Not Sitting At Home

[JimP]

Well, the other day I decided that I wasn't going to sit at home while everyone else was out chasing animals so without a deer tag that never showed up for me in the draw I headed down to the local store to pick up a bull elk tag and go sit in my spot to see what might wander past.

Well, after being here from sunup today and not seeing anything other than birds I heard a noise, I just knew that it was my herd of elk coming my way. After about 45 minutes of waiting and wondering this guy stepped out of the trees and gave me the old stink eye.

The things that you see when you don't have the proper tag in hand.

 

[Prerylyon]

Well, the other day I decided that I wasn't going to sit at home while everyone else was out chasing animals so without a deer tag that never showed up for me in the draw I headed down to the local store to pick up a bull elk tag and go sit in my spot to see what might wander past.

Well, after being here from sunup today and not seeing anything other than birds I heard a noise, I just knew that it was my herd of elk coming my way. After about 45 minutes of waiting and wondering this guy stepped out of the trees and gave me the old stink eye.

The things that you see when you don't have the proper tag in hand.

View attachment 37436

Jim,

Similar thing happened to me in WY in 2017 during my fall cow elk hunt. I ran across several guys hunting deer, as the seasons overlapped in that unit; no one was seeing any deer during the small talk, and asking me if I had seen any. Well, I had seen my choice of several real pretty Muley bucks and 2 corker bull moose! Go figure.

Oh, I never saw an elk that week...lol

The way I look at it, if you're out there, doing it for real, you always stand a chance of learning something new about that country.

 

[Colorado Cowboy]

I am scouting my deer & elk area (again!) between 2 & 3rd seasons. Like it that there are more days break between seasons now. I have a 4th season tag and thought I'd take another look as it's only about 75 mile north of my home place.

 

[dirtclod Az.]

I finished work in the garden and the trailer, now just sitting
outback hunting Quail and Eurasian doves.
Is that considered sitting at home?

 

[RICMIC]

That's a real beauty Jim. Those close encounters are a blessing whether you have a tag or not. That guy was just a pup when I last hunted in your backyard.

 

[JimP]

I sat around until dark and saw a few does that were with this buck and some cow elk a long ways off but that was it.

So now with this buck I know where he lives and am sure that he was up there all summer long. The only humans that might of even bothered him were folks in the side by sides and motorcycles running the roads.

I didn't see another hunter all day. I did hear a side by side go by on the lower road and out to a point where they had to of got out and looked around and then headed back the way that they came.

 

[CrimsonArrow]

Beauty buck

 

[hunttrap]

Goodness

 

[dan maule]

Well, the other day I decided that I wasn't going to sit at home while everyone else was out chasing animals so without a deer tag that never showed up for me in the draw I headed down to the local store to pick up a bull elk tag and go sit in my spot to see what might wander past.

Well, after being here from sunup today and not seeing anything other than birds I heard a noise, I just knew that it was my herd of elk coming my way. After about 45 minutes of waiting and wondering this guy stepped out of the trees and gave me the old stink eye.

The things that you see when you don't have the proper tag in hand.

View attachment 37436

I thought that only happens to me. I swear they can smell the different kinds of tags.

 

[DoubleDropMuley]

Good looking buck!!

 

[marcusvdk]

I thought that only happens to me. I swear they can smell the different kinds of tags.

Ive had the same thing with deer and turkeys lol

 

[JimP]

Nothing moving today except for the birds and they were screaming at me asking for something to eat.

It appears that there is a storm front moving in tonight so perhaps Monday will be better.

 

[go_deep]

Made a best friends last week elk hunting, we'll until I ran out of raisins.

 

[RICMIC]

I love having those gray jays around, but for some reason they have been almost completely replaced in our area (NE Minnesota) by those annoying blue jays.

 

[JimP]

Now to finish the story.

After two days of fog, rain, snow, and wind I was sitting in my spot this morning waiting for the fog to lift. Once it did the sun was out and drying things out quite quickly. The morning passed without seeing anything except for the birds that were getting quite put off with me not shooting something where they could enjoy whatever I would leave behind.

Noon came and I decided to have lunch and a cup of coffee. I ate my sandwich and was enjoying sitting in the sun finishing off a cup of coffee when I herd some noise down below me. It was too big to be a deer, or at least that I what I thought but I didn't pay it much attention. A few minutes later a cow elk stepped out of the trees at about 50 yards and there I sat with my rifle behind me leaning against a tree. I rolled over and managed to get the rifle without her spooking. She was looking behind her when a calf came out and then a group of another 5 cows and caves. I was watching them feed and make their way down the ridge when I noticed another animal starting to feed out into the opening. I saw his hide and knew it was a bull, so the rifle was soon up to my shoulder waiting for a shot and to see if he was big enough to be legal.

You all know just how long it takes for a animal to feed into the open without showing you what kind of headgear he might be wearing, but he finally came out and was quartering towards me. I placed the cross hairs onto him and pulled the trigger, he dropped right where he was standing. The 225 grain TTSX bullet had done it's job and punched a fairly good size hole into his off side.

I paced off the distance and it was 30 steps from where I had been sitting for 4 1/2 days... My spot never fails me.

 

[Turbodude]

Good job, persistence pays off

 

[RICMIC]

And with a Bing-a-Da-Badaba BOOM! That was all she wrote. Let the grillin begin. Good job Jim. How was the packout?

 

[JimP]

I drove my 4wheeler right to him.

If I hadn't parked my truck down on the main road I would of just loaded him into it.

People look at you kind of funny when you have a whole bull elk in the back of a truck.

Just aa FYI, this is my cow hunting spot and this is the first bull that I have shot there. The farthest that I have had to pack a cow up there was around 50 yards when she didn't go down at the shot.

 

[kidoggy]

right on ! congrats jimp!

 

[Winchester]

Nice job Jim!!