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Highs & Lows of Your Elk Hunt

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Highs & Lows of Your Elk Hunt

Postby Swede » 10 10, 2017 •  [Post 1]

What were some of the high points and low points of your elk hunt for 2017 and what did you take away from the experience? If you have not gone yet, you can post on this thread later.

There were several high points for me. Hunting with Oly and friends in Oregon and then hunting with friends in Idaho was great. Meeting and visiting Stringunner's family was a great experience. It reminded me of a time I had my whole family around. I could not help but laugh when Stringunner's boys, about 7-9 years, described Stringunner's shooting of his buck. "He shot him right in the butt hole." They repeated that enough that Stringunner or his wife had to tell them to quit. Kids are all the same. Experiencing new country in Idaho and getting an elk were high points too.

Oly leaving for home was a low point. I hate to see him leave. Missing an elk I should have got in Oregon was a bummer too.
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Re: Highs & Lows of Your Elk Hunt

Postby Fridaythe13th » 10 10, 2017 •  [Post 2]

Highs, having a 280 - 300 bull at 30 yards. Low, my muzzleloader misfiring. Powder got wet on day 2 and it wasn't raining. Simple, change powder every day. Not worth it.
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Re: Highs & Lows of Your Elk Hunt

Postby olympushunt » 10 11, 2017 •  [Post 3]

High = Having 3 elk killed in camp in the first 24 hours.
Low = Having 3 elk killed in camp in the first 24 hours.

:lol:
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Re: Highs & Lows of Your Elk Hunt

Postby Indian Summer » 10 11, 2017 •  [Post 4]

olympushunt wrote:High = Having 3 elk killed in camp in the first 24 hours.
Low = Having 3 elk killed in camp in the first 24 hours.

:lol:

I've been there! :lol: :lol: :lol:
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Re: Highs & Lows of Your Elk Hunt

Postby olympushunt » 10 11, 2017 •  [Post 5]

Indian Summer wrote:
olympushunt wrote:High = Having 3 elk killed in camp in the first 24 hours.
Low = Having 3 elk killed in camp in the first 24 hours.

:lol:

I've been there! :lol: :lol: :lol:


That is probably a quiet day for you Joe! Child's play considering some of the carnage I'm sure you are accustomed to! :)
The third elk....my buddy texted me he just knocked his down and I was tempted to text back that he was breaking up and I couldn't hear the message. I just couldn't figure out how to do that through text messaging. lol
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Re: Highs & Lows of Your Elk Hunt

Postby Kellum » 10 16, 2017 •  [Post 6]

Just noticed this thread good topic! I would say the whole week me and dad hunted together was a roller coaster of emotions!

The first low and high had to be when dad missed after several close encounters in the previous days. The bull busted him comeing in silent and began barking. I instantly reacted and barked back and got him calmed down. I then got the bull convinced to walk out in front of his shooting lane and misses him broadside at 40. So close!

On the last day dad makes a great shot at 20 yards right at sunrise. Slam dunk......so we thought!

Immediately once we began trailing his bull it starts to snow. The bull was not bleeding that much despite being a double lung shot and before to long the snow had completely covered what little blood and tracks we where on. The next several hours we tried everything we could think of to find him! Spread out in a wide circle from last blood, search all close water sources, ravens circling, etc.

Not knowing what else we could do the thought of loseing the bull started to ease in are minds. Finally the snow stops and the high temps start melting the snow. We start makeing are way back to the last blood marked and to our surprise get back on the blood trail! Not long after we find the bull piled up and dad recovers his first archery bull!

Way to end the last day lol.


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Re: Highs & Lows of Your Elk Hunt

Postby Swede » 10 16, 2017 •  [Post 7]

Congratulations to you and your dad Kellum. I like the way you both hung in there and recovered his bull. Good move.
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Re: Highs & Lows of Your Elk Hunt

Postby ishy » 10 17, 2017 •  [Post 8]

My low...just shear number of miles logged for the number of bugles heard. I cover a lot of miles in some very thick and vertical country and had an extremely quiet year. I had a few encounters, but few and far between. The high...I still get a couple of days with a rifle and late archery coming up.
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Re: Highs & Lows of Your Elk Hunt

Postby Roosiebull » 10 18, 2017 •  [Post 9]

my 2017 archery season was non stop ups and downs.

the first weekend I didn't see a single elk. Monday I found a lone cow, then a bit later got spittin' distance from a group of elk with a giant in it. I ended up getting close to them several times, getting busted by wind every time.

the wind was a relentless mess this year. I started hunting a different group of elk, and quickly figured out their program. one morning I caught them in a good spot, almost took a shot at a rag, then had the big guy at full draw 30yds away, I was a little rattled and he was quartered away steep, so I didn't shoot. a few minutes later I cut them off and missed a really close chip shot on a spike (limb I couldn't see)

the season kind of kept playing out like that, lots of action and very close calls at point blank range.

by far the biggest roller coaster was shooting my bull, broadside less than 10 yds, ended up hitting behind the heart and below the lungs, and he didn't bleed beyond 50 yds. through pure luck, a guy I know (kind of) found my bull the next morning which had just recently died, and I lost no meat. it was a very crazy string of events, and I cannot believe it worked out.

the whole season was chaos
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Re: Highs & Lows of Your Elk Hunt

Postby Kentrek » 10 18, 2017 •  [Post 10]

Indian Summer wrote:
olympushunt wrote:High = Having 3 elk killed in camp in the first 24 hours.
Low = Having 3 elk killed in camp in the first 24 hours.

:lol:

I've been there! :lol: :lol: :lol:


I have also been there.....we all split up and hunted different ridges.....one bull 10 miles in, one 7, and one 5...

Definitly a high and a low ! Oh so much sweeter when finished tho
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Re: Highs & Lows of Your Elk Hunt

Postby stringunner » 10 19, 2017 •  [Post 11]

Several highs this year, a couple lows....

High- killing my bull opening day

Low- I was very dehydrated and sick after quartering the bull and hiking back out in 95+ heat and running out of water mid way through the several hour process

High- making it back to camp and having Swede, my dad, Oly, Oly's friend jump right up and say let's go pack it out, didn't make it back to camp till almost 2 am but I couldn't have done it without those guys

Low- felt terrible and bad for having gone to town and missed getting to repay the favor to Oly and his friend when they both tagged elk the next day

High/Low-combined here, it was a high to be in camp and available to help Swede when he thought he got a cow, low after several hours of helping him look and realizing he likely did not hit her.

High- my wife and kids came to camp/hunt with me and mainly to meet Swede, for my last weekend up there, even got to be with me when I made a Texas Heart shot on my buck (not on purpose and not a great first kill shot for my boys to experience). And yes, as Swede pointed out, they still love to tell that story, especially at church! Come on man!!!

Low-season ending and knowing it will be another year before I get to hang with Swede and Oly again in camp.
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Re: Highs & Lows of Your Elk Hunt

Postby Roosiebull » 10 19, 2017 •  [Post 12]

olympushunt wrote:High = Having 3 elk killed in camp in the first 24 hours.
Low = Having 3 elk killed in camp in the first 24 hours.

:lol:

:lol: very good call! haha, makes for a rough day 2....well, i'm guessing, never had that situation.

my first ever elk, late cow season 03, or 04 my buddy and I both killed our first elk within 5 minutes...we didn't know at the time, but when the smoke cleared, we had 2 elk down about 40yds from eachother....I will not bs though, it was one of the easiest packs of my life, we were able to get about 100 yds from them, and the ground was flat as a pancake.
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Re: Highs & Lows of Your Elk Hunt

Postby Swede » 10 19, 2017 •  [Post 13]

In all of my years of hunting, I have shot five elk I could drive close enough to that they were loaded whole after being gutted. One was a cow that we dragged downhill for several hundred yards, but it was easy ground. I loved it.
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Re: Highs & Lows of Your Elk Hunt

Postby MT_Nate » 10 19, 2017 •  [Post 14]

2017 High - Witnessing more elk close-up than ever before in my life. I am still befuddled that I didn't put one on the ground, but I'm glad I didn't take the marginal shots that were afforded to me.
2017 Low - ...Witnessing more elk close-up than ever before in my life. I am still befuddled that I didn't put one on the ground...

I have had Swede's "Tree Stand Hunting for Rocky Mountain Elk" book for a few years now...read it during the summer months getting excited for elk season, thinking that this will possibly be the year that I commit to a tree stand for a portion of the season. Last summer/fall I finally pulled the trigger and set up a stand in a saddle where elk passed through regularly. I didn't pay attention to the prevailing winds and my access to the stand, and I basically ran off elk every time I approached the stand. Re-read Swede's book cover-to-cover again this summer, picked a different spot on some water, and thought long and hard about my access route, wind, timing to approach the stand, etc. I had elk at my stand nearly every morning and/or afternoon for the first 11 days of the MT archery season. Once the snow/rain in mid-September came, it pretty much shut my spot down other than some on the ground rut action. Some very exciting stories...bulls approaching my stand while I was halfway up climbing the tree...some very late arriving elk and big bulls trapping me in my stand after dark on two occasions...crazy.

MT general rifle season opens Saturday, so I still have plenty of opportunity to fill my freezer, but I'm always sad when archery season ends and the overall elk rut is mostly gone.

I cannot wait for 2018...I learned so much this year and can't wait to apply it next year. Thanks a million for the awesome book and great info Swede!
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Re: Highs & Lows of Your Elk Hunt

Postby CurlyTail » 10 19, 2017 •  [Post 15]

Lows - 3 winter storms in 8 days. The Elk stopped bugling, and we could not keep warm and dry.
3000 sheep, 7 sheepherders on horses with bells, 15 sheep dogs getting out of the National Forest as we are trying to find and call Elk
Taking a 75 ft. out of control "toboggan ride" down a steep muddy slippery ravine and landing in a heap at the bottom

Highs - I get to try again with the rifle, starting tomorrow
after my fall, I was not hurt, and my new Sitka Stormfront Pants - no holes!
great camaraderie with my hunting buddies
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Re: Highs & Lows of Your Elk Hunt

Postby Swede » 10 19, 2017 •  [Post 16]

Nate, I read with interest about your experiences hunting from a stand. The process of learning is full of mistakes. I sure have made my share. Water holes are great in some places, but remember you want to be where you will see elk. Water may not always be the big draw. I like ridges and saddles where a bunch of trails come together too. Best wishes.
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Re: Highs & Lows of Your Elk Hunt

Postby olympushunt » 10 19, 2017 •  [Post 17]

stringunner wrote:Several highs this year, a couple lows....

Low- felt terrible and bad for having gone to town and missed getting to repay the favor to Oly and his friend when they both tagged elk the next day


Dude! You have nothing to feel bad about. You had to get that meat out of there! You saw what I had to do waiting in town at 103 degrees (that was insane) for the meat locker to open.

Plus you had a wifee not feeling good....probably would have had to slap you if you had left her to help pack out more elk. She wasn't feeling well enough to do it, so I would have had to. LOL!!!

You have helped me out more in lots of ways....so I still owe you.

Let's do that again next year!
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Re: Highs & Lows of Your Elk Hunt

Postby Lefty » 10 19, 2017 •  [Post 18]

High, on elk "all the time" Unbelievable close big bull encounters, Every hunt was with my daughter.
Lows: shot high on a perfect 34.5 yard shot.My wife never came along
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Re: Highs & Lows of Your Elk Hunt

Postby TennMatt » 10 20, 2017 •  [Post 19]

I'm currently at a low point and I haven't left the house for CO 2nd rifle yet. Last night the dash display in my car lit up like a Christmas tree: all the indicator lights seemed to come on at once.

I'm about to take it in and see if a shop can look at it today so we can still leave this afternoon...

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Re: Highs & Lows of Your Elk Hunt

Postby Swede » 10 20, 2017 •  [Post 20]

Good luck Tenn. It seems that vehicle problems are most acute when we have something very important going on and need it.
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Re: Highs & Lows of Your Elk Hunt

Postby TennMatt » 10 20, 2017 •  [Post 21]

Thanks Swede. Let me update my previous post by saying that all seems to be in order now. I stopped on the way to the shop this morning to get gas and it must have been a fuel or gas cap issue since none of the indicator lights came on after fueling up.

We'll see what transpires this afternoon after work and while loading. But, for the moment it looks like I'm headed to the woods!

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Re: Highs & Lows of Your Elk Hunt

Postby Swede » 10 20, 2017 •  [Post 22]

Matt, I wish all auto fixes were that easy and cheap too. :lol:
Good luck on your hunt.
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Re: Highs & Lows of Your Elk Hunt

Postby Scorpyd shooter » 10 26, 2017 •  [Post 23]

Highs, getting to experience about everything I read on elk hunting, two bulls fighting over 40 cows, nearly getting shot at herd bull as he gathered cows to get them away from another bull, I'm sixty , now I feel ten years younger after 30-35 miles of walking in mountains.
Lows, I didn't come home with meat, wish I could try again next year
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Re: Highs & Lows of Your Elk Hunt

Postby Tigger » 10 26, 2017 •  [Post 24]

High- Going elk hunting with 3 great guys.

High- Not getting eaten by a griz

High- Shooting a bull. Low- Not making a good shot. High- Finding the bull anyway.

High- having my buddies shoot a bull.

Low- dealing with December weather in September

Not-Elk-hunt High- Harvesting 2 antelope with just my daughter along (story in Other Big Game). She got one and I got one.
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Re: Highs & Lows of Your Elk Hunt

Postby six » 10 27, 2017 •  [Post 25]

Well the high point of my hunt would be listening to several bulls bugle for 2 hours one night. I finally fell asleep around midnight only to be woke up again around 2:00 AM. We also called in two bulls the next morning. One to 10 yards.

The lowlight of our trip would have to be the lack of rain. We spent six days walking on what sounded like corn flakes. We got 2 hours of rain on Thursday night and it was like someone turned on a switch. Bulls were bugling on and off all night and into the morning. Unfortunately we had to pull out Friday afternoon.
Elk are where you find em...
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