May be my last elk hunt grrr! FUN rest of the story!W/PIX

[cahaba]

wapiti sorry to hear that brother. I also have severe degenerative disc disease. I missed this years opener Oct. 15th and haven't been able to hunt yet. I may have to get surgery out of necessity. Hope you get better....Dave

Good luck to you on your hunt! And I'll throw up a few prayers that something positive happens with your back and you get to keep on hunting the way you like to.

Bisch

[wapiti]

......he SLOWLY turns and heads back the way he came in. He stops and lets out a bugle at about 25 yards out, one of those deep head in the barrel bugles that gives you the shivers,but is facing straight away. DANG IT! He starts walking again but stops at 32 paces and is now slightly quartering away and lets out a scream. Completely out in the open, I draw and let fly. The arrow is on its mark as it heads towards him. He twists his antlers towards me to have a peek at the movement he has just spotted and I can see his huge bugged out eyes follow the arrow headed towards his chest. Just as the arrow is ready to smack him dead center in the lungs his legs begin to buckle to avoid this incoming missle of death and he manages to move enough to place the arrow right in  his shoulder. SMACK! I am sick as I know that sound of bone and steel. He bolts off and none of my talking will convince him to stop. He heads straight away, boldly dashig hard for 30 yards or so and then folds into a trot. I watch until I can no longer see him with my binocs. Sitting still and sick to my stomach I ponder where he will go.

[huntsman247]

As mentioned, can't say enough about exercise; best of luck to you

[Richie]

Adapt and overcome sir. Good luck and god bless.Cant wait to see some pics when you get back.  

[wapiti]

Elk like the timber. Often they will feed at night far out in the open but are long gone WAY before the days 1st light.Camp is a few miles from here.  

[wapiti]

The timber is not real dense in most places and can be hard to hide your movements. The ability to freeze your movement in an instant and hold that position "forever" is the norm.  

[wapiti]

I wait slightly less than 30 minutes and go to where the bull was standing at impact. The arrow was waving from his shoulder as he left in a hurry. I follow his tracks as far as I can before he turns to a walk. The ground is hard and dry with extremely poor tracking conditions. Absolutely no sign of blood for as far as I can make out his tracks. I scour the area to the point of following the fence line up and down both sides twice, NOTHING. He has shown no sign of the injury and I am puzzled as it seems he should have stopped somewhere to watch his back trail and to figure what is going on. I am also concerned my bright yellow crown dipped and chartreuse fletched arrow hasn't presented itself.I wonder why it hasn't pulled out or at the least broken off. With light fading fast I head back to camp. When I arrive I tell my wife what happened and she knows I am upset. We eat a quiet dinner and enjoy the heat of the stove. Into the cot, I ball up for a restless night. Sleep comes around 4AM.

[cahaba]

That's good story tellin right there. Thanks for the ride.

[wapiti]

Morning arrives and I am less than enthusiastic about the days prospects after last night. Maybe being tired and my back aching from holding a frozen position several times has something to do with it but i think it is more the mental drain I experienced. After having a roll and some of my wife's good coffee I head back to the fence to look some more. I search in a wide circle making it smaller and smaller down to where the action started. Still nothing! OK let me think. He either has gone over the rise and down the other side into the creek bottom and then up the side of that drainage and into the timber on the other ridge or down into a wallow area I know about. I decide to check the wallow area as it is close and a good area to lay down. I hope that he is around there and maybe stiffened up. I arrive quickly but there is no sign of any elk activity. This leads me to imagine that the bull went down the hill and into and probably out of the other drainage. I am sure the cow and calf were headed there the day before by their line of travel. I pack it in and head to camp to tell the wife I am heading across the creek to look for "sign". I hop in the Jeep and bounce across the creek and down the trail a scant half mile. Parked along side of the road I walk to the creek and the bottom of the draw that leads from the top of the hill where it all started. The area shows only old sign of elk activity so, frustrated, I have to admit to myself he is most likely fine and giving me a "moon" shot from somewhere hidden in the forest. Back to camp for a soda and a snack.

[wapiti]

The creek behind camp.  

[wapiti]

The next drainage over from where the action began.  

[threeunder]

[wapiti]

Back at camp I find myself to be restless and do some stump shooting. Bailey my labrador retriever enjoys the frolicking in the creek and around camp. Shooting always relieves my frustrations and I feel better after 20 mins or so. I tire easily and have to rest my legs and back. My wife decides it is nap time too as the sun has peeked out and feels comforting on the skin. Sorry honey but you look so relaxed!!

[wapiti]

After a rest I am going to go back this evening and do some calling. You never know, He may still be in the area at this time of year and if one elk shows up more are not too far away. I arrive at the same spot and start calling softly with meek bugles and squeals. No answers gives me mind to go to the wallow and call there. Still no answers. It is very close so there is no surprise that the woods are silent. I cross the fence and saunter across the park into timber I have yet to enter this year. No fresh elk sign so I figure they are only passing through and I got lucky. Still smarting from the night before I walk slowly through the woods when I think I hear a bull. I stop to listen but no sounds. I let one RIIIIPPPPP and get an immediate but faint answer. We start a duet and I hear another bull join in. They are far off and it is 30 mins till sundown. With little time to get over to them I decide to wait until morning. I get back to the Jeep after dark. My legs are killing me and my back is on fire. It takes me twice as long to walk anywhere now and what would take me 30 mins to get to my Jeep now takes me over an hour. Dark and hungry I hit the switch and stomp the pedal. It is a rough ride home in the dark with a vigorous attempt to avoid the rocks and badger holes. Once back, my elk hunting hero has dinner ready for me. I turn in for the night around 11 PM with the "elk encounter" still on my mind. I have wounded 3 critters now in 30 years of bowhunting. Many years ago I hit a cow square in the chest on a frontal shot. Blood everywhere and good tracking, I could not imagine the trail would dry up and I would never find her.  I spent 3 weekends looking to no avail. It takes me 3 years to take another shot at an elk after losing her. I try not to let this shake me up so much.

[threeunder]

I'm hooked wapiti!  Hoping for more tonight!

[elknutz]

Great story, there is nothing like elk hunting.

[wapiti]

More to come.

[wapiti]

I awake in the morning to the sound of "pit pat,pit pat,pit pat" on the tents roof. With a light rain I decide to just stay in the sack and rest my back knowing full well I can sneak around the woods in silence from the dampness leaking from the sky. I reawaken and my wife, Karen, has scented our canvas home with the aroma of coffee which she made on the wood stove. Taking my morning ritual of coffee and a roll for breakfast whilst out in hunting camp I sit and ponder what I want to do. Karen says she would like to see where these elk are so after finishing the pot of "joe" we climb in the CJ and head out. I will get high and do a lot of glassing and plan an attack for the evening. I walk a little along a fence line and set up in the tree line and begin looking around for the wily wapiti of Montana. I have seen them at all times of the day during the peak of the rut. In fact I dance down memory lane for second and recall when I lived in Wyoming and seeing the largest bull I have ever scene in the wild (and I have seen a lot of them in my 55 years) while driving into Bear Lodge for a hot cooked meal. He was standing 150 yards off the road and all by himself. A massive rack, he showed no sign of fear and simply trotted off to the north and away from such disturbances. With Karen and Bailey back at my faithful rust bucket with wheels I head out after seeing what I want to see which is no cows in my favorite spot. I am pretty sure the calls came from there and being undisturbed have a supreme confidence the elk will be in there tonight. It is overcast and chilly but no call for rain or snow. Slowly walking back I have lifted spirits for this evenings adventures.
 

[wapiti]

The woods are scary silent tonight!! It is an easy walk from the rig, a short slight downward march of a 1/4 mile. Every step is met with..........SILENCE! No crunching or snapping. The ground and air are both moist with an eerie dampness. After stepping in the timber and walking half way to where I want to be skulking around for the evening. I let out a small bugle/squeal. Just one mind you as I have that feeling. The wind is accommodating tonight and in my face which is a rarity as it usually comes up hill or down hill. Not tonight as it is coming from the timber out and into the open.I remove my rubber blunt from my quiver and let fly a couple of shots at pine cones. An answer! I knew it!!!!!!! They are headed into the feeding areas. Practice is cut short, no need for more as I center punched both cones at 20 and 25 steps. Besides they will be off the ridge soon and sneaking around among the fir and lodgepole waiting for o'dark thirty. Once I get to "the corner" I head slightly up hill and then work  the side slope. 50 long yards and I cow call. A bull bugles back and he is close, Then another and another and then another. Two of them are still on the ridge but the one that is close is accompanied with cows mewing. I focus my attention on the bull ahead of me and wait to see if he comes nearer. I am antsy but soon startled to full attention from a bugle behind me! Slowly turning I spy a little bull with a fork on one side and a brow tine on the other. He is a legal animal and headed right to me. Crazy visions of chops and steaks all tender and juicy snap throughout my head. Only problem this dude is not stupid. He is approaching as cautious as any bull I have ever watched!!!