Here are a few pics of Barry, his bull and the crew. This years elk hunt actually started a few months back when Larry aka Elkherder invited us to share his elk camp. Larry and I went over to the area we would hunt and were immediately into elk, so with the successfull scouting trip, I contacted Buckster aka Barry and gave him the thumbs up to head out to Oregon 2 days before the opener.
Barry arrived Thursday night, got his tags and camping gear and with my step son in tow, we headed out to Eastern Oregon elk bound.
After about an 8 hour drive, we were in camp by 5:00pm.
Saturday morning we were in our spot about 30 minutes before daylight. Larry had us set up a few hundred yards below him and off to one side. Shortly after daylight we could hear elk.
I heard several elk below me about 75 yards but could not see them through the jack pines.
As it turns out they were bumped, but we didn't know that at the time.
With the early action and then no action, we decide to move uphill into the wind. We sat up again and called for about an hour. There were no takers so we moved on and set up for about 50 minutes when I decided to approach Barry who was set up 75 yards away.
Barry and I were talking about where to move when I smelled elk. Apparently the wind was swirling a bit and I caught a whiff. I kept trying to smell it again, but couldn't. However, Barry caught the scent and I walked over to him and caught it myself.
We set up with me about 75 yards behind Barry expecting the elk to come from below him and to the right. I started calling and nothing was happening after several minutes. I decided to step back about 25 more yards and start breaking sticks.
Then I heard Barry start to call and I was thinking what is he calling for, so I decided to move his direction thinking to myself (elk are going to pinpoint him and not come in). Well I was wrong. Apparently, when I started breaking sticks there was a small bull nearby that Barry had watched come into my calls. When I decided to head back in Barry's direction, the bull bumped, so Barry used his Hoochie Mama to call the bull right to him for a shot.
Fortunately, I got to see the bull and started calling myself, so between me and Barry, we made it happen. He was tickled and spirits were high. There were elk all over the place, but there were a lot of people as well. I have never been into so many elk, but I have also never been into so many other hunters in one area. The elk were being bumped all over and we had several close calls.
It was a great time and I can't wait until next year. Enjoy.
Barry and his bull
Barry and me:
Barry, Kyle age 15, and Robert age 13