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Kick Me When I'm Down!

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Kick Me When I'm Down!

Postby Indian Summer » 11 16, 2017 •  [Post 1]

Now that I've regained my sanity... somewhat, I figured I'd recap my Wyoming hunt. It was full of ups and downs. I had 2 partners this year. One was a friend who guided for me for a number of years in Montana. To date he had killed one cow. The other was his unclecwhom I had never met. His last kill was a bull 20 years ago. Both are really great guys and excellent hunting partners.

Day 1 started off with a bang as uncle Russ downed a nice long beamed 6 point bull only 45 minutes after first light. The bull was bugling as it crossed over the trail in a saddle heading from more open county into north facing timber. So far so good.

My morning was uneventful but at the of the day I saw a nice 6 point come over a far ridge to feed in the open alongside a patch of yellow leafed aspens. It was only minutes before dark when he showed himself.

The next day I decided to go high after glassing the area where I spotted the bull and seeing nothing. When I got to the place I tie off my horses there were already some tied there. Rats! I looked over some boot tracks in the snow and headed the other direction. But eventually the tracks showed up in my area and soon I crossed paths with a guide and his hunter who were trailing a bull they had missed. In doing so they had stomped around some so I turned straight uphill to where nobody goes and where the elk like to bed. Fresh elk sign was everywhere which came as no surprise. By the time I got to the top it was late afternoon so I had lunch and flopped out in the sun for awhile. At 5:30 I figured some elk would be on the move so I started skirting sidehill up high along the north side of the ridge back toward the horses. I made it all of 75 yards before I spotted an elk about 125 yards below me. She was feeding in one of the small openings in the timber and the wind was perfect. I watched for awhile before a calf appeared. I decided to creep a little closer with my gun ready. It's really steep there and the ground was frozen solid with anout an inch of snow on it. As soon as I shifted my weight I immediately started sliding downhill. Fast! I began picking up speed keeping control of my gun and looking ahead at where I might stop. After about 50 yards I came to a stop in a small depression. To my surprise the elk went right back to feeding! Now they were only 75 yards away. I smiled and thought to myself "There's a ew way to close the distance!"

After awhile another cow showed herself with 2 more calves. One cow was looking back and pretty soon a bull comes along behind them. He was only a 4 point so I passed on the shot. I dogged them for about 150 yards over 45 minutes making sure there wasn't a bigger bull around before I turned back and continued down the ridge. By then it was about dark and pretty soon I was spooking elk every couple hundred yards getting out of there.
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Re: Kick Me When I'm Down!

Postby Swede » 11 16, 2017 •  [Post 2]

What is this? At least you could show us a picture of your horse. Maybe there is more to this story but you are holding out to see if we are paying attention.
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Re: Kick Me When I'm Down!

Postby Indian Summer » 11 16, 2017 •  [Post 3]

Normally I would have headed back up top but since the guide along with another guide had hunted there and I'd spooked elk in the dark I decided to stay low. It's not a good idea to push the horses up there on consecutive days anyway. From my glassing spot I saw some elk but no bulls. So I dropped down the drainage on the trail on my horse until I hit a mid slope bench. Tied off the horses and off I went. I was below the bench when I jumped onto a well used game trail and followed it straight up from the creek to the bench. Down along the water there was a nice sized lone elk track. Nearly to where things flattened out the trail fizzled out so I stopped and flagged actree and marked a waypoint. Then I proceeded the last 50 yards in a grassy lane to the lip on the bench. When I got to the top I stopped to pull out the binos. But before I even got my hands on them I looked ahead and there's a bull standing there with his head behind a tree. He was quartering to me and I could see his right antler sticking out from the tree. Here's the good part.... range.... 35 yards!!! This early in the hunt I'm looking for 6 points only so I needed him to turn his head a bit to get a side view. For about 4 minutes I had the crosshairs on him just to the right of his shoulder. Finally he turns his head. 6 point! I pull the trigger and heard the loudest click I have ever heard. Holy elk duds I forgot to chamber a round when I pulled the gun from the scabbard! By now he's in the process of getting out of Dodge so I yanked the bolt back and I'm shocked to see a live round go flying past my right elbow. Freaking misfire!!! Kick me when I'm down that had to be the worst timing ever for what was the only misfire I've ever had in my life. Factory ammo too. I jack another round in and get off a good shot but in swinging the gun with him a tree jumped in between us and saved his life for the second time.

I followed him on dry ground for about 10 minutes before I cam to where the next big draw gives way and I stopped. Still in shock I looked way to the east and there they were.... the yellow leafed aspens where I saw the bull on day one. AND..... there he was right beside them! I watch him follow the same route back over the saddle into the timber he came from on day one.

I hiked back to the horses and got over there and set up for the evening but of course he didn't come back that way that night. About an hour before dark higher on the hill my partner Jon saw him doubling back into the area he came from. He dropped down to see if he could get in position for a shot but on the way down he spotted another bull. He got a shot at 375 yards but missed. Elk 2 super intelligent humans zero! :cry:
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Re: Kick Me When I'm Down!

Postby Indian Summer » 11 16, 2017 •  [Post 4]

Here ya go Swede.... Not smiling that day! More tomorrow time for bed.
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Re: Kick Me When I'm Down!

Postby Swede » 11 16, 2017 •  [Post 5]

Great picture. You guys look like good friends. Hopefully the story takes an upturn soon.
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Re: Kick Me When I'm Down!

Postby WapitiTalk1 » 11 16, 2017 •  [Post 6]

Two of those three are fine looking critters. Can't wait to here the rest of the story.
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Re: Kick Me When I'm Down!

Postby Indian Summer » 11 18, 2017 •  [Post 7]

OK where was I? The next few days are par for the course. We see some elk but otherwise uneventful. Come Saturday I decide we should go high again to get away from any weekend warriors. My buddy Will who lives there and also guided for me is done guiding for the week and we have an extra horse so he joins us for the trek up top. We get to the tie off and split up. I had seen a bull feeding on the ridge two days earlier so I head that way to see if he's still around. But as it turns out the wind had really picked up and there are no elk at all on that particular windblown ridge. Around 11 I decide t9o have a short break and what the heck.... build a fire. it was pretty chilly out with the wind howling. At exactly noon I get on the radio as planned but Jon and Will don't check in. I'm on their side of the hill and I know they wouldn't forget so I have a pretty good idea something is happening. 15 minutes later I hear a couple shots from there direction. Shortly after that Jon is on the horn.... bull down! I head over their way and find that he has killed his first bull a pretty respectable 5 point. There were 3 bulls together but the 6 point saw them first of course and did what 6 points do..... vanish quick! After seeing where they were I went back and got the horses and we got the bull packed out and were back to camp by dark.
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Re: Kick Me When I'm Down!

Postby Indian Summer » 11 18, 2017 •  [Post 8]

After that things got a little tough. It warmed up and the elk were no longer spending as much time in the open and definitely not bedding outside the timber as they were when Jon killed the 5 point. I went for a couple days seeing minimal elk. Couldn't find that 6 point again from early in the hunt. So one day Jon and Russ headed up a ridge we had been talking about on the other side of the road behind camp. Not far up it they crossed oaths with a herd of 30 elk with a spike in it. They were really low and it was 10:30 so I had no doubt they had been pushed there. Nevertheless there were elk up there so the next day I headed that way. Just after first light I was till on my horse when I spotted a herd of about 12 or 14 elk. I jumped off and got behind the binos. There was a 6 point bull in the back so I back up a bit and tied the horses off. When I got back he was in the midst of mounting a cow so completely unaware of my presence. But he was 635 yards away and I hadn't done my homework for that shot. So I let him roll over the grassy finger before starting to bust a move over there. One minute later Boom..... boom! I'm not sure how anyone got ahead of me but someone took 2 shots at the bull as soon as he was out of my sight. Kick me when I'm down! I thought he was in the bag. I continued on over that way and dropped down to where the bull was but saw nothing. No bull, no hunter... nothing. The guy either missed or wounded it and was trailing it downhill. Later that day I saw one cow way up high. I returned the next day to no avail. No elk at all that day. Not much sign either. So back to familiar territory.
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Re: Kick Me When I'm Down!

Postby Indian Summer » 11 18, 2017 •  [Post 9]

I stayed away from my hone hole where Jon killed his bull because we stomped it up pretty good getting the bull out. So I sifted through all of the other areas. By Thursday I did eventually hike back up there but I didn't make it over to the real hotspot and saw nothing. Tons of fresh sign though as usual. They were there somewhere. The next day was the last day of my hunt. I decided to give it hell up high. I showed up before first light. as son as I could see I spotted elk on the far ridge in the avalanche chutes. I didn't wait around to look for horns because there are ALWAYS bulls up there. Off I went. Halfway out the trail there's a fair sized opening in the timber so I decided to get out the binos and take another peek. I saw the same elk kind of low but no bulls still. Then I noticed that familiar gold color up high and sure enough 3 bulls with about 6 cows. They were way the hell up there and on the furthest ridge out. I've been up there several times before and every time I was I thought do I really want to kill an elk here! But today the answer was yes! It takes quite awhile to get up there but I made may way pretty fast. They had rolled around the finger into the timber by then. I followed them and got on their trail pretty easily. But it's a big patch of dark timber and there was so much fresh sign it looked like a thousand of them had been holed up in there and I never did dig them up. By about 1:00 I rolled back out of the timber way up high and sat down. Pretty tired from 12 straight days of hunting I sat down ate lunch and reflected on everything that happened that week. it was time to drop back down to the horses and break down camp. At 1:30 the sun went behind some clouds and it's cold up there in those windy chutes so I decided to strap the gun to the back of my pack and slip and slide my way out of there. Big mistake! You can already see where this is heading right? it almost ended up in the "Lessons Learned" thread but I figured I'd save it for now. I crossed the first chute and on the other side I came upon a lone bed on the shade side of the timber where I entered. I passed through that patch of timber and crossed the next avalanche chute. As I entered the timber there was another lone bed. A bull had been going solo and bedding on the edges of the chutes close to the feed. I passed through that timber patch and started across the next chute. I was about 60 yards out into the open when I looked down and there standing like a broadside Mackenzie target was a big 6 point bull..... staring directly at me. He had obviously seen me first. I dropped my pack as fast as I could. As I unlashed the rifle from the back he let out a long slow bugle and walked into the timber. I ranged the spot at 235 yards. A potential slam dunk. Well kick me when I'm down, add insult to injury and pour salt in my open wound! The lesson.... it ain't over til it's over!!! Talked about a scalded dog! I walked out of there feeling dumber than dumb.

To ice the cake I crossed that patch of timber, the last one, and I knew that when I dropped down the last chute I'd cross his track. So I chambered a round. Or tried to anyway. I could not close the bolt on my gun. I pulled a piece of paracord through the barrel and cleaned out the action as much as I could after a thorough visual inspection. Everything looked fine. Sure enough I came upon his track entering the patch of timber where I passed on the 4 point back at the beginning of the hunt. I know the area very well and would have loved to have hunted my way out of there but I couldn't. Sheesh! So I strapped the gun back on the pack and headed out. End of story.

As usual and I don't know how this can be but I feel like I know twice as much as I did at the end of the last hunt there. I can't wait for revenge either! I already picked my rifle up from the gunsmith who said it was just really dirty in the action. I had him dismantle the bolt and clean and lube everything. He also replaced the factory spring in the bolt with a heavy duty one that will make the dang firing pin put a dent in an army tank! I've already started reloading. Yep... elk hunting is a year round never ending thing.

Two out of three ain't bad but we can do better. Come on 2018!!!!!!!!!!

I'll add some pics to this thread when I get them.
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Re: Kick Me When I'm Down!

Postby Swede » 11 18, 2017 •  [Post 10]

Joe, I hear ya about "come on 2018". I don't think 2017 was anywhere near my best. Your story was interesting and entertaining.
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Re: Kick Me When I'm Down!

Postby Indian Summer » 11 18, 2017 •  [Post 11]

Plenty of opportunities but you cant fill the freezer with them Swede. Especially when your gun doesn't go off when you pull the trigger..... which is difficult when said gun is attached to backpack!!! Ugh! :roll:
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Re: Kick Me When I'm Down!

Postby elkstalker » 11 20, 2017 •  [Post 12]

Great story Joe, and good memories, sometimes things just don't work out, even for the best of us! My wife had a quick shot at a very nice mulie this year and as she took aim and fired, all we heard was click! She forgot to chamber a round when we left the truck :roll: I thank God for the memories that we make, and that hunting isn't just about the kill, but at the same time you can't eat memories!
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Re: Kick Me When I'm Down!

Postby otcWill » 11 20, 2017 •  [Post 13]

Good stuff Joe! Sometimes it just doesn't work out as you know. I wouldn't want to be the guy who bets against you next year! I Tough hunts just fuel the fire
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Re: Kick Me When I'm Down!

Postby Old school » 11 22, 2017 •  [Post 14]

Joe - first off, thank you for the recap, that was great! It also encourages me that an elk killer like you can go home empty handed on occasion and it’s not just me. Maybe it’s that misery loves company :-)

Next year will be the year! Hopefully for both of us.

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Re: Kick Me When I'm Down!

Postby Indian Summer » 11 23, 2017 •  [Post 15]

Funny you say that Mitch because in typing up my hunt report it did dawn on me that new hunters need to know that no matter how much homework and planning you do..... regardless of how good your hunting area is there are never guarantees in elk hunting. Not even with bulls standing there at nder 50 yards in gun season with a perfect wind.

This season is only the second one since 1999 that I came home with an unpunched tag. It's a hard pill to swallow but I'm not upset. I had a great hunt and I suppose I was about due to be skunked. I had my chances and my partners both killed nice bulls.

However you would NOT want to be a bull elk in my area next year. I'm out for revenge. Like Will said tough hunts, especially ones with close calls fuel the fure.
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Re: Kick Me When I'm Down!

Postby saddlesore » 11 23, 2017 •  [Post 16]

Same here Joe.No elk tagged punched .First time in many many years and I hunted both muzzle l hunted both muzzle loader and rifle season.Saw on elk calf
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