James Stella
40 Cal.
- Joined
- Sep 4, 2012
- Messages
- 368
- Reaction score
- 51
Well I would love to tell you my dad an I got two huge elk, but that would not be the case. We had a great time and a few adventures I will relay in a couple of threads.
To start with I had made a bunch of phone calls to biologist and residence of the area. The biologist told me to hunt down along the Idaho/Utah border. I took this to heart a little too much. We spent the first 6 days of the hunt down there and did not see one elk and very little sign. We did see a few mule deer. After 6 days we wised up and decided to move. I picked the highest point I could find on the map and we went there. The first day we went there it was just for an evening hunt and we picked a place we could glass along way. Within two hours we had glassed 26 elk. 4 were bulls with two of them being really nice bulls. All of them were over a mile a way. We pick the biggest one to concentrate on the next morning. He was a nice 7x7. Here is a pic of him from over a mile a way with his 8 cows.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/90803536@N08/22161549712
It is not a great pic but you will get the idea.
In the morning we were right back at the same location and he was in about the same place with his cows. We also spotted a satellite bull that was hanging a couple of hundred yards from him.
We started stalking him at 7am. We got the the plateau he was on at about 11am. He had bedded down in the trees but we did not know exactly wear. The only thing to do was wait until he moved. So we sat and watched where we last saw him until 5pm. At 5 he came out of the trees with his cows and moved onto the plateau about 200 yards from us and started feeding and then they all bedded down again.
As soon as we saw him my dad stayed where he was and I started crawling across the open ridge. It took me an hour and a half to cover about 150 yards. At about 630 I was within 15 yards of one of the bedded cows and about 50 yards of the bull. I could not move any closer because of the first cow. She was bedded looking right in my direction. I just got lucky and saw here ears above the grass before she saw me.
The only thing I could do was wait until they stood up. The only problem was the I knew at 7pm it would start getting too dark to see my sights.
At 640 the cows started getting up. The one closest to me was first and then three others stood up between me and him that I had not seen. Finally all 8 cows were standing and then the bull stood up last. I had no shot at first because of the cows. Finally the cows moved off to my left and gave me an opening. I moved into a sitting position and put my sight on his shoulder. I had a good solid position but was shooting over a slight rise. I could see his entire chest but not his legs.
Everything looked great. I slowly squeezed the trigger and the gun went off perfect.
This is the part of the story I wish I could leave out. He just stood there. Did not even flinch. Then the entire herd moved around me and up the hill to my dad. My dad said they walked within about 120 yards from him but he was not willing to take a shot at that distance because he was 100% sure I had missed and he did not want to wound the bull.
I went and marked where the bull was standing and then went up to my dad who was watching the heard. They moved up the ridge 440 yards ( I ranged it ). And fed until dark. No signs of injury to the bull. We got out flashlights and went to were the bull was standing. Nothing. We went to where we last saw him. Nothing.
I have no idea what happened. It has to have been the easiest shot I have ever missed. I was Sick. But he was an awesome bull. We looked for him the next two days and never saw him again.
This was the only elk we got got a shot at. We saw some other good bulls but could not get on them for a shot.
To start with I had made a bunch of phone calls to biologist and residence of the area. The biologist told me to hunt down along the Idaho/Utah border. I took this to heart a little too much. We spent the first 6 days of the hunt down there and did not see one elk and very little sign. We did see a few mule deer. After 6 days we wised up and decided to move. I picked the highest point I could find on the map and we went there. The first day we went there it was just for an evening hunt and we picked a place we could glass along way. Within two hours we had glassed 26 elk. 4 were bulls with two of them being really nice bulls. All of them were over a mile a way. We pick the biggest one to concentrate on the next morning. He was a nice 7x7. Here is a pic of him from over a mile a way with his 8 cows.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/90803536@N08/22161549712
It is not a great pic but you will get the idea.
In the morning we were right back at the same location and he was in about the same place with his cows. We also spotted a satellite bull that was hanging a couple of hundred yards from him.
We started stalking him at 7am. We got the the plateau he was on at about 11am. He had bedded down in the trees but we did not know exactly wear. The only thing to do was wait until he moved. So we sat and watched where we last saw him until 5pm. At 5 he came out of the trees with his cows and moved onto the plateau about 200 yards from us and started feeding and then they all bedded down again.
As soon as we saw him my dad stayed where he was and I started crawling across the open ridge. It took me an hour and a half to cover about 150 yards. At about 630 I was within 15 yards of one of the bedded cows and about 50 yards of the bull. I could not move any closer because of the first cow. She was bedded looking right in my direction. I just got lucky and saw here ears above the grass before she saw me.
The only thing I could do was wait until they stood up. The only problem was the I knew at 7pm it would start getting too dark to see my sights.
At 640 the cows started getting up. The one closest to me was first and then three others stood up between me and him that I had not seen. Finally all 8 cows were standing and then the bull stood up last. I had no shot at first because of the cows. Finally the cows moved off to my left and gave me an opening. I moved into a sitting position and put my sight on his shoulder. I had a good solid position but was shooting over a slight rise. I could see his entire chest but not his legs.
Everything looked great. I slowly squeezed the trigger and the gun went off perfect.
This is the part of the story I wish I could leave out. He just stood there. Did not even flinch. Then the entire herd moved around me and up the hill to my dad. My dad said they walked within about 120 yards from him but he was not willing to take a shot at that distance because he was 100% sure I had missed and he did not want to wound the bull.
I went and marked where the bull was standing and then went up to my dad who was watching the heard. They moved up the ridge 440 yards ( I ranged it ). And fed until dark. No signs of injury to the bull. We got out flashlights and went to were the bull was standing. Nothing. We went to where we last saw him. Nothing.
I have no idea what happened. It has to have been the easiest shot I have ever missed. I was Sick. But he was an awesome bull. We looked for him the next two days and never saw him again.
This was the only elk we got got a shot at. We saw some other good bulls but could not get on them for a shot.
Last edited by a moderator:
