Hunter&Huntress
Active member
Jason said I had to write this, so from Anne's perspective, here's the details. It was our second and last weekend we had to get this done! This is also on my blog (which I started in hopes of getting to be Just For Does's WY prostaffer, but I guess they weren't interested, and no one else from WY has been chosen, disappointing.)
Thursday: We decided to head out after Jason got off work so that we wouldn't waste precious morning feeding hours on driving. Although we have seen elk at all hours of the day, it is theoretically better to shoot in the morning so that you have all day to pack out the animal, if necessary. After Jeffery City (funny little stretch of empty buildings and one bar and cafe that is always busy), it started to snow. Thirty miles out of Lander, it REALLY started to snow. Hazard lights and slow speeds became the name of the game from that point almost all the way to our destination. On the South Pass Pass (yes, the town is called South Pass and there is a mountain pass that goes by it), we couldn't see anything, it was slick, and several vehicles were on the side of the road. I'm always thankful that Jason drives well through these conditions. When we hit the rest stop near our hunt area, the snow had subsided to a nice slow fall, thankfully. We set up camp, and fell asleep as soon as it was warm enough to turn off the Mr. Heater.
Friday: Woke up to fog, thick fog, so we took our time getting going that morning. Around 9, we decided to head out and see if the fog was everywhere or just sticking to the Oregon Buttes area where we were camped. As we broke away from the buttes, it turned out our assumption was correct. It was clear and beautiful. The crispy snow from the night before covered it lightly and the sky was a clear sharp blue. Absolutely gorgeous.
Well, we drove a while, and went to the same side where we had seen the herd the Sunday before, but on a different road. By 9:45, we hit a dry creek bed and there was just no way our truck was going to make it to the other side. Jason parked it and glassed the area. Turns out there were 6-7 elk in front of us laying in the sagebrush. They had seen us and were starting to get up, but it was our last weekend, we knew we had to try. After we quietly got out of the truck, we crouched down and kind of duck walked...very uncomfortable...until we could see them again. They were up, but hadn't taken off yet. Jason checked the range on them, and we were still 1000 yards out. The elk slowly started to go behind a hill, so we followed on our side of the hill.
When we saw them again, they were about 600 yards away and there were about 50 of them grazing slowly away from us. We crawled as close as we could, but were still too far for a shot, and they were going behind yet another hill. The alarm from humans in the area still had not gone off. It was as if they had no idea, pretty exciting stuff! As soon as they all disappeared behind the next hill, we ran as fast and as quietly as possible on our side. Cresting the hill, we discovered that they were only about 150 yards away at this point. we crouched down to get as close to the top as possible, and set up for a shot. I could not get comfortable with a shot for quite some time, and one of the cows seemed to have spotted us. I was extremely nervous, and the adrenaline was on high coursing through my veins.
They started going up a hill behind them and Jason kept urging me to take a shot. As soon as I would get on a good bull (there were several great bulls, 320 class or so) a cow would go in front or behind him. This happened three times. They were also starting to get nervous. I aimed at a small bull in the back, the only one who was standing still and far enough from other elk, and missed. Yes, I missed, again. As soon as I shot and Jason saw I missed, he shot for the same bull, and missed. It was my turn again, and by now this bull was on the move, but still away from the others. They were about 200-250 yards away, so I aimed in front of his head slightly, and pulled the trigger. I have terrible follow through so I wasn't sure I hit him until Jason yelled, "You hit him, babe! You got him down!" Then came my moment of disbelief. I had just correctly (and really kind of unconsciously) taken the distance and his movement into consideration and killed it. Next came pure excitement. I was so thrilled that I had just shot my first elk. We would have meat in the freezer! When we examined the corpse, we found that I had gotten him through both lungs. What a flippin shot, right?! See, I'm getting excited and rambling...!
Now it was time to get this thing back to the truck. Jason wanted me to wait there so that he could try and find a road closer to the elk, so I waited for what seemed like forever. While waiting, I almost had a herd of 5 antelope run right into me, a lone bull came around a hill but spooked after he caught my (and the dead elk's) scent, and had what I'm sure was a G&F plane fly over me. All the while, I was standing on top of the hill, in the freezing wind, watching for Jason. When I saw a black thing in the distance, I knew he hadn't found a road and was bringing the packs with him. This was not going to be fun. While on the pursuit of prey, the distance is manageable, but on the way back, it is always miserable! When Jason came back, he started quartering and boning the elk, and the same plane flew over again. He put a hindquarter in his pack and I put a shoulder in mine, and we started back to the truck. We took a couple breaks, and on one of our breaks, we had a coyote who was sneaking up to us until I saw him and yelled, "hey! coyote!" which sent him sprinting in the other direction, of course. The plane also flew very close to the ground over my kill on one of our breaks. I thought it was odd, and kept waiting for a couple of wardens to show up, but they never did, so I guess their curiosity was satisfied. Our next trip out, we took what was left, and by the time we got back to camp, it was 5:30 pm. It was a long day, but worth it! Dinner consisted of a bowl of chili and freshly butchered steaks!
Saturday: No fog meant we could get going as soon as the sun came up, around 7:30. More driving, this time for much longer than the day before. We followed roads until 9 am. As we came to the edge of a hill, we saw elk. Right there. Jason threw the truck into reverse and backed up until we couldn't see them anymore. I grabbed the binoculars, Jason grabbed his gun and range finder, and we were off. We crept up until we could see them. A few were watching, but there were some that were still laying down. Jason started to creep forward, and I stayed behind so that there was less chance of them spooking. They still got up and started to walk away, but thankfully it was to the left, and not away from Jason. I couldn't see much from my standpoint, but as soon as I heard the first shot, I went running toward him, thinking that since he shot they would already be running, so my movement wasn't going to spook them. By now, I could see Jason, but not the elk, so I started to get worried. One more shot and he turned around and started waving at me. He'd gotten one! Our freezer wouldn't just have meat in it, it was going to be full! We ran up to the elk, and started the quartering process all over again. Jason's elk not only had a bigger rack, but had a much bigger and fattier body than mine had, and so we had a couple extra bags. Thankfully, the truck was only 200 yards away this time, and by noon we were back at camp. As we were butchering, Jason told me that the herd was focusing on a couple of coyotes who were eying the herd, and that his elk was standing still about 150 yards away. One of the coyotes even stayed in the area and we saw him run past us a couple of times, waiting for us to leave a meal, I'm sure.
We arrived back at camp, packed up, and headed home. Once back at home, we cooked up some steaks, picked up the puppies (who were boarded each weekend), and just relaxed.
Every day after a working and dinner, we sat and butchered, ground, and wrapped these two elk. Took us an entire week, but it's awesome knowing we did it ourselves!
Thursday: We decided to head out after Jason got off work so that we wouldn't waste precious morning feeding hours on driving. Although we have seen elk at all hours of the day, it is theoretically better to shoot in the morning so that you have all day to pack out the animal, if necessary. After Jeffery City (funny little stretch of empty buildings and one bar and cafe that is always busy), it started to snow. Thirty miles out of Lander, it REALLY started to snow. Hazard lights and slow speeds became the name of the game from that point almost all the way to our destination. On the South Pass Pass (yes, the town is called South Pass and there is a mountain pass that goes by it), we couldn't see anything, it was slick, and several vehicles were on the side of the road. I'm always thankful that Jason drives well through these conditions. When we hit the rest stop near our hunt area, the snow had subsided to a nice slow fall, thankfully. We set up camp, and fell asleep as soon as it was warm enough to turn off the Mr. Heater.
Friday: Woke up to fog, thick fog, so we took our time getting going that morning. Around 9, we decided to head out and see if the fog was everywhere or just sticking to the Oregon Buttes area where we were camped. As we broke away from the buttes, it turned out our assumption was correct. It was clear and beautiful. The crispy snow from the night before covered it lightly and the sky was a clear sharp blue. Absolutely gorgeous.
Well, we drove a while, and went to the same side where we had seen the herd the Sunday before, but on a different road. By 9:45, we hit a dry creek bed and there was just no way our truck was going to make it to the other side. Jason parked it and glassed the area. Turns out there were 6-7 elk in front of us laying in the sagebrush. They had seen us and were starting to get up, but it was our last weekend, we knew we had to try. After we quietly got out of the truck, we crouched down and kind of duck walked...very uncomfortable...until we could see them again. They were up, but hadn't taken off yet. Jason checked the range on them, and we were still 1000 yards out. The elk slowly started to go behind a hill, so we followed on our side of the hill.
When we saw them again, they were about 600 yards away and there were about 50 of them grazing slowly away from us. We crawled as close as we could, but were still too far for a shot, and they were going behind yet another hill. The alarm from humans in the area still had not gone off. It was as if they had no idea, pretty exciting stuff! As soon as they all disappeared behind the next hill, we ran as fast and as quietly as possible on our side. Cresting the hill, we discovered that they were only about 150 yards away at this point. we crouched down to get as close to the top as possible, and set up for a shot. I could not get comfortable with a shot for quite some time, and one of the cows seemed to have spotted us. I was extremely nervous, and the adrenaline was on high coursing through my veins.
They started going up a hill behind them and Jason kept urging me to take a shot. As soon as I would get on a good bull (there were several great bulls, 320 class or so) a cow would go in front or behind him. This happened three times. They were also starting to get nervous. I aimed at a small bull in the back, the only one who was standing still and far enough from other elk, and missed. Yes, I missed, again. As soon as I shot and Jason saw I missed, he shot for the same bull, and missed. It was my turn again, and by now this bull was on the move, but still away from the others. They were about 200-250 yards away, so I aimed in front of his head slightly, and pulled the trigger. I have terrible follow through so I wasn't sure I hit him until Jason yelled, "You hit him, babe! You got him down!" Then came my moment of disbelief. I had just correctly (and really kind of unconsciously) taken the distance and his movement into consideration and killed it. Next came pure excitement. I was so thrilled that I had just shot my first elk. We would have meat in the freezer! When we examined the corpse, we found that I had gotten him through both lungs. What a flippin shot, right?! See, I'm getting excited and rambling...!
Now it was time to get this thing back to the truck. Jason wanted me to wait there so that he could try and find a road closer to the elk, so I waited for what seemed like forever. While waiting, I almost had a herd of 5 antelope run right into me, a lone bull came around a hill but spooked after he caught my (and the dead elk's) scent, and had what I'm sure was a G&F plane fly over me. All the while, I was standing on top of the hill, in the freezing wind, watching for Jason. When I saw a black thing in the distance, I knew he hadn't found a road and was bringing the packs with him. This was not going to be fun. While on the pursuit of prey, the distance is manageable, but on the way back, it is always miserable! When Jason came back, he started quartering and boning the elk, and the same plane flew over again. He put a hindquarter in his pack and I put a shoulder in mine, and we started back to the truck. We took a couple breaks, and on one of our breaks, we had a coyote who was sneaking up to us until I saw him and yelled, "hey! coyote!" which sent him sprinting in the other direction, of course. The plane also flew very close to the ground over my kill on one of our breaks. I thought it was odd, and kept waiting for a couple of wardens to show up, but they never did, so I guess their curiosity was satisfied. Our next trip out, we took what was left, and by the time we got back to camp, it was 5:30 pm. It was a long day, but worth it! Dinner consisted of a bowl of chili and freshly butchered steaks!
Saturday: No fog meant we could get going as soon as the sun came up, around 7:30. More driving, this time for much longer than the day before. We followed roads until 9 am. As we came to the edge of a hill, we saw elk. Right there. Jason threw the truck into reverse and backed up until we couldn't see them anymore. I grabbed the binoculars, Jason grabbed his gun and range finder, and we were off. We crept up until we could see them. A few were watching, but there were some that were still laying down. Jason started to creep forward, and I stayed behind so that there was less chance of them spooking. They still got up and started to walk away, but thankfully it was to the left, and not away from Jason. I couldn't see much from my standpoint, but as soon as I heard the first shot, I went running toward him, thinking that since he shot they would already be running, so my movement wasn't going to spook them. By now, I could see Jason, but not the elk, so I started to get worried. One more shot and he turned around and started waving at me. He'd gotten one! Our freezer wouldn't just have meat in it, it was going to be full! We ran up to the elk, and started the quartering process all over again. Jason's elk not only had a bigger rack, but had a much bigger and fattier body than mine had, and so we had a couple extra bags. Thankfully, the truck was only 200 yards away this time, and by noon we were back at camp. As we were butchering, Jason told me that the herd was focusing on a couple of coyotes who were eying the herd, and that his elk was standing still about 150 yards away. One of the coyotes even stayed in the area and we saw him run past us a couple of times, waiting for us to leave a meal, I'm sure.
We arrived back at camp, packed up, and headed home. Once back at home, we cooked up some steaks, picked up the puppies (who were boarded each weekend), and just relaxed.
Every day after a working and dinner, we sat and butchered, ground, and wrapped these two elk. Took us an entire week, but it's awesome knowing we did it ourselves!
