Share your Lession

[JohnFitzgerald]

A story in another topic inspired me to start this new topic. I'd like to ask if anyone has a story with a lession learned? For me, a big part of learning is to listening to other stories. I'll start by sharing mine.

A couple years ago I was hunting wilderness and was about 2 miles from spike camp. It was getting late and I decide to cow call a little before pushing really hard back. After 2 minutes I uttered the words, "There's nothing here lets go." Well, 10 steps down the trail, guess what? Here comes a bull trotting directly at use. He seen us just about the same time as we seen him. My lession learned, if you cold call make sure to give it time.

Anyone else?

[Goneelkn]

When cold calling, be set up in good position.
I cold called once while trying to catch my breathe. Within 15 seconds a bull charged in to 20 yards. Both of us in the open with a deadfall between us. He knew something was wrong, but was guarding "his" two cows for all he was worth. After about two minutes(seemed like 30) he slipped back to the cows and moved them out.
I kicked myself all day long for not being in a good position and i knew better, To this day, i still have that pop in my mind before i cold call.

[Swede]

I was having some trouble with my old single layered diaphragm and vacuume cleaner hose grunt tube. I had been adjusting the diaphragm and trying to get it to make at least a passable call. After about ten minutes of fiddling with it, I got what I considered the best the old thing had to offer. I was kicking myself for not bringing a new one with me. The piece of garbage I was trying to blow on sounded to me more like a gagging buzzard than a bull elk. Frustrated I could do no better, I stood up and took a couple steps only to see a nice 5X5 bull throw on the brakes with only seven or eight yards between us. In an instant he wheeled around in place and vanished into the timber behind where he had stood. Boy that was a case of adding insult to injury, or is it vice versa? There were three lessons I learned there. The one is obvious. Elk don't need to hear the perfect call to come in. Lousy may even do. 2. Always wait and look around before you move after a calling sequence. 3. Sitting there working on my call, I was sounding like a raghorn bull, that for whatever reason was working his voice. That is not a bad call to use in the middle of the day.

[WapitiTalk1]

IT AIN'T OVER TILL IT'S OVER 2002 or 2003, hiked into a wilderness area with a buddy who was kind of new at this bow hunting elk thing. Got to a vantage point overlooking a large, flat top of a ridge that we suspected, held elk. Set up Joe and threw out a locater bugle. We were obviously within 60 or 70 yards of a pretty decent 6X Roosey. He came in immediately, screaming obscenities at me. Like Gonelkn said, be set up. We were somewhat set up but had minimal cover with the tall fir trees and sparse brush I bugled from. The bull ran straight at me, PO'ed to high heaven, but came in so fast, Joe couldn't get a shot and then the bull either winded or spotted me and was gone, spinning around and crashing down where he came from. I walked over to Joe and said "looks like game over on this guy, let's move slowly down into the flat a bit and see if anybody else is home". I really figured this guy was 100% busted.. We moved 20 yards and he bugled at us again at just hearing us move. OK, set up better this time and I gave some excited cow calls.. Here he came again! Only this time, he circled down and to the left... not paying any attention to the thermals (obviously, he felt it was his day to die). Joe never saw him this second time but I did... I drew as he walked in through some scrub pine and threw out a subtle grunt when he starting turning away... 30 yards, he's mine! The second I released, he took one step forward.. That one step with my old 70 lb Darton Viper I was shooting with fingers and fenceposts (GGII 2216s) tipped with 140 gr 4 blade wasps moved my arrow impact back three feet and this big galoot got a stinger in the back part of his hind quarter.. Are you kidding me? He ran off with the arrow flapping. Grabbed Joe who didn't know what had happened and told him where I thought the arrow impacted when he stepped. Did the usual.. marked where I shot from and marked where he was standing... Just in case my eyes had deceived me (he was a nice bull) we waited 20 minutes.. Started to track and found a few drops of blood in the scrub pine, and thank goodness, the complete arrow.. it was quiet this 20 minutes or so. I loudly said a few "words" that weren't very nice and bugled out of anger.. Guess what? Yep, he bugled back Never got in on him again but after checking out the area, we found that he was guarding 6-8 cows when I first bugled. Set up is important with cold calling, and, it ain't over till it's over.. It was the first week in SEP and this bull did everything he could to let me kill him.. I didn't hold up my end of the bargain. RJ

[N5J]

Early one morning we setup in a saddle between a feeding area and dark timber hoping to ambush some elk. We did a series of cow calls when we heard bugles and raking below us about 200 yards. We scrambled to close the distance on the bull; setting up what we figured was about 100 yards. We had 1 caller and 2 shooters. Shooters were 50 yards apart covering 2 draws, caller behind us another 25 yards. As my buddy let out a bugle, the bull would bugle right back. As the bull bugled my buddy would walk on him while raking. The bull was getting madder by the minute. Sounded like he was hanging up, so we all slowly moved towards the bull. Finally, I got to a little rise as I go over I’m now standing in an opening about 15 yards from some dead fall. I motioned to my buddy to move up thinking once he got to the rise, I would move to a tree 15 yards ahead of me. Once my buddy got to me the bull ran in an opening 71 yards in front of us. Now we’re pinned down in the open with a 7X7 bull looking for a fight. I come to full draw and held hoping the bull would come closer. I held at full draw what I thought was eternity (over 1 minute) watching this bull. As we are waiting for him to move up the wind swirled and he bolted. Lesson learned…keep your caller behind you and out of sight.

N5J
James

[Lefty]

A musky fisherman once told me" Fish like its the only cast of the day; every cast you make"
His words changed the way I do so much in the outdoors. Ok Ive messed up on lots of game in my lifetime, however I try to be as prepared as possible at that moment.
OK Lets face it; in the middle of the afternoon I dont hunt like I do at dawn or dusk but I am out doing what i love, and I like to do it well.


Use all your senses. Ive taken a lot of game over the years because I smelled it. I once traked a herd of antelope in a heavy fog for over a mile by smell.
My last rifle bull elk I smelled his bedroom before I saw him.
And I have trapped a lot of fox and coyotes in locations from them marking

[sockeye]

Does not matter what time of day....one year a buddy and I stopped to eat lunch it was hot 80+. We started eating lunch talking about afternoon strategies and since we both had different calls we were calling to show each other how they sounded. After about 30 minutes we got up and not 50 yards were a spike and a rag horn...totally busted, bows still on the ground and lunch wrappers in our hands we knew we screwed up.

[Buckriser]

When you go to use your binos and you notice something on the eyepiece lens and it happens to be in liquid form............ Don't just lick it off assuming its water. You may be surprised to find out that somehow while squirting cow elk pi$$, you somehow got the urine on the lens. This could cause you to dry-heave and may even cause you to vomit............ A couple years back while hunting with my father, he did this very thing. I have no idea what gave him the urge to lick it off his lens rather than just wipe it off? I think of it everytime I'm hunting now. Thanks for the lesson old man. Lmao.

[LckyTylr]

HAHAHAHA, my Wife is looking at me with that "Really, you are laughing at the computer, again?" look.

HAHAHAHA, your ol' man licked Elk pee, hahahahaha.

I had a good friend that got peed on by a dead buck (his first). I was walking him through how to gut it, step by step. He had everything cut loose and all that was left to do was roll the guts out of the cavity. He must have missed something, as they weren't coming out. He asked me what to do, I figured maybe it was just a piece of back fat that he didn't cut, so I told him just to "pull a little harder". He yanked on it really hard, lost his grip, hands slid a bit and a stream of pee squirted directly into his face. He was so shocked that he stood up, stumbled and tripped over his pack. I'll never forget him laying there on his back, looking up at the trees with that horrified look on his face. I was literally rolling around on the ground laughing at him. He finally sat up with pee dripping down his chin and a blank stare in his eyes and said "I just got peed on by a dead deer". HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

I guess that should be a tip, if you are gutting an animal and something is stuck, Never EVER "just pull a little harder".

[WapitiTalk1]

When you go to use your binos and you notice something on the eyepiece lens and it happens to be in liquid form............ Don't just lick it off assuming its water. You may be surprised to find out that somehow while squirting cow elk pi$$, you somehow got the urine on the lens. This could cause you to dry-heave and may even cause you to vomit............ A couple years back while hunting with my father, he did this very thing. I have no idea what gave him the urge to lick it off his lens rather than just wipe it off? I think of it everytime I'm hunting now. Thanks for the lesson old man. Lmao.

I can't find the "milk squirting out my noise" smiley... Great story.. Ahh, time to start another thread RJ

[Buckriser]

TTT

[LckyTylr]

Buckriser, what's TTT?

[WapitiTalk1]

Buckriser, what's TTT?

TTT means "to the top".. It's a way to tell everybody viewing that this is a pretty darn good thread and let's get some more folks chiming in and keep it going RJ

[LckyTylr]

Oooohhhhhhh, like a Bump.




BUMP!!! TTT!!!

[bearman da man]

We hunt in pairs with a "caller/wingman" and a "hunter". We have always said that the "hunter" dictates on where we will hunt and where to set up. The "caller" always is the "wingman" and calls where the "hunter" wants him. Well, not last year....

Walking up a draw by the "guaranteed fence" and heard a huge bugle just above us in the timber. The "calller/wingman" told me to go up the draw about 40 yds. in case the bull went that way and I may get a shot "as the bull runs by me 500 mph". The "caller", my so called "wingman" told me he was going to go straight up this trail (that looked like an interstate) in the timber where we heard the bugle. I did what my "wingman/caller" told me.....dahhh!

Within 5 minutes, the 320 bull was 10 yds in front of him after a 5 minute "strole" on the "interstate" in the timber while I was walking over downtimber and saying to myself "wait a minute, I'm the "hunter" this AM, he is the "caller/wingman". Then I heard my bud, "GOT HIM".....yep, a 320 bull!

Bottom line, he is one of my best buds and I was very excited for him. It was his biggest bull "ever". Because he got his 6x6 320 bull, he was my "DESIGNATED" caller/wingman and called in a respectable 5x5 that I got the next day.

Lesson Learned: I love my hunting buds but if you're the "caller/wingman", I will go where the "caller/wingman" go and they can go where the hunter is suppose to go....I think?