Nick87
Well-known member
I'm getting a little bit of pressure to do a write up and that's not my strong suit but here it goes. Over that last few years killing an elk has been a big priority seems every year something comes up like you know child birth lol or we don't draw etc. I Was planning on drawing a general elk tag for wyoming this year but by some miracle I drew my 3rd choice NM muzzlelaoder tag. So with some help from @Addicting I was able to get it dialed in. Normally my brother and I hunt together but his fiancé and him already had a vacation planned around the same time my tag was good for. So my young cousin who hunts with me most years volunteered to go along and help which was great. Who wouldn't want a 21 year-old set of legs along on the trip? Besides, he is one of my favorite people to hunt with and a damn good hunter. Also, my step Dad decided he would also tag along for the trip and help out as much as he could. Which was good because we don't get to hunt together as much as we used to. Coincidentally, a friend of mine has a cabin in the same unit, which he let us use. Awesome! We still planned on taking all of our other gear along in case the elk weren't in that area. Tag started on Saturday, and we arrived on Wednesday afternoon, giving us two days of scouting. Went a little rougher than I expected. Only fresh sign and elk we found were right by the cabin, but they were bugling pretty good. I was a little nervous about only having one spot with elk to hunt and thought about heading to a different area to hunt and camp. Didn't want to leave Elk to try and find elk so we stayed and put all of our eggs in that basket. I forgot to mention my five year old who loves eating wild hame more than anyone else I know asked me about 500 times if i was bringing him back elk meat. In all honesty, I felt more pressure to bring him back meat than I did to fill my tag on a good bull (I'll come back to that part later). Some scouting pics..
Day 1- I knew right where I wanted to be for the first morning. The elk read the script too we had 3 bulls bugling coming up out of the bottom towards our position. I got to around 150 yards from the meanest sounding bull and could here him breaking branches coming our way. Just like that the wind switched and he went dead silent. Never did get eyes on him. There were other bulls still bugling a little further out, though. So we didn't feel we blew them out that bad, so we went back there that afternoon. Apparently, everyone else in the unit heard those bugles that morning. That canyon was crawling with hunters of all kinds that evening. I'm pretty sure the elk left town from what I saw. We never saw anyone else in there while scouting so we thought we had a little honey hole. Oh well
Day 2- we went to a new area we saw a little sign in the day before. Zero bugles of any kind though and this country was tough to glass as was most of the unit. Pretty uneventful day, and it was in the 80s a little discouraging.
Day 3- I knew if the elk were going to remain silent, we were gonna have to change up the game plan a little and find somewhere I could actually see more than 200 yards. I remembered an area where there was a burn, and we had spotted some cows in there a long way off when scouting. So I thought let's give that a try. Devin (my cousin) and I started working our way to the top and glassing we'd each take a side of the ridge and glass and then move up to the next ledge and repeat. We were one ridge away from the very top and about to split up to glass again when I heard Devin. "Hey! Hey! Get over here!" As quietly as he could. Right there across the drainage was a good bull bedded. Only 300 yards and the wind seemed perfect. NO WAY.
Without giving him much more than a quick look we decided that we were definitely going after this one. Took us about 20 minutes or so maybe to back out and go around and get above the bull. Who was bedded out on the very edge. We got to about 300 yards from him on that side and Devin hung back and I went in with a strong crosswind from left to right. When I got to around 120 yards I could see the bull, but there was a lot of brush between us. At around 90 yards, he stood up out of his bed and was slowly browsing around. The brush was too tall to use my bipod, so I leaned on a small tree for a rest. Between me shaking and the brush in the way, it just didn't feel good. He was in no hurry, and I had a great wind to hide any noise. I was gonna have to crawl closer to get a clear shot through all the oak brush. I got to where I had a good opening at around 40 yards, I'd guess. He was just standing there looking out across the drainage broadside. He had no idea I was there. I rested against a small tree and squeezed off the shot. The smoke cleared quick with the wind and he stood there like a statue. I thought "#*^@#*! I missed! So I laid down in the brush and reloaded as fast as I could. He didn't move, took aim again and fired same thing. I thought to myself, how in the hell could I miss this shot this close!?. After that shot he stood for a second and then slowly walked off over the crest. Meanwhile, I reloaded my last bullet and took off in that direction. I got to where I last saw him and saw nothing. Then I caught movement immediately to my left. There he was right next to me bedded with his head still up. With the oak brush in the way I couldn't see the first two entrance holes where I hit him and didn't take any chance I fired the last shot and his head dropped and it was over. Little bit of a rodeo but after looking he was dead on his feet after the first shot and never knew it. Some of there good luck must have rubbed off that Sitka I'm wearing I bought off of @EYJONAS! And the bino harness from @brockel.
The three shots...
I walked back to get Devin. Who apparently could see me but not the bull and said he thought for sure I missed when he heard the three shots but saw me smiling from ear to ear on the way back, through the binos. We celebrate a little and go check out the bull. I had service so I called the wife from the top and told her to put it on speaker and told my 5 year old Casey not to worry because Daddy is coming home soon with your elk meat! Then I texted my step Dad to meet us down at the bottom by the truck, and we could gather some stuff and then get to work.
More pics of the bull...
Pic of my step Dad and I and one of Devin and I. It was great having them there to share in all the excitement.
We got to work on the bull about 10 am maybe and Devin and I had the last of it to the truck about 4 pm. That was monday and I'm just now walking half normal again today. A couple packing and cutting pics..
Awful lucky to have my Step Dad there to help cut and especially Devin to help pack out. Crazy )#$(*))@ filled his pack with two bags on the first trip then carried another shoulder in his arms. To be 21 years old again lol.
Got home early yesterday morning before the school bus came in time to suprise the boys. My youngest Clayton is trying to add a sticker point to make him a little bigger with a spike shed antler I found.
It was an amazing trip that I'll never forget and a hell of a first elk. At least for me. Big Thanks to @Gellar @ccc23454 and @cgasner1 who gave me a lot of help with before and during the hunt. Thanks guys. I now definitely owe my cousin an elk so I think that'll more than likely be what I'm researching over the next few months for next year. Jesus, that got long winded in a hurry.
Day 1- I knew right where I wanted to be for the first morning. The elk read the script too we had 3 bulls bugling coming up out of the bottom towards our position. I got to around 150 yards from the meanest sounding bull and could here him breaking branches coming our way. Just like that the wind switched and he went dead silent. Never did get eyes on him. There were other bulls still bugling a little further out, though. So we didn't feel we blew them out that bad, so we went back there that afternoon. Apparently, everyone else in the unit heard those bugles that morning. That canyon was crawling with hunters of all kinds that evening. I'm pretty sure the elk left town from what I saw. We never saw anyone else in there while scouting so we thought we had a little honey hole. Oh well
Day 2- we went to a new area we saw a little sign in the day before. Zero bugles of any kind though and this country was tough to glass as was most of the unit. Pretty uneventful day, and it was in the 80s a little discouraging.
Day 3- I knew if the elk were going to remain silent, we were gonna have to change up the game plan a little and find somewhere I could actually see more than 200 yards. I remembered an area where there was a burn, and we had spotted some cows in there a long way off when scouting. So I thought let's give that a try. Devin (my cousin) and I started working our way to the top and glassing we'd each take a side of the ridge and glass and then move up to the next ledge and repeat. We were one ridge away from the very top and about to split up to glass again when I heard Devin. "Hey! Hey! Get over here!" As quietly as he could. Right there across the drainage was a good bull bedded. Only 300 yards and the wind seemed perfect. NO WAY.
Without giving him much more than a quick look we decided that we were definitely going after this one. Took us about 20 minutes or so maybe to back out and go around and get above the bull. Who was bedded out on the very edge. We got to about 300 yards from him on that side and Devin hung back and I went in with a strong crosswind from left to right. When I got to around 120 yards I could see the bull, but there was a lot of brush between us. At around 90 yards, he stood up out of his bed and was slowly browsing around. The brush was too tall to use my bipod, so I leaned on a small tree for a rest. Between me shaking and the brush in the way, it just didn't feel good. He was in no hurry, and I had a great wind to hide any noise. I was gonna have to crawl closer to get a clear shot through all the oak brush. I got to where I had a good opening at around 40 yards, I'd guess. He was just standing there looking out across the drainage broadside. He had no idea I was there. I rested against a small tree and squeezed off the shot. The smoke cleared quick with the wind and he stood there like a statue. I thought "#*^@#*! I missed! So I laid down in the brush and reloaded as fast as I could. He didn't move, took aim again and fired same thing. I thought to myself, how in the hell could I miss this shot this close!?. After that shot he stood for a second and then slowly walked off over the crest. Meanwhile, I reloaded my last bullet and took off in that direction. I got to where I last saw him and saw nothing. Then I caught movement immediately to my left. There he was right next to me bedded with his head still up. With the oak brush in the way I couldn't see the first two entrance holes where I hit him and didn't take any chance I fired the last shot and his head dropped and it was over. Little bit of a rodeo but after looking he was dead on his feet after the first shot and never knew it. Some of there good luck must have rubbed off that Sitka I'm wearing I bought off of @EYJONAS! And the bino harness from @brockel.
The three shots...
I walked back to get Devin. Who apparently could see me but not the bull and said he thought for sure I missed when he heard the three shots but saw me smiling from ear to ear on the way back, through the binos. We celebrate a little and go check out the bull. I had service so I called the wife from the top and told her to put it on speaker and told my 5 year old Casey not to worry because Daddy is coming home soon with your elk meat! Then I texted my step Dad to meet us down at the bottom by the truck, and we could gather some stuff and then get to work.
More pics of the bull...
Pic of my step Dad and I and one of Devin and I. It was great having them there to share in all the excitement.
We got to work on the bull about 10 am maybe and Devin and I had the last of it to the truck about 4 pm. That was monday and I'm just now walking half normal again today. A couple packing and cutting pics..
Awful lucky to have my Step Dad there to help cut and especially Devin to help pack out. Crazy )#$(*))@ filled his pack with two bags on the first trip then carried another shoulder in his arms. To be 21 years old again lol.
Got home early yesterday morning before the school bus came in time to suprise the boys. My youngest Clayton is trying to add a sticker point to make him a little bigger with a spike shed antler I found.
It was an amazing trip that I'll never forget and a hell of a first elk. At least for me. Big Thanks to @Gellar @ccc23454 and @cgasner1 who gave me a lot of help with before and during the hunt. Thanks guys. I now definitely owe my cousin an elk so I think that'll more than likely be what I'm researching over the next few months for next year. Jesus, that got long winded in a hurry.
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BIG CONGRATS
