Crazy elk hunting stories

[SwampMafia]

Need something to get my mind off the draw soo lets hear you craziest or most memorable moments in elk hunting.... I'll start....

 

October 2009 i drew a youth cow tag in 6a. This was my very first tag I had held in hand and me and my father (both major hunting rookies at the time) drove up to the pine grove quiet are and chose a random spot with zero scouting that looked good. Opening morning, we hear bugles (weird for late October) and soo we chase them and track Down 5 different satellite bulls none bigger than 5x5. After an exciting day of that we decided to head back to the truck. Just one problem, we had no idea where the heck we were!!!! We chose a basically random direction and walked. On the way back 20 cows and a solid 340 6x6 run not 40 yards away from us totally unaware that we are there!! I take an of shoulder shot at the back cow and shoot way over its back (I had just turned 10 and was shooting an 06') soo the elk take off and run maybe a hundred yards and something spooks them back towards us. What great luck that was!!! I took a prone shot at the lead cow and dropped her in her tracks!! Now this is where the story gets good!!! Me and my dad celebrate take pictures and then look around...."where the h*ll are we?!?!" My dad asked me. Neither of us had ever done a dui hunt and we didn't know to take or even own a gps. So after much thinking, we decided to leave everything we had with the elk, and go find the truck. We said a short prayer asking for guidance toward the truck and we went off in a direction not having the slightest clue wich way was north vs south as it was very cloudy and the area is flatter than a prairie!! We hiked for 2 hours starving thirsty and by this time it was snowing and we were very cold!!! We continues on and then all h*ll broke loose!! The snow turned into a snowstorm and the winds picked up!! We were honestly afraid for our lives!! We continued walking and finally!!! We see a hunter!! The look on his face was priceless as me and my father walked up coated in elk blood, no backpacks or guns (left with the elk) and freezing our butts off. Anyway, he and his hunting party arranged for us to be transported to the nearest highway on their quads and we could make our way from there. We were just happy to find people because we knew we were safe. So we got up nice and close on the back of these men's quads and began to drive out. On the way out, a Polaris razor pulled along side us and we asked them if they knew where our truck was. Amazingly, they happened to be camped right next to us!! (God works miracles) we drove back got the truck and supplies and then spent another 2 hours trying to find my elk!! We didn't have a gps so we couldn't mark it. long story short my dad made me (a 10 year old at the time) quarter the whole thing by myself and then we packed it to the truck and took off. Even through the tragety I do remmember a smile that on my face at all times as we tried through the snow... I didn't care if I died right there in the forest that day, because I had killed my cow! Btw me and my father are now much more resourseful educated smart and ethical hunters because of this hunt and all the hunts following it. Hope you enjoyed it as much as I love telling it. Now let's hear yours!!!😂😂😂😂

 

[Havasuhunter]

Couple quick ones.

On a cow hunt. Had 7 bulls working down a tree line wind at there backs toward me. Spotted them we'll over 400 yards out. All 7 ended up walking less than 10 yards from me and one spike nearly stepped on me, I was seriously fearful for my life. They finally smelled me and went insane running in all directions eventually heading back where they came from. I was hoping they'd go around me so I wouldn't spook the whole area, but that's how it goes. To watch them come right to me from distance was really cool.

On my buddies Tule Elk bull hunt in norcal we had a lot of crazy experiences, the best was probably a spike that walked right up to the tree I was standing against and stuck his nose nearly on me. I could feel his breathe! This was the first hunt that herd was legally hunted, so they were generally not spooky at all, but the big Bulls were smarter than we thought they'd be, but pretty dang easy compared to most elk hunts. I looked over 20+ bulls for 5 days and he killed a nice 7x7 with good Palmation. Hope I draw my Tule bull tag someday.

[capoeirajosh]

Need something to get my mind off the draw soo lets hear you craziest or most memorable moments in elk hunting.... I'll start....

 

October 2009 i drew a youth cow tag in 6a. This was my very first tag I had held in hand and me and my father (both major hunting rookies at the time) drove up to the pine grove quiet are and chose a random spot with zero scouting that looked good. Opening morning, we hear bugles (weird for late October) and soo we chase them and track Down 5 different satellite bulls none bigger than 5x5. After an exciting day of that we decided to head back to the truck. Just one problem, we had no idea where the heck we were!!!! We chose a basically random direction and walked. On the way back 20 cows and a solid 340 6x6 run not 40 yards away from us totally unaware that we are there!! I take an of shoulder shot at the back cow and shoot way over its back (I had just turned 10 and was shooting an 06') soo the elk take off and run maybe a hundred yards and something spooks them back towards us. What great luck that was!!! I took a prone shot at the lead cow and dropped her in her tracks!! Now this is where the story gets good!!! Me and my dad celebrate take pictures and then look around...."where the h*ll are we?!?!" My dad asked me. Neither of us had ever done a dui hunt and we didn't know to take or even own a gps. So after much thinking, we decided to leave everything we had with the elk, and go find the truck. We said a short prayer asking for guidance toward the truck and we went off in a direction not having the slightest clue wich way was north vs south as it was very cloudy and the area is flatter than a prairie!! We hiked for 2 hours starving thirsty and by this time it was snowing and we were very cold!!! We continues on and then all h*ll broke loose!! The snow turned into a snowstorm and the winds picked up!! We were honestly afraid for our lives!! We continued walking and finally!!! We see a hunter!! The look on his face was priceless as me and my father walked up coated in elk blood, no backpacks or guns (left with the elk) and freezing our butts off. Anyway, he and his hunting party arranged for us to be transported to the nearest highway on their quads and we could make our way from there. We were just happy to find people because we knew we were safe. So we got up nice and close on the back of these men's quads and began to drive out. On the way out, a Polaris razor pulled along side us and we asked them if they knew where our truck was. Amazingly, they happened to be camped right next to us!! (God works miracles) we drove back got the truck and supplies and then spent another 2 hours trying to find my elk!! We didn't have a gps so we couldn't mark it. long story short my dad made me (a 10 year old at the time) quarter the whole thing by myself and then we packed it to the truck and took off. Even through the tragety I do remmember a smile that on my face at all times as we tried through the snow... I didn't care if I died right there in the forest that day, because I had killed my cow! Btw me and my father are now much more resourseful educated smart and ethical hunters because of this hunt and all the hunts following it. Hope you enjoyed it as much as I love telling it. Now let's hear yours!!!😂😂😂😂

 

image.jpg

That was a heck of heck of a read! Must have been spooky!

[mbiewer]

the two track went directly 90 degrees up a ridge line. so we parked the jeep at the top, and went in opposite directions. We glassed out for about two hours when I decided to get back before walking back in the dark, A little too early though. Laid the gun against the tire, took the binos off and then the pack. heard a noise so stepped around the jeep to see a few brown legs underneath the low scrub. crept back to the jeep and grabbed the binos and crept back out then realized "a gun might be beneficial". Back to the jeep for the swap in time to see 3 elk going down the two track. raised the rifle to wait and see if one would "sprout" antlers (there heads were obstructed by the trees). they turned and stared 90 degrees opposite direction then the 3 cows meandered off. My brother emerged shortly after. Apparently he had the same thoughts of beating the last bit of sunlight (already beyond shooting light). He was a lot more excited about the 3 cow than I was. Apparently from me to them was about 50 yards. to make a triangle though, up the other ridge, Ben was about 15 yards out in the broad open without a single tree around him on the way back to the jeep from them. He's never been so close before

 

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Early in our seasons, Ben was nice enough to take one guy's son from camp on our outing for the afternoon for javelina. we dropped them at the bottom of the wash, and me and the boys dad drove the jeep to the top, we were all set to walk down and meet them then hike out together. Ben said they hit a spot in the wash that wasn't passable in the first ten minutes, so they double backed. Teaching Chris how to read track, which ones were fresh direction of travel, the differences between everything out in the desert. Christopher was quick to recognize their own boot prints... until he got confused. their fresh boot tracks started to get obscured by fresh mountain lion track. they were being stalked for a few minutes until we got turned around in the jeep from them calling us on the radio and working back to the drop off point.

 

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this past HAM hunt, there were 8 tags in camp. One of the younger guys was content to walk out from camp and never ventured for more than a couple hours. One morning he took his 12 gauge with the hopes of pinning down some quail, or pistol for the javelina, whichever came first. He came back to camp about 1 after hiking all morning. he said at one point he got hot and went to sit in the shade. Put the 12 down, and the moment he sat under the tree, a bobcat jumped out from directly above him and took off running. It happened so fast he wasn't sure what to do.

[MuggyMan]

SwampMafia, I tagged my first cow in 2009 also, but I was a lot older than you - 50. Yes, hearing the elk bugle in late October is weird. That happened to us in 2010. We had cow tags, but were in bulls all week. I filled my tag on opening day at 1 in the afternoon, then spent the rest of the week trying to help the others. We called in a few nice bulls. Strange for late October.

[MuggyMan]

Adrian Offends the Bull

 

This last year on our 5B late bull hunt, day 3 or 4 I can't remember, we get to our spot on the ridge where we're going to set up about half an hour before light. We have a rookie with us. Adrian whispers to me that he needs to take a dump, and I say that he should have done that before we get to where we're going to hunt, but a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do. So Adrian walks quietly into the dark forest behind me, and less than 30 seconds later I hear a bull bugle really close in the direction where Adrian went. Really close. Only time I've ever heard a bull bugle in December. I told Adrian when he got back that he really offended that bull and it had left the country.

[Mocha1545]

My Dad and I were scouting for elk in 5BN several years ago. We sat and listened to the Bulls bugling til about 1:00 in the morning. There were some real growlers going at it. After it quieted down my Dad decided it was time to answer the call of nature. He tried to sit up on the air mattress and kept falling over . After it happened a couple of times I decided to help him up. Sure enough the same thing was happening to me. We couldn't get shoes on while sitting on the mattresses. We started laughing so hard we almost didn't get out of the tent in time!

 

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opening day of that hunt we were glassing a meadow when an Ultralight came buzzing over us at very low altitude. About 2 minutes after he passed us there were a bunch of shots from the direction he had headed. Called game and fish but never heard if they caught those guys.

[Red Sparky]

First year elk hunting when I was 13 my dad and I were climbing a game trail about 5 am. Pitch black, no moon in the dark tall pine forest. We were walking by flashlight and about every three steps we were getting dive bombed by an owl. This happened for about 200 yards. I am guessing we were close to a nest but no telling. Sure scared the crap out of me when it first happened then got annoying after the first three or four dive bombs.

[lancetkenyon]

A picture is worth 1000 words. Crazy to think my 12 year old girl shot this bad boy.

 

[SwampMafia]

Wow she's almost got my bull beat

[elkaholic]

Spending 3 hrs under a single street light at 9:30 pm to process the spike elk on the tailgate of my truck by myself - enough said

[Hoss50]

When I was about 15 my dad and i had a deer tag in unit 27. We were on our morning hike and climbed to the top of a wooded finger hill. We were slowly working our way up the finger about 10 yards apart. Apparently there were more hunter somewhere out ahead of us that spooked a herd of about 12-15 cow elk down in the valley below us. The herd came barreling up the hill directly at us with no clue we were there. They are on a full blown run coming directly at us. We start waiving our hands and yelling as they bear down on us. By the time they realize we are thereally they are literally right on us.they see us and of course freak out. They slam on the brakes with the oh sh*t look of fear and the group breaks in half. Half them cut to my left about 5-10 yards out and the other half split me and my dad who are about 10 yards apart.

 

It was a very interesting and scary moment having a dozen or more elk headed right for you Full tilt and slam on the brakes just yards away.

[Hoss50]

I had another hunt when I was about 20 with a good buddy of mine in 19a. We went out on a quick afternoon hike and we did the dumb butt move and didn't think we would go far so we left our day packs.

 

We saw some good sign and started working our way through the hills and weather started moving in on us. We lost the sun and landmarks to the clous and we're farther out then planned and became temporarily disoriented. If was freaky not knowing where you are and not knowing which way camp is. We stopped took our bearings and took stock of what the situation was.

 

We kept calm and thought about where we thought we were and where we knew a road was for certain. We made a direction choice based on the best knowledge and we found our road and way back to camp.

 

We had enough gear and clothes to survive the night but it would have sucked royally being stuck out there with what we had. We make better choices now and I never leave camp without a compass and more gear anymore.

 

Lesson learned. Not the hard way, but close enough to understand it would have brought the sucked for sure.

[willhunt4coues]

In 2010 on my last archery elk hunt the bulls would not answer any calls so my dad and I knew we needed to get in front of elk or wait at a pond. Over a week of nothing working and hunting are arses off, we were traveling a ridge stopping every 200 yards or so in the jeep to listen for bugles. We knew the elk traveled north of the hwy to bed so that's what we did was travel north. On our 3rd stop we heard a bugle back towards the hwy. A few seconds later he bugled again and we knew he was heading our way. I grabbed my bow from the back of the jeep and turned around to see a cow and calf run right behind us about 80 yards, I turned towards my dad and he was gone. Wondering where my dad had went and hearing the bull getting closer I knew my dad was probably heading towards the bull. I figured since I had seen the cow and calf that IF the bull was by himself he would get their scent and follow or if he was with cows the cows would follow the scent of the cow and calf I had just seen. So I got set up hoping they would head my way and start ranging various spots. Seconds later I seen the whole herd only problem was they were 200 yards away but for some reason they start walking right towards me. After about 15 cows I see the bull and man seeing a 48" wide bull walking towards you is something. I look down and realize I am on a trail, I follow the trail with my eyes and yep sure enough right where the cows are. CRAP they are heading right at me. The bull at this time is about 60 yards away and I am soooo freakin excited I can't draw my bow. I look up and 5 feet away the lead cow is coming but she stops, looks around (while I am still trying to draw and worried she is going to see me moving) then turns back up the trail. The bull is watching as each cow single file follows the lead cow behind a down tree. I knew how far the down tree was 35 yards (oh was I wrong)I finally get the bow back just in time to softly cow call the bull to a stop behind the downed tree. I release and watch my arrow glance off the tree. SH*T SH*T SH*T my only chance and I F*CK it up. why how!!!! then I see the bull stop again at what I thought was 60 yards, I release and miss again SH*T SH*T BUT the bull is acting weird and could not explain what was wrong with him. The cows are still waiting for the bull and he stops a third time at 70 yards, I am at full draw and release.....WHACK and literally he falls over. I turn around and see the jeep 20 yards behind me, turn back around and see the bull dead, NOT moving dead. My nerves were so shot my stomach starts to tense up so much I dropped to the ground laughing and crying. "it hurts, it hurts" is all I could laugh and cry about. My dad comes running up seeing me on the ground and he thought I had shot myself or stabbed myself with an arrow. "YOU OKAY" he yelled, "OH GOD YOUR MOM IS GOING TO KILL ME", He asked "why are you laughing?" I told him "Look at the bull" he about craps himself when he looks up and sees this bull laying there DEAD. Then he does just as I do and looks back at the jeep and says "Well this will be easy." We of course high five and look at the bull. I see blood leading up to the spot I LAST shot him. I must have hit him at 60 yards so I walk back following a NICE blood trail to me 60 yard arrow. ITS CLEAN? What the heck. I keep following the blood back to the first shot where the arrow glanced off the log. Of course the arrows was in pieces but when I did finally find a piece it had blood on it. I hit him my first shot. So we gut open the bull and my first shot hit his main artery under his spine and basically he was already dead at the 70 yard shot. Get this the 70 yard shot was a heart shot that's why he fell. I have never felt so many emotions during a hunt. I will NEVER forget that moment, that day, and my dads face...LOL.

 

[SwampMafia]

Haha these are some very entertaining stories crazy things happen when out chasin dinner