I've hunted elk for probably 35 years now, never able to get a really decent elk to hang on the wall. Between the difficulty of drawing tags besides cows and spike only, and the few times I've had these "hair tags" in my pocket I've become out of necessity more of a meat hunter.
With my 60th birthday coming up, I thought I would try to hold out for a bull I could hang as I may not have a lot more opportunities left.
So, after discussing this with my 35 year old son on the way up to our hunting spot I had a plan to hold out and generally do anything I could to tip my odds toward the big bulls I know are in this unit. This "One elk" tag we only seem to draw approximately every 4 years or so- I was going to make the most of it. We bit the bullet and everyone took a full week off work this time around and we headed up to camp.
Opening morning found us with our packs ready, rifles set out, and everyone in camp (7 of us this year) with a plan for their favorite spot. Since several people had already taken the spots my son and I have taken elk the last few years, we settled into our fall back spot for opening morning hunt- a rock pile overlooking a clear cut we called the "Honey hole". In our group over the years we have taken 4-5 elk out of this clear cut, but it had been a few years since we drew this tag and clear cuts tend to grow up, soooo...
We drove the 5-6 miles to the closed road that led to our Honey hole and got out quietly. It had been unusually warm for elk season, only getting down to 45-50 at night and up to the high 60's during the day. However, it had rained heavily the week before in these mountains near John Day so the walking was extremely quiet.
We walked the mile or so to the rock pile in darkness, hoping to get to the rock pile long before dawn to catch any elk that like to bed down in this clear cut before they could hide in the brush.
We got comfortable and watched the clear cut below us in the dark until about 10-15 minutes before shooting light. Looking through my binos, I could tell this clear cut had grown up far too much in the preceding 4 years since our last tags here to give us any chance of shooting an elk in the brush. I woke up my son, (who can sleep anywhere he sits down in just moments- result of 5 years in the Marines, I believe)and whispered- "lets check out another place before it gets light, this place isn't going to work".
He gathered his pack and other items quietly as I did and we slowly started down the ridge away from where we had come. We had hunted this ridge for years and knew it very well. On the south side there were small finger ridges with swales in them that were open under the trees. On top of that, some pre-commercial harvest thinning had been done in this area just a few weeks before so it was especially open and the elk sign was everywhere.
We quietly walked down the ridge a couple hundred yards and stopped to survey. It was almost shooting light so I didn't want to spook any elk that may be close to us but out of sight in the dark. Whispering to Joe, I told him I wanted to walk over about 40-50 yards and look into this swale I had seen elk in before. He wanted to continue down the ridge on the other side so we split up slightly- me to the left, him to the right of the ridge.
As I walked over far enough to see into the swale, I could make out some shapes moving in the pre-dawn darkness, but couldn't make them out with my 60 year old eyes. Brought my Leupold 10 x 40 binos up to gather more light and the blobs instantly turned into elk. There were at least 6 cows and one bull elk. I couldn't tell how large the bull was as he was behind a cow with his head down feeding. All I could see was the last 10-12" of his antlers and they had a small branch on the end. For all I knew it was just a big spike with a forked end. For some reason, I decided to take this bull, even though it wasn't exactly what I was looking for so I sat down and stretched out my Harris 25C bipod and got ready for a shot.
It was just shooting light but a minute or so and I could clearly see the elk through my scope, but the bull was still blocked by the cow so I had to wait until he cleared. Watching through the scope, it seemed to take forever for him to take that one step I needed for the shot but it was probably no more than a few seconds. As he cleared for the shot, he was about to walk behind a few reprod pine trees and a large fir tree so it was now or never.
Squeezing the trigger, the .338 bucked in recoil and I lost sight of the bull for a second. Elk were running everywhere and I lost track of which direction the bull had gone.
I slowly walked down to the spot the elk was standing a mere 125 yards away and tried to make a plan to track this elk. Joe was finding his way over to me after hearing the shot and I asked him to approach slowly and watch for signs of a downed elk as I was sure I had made good shot. Funny, but it was still dark enough that it was difficult to see without the scope or binos, but it was getting lighter very quickly. By time my son got over to me it was plenty light to see and start tracking.
While trying to make a plan for tracking, I heard several loud grunts coming from my left. Turning and surveying that direction, there was a very nice 6x6 laying on his side just 50 yards away laying right out in the open against a small pine. This was the first time I had seen he was more than just a spike, I was so focused on the shot and the other elk lest they wind me and ruin my opportunity.
All in all a great opening morning.
Just to make this sweeter, my son has a habit of once we have an elk down, he takes a picture of it with his smart phone and sends it to every one in our party, since we are usually too far apart for our radios. That way, any one who receives the message comes looking for us to give us help.
As luck would have it, my nephew was the only one to receive the message right away. He sent off a text he would come to give us a hand packing the elk out and headed down the hill. On his way down the hill he was hunting that morning hear camp, he heard an elk running through the woods. He turned and threw his rifle up just in time to catch a 6x6 running through an opening about 20 feet long through the woods. One shot and we had 2 6x6 elk for our group on opening morning. To boot, this was his first elk! I couldn't have been happier for him if it had been my own. Paul had been hunting with us for several years with no luck. He had been very close several times but this was his first real opportunity to bring home meat.
Great hunt with a great group of guys.
Trying to post some pics but haven't figured it out yet. It says my files size is too large.
Bob
