My 2014 hunt

[Deertick]

Well, back a little early from my elk hunt this year. Ups and downs, as per usual. Peech, pictured here, expressed what she thought of the whole deal.

Wife packed a camp in for us (me, a friend named Paschal, and Neighbor Scott). I was the only one with a tag this year, but the other two guys wanted to do some calling. Perfect. In one of the photos below, it looks like I\'m picking a flower for my wife as thanks. I\'m not, but that\'s what I tell people.

But after we got set up and Wife took her horse back to the pickup, my horse, Peech, freaked out, stumbled, tore her halter off, and took off into the forest. The hunt was off to a real crappy start. We\'d be hunting Peech instead of elk. It wasn\'t the first time, and what makes it worse, it was my fault. Oh, well.

Thankfully, Scott went back to his pickup and spent the night there. Around 3:30 a.m., he heard a bump on the passenger side window. It was Peech.

So, tag number one had been filled ... horse found.

 

[Deertick]

Well, there wasn\'t much for me to do while Scott waited at the trailhead, so I left Paschal in camp and headed for my treestand. I was taking Cnelk\'s advice on how to treestand hunt (sorry, Swede!) and ... it was working.

A little after 6:30 p.m. a 4x4 worked left-to-right at 70-80 yards.

Then, after I called on more little mew, he worked back right-to-left at 50 yards, and stood with his head behind a tree, broadside. Good thing for him that I hadn\'t been practicing enough this year. I passed on that shot without trouble.

He continued to work the area, looking for that cow (me) but got frustrated and bugled around 7 p.m. ... and when I\'d try to mew him back, all I got was bugles, 2 more of them. Great start, though.

Paschal had gone southwest of camp and got a bull to bugle there, too.

 

[Deertick]

That night, we heard bugles from camp. We didn\'t know the fate of Peech or Scott, but there wasn\'t much to do ... so we hunted. We bugled a bit, and tried some cow calling. No responses. We continued to explore territory, though, and found a bugling bull.

We closed to 70 yards. I saw his back half, and watched him bugle. I signalled Paschal to challenge him. But that bull was in front of us and already on his way to his bed ... and that was that. He walked right past my game camera though, so I thought we\'d \"trap\" him one way or another.

Then, I found that the camera we put out on 8/9/2014 had seen activity on 8/13/2014 ... a cow, who was curious, and bumped and tugged the camera to the other side of the tree. No other good photos.

On the way back to camp, we let our guard down ... and walked right into a cow elk staring at us from <100 yards down the trail. (Remember, Brad? Just like those two we saw. Almost the exact place.) Paschal put the elk hat on and I mewed. She stepped toward us. Game on. Then a yearling cow and two calves stepped out. Then a big 6x6. And by \"big\" I mean he had 5ths and 6ths in the 8-12\" class.

Then ... the breeze on the back of my neck ... and \"poof\" they were off. Good news was that they were headed right for my treestand when we interrupted them.

 

[Deertick]

We rested the afternoon away, and then I hunted the treestand that night ... nothing moving, but did hear a bugle about 6:30 again ... I mewed, and lost-cow called ... and he came in.

He sure sounded bigger and more aggressive than the bull the night before.

He hung up, though, 50-100 yards away. He bugled again ... \"Come here, cow!\" ... but nothing more.

I\'m intrigued with this treestand hunting, though.

 

[Deertick]

That night, we heard bugling north of camp -- two bulls -- all night. They were still going at it in the morning, so we suited-up and chased them at first light.

First bull went to the east and was quickly making his way to some nasty country. We wouldn\'t be able to follow. But that other bull ...

We about-faced and went after him. Wind was perfect. He was angling uphill, to the northeast, bugling every 10-15 minutes. We closed in on him, and when I thought we were close enough, I cow called. He bugled, and Paschal bugled back at him. This went on for a bit, still moving. I moved up as best I could. I lost sight of my caller.

Then, I saw legs. Moving right-to-left at maybe 80 yards. I ran up there and broke branches on the way ... \"Mewwwww, mewwww!\"

He flanked me, and I saw a flash of antlers 30 yards to me left. He turned around to get around some bushes and get a better look.

Dang ... another FINE 6x6, very wide ... stopped at 40 yards, broadside ... with his vitals covered by bushes. I mewed, hoping he\'d come investigate. He moved off the other way, not alarmed.

Then a calf came running by ... and then, a 1.5 year-old cow.

Now ... I had only hunted 2 days this year, but I\'ve hunted 14 more in the last two years, all without a kill. This year\'s \"Rules of Engagement\" read that this was a \"free-fire\" zone ... it\'d be any elk this year. I just couldn\'t convince myself to say \"Bull only\".

So ... She wandered in and stopped 10 yards away ... facing me, at full draw.

My Prefrontal Cortex yielded all control to my Brainstem ... I had no more choice in shooting her than a cat has a choice about chasing a little laser dot on the wall! I was in \"cat mode\" or \"predator mode\" as some people say.

(I\'m in the ASAT on the right, Pashcal is on the left)

 

[Deertick]

Let me tell you, that \"frontal shot\" is the bees knees when it works, and I\'ve seen 3 this year.

The arrow (FMJ 340 with a 125 grain Viper Trick) entered her trachea ... it went straight down the trachea, took out the heart, the right lung, the liver, guts, and the bottom round and eye of the round.

Similar in size to Brad\'s cow shot the same way, I\'m pleased to say I got better penetration!

Here\'s a photo of the arrow as we found it. The broadhead did actually pierce the skin on the way out, but it didn\'t exit.

Thank God for the gutless method!

OK, penetration jokes aside, I think the reason I got better penetration was due to A) I didn\'t hit a bone, and B) I use F.O.B.s, which pop-off at the site of the hit, so there was no fletching dragging through her chest!

 

[Deertick]

I really regretted ending the hunt so soon ... but I will change my tune when Wife asks \"Shiraz or a Cab with elk steaks tonight\" sometime in February when the snow is blowing sideways!

But regrets are real ...

We went out that night to call for Paschal, who was hunting with a Canon ... Not a \"cannon\", but a camera. He\'s a photographer. We chased some bugles and look what we found:

 

[Deertick]

We had bugling ALL NIGHT in front of camp that night ... poor guy was hoarse when we woke up. Tore up the ground in front of camp.

Regrets are real ... but so are elk steaks!

 

[ORelksniper]

Congrats, Tick. Sounds like you had a great experience (regrets and all) and a nice short hunt. Very tasty looking cow on the ground, too.

Question: was your treestand located on a waterhole or, like Brad, over a patch of elky turf?

 

[Deertick]

Brad helped with the location of the stand ... just \"elky\" ... it\'s an area near where I often see elk mid-day or evening ... so hopefully near a bedding area. The thought is that as they get up to stretch, they hear a lonesome cow or two, and come to investigate.

 

[Deertick]

Talk about lots of elk around camp.

Mid-day after shooting the cow, we were sitting in camp, talking. I heard a hoof \"thump\" a downfallen log ... and soon, a cow and calf ran right through camp. They didn\'t pay any attention to us until stopping broadside at 15 yards to say \"Hi\".

The cow was panting ... they had been running hard ... we wondered what they were running from.

The 6x5 above is the likely answer. Just before seeing him, we saw (the same?) a cow-calf pair running hard ... chased by the 6x5. I\'m glad he didn\'t come through camp and pose at 15 yards after I shot a cow!

 

[Ol' Arky]

Congrats John.... :upthumb: :upthumb: I\'m sure ya made an appointment with that 6x6 for same time next year.... :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

 

[BTL]

Nice work! I enjoyed the pictures and the write up. Regrets are OK as long as you use it to your advantage in the off season. Let it fuel the fire, not bring you down. Enjoy those steaks!

 

[F M]

Congrats John. Glad it all worked out for you. And some good eating to.

 

[cnelk]

Thats an awesome hunt John.
Great pics and story - Congrats and thanks for sharing!

Gotta love that frontal shot

 

[Deertick]

Gotta love that frontal shot

I re-named it \"Rotisserie Shot\"!

Now, I need to work on a 6\' arrow ... Hell to tune, for sure, but then you can just put \'em up over a fire!

Honestly, I\'m going to do a separate autopsy thread later ... and try to use some live animals (horses) with markings on the outside to show the anatomy. I shot mine absolutely 0-degrees straight-on, when I would\'ve preferred a 10- or 15-degree angle. The bones to miss here are the spine and the sternum.

 

[mainebrdr]

Sounds like an awfully enjoyable two days! The horses not withstanding. Congratulations!

 

[david.denham.39]

Congrat\'s on the cow! Great story and pic\'s! :upthumb: :upthumb:

 

[diggerson]

Awesome hunt! Great story!

 

[Billy Goat]

awesome story. have no regrets on taking that cow. an elk with a bow is an accomplishment, and it sounds like it was a quick, clean kill.

dream of future antlers while chewing on todays steaks, says I......

well done John + crew.

speaking of which..... ATTAGIRL to Mrs. John for \"packing elk camp in for us on horses\".

someday, I will send my son to learn wife-seeking guidance from you.