Pretty Elk Pics

soupcreek · Nov 19, 2008

How in the world do people get nice pretty pictures of elk they have killed? This is the type of terrain that we usually end up killing elk in. My little brother took this bull earlier this year in Montana. It rolled down the hill about 200 yards after the shot and stopped here. The bottom of the basin is another 600 yards further down, so he was really happy it stopped where it did. There is no way he could tuck the legs under all pretty for a shot. The bull I killed last year was in a very similar spot, just on the other side of this same mountain.
Does anyone feel the same? Do we just hunt in strange places?
Thanks,
Soup

marley · Nov 19, 2008

For me personally, the pictures are more important than the mount afterwards. More memories for me in the pictures so I spend alot of time making sure I get good ones. I would definately do my best to get an excellant picture. Maybe if you would've faced his head downhill you might have been able to get some good pics but dead elk don't like to turn around in a ditch very easily. Tough spot but I would've found something.

littlejoe · Nov 19, 2008

I agree with Marley. Pictures are a top priority even if I had to find a way to get the bull 600 yards to the bottom. Just a personal preference.

Bambistew · Nov 19, 2008

you need to be more selective in where you shoot your elk.

I look for good photo opp places first and elk second. Still waiting to kill one in front of the Washington memorial. The reflecting pool will make a sweet backdrop

_gloomis · Nov 19, 2008

Now that's funny

rockybasin · Nov 19, 2008

I am the guy in the photo. I killed this bull the evening before these pictures were taken. I would have taken better photos, but the camera batteries were dead. It was getting dark and I needed to get the bull field dressed, so I just figured I'd take pictures the next morning. I hate post-gutting pictures, but that was my only option. And I was alone when I shot the bull, so even if the batteries in my camera had been good, the pictures would not have been great. He dropped immediately when I shot and just started rolling and sliding, ending up facing downhill in the little hole you see him in. I'm not a big guy (5'10'' and 170 lbs) and it took every ounce of strength I had and some carefully applied leverage to get him turned around in that little ditch he had fallen into, so that I could gut him. I did take some better pictures from a different angle that are more tasteful -- i.e., they just show me the nech, head and antlers sticking out of the ditch, and not the whole gutted animal with his legs tied off at odd angles like you see here.

Midnight2 · Nov 19, 2008

Now that a story worth tell'n! Great Bull, Steep hill, Ditch photo, leg out, solo pack out. How in the world would a perfect picture tell that story!

It won't. Your photo is fine. Enjoy your memories, stop worring what he isn't. I was just wondering how you got your horse to hold that bad boy down with your lariat with the hill being so steep and all!

Midnight

ps, I got a kick out of the reflecting pool! Love the humor.

soupcreek · Nov 20, 2008

Here is a picture of my bull from last year that I shot on the other side of the same mountain. Please note that my (other) little brother and I are not just smiling for the picture, but we are actually holding the elk in place. Every time I picked up his head to take a picture, he slid another 10 feet down the hill and I had to dive in front to get him stopped. Both this elk and the one in the original post had to go to the top of the mountain in order to get them to the truck (all on our backs). I had no interest in packing that sucker even one extra verticle foot.
Also, letting my freshly killed elk and his antlers roll uncontrollably (my only other choice) down a steep basin through the rocks and trees so that I can take a good picture doesn't sound too smart either. I love the pictures I have. I just don't know how so many others get such good ones.
Soup

ARCHERYBUG · Nov 20, 2008

NICE BULL AND PICTURE. THAT WAS HOW IT WAS, SO DON'T PAINT A PRETTY PICTURE FOR PEOPLE. YOU SHOULD GET SATISFACTION FROM YOUR PICTURES BECAUSE THAT WAS REALLY PART OF YOUR HUNT AND THAT IS WHAT IT IS ALL ABOUT !!!!!!!!!!
ATLEAST YOU DID'NT SHOOT IT BY A ROAD AND TRY TO MAKE IT LOOK LIKE YOU WAS IN THE HILLS !!!!!!!!! OR ARE THE ROPES TIED TO YOUR TRUCK PARKED ON A ROAD ??

mmwb · Nov 21, 2008

To each their own. I think that if I traveled across the country for a rare hunt, I would be more into it. I take photos periodically during the hunt. Those mean more to me than the actual animal shots. Most of my 'animal down' pics are just of the animal down. This year I picked up a little backpack tripod and learned to use the timer on the camera so maybe there'll be more posed pics with the animal...

fugitive · Nov 21, 2008

Did anyone else think this was a TimberHunter spoof when you first saw the title?

If quizzes are quizzical, what are tests?

150fighter · Nov 21, 2008

Even though the "pretty elk" pictures are nice to frame and show off, I do enjoy the "ugly" pictures. Its more of an accurate representation of how the hunt was. Like the elk in the ditch, whenever you see that picture you're going to remember the trouble you had gutting and packing him out.

These types of pictures show "true" hunting in my opinion