Your first elk.

[MeatInTheFreezer]

This is why I come to Rokslide.

 

[Hnthrdr]

Little rag horn fort cartoon bull during some serious combat hunting during 3rd rifle

 

[jewbacca]

First elk was 4 years ago in my 2nd season in my mid-30s. First big game animal ever. I'm adult-onset in this madness and was going solo. I shot him at 292 yds with my .308 with 180 gr Core Lokts just over 6 miles and 3000 vertical feet from the truck. Not an overly impressive elk. 4x4 raghorn with a very average body. But getting it done on my own was life changing.

The short version of the story makes me sound better than I was. It had snowed opening morning, I found his fresh tracks in the snow crossing the lower portion of a ridge, and I tracked him down and shot him. The long version makes it more obvious that I lucked into an elk dumber than me. I made so many mistakes I never should have been able to close the deal. Left the safety on. Had to reposition from kneeling to prone using my pack as a rest while he just stared at me. And every time he started to walk off, he'd stop when I cow called to give me another chance.

It was a tough packout. 3 days, 36 miles, and 9000 ft of climbing.

What I've learned since
- I know more about the elk I'm hunting. I'm a lot more confident walking into the woods that I'm going to find them.
- I've experienced a rut archery hunt since then. Such a different ballgame. My calling is better and I understand calling sequences a bit better.
- Bring sharper knives. I skinned my first with a few pocket knives and a hunting knife for the quartering. Hunting knife was fine. Pocket knives were terrible. I bring 2 Havalons now with many spare blades, and it makes the process so much easier and faster.

What's changed
- My gear. My first couple years I hunted with what I had. An old Kelty 40L internal frame backpack, bulky/noisy raingear, and a few other sub-par items. I still have a few things to upgrade, but getting a good pack and raingear was a game changer. Packing in, packing out, spending more time in the woods. All much better.
- I've found some honey holes. Hoping they'll produce for me again this year. Higher concentrations of elk are so much more fun to hunt! My 1st area was pretty sparse.
- I take my kids with me when I can. Oldest 2 are 7 and 9, and they're not the best off-trail hikers yet. But I've been able to get them experiences with animals. I'm hoping in a few years my hunts will be all about getting them their own animals.

 

[trophyhill]

My first elk i was sitting under a lone tree waiting out a rain storm with lightning flashing across the sky and suddenly noticed all the lightning struck trees surrounding the clearing. As I'm sitting there making occasional wannabe elk sounds, a cow walks up to 3' and had no idea I was sitting there with my bow across my legs with arrow nocked. Suddenly she spooked, turned, ran away and stopped at 20 yards broadside. I had a hard time drawing the 82nd Airborne from a sitting position but got it back and drilled the cow thru both lungs. My takeaway from that hunt was I needed a different bow and rain gear. The Goretex jacket I had did not keep me dry as advertised. I also learned that a Badlands 2200 wasnt worth a flying F for packing elk. It was the start of my obsession. That was 2009, my 2nd year hunting elk with a bow and I haven't looked back.

 

[Weldor]

Early 90's Bow hunting a large burn, 4x5 at 20 yards . watched him drop on the opposite side of the canyon. Tough pack out, but really cool to see him drop with no tracking. Today you can't get through that canyon from the Manzanita. Good times.