The Season of Stupid (& elk)

[Dsnow9]

Congrats on a successful hunt!! Could be your action screws are loose or scope rings and bases might have loosened up. I have also had a scope go bad on a hunt for unknown reasons. Hope you get it figured out!! What suppressor are you running?

Gemtech dagger.

And I wish I could say it was the rifle. I haven’t been to the range more than twice this summer and that’s just not enough for a new rifle. I’m 95 percent it is me, and I think that’s why I was so off Monday. Because I knew the miss on Sunday night was my fault.

I grew up shooting iron sights and do wonderfully with them. I have always struggled to shoot a scope. I need to put 100 rounds down range a year to be on point for hunting season. I’m not someone that can just pick up a rifle once a year and be dead on.

 

[Wyhunter]

Nice job! Its always tough when the first shot misses. Way to get back on it. Ive had a few of those where you hope no one is watching

 

[winmag]

That’s the 2nd best thing about using a suppressor; if you miss, they don’t know which way to run so they just stand there!

 

[LuketheDog]

The Final Day

I was up early on Monday and got across the river and up the steep face pretty quickly. I started working towards the area that the deer fed back up into the hills from private. I was about 250 yards from where I wanted to be when I saw a doe take off from my left. I still had about ten minutes till shooting light.

I got my tripod out and started glassing. 20-30 does and little tiny forkies. I kept panning back and forth. The deer were all feeding up the other face about 250 yards away. And then I saw him. The buck from the night before. The young 4x4 was working his way around, chasing does and feeding. I popped the binos off and set the rifle on the tripod.

It was a game of cat and mouse for a while as they were all feeding with heads down or he was blocked by does. Then he worked out onto a face that gave me a clear shot. I racked one, calmed down and shot.

Miss… none of the deer moved and he is fine.

The shot looked high.

Boom…

Miss…

WTF!!!!!

Boom…

Miss…

I took the rifle off the tripod and checked my turrets and reference marks on my scope. Took some deep breaths and calmed down as much as possible. Set the rifle back on the tripod and tried to slow my breathing as much as possible.

Boom…

Thwack!

The buck jumped, and was noticeably hit. He did not look good. He also didn’t move. I was worried he was going to bline for private so I racked another one.

Boom…

Miss…

Ok what the heck is going on. I put another round in case he started to move but decided I should just stop shooting. I think it was mostly mental but plan to but a serious number of rounds down range on Monday and Tuesday before my elk hunt.

He laid down so I took the advantage to cover some distance to get within about 80 yards. There was no clean shot without blowing our shoulders so I started to heat up some peak biscuits and gravy as he expired.

When I could tell he was dead I went up to get him and drag him back to my eating spot so I wasn’t cutting the buck up in clear view of everyone down on the private.
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He was a younger deer so I decided to just keep the bone in and loaded up my load cell with meat to check weight. It didn’t seem that bad so I loaded all the meat and the head on my pack and started the hike out. The pack weighed in at just over a 100 lbs. most of the hike wasn’t bad at all.
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I knew I had the steep face coming up and I was considering dropping the meat and doing two trips on the face. I got sucked down a spot that looked good but was really messed up.

At this point I couldn’t go back up and down was feeling really sketch. Was constantly fighting the slip. Almost down, I saw a cool rock.
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The face doesn’t look like much but the photo is very deceiving. I made it to the bottom finally and then did the next steep face and the river. Just slow and steady. Got back to the truck and loaded the meat into the cooler. I grabbed some food in town and then headed back to Denver. I was at home with my daughters by mid afternoon and back to Dad duty.

Lots of miles, lots of vertical, didn’t track any of it or take many photos. I was on a mission and the lack of bucks around turned the hunt into a full on mission from sun up to sun down. I had a great time, pushed myself and met some new friends. I also came home with some tasty meat! Those big old bucks are over rated .

Congrats! Cool rock looks like petrified wood?

 

[Dsnow9]

Congrats! Cool rock looks like petrified wood?

That’s what I thought!

 

[Deleted member 52098]

More to come… but the gist is

 

[BackofBeyond]

Gemtech dagger.

And I wish I could say it was the rifle. I haven’t been to the range more than twice this summer and that’s just not enough for a new rifle. I’m 95 percent it is me, and I think that’s why I was so off Monday. Because I knew the miss on Sunday night was my fault.

I grew up shooting iron sights and do wonderfully with them. I have always struggled to shoot a scope. I need to put 100 rounds down range a year to be on point for hunting season. I’m not someone that can just pick up a rifle once a year and be dead on.

100 rounds a year???? That’s a light month of shooting! You really need to pump those numbers up.

 

[TOGIE]

Yeesh. One hundo a year??

I bought 120 to hold me over for like the next 4-5 years hopefully lol

 

[Dsnow9]

100 rounds a year???? That’s a light month of shooting! You really need to pump those numbers up.

I live in a liberal city, the closest 100+ yard range is an hour and a half away. Between running a business and making my family a priority 100 is often a lofty goal.

Will probably put 60 down range though before elk season starts on Wednesday.

 

[SwaggyD]

I live in a liberal city, the closest 100+ yard range is an hour and a half away. Between running a business and making my family a priority 100 is often a lofty goal.

Will probably put 60 down range though before elk season starts on Wednesday.

Meh. 100 is 94 more than I shot this year and 98 more than I shot last year. Do what you need to do!

 

[Caseknife]

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Using your pink pen as a spud for rope splicing? Looks like it works just fine.

 

[Caseknife]

Bitter tasting

View attachment 301741

Have to soak it in hot water, makes it taste better and go down better

 

[Dsnow9]

Using your pink pen as a spud for rope splicing? Looks like it works just fine.

Worked prefect, splicing throw line. Rated for 1000lb and weighs less than parachord. 1.8mm diameter.

 

[Deleted member 16014]

15 min of dry fire practice a couple nights a week at home will get you outstanding reps at a tremendous value.

 

[Dsnow9]

15 min of dry fire practice a couple nights a week at home will get you outstanding reps at a tremendous value.

I agree!

I didn’t put in the time I needed to on the new build. I’m pretty sure all the issues are mine. Snap caps are being popped as we speak.

 

[Dsnow9]

15 min of dry fire practice a couple nights a week at home will get you outstanding reps at a tremendous value.

A big thank you sir. Not sure why I have been neglecting the dry firing. Two things that I messed up on my hunt. My bad completely and I’m glad I didn’t wound any animals. I was slightly jerking the trigger likely due to the much lighter trigger than what I used to have. I was also counting the 1/2 mil hashes as full mil hashes. I feel like an idiot but it makes me feel a whole lot better going into this hunting season.

Again @SnowyMountaineer I owe you one. Just the reminder I needed. It’s exactly what I tell everyone else to do but forgot to do myself

 

[Dsnow9]

Should be in camp within 24 hours but had to finish putting on the roof rack tonight. The roads are gonna be bad this season and wanted to bring both spares but the bed of the truck was going to be to full with things like the blackstone and coolers.

Let’s get nasty! Wall tent life, here I come! With a bunch of nasty hell during daylight. 2nd choice, 4th season either sex elk tag. The boys are telling me I need to go for a bull since I am already a freezer and a half packed already…

I don’t like this feeling. I’ve always been, brown and down.

 

[elkfanatic]

I'd go with brown is down! Shoot whatever makes you happy, and don't listen to the boys!! I have yet to find a recipe that makes antlers palatable!! Good luck to you and enjoy your hunt!!

 

[seeth07]

Worked prefect, splicing throw line. Rated for 1000lb and weighs less than parachord. 1.8mm diameter.


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You seriously going to take this back to the argument about dropping ounces with rope?

 

[Deleted member 52098]

Or elk…

Before I went on this hunt, @Dsnow9 told me the victory would be seeing the elk. This would be my third time in this unit and ultimately, my last.

Friday morning I devised a plan to essentially hike all day, up while the thermals dropped and down while they rose. I had been given a tip on where to go, and it looked good, but right before bed Thursday night my gut told me to try a spot that seemed promising last year.

I got up early and hiked in the steam basin 3 miles to an opening that held grasses still, small shrubs and some standing water for the elk. Saw nothing at first light but held out for a bit to see if anything came out as it warmed up. Nada.

I went around a small knoll to the backside of where I would ascend. This area stays dark until about ten am and the thermals on that side were still dropping. On my way, I found an old cart. Unlike deacon, I decided to not strap it to my back



I started ascending the backside of this dark timber and quickly found some tracks and rubs, but no smell of elk, shit or piss. Disheartening but I kept ascending. As I did, I would also glass through the trees to a hillside that was illuminated. Still nothing




I was making good time to get to the top while still going slow enough to look around as I ascended. The sun was just starting to peak through as I made my way toward the tippy top.



One thing was really clear. A bull definitely called this knoll home at one point. I nearly circumnavigated this whole thing and there were rubs on the outer boundary of the intact forest all the way up. Something roamed here, and within at least the last day. Unfortunately I have a cow tag

I got to the top, got service and checked some emails and texts. Checked in with coach and told him I was start my slow descent through warming dark timber. Ultimately I pulled up nothing but it was a new experience for me hunting this way and going slow and picking apart every branch or weirdly colored rock before moving again. I reached the bottom of the intact forest, looked up and realized I had covered some nasty shit. A good effort, albeit a failure.



I hiked back out to the truck and got there around noon. 8 miles for the morning and nothing to show for it. I will be honest I was really demoralized and frustrated. I sat on the tailgate in the sun and ate some freeze dried teriyaki. Thinking about what to do for the Final afternoon.

Ultimately I decided to go back to the only palace anyone I knew had seen elk (not me) and glass that entire area all afternoon and hope to see something and then get after it before the season closed. Needless to say, the only thing I saw was a moose.




I got back to my truck around 6. Took off all hunting gear and started cursing quite a bit. I know this shit is hard and elk are hard to get… but to not see any elk in 5 days in the field. In multiple spots. Of varying terrain and food options. It’s maddening.

The season of stupid referred to the dumb shit we did to get elk. But I was starting to feel like it also referred to how $*)Q!#@$ dumb I was at finding these elk. For all the time I put in studying elk and elk behavior and time spent pouring over maps, this unit had stifled me once again.

I pulled my shit together and drove home, but I was a cranky MF that night. But ultimately had little time to wallow in my misery as I had to unpack the truck then load up camp for 4th season as I was taking camp up Saturday morning for deacon