A God Thing - Elk Hunting Lesson from a 56 year old self-taught DIY'er

[chindits]

I will suggest doing your darnedest to break that critter down and move your game bags off the kill site before thinking about taking that first load out.

This has been hell at times for me, but I have yet to lose any meat. Knock on wood.

 

[ELKhunter60]

I will suggest doing your darnedest to break that critter down and move your game bags off the kill site before thinking about taking that first load out.

This has been hell at times for me, but I have yet to lose any meat. Knock on wood.

That's a good point! I'll try to etch that one into my memory bank. My 32 year old son drew a Park County Wyoming elk tag this year. I'm going with him to call and haul meat hopefully. There are plenty of Grizzly in that area of the country.

 

[Still Hunter]

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!

Great post! Lots of lessons every year!

 

[Thunt22]

great story

 

[J Batt]

When you're handed a gift, in spite of a mistake, it is simultaneously humbling and uplifting.

 

[PredatorSlayer]

I spent several days in the mountains the last couple weeks bear hunting, with several evenings to myself. For whatever reason I definitely feel closest to god in those moments.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[TA2510]

Amen. I talk to God a lot in the woods.


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Amen

 

[TJRNER]

Great post Elkhunter60. I look forward to hearing more stories and tips. I definitely feel closer to God when I'm out in His natural creation.

 

[TJRNER]

Great post Elkhunter60. I look forward to hearing more stories.

 

[bow_hiker]

Great story. Thanks for sharing

 

[cuttingedge]

Do or don't believe but give others respect while your doing it or else you won't be part of Rokslide any longer

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Amen

 

[Roger17]

I enjoyed your post enough when I read it the other day to go back and read through it again this morning. Look forward to more.

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[Marine4life]

Great post. Amen


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[Sapcut]

Hmm. Seem to hunt just fine without believing in some big magic man in the sky. I wonder why.

"For what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood from His workmanship, so that men are without excuse. 21For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking and darkened in their foolish hearts"........Romans 1:20

 

[ROKnROAL]

"For what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood from His workmanship, so that men are without excuse. 21For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking and darkened in their foolish hearts"........Romans 1:20

“I’m too drunk to taste this chicken”
-Colonel Sanders

 

[Sherman]

“I’m too drunk to taste this chicken”
-Colonel Sanders

It appears that demeaning deeply held convictions of others is your modus operandi.

 

[realunlucky]

“I’m too drunk to taste this chicken”
-Colonel Sanders

Why did you disregard my advice?

Do or don't believe but give others respect while your doing it or else you won't be part of Rokslide any longer

Was your comment was meant to be respectful? Do you enjoy being a member here?



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[ROKnROAL]

Why did you disregard my advice?

Do or don't believe but give others respect while your doing it or else you won't be part of Rokslide any longer

Was your comment was meant to be respectful? Do you enjoy being a member here?



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So some guy can prattle on to me about his beliefs, using a quote from a book to try and tell me I’m wrong. The quote he directed at me, without me asking him to, means about as much to me as the quote I directed at him. I made one original comment, it wasn’t well received, and I didn’t make any other until once again, someone had something to say personally directed at me. Don’t shove your religion down my throat. That doesn’t seem all that respectful either to me, but I suppose it’s only a one way street.

 

[Danny Hoey]

So some guy can prattle on to me about his beliefs, using a quote from a book to try and tell me I’m wrong. The quote he directed at me, without me asking him to, means about as much to me as the quote I directed at him. I made one original comment, it wasn’t well received, and I didn’t make any other until once again, someone had something to say personally directed at me. Don’t shove your religion down my throat. That doesn’t seem all that respectful either to me, but I suppose it’s only a one way street.

Bye Felicia

 

[ELKhunter60]

Bye Felicia

Well, I learned something new today. I had no idea what Bye Felicia meant, but googled it and sure enough, it had the answer for me. For you older folks out there it means "whatever".