and didn’t get a response. I commented to Jeff that I couldn’t believe one didn’t bugle from across the basin. We stood there trying to come up with a plan when we heard a deep throaty bugle at our level near the wilderness. I said to Jeff damn that is the bull from the 1st day that we couldn’t get to because he was bedded in the wilderness. We knew we had to get closer and started moving quickly towards the bull. We covered maybe 100 yards and when he bugled again I cut him off. Jeff moved forward another 50 yards and I stayed put. I could tell he was coming and could soon see pieces of his body in the pines. He started ripping apart a small pine tree. Jeff was behind a dead pine less than 30 yards from the bull. I figured he couldn’t get a clear shot so my job was just to keep the bull there as long as I could. When the bull bugled I bugled. When he chuckled I chuckled. When he raked the pine I raked my own pine. I picked up a 6 feet long dead limb and was pounding on the ground to sound like hooves and raked the bark of a nearby tree. Finally the bull became disinterested since I would not come down to him and he turned and walked away. I walked down to Jeff and he stood up when all of a sudden a second bull that had come in silently thundered down the mountain.

Jeff could never see enough of the bull’s body for a shot. I quickly looked at my GPS and realized we had room to move closer to the wilderness. We jogged 60 yards towards the bull we were just arguing with and I left out a pissed off bull scream. Sure enough the bull bugled back and we could hear foot steps coming right at us. This time Jeff and I were together behind a large pine with lots of dead branches. The bull started raking a tree and sounded like he was less than 30 yards away. The pines were so thick we couldn’t even see him so I told Jeff to go around the left side of the pine we were hiding behind. Jeff didn’t move more than 2 steps when I noticed the bull was coming on the right side. I motioned to Jeff and he moved back to my side and we both were on our knees watching the bull. He moved closer and seemed to be looking right at us. We could now smell him and he was just scanning the area looking for the intruder. At 1 point he was ready to turn and walk away and even though he was 20 yards away I bugled at him. Desperate times call for desperate measures. He took a few steps and Jeff went to full draw and the bull locked on to us. Unfortunately with all the dead limbs Jeff didn’t have a shot and after 30 seconds he had to let down. The bull took 2 more steps and then turned 180 degrees so he was now facing the way he came. He was starting to get nervous and you could tell he was getting ready to move off. He took another step and before he could run off I gave him the YO, like I heard Joel Turner do on a podcast, and the bull stopped on a dime. Jeff pulled back his Hoyt and the shot was off. We only heard the bull run a short distance and never heard a crash. Jeff had made a good shot and the bull only went 70 yards. We slapped high 7s as it turned out to be a 7x7. This bull had two unique points off the bases that pointed up similar to a whitetail. What a rush we had the last 2 hours. Jeff wanted to make sure we had a picture for Cooper with his good luck charm. We will never take another elk trip without our little hedge hog.

 
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gonhunting247

Veteran member
Jan 21, 2014
1,216
797
UT MZ BULL
I finally drew a MZ elk tag in UT this year. After the 14 year wait, I have to say I was a little surprised and almost unprepared for the successful notice. I’ve hunted deer and antelope many times, as well as multiple species in AK, but as far as elk are concerned I was a true rookie. This would be my first out of state elk hunt, other than having a tag in my pocket just in case on a CO deer hunt once.
I have always hunted opportunity hunts here in OR with my family and we take the first legal elk we can. These hunts traditionally have very low success rates. Over the years we have beat the odds and been very successful on these hunts, but taking time to judge a bull for score is never even been considered. With the opportunity to take a bull that could be my biggest yet, I would have a new challenge. The thought of passing on multiple mature bulls to find the one I wanted was totally foreign to me and would take some discipline.

Thanks to my wife dragging me to cross-fit, I did my best to get in decent shape during the busy summer. After last year’s trip Mt. Goat hunting, where at times my legs were like noodles and I felt like laying down to let the bears eat me to put me out of my misery, I knew at 49 years old, the days of just winging it were about over.
As usual time slipped by and I found myself up against the clock. It was a whirlwind trying to set up my new MZ and prepare my old faithful truck and utility trailer. Thankfully, due to some great advice from folks on the forums, the MZ prep went great. The truck and trailer seemed sound, but I have to admit I was a little nervous about the long trip to UT with a pick-up that had over 320,000 miles and who knows how many on the home made utility trailer.
UT MZ Elk 060.jpg
It was hectic and I was a little behind schedule, but things were coming together. I had done so much research I was almost burnt out on it. Here again, I would like to thank all the great folks that selflessly offered their knowledge, advice and help to someone they never even knew. There are a bunch of great folks in the hunting community! To add to the delayed departure I had decided to try one last night for a bear and whacked a big old bruin. I’m definitely not complaining, but due to the need to cut, wrap and get him in the freezer before I could leave, it would cost me my” planned two preseason” scouting days.
MX HR 058.jpg
To add a little extra anxiety to the scramble-drill; was the news that due to unforeseen business obligations, both my hunting partners would have to cancel for at least a week. This just became a SOLO Hunt!
I was finally on my way, prepared to stay the whole season. It felt good and I couldn’t get the smile off my face. I truly love every hunting adventure! I expected a tough hunt with hot weather, so I brought my little generator and freezer to make my own ice and hold half the meat. I also had another large cooler to hold the other half. My wife had assured me she would be ok if I shot a little bull; just make sure I got home with a lot of good elk meat, as it is her favorite. Really though, she knew this was no problem since I was raised in a family where the meat always came before antlers. The concept of passing on any legal animal came much later in life for me!
I made the long trip to my camp in UT with no delays, except for a nice visit with my daughter on the way through the town where she goes to college and a couple 1.5 hour cat naps alongside the road. I had camp set up before dark and hit the sack with one day to spare before season. After a quick day of driving the unit roads to get the lay of the land and make sense of all my scouting information, I decided on my plan for opening day.
Opening morning was exciting, as I spotted two bulls and was able to call in the smaller one. He was actually a great bull, but the thought of a chance at the bigger one kept me from pulling the trigger. Eventually they both left and I felt like maybe I had” this passing a bull up” thing down. Although it did create some anxiety because it is just not a concept that I’m familiar with when it comes to elk! Mid-day was hot and slow, but then I bumped a huge 5 point right as I left the truck for my evening hunt. I decided I’d like a closer look at this bull, as to me he truly looked huge. This bull totally had my number though. He countered every move I made and ended up leading me to the bottom of the canyon. By the time I realized, I was just being worked, I figured I should head back to the truck. I made good time coming out and was within 75 yards of the truck when I heard splashing. It dawned on me that I’d heard that noise before during archery season at home. It was probably an elk in a water hole or wallow.
Instantly, what I call “Predator Mode” set in. I crossed the dirt ridge road and began to sneak down the draw towards the sound. Right as I could see the berm on the water hole; a bugle roared out of the draw, sending shivers down my spine. As I started to creep forward, I was pinned down by 5 cows and a little 4x5 bull coming towards the water. I managed to crawl to an old dead juniper and work myself up in through the branches to get a rest without being detected. For the life of me I couldn’t see over the bank enough to get a look at the bull making all the commotion. Light was fading fast and only about 20 minutes was left. A couple growly bugles that could be felt to my core and I have to admit, I was getting pretty juiced up.
All the sudden all the other elk scrambled away from the berm as the big guy came out to chase the other bull away from the cows. As the bulls awesome fourths came into view over the dirt bank, I forgot all about score, he looked big to me and he would top anything I’d shot. All my mental preparation was gone. There was no judging fronts or thirds, no waiting for a better angle to see lengths etc. Auto pilot had taken over; the fourths had me from the start. The sights of the new Knight UL locked on to his front shoulder and the Barnes bullet did its job. The bull was down before the smoke cleared. He dropped in his tracks and I remember instantly grinning and shaking my head thinking “I wonder how big his fronts really are” simultaneously thinking “what a pretty bull”. As I grabbed my pack and headed down to him I laughed as I thought, “ I make a crappy trophy hunter, but I don’t care, what a fun hunt!” I took photos, which were tough on my own in the dark due to the still dry night and dust particles floating and reflecting in the flash. I probably looked pretty amusing as I tried to run back and forth while not stirring up dust!
UT MZ Elk 019 (2).jpg
I ended up dropping my bull less than 200 yards from where I had parked my truck for the evening hunt. I was able to use a long climbing rope and my old Nissan, believe it or not, to drag the bull up on the old two track that led to the pond. This allowed for a much cleaner spot for the anticipated long dressing/breaking down process. I took a couple more quick pics and field dressed the bull. As I started the first cut to break down the hindquarters, unbelievably a super nice local couple saw my lights and pulled off the road to come check on me. Long story short, before I knew it I was headed back to camp with my elk in the truck, WHOLE! Another example of some of the awesome people I met on this hunt. I’ve got to admit I felt a little guilty that it all went so easy. If someone would have told me how this would all unfold, I would have never believed it. I could have left my pack at home and skipped cross-fit! But, the work began again as I skinned and broke the bull down. It just never cooled down that night and to top it off there was no breeze what so ever! I stayed up all night getting him broke down in little enough pieces to cool down and be small enough to rotate the whole elk through the freezer and the cooler. By, morning I rotated all the meat through the freezer and the cooler, making sure to expose different sides each rotation. I also had to be careful to leave plenty of space for airflow between the parts. It took all day of running the generator and icing the cooler, but by the end of the next night I was satisfied the meat was cool enough to pack tight and make the long trip home!
UT MZ Elk 057.jpg
In the morning I broke camp and headed for home. 16 hours later I was taking a nice hot shower and getting a good nights’ sleep. In two days I had the meat cut, wrapped and in the freezer. It turned out awesome with loads of steak and hamburger! Although I probably under achieved for this unit; I think it was an awesome trip. I met some great people and I’m proud of my biggest bull to date. Heck, if point creep isn't too bad, I can possibly hunt it again when I'm in my early 70's :) Now it’s time to get ready to switch gears and try to root a big Blacktail Buck out of the Oregon brush. But, that’s another story!
 
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pre6422hornet

New Member
Nov 16, 2014
27
0
Well I made it back. Here goes nothing.

Day one: Oct 9th. Day before season.

Left the house at 545am and drove over to my friends house who was going to go along for the first three days. He had already tagged a 350 inch bull down in the Gila Wilderness two weeks before so he was along to help out. Jeremy has a fellow officer who owns horses and lives up in the Unit I hunted so if I was fortunate enough to score opening morning, Jeremy was going to hike back down to the truck, make a phone call and be back with 4 legged help since where I was hunting, Pecos Wilderness, is foot traffic only. Neither of us had hunted this area before, but Jeremy had some intel from the bow season as to where the elk might be from the friend with the horses ( he had missed a whopper of a 6x6).

We arrived at the trailhead around 8:15, paid our access fee, loaded our packs onto our backs and prepared for a 5 mile hike into the creek bottom we had planned on camping at. It was 8:35am.

Here I am a mile into the hike, at the wilderness boundary:



I never weighed my pack ( was afraid to), but I know it was way over the 65 pounds I had trained with. Probably pushing 80-90 pounds. I can swing a 65 pound onto my back by myself, this one I needed help.

Some scenery on the way in:

Pecos Baldy. Great place to glass up bighorns.



At 1:15 pm we arrived at the creek we planned on using for drinking water. 5.15 miles from the truck. The trailhead was 8890 of elavation.


We set up camp ( which happened to be at 10352 feet of elevation) ate some food and strapped on our daypacks to spend the rest of the day scouting. We ran into an outfitter and his client on horses doing the same thing and the outfitter said he had been in the mountains all week and only heard one bugle. That was pretty discouraging as we were hoping they would be talking in the morning. Some cowboys came by looking for cattle and they told us the bulls were screaming the day before just a mile from camp. We didn't know who to believe. We walked across the creek, up the mountain, through a gorge, up into a burn.... lots of sign but no elk sightings. We didn't even bump one. We did see a reminder that we were not the only hunter in the woods....



We sat on a meadow that night, saw nothing, heard nothing, and went back to camp not feeling very good about things.

Day Two Opening Day:

Cold... Really cold. Hard to get out of the warm bag. We ate some breakfast, drank some steaming hot coffee and away we went. We decided to sit on the same meadow as the night before just in case. It was very quiet with no wind. Around 730am we tried cow calling to no avail. My view...




Around 830am we consulted our maps and decided to hike into a lower meadow that looked promising. We were set up by 10am and we started calling. Jeremy about 50 yards deep into the woods with me on the meadow edge ready for action. After 2 calling sequences there it was..faint but unmistakable..... A bugle. Jeremy ran down to me and asked if I heard it to. Yup I did. We both started calling again and within 10 seconds he answered. We were pretty positive that their wasn't anyone between us and the gorge the bull was in so we made a break for hit and headed straight for him. He bugled about every 10 minutes for the next two hours. Unfortunately after 2 miles we determined he was moving way to fast for us to catch him. Instead of following down into a very deep creek bottom, we made a plan to head up high above some dark timber we hoped he would go to, and wait him out to make a move back to the meadow at dark. While heading up we ran into another meadow that was just loaded with fresh beds, scat, and reeked of elk. It was very steep at the bottom, yet looked awesome for a morning ambush. We made plans to come back the next morning and set up.

We took a nap, had some hikers walk within 20 feet of us and not even see us laying under a pine tree ( Hiking color tours are big this time of year), ate again and basically just took in the beauty of the Rocky Mountains.

Around 3pm we slowly made our way back to the meadow edge, cow calling the entire time. Again unfortunately we heard and say nothing except a family of turkeys walked up to within 5 yards of our ambush point.

Made it back down camp and enjoyed a mountain house. Jeremy even made mention of packing camp up monday morning and moving if we didn't see any elk by Sunday afternoon.

Day three Sunday:

Again it is cold. Has to be in the 20's. The wind is already blowing about 30 mph and howling through the trees. Hot coffee and cold Mountain house blueberry and granola ( outstanding I might add). We headed out for the far meadow with all the sign. As we approached the meadow that we set up on opening morning, we turned our headlamps off and went about it with out light's. We were about 3/4 of the way across when I turned my head and looked up into the top part of the meadow where I had sat the morning before. Three very light forms were moving around! I instantly stopped and whispered "elk" at the same time Jeremy whispered it as well. I dropped down to one knee, laid my muzzleloader on the meadow grass and got the glasses up. I was using 8x42 Meoptas and Jeremy 10x42 Leupy's. I counted 5 cows and one small bull. It was 6:20 and legal light was 6:35. All of a sudden here comes a beast of a bull. 6x6 with easily seen ivory tips . I whisper " big bull on the right". Jeremy can't see his antlers in his binos. I unsnap mine and give them to him. As soon as he sees him he responds " great bull Pat, get ready to shoot... range him first".. I grabbed my rangefinder and ranged the back of the meadow pines.. 269. I range the lone pine tree that the bull is standing next to and it comes back at 219. My load is 9 inches low at 200. I am confident I can make this shot and begin to try and find a solution to the 3 foot high meadow grass keeping me from taking a sit and resting on my knees. I then realized the wind... 30-40 mph full value right to left... The 350 grain kodiak will surely be pushed a good 18 or more inches in that time. I lowered my muzzleloader and whispered to Jeremy " I can't shoot"... He hands me back my binos and by this time he can see the bull in his. We are pegged now. The elk know we are there... It is 6:31. We can see the bull with our own eyes. He is looking right at us... What a magnificent animal. Jeremy asks " are you sure you can't shoot". I looked at him and said " no I can't.. He doesn't deserve a me throwing a shot in this wind".

We watched the elk dissolve into the black timber. Jeremy looks at me and says " we have a decision to make. We either head on over the other meadow and see if anything is there, or we wait a minute and haul ass around this bull, get downind, and smoke him". I didn't even have to think about it. I was already putting things away to make ready to move. " lets go get that bull" was my response.
 

pre6422hornet

New Member
Nov 16, 2014
27
0
We took off back on the trail around the meadow and fast walked for 10 minutes with out stopping. When we thought we were good enough, we cut into the timber. We let things settle down for a few minutes and we started calling again. 2 minutes later... BUGLE! Sounded far away but we had a fix. We consulted the topo and compared it to our satellite imagery and planned a route. Jeremy stated that the bull would be taking those cows to bed now deep in the timber but would have to cross a pretty big burn that was north facing so it would be pretty barren and I could shoot up to 100-150 yards depending on angle. The wind was perfect. Right in our faces. It was now or never. Lets go. It was 7:05am.

We took off. Into the burn. Every so often we would look at one another and point to our noses.. we could smell them. I was in the lead and picked up the herds tracks easily in the mud. We picked our way over the deadfalls and about 7:30am I stopped and looked at Jeremey. " did you hear that?" he asked. Yep that was a bugle. Far off. We can't even see the end of the burn yet. " Pat we may never catch up to him. Elk aren't like whitetails. If they want to they will take off and not stop for 5 miles." " I know. Lets keep after it. ". As we made our way out of the burn and into the thickest dark timber that could be found, there it was again, a lone Bugle. " Okay Pat, he may slow down now and bed up. lets grab some food quick, hydrate, and go." It was 8:15am. Cliff bars, gorp and some water down the hatch and we were on the track.

We slowly picked our way through the jungle of pines and deadfalls, walking dead into the 30 mph wind. We decided to split up and walk parallel on the ridge while we both cow called, hoping to sound like two hot cows. Bugle!!. We were closing the distance. Not much but it sounded closer. We continued on. Around 9:10am Jeremy motioned me down to him. I walked down.

"Hey Pat we are running out of timber in about 1/4 mile. Soon we will be above tree line and if they don't go over the top, they will drop down into that bowl and will have our wind and be gone."

"if we reach the end of the timber let's stop, set up for a while and glass for bighorns. The wind will be wrong to still hunt back to camp, maybe the wind will change this afternoon"

We decided to give it one last calling sequence. We both called on our cow calls. No response. We started walking when all of a sudden I caught movement dead ahead... Elk... I see a head... I see antlers... Coming right for us!!!

" Jeremy I got him!".
"where?"
" right there.. 60yards and walking right at us"

We both dropped down to our knees. I have a full front on shot at his chest. I see four eyeguards, thirds and fourths. I start to squeeze..

Nothing...... CRAP I forgot to pull the hammer back on the TC Pro Hunter. As fast as I slowly can I reach up and draw the hammer back.

By now the bull has closed to 30 yards and still walking right for us, scanning up the hill and down, looking for the two lost girlfriends we were pretending to be.

He stops. I have been tracking him the whole way through the crosshairs. He has decided to stop right behind a tree. I can see his rack and his ears. He is directly behind the tree.

"Pat he has me pegged.... he's gonna run. Take the first shot you have as soon as he turns."

And with that I leaned as far as could to my right while leaning back on my heels, resting on my knees. I could see the right side of the chest, the sternum area, and his eye. I placed the vertical crosshair just the right of where I thought the sternum would be and sqeezed.

BOOM!

The bull turned and ran, head down and sick over the small rise he had just come over.

" Great shot Pat! You got him!"

I got up and started running after him. " Reload Pat, reload" Jeremy said with urgency. I quickly reloaded and ran to the impact area. Earth was torn up everywhere and within 5 yards:



After that the blood trail was easy. Little did I know that Jeremy had turned on his video camera and was taping the chase. Found him over a log, about 30-40 yards away.. As I approached and made sure he was down for good, I am not ashamed to say that the emotions of the hunt overtook me and I started to shake. No this isn't my first elk, it isn't even my first bull. This was a hunt that back 17 years ago I made a promise to myself that I would accomplish some time. " Go on a self guided Wilderness hunt". It is number 22 out of 25 things I wrote down to accomplish before I die. No it wasn't Alaska, but damn Northern New Mexico in October might as well be. There was no whooping or hollering or dancing around him, I said my prayer of thanks to him and to the Great Spirit and all was silent. He dropped at 11,345 feet of elevation.

As I sat there taking it all in, I looked up the ridge and here comes a very nice 5x5 bull headed right for us. At 20 yards he finally saw us and stopped and his eyes got as big as saucers and did a complete 180 and beat feet for elevation... We joked that the big 6x6 must have sent him down to see what happened to "junior".

Jeremy came up to me and put his hand on my shoulder and said " Pat do you realize what we just did?". " We hiked in with everything on our backs 5 miles, we tracked this herd almost 3 miles through some of the roughest country out here and called in not one, but two bulls. Most guys would have said 'lets just go over to the meadow' cause that would have been the easy way. You kept your head, you took an impossible shot and made one of the best shots I have seen. The fun is over brother, we are almost 7.5 miles from the truck. Great job"





The 350 grain Kodiak traveling over 1900 fps did its job with supreme efficiency. Entrance wound was just right of the sternum, drilling the heart. No exit.

We pulled him out and took some pics.





The time was 9:25am. Almost three hours from when we saw the herd in the meadow. We went gutless and boned out the meat on the spot. By 11:45 we had it done and had 2 game bags hanging in the shade and the other two in our packs. I had the head caped out for a European mount, the lower jaw removed, and ready for travel. We made our way down to the meadow that we knew ran the length of the valley floor, which would lead us directly to camp, as the creek ran right down the center of it.
 

pre6422hornet

New Member
Nov 16, 2014
27
0
Thats me looking back up into the basin where he fell. That is Pecos Baldy at the top and we were dang near at its base when we started.



We made it back down to camp, dropped the skull and meat, ate a quick lunch and headed back up for the second load of meat.



Got back up to the meat ( 2.25 miles up the mountain), loaded it up, and came back down to camp. Took a small break and decided that each of us could take a double load of meat ( 100+pounds) plus skull, 3.5 miles down the mountain, cache it off the trail, then come back up to camp. Spend the night, wake up early, break camp, take camp the 5 miles down to the trucks, then come back up the 1.5 miles to the meat and carry the double load down to the trucks.

Meat cached 1.5 miles from the truck:



We arrived back at camp around 11:00 pm and basically fell into camp. We made a huge campfire, ate like kings, and wished we had brought a flask to toast the beautiful stars in the sky.

Back up at 6am we broke camp and started back down the mountain.

Remember Jeremy's co-worker with the horses? Well one mile from the truck we ran into him on the trail as he was bringing his dad up to hunt the rest of the season. We gave him directions to the bull and he was able to go up the 1/2 mile to the bull, load it, and bring it down and we arrived at the trailhead at the same time.

All in all I hiked 38 miles and change in 3.5 days on the mountain. Was it all I had dreamt it would be? Hell yes it was. It was glorious...

Girls were pretty happy too. My oldest ( 8) dove into meat cutting and was pretty bummed I didn't bring the whole thing back like I used to!