2014 Meat Pole Thread - Elk
- Thread starter cnelk
- Start date
cohunter14
Administrator
- Jul 10, 2017
- 5,312
Congrats guys! Tod, that is a very solid satellite from the looks of it :upthumb:
The \"Boat Hunt\" was a success. I was told of an area that Cnelk suspected to be where a few other hunters had some success. He told me last year but I didn\'t make it to the spot. I did some research and hours looking at GE to prepare for this year. I teamed up with another hunter from Elk Mentors for the first 2 weeks of season. We arrived and boated our gear across a small lake to set up camp on the day before season.
Opening day I went southeast over a mountain ridge as planned. As I topped the ridge to the east side just before enough light to shoot I heard elk bust out and run down the mountain. I waited for light and started northeast at a snails pace always watching the wind. I set up over a small aspened meadow and called about midday. I made a few mews with the High Heel Hottie. I heard some cows chirping at me just below about 100-150 yds. I must have said the wrong thing to them because they slipped off and became silent. I worked my way up the top of the ridge to the last peak before heading down toward a creek where my hunting partner was. It was about 5pm and I decided to work my way back toward camp on the west side of the ridge.
I slipped over the ridge with the wind in my face and not more than 150-200 yds I spotted an elk. I froze and at first thought he was a spike. I glassed him to see that he was a legal bull. I ranged him at 35yds. He was grazing just downhill of a large blown down pine. He popped his head up and looked in my direction for about 5 seconds then went back to grazing. I moved 8 ft toward him to find a clearer shot. Luckily he walked uphill a little and away from the blow down. I had a shot. I held my 25yd pin over the mark and let the arrow fly. It hit its mark and he spun around and headed downhill. I listened and watched. At the moment I never even thought about giving a cow call with the pink lady I had in my mouth. I marked my spot in the GPS then went and marked where he was. I waited 15 minutes as it was drizzling rain and I didn\'t want to lose the blood. I began slowly tracking him. I followed tracks and found only a dozen drops of blood. I had gone the 40yds that I saw him run and then had trouble finding his tracks. As I stood and searched for more tracks I spotted him another 20yds away.
He fell on his back with his feet in the air next to a downed pine on a good slope. I struggled to quarter him and get him in the game bags. I packed the meat downhill about 100yds and laid the bags across a downed pine. This took me 3 hours. I then took the head to camp as I wasn\'t going to pack meat in the dark in that blow down mess. I already had several bruises from falling on the wet logs. I made it to camp at 10:15pm. The next day we packed him out and got him in the freezer. It took all day but luckily it was cloudy and cool with a few sprinkles. This was my first bull and hopefully the first of many.
Opening day I went southeast over a mountain ridge as planned. As I topped the ridge to the east side just before enough light to shoot I heard elk bust out and run down the mountain. I waited for light and started northeast at a snails pace always watching the wind. I set up over a small aspened meadow and called about midday. I made a few mews with the High Heel Hottie. I heard some cows chirping at me just below about 100-150 yds. I must have said the wrong thing to them because they slipped off and became silent. I worked my way up the top of the ridge to the last peak before heading down toward a creek where my hunting partner was. It was about 5pm and I decided to work my way back toward camp on the west side of the ridge.
I slipped over the ridge with the wind in my face and not more than 150-200 yds I spotted an elk. I froze and at first thought he was a spike. I glassed him to see that he was a legal bull. I ranged him at 35yds. He was grazing just downhill of a large blown down pine. He popped his head up and looked in my direction for about 5 seconds then went back to grazing. I moved 8 ft toward him to find a clearer shot. Luckily he walked uphill a little and away from the blow down. I had a shot. I held my 25yd pin over the mark and let the arrow fly. It hit its mark and he spun around and headed downhill. I listened and watched. At the moment I never even thought about giving a cow call with the pink lady I had in my mouth. I marked my spot in the GPS then went and marked where he was. I waited 15 minutes as it was drizzling rain and I didn\'t want to lose the blood. I began slowly tracking him. I followed tracks and found only a dozen drops of blood. I had gone the 40yds that I saw him run and then had trouble finding his tracks. As I stood and searched for more tracks I spotted him another 20yds away.
He fell on his back with his feet in the air next to a downed pine on a good slope. I struggled to quarter him and get him in the game bags. I packed the meat downhill about 100yds and laid the bags across a downed pine. This took me 3 hours. I then took the head to camp as I wasn\'t going to pack meat in the dark in that blow down mess. I already had several bruises from falling on the wet logs. I made it to camp at 10:15pm. The next day we packed him out and got him in the freezer. It took all day but luckily it was cloudy and cool with a few sprinkles. This was my first bull and hopefully the first of many.
Eyeeyecaptain
New member
- Aug 4, 2017
- 167
Awesome guys! :clap:
cohunter14
Administrator
- Jul 10, 2017
- 5,312
Well done Brent and Terry! Any story on yours Brent? Us rifle hunters can only live through your stories at this point :lol:
The bump behind the front leg in my second pic is the broadhead just under the skin. I was uphill for my shot and that was the exit. The arrow made it so close to going through the skin. I would have had a good blood trail if it had.
Stillhunter, This bull was shot by your method. I was silent as a mouse and slow as a snail on my way back to camp. I had a lot of calls with me and practiced enough to sound pretty good with them but didn\'t use a one for this guy.
Stillhunter, This bull was shot by your method. I was silent as a mouse and slow as a snail on my way back to camp. I had a lot of calls with me and practiced enough to sound pretty good with them but didn\'t use a one for this guy.
Here\'s the \"hero shot\" for me ... I made another thread, too.
I was thinking of making this a \"bull-only\" hunt, but just couldn\'t convince myself that that was the way to go. After all, I had gone 14 days (over 2 years) without killing an elk here. So, it was \"any elk\" ...
I have a lot of regret about shooting her, but not about the steaks!
Frontal shot, 10 yards. She went down very quickly. The arrow went all the way through her ... \"Stem to stern\" ... the so-called \"Rotisserie Shot\".
I was thinking of making this a \"bull-only\" hunt, but just couldn\'t convince myself that that was the way to go. After all, I had gone 14 days (over 2 years) without killing an elk here. So, it was \"any elk\" ...
I have a lot of regret about shooting her, but not about the steaks!
Frontal shot, 10 yards. She went down very quickly. The arrow went all the way through her ... \"Stem to stern\" ... the so-called \"Rotisserie Shot\".
just got back from my hunt. i shot a 6x at 20 yards in a wallow at 9:30 am on day 6. i cant post any pics on the meat pole as i looked for it for 2 days straight and stayed in the area for another 2 before we had to leave and didn\'t find it...... blood trail dried up. my heart is broken....
