First of all, I believe in
“KARMA”. Do good for others and it is returned your way sometime in the future.
This post will be long… I hope you all enjoy the read and my adventure.
NOTE: #1: I’m
NOT a trophy hunter or an avid ELK hunter. I believe
“it’s the hunt, NOT the kill”. A journey to be savored. I just wanted a
“representative bull". This is only my third elk hunt in my life. I was hoping to experience a “true” elk hunt. I had a rifle cow elk hunt on migratory animals. Before that was 25 years ago in the mountains of Colorado. My legs don’t do mountains at age 67.
NOTE: #2: Unit #1 in Wyoming took me 18 years to draw. I chose this unit because it’s the Black Hills and the terrain is mostly rolling hills, open glades and scattered pines where we hunted. Easier walking for an OLD MAN. This unit has a tremendous elk population. Second, it was only a 10 hour drive from Minnesota. (Now before you go chewing my butt because I’m divulging too much info… this is NOT a general draw area).
NOTE #3: A lesson for those applying. When I had 11 points I was “1 point” away from drawing. When I had 18 points I was “1 point” away from drawing. This year I paid the extra for the
“Special draw” and was successful. Lesson: Point creep kills you. If I knew now what I didn't know then, I would have put in the for “special” many years ago. Also: realize that if you are 49 and starting to apply you will be "A LOT OLDER" by the time you draw the tag (as will the body)
NOTE #4: We already had some good info on the unit from a local who I was introduced to by a good friend. He told us areas to avoid (lots of people) and where most of the elk hang out. When we finished scouting the unit for 5 days in late July we were headed back to Minnesota via interstate 90. While driving 85 MPH eastbound I noticed a
fire along the interstate on the west bound side... I was on the eastbound side. (NOTE: Wyoming is very dry and there were a few fires while we were out in the Sundance area). I hit the brakes and crossed the median with stuff flying all over the truck. Yes, I looked for westbound traffic. Pulled up and got out my fire extinguisher and put out one fire. As I look towards the other fire, I see my good friend Thomas had also crossed the median and was spraying out the second fire with his water sprayer. Soon the deputy sheriff arrives on the scene. He thanks us and asks what we are doing: “scouting for elk in unit #1”... he responded: “boy are you lucky”. He then hesitates and says: “I usually don’t do this but I’m gonna share with you of my elk spots in Unit #1!! He pin drops three of his favorite places to My OnX hunt app. One place in particular he says: “this place always has elk”.
KARMA BABY! On my second scouting trip I checked out the spot and it had a nice waterhole.
“THE HUNT”: After two scouting trips, we arrived and set up camp in the hills 4 days before the opener and scouted some more. The night before the opener we ran into some forest service people exiting a locked gate. In a conversion the one of the workers showed us a photo of an elk that they had just seen… a 340” bull. We hunted that draw the next morning.
This is what I came to do: We hiked up the valley and found ourselves in the middle of elk!!! We sat down against a big pine and my friend started calling. We soon had elk coming in from every direction!! I had never experienced this before and it was the thrill of a lifetime. Elk within 10 yards and NOT knowing that we were there. Cows. calves, spikes and 4x4’s!!
I had a smile from ear to ear. This early in the season we found the BIG bulls were
NOT responding. They would bugle in the AM and bed down silent. That night we ran into more elk, no shooters. The following morning we had a herd of 20 with two larger bulls. We tried to get ahead of them…. But… man do they travel fast (HA, HA). The temps were 80 degrees and the land was dry. We hunted within ¾ miles of any water source. Further away and the elk were few and far between. The second night I went to the waterhole that the deputy suggested… off the beaten path with no other hunters. My trail camera preseason had many elk visiting this waterhole in the evening. I set up my ground blind at noon. I was in the blind at 3 PM. At 4 PM 6 elk headed towards my blind from up valley. A spike looked at the blind from 100 yards away and said: “the heck with this”. The 6 slowly walked away. I was worried that this was NOT going to be a good evening. At 6:30 I hear a bugle from a small bull on the ridge 150 yards away. The cows slowly appeared and started walking down the logging trail towards the waterhole as they usually did previously on camera. I’m thinking: “are they also going to spook”? NO!!! The cows walked in and the calves ran to the waterhole and started drinking 20 yards away. All of a sudden from behind a big pine that was 3 feet on the corner of my blind, and blocking my view appeared my bull at 20 yards. He came in from slightly another direction, directly behind the big pine.. As soon as I saw him I knew he was a "representative bull” and good enough for me. He looks at my blind and walks straight to the blind and stops at 12 yards… facing me. WOW!!!! I had talked to my friend about frontal shots and knew a good shot was possible. I let the blot (crossbow) fly and it hit dead center. Clipped part of his jugular vein and caught a lung. He ran a few yards then slowly walked away. 300 yards of blood trail, as he bled out, and he was dead. I could not believe my eyes!! My first and only elk ever… and he was mine. A nice 5x5. A very old bull. My friend who hunts elk in Nebraska and knows big elk estimated him at 900 lbs. NOTE: On quartering him out with the gutless method we found a puss pocket above his spine with 9” of a compound bow arrow buried in him from last year. I lost a few inches of back straps. I’m not worried about the meat. As a veterinarian I checked him over…. No icterus in the fat, healthy full body, meat looked and smelled good, no indication of septicemia. I diagnosed it as a walled off abscess of C. Pyongenses. We got him out at midnight.
I’m adding the obligatory photo of me standing way back to make the rack look bigger (ha ha).
MAY YOU ALL BE BLESSED IN LIFE.
This hunt was everything I could have ever dreamed of!!!
