2014 Montana Elk

[B2]

My elk season this year turned out way better than I ever could have predicted......
Given a few life circumstances I had mentally prepared myself for a fun year of hiking around the hills, maybe shooting a few grouse and lots of stumps, and hopefully helping a few friends. Here is my back story for any of you who are interested.  I am originally from SE Idaho and have been hunting all of my life.  Most of my hunting was done with my best buddy and lifetime hunting partner, my dad.  Sadly, he passed away right at the end of the 2010 archery season from a major heart attack.  He was only 48 and very healthy so needless to say it was devastating.  He was a traditional bow hunter and passed that on to me, a gift I will forever cherish and try to pass on to my kids as well.  Getting back on the horse after loosing my dad has been difficult.  It seemed like ever time I went out hunting, even if the hunting was good, I ended up depressed he wasn't there like good old times.
Well, over the past 4 years since his passing my life has taken several dramatic turns.  My wife and I moved to Florida (where she is from) and I did almost no hunting and hardly shot my bow for almost 2 years.  Our family grew and we decided that raising our kids in the city was not what we wanted.  We had lived in Bozeman, MT for about 5 years while I went to school and we decided that a small town in Montana was our goal destination.  Last December we landed in Hamilton, MT.  Hamilton is an amazing place and I am grateful to call it home.  I work in construction and have to travel out of town occasionally, plus I have 3 small kids so I guess you could say I didn't do as much scouting as I would like in my new area of the state.  Plus I didn't shoot my bow as much as I should so I was not overly optimistic that I would get an animal in what I call "slam dunk" range.  Even though I know first hand nothing is ever a "slam dunk."
Montana has a 6 month residency requirement so by the time September rolled around I was eligible for resident tags.  Luckily I have made some good friends in the few months I've been here and they invited me out opening day.  
Opening day turned out to be a good hike and a good day to see some new country.  We did get into a few elk and heard a bugle as we were walking back to the truck in the dark.  Fast forward to this past weekend, only the 2nd weekend of the season.  All of my hunting buddies had other plans so I planned a solo backpacking/hunting trip into a nearby area where we heard the bugle the weekend before.  It turns out that was a very wise (lucky) decision.

[centaur]

 This is sounding good. You are a lucky guy to live in the Bitteroot Valley. Hamilton is a great town.

[B2]

I left my truck at about 2:00 pm and planned to work my way down into the bottom of this big drainage, look around and make a plan from there.  Down in the bottom I found thick nasty down fall suited for only Big Foot.  I worked my way up onto the north facing side hill and found more of the same.  No good trails and no signs of game animals.  The south facing side of the canyon was very steep, rocky and fairly open.  This particular area is known for huge mule deer bucks, but the tags are very tough to draw.  The south facing side of the canyon did have some very nice looking side canyons feeding into it and I had done some Google Earth scouting so I anticipated it would be a better place to explore.  I decided to make my way up to one of these side canyons and hunt up into it.  I found myself in the bottom of one of these side canyons and about a 1/2 mile up from the main drainage with only an hour or so left of daylight.  This area looked a lot more positive and had some good game trails.  I wanted to sleep up high so I could look around and listen good in the morning so I hoofed it up to the ridge right above me.  It was probably about 800 vertical feet and almost straight up.  I made it up there right at dark and set up camp.  As I was eating my dinner I started hearing bugles from where I was in the bottom of the canyon.  I hardly slept that night......

(My first time posting photos, hopefully it works!)

 http://s26.photobucket.com/user/bradyrbrown/media/LookingWest_zpsd28a1610.jpg.html?sort=3&o=10
A photo looking west toward Hamilton.

 http://s26.photobucket.com/user/bradyrbrown/media/Camp_zpsbdf7fb17.jpg.html?sort=3&o=8
My campsite on the ridge.

 http://s26.photobucket.com/user/bradyrbrown/media/BelowCamp_zps5a361c30.jpg.html?sort=3&o=7
Looking down into the main drainage.

[B2]

Try this again...

 
Looking west toward Hamilton.

 
Campsite on the ridge.

 
Looking down into main drainage.

[Over&Under]

[huntnmuleys]

sweet!!!  keep it coming

[Sockrsblur]

This is a tough wait... great time for these stories to get read though... I'm an eager reader.  

[B2]

Once daylight finally rolled around I was up and taking down my camp.  For this trip I simply used a thin lightweight duffle bag that could hold all of my supplies and strapped it to a pack frame.  I'd love to get a good hunting/backpacking pack that can haul meat, but right now that isn't in the budget.  Back to the hunt....

I was still hearing the bull directly below me and I figured he would work his way up the canyon to bed down.  I started some calling and he was happy to bugle back.  I worked up the draw slowly, calling as I went.  I could tell he was also coming up so I decided to take a seat and wait him out.  In the excitement of getting my camp packed up and start chasing elk I didn't eat any breakfast.  As I was sitting there chowing down on a PB&J a bull bugled about 100 yard up the canyon from me.  Perfect.  Now I'm in the middle of 2 bugling bulls.    

I stuffed the rest of my sandwich in my mouth, left my pack and eased up a bit and found a good place to set up.  I cow called a couple times and he answered immediately.  However, much to my surprise a cow started calling back too and she was much closer.  I just decided to shut up and see what happens.  The cow kept mewing and pretty soon she was working her way around a trail below me that would put here within my comfort zone.  The wind was not great and she knew something was up.  She stopped broadside at around 20 yards and I shot right over her back.  The steep terrain and down hill shot got me.  She trotted off and I called a few more times.  The bull still had no clue was was going on.  I heard him raking trees and causing a ruckus up in the creek.  I cow called and moved a bit closer.  He bugled again, this time I knew he was on his way to check me out.

[centaur]

"Perfect. Now I'm in the middle of 2 bugling bulls."
The kind of problem that I wouldn't mind dealing with right about now.

[B2]

The spot I decided to hide was in some what of a tree well on the down hill side of a 20" lodgepole.  About 5' up hill and to the left from the tree I was hiding behind was another good size lodgepole.  I knew the elk was above me in the drainage but I wasn't sure if he was going to come in on the same trail the cow did or above me.  This spot was good for both scenarios.  See, I have learned from past mistakes that where you set up for elk coming into calls can and will predict whether or not you get a shot.  Most of the time they don't come in on a trail so look for downfall or other obstacles that animals will avoid and try to predict which side they will go.

This elk decided to come in above me.  This was perfect as the morning winds were still blowing steadily down slope.  There was a small sub ridge coming down and I first spotted him about 70 yards above me up on that ridge.  He know he heard a cow down there and it didn't take him long to start making his way down slope.  His trajectory was going to put him at about 10 yards broadside directly across slope from me.  I had tension on the string and was just waiting for those last few steps.....

[B2]

I mentioned the thick nasty country in the bottom of main drainage.  This picture shows my bow, but also you can see all of the moss and foliage.  It truly was a beautiful place, just impossibly to walk around in.  

 

My bow is a 57# Osage Black Widow that my dad had custom made in 2007.

[B2]

With about 10 steps before he entered my shooting lane he decided to turn and head straight for me.  At 5 yards he turned across slope and was directly above me.  Basically all that separated us was the tree I was hiding behind and the other large tree just up slope.  Right when his head went behind the upper tree I turned my body 90 degrees and started to pull my bow.  At this point he's only about 3 yards from me.  He caught the movement and whirled back out across slope in front of me.  I made my best cow call attempt with my voice and he stopped broadside at about 25 yards.  This was on the outside of my range but I was still confident to take a wide open broadside shot at an elk, which provides a good size kill zone.  His head was behind a tree and I had to lean a bit to the right to get everything clear.  I drew and released and watched my arrow fully disappear into his ribs.  My shot was slightly higher than I like but I was confident it was OK.  He jumped and ran and I did another voiced cow call.  He stopped and looked back up toward me and I could see the blood pouring out of his side.  Immediately he started to wobble and within 10 seconds he was on the ground not more then 60 yards from where I shot him.  I had about 100 emotions going through me.  I was ecstatic at first, then I got a little emotional, then I was excited again, etc.  It was one of those times that the situation itself was amazing.  Killing an elk was the icing on the cake.  And killing a nice bull with my dad's bow was something I had been dreaming about.  

 

[B2]

The photo doesn't do the slope of the hill any justice.  The only thing from keeping him from rolling further down the steep hill was the log he was wedged up against.  I remember a post from Whip last year discussing a similar situation of elk, hunting alone, and the need for a pulley system, so I took a few pictures of the setup I carry.  I don't know the name of the pulley but it worked great and I was able to drag him and turn his upper body up the hill and off of the log.  

 

 

 

[B2]

I got him cleaned out, recruited some help and had him hanging in the garage by about 11 pm that night.  Luckily the pack out was only about 3/4 mile to the nearest road.  The bad part is that it was straight up.  It is a hunt I will never forget.

 

 

 

[huntmaster70]

congrats  

[centaur]

Great hunt and congrats on taking that elk with a very special bow.

[ron w]

Outstanding........  

[varmint101]

Awesome, great job!!

[B2]

A few more details:

I am shooting Carbon Express Heritage 250 arrows. 130 grain glue on Zwicky No Mercy single bevel broadheads.  With the broadhead, glue on adapter, insert, and a couple extra weights on the back of the insert my arrows have plenty of FOC.  I shot clear through him and my arrow fell out after he took the first jump or two.  

In one of the photos above you can see the 4 quarter bags hanging.  I also had 3 more bags of meat.  I cut it all up myself and just took the trimmings to the butcher to get processed into burger and sausage.  This elk was a gift I am very thankful for and it will feed my family all year.  

I'm glad I could share my story with all of you.  I'm sure there will be plenty of positive comments so thank you in advance.  Good luck and happy hunting.

Brady Brown

[TexasTrad]

Really cool story and hunt.  Congrats!