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Wapiti

Yes - @Nutterbuster you can have a piece of elk in exchange for some other critter.

State was Colorado.

Over the counter.

Archery either sex tag.

This is my third year going with the same crew to the same place. In three years we've released 8 arrows at 5 different bulls, with at least 14 bulls in bow range. This is the first tag punched. Elk hunting is complicated, and hard. Usually.

The first year, had I not decided to go with a M/L Cow tag, I could have had two shots inside of 15 yards at bulls. Last year I sent four arrows at the same bull with a sight(read: Kyle) malfunction. This year, it all came together.

Areas became spots. Behavior of interest in the elk became patterns. Leaving the bullsh!t rules you read on the internet and magazines and watch on youtube is a necessity. I got the monkey off my back, and feel confident I can continue to kill elk going forward. But an immense amount of chaos and randomness goes into driving across the country and killing a 600lb wild goat. If you don't believe me, look at the numbers.

I can boil the action on kill morning down the following way:

We've been hunting an area for three years now. My buddy had a mule deer M/L tag, and we had spotted four nice bucks, and four elk in this one creek. It was loaded with sign just like it was last year. We both made the assumption that the critters were in it all night, and then went up high to bed. Because that's what everyone says they do. Last year I had two encounters with nice bucks in that creek in the morning, so I encouraged him to be at the bottom of it for daylight, and hunt his way up to camp. I planned to glass another area.

I woke up late, made breakfast and coffee, and could hear all manner of racket in the creek. I assumed he was in there pushing things around. I got a message from him that he saw some bucks and took off in a totally different direction. I decided I'd slip through that drainage to see what all the racket was. Instead of starting at the bottom, I cut straight across as the up thermals were starting to take over. I made it into the area we found a bunch of sign, and close to a potential bedding area (dark cool timber near that creek). I waited for the wind gust to die down, and let out a single cow call.

The bull must have either just laid in that timber, or was walking to it, and couldn't have been more than 75-100 yards away. I could hear him cracking and crossing the creek. I assumed he'd go below me just like I planned. I knocked an arrow, knowing it was an elk. I caught a glimpse of tines and immediately knew two things - he's legal, and he's going to walk above me and get me wind. I drew when he was about 50 yards out, and facing downhill on my right knee, basically have to pivot about 300* before he stopped. He was dripping in mud from the tips of his antlers to the bottoms of his hooves. I gave him another mew, and finally he stopped. Thankfully, he was only about 20-25 yards at this point, as I was really off balance facing uphill and all twisted up. I pulled the pin as tight to his shoulder as I could in the position I was in, and released. I thought I hit him mid body, line separating bottom third from top third (he was uphill of me, needed a low entrance). But I hit further forward than I thought by about 3", which was nice.

I didn't hear a noise as the arrow slipped through him. But I did see a little red instantly. He trotted to the ridgeline, and I cow called and stopped him. Before I could get another arrow drawn, he disappeared over the top of ridge. I knew I hit farther back than I like. But I knew he was a dead elk. I called buddy to let him know what happened. The wind picked up a fair amount in my favor, that I decided to look at shot sight, retrieve arrow, and mark last blood at point of ridge. About 10-12 minutes after I shot, I heard a M/L go off about a half mile up the drainage I was in. That made me very uncomfortable, and was the first big concern I didn't hit him well. I got to the shot sight and found cut hair and a couple drops of blood. I trailed dark arterial blood to the point of the ridge. It was not much, but easy to follow. I went back to shot sight and found my arrow after about ten minutes. It zipped through him easily, but deflected about 20* off of shot line. Doing the math, I knew it exited far back. When I smelled the arrow though, it was only blood/meat smell, no gut. No stomach matter. But still, very uneasy.

I decided to make a very big loop back to camp to meet up with buddy and come up with a plan and give him time. On my way out, I jumped a bull in the same creek (at some point I had to cross it, but it was about 3/4mile below where I shot). It was so thick, I couldn't get eyes on horns to identify if it was the same one. I went to the spot where he was bedded, and pored over the beds for a few minutes and found no blood. But between the shot nearby, and jumping this bull, I felt very sure we wouldn't recover him. One of those two incidences had to be my bull.

We got back to camp, got some water and a snack, and decided to be at last blood for 4 hours after the shot. The reasoning is that it was very hot, and even if we did wait 7-10 hours, and then attempt to find sparse blood in the dark, and were successful, he'd likely be rotting. I recreated the shot sequence for buddy, and we got on the blood. It was probably 100 yards from shot to last blood. From there, it was basically a small drop every 2-10 yards. His fresh tracks were relatively easy to match with blood, but hard to identify on their own because of the amount of tracks in the area. We made it another 100 yards in about an hour. It was getting very difficult to find blood in pine needles and dirt. Fortunately he took a turn more downhill, so heavier steps brought heavier drops. It took about 10 minutes to identify true "last blood". I was so focused on the spot, and waiting for my buddy to walk to it and mark it, that I didn't see him spot the bull. When I looked at his face, he couldn't hide it he was blushing so bad. I turned around and he was stone cold dead 50 yards away.

He died in the sun, and had been dead for a few hours at that point. After all the obligatory hugs and laughs and high fives we got to work. I'm grateful we found him when we did. He was a real chore to get opened up cleanly because of super thick hair and all the mud. But we did our best, and got the quarters and best bits into the shade to start cooling. I hit him slightly better than I thought, but the deflection really did happen on exit. It should have been a low double lung hit based on entry and angle. But even with heavy COC head, arrow turned back. I'm surprised with the exit I didn't have stomach matter on the arrow. They're such big animals though it could've wiped clean on the rib muscle and flanks. I'm assuming I cut the dorsal aorta, given the angles, how much blood was inside him, and how quickly he died given the shot location. But I had no interest in cutting that big ole fella open at hour 4/5 in 80*.

I was really dejected playing the shot over in my mind. I knew he was dead, I just didn't know how long it would take. Hearing the shot close by, and jumping the other bull just had me beside myself. There was no way those two coincidences wouldn't end up involving me. But, luck and chaos I guess.


Learned lots of lessons. A few for you folks wanting to give it a go:

Don't wait. The older you get the less likely you'll be to put in effort, and will be in worse shape. I wish I started this when I was 20 and bullet proof.

Elk hunting is hard, and complicated. Nothing can prepare flatlanders for altitude. But once you find elk, as in get 200 yards from an unsuspecting animal, they're pretty easy to kill. It's everything before and after that minute that is extremely difficult.

Choose your hunting partners wisely. A good attitude, and someone who wants to finish as bad as you do are musts. Someone giving up before or after you kill an animal puts you at a severe disadvantage. Hunting elk solo is not for the faint of heart and leg and back.

Have a plan for how every single part of your hunt will go. Then be cool with it not going that way at all. This doesn't mean don't make a plan for as many scenarios as you can come up with. You don't want to be staring at each other with 200lbs of meat beginning to rot on the ground in front of you.

Don't listen to people who tell you how to elk hunt. It's exactly the same as deer. Sit the same stand, don't go in the bedding area, deer bed this way, and this wind, and behave this way, blah blah blah. Elk want to eat, drink, mate, and not die. Understanding the mechanisms behind their habits, not random individual results, is most important. But if you try to mirror a youtube video, you will probably not kill elk.

Elk tolerate humans about the same as deer. Except they can run 45mph, and climb cliffs. Everything they do they do big. So when you booger an elk, it doesn't run 200 yards and bed down. It might go to the next county. But booger them anyway. Aggression in MOTION is key, not calling.

Speaking of calling - outside of random situations where you're between multiple bulls going bananas, stop bugling. Seriously, just stop. If I had bugled on these bulls, they would still be running. Learn to use a diaphragm cow call, and let that be 99% of your calling while hunting. And don't do it alot.

Speaking of calling again - Don't bugle, or cow call for that matter, without a plan to have cover, and be able to shoot. Even if you're just walking around searching for elk by sound. Over the last three years, only 3 of those dozen plus bulls we've encountered talked back to us. They come in silent when there's hunting pressure, or they're not king kong. They don't want to get shot or their butt kicked. Be ready to shoot at a moment's notice.

Oh, I was firmly in the "don't carry a gun for lions or bears while bow hunting." I was stalked by a mountain lion, and had an inside 20 yard encounter with a huffing teeth snapping black bear. I have my sidearm on me, loaded, and have a plan. I am firmly in the doomsday prepper category when it comes to these critters now. I'm guilty of overreacting and I'm ok with that.
 
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kyler1945 said:
Areas became spots. Behavior of interest in the elk became patterns. Leaving the bullsh!t rules you read on the internet and magazines and watch on youtube is a necessity.

Elk hunting is hard, and complicated. Nothing can prepare flatlanders for altitude. But once you find elk, as in get 200 yards from an unsuspecting animal, they're pretty easy to kill. It's everything before and after that minute that is extremely difficult.


Don't listen to people who tell you how to elk hunt. It's exactly the same as deer. Sit the same stand, don't go in the bedding area, deer bed this way, and this wind, and behave this way, blah blah blah. Elk want to eat, drink, mate, and not die. Understanding the mechanisms behind their habits, not random individual results, is most important. But if you try to mirror a youtube video, you will probably not kill elk.
Click to expand...

This. Every aspiring elk hunter needs to read this about 10 times.

Bad hunters kill a lot of whitetails. Elk not quite so much. They are easier to hunt in a certain way, but you aren't going to be on them consistently if you can't read and react out there.
 
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Tr33_n1nj@ said:
Lol, Apparently.
Click to expand...

Another lesson learned - slight edges multiply over a two week hunt. Identifying small areas, or access(the public kind that everyone has), or food source, or water source, or any manner of small advantage, can pay huge dividends. The country is big, you have to force yourself to concentrate small. Small advantages are even more powerful in low odds units...
 
kyler1945 said:
Oh, I was firmly in the "don't carry a gun while bow hunting for lions or bears." I was stalked by a mountain lion, and had an inside 20 yard encounter with a huffing teeth snapping black bear. I have my sidearm on me, loaded, and have a plan. I am firmly in the doomsday prepper category when it comes to these critters now. I'm guilty of overreacting and I'm ok with that.
Click to expand...

After being rushed(false charged) by a grizzly in AK that stopped about 10 ft from me with nothing but a friend about 12 yards away with bear spray, I carry any chance I could even possibly have an encounter with anything that would want to eat me. No shame.
 
Matki15 said:
Congrats! I’m right there in the Baton Rouge area so if you need any help processing that sucker hit me up!
Click to expand...

Also, we get ripped off on deer processing down south. I dropped off 158lbs of hanging weight meat. I paid 223.00 to have it cut down to roasts and steaks, and 60lbs of ground, vacuum sealed in 1-2lb packages…
 
kyler1945 said:
Also, we get ripped off on deer processing down south. I dropped off 158lbs of hanging weight meat. I paid 223.00 to have it cut down to roasts and steaks, and 60lbs of ground, vacuum sealed in 1-2lb packages…
Click to expand...
We absolutely do, couple of years ago I paid that same amount at a well known processor in the area for 50 pounds of ground meat. From then on Ive done it myself
 
Growing up and hunting in Ca I will say don’t leave your life to chance in the backwoods. A hungry Mountain Lion or Bear is very scary.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
kyler1945 said:
Yes - @Nutterbuster you can have a piece of elk in exchange for some other critter.

State was Colorado.

Over the counter.

Archery either sex tag.

This is my third year going with the same crew to the same place. In three years we've released 8 arrows at 5 different bulls, with at least 14 bulls in bow range. This is the first tag punched. Elk hunting is complicated, and hard. Usually.

The first year, had I not decided to go with a M/L Cow tag, I could have had two shots inside of 15 yards at bulls. Last year I sent four arrows at the same bull with a sight(read: Kyle) malfunction. This year, it all came together.

Areas became spots. Behavior of interest in the elk became patterns. Leaving the bullsh!t rules you read on the internet and magazines and watch on youtube is a necessity. I got the monkey off my back, and feel confident I can continue to kill elk going forward. But an immense amount of chaos and randomness goes into driving across the country and killing a 600lb wild goat. If you don't believe me, look at the numbers.

I can boil the action on kill morning down the following way:

We've been hunting an area for three years now. My buddy had a mule deer M/L tag, and we had spotted four nice bucks, and four elk in this one creek. It was loaded with sign just like it was last year. We both made the assumption that the critters were in it all night, and then went up high to bed. Because that's what everyone says they do. Last year I had two encounters with nice bucks in that creek in the morning, so I encouraged him to be at the bottom of it for daylight, and hunt his way up to camp. I planned to glass another area.

I woke up late, made breakfast and coffee, and could hear all manner of racket in the creek. I assumed he was in there pushing things around. I got a message from him that he saw some bucks and took off in a totally different direction. I decided I'd slip through that drainage to see what all the racket was. Instead of starting at the bottom, I cut straight across as the up thermals were starting to take over. I made it into the area we found a bunch of sign, and close to a potential bedding area (dark cool timber near that creek). I waited for the wind gust to die down, and let out a single cow call.

The bull must have either just laid in that timber, or was walking to it, and couldn't have been more than 75-100 yards away. I could hear him cracking and crossing the creek. I assumed he'd go below me just like I planned. I knocked an arrow, knowing it was an elk. I caught a glimpse of tines and immediately knew two things - he's legal, and he's going to walk above me and get me wind. I drew when he was about 50 yards out, and facing downhill on my right knee, basically have to pivot about 300* before he stopped. He was dripping in mud from the tips of his antlers to the bottoms of his hooves. I gave him another mew, and finally he stopped. Thankfully, he was only about 20-25 yards at this point, as I was really off balance facing uphill and all twisted up. I pulled the pin as tight to his shoulder as I could in the position I was in, and released. I thought I hit him mid body, line separating bottom third from top third (he was uphill of me, needed a low entrance). But I hit further forward than I thought by about 3", which was nice.

I didn't hear a noise as the arrow slipped through him. But I did see a little red instantly. He trotted to the ridgeline, and I cow called and stopped him. Before I could get another arrow drawn, he disappeared over the top of ridge. I knew I hit farther back than I like. But I knew he was a dead elk. I called buddy to let him know what happened. The wind picked up a fair amount in my favor, that I decided to look at shot sight, retrieve arrow, and mark last blood at point of ridge. About 10-12 minutes after I shot, I heard a M/L go off about a half mile up the drainage I was in. That made me very uncomfortable, and was the first big concern I didn't hit him well. I got to the shot sight and found cut hair and a couple drops of blood. I trailed dark arterial blood to the point of the ridge. It was not much, but easy to follow. I went back to shot sight and found my arrow after about ten minutes. It zipped through him easily, but deflected about 20* off of shot line. Doing the math, I knew it exited far back. When I smelled the arrow though, it was only blood/meat smell, no gut. No stomach matter. But still, very uneasy.

I decided to make a very big loop back to camp to meet up with buddy and come up with a plan and give him time. On my way out, I jumped a bull in the same creek (at some point I had to cross it, but it was about 3/4mile below where I shot). It was so thick, I couldn't get eyes on horns to identify if it was the same one. I went to the spot where he was bedded, and pored over the beds for a few minutes and found no blood. But between the shot nearby, and jumping this bull, I felt very sure we wouldn't recover him. One of those two incidences had to be my bull.

We got back to camp, got some water and a snack, and decided to be at last blood for 4 hours after the shot. The reasoning is that it was very hot, and even if we did wait 7-10 hours, and then attempt to find sparse blood in the dark, and were successful, he'd likely be rotting. I recreated the shot sequence for buddy, and we got on the blood. It was probably 100 yards from shot to last blood. From there, it was basically a small drop every 2-10 yards. His fresh tracks were relatively easy to match with blood, but hard to identify on their own because of the amount of tracks in the area. We made it another 100 yards in about an hour. It was getting very difficult to find blood in pine needles and dirt. Fortunately he took a turn more downhill, so heavier steps brought heavier drops. It took about 10 minutes to identify true "last blood". I was so focused on the spot, and waiting for my buddy to walk to it and mark it, that I didn't see him spot the bull. When I looked at his face, he couldn't hide it he was blushing so bad. I turned around and he was stone cold dead 50 yards away.

He died in the sun, and had been dead for a few hours at that point. After all the obligatory hugs and laughs and high fives we got to work. I'm grateful we found him when we did. He was a real chore to get opened up cleanly because of super thick hair and all the mud. But we did our best, and got the quarters and best bits into the shade to start cooling. I hit him slightly better than I thought, but the deflection really did happen on exit. It should have been a low double lung hit based on entry and angle. But even with heavy COC head, arrow turned back. I'm surprised with the exit I didn't have stomach matter on the arrow. They're such big animals though it could've wiped clean on the rib muscle and flanks. I'm assuming I cut the dorsal aorta, given the angles, how much blood was inside him, and how quickly he died given the shot location. But I had no interest in cutting that big ole fella open at hour 4/5 in 80*.

I was really dejected playing the shot over in my mind. I knew he was dead, I just didn't know how long it would take. Hearing the shot close by, and jumping the other bull just had me beside myself. There was no way those two coincidences wouldn't end up involving me. But, luck and chaos I guess.


Learned lots of lessons. A few for you folks wanting to give it a go:

Don't wait. The older you get the less likely you'll be to put in effort, and will be in worse shape. I wish I started this when I was 20 and bullet proof.

Elk hunting is hard, and complicated. Nothing can prepare flatlanders for altitude. But once you find elk, as in get 200 yards from an unsuspecting animal, they're pretty easy to kill. It's everything before and after that minute that is extremely difficult.

Choose your hunting partners wisely. A good attitude, and someone who wants to finish as bad as you do are musts. Someone giving up before or after you kill an animal puts you at a severe disadvantage. Hunting elk solo is not for the faint of heart and leg and back.

Have a plan for how every single part of your hunt will go. Then be cool with it not going that way at all. This doesn't mean don't make a plan for as many scenarios as you can come up with. You don't want to be staring at each other with 200lbs of meat beginning to rot on the ground in front of you.

Don't listen to people who tell you how to elk hunt. It's exactly the same as deer. Sit the same stand, don't go in the bedding area, deer bed this way, and this wind, and behave this way, blah blah blah. Elk want to eat, drink, mate, and not die. Understanding the mechanisms behind their habits, not random individual results, is most important. But if you try to mirror a youtube video, you will probably not kill elk.

Elk tolerate humans about the same as deer. Except they can run 45mph, and climb cliffs. Everything they do they do big. So when you booger an elk, it doesn't run 200 yards and bed down. It might go to the next county. But booger them anyway. Aggression in MOTION is key, not calling.

Speaking of calling - outside of random situations where you're between multiple bulls going bananas, stop bugling. Seriously, just stop. If I had bugled on these bulls, they would still be running. Learn to use a diaphragm cow call, and let that be 99% of your calling while hunting. And don't do it alot.

Speaking of calling again - Don't bugle, or cow call for that matter, without a plan to have cover, and be able to shoot. Even if you're just walking around searching for elk by sound. Over the last three years, only 3 of those dozen plus bulls we've encountered talked back to us. They come in silent when there's hunting pressure, or they're not king kong. They don't want to get shot or their butt kicked. Be ready to shoot at a moment's notice.

Oh, I was firmly in the "don't carry a gun for lions or bears while bow hunting." I was stalked by a mountain lion, and had an inside 20 yard encounter with a huffing teeth snapping black bear. I have my sidearm on me, loaded, and have a plan. I am firmly in the doomsday prepper category when it comes to these critters now. I'm guilty of overreacting and I'm ok with that.
Click to expand...
Love this write-up!! Totally need to do this and absolutely love the chaos and randomness you completely describe. You'll never forget it and never not want to do it. The actual "nashing of teeth" parts of a hunting trip like that, although difficult at the time, are permanently burned into your head wires. Very cool. My greatest difficulty would be finding people in Elk country to help with all of the before and after logistics that you speak of. I have buds that would do it with me but none of us experienced with it at all downrange in elk country. How does one go about establishing this kind of network??
 
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