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Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 4,213
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 4,213 |
These days I�m pretty successful and kill one each year. It wasn�t always like that. I could fill a book with my mistakes and the book would still be growing larger. I�ve probably formed a mental block on my very worst ones but these were some doosies.
Laid the crosshairs on the biggest bull I�d ever seen while holding a bull tag. Long but thin 6x7 antlers. �Click�. It was a sickening sound. I had been distracted when leaving the trailhead � too worried about making sure the younger hunters were set up properly and not paying attention to my own stuff. Not only was the chamber empty but the gun was unloaded! That bull was just unlucky. I somehow managed to fish a round from my pack, chamber it, and it found it�s mark.
Two nice bulls skirted the edge of a clearing I was hunting. I passed on a long shot because I knew my Dad and Brother were coming in from the other end of the clearing. The bulls walked straight into the ambush. I waited for the shot, � and waited. Nothing. When I saw them later they said they decided to go another way.
Killed a cow on a steep grade. Since I was sure of my location I began dragging it downhill toward the trail. I was pleased with myself to have the cow right in the middle of the trail in one piece. It was the wrong trail. I ended up having to quarter it and hump it back up the same hill I�d just descended to get it back onto the correct trail.
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Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 3,063
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 3,063 |
Biggest mistake I ever made was not being in shape for the hunt.
JOC was right. The 270 Winchester on a Model 70 is a great combination as is the 30/06 and 375 H&H
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Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 4,688
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 4,688 |
Sleeping in & missing 1st light.
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Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 4,227
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 4,227 |
I forgot the toilet paper once. Key word is "once".
Money can't buy you happiness, but it can buy you a hunting license and that's pretty close.
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Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 33,856
Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 33,856 |
Sleeping in & missing 1st light. dragging my ass out of bed before first light.
The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time by the blood of patriots and tyrants.
If being stupid allows me to believe in Him, I'd wish to be a retard. Eisenhower and G Washington should be good company.
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Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 12,651
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 12,651 |
Hunting buddy and I got 2 cows and a bull down on top of a mountain. We could see my truck through the binocs - barely. According to the maps it was 3 miles away on a straight line, somewhat further as we had to walk it.
Took out what we could the 1st day, straps and filets, hung the rest, then spent the next three days packing out what was left, bone out. Thankfully it was below freezing at night and the meat stayed cold.
I'll never forget picking up my pack the second day. It was the heaviest load and after laughing at my buddy trying to get up I immediately did a face plant in the snow. Redistributed the weight but was still barely able to walk with the weight. Took a few steps, figured I was making about 1 foot with each step, and already my legs were screaming "Enough!" Then the stupid engineer in me went to work - 3 miles times 5280 feet per mile, only about 15,840 more steps to go. Damn near killed us both.
Never again.
Coyote Hunter - NRA Patriot Life, NRA Whittington Center Life, GOA, DAD - and I VOTE!
No, I'm not a Ruger bigot - just an unabashed fan of their revolvers, M77's and #1's.
A good .30-06 is a 99% solution.
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Joined: Feb 2009
Posts: 145
Campfire Member
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Campfire Member
Joined: Feb 2009
Posts: 145 |
Missing the biggest bull I have ever seen. I badly misjudged how far away he was. This was before I had a rangefinder. I borrowed a rangefinder a couple days later. I thought the elk had been about 300 yds. Rangefinder said 440 yds.
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Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 69,521 Likes: 24
Campfire Kahuna
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Campfire Kahuna
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 69,521 Likes: 24 |
How about when hunting 'European elk', aka moose? I was a tag-along on my partner's WY moose hunt. It was raining pretty hard & we had on rain gear, which doesn't help the hearing a bit. We sat on a log and he called a couple times. After about 15 min, we decided to move on. As we started walking away, all hell broke loose right behind us. A bull had sneaked in and was standing less than 20 yards right behind us and we hadn't heard him. Neither of us had turned around when we decided to move on.
“In a time of deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act.” ― George Orwell
It's not over when you lose. It's over when you quit.
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Joined: Jul 2011
Posts: 431
Campfire Member
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Campfire Member
Joined: Jul 2011
Posts: 431 |
Biggest mistake I ever made was not being in shape for the hunt. +1. I don't know if I'll ever be in "good enough" shape for elk hunting. I'd continue to hunt until I was tired I suppose. When my body gets tired, I make mental mistakes. I'm getting better (and still trying to get better) at eliminating those lazy mental mistakes that I make late in the day/late in the hunt. Grr.
What happens when you get scared half to death...twice?
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Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 670
Campfire Regular
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OP
Campfire Regular
Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 670 |
I guess my worst mistake was just having a cow tag, and having opportunities to shoot bulls. I've enjoyed learning from all the mistakes.
�Some people hear their own inner voice with great clearness. And they live by what they hear. Such people become crazy�or they become legend."--Jim Harrison www.doing-manly-things.com
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Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 11,738
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 11,738 |
I guess my worst mistake was just having a cow tag, and having opportunities to shoot bulls. I've enjoyed learning from all the mistakes. I did that once - but had I put in for bulls, I would probably have been sitting home with no tag at all. I had 7 really nice bulls in bow range before I got my first (and only) chance on a cow.
Save an elk, shoot a cow.
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Joined: Mar 2013
Posts: 27,091
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Mar 2013
Posts: 27,091 |
Hunting where there are no elk.. elk had left the area due to too many hunters flying up and down the roads.
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Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 2,428
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 2,428 |
(1) never go on an out of state elk hunt with several guys you don,t really know,for at least a year or more, and guys you have hunted with locally, because without fail at least one of them will be a lazy cheap bastard that won,t pull his weight or do his share of the work or pay his share of expenses as PREVIOUSLY AGREED TO IN EXPLICIT DETAIL, LONG before trip started. once your on the out of state hunt , the circumstances tend to bring out the best or worst personality traits
(2)a good many times I could not afford both an elk and mule deer tags, and on those years when I just got the elk tag alone, it was almost an iron clad guarantee Id see a few real wall hanger mule deer. but If I purchased a mule deer tag Id see dozens of crappy quality 3 and 4 point deer.
(3) not having snow chains and elastic cord clips almost always insured getting heavy snow.
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Joined: Dec 2012
Posts: 43
Campfire Greenhorn
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Campfire Greenhorn
Joined: Dec 2012
Posts: 43 |
#1 picking a waiting spot that I "liked" verses a spot they like #2 looking left, right, left when I should have looked left, right, right. #3 failing to realize that a mature bull can walk behind a thin tree and never come out the other side
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Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 8,748
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 8,748 |
#3 failing to realize that a mature bull can walk behind a thin tree and never come out the other side
I will add, the bull doesn't come out even when a cow elk, that the bull was following, did walk out the other side of said small tree only moments before.
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Joined: Dec 2012
Posts: 2,315
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Dec 2012
Posts: 2,315 |
Not "Hunting" every step of the way. Walking to a predetermined meadow and not hunting my way in cost me a chip shot at a herd bull. You have to assume there are elk every step of the way. I didn't in 2011 and walked up on the bull and his cows. They got a face full of human scent and made short work of picking them up and setting them down. Had I hunted my way in,watching the wind,things would likely have been different. But,I was headed to the meadow for my evening watch and figured it was too early in the evening to actually see elk. Won't make that mistake again!
"Political Correctness is a doctrine, fostered by a delusional, illogical minority, and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end."
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Joined: May 2008
Posts: 591
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: May 2008
Posts: 591 |
Trusting my mare to let me walk up behind her on the narrow trail to turn her around. this happened going in to camp 2012
If you are not America first you are america last. Be loud and proud America first.
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Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 11,738
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 11,738 |
Oh DAMN! CoDave - you win. Hands down!
Save an elk, shoot a cow.
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Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 4,483
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 4,483 |
Biggest mistake I've made (off the top of my head) is staying too long in an area that doesn't hold many elk. It's hard (for me at least) to leave an area that is historically good or has been good early in the season, even if I'm not seeing elk anymore. #3 failing to realize that a mature bull can walk behind a thin tree and never come out the other side Yeah, big bucks will do that to. Hell, little bucks will do it if I've decided I'm going to shoot them when they come out
Last edited by huntinaz; 06/07/13.
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Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 990
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 990 |
Had several not-being-ready-to-shoot facepalms. Can think of two different times that a cow stepped out w/i 100 yards of where I walked out onto a point just "to glass a bit" with a cow tag.
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