Beginners Luck

[Wentzler1425]

First off thank you to all who gave advice since we started planning our first elk hunt.

My dad and I went on our very first elk hunt (longtime eastern whitetail hunters) this past week, and quite honestly it may be the most memorable hunt I'll ever go on. We hunted an OTC unit in colorado that we picked partially based on some numbers and the rest was just a random selection. So we headed up last friday morning for 2nd season rifle with all of our new western hunting gear. We pitched a tent (which wound up being cold af) and setup a little truck camp.

As per direction from guys here and research, we spent the first several days looking for fresh sign more than really hunting. We split up, one low one high looking for sign, and luckily found some decent sign low. Sunday we spent some time still hunting through that area with no luck. We began wondering how fresh the sign really was.

 

[Wentzler1425]

Monday brought about 4" of snow, so we went back in with a gameplan to know for sure if they were in the area, and within 2 hours we knew they had moved on. We met back up for lunch and to decide where to next.

After looking at tops concentrating on where there was water and where other hunters wouldn't go, we used the same high low gameplan in the next drainage over. Unfortunately my dad didnt see anything, but I shortly came accross several sets of few hour old elk tracks in the snow.

 

[Geewhiz]

Following...….

 

[Wentzler1425]

I followed the prints for about an hour more hoping to learn the elk habits than actually catch up to them, as I figured they would be miles ahead of me.

To my surprise, after about a mile I bumped a herd out of their beds. Not super hard, they heard me but I dont think they saw me. It was a thick section of pines with tons of blowdowns. They were about 60 yards out but it was thick and I didnt have any that I could count points on and get a shot. They just slowly walked almost single file over the hill out of site. I figured I would give them some time before chasing again.

 

[Wentzler1425]

After probably 30 mins, I started slowly trailing them again, through a deep nasty steep ravine and all. After maybe 400 yards, I caught up to them again. This time I'm fairly certain they were clueless that I was there. They were working their way single file through the woods so I found a small window, rested my arm against a tree and was looking through the scope for the first bull with 4 points on one side. After several cows and spikes, this 4x4 walked through the window.

It took me about 20 mins to stop shaking enough to go find it, although I had seen it was hit really hard when I shot. As I got closer I found he only took a few steps and that was it.

 

[hobbes]

Congrats! That's awesome.

 

[Geewhiz]

Heck yeah man! That'l get a guy hooked!

 

[MSC]

Congrats!

 

[Wentzler1425]

Sorry I'm writing this as we process elk in my kitchen lol.

So I radioed to my dad where I was and began quartering. Wow they're a big animal! Was tons of fun doing it by myself but given it was cold I took my time and got everything squared away to my liking. Pops made it up to me right about time I was done quartering it to help pack it out. The trip down was about 0.6 miles of blowdowns and wicked steep elevation changes. But we made it down in about 3 hours and went to bed. About 11pm.

 

[Wentzler1425]

The next day since we totally didnt expect to get an elk, we drove to walmart for a giant cooler to accommodate the extra meat in addition to the cooler we had for food. Temp was in the teens so we werent worried about leaving the quarters. We ate lunch and got headed out to pick up the remaining quarters.

 

[Wentzler1425]

The way up sucked as bad as the way down. Both of us joking back and forth that this is why the elk are here, and why I didnt see a single other hunters track while I was chasing them in the snow the day before.

On our way up we saw a set of fresh mountain lion tracks, and tons of fairly fresh elk tracks accross the many benches on our way up, crossing perpendicular to our direction. I was leading and after the 3rd time crossing the fresh prints, I started joking that we would run back into the herd.

After probably the 5th time crossing, I was less joking and more serious that we would surely run into them again, it looked like we missed them by minutes.

 

[davsco]

so it's as easy as falling off a log, eh?? j/k you put in the work and got you a nice elk, congrats!!

 

[Wentzler1425]

We got about 250 yards from my last 2 quarters, and sat our packs down for a second as we didnt have any more elevation to trek, just side hill over. We stopped for maybe 30 seconds and started hearing cow calls really close! Then we heard a bugle, and then we could hear them coming through the woods, getting closer by the second. So we hunkered down, I sat behind dad and he propped over a stump waiting.

About that time we saw them start to come down the hill into the little clearing that was in front of us (maybe 50 yards accross). Lots of cows at first. We had a really small window through the woods about 60 yards to the clearing that was open enough for a shot. I had no optics on me but I was trying to leave him look through the scope while I called bull or cow and he could count points. The first bull that went through we think was a 4x4 but it went through too fast then followed by a bunch of cows, a forky, and a few spikes. We had better part of 50 elk pass through before on of the last came through fairly slow.

 

[Wentzler1425]

The last one finally came into view, and I could see right away it was legal, but before I could say anything dad had already decided it was legal and shot. I saw it hunch so we were extactic! We sat there shaking for a little bit and after about 20 mins went to look for blood.

We found zero blood in the snow, and after heading down in the direction I thought it ran and searching for about 5 mins, i was starting to get that feeling like maybe he missed or hit a branch. About that time I heard another shot, so I ran (literally) back up the hill towards him.

 

[Wentzler1425]

What happened was he also didnt see blood and went back to look again at the place he shot. He heard some heavy breathing and then saw antlers moving up on the hill. Turns out the bull had spun around partway and went back up the hill (verified by blood trail later). His first shot was a good one, but in the interest of putting the animal out as swiftly as possible put another shot in. I got up to it and heres what we found.

 

[williaada]

Great story!

 

[Baddog]

Awesome!

 

[Swede]

Congratulations to both of you. I enjoyed the story. Well done.

 

[Fowler530]

Congrats to you and your dad on an awesome adventure!! Glad to see your preparation and hard work payoff on a couple of nice bulls! Thanks for sharing!

 

[Mt Al]

I'd take beginners luck any time! However, looks like you created a bunch of your own luck. Congratulations!