Alright guys, here's the deal. I'm gonna put this up here but please no crap and stupid arguments over stuff that ain't important... This is just a story and an elk... it's not life or death alright! That being said, thanks to EVERYONE who helped me out on this hunt... couldn't have done it without you! It's a long story so if you dont like reading, just check out the pictures ha
Well just got home from the craziest/worst/best hunt I've ever been on. EVERYTHING went wrong on this hunt. I about said screw it and went home 10 times but I keep going and just tried to do my best. This is going to be a LONG STORY so if you don't like to read, just look at the pictures?. Lots of stuff happened in 2 weeks so I gotta cover it all haha?
I headed out to go hunting on Aug. 27th alone because no one else could get work off to go with me. So I loaded my pack up and made the 7 mile hike into the area (wilderness unit). After getting there everything goes pretty well for the first few days. This is the biggest bull I had seen to this point:
But then it all starts going wrong. On the 2nd day I leave camp at daybreak and head out hunting? I end up getting back to my tent around 12pm and this is what I find:
Bear got my tent! So here I am, 7 miles from the trailhead, alone, and my tent and all my food is done for. I definitely learned my lesson? or so I thought. Just wait till you hear what happens towards the end of the hunt ha? anyways so I hike back out and luckily my dad was already heading out to the area with some horses to come hunt with me so I didn't have to wait too long.
Once my dad gets there everything starts going a little better. On the hike in with my dad we spotted this bull right from the trail:
A nice 340ish 7x7 bull. He wasn?t bugling yet so I just decided to stalk him. I got to 40 yards on him but the cows that were with my got my scent and they took off and I never saw him again.
So I keep hunting the next few days without really much success and not much really going on. After about a week of nothing happening, my brother finally got some time off work and he headed out to help me out. He has hunted elk a lot more than I have so it was nice to have someone there who actually knew how to hunt bulls in the rut.
Everything with him goes well for a few days then it all goes wrong again. We called one 320? bull in to 15 yards! He came in on a string. He stopped at 15 yards and starting thinking that something was up so he spooked and went 15 yards and by bro cow called so he stopped and turned broadside at 40 yards. I was shooting thru a really tight spot and I didn't have a good shot but I took the shot and missed him high and right. So after we're a little bummed from that we start heading back towards camp that evening. We had 4+ bulls bugling around us and then it started to rain hard so all the bulls stopped talking. So we start hiking up this big hill thru the thickest oak brush I've ever seen. Towards the top a little branch gets wedged in between the cam of my bow and the string? so I, without really thinking, just rip it out? and yep, sure enough it de-railed the string off the bow. So now we're sitting there with a worthless Bowtech Experience (btw, don't recommend this bow. Probably never getting a Bowtech again after this hunt ha?)
So now we're like well, what the heck do we do? I had already been hunting about 9 days and everything was going wrong and I was cooked and about ready to go home? but my bro talks me into sticking it out and we headed into town to get the bow fixed? this is where it gets even better? so we get to the bow shop and the problem is is that the Bowtech Experience would not fit correctly on any of the bow presses that the shop had. So we had a few options, get a new bow? call it a hunt and go home? or just try to see if we can get the string back on. So we start to crank up the bow on the press and we finally get the string on it but we look at the riser and notice that the riser was bent! So now we are sitting there with a worthless bow!!! So now we only have 2 options: get a new bow, or call it a hunt? so we finally decided we were gonna get a new bow? so I end up buying a new Hoyt Spyder 34 HA! I shoot it like 10 times at the shop at 20 yards just to make sure it was KINDA sighted in then we say well, lets head back up on the mountain?
Next morning we decided to go to a different area. First thing in the morning we hear some bugles so we call this nice 315ish bull in to 45 yards? I take a shot at him and it turns out the bow wasn?t sighted in that great haha? so I missed that guy. Now we're even more depressed? but we keep going at it thinking that the hard work will pay off eventually. We headed to a different area where we had left our tent and start hearing bulgles up a draw around 5pm? so we head up there and there was a bull about 200 yards away, but he wasn?t coming into the calls. So we're about ready to leave and my brother tells me , ?dude what do you have to lose?? Just head in there after him to see what happens??
So I take my shoes off and start stalking. By the time I get over to where I thought he was, he had already gone about 300 yards and was moving away from me pretty quickly, bugling while he was going. So I just decided to go for it and basically run after him to keep up with him. by the time I get close to him he had already gotten to the top of the ridge and I was right behind him sweating like a mother ha? he goes right on top of the ridge on the sky line and I see him there raking the dirt with is horns and bugling? I just happened to have a tree trunk right between me and his eyes so I easily snuck up to about 50 yards on him. At this time my brother, who was sitting on the other hill side watching everything realizes that I was right next to him! So he starts cow calling to try to get the bulls attention and sure enough the bull turns around and walks about 4 yards into a PERFECT opening. I range him at 45 yards? draw back, set the pin right behind his shoulder and let her fly? the arrow hit perfectly right where I was aiming! The bull goes about 40 yards, runs a dead tree over and knocks it over so I was thinking that he was done! And my brother starts screaming from the other side of the draw? then he starts yelling at me, ?he's not dead yet!!! Don?t move! He bedded down but he's still alive!? Then in about 20 seconds I hear my brother yelling again saying, ?he's done dude!!!!?
So I'm up there on the ridge top just jumping around like a little baby about ready to cry haha? this was the toughest hunt I have ever been on in my entire life. EVERYTHING went wrong? but for all the things that went wrong, it was definitely worth it to have this guy:
So we take some pictures and are really relieve because we thought that the worst of stuff was behind us? WRONG! We get him quartered up and hung up the meat and started heading off the hill around 11pm. Going down in the dark, the hill was really slick because I'd be raining a iot lately and sure enough I slipped and rolled my ankle pretty bad. So now I'm limping back to camp (we still had to hike about 2 miles up this big/nasty trail). We get to camp around 2am and this is what we find:
So ANOTHER bear got our tent. 2 TENTS!!! Gotta be kidding me!!! I HATE BEARS! Alright so luckily our sleeping bags weren't too went and we still had some food and water so we just toughed it out that night and prayed it didn't rain on us? next morning we get up and call the mule packer dude to come in and get this guy packed out (I wasn?t about to pack out an elk 7+miles on my back ha).
So next morning we get up, get camp pack up (or what was left of it after that bear) and heading back to where the elk was? we start packing out quarters down to the trail so the packer could get his mules to it?
We finally got it all taken care of and got back to the truck:
This was one of the most mentally and physically challenging hunts I've ever been on. I had to work super hard every single day? but in the end, after 14 days, it was all worth it for these back straps that I'm gonna eat for dinner tonight! ha
Here?s a few more pictures from the hunt:
That may be the freakin BEAR that got my tent... i mean tentSSS
Well just got home from the craziest/worst/best hunt I've ever been on. EVERYTHING went wrong on this hunt. I about said screw it and went home 10 times but I keep going and just tried to do my best. This is going to be a LONG STORY so if you don't like to read, just look at the pictures?. Lots of stuff happened in 2 weeks so I gotta cover it all haha?
I headed out to go hunting on Aug. 27th alone because no one else could get work off to go with me. So I loaded my pack up and made the 7 mile hike into the area (wilderness unit). After getting there everything goes pretty well for the first few days. This is the biggest bull I had seen to this point:
But then it all starts going wrong. On the 2nd day I leave camp at daybreak and head out hunting? I end up getting back to my tent around 12pm and this is what I find:
Bear got my tent! So here I am, 7 miles from the trailhead, alone, and my tent and all my food is done for. I definitely learned my lesson? or so I thought. Just wait till you hear what happens towards the end of the hunt ha? anyways so I hike back out and luckily my dad was already heading out to the area with some horses to come hunt with me so I didn't have to wait too long.
Once my dad gets there everything starts going a little better. On the hike in with my dad we spotted this bull right from the trail:
A nice 340ish 7x7 bull. He wasn?t bugling yet so I just decided to stalk him. I got to 40 yards on him but the cows that were with my got my scent and they took off and I never saw him again.
So I keep hunting the next few days without really much success and not much really going on. After about a week of nothing happening, my brother finally got some time off work and he headed out to help me out. He has hunted elk a lot more than I have so it was nice to have someone there who actually knew how to hunt bulls in the rut.
Everything with him goes well for a few days then it all goes wrong again. We called one 320? bull in to 15 yards! He came in on a string. He stopped at 15 yards and starting thinking that something was up so he spooked and went 15 yards and by bro cow called so he stopped and turned broadside at 40 yards. I was shooting thru a really tight spot and I didn't have a good shot but I took the shot and missed him high and right. So after we're a little bummed from that we start heading back towards camp that evening. We had 4+ bulls bugling around us and then it started to rain hard so all the bulls stopped talking. So we start hiking up this big hill thru the thickest oak brush I've ever seen. Towards the top a little branch gets wedged in between the cam of my bow and the string? so I, without really thinking, just rip it out? and yep, sure enough it de-railed the string off the bow. So now we're sitting there with a worthless Bowtech Experience (btw, don't recommend this bow. Probably never getting a Bowtech again after this hunt ha?)
So now we're like well, what the heck do we do? I had already been hunting about 9 days and everything was going wrong and I was cooked and about ready to go home? but my bro talks me into sticking it out and we headed into town to get the bow fixed? this is where it gets even better? so we get to the bow shop and the problem is is that the Bowtech Experience would not fit correctly on any of the bow presses that the shop had. So we had a few options, get a new bow? call it a hunt and go home? or just try to see if we can get the string back on. So we start to crank up the bow on the press and we finally get the string on it but we look at the riser and notice that the riser was bent! So now we are sitting there with a worthless bow!!! So now we only have 2 options: get a new bow, or call it a hunt? so we finally decided we were gonna get a new bow? so I end up buying a new Hoyt Spyder 34 HA! I shoot it like 10 times at the shop at 20 yards just to make sure it was KINDA sighted in then we say well, lets head back up on the mountain?
Next morning we decided to go to a different area. First thing in the morning we hear some bugles so we call this nice 315ish bull in to 45 yards? I take a shot at him and it turns out the bow wasn?t sighted in that great haha? so I missed that guy. Now we're even more depressed? but we keep going at it thinking that the hard work will pay off eventually. We headed to a different area where we had left our tent and start hearing bulgles up a draw around 5pm? so we head up there and there was a bull about 200 yards away, but he wasn?t coming into the calls. So we're about ready to leave and my brother tells me , ?dude what do you have to lose?? Just head in there after him to see what happens??
So I take my shoes off and start stalking. By the time I get over to where I thought he was, he had already gone about 300 yards and was moving away from me pretty quickly, bugling while he was going. So I just decided to go for it and basically run after him to keep up with him. by the time I get close to him he had already gotten to the top of the ridge and I was right behind him sweating like a mother ha? he goes right on top of the ridge on the sky line and I see him there raking the dirt with is horns and bugling? I just happened to have a tree trunk right between me and his eyes so I easily snuck up to about 50 yards on him. At this time my brother, who was sitting on the other hill side watching everything realizes that I was right next to him! So he starts cow calling to try to get the bulls attention and sure enough the bull turns around and walks about 4 yards into a PERFECT opening. I range him at 45 yards? draw back, set the pin right behind his shoulder and let her fly? the arrow hit perfectly right where I was aiming! The bull goes about 40 yards, runs a dead tree over and knocks it over so I was thinking that he was done! And my brother starts screaming from the other side of the draw? then he starts yelling at me, ?he's not dead yet!!! Don?t move! He bedded down but he's still alive!? Then in about 20 seconds I hear my brother yelling again saying, ?he's done dude!!!!?
So I'm up there on the ridge top just jumping around like a little baby about ready to cry haha? this was the toughest hunt I have ever been on in my entire life. EVERYTHING went wrong? but for all the things that went wrong, it was definitely worth it to have this guy:
So we take some pictures and are really relieve because we thought that the worst of stuff was behind us? WRONG! We get him quartered up and hung up the meat and started heading off the hill around 11pm. Going down in the dark, the hill was really slick because I'd be raining a iot lately and sure enough I slipped and rolled my ankle pretty bad. So now I'm limping back to camp (we still had to hike about 2 miles up this big/nasty trail). We get to camp around 2am and this is what we find:
So ANOTHER bear got our tent. 2 TENTS!!! Gotta be kidding me!!! I HATE BEARS! Alright so luckily our sleeping bags weren't too went and we still had some food and water so we just toughed it out that night and prayed it didn't rain on us? next morning we get up and call the mule packer dude to come in and get this guy packed out (I wasn?t about to pack out an elk 7+miles on my back ha).
So next morning we get up, get camp pack up (or what was left of it after that bear) and heading back to where the elk was? we start packing out quarters down to the trail so the packer could get his mules to it?
We finally got it all taken care of and got back to the truck:
This was one of the most mentally and physically challenging hunts I've ever been on. I had to work super hard every single day? but in the end, after 14 days, it was all worth it for these back straps that I'm gonna eat for dinner tonight! ha
Here?s a few more pictures from the hunt:
That may be the freakin BEAR that got my tent... i mean tentSSS
![[000134]Copy.jpg](/xf/data/xfmg/thumbnail/35/35435-3dca6ac4055d14b7c5d982fc32679332.jpg?1684979424)
