slm9s
Gold $$ Contributor
I like reading elk stories and someone else just posted theirs so I thought I'd share a recent one. I mostly hunt a little valley in Western Washington. My Mom's side of the family homesteaded there several generations ago. I grew up deer and duck hunting, but elk hunting certainly carried way more mystique when I was a little boy. When I was too young to hunt, family friends would stay at our house so I would be sleeping on the couch - having given up my bedroom for the visitors. I was supposed to be sleeping, but I would stay up and listen to my Dad plan the next day's hunt as well as the men telling old elk stories with lots of laughter. I remember listening to him drawing maps and explaining where he thought the elk might be, and where our party's hunters should start. Our hunting party back then consisted of ten to fifteen hunters. Decades later, its size has dwindled considerably. The year of this story it was just myself (7STW 700), my 70yo Dad (270Wby Mark V), and my 70yo Mom (243 88).
Our valley is hayfields/pastures surrounded on all sides by timber ridges. Occasionally opening morning the elk will be in the hayfield - best case scenario - drive the tractor right up to the dead elk. If not, up into the timber we go. This opening morning, the elk were not in the fields. The fact that its blowing 20 doesn't help. We checked 'grandpa's canyon', 'the big meadow', 'the swamp', and 'the donut field'. No dice.
I decided to take a route up into the timber thru a swampy creek bottom that lets you get in there a ways without having to navigate thru blackberries/devil's cane/vine maples/etc the whole way. I made my way uphill to an old logging road that sidehills the ridge. I could either go up the valley, down the valley, or there's a short spur that goes straight uphill to a bowl where I've had luck once before. I figured I would give that a try after peeking at a few older loggings first. I'm heading up the steep spur and am about halfway up when BOOM. A shot just uphill from me. I'm not sure what curse word I said, but I was sure that I was ten minutes late getting to the bowl and a bull was down and the rest of the herd was sprinting toward Idaho. I start jogging up this steep ass spur with my rifle ready in case the herd runs downhill toward me. This spur goes straight uphill and at the top bends hard left exposing the bowl. I'm now 2/3s of the way up and BOOM. Now I'm not sure what's going on ahead of me. Kill shot on a downed bull? Hail Mary shot at a bull as it ran into the timber? I'm just about to round the corner exposing the bowl and whatever's going on there and BOOM - three shots. I round the corner after slowing to a fast walk. On the top of the ridge/edge of the bowl to my right are two hunters. Straight across I see elk moving from my R to L along the top of the ridge. I take a second and look for a rest, there's a skinny branch sticking up out of the ground at a 45 off the side of the spur so I jump behind it as that's all there was. There's a couple trees between the elk and I, so I have little windows to look thru. I only see 6 or 7 animals and they're at a fast walk along the top of the bowl. In my head I guessed them about 300 yards away. Its blowing 20+, I'm panting from running uphill, I've got a wobbly branch for a rest, and I've only got a few seconds to shoot. I started at the first animal, cow, cow, cow, bull. Its not big, but its legal.
I fire a shot. I see it hunch back toward its hind legs like its been hit, but it doesn't go down. I quickly shoot again and it goes down. I watch it thru the scope to make sure it stays down and S of a B it gets back up. I hit it again just as it goes behind one of the trees and out of sight.
Now, like many of you, I take pride in not only my rifle/reloading/component selection, but I practice out to way past 300 yards. I'm used to elk going down within 30-40 feet of where they are shot if they don't drop instantly, but definitely not run out of sight. Now, I'm not sure if the other hunters had shot at the same bull, but I was worried they were going to get to the bull first and try to tag it before I got there. I head across the bowl and start up the steep edge and get up to the spot where the elk were. The ground was torn up but no dead elk. It was so steep I looked downhill thinking the elk died and tumbled down the hill. By this point my Dad had come up to help me. He's walking across the bottom of the bowl BOOM. The other hunters shot again. I whirled around and put my binos on them and they were pointing sort of back in the direction of my Dad. BOOM, another shot. Now I see a cow elk walk out of the brush and get on the road 100 yards behind my Dad walking toward the corner of the spur we had just come up. BOOM, cow still walking. Now the cow had gone around the corner and was out of sight from the other hunters. Dad gets up to where I had been looking for the bull. I told him to zig zag and look for either blood or a dead bull while I followed the tracks. They went over the top of the bowl, into the brush, down into a creek bottom, up the other side, down into another creek bottom, and up the other side. I could smell elk a couple times. I crest the top of the second ravine and there's a bull laying down facing away from me. He's still alive but motionless except for breathing and raise my rifle to shoot him when he quickly gets up. Now he's standing facing away from me, the ole texas heart shot. He takes a step. I really don't want to shoot him at this angle. Luckily after two slow steps he turned his head to the R to see what was behind him, BOOM. Dead elk. My Dad made it to me and then the work began. I start with the knife and Dad goes to get the packboards and saw. We got it out well before dark and boy were we tired and scratched up from the brush. Besides the kill shot, my three shots hit the bull just above the sternum behind the shoulder, in the rib cage but a little high and back, and one hit the top of his back above the shoulder. Elk are tough animals.
I've played it back thru my head a hundred times and I still wonder what those other hunter's first three shots were at. Did they get a bull down and also have a cow tag and were trying to get both? Were they shooting at that cow the whole time and just couldn't hit it? A lot going on and I'll never know their side of the story.
It ended up being a successful day and a good memory. A tough pack out but a great eating animal. Sore legs and backs. A story that my Dad and I will retell and discuss the rest of our lives. Can't wait til next year.
Our valley is hayfields/pastures surrounded on all sides by timber ridges. Occasionally opening morning the elk will be in the hayfield - best case scenario - drive the tractor right up to the dead elk. If not, up into the timber we go. This opening morning, the elk were not in the fields. The fact that its blowing 20 doesn't help. We checked 'grandpa's canyon', 'the big meadow', 'the swamp', and 'the donut field'. No dice.
I decided to take a route up into the timber thru a swampy creek bottom that lets you get in there a ways without having to navigate thru blackberries/devil's cane/vine maples/etc the whole way. I made my way uphill to an old logging road that sidehills the ridge. I could either go up the valley, down the valley, or there's a short spur that goes straight uphill to a bowl where I've had luck once before. I figured I would give that a try after peeking at a few older loggings first. I'm heading up the steep spur and am about halfway up when BOOM. A shot just uphill from me. I'm not sure what curse word I said, but I was sure that I was ten minutes late getting to the bowl and a bull was down and the rest of the herd was sprinting toward Idaho. I start jogging up this steep ass spur with my rifle ready in case the herd runs downhill toward me. This spur goes straight uphill and at the top bends hard left exposing the bowl. I'm now 2/3s of the way up and BOOM. Now I'm not sure what's going on ahead of me. Kill shot on a downed bull? Hail Mary shot at a bull as it ran into the timber? I'm just about to round the corner exposing the bowl and whatever's going on there and BOOM - three shots. I round the corner after slowing to a fast walk. On the top of the ridge/edge of the bowl to my right are two hunters. Straight across I see elk moving from my R to L along the top of the ridge. I take a second and look for a rest, there's a skinny branch sticking up out of the ground at a 45 off the side of the spur so I jump behind it as that's all there was. There's a couple trees between the elk and I, so I have little windows to look thru. I only see 6 or 7 animals and they're at a fast walk along the top of the bowl. In my head I guessed them about 300 yards away. Its blowing 20+, I'm panting from running uphill, I've got a wobbly branch for a rest, and I've only got a few seconds to shoot. I started at the first animal, cow, cow, cow, bull. Its not big, but its legal.
I fire a shot. I see it hunch back toward its hind legs like its been hit, but it doesn't go down. I quickly shoot again and it goes down. I watch it thru the scope to make sure it stays down and S of a B it gets back up. I hit it again just as it goes behind one of the trees and out of sight.
Now, like many of you, I take pride in not only my rifle/reloading/component selection, but I practice out to way past 300 yards. I'm used to elk going down within 30-40 feet of where they are shot if they don't drop instantly, but definitely not run out of sight. Now, I'm not sure if the other hunters had shot at the same bull, but I was worried they were going to get to the bull first and try to tag it before I got there. I head across the bowl and start up the steep edge and get up to the spot where the elk were. The ground was torn up but no dead elk. It was so steep I looked downhill thinking the elk died and tumbled down the hill. By this point my Dad had come up to help me. He's walking across the bottom of the bowl BOOM. The other hunters shot again. I whirled around and put my binos on them and they were pointing sort of back in the direction of my Dad. BOOM, another shot. Now I see a cow elk walk out of the brush and get on the road 100 yards behind my Dad walking toward the corner of the spur we had just come up. BOOM, cow still walking. Now the cow had gone around the corner and was out of sight from the other hunters. Dad gets up to where I had been looking for the bull. I told him to zig zag and look for either blood or a dead bull while I followed the tracks. They went over the top of the bowl, into the brush, down into a creek bottom, up the other side, down into another creek bottom, and up the other side. I could smell elk a couple times. I crest the top of the second ravine and there's a bull laying down facing away from me. He's still alive but motionless except for breathing and raise my rifle to shoot him when he quickly gets up. Now he's standing facing away from me, the ole texas heart shot. He takes a step. I really don't want to shoot him at this angle. Luckily after two slow steps he turned his head to the R to see what was behind him, BOOM. Dead elk. My Dad made it to me and then the work began. I start with the knife and Dad goes to get the packboards and saw. We got it out well before dark and boy were we tired and scratched up from the brush. Besides the kill shot, my three shots hit the bull just above the sternum behind the shoulder, in the rib cage but a little high and back, and one hit the top of his back above the shoulder. Elk are tough animals.
I've played it back thru my head a hundred times and I still wonder what those other hunter's first three shots were at. Did they get a bull down and also have a cow tag and were trying to get both? Were they shooting at that cow the whole time and just couldn't hit it? A lot going on and I'll never know their side of the story.
It ended up being a successful day and a good memory. A tough pack out but a great eating animal. Sore legs and backs. A story that my Dad and I will retell and discuss the rest of our lives. Can't wait til next year.
