A Quarter Century, an elk hunters tale with pics more on pg 3

[steadman]

It's hard to believe, but this past year marked a quarter century of hunting elk for me. Some of you reading this might not even be that old.

It started when I was fifteen, even though I was legal enough at 14 my Dad decided I wasn't pulling enough poundage for elk, a hard pill to swallow at the time! I was shooting wheels back then, as was my Dad. That first year was the first year UT went to a limited entry type hunt for almost all elk units. A couple years later I had my first true elk experience.

I decided to go out on my own, as most 17-18 yr olds think they are the king of the world and can do everything and anything. I worked my way through some dark timber. I heard a bugle off in the distance. With the attitude of nothing ventured, nothing gained, I fired a bugle back in his direction. After a lot of shouting back and forth, all was quiet. I was set up on a small shelf with good back cover. It was thick timber from where the bull was serenading from. Mind you, at the time, even if the bull showed, I couldn't shoot because it was spike only. But I wanted to see if I could call a bull in.

I decided to give one more call before I left, and no sooner did my call stop, that a thunderous bugle erupted right below me. What happened next is forever etched into my memory and lit the fire that seems to burn out of control with in me to chase these beautiful animals.

A beautiful dark antlered 5 point rack appeared through the pines as if it were an apparition. Almost floating. Then the chocolate mane of a bull elk moved up the bench. By this time he was only 8 yards away. He was a good 5 point, with long tines and the fronts looked like skiis. He got to the screen of dead pines and tipped his head back, trying to maneuver through the mess. I was mesmerized! He got his antlers stuck and at 5 yards screamed an insult at the trees, all the while throwing his head around, showering me with broken pine limbs.

The spell was broken a second later when the wind swirled  and he blew out of there, with a young man shaking like a leaf, now knowing I really wasn't king on the mountain....

[steadman]

Fast forward a couple years later. The trad bug had taken over. I really hadn't had many opportunities at elk before then as my elk hunting curve seems to be very skewed. My first opportunity with a trad bow came though. I was sitting in some timber off a pond that I knew were frequented by elk. As the air cooled, splashing from the pond informed me I'd be seeing visitors soon. Sure enough a small group of cows and spikes were headed right to me. I had a valid cow or spike tag, so things were looking up.

At 15 yards the lead cow turned below me and was slowly walking. I drew my recurve back (I can't even remember the brand) and sent a wood arrow on the way. A loud crack and the cow nearly tipped over. I was stunned. The shot looked good, but there sure was a lot of arrow sticking out, too much arrow  :(

Confirmed with a short blood trail, and my Dad watching the cow for sometime after the shot, with a red spot on the shoulder. I knew I wouldn't be finding that cow. It was a terrible disappointment.

[steadman]

Life is a constant state of change. My next journey found me living in CO. I love that state!! But hunting elk was tougher than I thought. All the years except one was tough, I didn't get any opportunities, but that one year, was magical....

I'd found a spot a long ways from people, or so I thought, but it looked good. My Dad and I applied and drew the tags. The year was awesome from the get go.

My Dad flew out on Labor Day weekend. We headed up to the spot, and heard elk singing all over! The next morning, we heard a bunch of elk nor 500 yards from camp, splashing, bugling and just being elk. We worked up on the herd as they were leaving the area, and what we later found out, was a wallow.

The elk were filtering up through the timber when I sent Dad down to a lone pine in the middle of the meadow and I started on the call.

A little disclaimer, I'm not the best elk caller in the world, but I'm certainly not the worst. My Dad however, well let's just say I do 95% of the calling.

I hit the call and a nice 5 comes from the timber and works his way, on a rope, right past my Dad. Who proceeds to miss the bull at 5 yards!! I mean, how do you miss a bull elk that close!! I would soon find out. I was excited, bummed and mystified.

We had many more encounters throughout the week, but nothing I could draw my bow back.

It was the last morning of our hunt. We headed up the pine ridge where the elk had been bedding all week. We could hear several bulls bugling in front of us. Dang it! We were too late. We kept working in on the elk, trying to lay catch up to one of the biggest bulls we'd ever seen in the wild up to that point. He kept his cows out in front of him, pushing them away from us. There was no way to catch them. We sat there in an opening in the timber talking about what a great hunt it was, when movement caught my attention.

A nice 5 point was working in behind the herd. Dada and I semi scrambled to get into some kind of position, which meant I nocked an arrow, and dropped to my knees. The bull moved to my right, and was right in front of Dad. I was about to explode! Why wasn't he shooting? The bull then did the unexplained and turned and walked right in front of me, 10 yards away. Framed by 2 pines was his vitals, I mean I couldn't have lead the bull with a lead rope and tied him in a better spot! I drew my longbow back and proceeded to glance the arrow off the tree and over the bulls back! I was sick! So THAT"S how you miss a bull that close. It was very clear!!

[BDann]

Awesome!  I've got to go after Elk sometime!

[steadman]

The next several years were spent hunting elk in UT, with hardly any opportunities. I can get into elk alright, but getting a shot at them is something else.

Oh there were a couple chances at cows, where I now have broadheads permanently attatched to trees. But not the opportunities that seem to allude me.

I was then fortunate enough to hunt ID pre-wolf. I did the hunt on a whim, and went up and hiked all over. I did end up missing a small bull the second to last night of my hunt. And sat a small pond that a 5 point desperately wanted to come down to, but was thwarted by a cow and calf moose. I've since had my revenge on the cow moose  
 

[Cyclic-Rivers]

Good Stuff Stead. I love this meat and Potato stuff.

[CoachBGriff]

Very cool!  Is there more?  Keep it coming    

[Tater]

Ryan,
  Elk are the most challenging and most exciting critters to hunt. For the first time in 35 years I missed Elk season this year, I won't miss another as long as I am able!
   Great read keep it coming.

[steadman]

So up until 2007 I really had hit it hard, but still nothing down with a bow. Here is the thread on a 10 day hunt I did with my Dad in Idaho. Again, pre wolf.

 http://tradgang.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=050490#000000

It was a memorable hunt!!

[steadman]

The next few years I had no opportunities to get a shot at an elk. It was frustrating for sure. I even threatened to stop hunting them. No mind you, elk hunting in UT is far different from hunting them anywhere else in the country, just ask anyone who has or does.

Last year I thought I was going to finally break the 0 fer record by drawing a limited entry hunt on a decent unit.

[centaur]

Ryan, I can relate. It has been quite a while since i ate any elk steak that I put on the ground. They still are the most fun to hunt, even if they win almost every time. I actually stopped trying to kill them for a few years and just photographed them. What great animals!

[wapiti792]

[Steve O]

Ahhh, pre wolf.  That was the good old days.

Tell us more, you have our attention old timer    :D

[steadman]

Here is the link to my hunt from last year.

 http://tradgang.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=135440#000000

Now there is something that happened five years ago. My Dad unexpectedly had clotting issues. We almost lost him a few times. He has clotting factors 2 and 5. Needless to say, between that and age, his elk hunting years are coming to an end. At least the humping up mountains, out of breath, think your gonna puke, all to hear the bugle of a bull hunting.

So my good friend Shane and I made plans to hunt with our Dad's and a couple friends in WY this past fall. We drew the tags and preparation began in earnest. I worked out harder than I ever had, harder than last year, I was going to be ready this year!!

The week finally came and we headed out. The first evening and first full day, Shane took Dad and I to some spots. We heard and saw elk both days and we even managed to miss some grouse!

Saturday evening, a good friend Ryan and I hiked up to a spot he'd been wanting to check out. We worked our way up to a saddle and were pleasantly surprised to hear several bulls bugling below us. Ryan smacked a great blue grouse, and the bulls kept talking. We decide to do a set up. I was in a finger of pines below Ryan and had a meadow to my right. My thinking is if a bull came towards the call, he'd skirt the edge and I'd have a 15 yards shot.

After a couple sequences of calls, a splash of tan, on the other side of the pines, on the other side of the meadow, caught my eye. A 4 point bull was making his way towards the calls. He came up the other side and circled around and caught our wind. He stayed 50 yards away the whole time, with a pine tree screen in front of him. That was cool, but I've been there before.

The next day Shane, Ryan and I went to a spot that required some hiking. We were into a ton of elk sign, but never could seem to catch up to the elk.

 

Here is Shane doing some glassing. We also came across an old abandonded mine and some equipment. It was pretty neat!

 

 

[steadman]

Monday morning broke with Shane INSISTING we go with him down the same ridge we'd hunted Sat morning. If there is one thing I learned, it's listen to the guide:)
We worked our way down the ridge with Shane and I taking turns calling, always putting Dad ahead of us. We were sneaking into an area when a stampede erupted! We all chased the herd with some quited explicetives    We were going to set up there! Uhhhhhh.... We worked down the ridge, and a bull down the ridge farther started bugling. Well at least we didn't spook every elk off the mountain.

We set up again with me calling, I sent Dad to the right of me, but where I could still see him and Shane went off to my left. When Dad was set up, I started my sequence. The bull fired back! Then another, and another!! I hit em again, and the main bull fired back. This was good  
He would bugle every time I'd cow call. I've found when calling if I can get a bull to bugle at my call everytime, good things happen.

A cow moved down below me 50 yards and for a second I was cussing Shane because he would've had a great shot at her. As I hit the call again, I was interrupted by galloping hooves form above and to the right of me. I turned just in tme to see an rack moving throught he pines right in front of Dad. As the bull walked by I saw Dad's stalker come to life and the thwwwat, thump! The bull spun and Dad was all smiles with a big thumbsup! I was elated. I snuck over and he said he'd put the arrow right in the armpit. I said let's give it some time. Just then I hear Shanes bow go off. Did we really just double?

I worked over to Shane who had a 5 point working towards him, but when Dad shot he'd started getting nervous. The bull then turned broadside and at 30 yards, did the matrix move at the sound of Shanes bow. You wouldn't believe and elk was that fast, but they are! The elk wasn't there when Shane's arrow got there.

We went back to Dad, and took up the trail, we'd gone 10 yards when Shane looked ahead and pointed to a very dead bull elk! Oh Yea!!!!!!!!
 

[steadman]

As you can see, it was very much in the pocket. Dad was slightly down hill and the magnus stinger took out the bulls heart and lung on the off side. He shot the bull at 13 yards with his stalker static jackal. 51#@28. Now the work began, and Shane and I took the meat out in two trips. The workouts worked  

Another thing about Dads condition is he can't pack a lot of weight anymore, so having younger guys around is a must.

 

 

The bull was a 4x5 and actually is a mature bull for the area.

[steadman]

The rest of the week I hunted my guts out. The rest of our camp all got opportunities and Shane even managed to shoot the worlds smallest raghorn!! It's a cool bull, but is a 2x3, kind of a glorified spike     Unfortunatley I don't have any pics of his. I managed to miss some more grouse, but was never able to get a shot opportunity. Out of 6 in camp 5 got shot opps and 2 got elk. Pretty good year.

[steadman]

Now for a little of my rant I guess....

I've been chasing elk for 25 years. I know it's supposed to be hard, even harder for a guy using a stickbow. But man, I really can't explain it. In the last three years I've worked harder than most. I forgot to mention one of my hunts in CO with South Cox is on dvd. You can clearly see I can get close, just not close enough. The old saying of those who work create more opportunities doesn't apply to me with elk hunting. I put in the miles as well. I honestly can't explain it. Neither can most of my friends.

Don't get me wrong, being there with my Dad as he killed what could be his last elk is one of my top memories.

So now I'm left to the second guessing and hoping. I won't be doing an out of state hunt for elk for a long time and UT elk, well it's somewhat of a joke. So time will tell if I ever can be in the right place at the right time, but for now, I'll contemplate and think of all the elk hunting memories from the last quarter century.

A question to ask yourself:

Would you continue to hunt if you NEVER brought anything back but memories?

Apparently, I would.....  

[wapiti792]

Ryan, great read and finally glad to put the story with the pics    

You just tell me when and I will be there to haul your elk out....it's gonna happen and I hope when it does God blesses you with the biggest bull on the mountain    

[4dogs]

Hey Ryan. Ya, I suspect there are quite a few of us that would and do keep heading to the high country even without bringing home any meat. It is such a wonderful place to be. Something very special happens every year that provides those special memories we cherish. This past season I had a yearling...not sure what he was looking at come in behind me and actually taste the back of my bibs. Ha. I spent a good amount of time talking with your Dad while you and your wife and little girl were out shooting at the CTAS shoot a while back. He is a good guy and knows he has been blessed with a son such as you.  Keep going...it pays off one way or the other.