What can go wrong... will

C

cnelk

New member
Mar 23, 2017
5,542
It takes many things to go right to be successful.
But sometimes only one thing goes wrong and what you thought was going to be success, quickly turned into failure.

Name some things that went wrong in your hunt that turned the tables.

Here is one of mine [BTW - I have lots]

Last fall I called this big ol fat cow to 25 yds.
I was standing in front a of a tree and she was on my right - I had a clear shooting lane.
But I had to shift my feet
I happened to be standing on a small gravel area and she heard the \'crunch\'
She was gone in a flash
 
Not as complicated at that, but being a rifle hunter a shift in the weather can do the trick. It can be sunny and mid 60\'s one minute and the next thing you know there is a foot of snow on the ground and the elk have moved on to lower altitudes. I have had that happen more than once...
 
I tried shooting thru a barb wire fence once.
It only had 4 strands but the arrow still found a wire.

The line of sight is much different than the arrow trajectory :)
 
\"Still Hunter\" said:
A change in wind direction is my biggest problem.
Click to expand...

I did have that one once too...had a big 5x5 in my crosshairs at 80 yards and was waiting for the \'perfect\' shot, even though I could have easily taken in at that time. All of a sudden the bull stuck it\'s nose in the air, and within a second, boom he was gone. That was one of those where he was directly above me, very early morning where the thermals should be flowing downhill, and a random gust cost me.
 
this doesn\'t exactly fit. but I have a story. sitting on the mtn in the early afternoon/late morning. the sun is shinning while I sit down in an old logged area to take a break and have some lunch. probably 20 yards of visibility between the young 10 foot pines. my boots and socks are off to dry out. eating some vitals, when out of the blue i hear a cow call and its close. I jump up and grab my bow. she is 30 yards above me so I check the wind. damn..... she is directly downwind, the thermals were going up by this time. I should have tried to dog her, but I was bare foot and I figured she would have bugged out since she all ready caught my scent. I didn\'t know much then but I still don\'t think it was an alarm call. still wonder what if....
 
ZPD,

my elk hunting memories are loaded with those \"what if\'s\"

(and shortly followed with me cursing just a bit....).

;)

shane
 
I was in ambush mode, watching a saddle. Here comes this bull, I see him coming a 100 yards out, I wait until his head gets behind the base of three big trees, I draw and he walks past those trees. He has a few more steps until I get a perfect broadside shot. Suddenly he spins, runs 10 yards, stops and looks back towards me. No longer do I have a shot, then he simply walks away.
I really don\'t know what went wrong. I had the wind all morning, it was 8am and the sun was coming up, maybe it switched. I\'m not sure if he\'d gotten the wind he\'d have stopped so quickly. I have transition glasses and since I was looking into the sun without a brimmed hat on, maybe he saw that. I know he didn\'t see me draw and I had never called. I wasn\'t exposed in the open.
Anyway it was an adrenalin rush.

Dan
 
Everything imaginable has probably gone wrong at one time or another. Last year two things went wrong for me, and then there were those things that did not work out well. The first thing that went really wrong was, I got busted trying to move in on a big bull. That really hurt. Then during the last week, I knew my time left to hunt was coming to a close, so I took a shot at a broadside big cow. She was 40 yards away, but standing still. My arrow hit an unseen stub of a branch and deflected harmlessly away from its intended mark. Mistakes cost. Tag Soup was the result.
 
Two years ago on the last day we had to hunt my partner and I were moving towards a couple bulls bugling down a drainage that holds multiple wallows. We were stopped 25 Yards from 1 of the wallows and still a couple hundred yards from the bulls sounding off. We heard a bugle coming from the hill to our right and a spike walked in to the wallow. I was hunkered down and my partner was sitting in the root ball of a fallen tree. I drew back and the bull was broadside. I had a shot but would have to get it through a smallish hole in the brush. He was about to step forward and come into the clear when one of the roots under my squatting buddies boots snapped. Part two of this story is the spike ran off about a hundred yards and did a nervous grunt. I tried to dog him but he would always keep cover between us. Looking back now I should have stayed put and did a nervous grunt and then try to call him back in.
 
I worked the 2008 DNC in Denver and on the last night of the convention I headed home to get packed for elk camp. I had slept a grand total of 12 hours over 3 days and was physically and mentally shot, but living on 5-hour energies and doing ok. Once home, I got the camper and truck packed and grabbed a couple hours nap before my son got home from school and we could hit the road. We got to camp, got things set up, and then, try as I might, I couldn\'t get to sleep. Anyway, after a short nap of maybe a couple hours, it was time to get back up and hit the woods. We got our gear together, threw it in the truck and headed up to our area that was about 5 miles away. We pull in, start getting our stuff on, and yep, you guessed it, no bow. Talk about a sinking feeling! I couldn\'t remember putting it in the truck the day before, but then again I couldn\'t remember much about the previous week at that point. Turns out the bow was in my camper and all turned out ok, but what a way to start a hunt!
 
2007
Opening morning archery elk. 4am
Me and a buddy leave camp in my truck to go hunt an area a few miles away.
About 1 1/2 miles from camp, my truck died.
Yup... fuel pump

Left it along side the road, we hiked back to camp, got in my buddy\'s truck and went hunting.
After the morning hunt, we pulled it to town, made a phone call, another buddy came up with his trailer.
Got it loaded and sent him back to my mechanic.
I went hunting.
Came down a couple days later, truck was done, went back up hunting...
.
 
Over the years I\'ve learned that elk have fantastic eye sight...much better, I believe, than whitetails. I have hunted wts for 50 years.

The first time I noticed this was while bowhunting. I was standing on the ground in this thick area with spruce and basically black timber. A yearling cow came into the area and was feeding in a wet area maybe 40 yards away. I would move on only my head maybe 6\" to the left and very slowly to watch her, then move slowly back behind the cover. She never saw me move. But one time I moved my head back out to watch her...was still and watching her and she happened to look my way. She gone in a flash. A deer never would have put 2 and 2 together like that. Elk seem to be better at interpreting what it sees as opposed to wts.

Another time I was standing in a treestand, about 20\' up in an aspen. I was watching a creek crossing. A herd of elk including a bull approached from downhill on the other side of the creek. The bull was out front, with 4 or 5 cows right behind and another 3 or 4 cows 10 yards or so behind them. The cows in the back were probably 30 yards away. I got ready to shoot, took about a very slow 5\" step backwards with my right leg and the cows in the back spotted the movement. Wow, I was blown away. A deer would never have seen that. The thing was I had the tree as cover, or at least I thought I did. The cows in the back ran off, but the bull and other cows kept going.
 
Tramper that is a valuable observation. I am sure you learned a few things about setting up tree stands from that experience? Over the years I have learned that there are several advantages to going up 25+ feet where it is practical. In addition it Is good to have limbs and trees around to beak up a person\'s outline and movement. By going up high you also avoid being scented many times, but not always.
 
While I have no personal experience with the comparison of a deer\'s eyesight to an elk\'s I have hunted WT\'s for 45 years (not as long as tramper has), but I have watched quite a number of videos of elk being shot with bows at close range having walked right by a standing hunter. I have yet to witness a trophy whitetail make that mistake! A big whitetail can spot an eye blinking at 30 yds. I know, I\'ve had them do it. Please don\'t misunderstand, I am not making a judgment as to the difficulty of successfully hunting one over the other as my elk experiences are very limited!
 
Some good observations. I have definitely been busted by all the elk senses (sight, sound, smell).

I have managed to fool elk by both sight and sound using decoys, but the one thing I haven\'t been able to fool is an elk\'s nose!

We had a screaming bull pacing once at 80 yds, in plain sight, around 4 PM. Wind was shifting and we were pinned down...so I popped open this little container of \"estrus cow\" scent wafers. Bye Bye Bull! :oops:
 
Swede, I have sat in many treestands over the years. I prefer a climber, hence aspen and similar type trees with few or smaller, removable branches.. The thing is...when I get over a certain height, I start feeling extremely uncomfortable. I don\'t have to measure; I just know when I get to my limit...which is about 20\'. My experience hunting elk from a treestand was indeed an eye opener. I know a guy that goes up as high as 30\' and higher while elk hunting. Crazy.
 
Mainebrdr, Yeah, you might be right on \"trophy\" whitetails. I don\'t have that much experience with mature, older deer. Mostly I have hunted public lands over the years on the East coast and in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Most wts I\'ve hunted in the aforementioned areas rarely get the chance to mature. Here in Colorado I have had 4 years of trophy whitetail hunting and based on those experiences, I still think that elk have a better or maybe just a different sense of sight than deer. However the deer I have hunted here in CO were all hunted during the rut, the only time mature wt bucks turn stupid. Jeff
 
\"cnelk\" said:
2007
Opening morning archery elk. 4am
Me and a buddy leave camp in my truck to go hunt an area a few miles away.
About 1 1/2 miles from camp, my truck died.
Yup... fuel pump

Left it along side the road, we hiked back to camp, got in my buddy\'s truck and went hunting.
After the morning hunt, we pulled it to town, made a phone call, another buddy came up with his trailer.
Got it loaded and sent him back to my mechanic.
I went hunting.
Came down a couple days later, truck was done, went back up hunting...
.
Click to expand...

Brad I had this happen on a fishing trip. I had my dad bring a spare truck 70 miles to swap out with mine. After the trip I ordered a fuel pump online because it was $70 instead of $190 from town and I had no problem waiting. The replacement was easy. I ordered a spare just in case I needed it and I have tools in my truck on hunting trips. I could easily swap out the pump in 30 minutes if I had to. I hope by carrying a spare with me I will never need it.
 
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