NM GMU 16D Elk Hunt 2012

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surefire44

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LAST EDITED ON Oct-11-12 AT 11:30AM (MST)[p]http://www.monstermuleys.info/photos/user_photos/2829elk_down_2012.jpg

By day three of my hunt, I had run out of ideas on where the elk were. During my pre-hunt scouting and during the hunt, I had seen elk early and late coming down to a small creek that ran clear for about a mile before it disappeared, dried up, as it snaked through a canyon next to a rocky road. But I had not hunted it because I thought I knew where to find the bulls whose calls had echoed earlier in other nearby canyons.
I thought I knew where the bulls were. I had placed trail cameras on a green water-filled tank and caught a nice bull coming to drink at 2:10 a.m. I had heard elk bugling late in the moonlit-filled night and in the early morning hours around my small trailer in the RV park where I was staying. I had chased them opening morning and almost caught them as they fed in the trees at the edge of a rocky field. But they had disappeared into a deep canyon where I could not follow. I had tried in vain to ambush them the next day, but they had not fed in that field again. And on the second day, I had waited at a small hidden tank, not shown on any map, hoping to catch them when they came to drink. But they hadn't come and I heard no bugles, so I left and walked out across the rock strewn field through the trees in the fading twilight.
And now it was day three of my 5-day hunt. Where were the bulls? They had for a while stopped calling and I was beginning to get discouraged, beginning to think this hunt was going to end in failure. I didn't have the strength or stamina to hunt them in the deep canyons or across the many mountain tops. So I decided I'd try the little stream that morning and sit and listen and watch and try to locate bulls. I drove out at 5:30 a.m. and arrived around 6:00 by the stream at a place where I had seen a raghorn with a couple of cow elk come up from drinking and disappear into a canyon two nights before.
As I sat in the cold darkness of my truck with the window partially down, I heard a bull call on a nearby hillside. And then another and another. At least four bulls were on that hillside, which rose steeply out of the west side of the canyon. At least 3 of them sounded good.
I uncased my 30-06 Steyr and inserted a 5-round magazine of Federal 180 grain cartridges into it. I had another 5-round magazine in my pocket. I slowly emerged from the truck, being as silent as possible, taking the rifle with me and began walking in the direction of the nearest bugle, which sounded about 100 yards up on the hillside in the darkness. It was not yet legal shooting time as I started in, but after about 10 minutes of slow walking, the magic hour for shooting big game arrived and the bulls continued to bugle. Still it was dark and hard to see through the many junipers and pinyons that dotted the hillside in the canyon.
I had not intended to go far since walking is hard for me. I thought I might see a bull within the first quarter mile on level ground. Oh, they were there all right, but up on that hillside, mocking me with their bugles. So I grudgingly started to slowly climb up towards the bugles. And they kept moving farther away, farther up the steep hillside, taunting me to come find them.
I climbed slowly, trying to ignore the pain in my knees, back and shoulders, as I hoped to catch a glimpse of one of the elusive bulls. But when I got about halfway up, it was clear that some of them had moved farther down the canyon, too far for me to catch them, and at least two had moved to the canyon ridge and over the top. What to do? Go back down or go upward? Suddenly, a strong bugle sounded from a nearby hillside to my left, and I decided to climb farther up angling to my left to see if I could locate him.
As I looked across the canyon in the growing light I thought, why hadn't I climbed up the other side of the canyon and tried to locate a bull on the mountain I was now climbing and shoot across it. It would have been a 400 or 500 yard shot, but I felt confident I could have done it. After all, I had killed a bull at 452 yards last year.
The sun had not yet come over the mountain when I reached the ridge top. As I stood there silently surrounded by old growth junipers and pinyons, with the large dead branches hanging beneath them, and with a few larger ponderosa pines, a strong bugle sounded up at me coming from below the ridge line about 200 yards away to my right in the deeper shadows.
I had heard or read somewhere about running towards the bugle, but that was impossible for me. The area was strewn with moss-covered rocks, boulders and trees. One fall and my knees would have been gone. So I walked slowly, cautiously towards the single bugle, through a tangle of old growth pinyons and junipers as the sun crept over the horizon.
I stayed on the dark side of the ridgeline, walking slowly along and peering down into the tangle of trees where I thought the bugle had come from. I came to an old burn scar and was unsure of how to cross it. As I looked into the dark tangle of brush and trees where I thought the bugle had come from, I detected the side of an elk. It was hard to see, but it was clearly and elk. I peered through my Zeiss 8X45 RF binoculars and could just make out an elk standing broadside at 200 yards with its head and shoulders hidden behind a massive Ponderosa.
I slowly went to ground and continued to watch the elk. Was it a bull? If only it would bugle. But my thoughts were met by silence. And as I watched, the elk did what I have seen other elk do. It disappeared completely behind the Ponderosa?and never came out from the other side. It just melted away. Disappeared. Gone.
By now, the sunlight had hit the top of the ridge line and started to come down the side I was on. My movements would cast a moving shadow down into the trees. But fortunately, my shadow would be cast to my side and behind me down the ridge, so while it was a problem, it was not insurmountable.
I stayed on the ground for about 15 minutes, deciding what to do. I was caught in a fairly open burn scar with the sun coming up and no real cover except for a few burned tree trunks. Then a bull bugled again, this time from somewhere in front of me at about the same level I had seen the elk earlier.
I had no choice really. I had to move. So I got up and slowly made my way across the burn scar and into a tangle of old growth pinyons and junipers. I couldn't see more than 30 yards in front of me in a straight line. I asked myself, why can't I find an opening where I can see at least a 100 yards, that might give me a chance to see this elk. And finally I got my wish.
I emerged into an area that was partially burned and dominated by Ponderosas, and even though it was thick, I could see for about 200 yards down into the still dark timber where I thought the elk bugle had come from. As I stood there gazing down the hillside into the thick underbrush, I saw the tops of a small bush move several feet to the right. A bull elk!
Was he a raghorn or something better? His bugle had sounded strong and deep, but you can't always tell. I put my binoculars up to my eyes and peered in his direction. I could make out a nice pair of antlers and a heavy body, but he was still hard to see through the brush at about 175 yards. I decided I would take him.
I slowly let the binoculars down around my neck and raised my rifle in the direction I had seen him. I had previously dialed my Nightforce 3.5X15 scope down to the lowest power, but I could not find his body in the tangle of brush through the trees. Had he moved off in the second it had taken me to switch from binoculars to rifle?
I raised my binoculars and peered again where I had last seen him. He was still there. I took note of a few trees and used them as landmarks when I raised my rifle again. This time I found him through my scope. Without the great Nightforce glass, I would never have seen him in the dark shadows. But I could make out his chest in the dark brushy woods. I centered the crosshairs and squeezed the trigger. I heard a large bang and pumped another round into the chamber.
I couldn't believe it when the bull moved only about 5 yards after the shot and stood stock still in another hard-to-see area. Had I hit him? I thought so, I thought he was in shock, waiting to die. But I couldn't be sure, so I shot again. And he continued to stand there stock still, motionless in the dim light.
I moved slowly about 3 yards to my left and rested gripped with my left hand the trunk of a small burned pine tree and used it to steady the rifle. I took aim again and fired. I saw the bull?s antlers quickly disappear as they went down behind the brush. Then suddenly, an unseen cow elk that had been standing somewhere behind the bull took off in the same direction the bull?s antlers had disappeared and she too was gone. Had they both run off down the mountain side?
I began the walk down the rock strewn hillside towards where the bull had last been standing, thinking either I had missed and he had run off the way the cow elk had gone or that he had simply fallen behind the brush and I would find lying him there. Which was it? As I approached at about 30 yards I could see a large elk body lying on the ground. And then I saw his whole body lying dead where he had fallen. He was a very nice bull elk and I felt relieved that my efforts had paid off.
Upon field dressing him, I found I had hit him with all three fatal shots. He was a dead elk walking after the first shot but the last one had been a little higher and taken out part of his spine which brought him down on the spot. It was a hard hunt, and I needed help bringing the meat down off the mountain for which I am grateful.
 
Nice Story, good looking bull, Is he broken on the top alittle.
Glad you found the will to catch up with them.

"I have found if you go the extra mile it's Never crowded".
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LAST EDITED ON Oct-18-12 AT 05:18PM (MST)[p]Gator, regarding the question on the broken antler. Yes, the G5 is broken at the tip just on that side. We looked where he fell to be sure but there was no sign of the tip there. It looked like an old break from fighting. Sorry it took me so long to reply but I've been up in Colorado GMU 81 trying to help a buddy shoot a bull. Hunt ended on the 17th with nothing to show for it but we did learn a lot about the south side of the unit and we saw a herd bull on the next to last day with 5 or 6 cows and about 4 mins of shooting time left high up on a hillside 600 yds uphill with swirling winds down the canyon. The bull disappeared before any shot could be attempted. A friend of mine who guides in NM GMU 4 said the elk are out in the first 15 mins of legal shooting time before sunrise and the last 15 mins of legal shooting time after sunset.
 

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