2021 failures, close calls, and lessons learned

[roosiebull]

i think we need an elk thread with all of the stories that don't end up in the meatpole thread, there are always take aways from the most painful close calls. let's hear em'

i have a good (bad ) one i'll try to add here tomorrow, this one's gonna sting for awhile unless i can relocate and kill him in redemption, but you normally don't get second chances on the big ones.

 

[Marble]

Oh dang... ill be commenting on a few days im sure.

Here's the good thing. Everytime I really screw something up, I learn. My failure is not fatal, it's just another step on the journey to success.

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[Stubborn_bowhunter]

Ran up a big steep hill to cut off a small 5x5. Got lucky and found him.
Ranged him at 55-60. Drew on him. Then a bigger bull walked out. I couldn't help myself.
Switched bulls, and he wouldn't stop moving then started running out of my life.

While I killed a better bull a few days later. I was starting to beat myself up mentally over passing up the small bull.
I think the biggest lesson of all is just don't give up. If your inner voice starts being negative, let it pass.

I always have to remind myself. "Don't focus so much on the end. The process is the best part. Killing, while it is the ultimate goal is anticlimactic compared to the anticipation and journey."

Now I'm actually glad I passed on the small bull. It led to more hunting time and even better adventure.

 

[DIYer]

At the end of last elk season we decided we were going to switch from rifle to bow. The plan for the upcoming archery season was, one of us wouldn't buy a tag and would just be the caller. Then we would switch off every year. I decided that I would opt out on buying a license this year and just call. Was going to order my left handed Prime Nexus back in March. Decided I don't need a bow if I'm just calling I'll wait until November and see if they change anything. We were suppose to be leaving today but they backed out Thursday night. Spent all day yesterday and today hoping for a miracle that I would run across a post looking for someone to elk hunt with. I failed before I left the house! Now I'm trying to decide if I call if off or if I turn it into a scouting trip for next year.

 

[mattflint]

We have had a serious drought this year in eastern wa. So this mornings rain was a serious blessing.
Today I encountered elk for the first time since picking up a bow. I contribute that to getting rid of the training wheels.
Followed sign pre shooting light up the mountain. 1st light showed tracks that looked brand spankin new(though I dont trust my track reading). Sure enough I caught up to 2 big cows at 70yards. With no cover to get any closer. Hit em with some calf calls to no avail. Nothing but a few alarm barks.
Pretty awesome morning in my book. Cant wait to get up to that clearing a little earlier tomorrow and maybe even find a bull.

 

[P Carter]

At the end of last elk season we decided we were going to switch from rifle to bow. The plan for the upcoming archery season was, one of us wouldn't buy a tag and would just be the caller. Then we would switch off every year. I decided that I would opt out on buying a license this year and just call. Was going to order my left handed Prime Nexus back in March. Decided I don't need a bow if I'm just calling I'll wait until November and see if they change anything. We were suppose to be leaving today but they backed out Thursday night. Spent all day yesterday and today hoping for a miracle that I would run across a post looking for someone to elk hunt with. I failed before I left the house! Now I'm trying to decide if I call if off or if I turn it into a scouting trip for next year.

Bummer. Without a doubt, do a scouting trip! It’s a steep learning curve, may as well get it started. Plus you never know, may meet some guys out there in the woods that can be partners.

 

[Brianb3]

Building a house. Don’t build a house and expect to hunt. Or hint well. They’re not compatible. Try to make the most of it last 10 days


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[Gerbdog]

This is my regret from first weekend: Woke up to a bull bugling across the valley while i was making breakfast... wouldnt shut... but i knew i had elk behind me so... i went after the elk behind me. Stuck to the plan. That bull was so fired up across the way (i expected him to shut up when sun came up) that i was setting him off while raking trees on the opposite side of the valley from him.... I wish i had decided to go chase him instead. Still saw elk but.... that one sounded way more fun.

Lessons learned: Let the wind settle before you make your move, and make sure its steady. A couple minutes of it blowing in the correct direction after swirling for an hour doesnt mean its done swirling... it just means it was done swirling for a moment and will absolutely switch on you when you go to stalk in.

 

[Dirtscoots]

Don’t kill an elk while you have the rona. Day three of a hangover. I’d like to say that is a lesson learned but I would only be lying to myself.

 

[WAKAN]

I forget every year until it happens...clear your bugle tube after busting through reprod. Hard to keep the right cadence with chuckles when you suck pine needles down your throat.

 

[lifeisgoodsteve]

First day hunting a bull with my bow, after seeing lots of very fresh, soft, HUGE elk scat but no bugles, about 430pm I tried a location bugle and was already walking away assuming no response.

Well, probably 150-250 yards away I hear a fired up bugle response, so I'm shocked into excitement and start heading down the hill towards it, trying to pick my cover in the trees.

A minute or two later from behind a tree about 40 yards away I hear that big heavy thud we all know when jumping an elk.

Lesson Learned (or so I think): If the response is fired up and close, better to plan for a good setup vs. moving towards them. I expect this guy was coming in towards me and it was a bit open in that area so while I was perfectly downwind he was able to sight me before I saw him.

 

[trophyhill]

I was sitting a wallow with wind in my face 2 weekends ago late afternoon on the east side of the wallow. I could have sat on the south side knowing there was a cross wind and been elevated between 2 intermittent streams feeding the seeps below, but chose to stay at ground level and 40 yards from the wallow.

I’d been there 15 minutes when suddenly the bull that was sneaking in quietly to the wallow that I wasn’t aware of turned and bolted and was likely 20 yards or less from me. I had been sitting still and no calling. After I saw antler tips running thru the forest i sat dumbfounded wondering wtf just happened? I know he didn’t see me. No way he could have smelled me? Or did he? So I break out the trusty ole wind checker and puff it into the air. Sure enough the wind had shifted and started up the drainage right in the bulls direction. Elk 1 hunter 0

 

[Jbehredt]

You heard something walking 30 yards away. Stopped dead in your tracks and crouch down, heart pounding. 90 seconds later you convince yourself it must have been a squirrel and stand up eyeball to eyeball with a bull. You freeze, he doesn’t. Patience. I have to relearn it every year. Hell, every trip.

 

[3forks]

Hunting pressure and lack of elk above timberline made me decide to hunt much lower in the timber.

I was cow calling while moving through noisy cover towards a feeding feature and water mid afternoon. The area I was moving through was devoid of grass, fresh sign, and wasn’t what I would consider a bedding area. I was paying attention to the wind and was not moving carelessly, but I was covering ground with the intent of getting to the feeding feature and setting up.

I was periodically cow calling while walking because dry conditions made moving quietly impossible. A few hundred yards before I got to the feeding feature. I hear and see a bull busting through the timber below me. In hindsight, I wish I would have considered that if you’re making cow calls at this time of the year, a bull could be moving towards you and not to be too fixated on getting someplace to set up and assuming that’s where I’d get into elk. The elk I usually find up higher had obviously recently moved lower, and they were probably not in the area long enough to start leaving much fresh sign. I guess my lesson learned is that if you’re going to move locations because you think the Elk have moved, I should have expected to potentially find them on my way in there and not in just the one spot I wanted to find them in.

 

[tmitty]

Had a bull responding down the ridge from me and by brother. It was my turn as shooter, so he stayed on the ridge to keep the bull talking while I dropped in on him. It was early season and some bulls were reluctantly talking, but not coming into calls yet.

I try to match elevation side hill on to where I hear the bull. When I'm about 150 yards away, I spot a second bull, 50 yards away feeding in the trees. He had been silent the whole time, I had no clue he was there. I was able to draw and get a window on his vitals at 40 yards. It would have been perfect, but there was a 2" diameter stick directly in the center running horizontally across his body. I didn't want to deflect off the stick and make a bad shot, so I let down. A minute or two later, he made his way into the open, but before I could draw again, he lifted his head up, pinned me and then whirled out of my life.

Kicking myself that I didn't take the shot. Probably could have aimed right at the stick and arched the arrow over it. Who knows, maybe if I did take it, I would be here lamenting that I made a bad hit and never found the bull - which would be a much worse outcome.

 

[WoodrowCall]

Very good points and observations in this thread!

As ElkNut talks about all the time, last year I learned the importance of knowing how to speak "elk language". Rather than simply perfecting the location bugle, etc.

This off season, I have devoted a ton of time to learning the meaning of the sounds and how to properly respond and react, rather than perfecting a specific sound... Leaving in 4 days, so we shall see if I learned anything!

 

[NateK]

If you are coming from back east like me elk are farther away than they look... Shot low on a bull that should have been a gimme but missed the range by almost ten yards.

 

[NeHunter13]

Good info, gentleman. Great for a newbie like myself to get this kind of advice before heading into the woods.

 

[SummitsCalling]

The funniest thing I've seen so far in Arizona: If the elk aren't buggling during the day, speeding around in your SxS without a muffler and stopping every half mile to buggle simply won't illicent a response if the rut isnt on. I say this as I've seen it every day so far, watching elk not respond to said SxS's through my spotter

 

[Still Hunter]

Before you decide to hunt the early season make sure Labor Day is not pushed to the 6th! Sometimes you can work your butt off trying to find elk but if you go three weeks early they may not be where they were the last six years at the end of the season. Never quit , there is always next year! Enjoy the views!