Christmas/New Years Elk hunt

[gerry]

Well my wife and I are leaving tomorrow for our elk trip (Dec 26). We will leave in the afternoon and stay the night in Prince George, sometime on Saturday we will arrive in DrMike's neck of the woods. We each have an antlerless elk permit and unless Mike has tagged out he has one too, this will be my wife's first hunt where she will actually be hunting.

Maria will be shooting her very accurate LH Tikka T3 in 6.5x55 using a 140 gr Partition, she has done quite a bit of shooting and is really solid out to 200 yards and could shoot farther if necessary. If she has a good rest and the animal is still it will be in a whole heap of trouble.

I will be shooting my LH Remington 35 Whelen I have spoken about many times and 200 gr AccuBond bullets.

I hope to be able to trade off a couple of guns or put them up for consignment on this trip and finally get the 270 Win I have been wanting, a 150-160 gr Partition would have been great for this hunt but obviously the Whelen will do the job nicely.

I will update this thread whenever possible, wish us luck and I do hope Maria bags an elk

 

[DrMike]

I'm pulling for each of you to tag out. I'll do all I can to put you onto elk. It has dropped to -19C this evening, presaging a cool spell for a few days. It should warm to -8C by Wednesday and remain in that vicinity for the remainder of the week. Should be good hunting. To be certain, I'll be trying to drop a cow before you get here.

 

[wvchevy3]

Good luck too all. Lee

 

[Rol_P]

Best luck and pictures please.

 

[truck driver]

I'm rooting for you guys to tag out. Who needs a 270 when you have a Whelen?

 

[Palouser]

Good luck! Her 6.5 sounds like an awesome gun! That is on My bucket list! To see northern BC up by where Dr. Mike lives!

 

[DrMike]

And I'd love for you to see the beautiful land here in the north, Todd. We are blessed to be here.

 

[LD375]

Good luck Gerry, Maria and Mike, I hope you guys connect on an Elk

Lou

 

[Al in SC]

-16 ....-8 .. Brrrrrrrrrr. This southern boy doesn't like those numbers. It is difficult for me to understand how wildlife can survive in that kind of temp. I have a choice as to whether to be out in it or not. Wildlife doesn't.

Gerry, I have been a fan of the 270 for many years. It isn't the "new gal in high school" but it has been tried, tested and proven to be a good and dependable one.

 

[Guy Miner]

Al, it's not quite as bad as it seems at first glance. Dr Mike is using Celcius.

Convert -16c to about 3 degrees F
Convert -8c to about 18 degrees F
(if I got that right)

Chilly, but not all that bad. :grin:

Best of luck to the northern elk hunters!

Guy

 

[SJB358]

Good luck! Hope you have a blast.

 

[NYDAN]

Wishing all the best to you three. I really would like for each of you to score. I had better get back to work before my natural ruddy complexion turns full green with envy. Well, maybe I shouldn't be envious. I did have a great year deer hunting and many hunters would give their eye teeth for my opportunities. But, I would love to experience a hunt in northern BC.

Please post pictures.

 

[Elkman]

Good luck and have a great hunt!!!!!!

 

[Elkman]

I forgot, why does one need a 270, when they have a Whelen?

 

[gerry]

Thanks for the well wishes, we are close to leaving now and I won't likely check in till we get back. We will make sure to take a bunch of pictures.

As for the 270 thing I guess I hijacked my own thread :lol:

One reason I have been wanting one a long time and we haven't been able to buy one due to being financially responsible
The second is why is it good for my wife to use a 6.5x55 but a man needs a bigger gun for the same purpose? But that's a topic for it's own thread one day

 

[DrMike]

I was out scouting (and looking for an elk of my own) today. It was -24 C (-11 F) when we left home, though it did warm to -5 C (23 F) by last light. Al, these temperatures aren't bad, as there was no wind to speak of and it was sunny. In all, a pleasant day. We counted twenty moose today. Unfortunately, we won't be hunting moose. We saw well over forty whitetail deer today. Unfortunately, we won't be hunting whitetail deer. We saw a number of mule deer. Unfortunately, we won't be hunting mule deer. However, we did see some of the things we will be hunting.

Gil (Blkram) and his wife Susan were at the house at 0730. We loaded up the Tundra and Gil manned the helm. We stopped for a couple of taquitos and some orange juice and set out west toward the area we would first examine.

I'm not as fluid as I once was, so moving quickly is difficult ... okay, actually it is well nigh impossible. However, I can move, and that is important. We were driving cautiously into an area that we were reasonably certain would hold elk. Sure enough, we were busted early on by two large bulls at about eight to nine hundred yards. There were two spikes at about four to five hundred yards. Since walking in deep snow for a few hundred yards is well nigh impossible for me (I might do it, but then my partners would need to carry me out), we opted to drive closer. About twenty or so cows were feeding to the north of the bulls. The spikers were uneasy and trotted toward the cows which began moving the herd toward the distant treeline. Giil stopped the truck as I slid out of the passenger seat. I didn't have a great shot, and so I watched as the last of the herd drifted into the timber. It was disappointing, but the numbers were quite promising. By this point, we have seen around thirty elk and seven moose.

We drove back out and headed west into an area we have looked at over the years. We cut the fresh tracks of a pack of wolves; their trail indicated that they were casting, hunting deer, elk or moose. The pad on these puppies was quite large. Now, I am permitted three wolves each year. Right now, in the area we were hunting, the bounty on wolves is $750 and we can keep the pelt. When properly treated, these pelts have quite a bit of value. Of course, we would follow the wolves. After all, they were moving down a road and there were no houses beyond where we were driving. We had not gone over five or six hundred meters when we topped a rise and a large black wolf darted across the road and into the timber about two hundred fifty meters in front of us. Gil stopped the truck and walked down the road to see if he would be able to get a shot. That "woof" was having nothing to do with us, however. Gil motioned me to bring the truck on down. We followed the remainder of the pack until they all turned into the timber. Later, returning over the familiar ground and then discovering where this pack had come from, we saw that they had traversed that particular road for several kilometers. Deer tracks indicated that deer that scattered all along the way. I was pretty bummed that we didn't at least get a decent poke. However, that particular wolf was visible just as long as it took to move across a very narrow lane, over a snow bank and into the woods. Later, in the evening, we heard a lone wolf answered a pack of coyotes as we set up for an evening hunt. However, we did not see anymore of these powerful hunters.

The remainder of the day was spent in Gil getting us stuck in places where my Toyota was loathe to go, digging a path through the snow where only a snowmobile had gone before us (we had a hatchet, an ice scraper and a snow brush) and Susan and I volunteering to be human sandbags so Gil could abuse my sweet little pickup. We did, however, manage to evade the spectre of starvation and/or freezing by having to walk out twenty kilometers or so to the highway when Gil managed (assuredly with many prayers offered up for mercy and safety) to make it through the foreboding landscape. Just another adventure to add to the catalog of dangerous accounts accumulated because of my friendship with Gilbert. :wink:

We did set up at 1530 in the same area where we had encountered elk in the early morning hours. We stayed until shortly after 1700 when it was too dark to shoot. Unfortunately, that herd did not come out again. I am certain that we should be able to point Gerry and Maria to some fair hunting. I spoke with him about an hour ago and they were making good time. They should be here sometime tomorrow, and I'll try to point them to a couple of areas to get them started. Unfortunately, I have other responsibilities this weekend; but they should be fine. It all looks promising.

 

[Elkman]

Great post Mike, I loved the write up it, was like I was there with you, guys. One suggestion however, shoveling and pushing takes away from hunting time. So its best scheduled for the late evening past shooting light. Or on your way in to recover the kill. Also I have found tire chains to be of some help at times. Hope you get a couple tomorrow, good luck. !!!!!!

 

[Vince]

Mike,

I'm left with one lingering question from your escapade. Where pray tell does one get taquitos in the great white north?
Now I'm wondering if one can get green chilli burritos too? Great read but I must confess to having more questions than answers after reading this well typed story. I'm sorry too that none of you could close the deal on a wolf. One of these days I intend to make a legal hunt just for them.
Good luck to all and I look forward to reading more about this adventure as it progresses.

Vince

Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk

 

[DrMike]

Taquitos at the local 7-11 (early morning ptomaine palace). Eating a couple of taquitos first thing in the morning ensures that you aren't liable to fall asleep. In fact, bouncing around in the bed of the pickup (doing my best imitation of a sandbag) I was questioning whether eating those taquitos that particular morning was really all that wise!

Blkram and I have seen wolves frequently on our hunts, and we see evidence of wolves on almost every hunt. They are sufficiently numerous that government is at last discussing a ten-year cull. Gil relates that the trapper near his village has taken several in the past week or so. One thing is certain, they don't give you much of a chance to shoot.

 

[Guy Miner]

Thanks for the write-up Mike!

Seems like a good hunt so far.