Timberland\'s Journal

[timberland]

This will be good after all the laughs we had last time. (Snickers bar smeared in a pair of undershorts :lol: )
New for me this year:

Eberlestock Blue widow, So I can leave the tenderfoots behind a night or two.
Pack frame, for said tenderfoots in my time of need.
GPS
Quality Rain Gear
Miss September decoy

Also bringing a new guy to replace a buddy who drew NM (Lucky &$#^%). Him and his dad group applied and pulled two of 9 tags for NR.
getting in shape has been tough so far because winter held on so looooong, but its time to get going.


(Tenderfoot, just saw your posts. No offense intended) :wave:

 

[americanbwana]

I bought a Eberlestock Blue widow last fall and absolutely love it.

I don\'t even notice it on my almost 5 mile walkabouts with 40#.

 

[timberland]

Took me a little to get it adjusted but I\'ve carried 50 lbs in it for training and it seems like its money well spent. Plan on getting it bloody this year.

 

[americanbwana]

Plan on getting it bloody this year.

+1 :clap:

 

[timberland]

Finally got my arrows built for the recurve thanks to encouragement and info provided by Brad and G Posik. Went with full length Beman 500\'s 125 gr tip and 80 gr insert. Flying like champs with broadheads also. Might be my backup bow for Sept. Thanks for the help.

 

[timberland]

Well, made it back safe and sound. 3 for 5 for the group. Troubles on the way out include a blown tire on 35 south of the twin cities. 70mph and 4 lanes of traffic. It looked like nascar and in about 5 min back on the road. Stopped at Denny\'s in Denver for a 3 am breakfast. Went out and the truck wouldn\'t start. After about an hour dinking around with the battery and assorted loose cables, a few raps on the solenoid with a hammer and away we go. After setting up camp about 4 p.m. we took a drive to do a little windshield scouting. Halfway down the mountain the transfer case/transmission starts kicking out and making clunking sounds :shock: . Once again, a little investigation by our newbie, who proved to be a great asset to camp, figured the electronic 2wd/4wd/demand system was failing, probably another solenoid. We were able to run the rest of the week on the Demand setting. Wheewww!

First mornings hike was a lot rougher and longer than expected so Randy and Bob weren\'t even to where they were planning to hunt when they heard some mewing from the slope above them. 80 yds away 2 bulls start fighting, full blown. The cows were going nuts mewing and the bulls had they\'re noses on the ground shoving. They break apart, and the \"winner\" paws the ground and rolls around like a dry wallow. Randy and Bob are about twenty yards apart and Randy starts hammering on the Hoochie Mamma and the loser comes down at a fast walk passing Randy at 25 yds.

 

[timberland]

Without stopping the bull, he lets fly and hits him to far back. The bull trots off and Randy stops him with the Hoochie at 30 yds and sends an arrow through his heart. The bull goes another ten feet and tips over, just 50 feet off the trail. It was a decent 5x5.

Bob stays and quarters the elk and Randy heads back to camp for the pack frames. We met some great guys from Arkansas camping next to us. only a couple were hunting but there were several that were there for support. Randy brings Chris, a young Arkansian, and the two of them pack Randy\'s first elk out.

It takes me 4 hours and 3.5 miles to hunt into an Aspen meadow I found this summer on GE. No elk were seen so I found a good spot and started cold calling. Halfway through my first mews a handful of cows started chirping 150 yds below me. All of a sudden a bellow of a bugle erupts, then another, then another. I move forward 50 yds or so, set up and call again. A few more mews from the cows, and all is silent. I sat there another half hour before I move up to where I could see where they were and the meadow was empty. All I can think is the bull rounded up his cows and got out of Dodge. They couldn\'t see or smell me.

I circle another half mile around where I think they went, seeing lots of fresh sign from that morning but not hearing or seeing any more elk. I got behind a super steep wash, so it took me until 12:30 to climb out of that hole. When I reached a saddle that I crossed getting in there, I took off my pack and grabbed a sandwich. I had just nibbled the cheese off from around the edge and I see an elk walking right at me. \"You\'ve got to be kidding me!\" My bow is ten feet away attacked to my backpack. Good thing it was a spike because he stopped at 30 yds when he smelled me and turned away. I made camp a few minutes after dark with no other encounters, and nobody else had any action.

 

[timberland]

The next couple days were spent hitting old spots, which ended up being little more than scouting trips. Old wallows weren\'t being used, trails and roads showed little or no tracks. One of our favorite spots is a 4-6 yr old clear cut a couple hundred yard above some private land. On the third evening I skirted the clear cut and heard a faint mew from across the fence on the private. I set up by some trees on the lower edge of the clear cut and started calling. Immediately I got a reply from the cow and the brush started popping as she made a beeline toward me. 80 yards below me the brush breaking and mewing got louder and I ranged a few trees and prepared for a shot. All of a sudden there was a tremendous bugle from the timber and the sound of brush breaking faded away. Soooo close. I had no idea what kind of temperament the bull was in, and looking back maybe an immediate challenge might have brought him out of the cover. The next morning three of us lined up on the fence in the dark but the bull and at least one cow were already on the private and no coxing could bring them out. Jay saw a small bull more than a hundred yards away, but over all it was pretty quiet.

One evening I made it back to the same aspen meadow from the first day only to get there too late. There was a small herd feeding there already and I spooked them out. Bummed out I made the 3.5 mile walk back in the dark.

 

[timberland]

My brother-in-law Bob started hunting a saddle where we had some encounter before and had seen some elk, so, we regrouped with a plan to spread out along the saddle and cover routes that lead to a couple different drainages. I was going the furthest in, about a half mile from the wheeler. Cruising along in the dark in fairly familiar grounds, I checked my GPS to find the battery was dead. I posted up in a likely spot until it got light enough to see to change batteries. Seeing that i needed to move up a couple hundred yards to be where I wanted, I snuck ahead, taking about 20 minutes to get there. Reaching my spot and liking the layout, I was contemplating a cold calling scenario when I heard a branch break in front of me. I nocked and arrow and grabbed my rangefinder as a cow and spike came into view. I couldn\'t range her walking through the pole timber, so I picked a lane and drew. I estimated 35 yds and when she stepped into the lane I let fly. The flight of the arrow looked good and I didn\'t hear it hit rocks or trees and she trotted forward about 20 yds. Confident of a hit but not exactly where, I came to full draw and held as she stood about 50 yds away with her hind end towards me. I held for about 30 seconds before she started to slightly turn. I put my 50 yd pin \"center mass\" and hit the trigger. Once again the shot felt good and she bolted over the lip of the hill.

DISCLAIMER: I was always taught to finish the job in any way possible. If I had known how effective my second shot was I could have saved about $60.

I left my pack and bow (BIG MISTAKE) and climbed up and found my first arrow. Full of blood. I started heading toward where I figured she was at my second shot. When I got there I looked up and there she was, standing quartering away at about 30 yds!

 

[timberland]

So, like a mouse, I snuck down to my bow and pack. And if I snuck down, I absolutely crawled back up. When I got back up there, I found her bedded. I could see my first shot was good for height, but back by the last rib or two. I circled uphill of her and at 25 yds, put an arrow in tight to the near shoulder. She jumped up and ran about ten yds, quartering the other way. SO... I shoot again, perfectly behind the near shoulder. She runs about ten yards and tips over. I let her expire, thankful it was over, for her and for me.

From the first shot to the last was about 5 minutes, and my second shot entered the inside of her left ham was wedged in the right shoulder.

It was a little after seven and I was to meet at the wheeler at 9:30, so I was able to quarter her up and get out with one hind and my gear, meeting the guys in time. They went to get Jay, who was still hunting, while I packed the remaining meat out.

 

[timberland]

That evening back at camp cutting meat, I got a text from the greenhorn Chad. \"Cow Down\" He had cow called a spike and then a cow into 30 yards and made an awesome quartering away shot. She walked about 10 yards and tipped over about 200 yards from the wheeler.

Friday Chad and I cut and froze our elk and hung out in camp.

The only other exciting part was Chad and Jay ran into a lion that wouldn\'t give up the trail one morning in the dark. We had seen some cat tracks in the area but never worried about them. Chad nocked and arrow and chased it off the trail so they could continue. Well, we had accumulated some scraps and bones after processing 2 elk, and without a wheeler to dispose of it, I had placed it about 50 yards from camp, planning on taking it for a ride the next morning. At 4 a.m. Jay and Bob are leaving to go hunting, and there is a pair of yellow eyes about 30 yds from the truck in jay\'s headlamp light. As Jay is trying to figure out what it was he was looking at, IT STARTS WALKING TOWARD HIM! Jay is about 6\'2\" and 300+ lbs, but he screams like an 8 yr old girl. \"He\'s coming at me!\" and jumps in the truck. It wasn\'t until the 20 hr ride home did I admit I had \"baited\" a little excitement into camp.

One bull, two cows for 5 guys. 7 1/2 days of hunting, 2,500 miles, tag and everything included cost each guy less than $1000. It would have been less than $900 but the guys really splurged on groceries, we ended up bringing lots of food back. We didn\'t run out of M&M\'s this year, we brought 14 lbs. REALLY?!?

 

[cnelk]

Love those shades!