Jason Bartel
FNG
- Joined
- Nov 16, 2013
- Messages
- 19
After an uneventful 2012 season I vowed to become a better elk hunter. I bought every elk call known to man. Read every online blog and magazine I could find about set ups and calling. I worked out the 4 months prior to season 5 days a week and ate healthy. I bought a new bow and practiced out to 80 yards. I shot at least a dozen arrows every day. I had 7 cameras set up in 3 different spots to monitor activity. I felt that on the opening day of season I was going to be as ready as I would ever be.
On opening morning my hunting partner Jon and I walked right into the perfect setup. As we crested the ridge, a bull grunted 40 yards down the other side. As my partner set up next to a large pine, I pulled back over the ridge top 30 yards to call. After one call the bull began to circle downwind of the call. The only problem was that Jon was upwind of where he circled. The bull busted us and we knew we had messed up. We continued to hunt this area for the next two days with a close call every day, but no success. I had even turned my camera on once thinking I was going to make an epic video. Unfortunately I forgot to turn it off and killed the batteries will filling the memory card with a video of the ground. We left the area discourage at our ability and tried a new spot. The next day we arrived at a spot the previous year that had been full of elk. As we worked up the drainage we noticed we did not see a lot of elk sign. When we got to our cameras and saw the multiple wolf pictures we were heartbroken. Honestly feeling like we were wasting one of our precious days I felt the morale slip that day. We left the area early to return to the spot that had been so promising the first 3 days. With another run in with the original elk and the same results, we elected to try our last spot.
It was Saturday the 14th of September and temps were in the high 80's all week. My hunting buddy and I typically work from the bottom of the draw up to put the wind in our favor, but this Saturday had a 10 mph NE wind so we planned to hunt from the top down on a long ridge. My friend and I left the truck at daylight and worked down the ridge for 2.5 hours until we came to where we had a game camera. After reviewing the pictures and seeing a nice 6x6 two weeks earlier in the area we decided to split up and cover both sides of the ridge. We have hunted this area before and my buddy missed a nice bull last season on the west/south side. I gave him choice of which side he wanted and he picked the same side from his encounter last year. I set up on an old elk bed with good shooting lanes in all directions. I was a little in the open, but there was a fallen 12" pine below me and it was super steep directly behind me. As I sit and listen, this one particular chipmunk keeps barking his head off from below me and to my left. After only being in my spot for 30 minutes I decide to let the sweetest softest cow call I could. 10 seconds later a stick broke, the barking stopped and all was dead silent. Then, out of the corner of my eye to my left I saw the tips of his horns. He was side hilling directly at me from 40 yards. I was frozen as he was in a dead stare in my direction. My shooting lane had turned into a football field with no cover. He walked right to the 12" pine below me and stared into my eyes. With the wind in my face, I felt like the 4 yards of distance between us was more than enough to get the job done. I just needed to draw my bow! After an intense 60 second stare down he walked under me and the wind stopped. The hair on his back stood up and he quivered, sending him lunging two fast paces. As he turns from side hilling to facing down the mountain I know he is going to have to switch from looking over is right shoulder to looking over his left to see me. I swung my bow from my left to right at this exact moment so I am now facing the animal again. He is 10 yards away and walking downhill. I am off to his left shoulder. I draw as he walks behind the first of 3 small pines. I set my 20 yard pin on the base of the third tree where he should walk out. Two steps later I send my arrow racing towards him. It drives home low and tight to the back leg. Great angle for the downhill, quartering away shot. He runs 50 yards, falls down, and gets up only to run another 25 to his final resting place. I could not see him from where I am so I commit to sitting tight until noon. I let the arrow go at 11:24am. It was a long 36 minutes. As I watched the seconds count down on my GPS I am excited it is the last 60 seconds before I go in search of the elk. 30 seconds before leaving my spot I hear a cow call from the ridge behind me. It is my buddy who had decided to walk the rest of the ridge down and back before dropping in on his side. I eagerly walk up to him and ask him what he had seen. He stated he had heard a cow, but that was it. I calmly whispered that I just stuck a monster and he was just in time to help me find it. At first he didn't believe me, but as we walked to where I had last seen and heard the beast, we could smell him. And right there, just like in the stories in magazines, was the trophy of a lifetime. After some high fives and pics, we quartered him for 2 hours and spent the next 6 packing him out. Fortunately we had cell service where the truck was parked and called for another buddy to bring up tarps and ice. After loading the beast we began the 2 hour ride home. 30 minutes later we were fixing a flat tire. We got back to Jon's place at 11. We cleaned the meat and stuck it in the freezer. The day started at 3 am and ended at midnight, what an epic day! Now to do it all over again for my buddy!
On opening morning my hunting partner Jon and I walked right into the perfect setup. As we crested the ridge, a bull grunted 40 yards down the other side. As my partner set up next to a large pine, I pulled back over the ridge top 30 yards to call. After one call the bull began to circle downwind of the call. The only problem was that Jon was upwind of where he circled. The bull busted us and we knew we had messed up. We continued to hunt this area for the next two days with a close call every day, but no success. I had even turned my camera on once thinking I was going to make an epic video. Unfortunately I forgot to turn it off and killed the batteries will filling the memory card with a video of the ground. We left the area discourage at our ability and tried a new spot. The next day we arrived at a spot the previous year that had been full of elk. As we worked up the drainage we noticed we did not see a lot of elk sign. When we got to our cameras and saw the multiple wolf pictures we were heartbroken. Honestly feeling like we were wasting one of our precious days I felt the morale slip that day. We left the area early to return to the spot that had been so promising the first 3 days. With another run in with the original elk and the same results, we elected to try our last spot.
It was Saturday the 14th of September and temps were in the high 80's all week. My hunting buddy and I typically work from the bottom of the draw up to put the wind in our favor, but this Saturday had a 10 mph NE wind so we planned to hunt from the top down on a long ridge. My friend and I left the truck at daylight and worked down the ridge for 2.5 hours until we came to where we had a game camera. After reviewing the pictures and seeing a nice 6x6 two weeks earlier in the area we decided to split up and cover both sides of the ridge. We have hunted this area before and my buddy missed a nice bull last season on the west/south side. I gave him choice of which side he wanted and he picked the same side from his encounter last year. I set up on an old elk bed with good shooting lanes in all directions. I was a little in the open, but there was a fallen 12" pine below me and it was super steep directly behind me. As I sit and listen, this one particular chipmunk keeps barking his head off from below me and to my left. After only being in my spot for 30 minutes I decide to let the sweetest softest cow call I could. 10 seconds later a stick broke, the barking stopped and all was dead silent. Then, out of the corner of my eye to my left I saw the tips of his horns. He was side hilling directly at me from 40 yards. I was frozen as he was in a dead stare in my direction. My shooting lane had turned into a football field with no cover. He walked right to the 12" pine below me and stared into my eyes. With the wind in my face, I felt like the 4 yards of distance between us was more than enough to get the job done. I just needed to draw my bow! After an intense 60 second stare down he walked under me and the wind stopped. The hair on his back stood up and he quivered, sending him lunging two fast paces. As he turns from side hilling to facing down the mountain I know he is going to have to switch from looking over is right shoulder to looking over his left to see me. I swung my bow from my left to right at this exact moment so I am now facing the animal again. He is 10 yards away and walking downhill. I am off to his left shoulder. I draw as he walks behind the first of 3 small pines. I set my 20 yard pin on the base of the third tree where he should walk out. Two steps later I send my arrow racing towards him. It drives home low and tight to the back leg. Great angle for the downhill, quartering away shot. He runs 50 yards, falls down, and gets up only to run another 25 to his final resting place. I could not see him from where I am so I commit to sitting tight until noon. I let the arrow go at 11:24am. It was a long 36 minutes. As I watched the seconds count down on my GPS I am excited it is the last 60 seconds before I go in search of the elk. 30 seconds before leaving my spot I hear a cow call from the ridge behind me. It is my buddy who had decided to walk the rest of the ridge down and back before dropping in on his side. I eagerly walk up to him and ask him what he had seen. He stated he had heard a cow, but that was it. I calmly whispered that I just stuck a monster and he was just in time to help me find it. At first he didn't believe me, but as we walked to where I had last seen and heard the beast, we could smell him. And right there, just like in the stories in magazines, was the trophy of a lifetime. After some high fives and pics, we quartered him for 2 hours and spent the next 6 packing him out. Fortunately we had cell service where the truck was parked and called for another buddy to bring up tarps and ice. After loading the beast we began the 2 hour ride home. 30 minutes later we were fixing a flat tire. We got back to Jon's place at 11. We cleaned the meat and stuck it in the freezer. The day started at 3 am and ended at midnight, what an epic day! Now to do it all over again for my buddy!
