teej89
Well-known member
Thanks! It's not over yet... there's one more tag to fill in this story.
All or Nothing - 2018 Missiouri Breaks Elk
- Thread starter teej89
- Start date
Mtnhunter1
Well-known member
One more tag to fill! LOL!! Well, I sure hope that you finish this story before you post your scouting pics form this fall's hunt!!
teej89
Well-known member
Did you end up drawing the tag?
NDGuy
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- Joined
- Apr 26, 2018
- Messages
- 1,766
Hahaha....kill me
I not only missed out on the permit, I missed out on the Big Game Combo completely...back to back years of missing out on a "near guaranteed tag". My ND deer tag I put in for last year was a 90%+ chance to draw.
teej89
Well-known member
Dude that's rough... sorry to hear that man!
Yellowstoner
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- Joined
- Aug 14, 2015
- Messages
- 167
I'm loving this story - I've got an archery tag up there this year and can't wait to spend some more time in the breaks looking for critters and not just walleye.
If you and teej are in the same area, make sure you get together. Those guys are hunters. mtmuley
teej89
Well-known member
Which tag did you draw? We have the 620-21 tag.
Birddy
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- Aug 25, 2014
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- 87
I have a 410-21 tag and this is getting me excited to spend time in that country!
8andcounting
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- Dec 16, 2013
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- 3,404
417 and 410 are great units good luck !
Birddy
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- Aug 25, 2014
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- 87
I’ve never stepped foot in the area before. I will make a trip this summer to scout then give it hell for a week come September
Yellowstoner
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- Aug 14, 2015
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- 167
Same tag! I'll shoot ya a PM.
teej89
Well-known member
Alright guys, it's the final installment... we have my bull, my dads bull and now we're trying to get my buddy his bull. This was his first elk hunt ever, he hit the jackpot drawing this tag with us. Anywho... the next couple of days are fairly uneventful, finding some small bulls here and there and not gonna lie, we took an afternoon off and did a tad bit of truck hunting which turned up some bulls but nothing on public. The multiple days of packing meat then hiking again to find our next bull was crushing us physically and he had open blisters on his feet the size of quarters(didn't realize he had the wrong shoe size). The one evening we're up on a high point glassing and a real nice heavy 5x5 walks out about a mile out. Daylight was fading but I was like man we could get on him for sure before last light. We watched and watched and eventually my bud turned him down. The next morning he's like man we shoulda gone after him, but we went back to the same drainage with hopeful thoughts, sitting watching the sun come up and the moon fade away while eating mountain house lasagna for breakfast made for a great start. That morning turned up nothing but muley bucks, bighorns and a couple rag horn bulls. Kinda feels silly saying it turned up nothing haha just nothing we wanted to hunt. We decided to pack up and do our normal run and glass technique which now it wasn't turning up anything. Finally, we sit down on another high point for the evening and glass. Wouldn't you know it, bulls and cows started turning up everywhere but again, no 6pts. We had our heart set on a 6pt for him even though these 5pts were starting to look pretty decent, especially for his first bull.
We called it a night and another longgggg hike back to the truck and a longggg drive back to camp. The next morning we decided to get on the herd we saw last night and see if we couldn't pick out a bull that we may have missed. We get set up and darkness fades and the light comes andddddd no elk, anywhere. Not a single one to be seen. Crap. We hike out and find another glassing point and took turns glassing and sleeping until lunch. At that point in time I was like alright we're going back to our "make something" happen technique. We saw lots of sign, smelled em and at one point put on a small push through what seemed to be a great bedding area with no luck. I was busting my arse off trying to get him on an elk and moral was pretty low to say the least. I don't know how he felt but I also felt tension was getting high between the two of us because we were exhausted and we haven't even seen an elk today. Also I was holding out on this spot as a backup plan thinking it'd be a slam dunk and saying it would be a slam dunk.... my mistake ha!
Anywho we hike and hike and hike until all of the sudden I see a tan butt drop down off a bench. I pull up my binos and see her rear slip into the draw. I say "we found em!" and tell him we gotta boogey b/c they're dropping to where we may not be able to see em. We get up to a ridge and confirm there's at least one 6pt in with some cows and a raghorn or town and at first it only looks to be 6 elk. They're over a mile away directly up this drainage. We haul arse down into a draw and up the other side and down and up and down and up until I can get a good view of them with the spotter. I wanted to be in a location where I could see if they bailed out of the draw they were in. Afterwards on ONX this was 1mi from where the group ended up. We discussed some simple hand signals and I tell him to follow the shadow line in the drainage and point to a cliff because that cliff will put him to within 300yds and way above them. He understood and took off.
My goodness, this is where time went way slowwwwwww. In my binos I can see him and the elk in the same picture. This kid is moving at an absolute snails pace, it was like paint drying on grass growing. Later on I made fun of him, said it was like that scene from Austin Powers where he was about to get run over with the steam roller haha
What seemed like 3hrs later he got to where he should go up to the cliff to get above them but he doesn't. He keeps going straight up the draw at them. Then I realize he's going to get on this tiny rise that's about 150yds from them, not sure why but that's fine with me. I see him take off his pack, get his gun and range finder and start belly crawling up this knoll. All the while I have my binos on all the elk there, the ones I can see that is. He's finally set up and laying prone on the rise with no elk spooked. The wind is absolutely perfect, we couldn't have planned for a better wind.
I'm just sitting there watching him, smacking away mosquitoes and flies and it's like I'm watching a hunting show on television, it was so cool! Finally the elk start moving and it looks like one bull is about to start up this steep hillside working towards his left. I see him shuffle a little bit and there's a big ole cow about 100yds away getting above him on this hill. I'm over here nervous as all get out because I think he's about to be busted but she keeps milling on. Again, my heart is pounding as if I'm shooting, my eyes are darting all over this draw because there's bulls I can see that he can't because he went to the lower knoll in lieu of the cliff. Probably 15min pass with him on that knoll and these elk milling around, when finally I see antlers start working their way up the steep hill. The bull pauses for a bit and I hear a shot ring out, jack pot! I'm stoked! ALL of the sudden the draw ERUPTS with elk, they come piling out of there. A giant 6x6 gets up on the steep slope stops turns broadside and looks back at him and I'm like shoot him again, shoot him again! In my head of course. Then that bull takes off with his cows and I hear a second shot ring out and I move my binos to him and see him turn around and give me a good ole air fist pound. It's over.
I gather my gear and walk/run up to him and get to him just as he approaches his first elk kill ever, a decent little 5x5, good for his first bull ever. What an exciting moment! However now it's fairly late in the afternoon and who knows where we are with the last part of our journey. We get to work on the animal and get him broken up and deboned fairly fast, we feel like pros now that we're on our third bull quartering and deboning in 5 days. I look at ONx and realize we're 4+ miles from the truck and it's basically dark. The 4 miles would be constant up and down and up and down through the prairie which is exhausting then throw in the fights with the sage brush tripping you up every step. We joked walking through the sage brush was like walking through a cemetery of zombies with their hands reaching outta the ground grabbing our boots and ankles cuz that's what it felt like hahaha
We realize we're only about 2.5-3mi worth of ridge running from another trail head that we've been at one other time. We get my dad on the satellite phone and see if he's around to pick us up at the trailhead. Fortunately I think he was just BSing back at camp with mtmuley and the rest of the guys there so he hopped in his truck and made his way over to us. A couple hours later and with my phone on 5% I navigated us back to the other lot. Exhausted, tired, thirsty and hungry. As a promise made to mtmuley we told them we'd keep the liver and share it with them as long as they'd cook it. We get back to camp and have a couple congratulatory beers, cook up a nice dinner of liver, and probably hands down the best damn baked beans I've ever had in my life made by mtmuleys friends neighbor. After a night of drinking and eating, we slept in a little the next day. The old man made us breakfast and we were off for our last meat haul on our 2018 breaks elk hunt. What A good feeling it was putting that pack on with the last load and taking it off at the truck. We got his bull wrapped up in (2) trips, one the day of and the second trip was the next morning.
We learned a lot during this hunt and it tested the hell out of us mentally and physically. I am extremely grateful to have drawn this tag with my dad who may never draw the rifle one again and my friend who's always wanted to hunt elk but had people back out on him or just outright couldn't find anyone to go with him. Also extremely grateful for meeting @mtmuley and his friends during this trip, we had some damn good laughs and some great stories. One day we'll have to meet on up again and go chase some critters together. Also a huge thanks for all the HTers out there that reached out to me with information/support. Anyways, sorry for dragging everyone through the mud on this write up, it's been a busy time since the hunt but I hope you enjoyed it!
Also I'm not sure if my bud wanted his face up here so I blurred it out.
Now back to the breaks again with our bows this fall! Then getting married to the best damn girl I know a couple weeks after the hunt.
Thanks again guys!
-T.J.
We called it a night and another longgggg hike back to the truck and a longggg drive back to camp. The next morning we decided to get on the herd we saw last night and see if we couldn't pick out a bull that we may have missed. We get set up and darkness fades and the light comes andddddd no elk, anywhere. Not a single one to be seen. Crap. We hike out and find another glassing point and took turns glassing and sleeping until lunch. At that point in time I was like alright we're going back to our "make something" happen technique. We saw lots of sign, smelled em and at one point put on a small push through what seemed to be a great bedding area with no luck. I was busting my arse off trying to get him on an elk and moral was pretty low to say the least. I don't know how he felt but I also felt tension was getting high between the two of us because we were exhausted and we haven't even seen an elk today. Also I was holding out on this spot as a backup plan thinking it'd be a slam dunk and saying it would be a slam dunk.... my mistake ha!
Anywho we hike and hike and hike until all of the sudden I see a tan butt drop down off a bench. I pull up my binos and see her rear slip into the draw. I say "we found em!" and tell him we gotta boogey b/c they're dropping to where we may not be able to see em. We get up to a ridge and confirm there's at least one 6pt in with some cows and a raghorn or town and at first it only looks to be 6 elk. They're over a mile away directly up this drainage. We haul arse down into a draw and up the other side and down and up and down and up until I can get a good view of them with the spotter. I wanted to be in a location where I could see if they bailed out of the draw they were in. Afterwards on ONX this was 1mi from where the group ended up. We discussed some simple hand signals and I tell him to follow the shadow line in the drainage and point to a cliff because that cliff will put him to within 300yds and way above them. He understood and took off.
My goodness, this is where time went way slowwwwwww. In my binos I can see him and the elk in the same picture. This kid is moving at an absolute snails pace, it was like paint drying on grass growing. Later on I made fun of him, said it was like that scene from Austin Powers where he was about to get run over with the steam roller haha
What seemed like 3hrs later he got to where he should go up to the cliff to get above them but he doesn't. He keeps going straight up the draw at them. Then I realize he's going to get on this tiny rise that's about 150yds from them, not sure why but that's fine with me. I see him take off his pack, get his gun and range finder and start belly crawling up this knoll. All the while I have my binos on all the elk there, the ones I can see that is. He's finally set up and laying prone on the rise with no elk spooked. The wind is absolutely perfect, we couldn't have planned for a better wind.
I'm just sitting there watching him, smacking away mosquitoes and flies and it's like I'm watching a hunting show on television, it was so cool! Finally the elk start moving and it looks like one bull is about to start up this steep hillside working towards his left. I see him shuffle a little bit and there's a big ole cow about 100yds away getting above him on this hill. I'm over here nervous as all get out because I think he's about to be busted but she keeps milling on. Again, my heart is pounding as if I'm shooting, my eyes are darting all over this draw because there's bulls I can see that he can't because he went to the lower knoll in lieu of the cliff. Probably 15min pass with him on that knoll and these elk milling around, when finally I see antlers start working their way up the steep hill. The bull pauses for a bit and I hear a shot ring out, jack pot! I'm stoked! ALL of the sudden the draw ERUPTS with elk, they come piling out of there. A giant 6x6 gets up on the steep slope stops turns broadside and looks back at him and I'm like shoot him again, shoot him again! In my head of course. Then that bull takes off with his cows and I hear a second shot ring out and I move my binos to him and see him turn around and give me a good ole air fist pound. It's over.
I gather my gear and walk/run up to him and get to him just as he approaches his first elk kill ever, a decent little 5x5, good for his first bull ever. What an exciting moment! However now it's fairly late in the afternoon and who knows where we are with the last part of our journey. We get to work on the animal and get him broken up and deboned fairly fast, we feel like pros now that we're on our third bull quartering and deboning in 5 days. I look at ONx and realize we're 4+ miles from the truck and it's basically dark. The 4 miles would be constant up and down and up and down through the prairie which is exhausting then throw in the fights with the sage brush tripping you up every step. We joked walking through the sage brush was like walking through a cemetery of zombies with their hands reaching outta the ground grabbing our boots and ankles cuz that's what it felt like hahaha
We realize we're only about 2.5-3mi worth of ridge running from another trail head that we've been at one other time. We get my dad on the satellite phone and see if he's around to pick us up at the trailhead. Fortunately I think he was just BSing back at camp with mtmuley and the rest of the guys there so he hopped in his truck and made his way over to us. A couple hours later and with my phone on 5% I navigated us back to the other lot. Exhausted, tired, thirsty and hungry. As a promise made to mtmuley we told them we'd keep the liver and share it with them as long as they'd cook it. We get back to camp and have a couple congratulatory beers, cook up a nice dinner of liver, and probably hands down the best damn baked beans I've ever had in my life made by mtmuleys friends neighbor. After a night of drinking and eating, we slept in a little the next day. The old man made us breakfast and we were off for our last meat haul on our 2018 breaks elk hunt. What A good feeling it was putting that pack on with the last load and taking it off at the truck. We got his bull wrapped up in (2) trips, one the day of and the second trip was the next morning.
We learned a lot during this hunt and it tested the hell out of us mentally and physically. I am extremely grateful to have drawn this tag with my dad who may never draw the rifle one again and my friend who's always wanted to hunt elk but had people back out on him or just outright couldn't find anyone to go with him. Also extremely grateful for meeting @mtmuley and his friends during this trip, we had some damn good laughs and some great stories. One day we'll have to meet on up again and go chase some critters together. Also a huge thanks for all the HTers out there that reached out to me with information/support. Anyways, sorry for dragging everyone through the mud on this write up, it's been a busy time since the hunt but I hope you enjoyed it!
Also I'm not sure if my bud wanted his face up here so I blurred it out.
Now back to the breaks again with our bows this fall! Then getting married to the best damn girl I know a couple weeks after the hunt.
Thanks again guys!
-T.J.
Attachments
Great hunt for you guys. The hunter with the blurred face had so much moleskin on one evening it looked like socks. He's a tough man. Really respect he killed a bull. teejay and his dad must have been connected. Two bulls down in the Breaks at the same time. Hats off. It was a privilege to eat elk liver with you guys. And watch teejay actually drink Busch Light. mtmuley
Scott85
Well-known member
- Joined
- Nov 22, 2018
- Messages
- 3,037
Congrats again on an amazing hunt and the write up is killer. I can't wait to read about your 2019 adventure.
Hunting Wife
Well-known member
You guys sure made the most out of the experience! Nicely done.
8andcounting
Well-known member
- Joined
- Dec 16, 2013
- Messages
- 3,404
Awesome! Congratulations!
teej89
Well-known member
Thanks guys! It was a ton of fun and glad I could finally share it all with ya!
ashersdad
Well-known member
Thanks for the write up and pictures. Felt like I was right there with you. Congratulations to you all!
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