8yrs in the making, finally an archery elk. Not the biggest bull on the mountain but this hunt sure was special. I'll apologize now for the long read...
It seems it's starting to be a common occurrence, when Gerald Martin and I go into the mountains, stuff dies! And pack outs are usually memorable, in a bad way, but really what pack out isn't.
Sept. 1st
Friday before the opener I hiked up to spike camp with the plan for Gerald and Reuben arriving at the TH the evening of Wed. 6th. The next 4 days were very uneventful, dry, hot, smokey, not seeing much sign, then Tues evening I heard a bugle, then another, ended up hearing bugles around me until 2am, guess there are elk in here!
Sept 6th
I hiked out to the TH after a morning hunt to meet Gerald & Reuben about 7pm with intentions of getting them packed up and to spike camp. Those plans changed after talking with the local warden for an hour before Gerald arrived, then before he left he did the obligatory license check, guess who forgot his bow & arrow license! So I leave Gerald to get his gear ready and off to town I go to get my license. The warden was very nice, gave me a written warning. When I arrived back to the TH at 930pm we decided to sleep there and hike up in the morning.
Sept 7th
430am alarm, coffee and oatmeal then off we are heading up to spike camp, we played with a couple Bulls on the way, noting their locations for later. Gerald and Reuben got their camps all set up, we had some lunch and headed out for an afternoon hunt. After chasing bugles on and off throughout the evening, the Bulls seemed to be on their feet and kept moving, with us never able to get more than a few hundred yards of them. We decide to work our way down the mnt to the edge of a meadow with about 30mins of light left, we're pretty much calling it a night at this point with intentions of hiking back to spike camp.
Then there's a bugle up the mnt. Gerald gets out the Bully basher (Gerald's homemade bugle tube) and starts doing his thing, this bull sounds like he might want to play! Off I go trying to get set up, there was in a nice slide with a heavily used game trail coming down it, 20-40 yds wide in places with scattered timber, wind is coming down, everything is perfect! But the bull is staying put, I decided 8yrs of this waiting for a bull to come by is enough, I'm going to go kill this bull.
With Gerald keeping him talking I kept advancing about 50yds finding a tree to get in front of, finally I'm about as high as I can go, the bull is just over the rise bugling. I catch movement, it's a spike in some timber, then a cow pops over at 25yds. Not knowing where Gerald & Reuben were I figured they'd be coming up behind me and the cow would end this show. Sure enough her head goes up, ears out, peering down the slide... Luckily she calmed, Gerald spotted her so he knew to sit tight, she went back to feeding, all the while this bull is ticked off, talking up a storm with Gerald. Finally, I see tines coming over the rise through the timber, all I knew was he was legal, didn't look at his head gear again. He walks out 30 yds in the open nearly broadside, rips off several more bugles. I've got two small tree branches at 20yds hanging right in his vitals, so I wait. He feeds and bugles more without moving, finally he takes steps, I go to draw and he raises his head, I stopped at mid cycle and let down slowly. Then he puts his head down again, takes some steps, I get drawn back, have a hard time lining everything up since I've got about 2mins of light left is all. First three pins all look in the vitals, whack! No clue where I hit him but his reaction looked like it was a good hit. Immediately Gerald and I start bugling and cow calling, he went just over the rise, I hear some deep coughing him trying to get his breath and then crashing, but other elk were busting out of there too. I got a moment to myself to sit down and try to grasp what had just happened before Gerald & Reuben came running up all excited, I say hold on boys until we touch this guy, I proceed to get a headlamp out wanting to find my arrow, I tell Gerald to go look for blood if he wants, well Gerald takes about 10 steps and says... " you may as well bring your tag over here and put it on your bull". He went about 25yds and was piled up, that bull was dead under a minute.
I ran over to see my bull, put my hands on it, and gives thanks. I turn around and there's Gerald, couldn't think of a better guy to have shared this experience with, and for it to finally all come together! In the short time I've known Gerald we sure have had some great successful hunts.
Gerald, Reuben and I spent the next 3hrs deboning and shuttling meat bags to the bottom. We left the meat, cape and skull overnight elevated on a log praying Mr. Grizzly wouldn't find it. We hiked back to spike camp arriving at 130am. The next morning was tenderloin fried in a pan,,,,,yummy, then getting the meat to the TH on ice.
Special thanks to Gerald and his elk talk expertise, he kept this guy talking while I pinpointed his location and moved into position.
Seems I owe Gerald some pack outs that he's been banking, hopefully I'll be loaded down with meat bags with his and his daughter's Breaks Bulls come rifle season. My pack is ready! Man, I love Montana!
Best of luck to everyone this season, be safe.
-Dave.
It seems it's starting to be a common occurrence, when Gerald Martin and I go into the mountains, stuff dies! And pack outs are usually memorable, in a bad way, but really what pack out isn't.
Sept. 1st
Friday before the opener I hiked up to spike camp with the plan for Gerald and Reuben arriving at the TH the evening of Wed. 6th. The next 4 days were very uneventful, dry, hot, smokey, not seeing much sign, then Tues evening I heard a bugle, then another, ended up hearing bugles around me until 2am, guess there are elk in here!
Sept 6th
I hiked out to the TH after a morning hunt to meet Gerald & Reuben about 7pm with intentions of getting them packed up and to spike camp. Those plans changed after talking with the local warden for an hour before Gerald arrived, then before he left he did the obligatory license check, guess who forgot his bow & arrow license! So I leave Gerald to get his gear ready and off to town I go to get my license. The warden was very nice, gave me a written warning. When I arrived back to the TH at 930pm we decided to sleep there and hike up in the morning.
Sept 7th
430am alarm, coffee and oatmeal then off we are heading up to spike camp, we played with a couple Bulls on the way, noting their locations for later. Gerald and Reuben got their camps all set up, we had some lunch and headed out for an afternoon hunt. After chasing bugles on and off throughout the evening, the Bulls seemed to be on their feet and kept moving, with us never able to get more than a few hundred yards of them. We decide to work our way down the mnt to the edge of a meadow with about 30mins of light left, we're pretty much calling it a night at this point with intentions of hiking back to spike camp.
Then there's a bugle up the mnt. Gerald gets out the Bully basher (Gerald's homemade bugle tube) and starts doing his thing, this bull sounds like he might want to play! Off I go trying to get set up, there was in a nice slide with a heavily used game trail coming down it, 20-40 yds wide in places with scattered timber, wind is coming down, everything is perfect! But the bull is staying put, I decided 8yrs of this waiting for a bull to come by is enough, I'm going to go kill this bull.
With Gerald keeping him talking I kept advancing about 50yds finding a tree to get in front of, finally I'm about as high as I can go, the bull is just over the rise bugling. I catch movement, it's a spike in some timber, then a cow pops over at 25yds. Not knowing where Gerald & Reuben were I figured they'd be coming up behind me and the cow would end this show. Sure enough her head goes up, ears out, peering down the slide... Luckily she calmed, Gerald spotted her so he knew to sit tight, she went back to feeding, all the while this bull is ticked off, talking up a storm with Gerald. Finally, I see tines coming over the rise through the timber, all I knew was he was legal, didn't look at his head gear again. He walks out 30 yds in the open nearly broadside, rips off several more bugles. I've got two small tree branches at 20yds hanging right in his vitals, so I wait. He feeds and bugles more without moving, finally he takes steps, I go to draw and he raises his head, I stopped at mid cycle and let down slowly. Then he puts his head down again, takes some steps, I get drawn back, have a hard time lining everything up since I've got about 2mins of light left is all. First three pins all look in the vitals, whack! No clue where I hit him but his reaction looked like it was a good hit. Immediately Gerald and I start bugling and cow calling, he went just over the rise, I hear some deep coughing him trying to get his breath and then crashing, but other elk were busting out of there too. I got a moment to myself to sit down and try to grasp what had just happened before Gerald & Reuben came running up all excited, I say hold on boys until we touch this guy, I proceed to get a headlamp out wanting to find my arrow, I tell Gerald to go look for blood if he wants, well Gerald takes about 10 steps and says... " you may as well bring your tag over here and put it on your bull". He went about 25yds and was piled up, that bull was dead under a minute.
I ran over to see my bull, put my hands on it, and gives thanks. I turn around and there's Gerald, couldn't think of a better guy to have shared this experience with, and for it to finally all come together! In the short time I've known Gerald we sure have had some great successful hunts.
Gerald, Reuben and I spent the next 3hrs deboning and shuttling meat bags to the bottom. We left the meat, cape and skull overnight elevated on a log praying Mr. Grizzly wouldn't find it. We hiked back to spike camp arriving at 130am. The next morning was tenderloin fried in a pan,,,,,yummy, then getting the meat to the TH on ice.
Special thanks to Gerald and his elk talk expertise, he kept this guy talking while I pinpointed his location and moved into position.
Seems I owe Gerald some pack outs that he's been banking, hopefully I'll be loaded down with meat bags with his and his daughter's Breaks Bulls come rifle season. My pack is ready! Man, I love Montana!
Best of luck to everyone this season, be safe.
-Dave.
