Honey, didn't tell you

S

salmonchaser

Ammo Smith
Dec 13, 2013
5,121
5,468
I got home from Alaska this morning at 0430, took a nap and started on my chores. When the lovely bride got home from work we started working on on our hunting calendar. Deer, pheasant, chukar, Huns and quail. Ducks on thanksgiving and Christmas eve. A three week window blocked out for my coveted any bull elk tag. Then she drops the bombshell. When are you taking me on my cow hunt. A friend had offered her a cow elk hunt on his ranch if she drew a tag and she did. She is very excited having never hunted elk. She never mentioned it all summer while I was in Alaska.
I think I'm more excited about her cow tag than my bull tag.
She'll use a model 70 .30-06 loaded with 180gr. Partitions.
I crossed out a pheasant hunting weekend and installed the cow hunt, then she tells me Ken said to bring the dogs, we'll get the elk in the morning and hunt birds the rest of the weekend.
Lofty goals for a late bloomer, but she killed her first three deer in under an hour opening day each year she hunted.
Fall is looking good.
 
Awesome!
Good luck to your bride. Ask her to post a story about this hunt. I really like the fact that she kept it from you all summer. That's a nice surprise.
 
That is a great piece of news. Anytime we have opportunity to hunt with our bride, the stars have aligned and the earth looks flat. Congratulations. Sounds as if it will be a good hunt.
 
Wow, that sounds like an awesome Fall line up. Cannot wait to hear about her elk hunt. Yours too. Where will you be hunting them at?
 
Excellent!
Life is good when the significant other wants to shoot and hunt.

JD338
 
Cool.
That sounds like a hoot.
Sounds like she's charged up about it also which is usually a good thing.
Have fun!
 
Both our elk hunts will occur in the Walla Walla unit in northeastern Oregon. Sande's hunt is a landowner tag a friend offered. His ranch is on the western slope of the Blue Mountains in the transition zone from timber to crop land. Never a sure thing with free range elk, but his ground holds a couple hundred year in and year out.
My hunt also occurs in the Walla Walla unit, but on Forest service ground. We have been hunting out of the same camp, with one exception since 1991. The rest of our crew have drawn the any bull tag in the past and all have taken good bulls. The unit is also a draw hunt for spikes.
Last year the any bull hunters had a 75" success rate, spike hunters went 20".
Oregon hunters have either a five or nine day season for rifle hunts. The Walla Walla any bull hunt is three weeks long. I'll be there for as long as it takes.
 
Salmonchaser, I am sure looking forward to both your hunt and your wife's. I know there will be a couple of real good stories with photos :wink:.
Remember have Fun, Shoot straight & be Safe.

Blessings,
Dan
 
As the eve of Sande's elk hunt approached I was becoming concerned with her lack of focus on her rookie season as an elk huntress. Apparently her son's wedding was distracting her for some reason. Thankfully the wedding and reception came off without a hitch, leaving us a week to get ready.
A couple of days before we left I found Sande down in the pasture placing clay pigeons on the stump." I want to shoot my rifle" she said. Being a good husband I fetched her model 70 and a box of cartridges.
From the corner of the pasture to the stump is 70 yards, sitting using a hasty sling, she went five for five on the clays. That will due, she said.
Two days later we were on the road from our home near Seattle, to our friends place near Pendleton Oregon. Finally the questions started, how far, how big, what about, did you remember, if it had to do with elk hunting she was asking the question. As we crossed Snoqualmie summit, in the cascade mountains, she asked about the full moon. I told her the combination of hot weather and a bright moon would conspire against us.
By the time we arrived at 1030, it was already 70 degrees. We helped with some chores, readying our equipment and had some lunch. At about 1300 hours we drove into Pendleton to meet the biologist at odfw. He had been encouraging Ken to take advantage of the elk depredation tags as other landowners in the area were asking for help keeping the elk out of their wheat fields.
With Sande's tag in hand we headed northeast out of Pendleton. The country looked more like good deer ground then elk country. The north facing slopes were thick with Russian olive, wild rose cottonwood and the occasional Apple tree. The ridges, south facing slopes and benches were all grass. The draws were plentiful, steep but not very deep. Looking up country, to the east you could see the massive canyon of the of the Walla Walla river, to the west the land flattened into wheat fields.
We drove a couple of ridges getting a feel for the ground and glassing the draws. It was 82 degrees and Ken was not feeling real optimistic we would see any elk before dark.
We grabbed our gear walked over a short rise until we reached an old fence line. Sande and I set up against an old fence post looking into a draw running from our left to right. Ken and my brother moved off to watch two additional draws.
I ranged the head of.the draw at 500, the opposing ridge at 300 a bench that looked good at 250, it was 1500 hours, the sun was beating down as Sande practiced target acquisition on the sticks. As we baked in the sun we alternately glasses and whispered about elk hunting. At 1515 hours an enormous 6x7 bull simply materialized out of the bottom of the draw, 279 yards to our left. He worked his way up our side of the draw until he was nearly even with us. A slight west wind carried our sent to him and he turned and jogged back into the cover in the bottom. Sande was thrilled.
An hour passed with no further sightings. Then the old bull popped out again at the head of the draw. He worked his way down the far ridge unit he was directly across from us. Still no cows. He turns and heads due south disappearing into an other draw. 1715 hours, no cows with a very good bull. Sande and I are discussing this Anomaly when Ken comes low crawling along the fence. He has a rag horn bull pushing three cows in a short draw a couple of.hundred yards west. We make a move, find the elk at 350 but they are staying in heavy cover not giving Sande a good shot. We make a couple of stalks trying to improve our situation with no luck.
Then straight across the canyon we see a rag horn pushing another cow. I range the cow at 310 yards. Before Sande can shoot she turns, moving in and out of cover with the bull following. We've seen three bulls and four cows, what a hunt. Then it starts, we can hear several bulls bugling, our big bull comes back our direction and runs off the rag horn and starts pushing the cow back to the draw where we first saw him. We move quickly back to where we started, closing the distance, the cow should give us another chance.
Sande has set up on the sticks, she looks at me and points down into the canyon and points at her ear. The roll of the slope keeps us from seeing but we hear a lot of cow talk. Suddenly they appear, filing up the far slope, 19 cows and calfs. I'm sitting next to Sande, relax, do you see the calfs? She does. How far, she asks, 250 to the yellow tree, just hold where you want to hit. Wait until a big one steps into the big grass patch. Do you see her? Boom, and a barely audible whisper, I got her. The old cow dropped as if hit by Thors hammer. It is 1812 hours.
We sit for a few minutes, there is no need for a follow-up shot.
As we make our way over she says, now I understand why you love elk hunting....
 
Congratulations to Sande! Great account of her first hunt. She did very well. You taught her well.
 
What a great read this morning! Enjoyed my first cup of coffee, while reading about Sande's elk hunt. Awesome!

You two did well. Yes, The Blues is an excellent elk hunting area, either side of the WA/OR border...

Congrats to Sande & you and am eagerly awaiting further hunt reports!

Guy
 
Great story. Congratulations to all concerned. Everything about this story is terrific. Thank you for sharing.
 
Great story and Congrats to the Huntress :) it's a great day when ya down anything as large as horse that is fine eating as a cow elk ! good stuff!!
 
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