Beginners Luck

[stonewall]

Wow!

 

[bp702]

That was a great read! Thanks for sharing and congrats to you and your dad for getting it done 2x!

 

[PDob]

wow, great story and what a great experience for both of you!

 

[twdjr]

Way to go, Congrats!

 

[CJohnson]

Awesome job!

 

[Dead eye BT]

Excellent. That’s about the best case of beginner’s luck I’ve ever seen!

 

[Wentzler1425]

Thanks guys! It really was an incredible trip, although as great as it was I left out plenty of the not so fortunate or not so well thought out things that happened. We learned a ton, and I'll probably start another few threads on the following topics as we start to think through and get them figured out for next year.

1. Understanding bone sour
(We lost the neck and a small part of the hind quarters from the 7x7 to bone sour, this is completely new to us and almost ruined the excitement of the second bull. Dad was really upset about it especially.)

2. Tent options
(We slept in a 3 man tent, and in 10* with no heater, wed like to find a quick but comfortable alternative)

3. Elk movement
(I know this is somewhat voodoo, but I have some questions about how quickly elk move from different areas and how far)

And a handful of other things like camp food, elk recipes, gear choices, etc that I'll spend some more time searching for first. Thanks again to everyone who helped!

 

[Capman]

I enjoyed reading this, congrats!

 

[Next Ridge]

Thanks guys! It really was an incredible trip, although as great as it was I left out plenty of the not so fortunate or not so well thought out things that happened. We learned a ton, and I'll probably start another few threads on the following topics as we start to think through and get them figured out for next year.

1. Understanding bone sour
(We lost the neck and a small part of the hind quarters from the 7x7 to bone sour, this is completely new to us and almost ruined the excitement of the second bull. Dad was really upset about it especially.)

2. Tent options
(We slept in a 3 man tent, and in 10* with no heater, wed like to find a quick but comfortable alternative)

3. Elk movement
(I know this is somewhat voodoo, but I have some questions about how quickly elk move from different areas and how far)

And a handful of other things like camp food, elk recipes, gear choices, etc that I'll spend some more time searching for first. Thanks again to everyone who helped!

Gotta ask on point 1 - how long did you wait to quarter the second bull? You reference snow on the ground when shot but there is very little snow on the ground in the picture and you referenced cold temps. If it was later the same day or next def potential for bone sour. (And yes, I get there could be more snow 60 yds out of frame where actually shot.)

 

[AaronMColeman]

If it’s cold enough you can leave the meat on the bone for weeks. Could the temps have been higher than anticipated?

 

[Wentzler1425]

The second bull was shot tuesday late afternoon (after it was mid 40s most of the day and melted half of the snow). The picture of the 7x7 was from wednesday morning when we got back to it.

We know now that it was the wrong decision of course. But at the time it was late and it was slated to be 20* over night (turned out to be 10*). We had left the game bags in an effort to lighten packs as much as possible (really stupid idea after the fact). Our thought was it would be plenty cold enough to leave it and come back in the morning. So we came back the following morning at first light and quartered it out. It did get warm again then wednesday (probably mid 50s-60) but we had it quartered before it got warm. After the second trip with the rest of the quarters is when we noticed the smell. So we pulled everything out of the game bags, cut all of the bad smelling stuff out, washed it, put it on ice, and we went home late that night instead of waiting till the next morning.

In hindsight we should have at the very least field dressed it but with how bad it got in such a short amount of time I'm not so sure field dressing would have saved the neck. For the future we wont ever have a rifle and go without gamebags.

 

[AaronMColeman]

The second bull was shot tuesday late afternoon (after it was mid 40s most of the day and melted half of the snow). The picture of the 7x7 was from wednesday morning when we got back to it.

We know now that it was the wrong decision of course. But at the time it was late and it was slated to be 20* over night (turned out to be 10*). We had left the game bags in an effort to lighten packs as much as possible (really stupid idea after the fact). Our thought was it would be plenty cold enough to leave it and come back in the morning. So we came back the following morning at first light and quartered it out. It did get warm again then wednesday (probably mid 50s-60) but we had it quartered before it got warm. After the second trip with the rest of the quarters is when we noticed the smell. So we pulled everything out of the game bags, cut all of the bad smelling stuff out, washed it, put it on ice, and we went home late that night instead of waiting till the next morning.

In hindsight we should have at the very least field dressed it but with how bad it got in such a short amount of time I'm not so sure field dressing would have saved the neck. For the future we wont ever have a rifle and go without gamebags.

I rarely leave an elk overnight. I feel the longer it sits the more time a grizzly has to find it. This year it got to -20F the night I shot mine, but I quartered it and packed out what I could. Came back the next day for the rest. I felt like to was too cold to go back for the rest of the pack out that night. It’s a tough call but I always think the elk needs to be quartered same day.

 

[Next Ridge]

The second bull was shot tuesday late afternoon (after it was mid 40s most of the day and melted half of the snow). The picture of the 7x7 was from wednesday morning when we got back to it.

We know now that it was the wrong decision of course. But at the time it was late and it was slated to be 20* over night (turned out to be 10*). We had left the game bags in an effort to lighten packs as much as possible (really stupid idea after the fact). Our thought was it would be plenty cold enough to leave it and come back in the morning. So we came back the following morning at first light and quartered it out. It did get warm again then wednesday (probably mid 50s-60) but we had it quartered before it got warm. After the second trip with the rest of the quarters is when we noticed the smell. So we pulled everything out of the game bags, cut all of the bad smelling stuff out, washed it, put it on ice, and we went home late that night instead of waiting till the next morning.

In hindsight we should have at the very least field dressed it but with how bad it got in such a short amount of time I'm not so sure field dressing would have saved the neck. For the future we wont ever have a rifle and go without gamebags.

Yeah, I can see how sour happened then but sounds like you’ve taken the lessons. Elk hide traps heat much more efficiently than a deer and has to get off. Even if you don’t quarter it I would always recommend not just field dressing immediately but taking the hide at least mostly back if not all the way off too. Also, hanging quarters outside of meat bags is ok too, just be more careful with them.
Every hunt is an opportunity to learn something new.
Congrats on the bulls.

 

[Wentzler1425]

That makes sense, like you said if it had been a deer it would be a very different story. The simple answer is well always have gamebags from here forward to quarter right then and there. I appreciate everyones input.

 

[Sevens]

That is awesome, congrats to you all!

 

[IDNate]

Great job on the story!

Biggest thing to understand on bone sour is it happens from the inside out. Even if the air temp is below freezing, as others have said the hide provides great insulation and the heat at the bone can’t escape through several inches of meat and then hide. Think of their hide like your sleeping bag and imagine how much more the meat would cool without the hide on.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Ucsdryder]

I still don’t understand why you would leave an animal laying overnight after finding it. If you don’t want to process them because it’s too cold then don’t shoot them at night.

No need to put them in game bags immediately, especially when the temps are low and the flies are gone. Quarter them and hang them in a tree.

 

[Wentzler1425]

As I've said previously this was our first elk hunt, everything previous was with whitetails. Which you can absolutely leave overnight without any issue. I didnt even know what bone sour was or that it existed until we were rushing our way home trying to get the good meat off as quickly as possible.

When we shot the second bull, we were about 200 yards from the remaining quarters of the first bull. It was about 4pm, and we knew it would take us about 2-3 hours to get the remaining quarters of the first bull down. Meaning we would already be coming out after dark. We ultimately had several options that would have been better than what we did, but we didnt know that bone sour was a potential issue, ESPECIALLY given it was going to be 20* that night.

 

[BruinPoint]

Awesome - that's the hunting story everyone hopes for and very, very few realize. Too bad about the bone sour. Hopefully others are wise enough to learn from your hard learned lesson, and in that way there is some value in it.

 

[Illinihunter]

Great story, really enjoyed the read. And I also learned something new. Congratulations to you and your father!