Wasatch
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I bought an over the counter any bull elk tag this year with the hopes of being able to see and maybe even shoot one this year. I hunted the South Slope of the Uintahs this past weekend and just wanted to share some pics and the story about the nice 5 point I ended up taking!
By 6:15 am opening morning, we were in the trucks and headed to the trailhead from camp. The plan for the day was to hike up a canyon to a nice open grove of Aspens and sit. This particular place is home to lots of elk and is also a natural corridor for elk that have been spooked to run through. We figured that with as many people as there are on rifle hunts that sitting would be a great idea. By 6:25 we were headed up the trail.
The first thing I noticed was that I had dressed to sit, and had on about 50 layers! So the hike up hill was making me sweat pretty early on! Along the way, we caught up to 4 other hunters and passed them. Finally just before 7am, we were at the place where we wanted to be. Two members of our party decided they would hike up through the pines to see if they could
spook anything out of them while my buddy and I would sit in the aspens and wait and watch. As the other two started up into the pines, the other 4 hunters passed my buddy and I standing on the trail and headed further up the hill. No sooner had the other 4 hunters passed us when I heard a loud bugle I asked my buddy if he had heard it and he just shrugged assuming as I
did that it was probably the other 4 hunters up ahead. Suddenly, crash snap, crash.....! Cows and a calf were cruising down the hill right to my buddy. Both of us began cow calling and that stopped them. They stood and looked at him for a few seconds.....long enough for us to determine they weren't bulls or spikes and then they ran off. Immediately there was more
crunching and snapping behind me, so I turned around just to see two more elk coming down through the thick pines. The first was a cow, the second was a big bull. In fact that was my exact thought, "Oh Man, big bull....big bull...! They were coming right to me! At about 20 yards away, they turned to cross the trail so I brought up my rifle, let the first cow pass and as soon as I saw brown from the bull in my scope I fired. I
don't know what I expected, but I definitely didn't expect the bull to drop, which is what happened. He just dropped right there on the spot. I was so dang excited, I immediately began shaking. I chambered another round, walked up to my bull and let out the loudest war whoop ever! It was barely 7am opening morning and I had a sweet 5 point bull down on the ground! When I walked up to him I noticed that he had a messed up left side. It was only 2 points, one pointing up, and the other was falling
down over his nose and curved up like a rhino, or a unicorn! Regardless, I was as excited as I ever have been! He was huge! I had ended up shooting him right where his neck meets his body and broken his neck so when I walked up to him he was not quite dead so I put one more through his neck and that was it. It quieted way down after that and I had to sit down to kind of absorb what had just happened. The sun hadn't even crested the
far ridge, and it had only been light for about 20 minutes and I had a bull elk down!
Here are some pictures:
Here is one more with my son looking proud!
By 6:15 am opening morning, we were in the trucks and headed to the trailhead from camp. The plan for the day was to hike up a canyon to a nice open grove of Aspens and sit. This particular place is home to lots of elk and is also a natural corridor for elk that have been spooked to run through. We figured that with as many people as there are on rifle hunts that sitting would be a great idea. By 6:25 we were headed up the trail.
The first thing I noticed was that I had dressed to sit, and had on about 50 layers! So the hike up hill was making me sweat pretty early on! Along the way, we caught up to 4 other hunters and passed them. Finally just before 7am, we were at the place where we wanted to be. Two members of our party decided they would hike up through the pines to see if they could
spook anything out of them while my buddy and I would sit in the aspens and wait and watch. As the other two started up into the pines, the other 4 hunters passed my buddy and I standing on the trail and headed further up the hill. No sooner had the other 4 hunters passed us when I heard a loud bugle I asked my buddy if he had heard it and he just shrugged assuming as I
did that it was probably the other 4 hunters up ahead. Suddenly, crash snap, crash.....! Cows and a calf were cruising down the hill right to my buddy. Both of us began cow calling and that stopped them. They stood and looked at him for a few seconds.....long enough for us to determine they weren't bulls or spikes and then they ran off. Immediately there was more
crunching and snapping behind me, so I turned around just to see two more elk coming down through the thick pines. The first was a cow, the second was a big bull. In fact that was my exact thought, "Oh Man, big bull....big bull...! They were coming right to me! At about 20 yards away, they turned to cross the trail so I brought up my rifle, let the first cow pass and as soon as I saw brown from the bull in my scope I fired. I
don't know what I expected, but I definitely didn't expect the bull to drop, which is what happened. He just dropped right there on the spot. I was so dang excited, I immediately began shaking. I chambered another round, walked up to my bull and let out the loudest war whoop ever! It was barely 7am opening morning and I had a sweet 5 point bull down on the ground! When I walked up to him I noticed that he had a messed up left side. It was only 2 points, one pointing up, and the other was falling
down over his nose and curved up like a rhino, or a unicorn! Regardless, I was as excited as I ever have been! He was huge! I had ended up shooting him right where his neck meets his body and broken his neck so when I walked up to him he was not quite dead so I put one more through his neck and that was it. It quieted way down after that and I had to sit down to kind of absorb what had just happened. The sun hadn't even crested the
far ridge, and it had only been light for about 20 minutes and I had a bull elk down!
Here are some pictures:
Here is one more with my son looking proud!
