AaronMColeman
WKR
I've hunted for a while, and just started Elk hunting last year. But I'm realizing this season all that I didn't know last year and all the mistakes I made. Public land, DIY hunting. Biggest advantage is I live in the areas I hunt so scouting is a year round activity.
I learned to call, I learned to shoot archery, I practiced seated/standing/awkward shooting positions. I spent most of the archery season in the field calling in bulls and realizing the mistakes I made that lost them. I had one good shot, and hit a bit far forward and hit the shoulder blade (4" penetration and the bull ran off).
Rifle season I kept going as often as I could. I started to get frustrated that I was always seeing elk but never getting a shot at them. I watched all sorts of videos and read everything I could find on tactics for various seasons. Between archery and rifle, probably 25 total hunts.
Couple nights ago I was going to take the night off because I was exhausted from hard weekend hunting. A buddy called, so we went out. I got us turned down the wrong trail into an area I hadn't been before. So we hiked up a ridge to a couple glassing points. I sat under a tree for an hour or so and let out a handful of cow calls. The goal, from what I'd read and seen in videos, was to draw in a younger bull who would likely come in silently, wasn't expecting the herd bull to leave his cows for my less than stellar calls.
We decided with about 40 min of light left to move to another spot where we could actually shoot anything that came out of the timber. As we were walking away, this little 5x5 (technically he does have a 1.5" 6th on one side) came right up to the tree we had been sitting under. I had just enough time to turn, throw off my glove, and shoot standing with no support from about 75 yards. He ran downhill and fell about 50 yards later. Far from the biggest, but I couldn't be happier with this guy!
It was one of the coolest experiences of my life. Then the two of us started hacking into the elk and packing out in the dark. Wasn't a long pack out, but we were in grizzly country and not 100% sure what we were doing. But we got all of the quarters, backstraps, tenderloins, loose meat, and head out in under 4 hours. Oh and after our first load, we had an experienced friend show up and help us figure out the rest
He brought his dog too...3 guys and a dog in griz country is a lot more comforting. We made a ton of noise, sang stupid songs, drank a celebratory beer, and generally had a nerve-wracking fun time.
Best part is it was with best friends, and I could sleep in my own bed that night My little cow party plan seemed to have worked. I was so happy we made the best of a mixed up situation, and the plan worked perfectly! Lesson learned: persistence and constant learning.
I learned to call, I learned to shoot archery, I practiced seated/standing/awkward shooting positions. I spent most of the archery season in the field calling in bulls and realizing the mistakes I made that lost them. I had one good shot, and hit a bit far forward and hit the shoulder blade (4" penetration and the bull ran off).
Rifle season I kept going as often as I could. I started to get frustrated that I was always seeing elk but never getting a shot at them. I watched all sorts of videos and read everything I could find on tactics for various seasons. Between archery and rifle, probably 25 total hunts.
Couple nights ago I was going to take the night off because I was exhausted from hard weekend hunting. A buddy called, so we went out. I got us turned down the wrong trail into an area I hadn't been before. So we hiked up a ridge to a couple glassing points. I sat under a tree for an hour or so and let out a handful of cow calls. The goal, from what I'd read and seen in videos, was to draw in a younger bull who would likely come in silently, wasn't expecting the herd bull to leave his cows for my less than stellar calls.
We decided with about 40 min of light left to move to another spot where we could actually shoot anything that came out of the timber. As we were walking away, this little 5x5 (technically he does have a 1.5" 6th on one side) came right up to the tree we had been sitting under. I had just enough time to turn, throw off my glove, and shoot standing with no support from about 75 yards. He ran downhill and fell about 50 yards later. Far from the biggest, but I couldn't be happier with this guy!
It was one of the coolest experiences of my life. Then the two of us started hacking into the elk and packing out in the dark. Wasn't a long pack out, but we were in grizzly country and not 100% sure what we were doing. But we got all of the quarters, backstraps, tenderloins, loose meat, and head out in under 4 hours. Oh and after our first load, we had an experienced friend show up and help us figure out the rest
He brought his dog too...3 guys and a dog in griz country is a lot more comforting. We made a ton of noise, sang stupid songs, drank a celebratory beer, and generally had a nerve-wracking fun time. Best part is it was with best friends, and I could sleep in my own bed that night
My little cow party plan seemed to have worked. I was so happy we made the best of a mixed up situation, and the plan worked perfectly! Lesson learned: persistence and constant learning.
