Elk Hunt!

[JohnP]

That altitude can be dangerous if you don't acclimate yourself properly.  We live at about 5,500' and even so have to adjust when we go hunting up north.  We hunt everything from squirrels to coyote to elk at about 9,500 to 10,000 without any consequence.  If this was your first elk hunt I sure you have the "fever" bad by now, once is never enough!  If you want to try it again, come to AZ.  Not as young and not nearly as mobile as I once was but I'll be willing to show you some of the best elk areas out west.  Plus it will not be near the work you put in.  We have a nice little trailer we hunt out of with all the luxuries of home.

Have enjoyed your hunt stories and pictures. 

[Okanagan]

Really enjoying your posts.  That call-in was so exciting it got me pumped just sitting here.  I'll bet the excitement contributed to the timing of your altitude sickness.   

[Dave]

That altitude can be dangerous if you don't acclimate yourself properly.  We live at about 5,500' and even so have to adjust when we go hunting up north.  We hunt everything from squirrels to coyote to elk at about 9,500 to 10,000 without any consequence.  If this was your first elk hunt I sure you have the "fever" bad by now, once is never enough!  If you want to try it again, come to AZ.  Not as young and not nearly as mobile as I once was but I'll be willing to show you some of the best elk areas out west.  Plus it will not be near the work you put in.  We have a nice little trailer we hunt out of with all the luxuries of home.

Have enjoyed your hunt stories and pictures.

Thanks John
It's nice to relive it all again (I was starting to get light headed during my last post), and helps me get all the pics/videos organized.  I caught that fever you're talking about back in the early '80's.  Never could shake it, but am just trying to pass it along (successfully, too, to my son).

Really enjoying your posts.  That call-in was so exciting it got me pumped just sitting here.  I'll bet the excitement contributed to the timing of your altitude sickness.   

You're probably right with that last statement (and if so, I should be embarrassed as it was only a small 4x4).  Sounds like I'm breathing heavy there, but it seems that way in every clip! 

[Dave]

Opening Day of Muzzleloader - Finally!

The nights are still loooong with both the thin air and thin pad I brought.  5 am finally rolled around, had some oatmeal and on our way back down to my 'honey hole' with every sense locked on to every sound.  Jeff tagged along with Dante and I.
We were 4 to 500 out of camp and still 400 yards or so away from where I wanted to be.  My wind checker indicated the usual downward wind, and Dante and I picked up the pace to try and at least stay even with our scent getting pushed down the mountain (at this point Jeff fell off our pace and we didn't see him the rest of the day). 

We stopped and gave out a few cow calls with no response.  After a few minutes I bugled with the hopes of a return challenge.  Everything was dead still as we listened as hard a we could.  I remember thinking, "come on, come on.  Let's hear ya." 

Then it came back!  Sounded way down to the right.  Probably 3 to 400 yards away and probably on the opposite side of a drainage we were heading down.  Perfect!

I turned to Dant and said to stay with me as we need to get below him and try calling him down.  We took off running down to the left!  About 200 yards later we were able to get a glimpse of several elk up on a sage hillside on the opposite side of us, but still a ways off. 

We continued aggressively down the left side of the drainage a few hundred more yards losing sight of them quickly.  We then turned to our right and started toward the V of the drainage.  I would've liked to get right at the bottom of it, but thought we were getting too close for about 7 sets of eyes to see.  We let out a few more cow calls and got a pretty fast answer.  Right where we thought.  Dante was a little ahead of me now.  I flipped on the camera, gave out a few more chirps and he spotted the bull headed our way.  Here it is, about 3+ minutes of it.  I had to cut it down b/c of downloading problems, but did the best I could.



I'm not sure how he wasn't able to get a good look, or shot, at him, but that's the way it played out.  Looking back I wish I wasn't so wrapped up in trying to get it all on video and was able to be next to Dante and coach him to the shot.  Oh well. 

There will be more to come, it just takes me awhile to get it all together, so bear with me and I'll keep posting when time allows.

[coyote101]

Now that's exciting!  What a trip you guys had. Keep 'em coming. 

Pat

[Dave]

About 3 hours later that same morning, we caught up to the same group (at least that's what I think) hanging in some dark timber about a mile further along, just above a cliff face.



We toyed with him for 15 minutes but he wouldn't come out of the heavier cover, so we went right to the edge of it.  I don't get him on video, but you can hear him right there.   Dante does see him briefly.



At some point just after all this he said he had about a 1 second opening at his chest, but the bull walked through it and stopped with his hind quarters in his little shooting gap.  I'm glad he passed on that shot. 
Just after this, he ran his cows through the timber, up over a ridge and dove them all into the Hell Hole.  It was a few hours later (about 1 pm) that about 4 bulls started bugling down in that hole. 
We tried calling them to the ridge top but they wanted nothing of it.  They'd answer, but liked it way down there (way, way, way down there).
We ended up leaving them around 5- ish  completely exhausted and worked our way back to camp, filling our water bladders on the way back.

[KySongDog]

Great video, Dave!   I kept thinking "Choot 'em!  Choot 'em!, Dante! "   It is hard to see what angle he had on the bull compared to the camera.  But in any event, he got the experience that he can draw on for future hunts.  That's how one develops their skill.   The most important thing is the time you and him spent together chasing the bull.   Those memories will last a life time.   

[Dave]

  I kept thinking "Choot 'em!  Choot 'em!, Dante! "   It is hard to see what angle he had on the bull compared to the camera.  But in any event, he got the experience that he can draw on for future hunts.  That's how one develops their skill.   The most important thing is the time you and him spent together chasing the bull.   Those memories will last a life time.   

Semp, that's EXACTLY what I've been thinking.  I am glad we didn't just go down and pop one right off the bat.  Everything is too easy these days for kids. and I wanted this to be a tough hunt where he had to earn his opportunities and the memories would be burned in both our minds and muscles. 

We had a few more hunts (down in the hell hole) like the ones I recorded, but by this time the battery was dead and I didn't get any action.  I'll write them up over the weekend. 

[Dave]

Sunday morning was pretty much a repeat of Saturday morning's route, but without hearing any bugling (in the pre-dawn darkness we did jump some on the way down that were on our side of the drainage and must've winded us).
   Come 11:00 we found ourselves staring back down into the hell hole that we knew held elk.  We sat up on the ridge and ate lunch and started to hear bugling far down to the right, at the base of the other ridge that formed the far side of the hole.  It was 12:30.  We looked at each other both thinking there they are again, but way to far.  It sounded like there were two bulls that weren't far apart from each other. 
I was being encouraged by my hunting partner to bugle to them about every 30 seconds.  I would about every 10 to 15 minutes, and usually got a response.  However, they weren't budging from where we had them marked. 
An hour or so of this went on before the bugles were starting to move from far right to far below us.  It seemed they were intent on each other, and I thought it best to remain quiet.  The bugling picked up - maybe three bulls now, and they were starting to really move fast. We were up and ready to go trying to mark their progress and figure out what was going on.  Then it sounded like they were running about 300 or so yards below us, still going right to left.  We turned to our left and started running as fast as we could down our side of the ridge thinking they were headed for a crossing area 500 yards below us.  As fast as were could go, the bugles were sounding further and further away, down deeper and deeper into hell.  We continued down the ridge until the ground flattened out a little to our right.  Even though they had passed us, we continued down listening, and now cow calling. 
All of the sudden the bugling started coming closer, and fast.  Still at least two.  It sounded like one was chasing the other.  Closer!  Now we could hear the hooves chrashing and three cows motored by about 70 yards below us.  20 yards behind them came the bull, chasing the cows.  He was about as close as he was going to get and I gave a few louder chirps.  He stopped broadside!  Dante was 10 yards in front of me and slightly off to my left. I watched the front end of his barrel gyrating ever so slightly up and down to the rhythm of either his beating heart or his breathing.  I whispered to get against a tree as he was caught between a few that weren't quite close enough. 
The bull was staring right at us! ….  BOOM!  I heard no return thud.  He wheeled and disappeared down to our left.  We immediately went down to where he was standing and could see his kick-ups leading to the direction he ran.   I told Dante to try and find any blood/hair or sign of a hit where his hooves kicked up the ground.  I would look for hair where he was standing.   I was doubtful of a hit as I had a good view of the bull as he shot (I wasn't directly behind him and the smoke cloud from the muzzleloader).  No thud, no hunch up, and now no hair or blood.  A while went by with us finding no signs of anything.  We scoured and marked about 150 yards of his obvious trail after the shot.  I now looked in the direction of where he ran and cow called out of frustration (and because the diaphragm is always right there in my mouth).  A bugle came right back.  Dante quickly (about a minute that seemed like an hour) reloaded and followed in the direction of the call.   I stayed put and called with both a push button and diaphragm call.  Dante was about 70- yards out in front of me and signaled that he could see the bull. 
  He said he was slowly creeping towards the bugle and saw him walking towards us.  He got up against a tree and signaled to me he saw him.  The bull was coming closer until it was quartered towards him at 45/50 yards, stopped and was beginning to whiff for scent.  He had his sights (open sights only for Colorado) locked in on the bulls shoulder, felt a slight breeze against the back of his neck and thought the bull was a second away from smelling us.  At the shot, the bull ran downhill and to our right.  That's where I had a quick glimpse of him. 
More kick-ups and searching.  This time we did find blood.  Not much, and not a good bright color.  We found a little muscle-ly type-half-a-pea-sized piece along the trail, and then a few drops every three or four hoof marks.  We figured we would give a little time and then follow. 
Off in the distance we could hear thunder.  Everyday out there it would rain in the evening at some point.  Today would be no exception, it would just come a little earlier.  And heavier.  And I failed to pack our packable rain gear this morning.
I felt like we needed to get on this as the sky was darkening up.  Within 200 yards the blood trail was no longer trackable, and we tried to follow his kick-ups through a maze of fresh elk sign.  Unfortunately he was headed downhill into what I remember reading about in a book, "Dante's Inferno," where the author describes the seven levels of hell.  The guy must've hunted this area!  There were several levels to this hole that were separated by 200 to 300 foot drop-offs. 
As the rains started, we spread about 100 yards apart and started to radially search in the direction that he was last headed.  After the first level, we met up and were ready to hit the next drop off.  Dante spotted a bull moving about 50 yards below us.  I gave a few chips and he stopped broadside.  We looked hard, but couldn't see any sign of that being the bull he hit.  There was no blood and Dante said he looked like a smaller, darker colored bull that had just rolled in a wallow.  He stayed there a minute or so, and we got a good look at both sides and watched him wander off. 
After three more sweeps down the steep terrain I looked over at Dante and my whole mindset changed.  I saw a thirteen year old kid shivering cold and wet, and about 3-1/2 miles from camp with the sun going down and the temps dropping. I starting thinking hypothermia and decided to start our climb back over the ridge and then back to camp. About half way back we had to pump water at the water hole so we'd be good for tomorrow.  Between there and camp we got hit with some real nasty rains. 
It was nice to finally be back in the tent and change into some damp clothes!

[KySongDog]

Heck of a story!   Lots of action too.   I hated the hit on the bull that was lost.  Hopefully he wasn't hurt too bad.   That sort of thing happens from time to time if one hunts long enough.   Hope Dante isn't too discouraged and gets back out there after them. 

[Dave]

I hated the hit on the bull, also.  I think it may have glanced off the shoulder blade as with that shot angle Dante should've been holding just inside the shoulder and not on it. We ended up looking most of the next afternoon also, with no luck.
Later in the eve we were hiking back out of there and had some more bulls going.  We set up on the ridge and tried calling from there with no intention of going back down as we were both completely physically wasted.  We had one come to within 50 yards, but stayed just out of sight.  Eventually the swirling winds revealed us and the game was over.

Earlier that morning, though, Dante was good with giving up the morning's hunt.  Jeff was exhausted also and decided to stay back.  I offered to go out with Dan to do some calling for him.  We were about 15 minutes out of camp looking over a big meadow where he had been seeing some elk during his previous hunts.  We waited for dawn and then gave some calls from the edge with no takers. 
Part of the meadow was hidden due to the rolling landscape, so we worked our way out to a small rise at our end.  There was nothing in the hidden draw, so I gave a few more calls.
Dan spotted one cow coming from the far, top end of the meadow, maybe 300 yards away.  I backed down the small rise we were on and gave a few cow calls.  She liked it and started heading right towards us.  Dan backed down a little to hide his body, and waited for her to come in.  I saw it was a small sized cow, probably a yearling, but didn't say anything.  Dan drew his bow when she was about 30 yards out and slowly stood up when she was 20 to get clearance over the weeds.  She saw this and started away from him.   I saw this and started chirping.  She stopped and came back in to about 25 yards.  Dan drilled her and she only went about 30 yards. 

Here's a brief synopsis of it on camera:



Dan and I went to work on it and had it reduced to two game bags with no bones, ready to be packed back to the truck.  Jeff and Dan did this, while Dante and I continued out to the hell hole to look some more for the bull he hit the day before (see above).

[coyote101]

Man Dave, if I ever go elk hunting I want you doing the calling. 

Pat

[FOsteology]

Enjoyed reading about your trip, and watching the vids.

Just watching you guys hike up the hill loaded down made me tired! Had to grin about the elk outside camp, and no bow. Always seems to be the case.... have no bow or rifle handy, and THAT's when you bump into game.

[Okanagan]

Great video, Dave!   I kept thinking "Choot 'em!  Choot 'em!, Dante! "   It is hard to see what angle he had on the bull compared to the camera.  But in any event, he got the experience that he can draw on for future hunts.  That's how one develops their skill.   The most important thing is the time you and him spent together chasing the bull.   Those memories will last a life time.   

+2

You guys had a fantastic hunt, into zillions of elk.  Great write ups and videos.

[FinsnFur]

Looks like you guys had an awesome time Dave. Dante's a lucky kid.
Thanks for taking us along by sharing those clips

[Dave]

Finishing this thing up I will mention that I talked Dante into doing some trout fishing and we packed out a day early to where we had parked the truck.  It wasn't too hard to talk him into that one as he had fished about 1/2 an hour before the hunt and was Jonesing to get back at it.  It felt REALLY good not to have to hike back out to the hell hole.  I could not imagine packing one out of there and believe we'd still be out there if he got one. 

He was able to get about 3 to 4 hours of fishing time in before a storm came rolling in.  We had hiked about a mile below where we parked to get away from the few guys that might also have brought a fishing rod along.  I'll post a few pics in the fishing section soon.

Here are a few shots that Dante took with his camera (the one he bought with Pat's (coyote101) turkey prize and earmarked for Dante's elk trip - thank you again).



Our camp bull

Hiking in

Finally some camp meat - Dan shot a few grouse

De-boning

Jeff and Dan had hiked out -  Dante and I ate well that night! Hanging tenders!

Dan packing out his elk (and the rack he found)

Dante couldn't resist



Bear and elk sign on the same tree.  Elk eat the aspen bark (low on the tree)

[Dave]

And thanks for coming along!!!!!!!

[FinsnFur]

Thanks for takin us!
Those trees Dante found to lay in are kind of bizarre. It's almost like there was some kind of invisible force between them and they were forced to grow around it.

[coyote101]

Great pictures of beautiful country.  What wonderful memories you guys made.  You're very welcome, I'm glad he's enjoying the camera, and we all get to enjoy the pictures. 

Pat

[HuntnCarve]

Awesome write up and adventure Dave!  I know it took a lot of your time to write it all up for us.  And I once again thank you for it.   Felt like I was right there with you guys. 
Dante got the opportunity to see, and experience, country that some of us will never set foot upon.  It makes me happy to see that the beauty that was right there before him was not lost.  He will always remember it I'm sure. 

Dave