Blast from the past...elk

[T Bone]

Here are a couple of memories from years past.

1984. 12 years old. After missing two easy shots during archery season I found myself in unit 59A Idaho on opening morning of rifle season with my Dad. After not seeing anything in the morning my Dad sat me overlooking a saddle and told me not to move until he came and got me. An hour later found me bored out of my skull chasing chipmunks. I'd pretty much convinced myself that Dad was lost and I should walk back to camp.

Then, I heard brush breaking, "Good Dad is here and we can go get some more food". I look up and there is a spike bull trotting across the saddle about 150 yards out. I look through the scope, see brown and slap the trigger. The bull stops. I continue firing, and firing, and firing. I cram 4 more rounds into the magazine and shoot all of those. Meanwhile spike is staggering around, legs wide like a sawhorse. I cram 4 more in the magazine and look up. The bull is gone......
Then I see a leg kicking in the brush! I grab the rifle by the barrel and burn my hand. Ha!, what fun. What luck. My first shot was the only shot that hit him. It was a lung/liver shot.

My dad was able to drive the truck right to him. That was my first and last elk that wasn't packed out in pieces.

Here is my first decent bull. 1989, 17 years old. Idaho Unit 50. I spotted a herd about 1/2 mile away and circled around and ninja'd within 75 yards of a feeding herd of elk. 3 branch antlered bulls, all about the same size. Laying prone, I took the 1st one that gave me a broadside shot. The herd trotted off with the bull not being phased. I shot 6 times at him and they dissappeared over the ridge...What the hell just happened?!

I followed the trail and found blood, lots of blood. Over 300 yards from where he'd been shot the bull was piled up with 4 holes through his vitals from the 30-06 with 180 grain Hornady loads....I was amazed then and still am now when there are elk that just don't realize they are dead.

Let's see yours!

 

[sturge]

There is a lot to be said for pre-tenderizing!!!! j/k

 

[Ithaca 37]

Thanks for the pictures and stories!

 

[Blacktailbc]

Dude.....sweet jeans in that first pic Nice elk too.

 

[Moosie]

Your Hunting Atire hasn't changed much in 20 years .. eh ?

 

[BuzzH]

Great stories Tbone...alot like my first couple elk hunts.

My first bull was a real mess.

I was hunting with my Dad, Brother, and a friend of my Dads and one of his boys. We had permission to hunt a private ranch near Missoula. I think it was 1983.

On opening day we walked up behind the landowners place there and immediately ran into a nice herd of mule deer bucks. My brother shot one of the bucks. My Dad and I spotted a large herd of elk with several bulls in it. We put a good stalk on them and I missed a spike at 200 yards. I was bummed.

We hunted further and found another large group of elk with several bulls in it. The last bull in the herd was a 5 point and it stood at about 80 yards. I emptied my rifle off-hand and that bull never moved. Dad walked up and wanted to know "what the hell was going on"...I pointed at the bull which Dad promptly killed with one shot. A spike had split from the herd after my shooting display. I shot and knocked it down at about 150 yards. It got back up and was running straight away. I shot it again, knocking it down. When it got back up the second time...I lost it. I again shot until my rifle was empty. I tracked the thing for a ways and caught up to and finally killed it.

I swore I'd never shoot like crap again...and for the most part I never have. That turned out to be a good opening day. I got the spike, Dad shot a 5-point bull and a 3 point mule deer. My brother ended up with a 4 point mule deer and Dads buddy shot a 3 point mule deer. We had them all out to the truck, whole by about 8:00 PM.

My bullet riddled first bull, my shooting was about as good as my picture taking ability.

Heres a picture of the full days work:

 

[The Hedgehog]

This is funny stuff. I got my first bull late in life, 26 yrs old (1994). I didn't like elk hunting that much when I was younger, but took 2 weeks off work to hunt, shot a really nice whitetail the first day so I had time to really go after elk. I hunted 9 days, driving 50 miles one way and hiking in 2.5 hrs in the dark and kept checking the same spot every morning. There was elk moving out of the park, but not a lot, it was November. On the 9th day, my buddy and I ran into 2 bulls and I nailed the better one. It was a long shot, over 400 yards, but I hit him good on the first shot when he was bedded. He got up and I missed twice while he was walking. I was aiming right into his antlers (leading him). On the 4th shot, he stopped right when I pulled the trigger and he took a 300 mag bullet right in the noggin and went right down. My hunting rig was awesome.. I bought it for $200 and sold it for $250. The skull was tied to my emergency brake on the way home.

 

[AZ402]

Ha, that is a nice hunting rig. I rolled in a 1981 ford fairmont to the Kaibab when I was about 21. I pretty much walked every where after I parked it...

 

[hornaddiction]

Awesome pics, thanks for sharing!

 

[Bambistew]

Greeny...

Was that your picture going around last year with the elk tied to the roof? Looks like the same car.

How was the ride home for 50 miles with the hatchback open?

 

[Oak]

I can't find scans of my first few elk, but here's one when I was 20. Looks like I couldn't decide between "hard rocker" or "Wolfman Jack."

 

[MarvB]

Dayum Oak looks like you were trying to get more of the Dunlop in the pic than that bull ...I'm gonna have to pull out a few for the scanner...I was likely sporting the bowl hairdo instead of the mullet in my day....

 

[Dinkshooter]

1985 14 years old, I am a whopping 92lbs soaking wet. My father does not want to hunt anymore for the season. So he is being a butthead and trying to walk me into the ground. I remember my gunstock actually draging in the snow up the steep hill we were on. I finally just sit down and rest. I use my scope (On 3X)and spot what appears to be a cow bedded in the aspens a mile or so away. I motion for my father to come and see. He walks back down to me looks through his scope, a fixed 4X(yeah Binos where to heavy back then). He says "yeah a cow" and starts back up the hill. I just sit there and have a flash of brilliance and turn my scope to 9X. Holy smokes a bull. I motion for him to come back down to me again. He gives me a really dirty look this time and comes back. I hand him my rifle on 9X and he sees what I am talking about. We hustle all the way down to the bottom. I remember the snow so deep there were little mini avalanches. We get down there and my father says "well he is not here, lets go". I tell him I just want to walk up the valley a bit and look for tracks. I didn't walk 100 feet up the valley and saw the bull eating aspen bark. I will never forget that day, I have also never let the old man live it down.

If this helmet head hair cut and stunning size(me) has to beat you all. Right after this photo was taken I hooked up with 2 hot senior chicks.......................

 

[1_pointer]

Sweet pics and stories fellas!!! Thanks for sharing.