4th season ELK thread

[spqrzilla]

Got skunked out in 68.

[hawk1]

We got skunked in 11/211. I think they've all been eaten by the wolves.

[sniper7]

pics as promised:

[hawk1]

Damn Dude... who's truck is that?!?

[henpecked]

Thanks for sharing the pictures

[sniper7]

Damn Dude... who's truck is that?!?

a R-E-T-A-R-D-S truck. It was in my story about. we were driving out with my new silverado pulling a trailer with my ATVs on it...see this idiot in the ditch. truck would have flipped if some aspens weren't holding him up. drop off was around 8-10 ft to the bottom and he was down at least 5 of it pinned against the trees. used my truck to get the front straight down, then used a come along, winch on the atvs and truck to maneuver him out of there. If it wasn't for my buddy I would have left his ass and told him I would send a wrecker to tow him out. I was just pissed the guy was a dumbass driving in 2WD with the roads the way they were...especially since he had chains (they only put them on when we were getting him out).

[rkfulgor1]

How did u end up? Ant meat?

[jscwerve]

Well, I've been off of the board for a while, so I guess this will be a good start to my return to being an active member. I know that I'm reviving an old thread, but what the hell, it is relevant.

This is me on the 3rd day of 4th season:




This is my hunting partner on the 4th day (djjames on the board), in the same exact spot:




It was insane. Before I started elk hunting here 3 years ago, I hadn't hunted in 13 years since I was in high school. We've spent the last 3 years hiking countless miles, camping in the freezing cold and snow with a whole trailer full of gear, spending HUNDREDS of hours scouting, studying topos and planning hiking routs. This year there was pretty much ZERO planning, took a glimpse of a topo, but really had no idea of what to do. Didn't haul a trailer, stayed in a friggin hotel even. I'm almost conviced that finding elk is pure dumb luck and nothing else.

When I say that we got these elk in the same spot, I mean the EXACT same spot. As in they came up the same exact trail, in the exact same spot, and we were actually parked and glassing both times, in the exact same spot. I got mine one afternoon, he got his just as sun came up the next morning.

I shot mine from a standing position at just over 400 yards with my 30-06 that was passed down from my grandfather to my father to me. They were spooked, but not running full speed, I think they had been running for days. We were actually leaving and I was sending a text message in my vehicle with our rifles put away already and my Jeep was running. It was a mad dash to exit the jeep, pull my rifle from its case, and get away from the Jeep and road far enough to be legal. The terrain was deceiving and there was no distance reference, flat ground, no trees at all. It was downhill more than it seemed so I shot high and hit her in the back, and she took off running, I took another shot when she ran and got her through the chest and she dropped. Even with the chest shot through her lungs, I had to get closer and take her down with my sidearm. I still feel bad about not hitting her in the heart with the first shot. This was my first elk ever and I had adrenaline shakes for the next 6 hours at LEAST. I cleaned and quartered her and packed her out the whopping 250 yards or so she was from the road after moving the Jeep. It was pretty damned dark by the time we left.

My buddy got his kind of in the same way, we were glassing first thing in the morning the next day as the sun was coming up, we had been out there at least an hour before sunrise. They came over the ridge and I spotted them. He had time to set up his bipod, take his time, and one shot kill at around 200 yards. She ran about 75 yds before she fell, but there was no second shot needed, it was obvious. Some young guys came by while he was cleaning her and we told them that the rest of the herd (if 5 is considered a herd) she was with had just gone down the ridge into the brush and they were still down there. A kind older gent on a 4 wheeler and his son stopped to check out the kill and dragged her up to the vehicle for us before we started quartering. While we were quartering, the young guy that stayed back from the group we told where the rest were jumps out of his truck, another cow came over the ridge, and he ran into the field, kneeled, and bang! Got her too. His buddies went down the ridge and scared her up. a good spot for elk on that ridge those two days.

I won't tell you where it was as I want to go there next year again and am not going to give up a good thing. Sorry guys, just an ass like that. I will say this though, the terrain I was in is the LAST place I would have EVER expected to find elk.