elkeater2
Handloader
- Jan 5, 2009
- 758
- 70
I chose Elkeater2 as my posting name because over the years I've consumed my share and love it all. I got the first one, a little raghorn, in 1964. There were some nice 6x6's, a couple freaks, and many just average ones. There was a time when I surveyed and staked mining claims in the mountains for others - including carrying posts on frame packs. Somewhere I have some old pics of me with 1/2 of a spike strapped on - today I have two replaced hips!!
I haven't killed an elk for several years. The older guys on here can relate - we aren't as mobile, health interferes, family issues, lousy weather, kids in sports, ambition and initiative level, hunting friends move, cripple up or pass on. Those are my excuses anyway.
This year with my wife's encouragement, I drew a cow tag in the area where I first began my elk hunting. I could archery hunt all of September, then rifle hunt for the next couple months if necessary. We are blessed to have a cabin there and I was told "Just go until you get something. I'll join you when I can. It used to only take you two or three days, right?" Right.
I outfitted pretty thoroughly including setting up a couple cameras and a blind. Family with kids and dogs came Labor Day and it was great having them there. It seems the elk enjoyed Labor Day weekend as well, because they were out in the full moonlight parading around in front of my cameras. Even some bugling at dusk and dawn. Then it was over for the rest of the month for me anyway. It was hot and dry. I saw two small groups of cows and calves almost before they saw me still hunting. I did have a little forkie muley keeping me company at the blind. Although legal, he wasn't my quarry. I did cover a lot of ground and got in much better shape.
On the 2nd day of rifle season, I walked in the dark to a place where elk have frequented over the years. There is a Y-shaped drainage I call "3-Way" where the elk trade back and forth up and down each fork of the drainage. This is just below timberline with heavy old growth spruce and fir, beetle kill some of it, and downfall. The elk have trails around the heaviest downfall, and there are patches of grass and feed interspersed. The creek bottoms have grasses, willows, and a trickle of water. There are places where the openings are 200 yards across, yet each drainage also has tree growth crossing in several places. Unless truly pressured, the handful of resident elk move around and use all of it.
I got out early and a few minutes before shooting light I came up on the north edge just below the junction of the "Y". The wind was minimal for once and from a good direction. Across the willow bottom creek there was a clear opening with yellow grass leading up to the timber. As it got lighter, I saw five or six dark shapes in that grass which just didn't seem right. Binoculars told me they were elk! My watch told me I could shoot! In the time it took to put the binocs down and bring up the rifle, the elk had walked to the edge of the timber. A couple were standing still, and I double-verified there were no antlers, chose the large broadside one and filled my tag. Tremendous feelings of gratitude, blessings, and I admit, accomplishment.
My wife was at the cabin when I walked in with red hands at 9:00 AM. Hugs and breakfast, then we agreed to hike in on a trail with the fewest obstacles, taking pack frame, pack sacks, game bags, lunch, and a plastic tarp. We figured boning it out was the only way for us feeble old people. The cow was lying on a sidehill only 30 feet or so from level ground. We tugged it onto the tarp and pulled it down the hill. 6 PM before we were in front of the fire, toasting ourselves internally and externally, exhausted, proud, and elated. 200 lbs. of prime fare is now in the large air circulating electric cooler here at home.
Thanks to my friends on the forum - EE2
I haven't killed an elk for several years. The older guys on here can relate - we aren't as mobile, health interferes, family issues, lousy weather, kids in sports, ambition and initiative level, hunting friends move, cripple up or pass on. Those are my excuses anyway.
This year with my wife's encouragement, I drew a cow tag in the area where I first began my elk hunting. I could archery hunt all of September, then rifle hunt for the next couple months if necessary. We are blessed to have a cabin there and I was told "Just go until you get something. I'll join you when I can. It used to only take you two or three days, right?" Right.
I outfitted pretty thoroughly including setting up a couple cameras and a blind. Family with kids and dogs came Labor Day and it was great having them there. It seems the elk enjoyed Labor Day weekend as well, because they were out in the full moonlight parading around in front of my cameras. Even some bugling at dusk and dawn. Then it was over for the rest of the month for me anyway. It was hot and dry. I saw two small groups of cows and calves almost before they saw me still hunting. I did have a little forkie muley keeping me company at the blind. Although legal, he wasn't my quarry. I did cover a lot of ground and got in much better shape.
On the 2nd day of rifle season, I walked in the dark to a place where elk have frequented over the years. There is a Y-shaped drainage I call "3-Way" where the elk trade back and forth up and down each fork of the drainage. This is just below timberline with heavy old growth spruce and fir, beetle kill some of it, and downfall. The elk have trails around the heaviest downfall, and there are patches of grass and feed interspersed. The creek bottoms have grasses, willows, and a trickle of water. There are places where the openings are 200 yards across, yet each drainage also has tree growth crossing in several places. Unless truly pressured, the handful of resident elk move around and use all of it.
I got out early and a few minutes before shooting light I came up on the north edge just below the junction of the "Y". The wind was minimal for once and from a good direction. Across the willow bottom creek there was a clear opening with yellow grass leading up to the timber. As it got lighter, I saw five or six dark shapes in that grass which just didn't seem right. Binoculars told me they were elk! My watch told me I could shoot! In the time it took to put the binocs down and bring up the rifle, the elk had walked to the edge of the timber. A couple were standing still, and I double-verified there were no antlers, chose the large broadside one and filled my tag. Tremendous feelings of gratitude, blessings, and I admit, accomplishment.
My wife was at the cabin when I walked in with red hands at 9:00 AM. Hugs and breakfast, then we agreed to hike in on a trail with the fewest obstacles, taking pack frame, pack sacks, game bags, lunch, and a plastic tarp. We figured boning it out was the only way for us feeble old people. The cow was lying on a sidehill only 30 feet or so from level ground. We tugged it onto the tarp and pulled it down the hill. 6 PM before we were in front of the fire, toasting ourselves internally and externally, exhausted, proud, and elated. 200 lbs. of prime fare is now in the large air circulating electric cooler here at home.
Thanks to my friends on the forum - EE2
