RE: Washington State, Peaches Ridge Any Bull Tag Archery
When I left the pickup friday morning it 9 degrees with 4-5"'s of fresh snow. The elk had been bailing out of the Little Naches all night and heading up over Manashtash. I was able to track down one small bunch, but I could only see the calves (probley mama's and babies). 10 hours later when I got back to the pickup it had warmed up to 21 degrees!!!
The next day a friend took my cousin and I into an area in the Taneum unit. As we were sittin' in the crew bus, drinking coffee, and waiting for huntin' hours to start, my friend was telling us how the elk always used to come out of this unit he had logged and bail over into a steep timbered hill on the other side of the spur road we were parked on. Just then a cow does exactly as he said. I thought to myself to get my gun ready, but we were leaving the pickup in less than a minute or two. 1 minute after hours, just as we finished coffe, out comes a 6x6. I reach in the back and my cousins "junk" (as well as mine) was piled on my rifle. My cousin steps out and drops him right in the middle of the road! He's the luckies guy I know. This was his 3rd elk, and all have been loaded whole in the back of a truck! After dressing him out, we drug him with the pickup to a nob, and just then a couple guys came by and the 5 of us barely drug it into the truck.
Sunday I hiked in behind a gate in the upper Taneum about 2 miles. Fresh snow, and really cold out but I only cut one track. We walked it out until it was just too steep, plus he was in a couple of hundred acre clear cut that had been replanted about 10 years ago. It was just impenetrable, so after 5 hours I hiked out and went to the same ridge that my cousin shot his bull on the day before. It was just howling out, and the snow was drifting my footprints over in less than 5 minutes, and I kept cuttin' fresh tracks going from the timber to the re-prod, but I was always just behind them. When I turned back, there was fresh tracks in MY tracks less than 5 minutes old!!! I just couldn't win, but I did pass up 5 spikes for the season and as the season ended I was satisfied that I hunted as hard as I could. 10 days out of a possible 14, and I saved the life of a big bull (that's what I'm telling myself anyway).