2016 Elk Meat Pole

Leading up to the hunt the axle on my horse trailer went out. Repair man got it around the 1st week of September, and knew I needed it back by Sep 28. (The day we were supposed to head out). The axle wasn\'t ordered with expedited shipping, so it was touch and go up till the last minute with me trying like crazy to line up a replacement from friends. Day before our intended departure he calls out of the blue saying it\'s done. My hunting partner is driving out from Michigan and I don\'t even know if we\'re going to have a trailer to use! To add to all this I am in the thick of remodeling, and am scrambling to get everything wrapped up. We head out on the 29th and get back into camp. Unfortunately I don\'t journal when I\'m out there as it\'s pretty intense so I don\'t recall every day, but it\'s up at 4:00-4:30, dress, eat, pack gear for the day, saddle up the horses, and head down the trail for 2 hrs to our spot. hunt the morning, find a spot to hang up the hammocks, if it\'s nice, or the tent when it\'s not, eat, sleep, then saddle up again, hunt the evening, and ride back to camp. Get in around 9:30, unsaddle, feed the horses, fix dinner, take a shower, then collapse into bed around 10:30-11:00, then get up at 4 and start it all over again. By days 10-15 a fella gets pretty tired!

We had a lot of encounters early on. Saw a good bull heading across the ridge early one morning. Let out a cow call with an immediate answer. kept him going as we made post haste towards him. Headed up the ridge, and finally made it to the top. Started shedding some of our extra gear and I let out a cow call with another immediate response. He sounded fairly close, but we didn\'t realize how close. I was the caller and we headed into the timber. My partner pushed ahead with me going slowly. The bull was talking like crazy, and pretty soon I could seem him about 100 yds out staring hard into the timber. Buddy was below me and not far enough ahead. I could tell the bull knew he should be seeing what he was hearing. I threw everything I could at him with constant answering, but he wouldn\'t budge. I knew it was going to be up if I didn\'t do something else. I waited till his head was obscured and backed up the ride. I kept calling trying to make him think the \"herd\" was leaving. Once out of sight I dropped down the drainage into the creek and then started heading towards him. Little known to me it had worked and he was coming on a string. I came into an opening and saw by partner across the creek who was motioning me to stop. He could see us both and we were walking right at each other! The bull must have caught some movement, because he turned around and started walking away. My buddy went at him and almost made it work, but to no avail.

The next day I was shooter. That morning we were sitting on a meadow near the fence line when a bull came blazing full tilt over a saddle on the private side chasing a cow. We backed into a good position and watched as a group of around 30-40 followed soon after. We started calling and soon a cow and calf followed by a satellite bull started our way. They jumped the fence and headed our way. (We were positioned near the top of the meadow at wallow with some brush and few trees) The bull was a decent 5 pt, but he was on the line this early in the hunt. However, I decided that if he came in and gave me a chip shot, then I was going to take it. I never had to decide as for some reason he broke off from the cow/calf combo, and headed up the mountain, no doubt rejoining the rest of the herd. The cow and calf came into 15 yards, and walked right past me over to my partner. I came to full draw and practiced putting my pin on her. It felt good to know I could have dropped the string.
 
That evening we went back up near the top and watched 150 elk come into the meadow on the other side of the fence, including ten 6 pt bulls who were 300\" on up. The show was pretty fantastic. There was a bugle from the bottom of the meadow on our side of the fence. When we looked down there was a great 6 making short work of the distance between him and the big herd. We tried in vain to call him up to us, but his mind was made up on joining the party. We were bummed we weren\'t at set up at the bottom of the meadow, but were encouraged by the amount of elk we were seeing. We figured it was only a matter of time before they made a move to our side.
 
Other than the trailer issues, it sounds very eventful so far! Cant wait to read the rest. :upthumb:
Congrats on your bull.
 
Congratulations on a good bull.... :clap: :upthumb: :clap: :upthumb:

Looking forward to the rest of your story... :D :D
 
Next morning we rode out and were still riding as it was breaking day light. My partner spotted a group of elk above us including a real nice 6. We quickly bailed, hid the horses, shed our gear, and started our way up. I thought for sure it was going to work as the elk fed in the open meadow. I wanted to go around the hill and come out more on level, but my friend wanted to go more directly at them. I followed behind him as we made our way up he stopped and watched up the hill. The elk were still out of sight, but as I took steps towards my partner he whisper yelled at me to stop! A cow was coming over the crest of the hill, and had caught our movement. Needless to say she boogered back up the hill taking the group with her. The bull was clueless and lagged behind, but not before sky lining himself and showing us all of his 330+ rack, almost as if to rub it in our face! We were both bummed and I felt that I had screwed up 2 chances for my partner. That evening he returned the favor.....
 
That evening we went back to where we had seen the group of 150. (The same meadow I had the encounter with the cow) The field across the fence, that had tons of elk just a short time ago, looked as barren as can be. We hiked to the top of the meadow and shortly thereafter spotted a lone bull feeding by himself in the middle of the field about a 1/4 mile away. Another great 6 around 320ish. I started cow calling to him thinking he might be interested as he was all by his lonesome, only to have him lazily respond every so often, and keep moving towards the hill that would eventually take him up and away from us. As I assessed the situation I told my partner \"We should drop down to the bottom of the hill and call to him from there\". My thinking was that if we got level with him and lower in elevation it might make it more appealing for him to want to come in. My buddies response was \"He\'s not coming over here\". I replied that while he was probably not going to come over the fence, I figured it was worth a shot as it was the only game in town. Although it was my partner\'s shooting day he wanted to stay put. I dropped down the ditch that was at our backs, headed off down the hill (around 400 yds), got even with him, and began to throw out some bugles. He immediately responded.
 
We began to have a bugle battle with me throwing everything I could at him. I broke branches, and batted a branch against a tree trying to sound like one ticked off bull! It started to work and he began to respond more frequently. Eventually he turned towards me, and I knew I had him. I continued to work him as he headed my way. As he made his way up to the fence, I could tell he was going to cross. Sure enough he jumped it and disappeared into the ditch that was on that side of the field. (The meadow has ditches/small draws on both sides. My side has miscellaneous trees and brush scattered throughout.) I knew I was going to get a shot and went into kill mode. I wanted to get out into the meadow a bit in case he locked up once he crested the hill. I snaked over to some 2 ft tall brush and got ready. He crested the hill around 90 yds out, and I was super stoked thinking it was going to happen!!! About that time I heard some movement behind me, and turned to see my partner had made his way 400 yds down the hill and was trying to move into position for a shot. I frantically tried to wave him off as the bull started to skirt uphill at the 90 yd mark. At this point it all unraveled as he made his way uphill. My partner dropped back down in the ditch and ran back upthe way he had just came trying to intercept the bull. To no avail. The bull continued up and circled back towards the fence near the top of the meadow. My partner later told me if he had stayed put the bull would have walked 20 yds from him. To say the least I was fairly aggravated with my friend. To this day he can\'t understand why as it was his shooting day. He felt I should have backed off, dropped down in the ditch and pulled the bull through to him. I explained to him that had he originally came down the hill with me I would have been glad to do that, but as he wanted to stay put that he had given up his chance. I felt that after working the bull from a 1/4 mile out while he stayed up the hill for him to then beat feet down to the party after I was already in position and in kill mode, was bad form. He felt it was simple miscommunication, but unfortunately for us both it would set the tone for the rest of the trip:(


The next day as we rode out it started to rain. About a mile into our ride I really contemplated turning back, but knew my friend would not approve. By the time we got to our area it was pouring. There were no elk in sight (or sound) and I quickly threw up the BA 2 man and we settled in. We spent the next 10 hours in there as the rain continued to pour at some point turning into freezing rain. By the time the normal evening hunting time rolled around the horses were shivering badly. We let them graze as we tried to glass. We decided to call it and headed back.
 
Sorry for the delay... Been a super busy week. Thick of the season for me with 2 weeks coming up for whitetails and lots of tags left to try and fill with my wife and friends....

Here\'s a pic of the bull I called across the fence as he walks up the hill. Heartbreak deal for sure. I\'ll try to wrap things up as quickly as I can, but I would like to post more pics, and I gotta grab still frames off my video camera, so it takes longer. Stay tuned!
 
So sorry for the wait... In my defense it is hunting season!;)

Shortly after the rain day it decided to snow and brought with it an unbelievably dense fog. That was also my day to shoot, and most of it was lost due to the inclement weather. The next few days we did locate elk, and attempted moves on them, but to no avail. Then Murphy\'s law also called horses kicked in with my hunting partner\'s horse losing her front shoe. That meant another mostly lost day as I had to line up a farrier and haul her to town to get her shoe put back on. The good news is that when I got back I made a mad dash for an area we had seen some elk, hoping to glass some up for the next day. I heard a distant faint bugle and as I crested the hill I saw an amazing sight. Around 400 elk were making their way off the private land onto our side. I can\'t even begin to describe how amazing the sight of that many elk is with multiple bulls bugling and running all over trying to fend each other off. They were far enough away that I couldn\'t make out individual points, but I could tell there were some real slammers in there, including two behemoths that decided they had had enough of each other, and started going at it full bore as they fought down the hill. Even from 3/4 of a mile away the crack of their antlers was awesome. I had an idea where they were headed, and it was a whole lot easier to hop out of my warm bag the next morning.
 
It was again my turn at the wheel and we made our way into a drainage where I had seen them the night before. I had never been in this drainage so I had no clue as to the lay of the land. As we made our way down the trail, I spotted a few elk near the end of the drainage, including a good bull and a satellite 5. I immediately told my buddy to back up, and we tied off. As I peeked over the rise I spotted the big bull making his way out of sight and appearing to go on up the mountain. Unbeknownst to me the end of the drainage was about a 10-20 acre meadow that was holding the massive herd from the night before! I wanted to go up the mountain through the timber and come down on top of them, thinking the bigger bull was more likely to be higher up, not realizing he was one of many. My partner wanted to skirt through the bottom of the drainage just inside the timber and go directly towards where we had seen the bulls. The smaller 5 was still in sight, but that was it. As we neared the meadow I suddenly spotted a huge 6 pt facing directly away from me fixated on a cow. I ranged him at 87 yards, and knew he was as good as dead. As I started to creep forward the meadow became a chaotic frenzy of elk running, away from us! I then felt the wind and realized the game was over. I looked in complete disbelief at my partner telling him they had just winded us. However the bull I was hoping to shoot was still oblivious to us and as he followed the herd was ripping off bugles! I decided to make a try for it as I had nothing to lose at that point, and with a few trees still between us ran right at him hoping I could still get a shot. By the time I got there, he was at the fence line intermingled with the herd, leaving me no chance for a shot. As I knelt there in disgust I heard a bugle to my left and saw the original 5 pt heading toward the herd on a path that was going to lead him right in front of me. I positioned a tree between us and ran right at him, cutting the distance. When I felt that I had gained enough I knelt down and got ready. As I was ranging him I herd my partner, who was behind me, cow call stopping the bull. I immediately thought \"Oh man, he should have let him keep walking, but he was still within my effective range at this point. I drew my bow and begin to center my pin.....
 
Just as I was bearing down I heard the thwapppI of a bow and saw an arrow streak through the bull who then whirled around and headed toward the private land. My partner had shot him out from under me, stating later that he didn\'t realize I where I was.... :wtf: The bull stopped up and I tried to get another arrow in him as the shot looked back. I missed and he then ran up the hill and over the fence. He then stopped up in the timber, and slowly walked away. By this time the big herd was well into the private, and my hope with them...

To keep the messy details to a minimum... This incident was only the culmination of behavior that had been manifesting itself throughout the trip. I decided to make the decision that my elk hunt would be a solo venture for the following year. It was a bum deal between 2 good friends, but the aforementioned was one of many things during the trip that was problematic between us. There are a lot of other things that came into play after the elk was shot, but suffice to say he obtained permission to look for his bull, and found it the next morning. He then decided to pack out his bull, as well as his stuff, leaving me to finish up my hunt and pack out camp. It was a bummer ending to a long hunting partnership, but there are times in life where differences of opinion can be very difficult to rectify. I do want to say that I still hold him in high regard, but it has become clear that this particular hunt and the two of us just aren\'t a good fit.

The following day the fog moved in again super heavy. I could hear bugles, but with the acoustics of the mountains and the density of the fog it was tough to tell how close they really were. I am very familiar with that area, but the fog was so dense I literally went in circles. I finally wised up and turned on the ol\' GPS and made my way to where the bugles were. It was another drainage that dead ends at the fence, and is an elk transition favorite. I could make out that the bulls were on the private, but had an idea that they may be making their way back that evening. Sure enough as I made my way through the bottom that evening I could hear multiple bulls talking. I soon realized that on in particular had most definitely crossed the fence! I wasted no time in beating feet up the steep mountain side, keeping him talking just enough to keep tabs on him. As I began to near the top he ripped another one off at me and it was clear that he had got past me. I could smell that aroma we all love, and could see his tracks in the snow made not 2 minutes prior. I always think at times like that \"Man, if only I would have been sitting here 10 minutes ago!\" I decided to press on hoping to catch him and the herd that was clearly with him. Between the heavy fog, steep hillside, and rocky outcroppings everywhere it felt more like a sheep hunt in B.C. than a Montana elk hunt. I quickly spotted a few cows up ahead standing on a boulder top. They seemed to have caught my movement, but I think with the fog they couldn\'t pick me off. They then dropped of and disappeared. As I picked my way nearer, I could hear the bull firing off. Soon I was standing where I had last seen the cows, and I peaked around the rocks to see 50+ elk milling around, including real nice 6 pts one of which had been making all the noise. I was out of range with no good cover left, and then almost as if on cue, the fog, which had so far been the bane of my existence, rolled in so heavy that I was able to cut 30 yds off the distance between us. As it cleared out I waited for one of the big bulls to give me an opp. Sure enough the vocal bull turned broadside and headed downhill toward a group of cows. I squeaked to stop him and shot him according to the distance my range finder told me. I thought I had hit him and did not hesitate to shoot again when he ran down the hill and stopped. At the second shot they had all finally had enough and wasted no time in getting out of Dodge. I clamored down the hill only to find my first arrow shattered on the rocks with no sign whatsoever of a hit, and then found my second arrow, also clean as a whistle. Although somewhat bummed I was also relieved I hadn\'t wounded him. Better a clean miss than a poor shot. I can\'t be sure, but I have a feeling I should have shaved 5-10 yds off due to the steepness of the angle. I plan on making steep downhill shots part of my summer training regimen this upcoming year.

I spent the next day working hard to find the elk, and was rewarded that evening. The huge herd was back, with half of them already across the fence. The only problem was it was the last 40 minutes of light and they were positioned on a hillside with no cover and no way to make a play before dark. I decided to just sit and enjoy the show. Again, I can\'t put into words how awesome the sight of 400 in the climax of the rut is. There were dozens of bulls including some jaw droppers, screaming, grunting, cows mewing.... I think I heard just about every vocalization an elk can make. It was an amazing privilege to witness. Finally I knew that I had better get going and made my way back to camp.
 
Sorry guys... This is terrible, I know..... Got busy with whitetails, and then had a slip of the Havalon, which landed me in the hospital... :(


.... Making my way 5 miles back to camp that night was done on foot. Although both horses belong to me, the mare my partner had been using had gotten herself twisted in her lead rope, which resulted in a severe cut above her hoof (fetlock), and was limping too badly to be ridden or packed. I had ridden out that morning on my horse, parked him, and kept hunting, at which point my partner had picked up my horse to use for packing out his bull. That meant the previously mentioned 5 miles were in store for me that evening. After the encounter with the huge herd I made the stupid, rookie mistake of leaving a good portion of my gear behind to lighten my hike back to camp which including my bow! I knew I would be hunting the same area in the morning based on the herd, and decided there was no point in hauling extra weight back to camp. As soon as I walked away I knew I would probably regret my decision, and thought \"Watch now there will be a big bull standing on the trail in the morning\"...... I was almost right......
 
The next morning (day 14) I was beat and got up a little later than normal. My horse was now back, and by the time I was halfway into my ride up to \"the spot\" it was shooting light. The wind was stiff and loud, but as I neared a turn off leading to the area I wanted to be, I thought I heard a bugle. I actually said to myself \"Man I hope that\'s just wind\". As I rode on I started to hear more bugles. Sure enough about 3-400 yds ahead of me was a herd of about 200. In the years I have been hunting this spot I have only seen elk there one other time, and that was the first year. The wind was great, the cover great, they hadn\'t seen me, and there were multiple bulls running all over the place. It was the perfect scenario..... except that my bow was another 2 miles past them!!!! :evil: :evil: :cry: :cry: :cry: :evil: :evil:

I knew that was going to happen!!!! arrrggghhh!!! To say I was disgusted with myself was a huge understatement.... I rode past them knowing it would have been a darn near slam dunk.... I trotted my horse all the way to my bow, but by that time it was all for naught. I spent the morning wasting more energy chasing my tail, climbing an insane mountain side after a small group who was gone when I got there...... I was so tired, irritated, and exhausted I really thought about packing camp and heading home. Between the frustration with my friend, myself, physical exhaustion, and not seeing my wife and kids for 2 weeks it was very tempting. In the end I decided I hadn\'t got up at 4-4:30 am for the past 2 weeks and killed myself physically only to go home a half day early.


Finally a decision I made I later wouldn\'t regret!
 
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