Main Discussion Area > Shooting and Hunting
Hunting season 2012
Blacktail:
gabe,you are in some BIG blacktail country...i hope you get a shot at one...john
Keenan:
Nice pictures Gabe. Good luck on your hunting.
Thursday morning was full of excitement. Started out with hiking a small ridge by camp towards a far upper meadow. The quiet and cool morning, suddenly broken with the distant scream of a bull announcing his dominance. Direction sounded right, he must be up by the meadow, I thought. I responded with a bugle to double check his position. Unfortunately that was a mistake. My call only excited the hunters in the drainage below and the their excitement caught the attention of another hunter even further away. Soon all three were closing in trying get me to answere again. The two guys below were parked near at the end of the road near our camp. I had met them up in there a few years ago so I decided to wait and watch. Soon they were closing in and one guy was quite startled when I cow called as he came right by me at about ten yards. I chatted with them for a few minutes and they asked about tagging along with me towards the upper meadow.
We did several set up when we got near the meadow and all seemed quiet so we worked our way around to the other side. Sitting for a rest and having a snack when the stillness was once again, pierced by the high pitched scream deep grunts of a mature bull. Just up on the ridge as above us we quickly assessed our situation. the thrumals were already starting to cause the breeze to swirl and getting a sure direction on the wind was difficult. We thew out some cow calls a he responded instantly. However the younger of the two guys made a critcal mistake and screamed back at him before we could detirmine if he had cows with him. Not wanting another bull to get his cows he turned and started moving away from us.
The calls getting further away I told them we needed to press hard and try to turn him to fight. However that decision was to late as he was putting some distance between us. We tracked for a while and I let them know that I needed to head back to get packed up as my wife needed some help on the home front. On the way back to camp I cut some fresh tracks again and heard another distant bugle. I made the hard choice of staying focused on getting backhome to help.
As I was headed towards home I decided to stop and check one of my salt licks on the way. Some good sign around it so I set up and threw out a few cow calls. All of the sudden a bull chuckled back, up on the ridge. Just before dark, all I had was my bow. No pack, no GPS, no light or any of the gear I needed to persue this bull. I tried to coax him on down the ridge but there just wasn't enough light so I had to back out. Lulyn sent me a text to stay and hunt the next morning and try to get back on him. So back to camp I headed.
The next morning I was where I needed to be well before light. Unfortunately I was closer to him then I thought and just before it was light enough to see well. I heard the depressing sound of an alarm bark,,,,,,,,way to close >:( To add to the frustration He was now down wind. Two mistakes and it wasn't even shooting light yet. The morning seemed to continue this way. Headed home to help out.
With bulls starting to scream and hormones raging it was hard to leave. But the fight is not over. Stay tuned for the next round.
Blacktail:
i beat you can just taste the steaks..LOL...HEY,is it smokey where you are at...there seems to be alot of smoke coming into prineville at times..BLESSINGS...john
bcbull:
keenan keep at it bro we got rain here last monday a 6x6 and sunday 7x7 bulls 2 antalope been after it 3 weeks befor we even got a shot rain again last nite weve had a couple misses also so were elk 7 us 2 lol stayin up here till nov brock
Keenan:
Go get em Bock. . Please keep us posted.
OK here is how the season ended. Last Saturday I went in with a long time friend to a favorite meadow we've named Shangrala. We worked down in a drainage and I started with a few lite cow calls, then a chuckled. Instantly a bull screamed back in rage. He was probably 150 yards away. Unfortunately we heard a very excited hunter tone up and bugle constantly as he was getting closer. The bull had heard more then he wanted and silently took his cows and disappeared. We cut his trail and tracked for a while but had to quit as we were just to far from camp.
Yesterday was the last day and it all ended with some intensity and excitement. I decide to check some lower ground where Lulyn and I had got into some elk last week. As I got to the end of the road I found two trailers and two trucks. One truck I recognized as I had built the truck racks many years ago. It was a guy that I had gone to school with named Mike. I talked with them for about fifteen minutes and while standing there talking, a bull screamed from the timber. I wished them luck and Mike asked me if I would go hunt with them. They were both fairly new to elk hunting and didn't know much about calling. I accepted the invite and off we went.
The bull was sounding off about every ten minutes, so we close the distance fast and set up when we got close. A few light cow calls and the bull was working through the timber right in front of Mike and Andy. The bull was about 20 yards from Andy, but no shot due to timber. Then he crossed in front of Mike at about 40 yards but mike hesitated and missed the opportunity. The bull got down wind and busted out. I threw out some calls and then worked my way up toward Mike to find out what had happened. As they filled me in on the details. The bull was still sounding off, but from several hundred yards away. We decided to persue and as I moved forward I saw horns coming through the trees toward me. I dropped and knocked an arrow. The bull was now about 20 yards away, facing straight on. Head down and trying to scan under the trees for any sign of the cows he had heard. He raised his head and screamed a chest pounding roar and moved off to my left in the thicket. A few minutes later he was again downwind and busted out.
We cut his trail and decided since it was the last day to stay on him and track him out. Several hours later and a little over a mile away, we had caught back up to him and heard a bugle from about 150 yards out. We closed in fast and just as we were about to set up and start calling he busted. I called a few minutes and had him back in and 30 yards in front of Mike. Hearing his shot and the arrow hitting I knew it had all come together. His first elk ever! As I got over to him I noticed the concerned look on his face. He had made a bad hit, stating the bull was walking and he didn't lead the bull. He had seen the arrow in the front hind quarter as it bolted away. We gave an hour for him to bed down but with threatening rain clouds we decided to get on the trail. It was a brutal hard tracking challenge as there was very little blood and inter mixed tracks with the cows but we tenaciously stayed on the trail, sometimes on our hands and knees searching for pin drops of blood. Several hundred yards later we had him! A very nice 5x5 bull. Though he is not a traditional archer he is intrigued and thinking someday he might want to try the ultimate challenge of all hand made gear.
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