The Last Go-Round?

So no dice last night for Gordon, and really a weird experience all the way around.

Dropped Gordo at the low road into the bottoms of Cherry Ridge. Plan was to still hunt his way in, then find a spot below their approach to the feeding grounds and wait for a shot. No dice, the elk didn’t show up, but it was the night after his miss. They didn’t come through the night after I shot my cow in there as well. Fingers cross for tonight.

Weather report has the rain/snow moving in Friday afternoon, so Gordon has moved up his timeline for departure. It’s down to tonight and tomorrow morning.

Now for the weird experience part. I stayed out at the glassing knob over Cherry Ridge, and right at sunset a truck pulls up and a guy gets out to BS. Not all that strange, after a week in here I’m on a first name basis with most of the tag holders that have been around. Anyways, we start talking, fist time with this guy, and he looks over my shoulder and says “is that a bull over there?” which there was, a decent 6x6 still pushing 12 cows around, and a dink spike - all past Cherry Ridge, down another canyon, and in the far side - 1300 - 1400 yards away. I’d been watching them for a bit through my spotter.

Dude runs back to his truck and pulls out a rifle and starts getting set up for a shot. At this point his girlfriend gets out of the truck as well, and she’s bringing his ammo, and videoing - all the shit. I said something to the effect of “it’s a little far isn’t it?” To which he replied “it’s ok, it’s a Gunwerks, it’s supposed to be able to do this.”

Ya.

Anyways, I jump back on the spotter, because he’s dead set to shoot something. He ranges it, spins his dials blah blah blah, starts blasting. I’ve got my spotter in the big bull, I don’t see where his bullets are hitting but I’m describing to him exactly where the bull is. He shoots four times, misses four times. His GF goes to the truck to get more ammo, I bring him back to show him exactly where the bull is, as he’s moved several times, he gets back in the gun and sends another. Through the spotter I see the elk 30 yards behind the bull crumple and start rolling down the hill. He gets up hooting and hollering, gf is “OMG Babe! You DID IT!!!” The whole 9 yards. It’s a Utards wet dream, except these guys were from Oregon - but they looked very very Utardian. I asked him, very specifically “ are you sure that was a bull” [he had the draw bulls only tag], and he said “yes, I saw it in my scope.” I responded “well, the big bull I had the spotter on is not the elk you hit.”

They get loaded up, I tell him congrats, and off they go to try and find this elk. Wasn’t long before Gordo comes out (now dark) and asks me WTF was all the blasting about. I walked him through the whole thing, answered his questions, and he said “we need to call F&G.”

I didn’t have cell service, so I text Dan-O off my Garmin, he called the CAP line, gave the particulars, and gave them my name/number/Garmin address. This morning I got a text from Dannie with a cell number saying the CO will be coming to check on it.

We sat down on the Lookout this morning, watched the same group of elk, Gordo had a blast just watching them do their thing. He really does just love elk. While we were there I got a call from the CO, he caught up to them first thing this morning down in the bottom. They showed him the meat, the video,the tag, the pictures, and the busted off rack of a spike.

I apologized to him, saying I hoped I hadn’t wasted his time. He confirmed that no, I had done the right thing, and he totally understood why I would believe that thing was a cow from 1400 yards away. I asked him straight up “you think he could see that it was a bull from that distance in a rifle scope?” He said “well, it’s a conjecture at this point, but I agree, he got lucky.”

I guess lesson learned - it’s better to be lucky than good.
 
Backofbeyond said:
So no dice last night for Gordon, and really a weird experience all the way around.

Dropped Gordo at the low road into the bottoms of Cherry Ridge. Plan was to still hunt his way in, then find a spot below their approach to the feeding grounds and wait for a shot. No dice, the elk didn’t show up, but it was the night after his miss. They didn’t come through the night after I shot my cow in there as well. Fingers cross for tonight.

Weather report has the rain/snow moving in Friday afternoon, so Gordon has moved up his timeline for departure. It’s down to tonight and tomorrow morning.

Now for the weird experience part. I stayed out at the glassing knob over Cherry Ridge, and right at sunset a truck pulls up and a guy gets out to BS. Not all that strange, after a week in here I’m on a first name basis with most of the tag holders that have been around. Anyways, we start talking, fist time with this guy, and he looks over my shoulder and says “is that a bull over there?” which there was, a decent 6x6 still pushing 12 cows around, and a dink spike - all past Cherry Ridge, down another canyon, and in the far side - 1300 - 1400 yards away. I’d been watching them for a bit through my spotter.

Dude runs back to his truck and pulls out a rifle and starts getting set up for a shot. At this point his girlfriend gets out of the truck as well, and she’s bringing his ammo, and videoing - all the shit. I said something to the effect of “it’s a little far isn’t it?” To which he replied “it’s ok, it’s a Gunwerks, it’s supposed to be able to do this.”

Ya.

Anyways, I jump back on the spotter, because he’s dead set to shoot something. He ranges it, spins his dials blah blah blah, starts blasting. I’ve got my spotter in the big bull, I don’t see where his bullets are hitting but I’m describing to him exactly where the bull is. He shoots four times, misses four times. His GF goes to the truck to get more ammo, I bring him back to show him exactly where the bull is, as he’s moved several times, he gets back in the gun and sends another. Through the spotter I see the elk 30 yards behind the bull crumple and start rolling down the hill. He gets up hooting and hollering, gf is “OMG Babe! You DID IT!!!” The whole 9 yards. It’s a Utards wet dream, except these guys were from Oregon - but they looked very very Utardian. I asked him, very specifically “ are you sure that was a bull” [he had the draw bulls only tag], and he said “yes, I saw it in my scope.” I responded “well, the big bull I had the spotter on is not the elk you hit.”

They get loaded up, I tell him congrats, and off they go to try and find this elk. Wasn’t long before Gordo comes out (now dark) and asks me WTF was all the blasting about. I walked him through the whole thing, answered his questions, and he said “we need to call F&G.”

I didn’t have cell service, so I text Dan-O off my Garmin, he called the CAP line, gave the particulars, and gave them my name/number/Garmin address. This morning I got a text from Dannie with a cell number saying the CO will be coming to check on it.

We sat down on the Lookout this morning, watched the same group of elk, Gordo had a blast just watching them do their thing. He really does just love elk. While we were there I got a call from the CO, he caught up to them first thing this morning down in the bottom. They showed him the meat, the video,the tag, the pictures, and the busted off rack of a spike.

I apologized to him, saying I hoped I hadn’t wasted his time. He confirmed that no, I had done the right thing, and he totally understood why I would believe that thing was a cow from 1400 yards away. I asked him straight up “you think he could see that it was a bull from that distance in a rifle scope?” He said “well, it’s a conjecture at this point, but I agree, he got lucky.”

I guess lesson learned - it’s better to be lucky than good.
Click to expand...
Gross. Hope you guys have a better experience this evening.
 
But the Gunwerks gun worked.....(eyeroll and heavy sarcasm accent with disgust in my eyes)

I would have called G&F as well. You jumped through some technological hoops to get the info to the correct person. In the end, glad the elk was found and will be utilized (one can hope).
 
kansasdad said:
But the Gunwerks gun worked.....(eyeroll and heavy sarcasm accent with disgust in my eyes)

I would have called G&F as well. You jumped through some technological hoops to get the info to the correct person. In the end, glad the elk was found and will be utilized (one can hope).
Click to expand...
I just hope he sees that 6x6 every time he closes his eyes, or looks at that little spike rack.

Or looks at the $10k charge on his credit card for that matter.
 
Backofbeyond said:
So no dice last night for Gordon, and really a weird experience all the way around.

Dropped Gordo at the low road into the bottoms of Cherry Ridge. Plan was to still hunt his way in, then find a spot below their approach to the feeding grounds and wait for a shot. No dice, the elk didn’t show up, but it was the night after his miss. They didn’t come through the night after I shot my cow in there as well. Fingers cross for tonight.

Weather report has the rain/snow moving in Friday afternoon, so Gordon has moved up his timeline for departure. It’s down to tonight and tomorrow morning.

Now for the weird experience part. I stayed out at the glassing knob over Cherry Ridge, and right at sunset a truck pulls up and a guy gets out to BS. Not all that strange, after a week in here I’m on a first name basis with most of the tag holders that have been around. Anyways, we start talking, fist time with this guy, and he looks over my shoulder and says “is that a bull over there?” which there was, a decent 6x6 still pushing 12 cows around, and a dink spike - all past Cherry Ridge, down another canyon, and in the far side - 1300 - 1400 yards away. I’d been watching them for a bit through my spotter.

Dude runs back to his truck and pulls out a rifle and starts getting set up for a shot. At this point his girlfriend gets out of the truck as well, and she’s bringing his ammo, and videoing - all the shit. I said something to the effect of “it’s a little far isn’t it?” To which he replied “it’s ok, it’s a Gunwerks, it’s supposed to be able to do this.”

Ya.

Anyways, I jump back on the spotter, because he’s dead set to shoot something. He ranges it, spins his dials blah blah blah, starts blasting. I’ve got my spotter in the big bull, I don’t see where his bullets are hitting but I’m describing to him exactly where the bull is. He shoots four times, misses four times. His GF goes to the truck to get more ammo, I bring him back to show him exactly where the bull is, as he’s moved several times, he gets back in the gun and sends another. Through the spotter I see the elk 30 yards behind the bull crumple and start rolling down the hill. He gets up hooting and hollering, gf is “OMG Babe! You DID IT!!!” The whole 9 yards. It’s a Utards wet dream, except these guys were from Oregon - but they looked very very Utardian. I asked him, very specifically “ are you sure that was a bull” [he had the draw bulls only tag], and he said “yes, I saw it in my scope.” I responded “well, the big bull I had the spotter on is not the elk you hit.”

They get loaded up, I tell him congrats, and off they go to try and find this elk. Wasn’t long before Gordo comes out (now dark) and asks me WTF was all the blasting about. I walked him through the whole thing, answered his questions, and he said “we need to call F&G.”

I didn’t have cell service, so I text Dan-O off my Garmin, he called the CAP line, gave the particulars, and gave them my name/number/Garmin address. This morning I got a text from Dannie with a cell number saying the CO will be coming to check on it.

We sat down on the Lookout this morning, watched the same group of elk, Gordo had a blast just watching them do their thing. He really does just love elk. While we were there I got a call from the CO, he caught up to them first thing this morning down in the bottom. They showed him the meat, the video,the tag, the pictures, and the busted off rack of a spike.

I apologized to him, saying I hoped I hadn’t wasted his time. He confirmed that no, I had done the right thing, and he totally understood why I would believe that thing was a cow from 1400 yards away. I asked him straight up “you think he could see that it was a bull from that distance in a rifle scope?” He said “well, it’s a conjecture at this point, but I agree, he got lucky.”

I guess lesson learned - it’s better to be lucky than good.
Click to expand...
Wait, what?

That's the dumbest thing I've heard in a while. 1400 yd, has a bull tag, shoots a spike, wtf?
 
So, here’s the wrap up…

Gordon still hunted back in one little area, no elk. I stayed and glassed, and there were two cows on the ridge above him, but he wouldn’t have been able to see them. No cell phone reception so no way of letting him know.

He wants to try and head out around noon tomorrow, go see my boys before he heads back north. Can’t really blame him for that. They’re cute kids.

Plan is to head back to the Lookout in the morning, watch the elk show again, then he’ll pack up his camp and head down the mountain.

Dan-O just text and he’s headed back up, so we’ll try and find him a deer.

Gordo’s done. But, he and I got to talking about antelope this afternoon. He’s never antelope hunted at all. Even went as far as to ask what kind of set-up he’d need (rifle and scope wise) for a dedicated deer/antelope gun. I told him I might know a guy that could put the perfect package together for him.

So there’s hope…
 
Backofbeyond said:
So no dice last night for Gordon, and really a weird experience all the way around.

Dropped Gordo at the low road into the bottoms of Cherry Ridge. Plan was to still hunt his way in, then find a spot below their approach to the feeding grounds and wait for a shot. No dice, the elk didn’t show up, but it was the night after his miss. They didn’t come through the night after I shot my cow in there as well. Fingers cross for tonight.

Weather report has the rain/snow moving in Friday afternoon, so Gordon has moved up his timeline for departure. It’s down to tonight and tomorrow morning.

Now for the weird experience part. I stayed out at the glassing knob over Cherry Ridge, and right at sunset a truck pulls up and a guy gets out to BS. Not all that strange, after a week in here I’m on a first name basis with most of the tag holders that have been around. Anyways, we start talking, fist time with this guy, and he looks over my shoulder and says “is that a bull over there?” which there was, a decent 6x6 still pushing 12 cows around, and a dink spike - all past Cherry Ridge, down another canyon, and in the far side - 1300 - 1400 yards away. I’d been watching them for a bit through my spotter.

Dude runs back to his truck and pulls out a rifle and starts getting set up for a shot. At this point his girlfriend gets out of the truck as well, and she’s bringing his ammo, and videoing - all the shit. I said something to the effect of “it’s a little far isn’t it?” To which he replied “it’s ok, it’s a Gunwerks, it’s supposed to be able to do this.”

Ya.

Anyways, I jump back on the spotter, because he’s dead set to shoot something. He ranges it, spins his dials blah blah blah, starts blasting. I’ve got my spotter in the big bull, I don’t see where his bullets are hitting but I’m describing to him exactly where the bull is. He shoots four times, misses four times. His GF goes to the truck to get more ammo, I bring him back to show him exactly where the bull is, as he’s moved several times, he gets back in the gun and sends another. Through the spotter I see the elk 30 yards behind the bull crumple and start rolling down the hill. He gets up hooting and hollering, gf is “OMG Babe! You DID IT!!!” The whole 9 yards. It’s a Utards wet dream, except these guys were from Oregon - but they looked very very Utardian. I asked him, very specifically “ are you sure that was a bull” [he had the draw bulls only tag], and he said “yes, I saw it in my scope.” I responded “well, the big bull I had the spotter on is not the elk you hit.”

They get loaded up, I tell him congrats, and off they go to try and find this elk. Wasn’t long before Gordo comes out (now dark) and asks me WTF was all the blasting about. I walked him through the whole thing, answered his questions, and he said “we need to call F&G.”

I didn’t have cell service, so I text Dan-O off my Garmin, he called the CAP line, gave the particulars, and gave them my name/number/Garmin address. This morning I got a text from Dannie with a cell number saying the CO will be coming to check on it.

We sat down on the Lookout this morning, watched the same group of elk, Gordo had a blast just watching them do their thing. He really does just love elk. While we were there I got a call from the CO, he caught up to them first thing this morning down in the bottom. They showed him the meat, the video,the tag, the pictures, and the busted off rack of a spike.

I apologized to him, saying I hoped I hadn’t wasted his time. He confirmed that no, I had done the right thing, and he totally understood why I would believe that thing was a cow from 1400 yards away. I asked him straight up “you think he could see that it was a bull from that distance in a rifle scope?” He said “well, it’s a conjecture at this point, but I agree, he got lucky.”

I guess lesson learned - it’s better to be lucky than good.
Click to expand...
Feel your frustrations. Watched a similar mess unfold over by CMR my junior year in high school. Majority were from Wisconsin. Massive elk herd. More $$into the rifles than the group I was with had in the pickup trucks. No one took a 1400 yard shot they drove to a better place and it sounded like WW3 had started. To this day I wonder how many elk were wounded in that mess.
 
It’s absolutely cool you got him out! He’ll remember this hunt forever, filled tag or not. You did good.


Now the gunwerks guy on the other hand……….
 
Backofbeyond said:
We sat down on the Lookout this morning, watched the same group of elk, Gordo had a blast just watching them do their thing. He really does just love elk.
Click to expand...

We've had a lot of discussion about the necessity of holding a tag. This might be Gordo's last tag, but the way I read your story it might not be his last elk camp. As my grandpa aged he didn't hit it real hard, but he took just as much pleasure in being in camp and seeing others success. Something for us all to keep in mind. A lot of our old-timers just love an invite.
 
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