MTGamecock
Well-known member
I shot my first elk, a cow, yesterday evening in the last 10 minutes of legal light. Lesson learned: Never shoot a cow elk that late in the day when you are by yourself! lol. Fortunately, I didn't have to track her, or I would have been there all night. But I did quarter my first elk, alone, in the darkness, with temps reaching -5. It wasn't the smoothest quartering ever, but I didn't develop frost bite, didn't slice my hand open, didn't get attacked by predators, and managed to drag 150-175lbs of elk on a sled through the snow back to the truck. My hunting gloves look like something Jack the Ripper would own, but hopefully, the blood will wash out. Taking them off and replacing them with the surgical gloves in my kill kit just wasn't an option in those temperatures.
I'm pretty proud of this first elk. I "discovered" this area on my own this summer, scouted it, and had settled on it as my opening day hunting site. Unfortunately, the weather on opening day around here was just too fierce for me to brave on my own, so I had to wait until Sunday. The property is on national forest land that I accessed via a 1.8 mile snowshoe hike across block management property. I felt good about its potential. What a thrill it was to see elk meandering down the side of the mountain toward me in the waning daylight! Just as I thought the herd was going to stay out of range, a spike bull and a cow broke off from the group and came straight toward me. Once the cow turned broadside about 200 yards out, I concluded it was too good of an opportunity to pass up. I shot her at 6:33 and almost immediately the reality of what lay ahead of me tempered my exuberance. After a long frigid 5 hours on the mountain, I had the sled loaded in the truck. I am still thoroughly exhausted from the experience, but what an experience it was.
Looking forward to elk burgers this year and getting my first bull next year.
I'm pretty proud of this first elk. I "discovered" this area on my own this summer, scouted it, and had settled on it as my opening day hunting site. Unfortunately, the weather on opening day around here was just too fierce for me to brave on my own, so I had to wait until Sunday. The property is on national forest land that I accessed via a 1.8 mile snowshoe hike across block management property. I felt good about its potential. What a thrill it was to see elk meandering down the side of the mountain toward me in the waning daylight! Just as I thought the herd was going to stay out of range, a spike bull and a cow broke off from the group and came straight toward me. Once the cow turned broadside about 200 yards out, I concluded it was too good of an opportunity to pass up. I shot her at 6:33 and almost immediately the reality of what lay ahead of me tempered my exuberance. After a long frigid 5 hours on the mountain, I had the sled loaded in the truck. I am still thoroughly exhausted from the experience, but what an experience it was.
Looking forward to elk burgers this year and getting my first bull next year.
