Hairy Beasts and Smell Korns

[NDGuy]

That’s an awesome hunt

 

[Caseknife]

That is a stud goat, congrats. I did a Euro on mine also and had the hide soft tanned.

 

[Stone_Ice_1]

Congrats on a great hunt. How's the Billy for table fare?

It is actually pretty good. I think the flavor is good. You do get a good workout chewing it though. I make my own summer sausage and am planning to make some more of that with some of my goat. He had a ton of fat on him, probably from eating all those huckleberries! I have no idea if he was actually eating the berries or not but he was definitely feeding through a great huckleberry patch.

 

[Stone_Ice_1]

I got back home on Wednesday night and with Archery season for elk starting that saturday I was in a rush getting things wrapped up. I process my own game so I took care of the goat, got the head to the taxidermist and had a number of other things that needed my attention so I didn't actually get out for the opener. I did have a backpacking archery hunt scheduled in a couple weeks with another buddy that I was looking forward to.

Day 1 - On Sunday afternoon I had all my errands wrapped up. So I took both of my son's out and we went to a BMA that wasn't far from my house. I wasn't expecting much as it was hot and dry but this BMA was right below one of the spots I had a camera with some decent results. We hiked to the back of the property and went into public lands a bit. A nice area with some water that I thought we might see something just before dark, but it didn't happen. No elk spotted

Day 2 - After work I drove into a spot I had seen on google earth. It looked promising and was a short drive and hike in. The first mile was just getting in there but after that it looked like it would be good. On the hike in I could smell elk but didn't see anything except a couple deer. Its amazing how much light you have this early in archery season and how much country you can cover on just a hike after work. I hiked around 4 miles. This area certainly had some promise. There were stretches of old growth douglas fir with grass underneath everywhere that you could see 120 yards or so in with an opening in the bottom of the valley that ran along the small creek. Bugled a bit and did get a reply. The reply came from the neighboring private land and I knew there was a house up there a ways. At one point I could hear voices up above me where the bugling came from so I think it might have been people but one never knows. No elk spotted, not a great start to the season but neither hunts were serious affairs either.

 

[Stone_Ice_1]

Day 3 - The next day I checked out another area after work that I had seen some bulls while scouting in the summer. It is a fairly well known area so was pleased when I got to the trailhead and nobody was there. I hiked in a ways and was seeing some fresh sign and rubs. The trail then drops a bit in elevation and follows a creek. this was the area I was interested in since it was still hot and there appeared to be plenty of water around. Walking down the trail I hadn't seen anything when I looked across the creek and there was a bush that was going back and forth. Something on the other side of it was taking out its agression on this bush. I walked a bit further and could see that the culprit was cattle. I got pretty excited at first because it happened to be a cow that was similar in color to an elk. But then before long I see cattle come walking out and around all over the creek bottom. This isn't good as I know the elk won't be right in this same area. I head further down the trail and bugle a few times. No responses but then shortly after I can hear something coming up the trail towards me. I step off the trail a bit and get ready. Out comes some more cattle. Not sure if they came to me because of the bugling or what. I have always been of the belief that cattle should be off of public lands during the season, especially rifle but I think even for archery.

I headed back to the truck. Once at the top I had to hike back down to the truck and there was a little creek that the trail crossed and ran down towards where the truck was parked. I knew there was a clearing down there with water in it. With it being later in the evening I headed down the creek through this trail, probably from cattle. It was super thick in here and I realized that the breeze was going downhill now and anything down here would smell me coming. I went back up to the main trail and walked around so I could get to the sides. I was about 200 yards from the truck when I could see a cow and calf elk standing in the meadow below me. They were about 300 yards down below me but if I had continued down that creek they would have smelled and probably heard me coming. After watching them a bit I figured there was probably more down there since I could only see one little area. I walked aroudn the side of them and when I finally got to where I could see down there again I could see aobut 6 elk, one was a bull. I used my rangefinder to get a better look at him. He was a small 6 point. I kept to the side of them and needed to get ahead of them a bit since the downhill breeze would get me busted. I got off the trail and hiked down this ridge. I only made it about 40 yards when I got busted by a group of whitetail deer. Was about 6 of them. They kept snorting and making all kinds of racket at me. I figured it was game over but by now I was ahead of the elk and they couldn't smell me. They knew the deer were alarmed but didn't know what at. The cow and calf went by me about 40 yards and continued on. I was lined up waiting for the bull to come by but he never did. I could see him below me about 80 yards. He was not a shooter but it was good for the spirit to finally see some elk. It was too dark to shoot by now so i headed back towards the truck and ended up busting that same bull when I got back up to the ridge.

 

[Stone_Ice_1]

I got the plaque I ordered for my goat in the mail last week. This weekend I put it up on the wall. It looks great, although not as great as a shoulder mount would be.

 

[Stone_Ice_1]

Day 4 - This was the first day of a 6 day/5 night backpacking hunt with a friend. The plan for the first day was to hike in, get settled and maybe find something near camp in the evening. We got about halfway to our destination and my buddy swears he heard a bugle on the ridge opposite us. After a bit we hear another bugle way down the valley and the one on the opposite ridge from us responds. After watching the ridge for a bit we were able to get glimpses of a cow and calf walking around through the trees. We spent some time bugling but mostly he would only respond to the elk way down the valley. They were in the direction of our camp and so we headed that way. The trail we were on took us just above them on the ridge. We decided to push on towards camp since it wasn't much farther and we could come back in the evening as I didn't think these elk were going far. About another mile in and we get to where I had planned on camping, it a spot next to the creek and where the trail splits a few times and he could head in multiple directions. However we got to camp and somebody was already camped there. We went back up to the top of the ridge right before this and camped in the only real available flat spot around. The ridge is really exposed here (I knew this because I got stuck in the a hail storm here while scouting during the summer) and we pushed over a couple of scary looking trees that were dead and still standing so they wouldn't come down on us. Before long the hunters below us came by and we learned they were leaving the next day. We decided we would move camp down there the next day after they left. Camp is about 3 miles from the truck.

In the evening we ended up not having much time before it got dark. We hiked back down to look for the elk we saw earlier but had no luck in relocating them. After it got dark we did hear a few bugles, some above us and some below.

 

[jakenbake]

I gView attachment 361848ot the plaque I ordered for my goat in the mail last week. This weekend I put it up on the wall. It looks great, although not as great as a shoulder mount would be.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Shoulder mounts, half mounts and full mounts all take up significantly more space and I've seen plenty that don't do the animal any justice. Part of what I love about the euro mount is that it isn't trying to look like what the animal looked like in life. It just is what it actually is. For whatever it's worth, I think it looks great.

 

[HSi-ESi]

I agree with @jakenbake - I think the mount turned out great. Part of the "hunt" is working through obstacles and dealing with them in the best way you can. I think it's a great representation of the hunt, so don't sweat not having a shoulder mount.

 

[Caseknife]

Definitely agree on the euro mounts. They are the true essence of the animal not essentially an artist's rendering and I can do them myself

 

[Stone_Ice_1]

Day 5 - We got up in the morning and went back to the opening we had been at the evening before. The trail goes right to it and comes out at the very top. As we were walking down to it about 50 yards from it we could hear bugles a ways below us. This is a big opening and as we got to the edge of the trees we poked our heads around the corner to see there were some cattle (they were here our entire stay) in the opening at the bottom. But on the far hill was a herd of about 6-8 elk. There were 2 bulls, one 6 point and one smaller one. The six point was spending his time chasing off the smaller one every time he would get somewhat close.



The dark spots at the bottom of the hill are the cattle. The elk are in the light colored spot at the top of the hill. The bigger six point in this picture is right at the end of the branch on the tree in front of me.

So we decided to go in silent. We got to the other side of the opening ( to the left in this picture) and walked the treeline almost all the way to where you can see the herd in this picture. We had seen 2 elk disappear behind those trees and I was pretty sure one was a bull but from the size of the body it seemed like a smaller one. When we got there I let my buddy go first because he was interested in shooting a cow or spike if we saw one. I was not interested in the 6 point because he wasn't what I was looking for. But I wanted to check out the other elk and make sure there wasn't a bigger one in the area. You know the saying, don't leave elk to find elk.

As we got to the top of that point we were walking slow, my buddy was right in front of me. I looked up and could see the spike and cow feeding away from us at about 30 yards. I looked at my buddy and he was looking at the ground trying to not make noise. He didn't see them! I grabbed his pack to pull him back and pointed. He saw them and knocked an arrow but by that time they had fed just over the hill out of sight. He used the one tree we had remaining in front of us to get up there but we had obviously been busted as the elk were clearing out the opposite side of the opening by the time we located them again. First morning of the hunt and I feared that might have been his best chance at getting a spike.

The rest of the day we didn't see much action. Lots of cattle in the area, which wasn't here when I set up cameras. We also moved camp to the spot we had originally planned to camp in.

 

[EYJONAS!]

What a thread! What a Billy!