Bulls, Bucks and chickens .. .a Wingnut, Trashwood and Jason adventure

[trashwood]

here is pic of the new Helle field knife.  3&1/2" long blade, 7/8" wide.  hollow ground with the Helle sandwich of harder steel.  the handle has a slim neck opening quickly into a fuller grip.  this produces a lot of purchase from the handle if ya need it and a lot of finesse if ya need it.  the best thing is you don't have $250+ in your pack waiting to get busted, lost or stolen but it is of the $250 quality IMO....but cost way less than that.

 

I'll post some pics of the the boning knife when Connie gets it in.

rusty

[Whip]

Stuff like that is what makes hunting those critters so addicting.  What else makes men travel thousands of miles, hike themselves to the brink of a heart attack, with an average chance of success 15% or less?  Close encounters with bugling bulls is all it takes!

Great stories - keep it coming!

[Terry Green]

OK.....got to page 3....gotta get more coffee...

 

[robtattoo]

Man! I'm pumped & edgy just reading this! AWESOME tale so far.......

[wingnut]

The alarm couldn't go off early enough the next morning.  We were all up and coffee'd in a hurry.  Even Jason who is a tough get up in the morning.  LOL  We slipped back down the creek like yesterday and setup.  Anticiaption was running high as we set up and started calling.  I was careful to change reeds from the previous encounters so as not to train them to the same sound.  All was quiet.  Up we went again advancing only 100-150 yds at a time and slowly.  Setting up and calling softly.  Listening for the sound of the sparing brothers.  But there were no elk sounds.  Again we advanced, predator faces were on solid this morning.  The lessons of the misses yesterday still hot in our memories.  Soon we approached the top of the ridge.   Jason gives me the get down motion with his hand and I hit the deck.  He's giving me hand signals that I finally understand.  Mule Deer bucks ahead.  He drops into the draw for cover and starts to stalk.

I get a bead on them with the binos.  Four bucks, two forkies, a young 3pt and a 4 yr old heavy beam 3x3.  They don't know here and are 100 yds up the hill feeding.  Jason moves slow and closes to 50 yds.  Unfortunatly, they decide it's time to head for bed about then.  They line out and walk over the ridge and down into the little flat with the big trees I saw a couple days back.  We move to the top and down the ridge.  Mostly looking for elk track.  The herd moved out of the drainage but where did they go?

As the sun got high in the sky and we stripped clothes for the long walk back to camp we spotted elk track going back into the drainage I'd originally found them.  We'll be back tonight.

Mike

[wingnut]

One thing I've neglected to tell is our encounters with ruffed grouse.  These are not near as patient as there spruce grouse cousins and are very difficult to hunt with a bow.  You get one shot if that before the flush.  And they don't go to a tree but usually down the creek bottoms.  We saw 2-3 a day but only put one in the bag on the first day.  We will have to alter our grouse technique in future years if we are to eat the fine bird in camp.

Rusty dubbed us "half grouse smart" after we were out smarted time and time again.

Mike

[wingnut]

After a cutting some wood for camp and a fine dinner, we were once again on the trail to hit the top of the ridge.  There is a front approaching and we don't know how long our wind will hold so we get in position early.  Sure enough just as the sun hits the western horizon, the wind switches and we have to make an ajustment.  We expect the elk to be coming up and out of the basin (we are on top of the ridge) but the wind is now blowing down to them.  We cut under the hill and try to get some space to let the herd through then attack from behind.  Dang the front has really heated the air this afternoon and the elk won't be moving till near dark or after.  We set up and call into the draw.  Nothing.  I know they are there but not moving yet.  We'll be patient.  Set down in the late afternoon sun and wait.  I reflected on everything that has already happened and a smile creeps across my mind.  What a hunt and more elk lessons.  The more I know about elk, the less I know that I know.

We call softly every once in a while and finally get up to move as the last 30 minutes of light approach.  It was quiet right to dark.  Jason and I headed for camp.  It would be a little over an hour in the moonlight before we saw the light of the tent.  When we hit the bottom of the ridge, a bull bugled from our spot on top  Yep just too warm.  I knew he was there.  I bugled back from the bottom, just to let him know that I took his cows.  LOL

Mike

[bohuntr]

Cool story .... I guess I do get to go elk hunting this year! Vicariously is better than nothing!!! Keep it comin!

[wingnut]

We are quickly running out of time on the hunt.  Rusty needs to be back at work on Sunday and it is already Wednesday evening.  We decide to hunt the Rusty trail in the am and start packing.  If all goes good, we should be on the road by early afternoon.

The walk up the trail to the salt lick was uneventful but absolutly beautiful.  A mild climb up the creekbottom.  We stopped and called for elk a couple of times but didn't hear a thing.  Until we got to the lick and moved further up the ridge.  Man I haven't seen this many deer track in one place in a long time.  Then we setup and called.  Bang a bull bugled from above and we were off.  Rusty backed off to the crossing down the trail and Jason and I went off in pursuit for one more time.  It ended as fast as it started.  I could hear them moving in the heavy cover but he never showed.  Must have been a little call shy at this point.  Anyway we headed down and picked up Rusty.  We walked and talked about the adventures of the hunt and the good fellowship.  Our group has been together long enough that sometimes we walk in silence and share the beauty of the surroundings.  A grouse flushed from cover and we laughed.  Yep "half grouse smart" that was us.  LOL

Back at camp we worked slowly to get packed up.  Even though we had to go, we sure didn't want to leave.  After we packed and hooked up, off we went.  A mile down the road, a grouse flew into a tree at window level.  All the bows and arrows were packed and it just looked at us from 6 ft.  Finally we flushed it and pulled out.  It would be two days on the road before we hit Texas but heck we had a months worth of storys to tell and retell before we got there.


Thanks for coming along.

We'll get some more pics posted this afternoon.

Mike

[Marvin M.]

Ok, What about the chickens?  You can't throw something like that in the title and then not even mention it.  The only mention I saw anywhere of chicken was on the menu.

What gives?

[Shaun]

I hate September hail storms. Here I sit in Fargo, ND working hail claims to pile up filthily lucre when there are memories to be made in the mountains. Thanks for sharing yours Mike, Jason & Rusty.

[Tim Fishell]

Thanks for taking us along.  That was a grea story.  Here in Michigan Ruffed Grouse is all we have.  Them dang birds sure are tough to hit with a bow that is for sure!!

[Glenn Carl]

Thanks guys fantastic story. I feel the same way about the story being over as you guys felt packing up the camp. Can't wait for next years adventure.

[Jason Jelinek]

Shaun,

How long are you in Fargo?

Jason

[Huntrdfk@Work]

Awesome hunt guys, thanks for sharing it with us.....    


David

[wingnut]

Here is a pic we took one evening from a ridge top.

 

Mike

[robslifts]

sounds like a wonderful hunt  and great story telling as usual!!

[Doc Nock]

You guys grace us with your words and pictures. I feel like I should send money toward your travel fund for the privilage of vicariously sharing your adventures...

Thanks a bunch.

[Walt Francis]

Mike, Jason, and Rusty, thanks for taking all of us along.

Mike, I can really relate to your feeling about backing off from the hunt at times.  I have had most of my elk hunts ruined by other hunters chasing elk in/into their bedrooms.  Anybody who hunts, or wants to hunt, elk (or most other critters for that matter) need to remember your advice:

"The one thing I will not do on purpose is hunt in the bedding area.  Quickest way to move game out is to push them where they feel the safest."

[Brute killer]

Look at that tent, man. That thing's huge.