WI ELK, the story of a once in a lifetime hunt

[vagabond]

Seeing the smile on your daughters' face and that beautiful bull made my day! Ourfreakingawesomestanding! This old displaced mountain boy hunting guide loves that shit!

 

[EYJONAS!]

Probably the coolest and most unique elk hunt I've seen on here. What an awesome adventure and story. You have my utmost respect for the opportunity you gave to her.

Makes me think about doing something like that hopefully one day for my kids if the opportunity presents itself ever.

Congrats to her and to you.

 

[vagabond]

I'm remembering old hunts following this story! Early to mid 90's my buddy, Paiute and I were running Deer Creek camp in the Troublesome. A very instrumental member of RMEF and his cronies were catered to out of our camp! He was from Hudson , Wi and I remember how excited he was that elk were being possibly being introduced. The "cheeseheads" went 3 for 3 that season. A few years later I failed to get him on a bull! This success of this family , here and now, takes the strain off of some of my failures! Way too cool of a hunt story!

 

[CouesKelly]

Congrats to both of you! Thanks for taking us along on the story. What an awesome adventure for both Daughter and Dad!

 

[timberman56]

wow. determined young lady, congrats. welldone Dad!! may be your best experience with your daughter until you walk her down the aisle##

 

[Gravelyctry]

Thank you so much for sharing this story and your experience. Awesome dad and a great daughter!

 

[seeth07]

@WinkB Super adventure with the family. Congratulations to all of you.

Is this tag open to Wisconsin residents only? Did your daughter also throw in $10 to apply and thus qualified for the tag transfer, or could you transfer to anyone of your choosing?

If WI ever gets to the point where they issue more than 100 tags that year, NR will be able to apply. There are some exceptions where a NR military personal can apply. Also, 50% of the tags are given to the Native American tribe and I'm not exactly sure how they issue their tags but I believe one last year ended up in a Non residents hand (pure spectculation from someone that owns land there but is fairly creditable because the elk biologist hunts at their deer camp there with him).

There used to be a REMF raffle for a tag as well that is no longer there.

 

[BirdManMike]

Congrats! Great writeup

 

[OverlordBear]

Awesome hunt congratulations on the cool dark antlered bull. What a great story and hunt. Way to go Dad! your daughter will remember that for the rest of her life.

 

[WinkB]

Yes there is an equal amount of tags that are given to the tribes. There are approximately 11 tribes that participate in the hunt as well. These tribes represent individuals from northern MN, WI and the UP of MI. It is entirely up to them as to how they give out the tags and who will be the shooter. The rules that they have to play by are different than residents and their season started 2 weeks earlier than the general resident tags.

I did have a couple conversations with those hunters and we did chat about what they specifically were doing and how it differed from our hunt.

Yes initially there was a RMEF raffled tag that was taken our of the residents pool. That practice no longer exists and only state residents can apply and be awarded a tag right now.

I have only been sharing the residents side of the story as I do not want to miss-represent any of the regulations and process that native members have to go through.

 

[noharleyyet]

Great recap...loved the pics and writing.

 

[Neumie]

Awesome story, congrats!

 

[hank4elk]

Way Cool!

 

[Hunting Wife]

Loved this story! Your daughter seems like a tough cookie Hope she continues to succeed in big pursuits.

 

[Caseknife]

@WinkB, and you said you weren't a story teller, Wow! You and your daughter did great on a wonderful hunt. Way to go.

 

[YoungGun]

Such a great story of your experience with your daughter- thank you for such a great write up and sharing it!

 

[Hunter4Life78]

As you could tell by my previous post we had gotten permission from a private land owner to access his property and hunt an area of public and private. Based on our scouting and talking to the landowner it was fairly unpredictable as to if or when they may show up. He had not seen any of them in the past week on or near his property. Around 4pm we went out and found a spot where we had good sight lines and could watch over the fields and adjacent timber in the hopes they would come out. Again we had on an off rain and it was very quiet out in the woods and we had a nice wind right in our faces.

Right at about 6pm with only 30 min of legal light remaining in the day, it happened there were elk starting to feed out of the timber and onto the field. There were about 15 cows in total and 4 bulls. Off in the distance as the cows fed, and two of the spikes were pushing each other around near the tree line. All we need was one of those guys to step clear and we may have a shot. We were within 400 yards, so any opportunity that presented itself I knew she could handle it.

She makes a couple cow calls to try and get their attention, and just then the herd bull a 5x6 comes running out and starts heading right towards her. She quickly sets up the rifle on the tripod so she could get standing shot and clear the brush. As she continues to try and convince him to give her a shot opportunity, just then 4 cows come out of the time near her and spot her. She is busted, they bark, and I think for sure it is all over and they are going to take off.

The bull looked at the cows and then took a quick turn broadside and that is when she sent a round right into him. He spun 180 and she shot again, he dropped right there. Two shots within a couple seconds of each other and it was all over. Holly $#%t this that just happen?

View attachment 300874

View attachment 300875

I am truly amazed she was able to keep it together and make those shots as quickly, cleanly and accurately as she did. I kept telling her if he is standing keep shooting and that is what she did. I think he was dead on his feet after that first shot but she wasn't taking any chances. Now that he is on the ground all the emotions come to the surface and the hands are shaking and we are in total disbelief that we were fortunate enough to harvest one.

We quickly took a couple pictures before darkness settled in and and gave a little thanks to this elk.
View attachment 300877

I saw the tines as scrolled down and let out a whoop, This had been a h@#$ of ride. Thank you for putting us in the passenger seat and sharing this epic tale.

 

[JoMo]

Such an awesome story. Congrats to you guys. Memories the both of you will think back on forever.

 

[WinkB]

Thank you for all the kind replies and responses to our story. I am glad to see folks have enjoyed our journey as much as we have enjoyed sharing it.

I even had to make a little elk pumpkin for halloween as a little hint to folks in our community. The word is starting to get our about her harvest, however most folks still don't know.

 

[SC Living Outdoors]

Congrats to you and your daughter. That was a great story. Memories to last a lifetime.