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I'm Baaa-ack! MT elk recap!

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I'm Baaa-ack! MT elk recap!

Postby Tigger » 11 01, 2021 •  [Post 1]

Got back yesterday from chasing Wapiti in MT. Brought my daughter out on her first elk hunt. Her boyfriend came along (he has never shot an elk either). My dad and brother also came.

Scouting revealed a big herd of elk. Good. But bad. Good that we saw lots of elk. Bad they are mostly all in one big herd and darn close to private. Optimism was high. My brother glassed a big bull to peg the optimism dial, but it was 2 days before the season and in a pretty hard to get to place.

Opening morning arrives and were we in for a surprise!!
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Re: I'm Baaa-ack! MT elk recap!

Postby Tigger » 11 01, 2021 •  [Post 2]

Someone must have scheduled an ATV/Razor convention up on top of the ridges! We like to park low, sneak up and find an unsuspecting bull and shoot him. Uh, no. That doesn’t work on opening day. I have never seen so many idiots in one place. Never hunt there on opener. They drove across private, they drove out in the sage, they drove to the tops of the ridges looking for (apparently deaf) elk and they drove on unmarked trails. We were walking up a hill to peak over and some asshat drove right past us to get to the top first. I heard the loudest muffler ever I think on a rig with a guy who loved to let everyone know it.

But then Sunday came.....
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Re: I'm Baaa-ack! MT elk recap!

Postby Tigger » 11 01, 2021 •  [Post 3]

...and most of them left. We saw a few elk running for their lives on Saturday, but the herd went up and over to private. Sunday and Monday were slow...only saw 1 elk in the timber. Tuesday, my daughter sees a couple elk. One, a small bull that after we glassed it, determined it wasn’t legal, and a cow. As we were making a plan, they started to move and we cut them off. My daughter’s boyfriend, who has never shot an elk, got in place and made a good shot at an easy 80 yards on the cow. One in the bag! He was pretty pumped. I lost my chopper mitten up there though!
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Re: I'm Baaa-ack! MT elk recap!

Postby Lefty » 11 01, 2021 •  [Post 4]

Bummer on the lost mitten.


I just dont get big game hunters chasing around on ATV's .
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Re: I'm Baaa-ack! MT elk recap!

Postby Swede » 11 01, 2021 •  [Post 5]

So have we read the whole story or is more going to dribble out? I hope the lost mitten was your worst loss. :D
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Re: I'm Baaa-ack! MT elk recap!

Postby Tigger » 11 02, 2021 •  [Post 6]

Oh there is more. I just like metering it out slowly so some of you don't get all excited and pee yourself. :o

Wednesday was slow. We have put in our time shivering on the tops of ridges (mostly) and stalking timber (not as much). When on top shivering in the wind, we judge we have to move when one of us gets too cold. Thursday, we went up top on our favorite ridge and just as we were gonna leave, what happens? Well, that big ol' stinky herd of 75 elk came back over the top. One 5X5 and some spike and raghorns. This is where it gets fun. Tons of strategy. Where are they going? How to cut them off? Get ready to go, they are going that wa.......no, they aren’t! They didnt like something over that way and are coming back this way! Are they coming up our ridge? No, down the gulch they go on the opposite sidehill. Read them....where are they going? My brother figures high like the last time. I felt they would cross on some type of saddle or something. My daughter and I drop down. We need to get to a pile of rocks......okay, we made it.....
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Re: I'm Baaa-ack! MT elk recap!

Postby Jhg » 11 02, 2021 •  [Post 7]

Excellent! Keep it coming. A story in pieces reads better on forums like this over getting the whole thing one lump.
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Re: I'm Baaa-ack! MT elk recap!

Postby Tigger » 11 02, 2021 •  [Post 8]

Right away, there was the leading edge of the herd at 220 yards on the low spot where I figured they would cross. I got set up but my daughter wasn't quite so fast. There was a legal bull in our window (raghorn). I told her to shoot him, but she was struggling with her bipod on the angular rocks. "Shoot him" I whispered. I was right on him. He was dead if I pulled the trigger, but I watched as he crossed as Lauren just wasn't in a good spot in time. About 8 cows go through. We could have doubled on cows easily. But there was that 5X5.....
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Re: I'm Baaa-ack! MT elk recap!

Postby Swede » 11 02, 2021 •  [Post 9]

Tigger wrote:Oh there is more. I just like metering it out slowly so some of you don't get all excited and pee yourself.


Trust me. We could handle the whole story at one time. Reading a magazine article one paragraph at a setting is not necessary or even advantageous. Someone fumbling and failing to get their rifle ready is not that intense. :o
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Re: I'm Baaa-ack! MT elk recap!

Postby Tigger » 11 02, 2021 •  [Post 10]

Keep in mind your average tree stand hunter wouldn't have even made it to the rock pile! :shock:

We are both waiting as cows are going through the window. How long do you wait? She wants to shoot an elk so bad, and the decision is tormenting her. Shoot a cow or wait for the bull who may not be on the same path? It wasn't long and there he was, coming into the window. "No shot, no shot" I had to say as a calf was in front of him. Oh man, there he is, and she can't shoot. He gets to the far edge of our window and stops. The calf does not. "Shoot!" "BOOM!" She shoots and the bull flinches hard. He is hit, but I don't want him going anywhere. If an elk is on its feet, you just keep shooting! "BOOM" I shoot him and he is down. All this happens in way less than a second.

I look over at Lauren and have to blink my eyes because she is shaking SO HARD that she is almost blurry! Her eyes are big. I don't think I have ever seen someone so excited. She has shot some nice whitetail bucks, but this is different. This is something she has dreamt and talked about for the last 7 years.

She has earned it. She has sat in the wind and cold every day for hours. She has walked to her glassing spot up steep mountains. What a feeling. We just sit and relish it.

When we get down to him, she just stares. Then grabs those antlers. Pictures are taken. The bull is quartered. The pack out is pretty easy; 925 yards of sidehill, although it is still Type 2 fun.

Friday my brother and Dad and I go out. Dad cannot go uphill or downhill very effectively. But he gets into the timber and a bull and 8 cows come running from ….. you guessed it, an ATV going up an unmarked trail. They go by too fast, and the opportunity is gone. But it was exciting and he is happy.

Packed up right away Saturday morning and headed home. A successful trip. Hunted hard, shivered a little, lost some weight, and 2 kids got to shoot elk. That is the definition of a successful trip right there. But I did lose my mitten!

Lauren Bull resized.jpg
Lauren Bull resized.jpg (371.29 KiB) Viewed 2763 times
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Re: I'm Baaa-ack! MT elk recap!

Postby Swede » 11 02, 2021 •  [Post 11]

Congratulations on a beautiful bull and a totally successful hunt. And thanks for letting me finish reading the story is just a few sessions. You can be a proud dad.
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Re: I'm Baaa-ack! MT elk recap!

Postby Billy Goat » 11 02, 2021 •  [Post 12]

this is awesome! congrats on the elk and mitten loss both!
"First teach a child to love God,
teach them second to love their family
and third, teach them to hunt and fish,
and by the time they reach their teens, no dope peddler under the sun will ever teach them anything".

-Cotton Cordell
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Re: I'm Baaa-ack! MT elk recap!

Postby Jhg » 11 02, 2021 •  [Post 13]

Excellent
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Re: I'm Baaa-ack! MT elk recap!

Postby js80138 » 11 03, 2021 •  [Post 14]

Congratulations to the whole family on a great hunt.
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Re: I'm Baaa-ack! MT elk recap!

Postby 7mmfan » 11 03, 2021 •  [Post 15]

Fantastic! Sounds like the perfect trip. Some trials and tribulations, overcome by perseverance and will power. Glad everyone had a good time and stayed safe.
I hunt therefore I am. I fish therefore I lie.
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Re: I'm Baaa-ack! MT elk recap!

Postby Tigger » 11 03, 2021 •  [Post 16]

7mmfan wrote:Fantastic! Sounds like the perfect trip. Some trials and tribulations, overcome by perseverance and will power. Glad everyone had a good time and stayed safe.



yes, the lost mitten was certainly a trial and tribulation. Sheer will power kept me going. Found a replacement last night. $12.99 for the pair. They wouldn't sell just 1. Now I have an extra left hand mitten. I would sell it for $6.50! :D
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Re: I'm Baaa-ack! MT elk recap!

Postby Swede » 11 03, 2021 •  [Post 17]

Nobody wants your stupid mitten Tigger. You can't pick your nose while wearing one of them. Everyone has gone to shooters gloves. The hunters don't shoot much, but they are still handy and keep their hands warm. :D
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Re: I'm Baaa-ack! MT elk recap!

Postby WapitiTalk1 » 11 03, 2021 •  [Post 18]

How awesome is that! What a great hunt and first elk for Ms. Tigger JR. A huge congrats to the young elk hunter and her guide.
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Re: I'm Baaa-ack! MT elk recap!

Postby Tigger » 11 03, 2021 •  [Post 19]

Swede, Swede, Swede. If you hunt cold weather, and I mean cold weather like in MN cold weather, you will come to appreciate mittens. I wear thin gloves in the mittens, then shed the mittens when the action starts (and in this particular case, the shedding the mitten part was not executed properly). You can also put hand warmers in the mittens. If you want to see it in action, check out the Randy Newberg videos as he does it too (being a MN boy, he understands COLD). Gloves just don't cut it when it gets really cold. They have to be so thick you can't feel the trigger and they aren't as warm anyway. Stick around here and you will learn some more useful tips! Because of your dedication to this forum and my good nature, I will sell you that one mitten for only $9.

Thanks RJ, it was a special hunt and wow, was she excited!
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Re: I'm Baaa-ack! MT elk recap!

Postby Swede » 11 03, 2021 •  [Post 20]

You were not in the outdoors of the Klondike in January, or is a tree stand in Minnesota in December. A little frost in October does not call for mittens and mukluks if you are mobile at all.
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Re: I'm Baaa-ack! MT elk recap!

Postby Tigger » 11 04, 2021 •  [Post 21]

MN Gun season is in November, believe me, we know cold. I have hunted at -22 in MN and -26 in ND. Not including wind. Windchill puts it much colder. Not only hunting, but ice fishing as well. Mittens over gloves are the way to go.

Yes, I will be climbing a tree on Saturday doing my best Swede impression. Wait. No. I do not want to impersonate Swede on second thought! But I will be in a tree stand in the woods waiting for Mr Stinky Whitetail to saunter on by. Not sure I will actually pull the trigger this year as my kids all want to shoot deer and we are sitting pretty good with meat already.
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Re: I'm Baaa-ack! MT elk recap!

Postby rvanbw00 » 11 04, 2021 •  [Post 22]

Congrats to all, great work and great memories!
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Re: I'm Baaa-ack! MT elk recap!

Postby longbowelk » 11 05, 2021 •  [Post 23]

Congrats on the family success. Good on getting a new mitten those are important to keep warm.
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