My 2006 Elk Hunt

BrianID

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My brothers and I were able to draw one of the controlled bull hunts in Idaho this year. This is the first controlled hunt I have been able to draw in Idaho out of the 9 years that I have put in for deer, elk and antelope. In the four days that we hunted we saw at least 26 different bulls but didn't see anything much larger than we shot. If I would have taken more time to hunt I think I would have had a good chance at killing a larger bull but I would rather stay married. I had a very enjoyable hunt and the meat is good. I hope I don't have to wait another nine years to draw a bull hunt.

A brief story of the hunt:

Around 3 pm I spotted a bachelor herd of bulls in the timber about a mile away. A couple of them looked good enough to me but it was hard to tell because I didn't have a good view of their antlers through the trees. We were able to move within a hundred yards of the bulls. They had no clue we were there. A few minutes later a rag horn moved even closer to us and was feeding only 50 yards away. After watching the bachelor herd for 10 minutes I finally decided to take one even though I passed on shooting at a couple slightly larger bulls only four hours earlier. Since I made the spot I had the first shot. My brother was able to drop his bull only 20 yards from my bull. If my other two brothers were there we could have had 4 dead bulls that were about the same size. Even after we killed our bulls the other bulls didn't know were we were at and couldn't figure out which way to run. One of the rag horns was still standing by our dead bulls until we got up and started to walk toward him.

Here are a few pictures from the hunt:


This picture shows me glassing on the way back down the mountain after making a 3000 foot climb.
2.jpg


This picture shows my bull as he lays after I shot him. If you look behind him you can see my brothers bull.
Elk004.jpg


This is a picture of my brothers bull as he lays.
Elk003.jpg


This is a picture of us loading up the bulls on a sled. Even though they were a mile from a road, we were able to get them out whole. It is relatively easy to drag a whole bull elk with a sled when there isn't any downfall and it is all down hill. This picture shows both elk on the sled. Two elk on the sled was too hard to stop from taking off down the mountain without us so we took one off and tied it up to the sled. It acted as an anchor. All we had to do was lift it's head and the elk on the sled would pull it down the mountain. All we really had to do was guide them down the mountain.
Elk001.jpg


Here is a picture of us loading them into my truck. Two bull elk make a full load for a short box Toyota Tacoma.
Elk006.jpg
 
Nice photos and elk. That looks like fun country to hunt. How much bigger were the ones you passed on?
 
ID,

Nicely done! I wish I could take plenty of pictures like you did. The sunset is a great photo! Looks cold and nice bull!
 
nice job, fellas..congratulations..thank you for sharin' with the rest of us. do you always take 'the sled'?...
 
Nice bulls and congrats to both of you. Looks like you had a good time. Like the way you got the animals out, better than packing!
 
Great job! Torch and I were up there until the end. It was sooo cold the last couple of days up there that it hurt. We also saw a lot of elk/bulls. Torch almost had his flame put out the last day. Hopefully he'll see this and fill you in on the rest.

Wild country for sure.

CS
 
Great story.
Love the pics and the bulls too!
Amazing how confused elk can get when it all hits the fan.

I've also been in a situation where two bulls were down not 75 yards from eachother. I unfortunalely packed out uphill for two and a half miles at 8000 feet. ugghh. You my friend, hit paydirt on that one! LOL

Chef
"I Love Animals...They're Delicious!"
 
Brian,

Congratulations to you and your brother on some nice bulls....especially for that unit! I spent some time on the mountain where you shot your bulls and it was smart of you to bring a sled to get those bulls out.

Cowslayer and I saw lots of elk/bulls, but I never pulled the trigger. Even if I had pulled the trigger my gun wouldn't have fired, because my bolt froze up. Luckily cowslayer brought his .300 RUM along and it wasn't froze up even though I didn't shoot. It was COLD!!

On Thursday after cowslayer had left my truck slid down into a creek and the ice broke. I spent about an hour trying to break the ice and get it unstuck, but it wouldn't move. I ended up hiking 5 miles back to the main road and a guy and his son gave me a ride back and pulled me out. He didn't want anything, but I took him and showed him where some of the bulls I had been watching were at, so he could hopefully fill his tag. I can't thank them enough! It was one fun, but crazy hunt!
 
Man that looks like some pretty STEEP stuff. I'd love to of seen you sledding the bulls off the mountain. Congrats on your success.

Looks like quite the load for the Yota!

Torch is still mending his cold bones from his trip:)
 
nice pictures and story. What area in Idaho did you hunt. looks liek some nice country
 
old man of the hills,
The ones that I passed were only slightly larger. Out of all of the bulls that I had a good look at, none of them would have scored over 280". My bull and my brother bull don't score much over 200"

littlefoot,
I don't normally take a sled with me. This is only the second time I've used a sled to get an elk out. Most of the elk kills that I have been on have come out on my back. I was hoping there would be a little more snow so I kept a sled in the back of my truck for this hunt.
 
Excellent sunset/elk photo. I like the sled. Have drove to them, quartered and packed on horses, packpacked them out but the sled is the best on level or downhill. One trip in Ore with my 70+ dad and 13 yr old daughter I used a sled on level ground in 18" of snow. Cause the snow was so deep, i halved them but got 3 cows out (400+ yds) in about an hour. With the help I had I would have had to half them to get them in the truck anyways. Congrats on a great hunt.
 
IF YOUR GOING TO BE A BEAR BE A GRIZZLY BEAR! You got to love those Idaho sunsets! Nice bulls too!
 
Real nice. Thanks for the story and the pictures. Wish I had seen an elk like that the last time I went to Idaho!
 
LAST EDITED ON Dec-28-06 AT 09:18AM (MST)[p]Few things are as nice as a bull in the back of the truck. I've yet to get one out whole in Idaho. In envy you.
 
Hey Brian sorry it took so long to get back but been busy workin' We looked at tons of bulls but were on the back side of an 10,500 ft. peak didn't see nothing worth packin' up that except a couple sheds (7) to be exact. Anyway congrats on a great hunt. Hopefully next time I draw that tag there will be more snow
Later,
Foster
 
Brian,

Hey great hunt and great photos. But i got to know about this sled!!!! i think i might need to get one. So any info on those would be perfect.
 
WAmuley, I would pay to see you drag a whole elk across a typical slag filled clearcut here in WA, LOL.

Could be pretty handy on the East side though.


There are only two types of people - The Hunters and the hunted,
I hunt.
Alchase
 
That looks a lot like the country around Salmon, Lemhi county anyway. I grew up in that area. Congratulations
 
WAmuleyHunter,

The sled is a "Jed Sled XL" and costs around $60. It is a popular sled with ice fishermen. It is over 5 feet long, 2 1/2 feet wide and about a foot deep. I drilled a few extra holes on the sides before my elk hunt so I could tie an elk down in it. The sled did take a beating being draged a mile over some rocks and basically no snow. A 3" gash was put in the bottom of the sled when it hit a sharp rock but the sled could hand a few more trips like that one before I have to get a new one.

I only plan on using the sled again when there is snow or it is all downhill and there is little brush and no dead fall to go through. Most of the time when I'm hunting, it is much easier to bone the deer/elk out and carry it in a pack. We were just lucky with where these animals feel and were able to take them out on a sled without too work. If you ask my brothers they would tell you that it was 4 hours of very hard work to get these two bulls out. I didn't think it was too bad because I've helped friends pack out elk that took more than a full days work.
 

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