2014 Elk Hunt

[wapitibowman]

I have been wanting to put this up for a long time now . . . here's the story!!

9-20-14
Started the day by leaving camp and hiking an old road to our morning bugle point and sending out a few bugles. No answer after a couple location bugles and a lip bawl scream. So, we sit and do some glassing. We heard a distant bugle, but couldn’t pinpoint his exact location. I glass up some elk working over a saddle into our small drainage. 2 cows, a calf, and a spike working their way into a quaky patch. We decide to work our way into the patch and setup to see if we might call the spike our way. As we are working our way up the drainage I see the cows and calf work up and over the ridge away from us. We weren’t sure if the spike accompanied them or went up and over before they did. We continued with our plan just in case.

I setup in the patch of trees with a 40-50 yard shooting lane while my friend starts a calling sequence. He stuck with cow calls mostly with some raking/stomping around. No response. After a fairly long time(20 minutes), I start in with some calf sounds (whiny and distressed – rapid succession) – I add in some pleading cow sounds. At the same time, my friend continues with his calling. We get a response from a bull down the small drainage. He responded twice and then went silent. I continued to wait thinking he might be working his way towards us. 10-15 minutes go by with no elk sounds or sightings.
My friend continues his calling and I throw out an occasional sequence of my own. We must have been there for 30-35 minutes and I am done at this point, so I put my arrow back in the quiver, throw the pack on, and work up towards my buddy. As I get into earshot of my friend, “the spike is right there and is coming, get ready”, he says. I drop my pack…nock an arrow… clear some branches… my buddy continues calling.
A couple of minutes go by and I hear a twig snap about 20-30 yards in front of me. I draw… I see antlers… followed by chest… he is in view with a <20 yard frontal shot. I pick my spot… pull through the shot… and watch the arrow sink into his chest. He spins… runs… I nervous grunt… he crashes!

I turn to my friend and give a thumbs up… he gives a fist pump. We hear heavy breathing… death moan (sounds like a moo cow)… bull down the drainage bugles… another death moan… another bugle. We waited 5-10 minutes and started looking for a blood trail. We found about 5 pools of blood… my buddy looks ahead and spots the elk. He made it no more than 30 yards! It was awesome!! I have always wanted a chance at a frontal shot and it finally presented itself. I don’t believe there is a more lethal shot under the right conditions.



We deboned the quarters… removed the backstraps… and the tenderloins. We split up the elk into our packs and hiked the ¼ mile to camp. My pack was 97 lbs and my friends was 84 lbs (checked with digital scale). Once at camp, we separated the meat into the panniers, loaded up the goats, and walked the 3 miles out to the truck.



As a side note, the goats were awesome!!! Each goat carried 50 lbs. The total weight of the deboned elk was 150lbs. It took a total of 2 hours to walk out. This was the second elk the goats packed out for us this season (my other friend shot a spike the week before, it weighed 160lbs deboned and the pack out was 3.5-4 miles). I can’t say enough about how awesome the goats were!! They saved a ton of energy and time for us this year.

[Indian Summer]

Great story. Congratulations!

One thing that stands out in my mind though is why debone if you only have a quarter mile pack? Deboning exposes meat to dirt etc and bacteria. For me it is a last resort only if I have a really long way to go. And by long I mean loooong. I prefer my quarters intact safe and sound. I bet that bull is good eating. It's about time to break out the grill too. I bet you'll have a few extra friends hanging around this year.

[Fridaythe13th]

Nice shooting, it's amazing how lethal those frontal shot are. There not much room for error, but that why we pratice

[WapitiTalk1]

Heading in to your bugle/location point early, properly setting up and using some effective cold calling, exhibiting patience and waiting for a good shot, remembering to use a nervous grunt to slow the bull's retreat, and goat packing. Great write up and pics bud; thanks for taking the time to share your hunt.

[Lefty]

Great story and thanks for posting it and the pics

[CurlyTail]

Thanks for that great story. Waiting as long as you should is very difficult unless we see or hear something to give us hope. Those goats look sweet.

[ishy]

Great story, very interested in using goats/lamas to pack as I get older.

Indian summer his camp was 1/4 mile, but truck was three miles.

[wapitibowman]

Ishy - you are correct. 1/4 packout to base camp, 3 miles to truck.

Indian Summer - we have to debone the quarters anyways to get them in the panniers for the goats. They cannot handle a full quarter on each side. I used to be of the same mind as you - keep the meat on the bone (less flies, less dirt, less loss to drying, etc.). This year changed everything. This is the best tasting spike I have ever eaten!!! I truly believe it was due to us getting the meat off the bone within 1-2 hours of the animal going down.

Like I said, the goats were amazing! They can handle between 40-65 lbs each. They require no feed. They follow along. They do not require a lot of water. They are a herd animal and stick together. Awesome!!!

I debated posting the frontal shot photo, because it is gruesome and bloody, but figured some on here would appreciate it. I do believe frontal shots are lethal, but should be taken with care under the right circumstances.

Wapitibowman

[ElkNut1]

Hey Rocky, nice work on the elk. I'll bet you were excited to use the goats & see how they handled their tasks! Looks like they did their part!

ElkNut1

[Duck-Slayer]

Goats rock..... I hope too get my goats there first packing experience this year, picked up 3 6 month old wethers this last fall, they should pack well this fall, got one that is probably over 100 lbs already and barely a year old, congrats on the elk, cool write up,
Matt

[wapitibowman]

Thanks for all the congrats! It's hard waiting for September, but we're getting closer!!!

[Kessler10]

What State was this hunt in?

[wapitibowman]

Idaho

[Toby]

Great write up and pics, thanks for sharing.