ELKhunter60
Lil-Rokslider
Being a 56 year old engineer who loves to teach people about the things I've learned (usually by making mistakes myself), I got to thinking that I have a few hunting lessons that I could share to help people realize not only how stupid I can be, but also perhaps keep people from making the same stupid mistakes themselves. So - I'm going to share a few examples over the next few days as I wait for September elk hunting to get here.
I spent 10 years archery elk hunting before I finally harvested a bull myself. One reason for the long dry spell is because I became the self appointed guide for my son and a buddy from church. This meant I was the caller and guy who was in the back most of the time trying to sound like a bull. One year I managed to call a 5x5 to within 7 yards for my church buddy that he scored on. It was epic. I also managed to call in a bull for my son one year that he shot at 20 yards as well. Anyway - one year my son was in college and couldn't go and my church buddy bailed 2 weeks before it was time to leave for the trip. I enjoy hunting with family and friends but love going by myself just as much. So I went by myself that year. In order to keep from turning this post into an article - I'll save the hunt story for another time and just tell you I shot a bull one evening and didn't find it until early next morning. I was super stoked! I wasn't sure I was going to find him and actually basically stumbled across him on my way back to the last spot of blood I found the night before (God thing #1). I snapped a few pictures and started breaking him down. As I started working on him I noticed the jay birds only took about 2 minutes to find me and join in on the celebration. They were picking at the gut pile before long and were very close to me as I worked. I kind of found it amusing. I eventually got everything into bags, got it hung and loaded up my pack for the first load. 3 hours later the first load was in the cooler with ice.
As I started back and into my hike about one hour, I started feeling bad. I thought I might be getting dehydrated. Since I was in a wilderness area with no one around, I took this pretty seriously. I decided I'd better turn around and go back to the car - which it did. I ended up going to town and got a hotel for the night. I got plenty of fluids and went back in the morning. Luckily it was a very cold night and the meat was in no danger of spoilage. As I hiked out to where the meat bags were hanging I just took in the beautiful day, the golden aspen leaves, and how fortunate I was. Nearing the spot where I had hung the meat the previous day I began intently looking for bears and the kill site. I looked and I looked and I looked. I could not find it. Then it began occurring to me just how similar these mountain draws looked - one after the other. It also occurred to me what an idiot I was for not marking the kill site on my GPS........my heart began to sink. Am I really not going to find the kill site again? Is the rest of this elk going to be wasted? Are the antlers going to get gnawed on by critters this winter?
I finally just sat down, took a breathe and said a little prayer asking that I find the remainder of this elk. When I was done praying I looked up and there was a jay sitting on a branch 10 feet away from me just staring. Then it hit me! Why don't I let the jay show me where the kill site is? I must be close! So, I patiently watched the jay as be began moving away from me one tree to another. As I followed, I noticed a couple of more jays begin to appear. Within 300 feet of following the jay I found the kill site, the meat and the antlers (God thing #2 or maybe 10?) !!!!! I was sooo relieved and happy!
Anyway - that was SUCH a fun trip! I harvested my first elk and with archery equipment by myself. I had felt the presence of God with me a lot that week AND I learned - DO NOT TAKE FOR GRANTED YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHERE THAT KILL SITE IS - MARK IT!!!!
One or two more lessons coming soon! Thanks for reading!
I spent 10 years archery elk hunting before I finally harvested a bull myself. One reason for the long dry spell is because I became the self appointed guide for my son and a buddy from church. This meant I was the caller and guy who was in the back most of the time trying to sound like a bull. One year I managed to call a 5x5 to within 7 yards for my church buddy that he scored on. It was epic. I also managed to call in a bull for my son one year that he shot at 20 yards as well. Anyway - one year my son was in college and couldn't go and my church buddy bailed 2 weeks before it was time to leave for the trip. I enjoy hunting with family and friends but love going by myself just as much. So I went by myself that year. In order to keep from turning this post into an article - I'll save the hunt story for another time and just tell you I shot a bull one evening and didn't find it until early next morning. I was super stoked! I wasn't sure I was going to find him and actually basically stumbled across him on my way back to the last spot of blood I found the night before (God thing #1). I snapped a few pictures and started breaking him down. As I started working on him I noticed the jay birds only took about 2 minutes to find me and join in on the celebration. They were picking at the gut pile before long and were very close to me as I worked. I kind of found it amusing. I eventually got everything into bags, got it hung and loaded up my pack for the first load. 3 hours later the first load was in the cooler with ice.
As I started back and into my hike about one hour, I started feeling bad. I thought I might be getting dehydrated. Since I was in a wilderness area with no one around, I took this pretty seriously. I decided I'd better turn around and go back to the car - which it did. I ended up going to town and got a hotel for the night. I got plenty of fluids and went back in the morning. Luckily it was a very cold night and the meat was in no danger of spoilage. As I hiked out to where the meat bags were hanging I just took in the beautiful day, the golden aspen leaves, and how fortunate I was. Nearing the spot where I had hung the meat the previous day I began intently looking for bears and the kill site. I looked and I looked and I looked. I could not find it. Then it began occurring to me just how similar these mountain draws looked - one after the other. It also occurred to me what an idiot I was for not marking the kill site on my GPS........my heart began to sink. Am I really not going to find the kill site again? Is the rest of this elk going to be wasted? Are the antlers going to get gnawed on by critters this winter?
I finally just sat down, took a breathe and said a little prayer asking that I find the remainder of this elk. When I was done praying I looked up and there was a jay sitting on a branch 10 feet away from me just staring. Then it hit me! Why don't I let the jay show me where the kill site is? I must be close! So, I patiently watched the jay as be began moving away from me one tree to another. As I followed, I noticed a couple of more jays begin to appear. Within 300 feet of following the jay I found the kill site, the meat and the antlers (God thing #2 or maybe 10?) !!!!! I was sooo relieved and happy!
Anyway - that was SUCH a fun trip! I harvested my first elk and with archery equipment by myself. I had felt the presence of God with me a lot that week AND I learned - DO NOT TAKE FOR GRANTED YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHERE THAT KILL SITE IS - MARK IT!!!!
One or two more lessons coming soon! Thanks for reading!
Last edited:
