Mtnhunter1
Well-known member
Gazing out of the kitchen window, I notice a deer crossing through the pasture south of the house. I reach for our kitchen binoculars and I’m pleased to see a decent whitetail buck cruisin’ for the ladies. This pleased me because EHD has almost eradicated the whitetails around the house. While watching this buck, I noticed that he stopped to look at something ahead of him then, looking to avoid it, made a big circle and disappeared over the ridge. Curious about the bucks behavior, I jumped in the truck and drove down to investigate. Just as I clear the last little rise, four coyotes make a made dash for the cover. Yep, dead critters will lure in scavengers. Dead elk will lure in ALL the scavengers.
I mutter a few cuss words as I get out of the truck to investigate. Clearly gut shot and lost by a hunter. The coyotes found the carcass that night and had just started in on the rear end. I could see two elk beds against the brush along the fence line. The tracks showed the elk had come from the east and bedded down. They then got up and one jumped the fence before heading for the timber. The other got out of it’s bed, walked about 10 feet, and tipped over dead. More cuss words and I head for the house to gather my camera and a pack. I would be backtracking the two elk, trying to figure out where the elk was shot.
I back tracked the elk, half mile, over the east ridge to the neighbors fence. So far, both elk were just walking. As I continued onto the neighbor’s pasture, a few hundred yards revealed where the elk had slowed to a walk. The running elk tracks paralleled our fence line approximately six hundred yards. At that point there where multiple elk tracks. Seems that the two elk had friends and they had come off of our ridge, jumped the fence onto the neighbor’s land and made it several hundred yards before being shot at. Clumps of hair on the snow along with a few faint pink spots confirmed the hit location….but no boot tracks??
From the tracks, there were multiple elk that had gone east, down hill, and separated from the two that ran north along the fence. So I decided to track the other elk which eventually lead to the hunter’s boot tracks and a kill site. Two sets of boot tracks, two hunters. The hunters did a very good job in the meat removal department, no problems there. So I decided to track the hunters to find out where they shot from. I found the shot location- the hunters where shooting a very long distance.
The neighbor confirmed that he had a local hunter who shot a bull a day ago. A buddy had accompanied him on the hunt. Being acquainted with both of the local hunters, I spoke with each of them by phone.
Here is their story:
They had spotted the elk bedded on our ridge and maneuvered to the closest position that cover would allow to wait them out, hoping they’d cross the fence. Just before dark, the elk made their way downhill and jumped the fence onto the land that they had permission to hunt on that day. The elk seemed to be in a hurry to reach the better feed lower in the valley. With that, the elk moved out further than the hunters expected, but in their words, “the elk were still in that completely doable range”…. My guess here: The first shot was around 480-500yds…. In reaction to the shot, that elk turned straight away and ran north providing zero follow up shots. The other elk continued downhill and provided MANY, MANY additional shots in the fading light. One of the final shots connected and the shooter had his elk.
Neither hunter could tell me how many shots were taken but assured me that they were all within the shooter’s “doable range”.
Both hunters were ecstatic about the bull that was tagged and texted me a few photos.
Here is the bull that was tagged, a nice solid bull with long tops and short bottoms:
Both hunters were shocked to find out that they had hit multiple elk and that I had found one dead just south of our house. The hunter that tagged the above bull then admitted that he wasn’t proud of his shooting ability that day. His buddy admitted that he should have jumped in and said that the distance was too far. Both said that they got caught up with getting close to mature elk with big antlers just before it was too dark to shoot. Both hunters were now not sure that the other elk escaped unscathed.
I asked if both of them had been shooting and was assured that all the shooting was done by one. Seems that the other had already tagged his elk earlier in the season. Then the hunter who did the shooting asked what the elk was that I had found? I replied, “A BULL.” He asked, “Was it one of the smaller ones?” My response, “NO.” He then stated that they had roughly scored his bull at 320 inches and asked, “How does the other bull compare to his?” My response, “BIGGER!” His response, “GODDAMMIT! What are you going to do with the rack?” My response, “It will be turned over to the Warden.” He asked, “WHY?” My response, “BECAUSE IT IS THE LAW!”
The Warden stated that you can’t charge a hunter for being a horrible shot or for having less than stellar hunting ethics.
AS HUNTERS, WE HAVE TO DO BETTER FOLKS! This is the eighth lost elk that I have found this year. One from archery season and the rest from the general.
PS: If interested, you will probably be able to bid on this bull at the next FWP’s auction! The Warden recommends bringing more than $2,000, though.
I mutter a few cuss words as I get out of the truck to investigate. Clearly gut shot and lost by a hunter. The coyotes found the carcass that night and had just started in on the rear end. I could see two elk beds against the brush along the fence line. The tracks showed the elk had come from the east and bedded down. They then got up and one jumped the fence before heading for the timber. The other got out of it’s bed, walked about 10 feet, and tipped over dead. More cuss words and I head for the house to gather my camera and a pack. I would be backtracking the two elk, trying to figure out where the elk was shot.
I back tracked the elk, half mile, over the east ridge to the neighbors fence. So far, both elk were just walking. As I continued onto the neighbor’s pasture, a few hundred yards revealed where the elk had slowed to a walk. The running elk tracks paralleled our fence line approximately six hundred yards. At that point there where multiple elk tracks. Seems that the two elk had friends and they had come off of our ridge, jumped the fence onto the neighbor’s land and made it several hundred yards before being shot at. Clumps of hair on the snow along with a few faint pink spots confirmed the hit location….but no boot tracks??
From the tracks, there were multiple elk that had gone east, down hill, and separated from the two that ran north along the fence. So I decided to track the other elk which eventually lead to the hunter’s boot tracks and a kill site. Two sets of boot tracks, two hunters. The hunters did a very good job in the meat removal department, no problems there. So I decided to track the hunters to find out where they shot from. I found the shot location- the hunters where shooting a very long distance.
The neighbor confirmed that he had a local hunter who shot a bull a day ago. A buddy had accompanied him on the hunt. Being acquainted with both of the local hunters, I spoke with each of them by phone.
Here is their story:
They had spotted the elk bedded on our ridge and maneuvered to the closest position that cover would allow to wait them out, hoping they’d cross the fence. Just before dark, the elk made their way downhill and jumped the fence onto the land that they had permission to hunt on that day. The elk seemed to be in a hurry to reach the better feed lower in the valley. With that, the elk moved out further than the hunters expected, but in their words, “the elk were still in that completely doable range”…. My guess here: The first shot was around 480-500yds…. In reaction to the shot, that elk turned straight away and ran north providing zero follow up shots. The other elk continued downhill and provided MANY, MANY additional shots in the fading light. One of the final shots connected and the shooter had his elk.
Neither hunter could tell me how many shots were taken but assured me that they were all within the shooter’s “doable range”.
Both hunters were ecstatic about the bull that was tagged and texted me a few photos.
Here is the bull that was tagged, a nice solid bull with long tops and short bottoms:
Both hunters were shocked to find out that they had hit multiple elk and that I had found one dead just south of our house. The hunter that tagged the above bull then admitted that he wasn’t proud of his shooting ability that day. His buddy admitted that he should have jumped in and said that the distance was too far. Both said that they got caught up with getting close to mature elk with big antlers just before it was too dark to shoot. Both hunters were now not sure that the other elk escaped unscathed.
I asked if both of them had been shooting and was assured that all the shooting was done by one. Seems that the other had already tagged his elk earlier in the season. Then the hunter who did the shooting asked what the elk was that I had found? I replied, “A BULL.” He asked, “Was it one of the smaller ones?” My response, “NO.” He then stated that they had roughly scored his bull at 320 inches and asked, “How does the other bull compare to his?” My response, “BIGGER!” His response, “GODDAMMIT! What are you going to do with the rack?” My response, “It will be turned over to the Warden.” He asked, “WHY?” My response, “BECAUSE IT IS THE LAW!”
The Warden stated that you can’t charge a hunter for being a horrible shot or for having less than stellar hunting ethics.
AS HUNTERS, WE HAVE TO DO BETTER FOLKS! This is the eighth lost elk that I have found this year. One from archery season and the rest from the general.
PS: If interested, you will probably be able to bid on this bull at the next FWP’s auction! The Warden recommends bringing more than $2,000, though.
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