Wife got it done... 2012 in the books

elks

New member
My 2012 season ended strong despite a rough start. The season began in usual fashion, I was attempting to chase elk in my normal archery area. However this year it was hard really hard to find any success. In 18 hard days of hunting I traveled over 60 miles on foot, saw a total of 27 elk, heard 4 bugles no cow calls. Knocked an arrow only twice and never went to full draw... It was by far the slowest season i have had since I started archery hunting in 1994. The good news was lots of memories. Tons of newly explored ground and time spent with family.

A few highlight photos from early season:

My daughter found a elk shed near camp while chasing hunting bear. Here I spent a whole weekend looking for a bear just her and I... It was fun hunting and hanging at camp (she is 6 and just shot her first grouse this fall).

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Also I forgot to pack my camera much but eventually found a few cool pics...
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Even found some fur... Just hope to find it once season opens up...
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All that being said lets talk success....

So after not having any luck early I had a 2nd season cow tag for a marginal unit. Basically a unit not known for early rifle season success, but there are elk scattered throughout the area. The opening weekend. I saw a bear and 3 bucks no elk. My wife also had an OTC bull tag and joined me for hunting on Saturday night and then again for a morning hunt on Sunday morning. Both days were extremely hot and dry. Highs were near 70 and we were able to hunt in short sleeves from sun up to sundown. On Sunday morning we jumped a couple bulls from the blazer and watched where they went. We made a plan and put on a stalk. We closed the distance to just under 300 yards only to have the elk blow out and run a long ways. Since she had to work that night (she is a nurse that works 7pm to 7 am). We quit early and headed home so she could take a nap.

This week I took off Thursday and Friday as out freezer is getting low and we need some meat. On Thursday I hit one of my favorite little areas (little being a relative term). When I headed in I saw an old familiar couple who have hunted the same area with me for the last few years. They are always friendly. A 60+ guy and his wife. They drive a 1962 ford and usually take a doe or two from the area. They just love being out. At any rate first thing Thursday morning we had fresh snow. I cut some tracks that I followed 2 miles down to the private land on the river. That group found the sanctuary of the private land. On my way back out I passed the older couple out walking. Waved and went on my way to find a cow. About an hour later I was walking a ridge and found a group of cows bedded in an area easy to get too.

At this point I had a couple options on which one to pick and shoot. However I passed on the shot and snuck back out. I went and found the old couple. He had a cow tag and would walk with me to the herd and she would go below and pick us up. It was a great plan. We snuck in and got in position and sure enough no elk. We sat for a second and soon I saw elk 30 yards in the trees in front of us. It ended up being a bull followed by 4 more bulls. They were just feeding and moving. We watched the bulls for over 10 minutes before they got nervous and moved off. Of course we never found the cows (bet they ran off from the bulls moving in). At any rate the guy loved the experience. Said it was the first time he ever just sat and watched elk during the season. It also was in an area he always wanted to hunt/hike but was always afraid because he couldn't get an elk out. He had a blast hunting with me and I like wise had a good time kicking around the hills with him. On the flip side I began kicking myself. I got too greedy and was afraid I would end up empty handed...

The next morning it was still cold and a little snow falling. I got an early start and found where a herd of cows were leaving the lower private heading onto blm to bed for the day. INfact it appeared to be the same herd heading to the same bedding area. I made a move and went to cut off the herd. Well as elk always do they decided to do something totally different. Instead of heading up to the same spot they swung way around. what was supposed to be a quick 1/2 mile hike turned into an 8 mile trek trying to find these elk. At 12:30 I finally found where they bedded. Over the next 2 hours I attempted 4 different times and different direction to make it to where the elk were, all foiled by changing wind. Finally at 2:30 I got the wind in my favor and made the push to the area. Only to find they were gone. At this point getting back to the blazer would eat up the rest of the day, so I pushed on following the tracks. 2 miles later I was in thick tree just 100 yards from a road when I got them up again. I froze, hit the cow call and leveled off on the only cow I could see. She stopped broad side at 60 yards and it was game over. The 140 hornady interbond knocked her down hard.

Off course as the story goes the work began. It was 7 miles back to my vehicle. I was hunting alone and a full sized elk is a lot of work. I quickly gutted her and got her cooling off. Before it got dark I made the 2+ hour hike back to the blazer. As luck would have it, there was not another vehicle in the area. I had seen trucks on the roads all day but when I could really use a lift back, nothing/no one. At any rate, I shot the cow just after 3:30 and at 11:30 I got back to camp with her... Here is my cow and a view of where I came from. Lots of miles covered...
I came from the far left of that ridge, my blazer was just that ridge...

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Luckily she was not a huge cow.
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That night my wife made it to camp. Since I was about totally dead, we slept in until 8:00 and then finished taking care of the cow. At 10:30 we got to looking for her bull. Our plan was to make a long but easy hike through some lower country. We hiked close to 8 miles. IN that hike we jumped up a cow and calf. There were tracks in the area, but the elk were heading all direction and had no pattern at all. For every tracking heading one way 2 more went the opposite. etc. She was pretty wore out at about 4:00 after nearly 6 hours of hiking. We made a plan to circle back to the blazer. We were heading along and were literately at last light and the last spot where there should be elk when we looked out into the flat and saw 2 cow elk feeding. We decide to check it out closer. We snuck down the ridge and were watching these 2 cows when a third showed up followed by a legal bull. The bull walked out and stood broadside at 238 yards... She showed great pose on the shot. The bull was anchored where he stood after her shot was near perfect. Took out the top of the heart. It was good she anchored it where she did as the bull was only about 100 yards from private one direction and the other direction there was a very nasty steep cut wash that was 15 yards wide and like 30 yards deep. Here is her bull. The good news was we found an only 2 track that got us with in 60 yards of the bull. We tried but a full bull just will not fit in the back of a blazer, so we had to cut it in 1/2... even then we had to show a little off...
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Like I said couldn't make it all fit...
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Nominated for Hunt Of The Month

 
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Now that is a great hunting season. Your daughter will make a great shed hunting partner.
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Shed hunting has become more exciting for me than hunting season. The season doesn't end when you get something and you never have to clean out or cut up a shed after you find it lol
 
great story elks!! that baby has gotten big and pretty like her mama! nice going taking her out with you. she will never forget the times she has with you both! hug them for us!
 
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