schmalts's hunt, first Hunt Talk elk of the year!!

schmalts

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Well, flew into ABQ friday night, rented a truck and drove 4 hours north to pick up Dave, who was already hunting CO with another guy. That guy left for home and dave hopped in the truck with me. Headed back down to northern NM and slept in the truck seats(sort of slept) Got up saterday morning and grabbed our gear and went for a hike. Saw a real nice bull, a few cows and rags. The stalk didnt go well and i got busted. We saw other hunters and decided to head for the shitholes so no one else would be seen. We drove 15 miles to the shithole and hiked 3 miles in to the bottom and set up camp. It started to pour sheets so we missed the hunt that night but it let up a little that night and heard some bugles!
Sunday morning i got up and headed out. Got into a herd of 14 but only a raghorn there so i followed them a while and took some pics.
8:30 i see 12 elk and a good bull on a steep side hill. I hike up to cut them off and cow call when i get in close. The bull tries to push the cows to me and i get busted by a cow. They bolt side hill.
I went to the top and rushed across the top to get in front of them, drop down a little and start into the wind. It didnt take long and i see a cow, and another. I mewed a few times and the bull pushes a cow up to me, turns broadside and lets a bugle rip!! i was at full draw already and before i could really look him over he stops his scream and looks at me, so i let it go at 40 yrds. he wirls and heads to the bottom and i hear a crash but the hit looked high so i sat for a while. I get on the trail and get dave on the radio at 10 to tell him to head my way. He get to me by GPS and we finished the tracking and find the bull at the bottom of the draw. Here he is
tongue.gif
tongue.gif
elk.jpg

elk2.jpg

I tell dave we better forget the evening hunt and get this meat to camp and hang it. We headed out the next morning topack the meat back up out of there with 80 lbs in our packs. Dave really wanted to hunt and i joked to him and said "dont worry we will kill one on the way out"
He replied with "i will drop him in your lap too"
Well after the fist mile we hear a scream above us on a rocky bench 100 yrd away!! we drop our packs and i duck behind him and start calling like a herd of cows. The bull answers but stays up there. Dave climbs the 20 foot rock wall and vanishes up there. 5 minutes goes by and i still keep calling and hear a bugle hear and there but suddenly all hell breaks loose!!! I see a bull come diving off the rock cliff and runs right at me
eek.gif
I hide behind a tree and call a few more times and the bull stops 20 yrds from me and looks at my direction, staggers and drops
fight.gif
Dave put 2 arrows in him up there and i didnt know it. one heart and one double lung
rolleyes.gif

Heres the second bull in 2 days of hunting
heres the team of 2 with Daves Bull
partners.jpg


We quarter his and hang it in the shade and finish our 3 1/2 hour hike out. We are trashed when we get out and decide to get mine to town for freezing. On the way we pass a wrangler a couple miles from our parking spot and ask the guy how much to pack out the second bull and camp. He said 100$ so we told him we would meet him in the AM for the hike back in. We headed to Chama to get the meat frozen. When in town a guy looks at my rack and talks elk hunting. He takes a step back and say "damn, you guys even smell like elk hunters" so i figured that was a complement. The next morning we meet the wrangler and his wife,hike in and they ride. We get there and the young pack horse freaked on the carcass. We had a hell of a time getting the gear and meat on it and when it bucked it all off and we started over again. I had to stay away from the horse because it was spooked on me for some reason, it bucked and freaked anytime i got near it. We headed into town i i got a CO tag to kill the rest of the week. We saw a few nice ones, passed some 4x 5x6 bulls and the weather cleared up, the full moon came out, the muzz guys headed in, and the hunting started to suck. It would have been fun to fill 2 more tags but we decided it was better(and cheaper) to fly home with one each. fun week, 2 5X in 2 days.

<FONT COLOR="#800080" SIZE="1">[ 09-16-2003 16:25: Message edited by: schmalts ]</font>
 
heres Daves bull again and our camp, and a a picture of dave doing a Chuck Adams imitation
daves%20bull.jpg

camp.jpg

chucky.jpg
 
Congratulations on the bulls! Looks like you guys had a good trip. Nice pics.

Oak
 
<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Ithaca 37:
Congratulations and thanks for the story. Did you try smearing elk blood all over the pack horse's nose so in a couple minutes he couldn't smell anything? Sometimes that works.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

The wrangler put Vicks on the noses. didnt work so good though.
 
Congrats on the elk Schmalts...mighty fine job indeed!
 
That is defintely an awesome hunt and I am more then a little green with envy. Way to go!!
 

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