The one that got away...

[kad11]

The best day of hunting I've ever had ended without a shot being fired.

I got to the trailhead well before light and climbed to a glassing spot I had used a few times before - a large boulder field about 1600' above the trail/ creek that offers a great vantage of the high basin across the drainage. I spotted three nice bulls feeding/ sparing just as the sun came up. I glassed the other small, semi-timbered openings while keeping an eye on the three buddies; I eventually spotted the biggest bull I think I've ever seen. I mean, he was jump up and down, giggle like a little girl, try not to poop your pants big...

I watched him feed for about 40 minutes at the lower end of a long but narrow clearing until he descended into the thick timber to bed for the day.

I really didn't know how to approach this guy - he had likely bedded somewhere in a sea of nasty, thick, steep deadfall approximately 2500' above the creek and 800' below the ridgeline. I dropped back down to the creek, walked about a mile further up the trail, and then made the ~3000 ft ascent up to the ridgeline. I made it to the top of his clearing around 4 PM and decided that I should still hunt my way down the clearing, hoping to see him up and feeding before he spotted me. It almost worked...

I ended up spooking him out from behind a large spruce that I just couldn't see through at 30-40 yds. He came out from behind that tree like a sprinter off the blocks and disappeared into the deadfall jungle before I could think about getting my rifle to my shoulder.

I sure would have liked to hang my tag on that guy, but in a lot of ways I'm glad I didn't. "Close, but not quite" keeps things interesting...

The big pot-bellied, symmetrical 7x7...



I'd love to hear your guys' stories of the one that got away!

 

[Scrappy]

It's right at last light I haven't seen an elk all day. There is a skunk up in front of me heading my direction. No big deal he is still fifty yards away. Off to my left a bull cranks off one of the nastiest growling bugles I have ever heard. I think I'm still in the game if I hurry down to the field edge where he is undoubtedly heading. About three strides into my run down the mountain I realize I still have a skunk in front of me but now he is only about 10 yards out. I hit the breaks but at the same time I think I have to get down the mountain quick. I veer to the left about the same time the skunk hears or sees me cause now he decides to chase me. Call me chicken cause I squiled like a girl, pop a u turn, and made a big circle around peppy. Got down to the field edge in record time. Im set up perfect, this is it, its going to happen. The bull screams again and l get my first glimpse of him he standing up there with the skunk looking down at me laughing and high fiving the skunk. He was huge and he did punk me.

 

[BearFoot]

We traveled two days to get to camp. The start of a 14 day hunt. The first evening, a mile from camp, we called or rather sang moose songs. Wind was blowing, trees and brush swaying. We watched the sky turn evening pink and orange, while snacking on pistachios nuts. A bull appeared! We watched as he pissed and dug the ground to make a muddy wallow. I took these shots,

 

[BearFoot]

We go by the eyes being 10" across. This guy is over 50" and got a pass. First day.

 

[JTHOMP]

Me and my buddy were hunting in the swamp. The water was on the rise and pushing deer closer to the front. He took the south side, made a loop to the west and hunted eastward back to the road. I took the north side, went west following a pipeline, and made an eastern loop back to the road. He is a much more skilled hunter that I am and kinda took me under his wing. He told me to take to the swamp, walk slow, stay in cover, and look for rubs. We started around 1pm. Within the first hour he killed a nice 7pt feeding on briars.

Unknowingly to me at the time I had started too far back in the swamp. I was in waist deep water slowly slipping most of the evening. Near dark I was probably still a half mile from the road. I noticed the first little patch a green I had seen all day (Hindsight I should've covered morning ground until I found this). Now slowly slipping all day will wear me out more than walking all day. Add in waders and water and it's more tiresome. Seeing the green did mentally stand out to me, but I didn't register the importance. At the same time I was tripping over a limb in the water. Rather than catching myself and slowly walking through it, I was lazy and let my legs just push through it making a lot of noise in the knee deep water.

The sloshing of the water didn't stop at my feet as I heard a deer running through the water in front of me. I looked up and even with the low light and thick button woods I could see a wide tall and heavy set of antlers running in the opposite direction. Immediately there was no question of how much I screw that up. Seemed like I walked out of the woods that night and could constantly hear deer running through the water between there and the road.