iccyman001
New member
- Apr 30, 2014
- 5,489
Well all, I am back and this was an experience indeed.
I have only hunted two early bow seasons and one of them was only 1 day, so I am still extremely green.
This trip was my first rifle hunt experience and we will dub this the helper hunt, 2015.
Originally this was suppose to just be a father (with the tag), two sons and myself, but in the last few days we picked up an addition.
I have two personal friends who both have a mutual friend. This mutual friend had a rifle tag transferred to him a few days before the trip and he had never elk hunted before. They asked if I would take him and I agreed.
We got up to camp Friday morning and set up, then talked game plans. I took the guys to overlook a really cool spot in the evening and we just listened for bugles... NOTHING, but we had a great view.
So quick backstory. In thus unit Sept 1-22 is first and second archery. Following that any legal weapon bear season opens and they can run dogs.
Sure enough it really pushed the elk around..
Well opening day happens. I had given a recommendation to the new addition to camp and he went out that way. He went to a spot that he liked and within the first 56 minutes of his first ever elk hunt.... BOOM.
He shot a herd bull that had 9 cows. He is a little scrapper of a 6x6 with messed up ears and he had a cool hollow pocket in his main beam.
This guy was PUMPED.
Well, I took the family out to a killer spot that I had good encounters with earlier during my hunt. We didn\'t hear anything, but we got into a good 5x5 bull and some cows. No shot opportunities, but it was a GREAT first experience.
I dropped the family off at a wallow and ran to help the guy who had shot the cow.
We quartered it, capped it and removed the head.
I got back to camp, whipped up some lunch and kind of vegged out. At 4:30 I randomly had this fire hit me and I had this feeling about a random area.
I made them get packed up and we went to go, but we ran into an issue. MY CALLS WERE IN MY TRUCK, which I let the other guy use to bring his elk to the taxi/butcher. I ran to my hunting gear and I was lucky enough to find a brand new call. I grabbed it and we went down the road.
When we got out of the truck and started getting prepared I heard something that sounded like a bugle and so did the oldest son.
It was only 5:15pm, but it was in the area I wanted to check out.
We walked up this road, but the wind was crappy..... after checking and moving a bunch, the wind was finally in my face.
I let out a mew and BOOM........ we got his with a bugle. The boys and the dads faces light up as they grinned from ear to ear. We had the boys drop back and dad and I put in a stalk. It was a very thick area and we didn\'t want 4 people moving. I figured he was 150 yards away.
This is what happened to start our stalk...
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-j99QoAxCTc[/youtube]
We started in close and closer. I had this guy screaming his head off. bugles, chuckles, and a moan! (wicked cool and we will discuss this moan later)
Anyways, my goal was to get set up to call this guy in, but it was SO thick. We kept moving close and closer. Every section we got into that was closer to him offered like 7 yard shots if I would have called him in. We finally hit an opening that was about 20 yards (radius).
This is when it got interesting. We were sitting there and all of a sudden we saw it. He turned his head...... he was 35 yards away looking in our direction. He didn\'t see us, but he saw movement and didn\'t like it. Guys, this was the biggest elk I have ever seen in the woods and bigger than any elk I ever caught on any of my cameras.... SLOB!!!!
Now is where it all gets silly and creative. My buddy started LOSING HIS MIND. The bull ran a few yards into some thick acorn brush and I start calling again. He slows down and this is where I was able to use the situation to my advantage. I noticed a few cows with him and it seemed like he was starting to round them up. I dropped back a little and started lost calf calling. Sure enough.... he came right back.
So my buddy is running back and forth trying to find a tree to prop up on..... \"RICKY, STOP MOVING, HE\'S ONLY 30 YARDS AWAY!!!! SHOOT!!!!\"
I keep telling him to stand still next to me and shoot. He just keep running around like a fool.... while he was doing that the giant bull stood in front of me broadside.... twice :crazy:
They ended up walking off, but MAN WAS THAT SUCH A CRAZY RUSH....... think it\'s done? Nope....
We moved in closer trying to set up again and he was quiet now. No response to a cow call, so I tried something different.
I bugled..... nothing....
Well, I started lost calf calling again and I walked back 30 yards. I start racking like crazy as I was throwing cow calls around and then ripped another bugle at the end of my racking (without my tube because I forgot it wight he boys) and the bull screamed at me like no other.....
He just didn\'t come back in though
ANYWAYS.... amazing AMAZING AMAZING experience.
The rest of the trip was searching searching searching...... those elk are in deep thanks to those bear hunters.
I had to leave today, but my buddy is still out there with some great spots to hunt.
I had a ball and I gave it my all to make sure they had a good time.
Any time in the woods is well worth it....
I have only hunted two early bow seasons and one of them was only 1 day, so I am still extremely green.
This trip was my first rifle hunt experience and we will dub this the helper hunt, 2015.
Originally this was suppose to just be a father (with the tag), two sons and myself, but in the last few days we picked up an addition.
I have two personal friends who both have a mutual friend. This mutual friend had a rifle tag transferred to him a few days before the trip and he had never elk hunted before. They asked if I would take him and I agreed.
We got up to camp Friday morning and set up, then talked game plans. I took the guys to overlook a really cool spot in the evening and we just listened for bugles... NOTHING, but we had a great view.
So quick backstory. In thus unit Sept 1-22 is first and second archery. Following that any legal weapon bear season opens and they can run dogs.
Sure enough it really pushed the elk around..
Well opening day happens. I had given a recommendation to the new addition to camp and he went out that way. He went to a spot that he liked and within the first 56 minutes of his first ever elk hunt.... BOOM.
He shot a herd bull that had 9 cows. He is a little scrapper of a 6x6 with messed up ears and he had a cool hollow pocket in his main beam.
This guy was PUMPED.
Well, I took the family out to a killer spot that I had good encounters with earlier during my hunt. We didn\'t hear anything, but we got into a good 5x5 bull and some cows. No shot opportunities, but it was a GREAT first experience.
I dropped the family off at a wallow and ran to help the guy who had shot the cow.
We quartered it, capped it and removed the head.
I got back to camp, whipped up some lunch and kind of vegged out. At 4:30 I randomly had this fire hit me and I had this feeling about a random area.
I made them get packed up and we went to go, but we ran into an issue. MY CALLS WERE IN MY TRUCK, which I let the other guy use to bring his elk to the taxi/butcher. I ran to my hunting gear and I was lucky enough to find a brand new call. I grabbed it and we went down the road.
When we got out of the truck and started getting prepared I heard something that sounded like a bugle and so did the oldest son.
It was only 5:15pm, but it was in the area I wanted to check out.
We walked up this road, but the wind was crappy..... after checking and moving a bunch, the wind was finally in my face.
I let out a mew and BOOM........ we got his with a bugle. The boys and the dads faces light up as they grinned from ear to ear. We had the boys drop back and dad and I put in a stalk. It was a very thick area and we didn\'t want 4 people moving. I figured he was 150 yards away.
This is what happened to start our stalk...
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-j99QoAxCTc[/youtube]
We started in close and closer. I had this guy screaming his head off. bugles, chuckles, and a moan! (wicked cool and we will discuss this moan later)
Anyways, my goal was to get set up to call this guy in, but it was SO thick. We kept moving close and closer. Every section we got into that was closer to him offered like 7 yard shots if I would have called him in. We finally hit an opening that was about 20 yards (radius).
This is when it got interesting. We were sitting there and all of a sudden we saw it. He turned his head...... he was 35 yards away looking in our direction. He didn\'t see us, but he saw movement and didn\'t like it. Guys, this was the biggest elk I have ever seen in the woods and bigger than any elk I ever caught on any of my cameras.... SLOB!!!!
Now is where it all gets silly and creative. My buddy started LOSING HIS MIND. The bull ran a few yards into some thick acorn brush and I start calling again. He slows down and this is where I was able to use the situation to my advantage. I noticed a few cows with him and it seemed like he was starting to round them up. I dropped back a little and started lost calf calling. Sure enough.... he came right back.
So my buddy is running back and forth trying to find a tree to prop up on..... \"RICKY, STOP MOVING, HE\'S ONLY 30 YARDS AWAY!!!! SHOOT!!!!\"
I keep telling him to stand still next to me and shoot. He just keep running around like a fool.... while he was doing that the giant bull stood in front of me broadside.... twice :crazy:
They ended up walking off, but MAN WAS THAT SUCH A CRAZY RUSH....... think it\'s done? Nope....
We moved in closer trying to set up again and he was quiet now. No response to a cow call, so I tried something different.
I bugled..... nothing....
Well, I started lost calf calling again and I walked back 30 yards. I start racking like crazy as I was throwing cow calls around and then ripped another bugle at the end of my racking (without my tube because I forgot it wight he boys) and the bull screamed at me like no other.....
He just didn\'t come back in though
ANYWAYS.... amazing AMAZING AMAZING experience.
The rest of the trip was searching searching searching...... those elk are in deep thanks to those bear hunters.
I had to leave today, but my buddy is still out there with some great spots to hunt.
I had a ball and I gave it my all to make sure they had a good time.
Any time in the woods is well worth it....
