2016 Elk Meat Pole

Finally closed the deal Saturday night. 2 more days to get him out by myself. Need to follow brads advice and shoot them closer to the road. About killed myself but got it all out with no spoilage. 265 pounds of quarters and trim meat at the butcher. I can\'t think of anything that gets the heart pumping like a pissed off bull screaming at 22 yards. That image is burned in my brain.

Funny side note...wife actually got mad at me because I didn\'t keep the hide for a shoulder mount. Apparently my city girl wife wants to hang some dead animals in the house. Who would have thought it...not me! Dropped off the head to get it cleaned up and euro mounted.
 
No the best pictures. It was getting dark and balancing an iPhone on a rock isn\'t easy! I was gonna go for the tough guy look but couldn\'t keep a stupid grin off my face. My wife said \"look at your smile! You were so happy.\" Understatement of the day...
 

Attachments

  • image.jpeg
    1.9 MB · Views: 1,685
Awesome elk!
Atta boy!

BTW. The tough guy look is outdated.
Love seeing the real emotions :)
 
\"Ucsdryder\" said:
Finally closed the deal Saturday night. 2 more days to get him out by myself. Need to follow brads advice and shoot them closer to the road. About killed myself but got it all out with no spoilage. 265 pounds of quarters and trim meat at the butcher. I can\'t think of anything that gets the heart pumping like a pissed off bull screaming at 22 yards. That image is burned in my brain.

Funny side note...wife actually got mad at me because I didn\'t keep the hide for a shoulder mount. Apparently my city girl wife wants to hang some dead animals in the house. Who would have thought it...not me! Dropped off the head to get it cleaned up and euro mounted.
Click to expand...

[emoji123]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Congrats on a fine bull, Gian!!! :clap: :clap: Hay for team #3... :upthumb: :upthumb: :upthumb:

Is he a 5x6 or 5x5???? :upthumb: :upthumb:

I very seldom :D smile :D but that would have put a smile on my face too.... :mrgreen: :mrgreen:
 
Ok, here\'s my story:

Had some encounters the first weekend and couldn\'t seal the deal, but more learning opportunities. I got in Thursday night and my buddies had been in the hills for a few days and had several good encounters and a missed shot on a cow on Thursday. We went back to the same spot and ran into 1 cow that we couldn\'t get close enough to without spooking. My one buddy had a deer tag and was to meet us at the spot for lunch. He came up with a big old grin on his face :D \"I got a monster!\" is what he said.

[attachment=1]<!-- ia1 -->2016 Deer.jpg<!-- ia1 -->[/attachment]

We spent the afternoon packing him to the road and then went back in after the elk. Didn\'t see or hear anything that evening.

Went to another spot I had done some scouting at in the summer and ran into 2 rag bulls early feeding. My buddy was hanging out at about 40-50 yds but it was thick and a shot was never presented. They moved out and we didn\'t chase aggressively so as to not bump them. They lost us and we moved on. A big thunder storm with some hail hit, so we took shelter for a while. Once it calmed down, we moved to find a safe nap/lunch location. Found a herd of elk on the way with 2 decent bulls and about 5 cows. Wind was swirling and they must have caught a whiff... They moved out with a purpose, but weren\'t running. We hung back and the plan was to get after them in the afternoon. We followed their tracks in the mud and then set up for some calling in the evening. No luck, but the elk were starting to finally bugle!

Came back in the AM with no encounters, but I had a plan for the evening. I was going to set up on the edge of some water with a sage clearing and some trees, set a decoy and see if I couldn\'t call in a critter. At a little after 7:00 6 cows and a bull come running in for a drink! I watched them hanging out in the water and carrying about to see which way they wanted to move naturally before I started to mix it up. They started moving away from me, so it was time to start calling. Started with some cow calls, and they looked but weren\'t too interested. I busted out the new Reaper from Wapiti and that bull had to respond. (Very impressed with that call Trav, thanks!). We started a bugle contest for a good 15-20 minutes and then another cow came running up. She wanted to come to me, but he talked her out of it with some chuckles and raking of a bush. I responded in turn and he attempted to herd her up with his antlers. She came running to me and he disappeared behind the brush. At this point I got into game mode. She ran past, and I couldn\'t find her in the range finder... I think too zoomed in and too dark. I stopped her with a cow call with the reaper and set my dead on range finder on her. (New purchase this year, and glad I have one!) I let an arrow fly and I watched her run 50 yards, start side stepping and pile over!! :dance2:

Shortly after, the bull came over looking for her and stepped in front of me at 30 yards :roll: I got a private land cow tag this year so all I had was the E/S in my pocket. He was a good bull and I would have loved to have taken him. However, I am not sure if he still would have come if that cow went back after not finding the elk she heard on the hill. :dk: It was getting late and I made the call to take her and have no regrets! What would you have done?

[attachment=0]<!-- ia0 -->2016 Cow.jpg<!-- ia0 -->[/attachment]
 

Attachments

  • 2016 Cow.jpg
    742.9 KB · Views: 1,631
  • 2016 Deer.jpg
    930.5 KB · Views: 1,631
\"Ol\' Arky\" said:
Congrats on a fine bull, Gian!!! :clap: :clap: Hay for team #3... :upthumb: :upthumb: :upthumb:

Is he a 5x6 or 5x5???? :upthumb: :upthumb:

I very seldom :D smile :D but that would have put a smile on my face too.... :mrgreen: :mrgreen:
Click to expand...

Phil I don\'t know the answer to that question. Not sure what constitutes a point. There\'s definitely a split as you can see in the picture, but it\'s not much of a point. LOL! What say everyone???
 

Attachments

  • image.png
    2.4 MB · Views: 1,627
Great story Andrew! I would have taken the shot that was given to me just like you. Meat in the freezer!

Gian, according to B&C and P&Y to define a point it must be at least one inch long and longer than it is wide at the base.
 
\"EyeEyeCaptain\" said:
It was getting late and I made the call to take her and have no regrets! What would you have done?
Click to expand...

I would have let the air out of her...I have a hard time passing on a good shot opportunity on a legal elk, though!

Congrats on getting in the \"ten percent\" Club this Season!
 
\"cohunter14\" said:
Great story Andrew! I would have taken the shot that was given to me just like you. Meat in the freezer!

Gian, according to B&C and P&Y to define a point it must be at least one inch long and longer than it is wide at the base.
Click to expand...


Inch short...Story of my life...

I didn\'t even realize I was in the contest! Go team 3! Still have a late season cow tag.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Members online

No members online now.
Total: 9 (members: 0, guests: 9)

Latest posts

Share this page

Back
Top