1st elk hunt/I need a psychiatrist

[Bullshot]

I admire the commitment and willingness to push on. Elk hunting is often a mental challenge where you fight with yourself. Good luck.

So much about elk hunting, particularly non-resident DIY elk hunting, is not really about elk hunting. It’s a badge of honor, a self reflection, and a bond of common experiences. If you succeed, you earned it. If you fail, you still succeeded by even doing it. Win win.

 

[OntarioHunter]

And pull the screen off the arrestor. I hate those.

Yep!

 

[OntarioHunter]

That was one idea I had but didn’t follow through with, then other was sheet metal screws.

I used sheet metal screws and scratched numbers on each section of pipe so they would always line up.

 

[OntarioHunter]

Also, eat well and slow your pace. Take lots of breaks.

Lots of milk, even the dried stuff. Calcium helps with cramping.

 

[Elkhunter24]

Glad your feeling better. Good luck

 

[HuntTalk Freak]

Well I’ve seen my first two public land cow elk! The trip is now a success. Im sitting over a meadow with a bench on both sides.

I want to thank everyone for their advice and words of encouragement, this place is awesome. Also a big thank to the guys who reached out via private messages with some helpful info. Also the Ranger who stopped by and told me where he had seen elk and fresh sign this morning pretty close to my camp. They were right where he told me to look. Crazy because it was an area I had marked but had blown it off when it got here.

It ain’t over yet!

 

[BrentD]

It ain’t over yet!

You need to change the title of this post. For sure, you do not need a psychiatrist. A physiologist, maybe, but you've got the psychiatrist thing covered.

Looking for the pack-out photos.

 

[232401a]

Shoot a cow!

I so wish I could go back to my first E/S CO 1st rifle elk hunt and shoot a cow.

Personally, I'd also be happy to shoot a calf.

 

[SCmountainwanderer]

Thanks for sharing the ups and downs of your hunt so far. It’s been quite an eye opener for this newbie and introduced some things I’d never have considered before while planning.

 

[HuntTalk Freak]

Well this morning has been a rodeo. I’m sitting in my truck contemplating what to do next. Spotted two bulls this morning and cow called them into a timber opening 323 yards away. One bull stood broadside a good few minutes long enough for me to range him, dial my scope, settle my nerves and fire a shot dropping him where he stood.

So he’s sitting there on his knees about to wobble over and then he stands up facing away from me for a bit then turns broadside again facing the way he came from. I shot again and he ran behind some trees. A few seconds later here comes a bull back out again walking like nothing happened. I wasn’t sure if it was the second bull or not and I didn’t want to shoot two by mistake so I didn’t shoot as I looked for signs of injury as he walked into the timber. Damn. I grab my binoculars and start glassing the hillside I see no other bull walking around. He must be dead behind that patch of trees.

I wait a while and start side hilling a loop around to get a vantage point to see into. I keep expecting to glass up a dead bull but the timber was too thick. By the time I made it around to where he was standing it had been about an hour. I found where he fell and got back up. No blood. I start following the tracks where I saw the one bull walk away, no blood but I keep following what fresh looking tracks I could find while glassing ahead of me, down hill and up hill from me.

I make it about a quarter mile or so and I smell elk. I looked up the ridge and about 100yds there stood a bull staring down at me, his vitals hid behind a tree. I shift to the left and right trying to get a shot but he disappears like a ghost. I slowly walk up hill and find his bed, no blood. Follow the tracks some more and find fresh droppings.

At this point I figured that must have been the other bull. I head back to where the bull was standing and start circling and glassing up and down the hill. I just can’t find anything substantial other than that area he dropped in and tore up the dirt getting back up.

I don’t know what to do at this point. Don’t want to just wonder the timber and push elk further in. There are fresh tracks, droppings and rubs everywhere up and down the mountain.
I decided my best option was to back out and come back this evening to see if a sick looking elk comes out to feed.

I had set my shooting limit to 350-360yds but maybe I should have waited though I knew they weren’t coming into the meadow and getting closer.

Really bummed. If I don’t see him again this evening or in the morning, I’m packing up and heading home.

 

[HuntTalk Freak]

Thanks for sharing the ups and downs of your hunt so far. It’s been quite an eye opener for this newbie and introduced some things I’d never have considered before while planning.

When I get home I’m going to edit my original post with some helpful tips and things I learned along the way. I created this thread specifically for guys wanting to do their first trip.

 

[SCmountainwanderer]

Man that’s rough. I sure hope you can run across him again, good luck!

 

[SCmountainwanderer]

When I get home I’m going to edit my original post with some helpful tips and things I learned along the way. I created this thread specifically for guys wanting to do their first trip.

That’s wonderful news! Looking forward to seeing what you’ve discovered along the way in this journey. Thanks for sharing with us.

 

[OntarioHunter]

Hmmm. Wonder what happened. Gut shot sometimes they stop bleeding but usually there's some blood at sight of impact. But not always. My only gut shot was a nice whitetail buck that left no sign of being hit except the odor of guts when I got to the spot where I shot him. It was a quick shot and he jumped when I squeezed. Figured I missed, walked to the top of the mountain, shot a big dry doe muley, made her into a pack and literally stepped on the dead buck coming back down. If hit in the leg there's usually some blood, for a while anyway.

Don't give up. Did you hear an impact? What are you shooting?

 

[elkantlers]

I'd be up there looking for that hit bull. He's likely dead within a few hundred yards if you hit him both times broadside. If he's wounded, it's very unlikely he will come out to feed this evening. Good luck.

 

[JLS]

Give it a couple of hours, get plenty of food and water, and head back and grid search the hell out of that area. If you hit them twice, broad side, he’s in there. good luck, cheering for you my friend.

 

[hunterdoug]

U might have hit him close to the spine
The shock of the bullet can paralyze them for a bit sometimes

 

[Wallydeuce]

He may be in there dead. Go look. You only saw one other bull after you got to the area. He's probably in there somewhere. Forget about blowing out other elk. You owe it to him. Grid search.

 

[kansasdad]

A thought came to me as I was reading…..possibly hit his antlers on the first shot, knocking him out/down right there, and then regain his senses to turn broadside for you to shoot again? I’ve seen video of such antler impacts before.

Spine hit elk/deer/antelope have rear ends that splay and flail, if they can rise up at all.

Hoping he is “deader than disco” and laying in the shade when you find him.

 

[Pucky Freak]

Hoping he is “deader than disco” and laying in the shade when you find him.

Very well could be. The deer I shot on Saturday had maybe two tablespoons of blood on the ground. All the rest was pooled up in the body cavity.