20 years

Whitey375

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Joined
Jul 18, 2018
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Spring bear season this year we were driving along, looking for places to find a bear and happened across a herd of elk. There was 8-12 bulls and a bunch of cows in a really accessible spot. So throughout the year, I would periodically check on the herd and they never really got too far from where we saw them. Due to changes at work May through, well, now, has been a blur. And hunting for once, was an afterthought for me. I bought a general rifle deer tag and went out once, for about 4 hours, but ran into a bear, a bunch of does, and, that herd of elk again, in the same spot. I was supposed to buy a Cascade elk tag, and actually thought I did. Turns out, we only bought one for the boy. We went out exactly 0 times.
So I decided to buy a first season coast elk tag and possibly target that herd. I figured it's only 4 days long and I can take any bull, whereas second season is spike only where this herd lives. And my luck is that I would have a spike tag and run across the next world record bull. I thought that if nothing else, it would serve as a good scouting mission, as Pete has a second season tag.
As far as my luck goes, it's been 20 seasons of no elk in a row. The last elk I shot was in 1998. In that time, I've missed 3 very large bulls with a bow, hit one in the shoulder blade only for it to run off and be killed by a rifle hunter a few months later 20 miles away. I've had rangefinder malfunctions, access that didn't happen, spider bites that caused necrosis, and subsequent 2 month hospital stays of the property owner, vehicle issues, terrible hunting partners, shitty draws, etc. Me elk hunting is effectively a joke to the point I had shirts made that say "#ieatelktags".
Anyways, Weyerhauser put up a new sign near where the elk live, that I couldn't quite understand. So after clearing that up (turned it into a walk in only) the hunt was back on. Only "problem" is the road doesn't do anything but climb, for .7 miles and goes from about 400 feet of elevation to 1150 at the top. No big deal, my ankle sucks, but it'll be fine.
Opening day, I in standard form, woke up late, and just didn't get in a hurry as I was less than confident in my chances of actually killing one anyways. So I park at the bottom and start walking up. Get to the top and start glassing what I could as it was foggy and instantly there's a really really nice forked horn blacktail at 40 yards that strolls by. Really cool experience. Hanging out on top for a while I happen to glance across the canyon.. ELK!!.. There was 2 spikes, one of which I had named the golden spike as his mane looked like a golden retriever. Neither one had overly long spikes but they were legal! Range dial, had them at 715 yards, easy shot. Then I realized that there's a road in the bottom, no go.
Here we go, basically a reverse S, 1.6 miles. Bomb down off the hill as fast as I could down the road and around the corners. Get into the hidden flat the elk were in and they'd moved into the trees. Not knowing exactly where, I elected to back out and go back up the hill.
Back up the hill I go. Halfway up, up rolls OSP. He checks my ODFW app, all good, get back up to the top, it's about 11.30 at this point. Spend the next 3 hours being obscenely bored.
Make a plan to go wait the bulls out. Spot a previously unseen cow and calf coming out of where the bulls were. Figured out the reason they were running is because 2 guys in a lifted Ford were mudding it up in there. .
Sit it the truck for about 45 minutes at the start of the road, and take a brief nap. Wake up and just grab my rifle and start easing in there. Get in to the edge of the opening and find a slightly elevated position to glass from. It's very flat in there and the far edge of the cut rolls off maybe 5 feet. Sit there for maybe 10 minutes and think I see something yellow move on the far side of the clearing, but my angle sucks because of the roll. Check my phone, 4.53pm, half hour left. I quickly cross the road and move along the treeline scanning ahead. There it is again. Now I see 2 elk back lines. Ok, this is good. They both pop their heads up as if on cue and look away, the 2 spikes from earlier. "Holy shit this is going to happen" is yelled in my brain. I see them moving towards an opening 150-175 yards away, in the little trees and get ready, one feeds across then the other moves into the opening and stops, and looks right at me. Crosshairs up, gun goes off, one elk runs away. Watch him go into the trees and make a mental note. "Where is the other one??" Go towards where he was standing and figure if there's no blood there, I'll go to where I saw the one go into the trees. At about 50 yards I can see elk hair on the other side of a large white log. "No way". reload and walk very slowly towards what looks like an elk down. "Elk don't die that fast" get closer and closer and I can see that it's definitely an elk "No fuckin way. Holy shit it worked, the fuckin plan worked" Poke the eye, pick his head up, yep, dead legal bull and everything worked. Pull out my phone to validate my tag thing, see "You have no Certifications" WTFFFF It worked earlier!. I know there's a ridge 3 miles up the road that I can go to and get 4G to reload the app and validate it. Didn't really want to leave my elk, but also didn't want anything iffy legally. So hustle back down the road and turn off to get service and run into 2 gentlemen from OSP. Mathews and Wolcott. They verify my info over the radio and say, "Let's go see it" Ok, I say and they follow me in. We get there and they say, "you didn't gut it yet". I said, "Well I didn't really know what to do as I was pretty much an emotional yard sale at that point." They tell me to get my knife so I can roll the guts out. One of them holds a leg, the other holds light, guts rolled out in less than 5 minutes. We gather my stuff up and all head back to the trucks. They start taking off their body armor and talking on the radio "What do you have for rope or straps?" I show them. "Perfect" and we head towards the elk. End up tying 2 ropes around his neck and THE THREE OF US dragged my elk to the skid road, whole...WHOLE. They then hook a winch to the roll bar of Josh's vehicle and drag the bull into his bed, we back my truck over and slide it backwards into the bed of my truck. Done deal! They issue me a transfer permit in case we can't get my app to work, but they follow me to town where I do have service, the app reloads, tag validated, done. Headed home by 7.30.

Rifle was a 300 RUM with the 225gr ELD-M
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I didn’t get too far into your thread.... maybe to the part where you woke up late with no confidence, and said to myself there’s his problem! You have to get up every day you’re going hunting and OWN IT! March up hills like there’s going to be a bull up there just dying to be in your freezer. Hunting with an attitude like that affects all of your decisions all day long.

Now that you got one on the ground I bet you’ll find it easier to get up in the morning and easier to hike up that hill. And I bet when you do that you’ll find that it’s not going to be another 20 years until you punch your next tag. Congratulations man.... you’re an elk hunter!
 
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Whitey375

FNG
Joined
Jul 18, 2018
Messages
82
Congratulations ! Great story. Cool that the OSP helped you load it up.
Their help was nearly invaluable as I was 2 weeks out from getting squished between a forklift and a semi trailer. So I was still in a good bit of pain, but only when I moved so it wasn't too bad, lol.

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Whitey375

FNG
Joined
Jul 18, 2018
Messages
82
I didn’t get too far into your thread.... maybe to the part where you woke up late with no confidence, and said to myself there’s his problem! You have to get up every day you’re going hunting and OWN IT! March up hills like there’s going to be a bull up there just dying to be in your freezer. Hunting with an attitude like that affects all of your decisions all day long.

Now that you got one on the ground I bet you’ll find it easier to get up in the morning and easier to hike up that hill. And I bet when you do that you’ll find that it’s not going to be another 20 years until you punch your next tag. Congratulations man.... you’re an elk hunter!
I have to admit that I was hopeful, as I felt that I knew this herd's movements fairly well, but I also knew my track record on elk. Which is basically if some dumb stuff was going to happen, it was going to happen to me, lol. This is the second animal that I have ever specifically targeted, (the first being my spring bear this year). It's a strange feeling to only hunt for myself for 2.5 days for a whole year and take 2 of the 3 animals I was after.

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Whitey375

FNG
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Jul 18, 2018
Messages
82
Congrats

Oregon uses an app not tags?
Thanks.
It's their new system they've rolled out. It used to be small paper tags the size of a grocery receipt, either paper (like 8.5x11) or an app. And I got to witness firsthand the potential issues with it. It worked great on my spring bear this year, but I had service, but that's not supposed to make a difference. Who knows.

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