yesterday morning at 3 a.m my son and i set out on a one day hunt on the oregon coast.we arrived at the area i wanted to walk in on only to find two hunters allready waiting for daylight.i decided to go to another area i had hunted a lot as a youngster,at the end of this road there used to be a locked gate.as we drove in i noticed that the area had been thinned along the roads and quite a way up and down the hills.we rounded a corner about two miles from where the locked gate is and there was a huge pile of dirt pushed into the road by the forest service.as it started getting light out i could see an incredible hunting area before me.virtually no thick brush,grass everywhere and timber you could see two hundred yds through.as we walked down the road we started seeing heavily used elk/deer trails every 100 ft or so.i was stunned by all of the sign,fresh elk dung all over and fresh tracks is a pretty good sign theres elk around.we left the road to see what was out further into the thinned areas and found the area virtually pounded with elk tracks and fresh elk dung everywhere.
i told my son this was elk heaven and i wished we had seen this area a month ago.just as we were heading back to the road to go further into the area i heard a bull scream back in some alder flats,no more than two hundred yds away.i grabbed my cowgirl call and mewed back to the bull.instantly we heard elk mewing like crazy back at us.sticks snapping,hooves pounding.they were on a dead run right to us it seemed.i told my son to drop back fifty yds and to cow call when he saw my hand go up (behind my back of course)he got maybe two steps and out from the alders comes the craziest spike bull i have ever seen.he zoomed by us doin sixty,ran off a ways..stops..then zooms by us again.i mewed as he went flying by but he didnt care he was having about as much fun as a spike bull could ever hope to have.the rest of the herd came out and i started mewing at them.trying to draw one in for a shot.if i had been packing a wheel bow i had my pick but i am sticking with trad bows and needed at least twenty yds chopped off the distance for an ethical shot.zooooommmmm the crazy spike goes flying by again.hes no more than twenty yds from me as he goes by but he is goin like an elk possesed.the bull i heard bugling comes out of the alders and starts screaming his head off but he wont leave the cows.he was a nice tall wide 5x5 pushing 300 inches.this standoff continued for a couple more minutes when the spike ran back towards the herd they all turned and headed into the alders,i took off after them and found a small cliff the hard way as i fell about six feet and landed on my hip.it only hurts until it stops...i didnt bring my camera as this was a one day hunt or i would post some pics.we walked further up the road and found more sign as we went.i am going back there in the morning for last day and i will take pics and post them tomorrow night after we get back.what a hunt and a great time with my son who is still trying to figure out what that spikes trip was.
Topic: a hunt to remember (Read 301 times)
