Got my first elk a few weeks ago in MT - with a bow...
Short story long:
It was the 5th day of our trip. We had been seeing elk everyday and were 'in elk' a couple times the first four days, but Friday was different...
Someone once told me to 'goto the party'. Well, I thought this was something easterners like me only read about in the magazines or saw on DVDs. But while glassing as the full moon began to fade to first light, there it was - an elk party! About 2 miles away I could see a herd of 31 elk moving through a sagebrush field. There was chasing, and fighting, and circling, and pushing, and humping, and bugling, and more chasing going on. There was one bigger bull (330ish), 2 big bulls (300ish), 6 or 7 smaller bulls, and 3 or 4 spikes. The rest were cows. What a party they were having as we watched the chaos from a distance. We decided to make our move towards them, all the while trying to keep an eye on them.
They finally entered a long narrow patch of pines and we hoped this is where they would settle down and bed for the day. A couple hours, one canyon, and several creek crossings later, we approched the opposite end of the timber (the downwind side) and as we got closer we could tell the party was still at full force. There was still chasing and fighting and bugling and runnning and thrashing trees and more chasing and bugling - all of which we could now hear even better than we could see!
We moved into about 100 yards of the comotion and I tried a few cow calls that got answered but my skills and experience were lacking the ability to pull a bull (or any elk for that matter) away from the main event. A very shaky bugle or two from me was just the trick to get the entire herd slowly moving away from us, though!
After following behind the constant comotion and chaos for about 1/2 of a mile, we decided that we needed to circle around and get in front of the party (duh!). Our first attempt to slip off to the East and circle around came up a little short and we bumped a spike and cow that were on the sidelines. After circling a little wider, we succeeded in getting in front of the herd and in a good spot for an ambush, we thought.
From here we watched each and every elk in the herd enter and exit the last patch of timber several times about 120 long yards in front of us. We decided the lone tree we picked to hide against probably wasn't the best place to be...The herd had run out of timber at the huge field that we originally saw them in and were 'hung up' and had us pinned down. We just sat there and watched and scratched our heads from a distance not knowing which way to go or what to do next, hoping a miracle would happen (reminded me of every high school party I ever attended).
30 minutes later, just as we noticed the wind starting to get 'iffy', a raghorn chasing 2 cows circled just a little wider than he should have and as my 2 good friends watched (let me have first go), I sunk an arrow in its armpit at 70 yards (we practice out to 120 yards with broadheads).
'My bull' only made it 40 yards back towards the herd before crashing dead at the top of a rise at the edge of the timber. The other small bulls all found this interesting and proceeded to come up close to him, one at a time, and 'pay their respect'????
With most of the elk slowly moving back up hill, we belly-crawled through open field with the small rise in the land our only chance of concealment. Now within 20 yards or so of my dead bull, I ranged while my friends tried to find openings in the timber to try to sneak arrows through. As the last few smaller bulls approched the dead bull, my friends managed to miss one of them but hit another that ran about 80 yards and crashed dead.
By now, the herd (party) had slowly moved off back up hill towards where the 'chase' started. Faint bugles could still be heard but we figured now being 3:30 we better tend to the two we had on the ground.
Even though we ended up closer to camp - we had a 4 mile walk back to the truck. After getting the truck and returning to camp to retreive the horses, it took 2 trips to get all the meat, heads, and capes safely back to camp almost 24 hours after it all started.
I once read a thread on here about learning something eveytime in the elk woods. I learned several things this trip (my 6th year elk hunting) that are probably second nature to most of you, but I feel are worth metioning as they may help another novice out there such as me:
1) Go to the party at any cost...you'll know it when you see or hear it.
2) Constantly check the wind - thermals don't always follow the rules and wind will override thermals...Some of the time...
3) When slipping through timber that elk are known to bed in and you actually smell the elk, SLOW DOWN even more, every time...
4) Traveling with horses is worth ALL the trouble when you have 2 elk down 3-1/2 miles from camp...
5) Hunting with the right partners is priceless...
I am thankful to God and also my great friends Dan and Bob for their patience with me as they 'let me' have first shot this year! They are not hunttalkers (or computer types at all) but I feel like they may lurk now and again because I mention it so much.
They weren't the biggest bulls on the mountain, but I feel blessed because I woulda been tickled with a spike or even a cow with my bow.
My camera didn't travel too well this trip but I will post field pics if I get it worked out...
Also, Dan (who makes this all possible for me) did not kill an elk this trip but is returning to MT in rifle season with his daughter (12) for her first elk hunt. I don't know anyone that deserves an elk more than him and I wish them both the best of luck. I will post a follow up of their hunt after they return...
Short story long:
It was the 5th day of our trip. We had been seeing elk everyday and were 'in elk' a couple times the first four days, but Friday was different...
Someone once told me to 'goto the party'. Well, I thought this was something easterners like me only read about in the magazines or saw on DVDs. But while glassing as the full moon began to fade to first light, there it was - an elk party! About 2 miles away I could see a herd of 31 elk moving through a sagebrush field. There was chasing, and fighting, and circling, and pushing, and humping, and bugling, and more chasing going on. There was one bigger bull (330ish), 2 big bulls (300ish), 6 or 7 smaller bulls, and 3 or 4 spikes. The rest were cows. What a party they were having as we watched the chaos from a distance. We decided to make our move towards them, all the while trying to keep an eye on them.
They finally entered a long narrow patch of pines and we hoped this is where they would settle down and bed for the day. A couple hours, one canyon, and several creek crossings later, we approched the opposite end of the timber (the downwind side) and as we got closer we could tell the party was still at full force. There was still chasing and fighting and bugling and runnning and thrashing trees and more chasing and bugling - all of which we could now hear even better than we could see!
We moved into about 100 yards of the comotion and I tried a few cow calls that got answered but my skills and experience were lacking the ability to pull a bull (or any elk for that matter) away from the main event. A very shaky bugle or two from me was just the trick to get the entire herd slowly moving away from us, though!
After following behind the constant comotion and chaos for about 1/2 of a mile, we decided that we needed to circle around and get in front of the party (duh!). Our first attempt to slip off to the East and circle around came up a little short and we bumped a spike and cow that were on the sidelines. After circling a little wider, we succeeded in getting in front of the herd and in a good spot for an ambush, we thought.
From here we watched each and every elk in the herd enter and exit the last patch of timber several times about 120 long yards in front of us. We decided the lone tree we picked to hide against probably wasn't the best place to be...The herd had run out of timber at the huge field that we originally saw them in and were 'hung up' and had us pinned down. We just sat there and watched and scratched our heads from a distance not knowing which way to go or what to do next, hoping a miracle would happen (reminded me of every high school party I ever attended).
30 minutes later, just as we noticed the wind starting to get 'iffy', a raghorn chasing 2 cows circled just a little wider than he should have and as my 2 good friends watched (let me have first go), I sunk an arrow in its armpit at 70 yards (we practice out to 120 yards with broadheads).
'My bull' only made it 40 yards back towards the herd before crashing dead at the top of a rise at the edge of the timber. The other small bulls all found this interesting and proceeded to come up close to him, one at a time, and 'pay their respect'????
With most of the elk slowly moving back up hill, we belly-crawled through open field with the small rise in the land our only chance of concealment. Now within 20 yards or so of my dead bull, I ranged while my friends tried to find openings in the timber to try to sneak arrows through. As the last few smaller bulls approched the dead bull, my friends managed to miss one of them but hit another that ran about 80 yards and crashed dead.
By now, the herd (party) had slowly moved off back up hill towards where the 'chase' started. Faint bugles could still be heard but we figured now being 3:30 we better tend to the two we had on the ground.
Even though we ended up closer to camp - we had a 4 mile walk back to the truck. After getting the truck and returning to camp to retreive the horses, it took 2 trips to get all the meat, heads, and capes safely back to camp almost 24 hours after it all started.
I once read a thread on here about learning something eveytime in the elk woods. I learned several things this trip (my 6th year elk hunting) that are probably second nature to most of you, but I feel are worth metioning as they may help another novice out there such as me:
1) Go to the party at any cost...you'll know it when you see or hear it.
2) Constantly check the wind - thermals don't always follow the rules and wind will override thermals...Some of the time...
3) When slipping through timber that elk are known to bed in and you actually smell the elk, SLOW DOWN even more, every time...
4) Traveling with horses is worth ALL the trouble when you have 2 elk down 3-1/2 miles from camp...
5) Hunting with the right partners is priceless...
I am thankful to God and also my great friends Dan and Bob for their patience with me as they 'let me' have first shot this year! They are not hunttalkers (or computer types at all) but I feel like they may lurk now and again because I mention it so much.
They weren't the biggest bulls on the mountain, but I feel blessed because I woulda been tickled with a spike or even a cow with my bow.
My camera didn't travel too well this trip but I will post field pics if I get it worked out...
Also, Dan (who makes this all possible for me) did not kill an elk this trip but is returning to MT in rifle season with his daughter (12) for her first elk hunt. I don't know anyone that deserves an elk more than him and I wish them both the best of luck. I will post a follow up of their hunt after they return...
