What was it and how did it happen?

Listening to the weatherman's forecast of a cool dry front moving in tomorrow. Then backpacked 10 miles in and cooly recieved 2 feet of snow......

Riding/borrowing somebody else's horse for the first time...dumped my Dad about 6 feet down onto a FS culvert and broke five ribs.

ouch.

Going to an alternative sit and wait site one evening instead of the usual first choice. I emerged from the woods to head for camp with just enough light to see things, and noticed two 6 by's foraging on the slope just above my typical haunt. A 150 yard chip shot for either one of them had I been there.

No way to make it there in time with the fading light, and I didn't score a bull that season either. I pack a low boy lawn chair up there before the season, and scored a nice raghorn from that exact spot last season. No tag though this year.

There are so many mistakes to make for elk. I've made a lot of them too.

Tried to cross above a herd in late afternoon, only to have the thermals reverse on me and the uphill wind switched to downhill wind at just the wrong time.

Tried to get too close to bands of elk cows with a herd bull too many times rather than wait for them to move to me - or at least pick a direction so I could get in front of them.

Not paying attention to my nose has cost me a couple of times.

In general, I screw up with elk when I try to force the situation rather that sitting back and being patient.

I'm sure I'll find new ways to screw up this fall.

I've made lots of mistakes as well. Tactical errors, strategic mistakes, forgotten equipment but by far the worst elk hunting mistake was ... the times I didn't go (only twice since 1994)

To steal a bumper sticker "the worst day elk hunting is better than most days doing something else"

just my $.02

Mistakes have been made, none worse than getting talked into trailering my horses 1400 miles to the Rocky Mountains.

Sounded good, hunt in familiar territory without a guide, won't have to pay for someone to pack us in and out, so on and so forth.

Never, ever, ever, EVER, set your bow down out of reach when you have a very large tree behind you that can obscure the sound of a very large 6x6 walking up towards you. Because,...when he walks by at ~14yds and your bow is ~6' away it is difficult to do anything.

Never put in for cow tags because of the cow/bull ratio vs what you figure you'll see..

In 3 hunts I've seen one cow in range, not identifiable sex wise for sure until it was too late.... and have yet to see a non legal bull..... and ahve seen bulls about 2-3 times within range on all 3 hunts....

Now I"m scared to put in for a bull tag. But no worries, my hunting days in CO are over anyway.

Taking a guy that moved here from Minn.
No flame meant to forum members from there.
I lasted 1/2 day (after I found him) and have never hunted with him again.....not even Christmas Trees....

My first elk hunt was last year(my second one is coming up in Sept.). The biggest mistake I made last year was getting cow-fever and shooting AT her with the wrong pin. Ranged her at 68yards with a shot of 62 because of the angle. I had been practicing out to 80 and was VERY confident at 62. She walked behind a tree and into my lane, I drew, anchored, worked my pins down her shoulder and just remembered a big "68" in my rangefinder. Put the 70 yard pin on her heart and squeezed off. Arrow looked great, she wheeled and stumbled and I was excited as hell. Then she stopped 15 yards away, and there was no blood on her side, no arrow sticking out of her, nothing. THEN I remembered that the shot was only 62. It was still exciting as anything I've done in the woods before.

Hunting with some one I didnt know. Guy didnt get in shape, didnt know how to hunt, heck the only thing he did know was how to eat and bitch about hiking the mountains, what a fat POS he turned out to be.

Drew a "Trophy" bull tag in 08. Group hunt with a buddy.
Opening morning....we spot a herd about 9am and they feed into a large patch of trees.
We know there is a decent 6 pt. in the bunch and my partner had never shot a bull.
Plan is....split up. I walked into the next canyon over, so I could go out around them to the other side of the patch of trees.
A couple hours later I am set up and he is working the patch.
I see a spike. I then start seeing cows feeding, maybe 100 yds. from me. No wind, they have no clue. Things look good.
I sit motionless. I hear a shot, but it is not nearly as close to me as I would have expected from the size of said patch.
My elk pickup their heads, but aren't alarmed. I wait.
Suddenly, my phone vibrates....WTF? It's my bro. I answer.
He is out of his mind, jacked. Has a 6x5 down. Re-WTF?
Where? Not in "my" patch. He saw a bull walking and went after it. He needs help gutting and packing. OK, I'll head your way.

Then I made my big mistake....
I stood up........ and an ass scratcher, heavy 6x6 takes off in full flight. He wasn't 2 steps back in the brush from the meadow. Damn. I can still see that bastid..

One of the morals of the story.....there can be more than one herd of elk in your area........

P.S. I got a 6x6 a few days and lots of miles later.
He was no where near as nice as this guy. That's huntin'.

Lent my flashlight to a first time hunting partner while hiking out in the dark of night, no moon. I gave it to him so he could get through a nasty alder patch, we were hiking off trail, he didn't have a light. He ran off and left me to stumble back to camp. His excuse was he was scared and afraid I would ask for my light back. Last time I ever hunted with him.

Then there was the time the two of us attempted to pack out a boned out cow in a single trip, didn't make it very far before my knees screamed out no F'n way.

Or the time I tood my older brother elk hunting and when we got one down he told me he was only able to carry my rifle up the hill and I was on my own to get the rest of the bull out = a very long, tough day.

And the one time I squeezed the trigger just as the elk step forward, then didn't wait long enough, then didn't shoot when I saw a bull walking in front of me for fear of shooting a second bull.

And the time we camped in the river bottom in bitter cold.

Guess I've had a lot of "worse mistakes"

Booking an outfitted hunt in Montana with my buddy. He was there in 1995 before the wolf debacle and it was over run with elk. What a waste of time and money!

My only mistake is, "Not being from an area that has elk to hunt".

Blowing my load too early.
It was a nice snowy afternoon hunt. first snow of that elk season. I Came up to an opening with a cow feeding on the edge of a bench, maybe 80 yards. put my scope on her to look for horns or if there are any other elk. as I am watching her, another elk walks up from down below onto the bench top. I put the scope on his head and see 2 long spikes. I start lowering the reticle on to the vitals and BAAM. Excited as hell, I just shot my first elk. I get on the radio and call in for back up. they ask if he's down..... I would bet the farm he is. So I make my way to where he was standing last. no blood anywhere. I follow the tracks down hill in fresh powder for 100 yards and not a drop of blood. totally missed. Only thing I can think of is I never stopped when lowering when I pulled the trigger, and shot under neath him. this scenario is replayed in my head constantly. I just cant let it go. I redeemed my self next year with a bull on opening morning less then 300 yards from my miss.

Thinking "that has to be a hunter blowing a bugle".........

Left my damn cow call at camp only to sit quietly with my bow and watch a beautiful 5X6 bull meander on by in the aspens about 70 yards out.

Gunner

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.

Biggest mistake I ever made was not being in shape for the hunt.

Sleeping in & missing 1st light.

I forgot the toilet paper once. Key word is "once".

dragging my ass out of bed before first light.

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.

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.

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.

+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.

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.

Hunting where there are no elk.. elk had left the area due to too many hunters flying up and down the roads.

(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.

#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

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.

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!

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

Oh DAMN! CoDave - you win. Hands down!

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.



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

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.

Not to change the thread, but give some advice on what to do to take home a bull.

My biggest mistake during my first decade of elk hunting was hunting elk like deer.

There weren't nearly as many elk when I started big game hunting in Montana almost 50 years ago, but there were a LOT of mule deer. Consequently I learned to hunt mule deer, including big ones, which is different than hunting elk.
In general, big mule deer live higher in the mountains than elk--as in almost right on top.

Did better on elk in the past two decades, partly because there are a lot more 'em!

Ouch...

Adk backcountry start with this absolute gem.

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbth...s/3884941/The_Art_of_Hunting#Post3884941

Scopolamine

..thanks for the redirect.

Not getting in good enough shape, especially after age 55.
Under-estimating the critter.
Hunting in popular places full of non-resident goofballs. No offense but Texans in Colorado can be a problem as a group.

I also Bought to many cow tags. Saw a lot more legal bulls
than cows.

After 25 years of guiding and hunting elk falling for client pressure and trying to cheat the wind when my gut is telling me to wait for the right conditions to get closer.

Mr. Capt. Superdave. #1 What is the load carry capacity of a double,double Bailey?
#2 what the R.E. factor of C4?
#3 where should you keep your 5-34?

Last year I simply didn't hunt high enough. It was warm, and while 10000 feet was high enough for me where I was the elk were 11-13K. Of course I didn't find that little tidbit of info until the season ended. I chose to hunt water, and that didn't work.

My worst mistake, (although there have been many) is not rechecking the zero of my rifle after a fall. It ended up costing me a chance at a big mature bull elk. I fell in mid afternoon and my rifle banged pretty hard on the ground. Didnt want to fire a shot to check zero to risk spooking any elk in the area. The next morning I got up in the dark and decided to hunt in the morning and check zero during mid day back at camp. Well that morning I shot at the bull at approx 275 yards. Clean miss, no blood no nothing. Back at camp checking zero I found the gun shooting about a foot low at 50 yards.

This will be my 55 season, chasing elk. I have made most of the above, some several times.

For those of you not used to hunting ahorseback, check your zero on your rifle after a few days of carrying a rifle in a scabbard.

I've had that happen several Xs with whitetail. Haven't had the PRIVILEGE to hunt elk YET. I'm waiting AGAIN this year and hope to be drawn.

I'm SURE I'll make mistakes, especially since it'll be my first X. I plan to DO MY BEST to BE PREPARED.

Biggest mistake when Elk hunting??? Easy....many years ago I went to Colorado on an Elk trip with my father and my wife (now Ex) and all 3 of us applied for a Cow tag hoping one of us would draw. Wouldn't you know it, that was the year the CDOW decided to open the floodgates and give out a bazillion Cow tags! All three of us drew one.

First day of the hunt, near a famous park in North Central Colorado, I was setting on this bench at first light listening to the late bugling bulls and they were close!

Ten minutes later, I see antlers bobbing along as a HUGE 6x7 herd bull fed up over the bench right towards me!

At 15 yards he stops and stares at me while I peek at him under my boony hat brim so he can't see my eyes. We begin a 5 minute staring contest as I had my hand on my .44 in the shoulder holster, my .300 win mag was leaning against the tree next to me.....

Eventually he turned and worked his way back down the bench and about ten minutes later I took one of his girlfriends as they crossed the bench down below me.

He was massive and was slightly palmated on his right top....amazingly beautiful!
You have no idea how many times during the rest of my life, I wish I had had a bull tag instead of that durn Cow tag!!!!

Easily the biggest Bull I've ever seen in the wild....

Tracked a single bull in the slushy snow while sick for a couple days, then developed full-blown flu. Made it out of bed and hiked around the same hilltop he'd been feeding on for three nights but could not locate his bedding. I found him day 3, on my way to the comfort of camp for a final crash. My head was down and I was crawling back in defeat. If I had remained diligent for 5 more minutes I would have clearly seen him bedded below me at 75 yards in the old growth, wind in my face, him looking the other way.

Another time I tracked a bull into a thicket, circled it almost completely at 50 yards out, taking an hour, cow calling and pulling grass to pull him to the edge where I could see him. As I nearly completed the circle I figured my scent would be going in there any second, and no bull, so I must have missed his tracks emerging from the thicket. He exploded at 20 yards when I took the toilet paper from my pack. Why would he get out of bed right after daylight when those cows could obviously smell him since they went downwind right?

Carried 1/2 a 5 point 1 mile to the truck while my partners split the other half.

Missed a herd bull at 6 feet with a bow after a 7 hour wait.

Hunted a big mature bull at a spring but he never showed while I was there. Four years later I found his bed on a knob directly downwind of the spring. Countless hours spent educating that bull.

I quit elk hunting, I'm too stupid for the sport.

It was the first rifle hunt in Colorado. I was hunting with a new rifle, a Weatherby Mk. V stainless synthetic in .375 H&H that I had acquired for a trip to Africa scheduled for the following September. I was anxious to blood the rifle and see how the 260 AccuBonds would perform on elk-sized game. Opening morning, I slipped up on a small spring concealed in a canyon that I had found the year before. There was no sign that a hunter had ever been in there and I was certainly the first one that year. I picked a spot where I could see both slopes and sat down to glass.

Within about two minutes, I saw a decent 6x6 bull working his way along a trail across the canyon. If he stayed on the trail, he was going to pass about 150 yards from me on the far side. Based on past experience hunting this ranch, I figured that he was about as good a bull as I was likely to see. When he was just about opposite me, I shot him behind the shoulder. He stopped walking. I quickly slicked another round in the chamber and shot again, hitting about two inches away from the first shot, as it turned out. He took about two staggering steps backward, then reared up and fell over on his back, burying his top forks in the dirt.

I spent the next morning helping a buddy hunt another canyon. That afternoon, I decided to take a small camp chair and my spotting scope and binocular and return to that spring to see what might come into as it got later in the day. I got set up a little higher on the slope on an old abandoned road that was grown up with brush and trees that provided a flat spot to put my chair.

As the sun went down behind the mountain to the west, I had seen nothing but a bear that came to the spring to drink and splash around. I was thinking about pulling out so that I could make the trip back to camp before dark. As I reached down for the case for my spotting scope, I saw a cow elk standing to my left about 60 yards away on the old road bed. Almost simultaneously, a bull bugled so close that it was all that I could do not to jump out of my chair. I slowly raised my binocular and saw that there were about 20-25 cows and calves strung out along the trail.

The bull bugled again and stepped out from behind the lead cow. He was a huge 6x7 with incredible mass. He bugled again and again, and each time he did the long terminal forks of his antlers laid along side his back almost to the base of his tail.

I couldn't believe it. Here I was 67 yards from the bull of a lifetime in an open season without a rifle or a tag! I know that he was 67 yards, because the elk lingered for five or six minutes, as though taunting me. For lack of anything better to do I pulled my rangefinder out of my pocket and ranged him. Finally, the lead cow decided to move on off, leading the group up slope and and through a little saddle into the thick conifers above. As they moved off, I could still hear him bugling as the light faded.

Not exactly a mistake, but if I had to do it over again, I like to think that I would do it differently...

Obviously, he knew when you were unarmed. Elk are pretty smart tht way!

Can't beleive nobody mentioned it but maybe I'm just a chitty shot.

After being shot and bleeding but able to run off, I made the "mistake" of a life time on the biggest bull I'd ever tried to kill. I did NOT give the critter time to bed and stiffen up or bleed out. I gave him about 10 minutes and that 3 legged bull kicked my ass. I jumped him from the creek bottom where he laid down only about 300yds from where he was shot. Had I waited 45 min to an hour I'd have killed him in that bed or he quite possibly he'd have died all by himself.

Had I had my .260 rem instead of a 300 win mag which I didnt shoot well [bleep] woulda dropped like a sack of taters.

Long story short I used to much gun and took to tracking "way" to quick. Lesson learned!

It's all the Elks fault.

I wish..

Sorry Shaq, I didn't intend to direct the comment to your post. I just said it in a joking way in general to the whole thread.

My mistake did not result in a missed elk but the worry was with me for a couple of days.

Propped my rifle up in the corner of a large Cabela tent before going to sleep. Tremendous winds came down the valley whipping the tent and knocking the rifle to the ground during the night. An earlier hunted had missed a large elk when his turrets had been moved while riding with the rifle in a scabbard. The elk I ultimately killed was the one he had missed on his hunt.

Not expecting the unexpected.

THIS!!!!!


Third morning I'm 10 yards from a bedded bull. Watched him for several minutes before the wind just slightly swirled for a split second. Then he stands up and looks at me for several more seconds before slowly trotting off 15 yards. A cow call turns him around and brings him back - broadside at 10 yards again - for several more minutes as we stare at each other. I could have shot him 1,000 times! Too bad I bought a cow tag because of the sex ratio in that unit.

I went on my first elk hunt in 1978. I didn't hunt elk in 1979. That was the worst mistake that I've ever made regarding hunting elk. I've made lots of minor mistakes since then but I've never again made the mistake of not hunting at all.

KC

This x 1000

Deal breaker..

My worst "mistake" was shooting two elk (Dad and I) at last light, in the rain, several miles from camp on a steep hillside. We fought mud, rain and elk for several hours to get the elk quartered. The elk would start sliding in the mud. Both of us working together we couldn't stop the momentum until we lodged it against a tree.

We arrived back at camp several hours after midnight, soaked and smelling of elk. The next morning my Dad reminded me of his bad back - which he was sure would go out if he packed any elk. I spent the next two days packing out two elk - 12 miles each day.

I'll never shoot two elk at the same time again. At least not at last light, on a steep hill in the rain.

I presume you and your dad's last name is Hemingway.

I've done a few last light of last day killings of elk and whatnot but had better luck than you did getting them out.

Getting invited to a late season Elk hunt, had my bags packed and was out the door for the drive to Colorado, no problem, I always keep a bag packed for such things. I took my new Ruger # 1 that I had rebarreled and reworked for 330 Dakota, Got to where I was going and well the ammo boxes I had at the time were all the same color. I had ammo alright, 338 Winchesters. Lucky for me I had left a box in the truck from a range sighting it a few days earlier. I had 4 rounds of 330 Dakota, I was lucky the gun shot right where I wanted it to, and I had three left to hunt with. Not good, my comfort level is to have at least 10 on hand. My friend had plenty of guns and if I needed to one could be used. It didn't matter much shot a cow on the third day and it was less than 60 yards. I never hunted with that rifle since. Sold it some time ago. Learn a lesson. Decide what rifle you are going to hunt with for the whole season, and put a box or two of ammo in you pre packed bags or some place in your car. Or stick with the common cartridges.

Worst mistakes...I failed to make the shot.


Muzzleloader season 2000: Worked down a hill through some timber hoping to see a bull before he saw me. Jumped a bull right at the edge, down and to the left of starting point. He moved off into the aspens further to the left. Milled around trying to get a glimpse of him when I hear a close up bugle in the direction he went. Seconds later, a throaty bugle answers from below me and to the right, maybe 100 yds or so. I begin moving to my right through the timber. After about 80 yds maybe, I hear the bugle again, but back the way I came and now closer to me on the uphill/downhill aspect of the ridge. So I backtrack 20 yds and see elk heads beginning to filter into the timber ahead of me back at the edge where I originally jumped the bull(I was now at the lower end but kinda in the middle). Several bulls that look like 6pt or so. I stop and watch, next thing ya know they all bail out of the timber downhill and are obscured by intervening trees, brush, ect. I can hear them sidehilling in my direction though. So, by now the adrenaline is flowing madly...I move downhill and to my right a bit.

Elk hair between trees/brush below me...Just a little more...there, that big spruce tree up ahead...right below it is the opening the herd is moving through...get to that tree damn it!!!...you can shoot then...almost there, step out next to the tree, and...ah, [bleep]!!!...g*d d*mn spike bull right there and he nailed me!!...

Spike makes a funky noise and launches like a rocket through the mass of elk walking across the small opening.

Ah chitt, the jig is up!! That 6 point is gonna hit high gear now...Shoot! Shoot!...dang it, his chest is behind a pile of rocks...Shoot! Shoot!...his neck is above the rocks and shootable, cool...can't miss at this range...shoot he's gonna run!!!!!!

BOOOOOOM!!! And the rocks go flying.

The bull and two cows jumped/ran directly ahead and uphill about twenty-five yards and stood there looking around like "WTF was that". I had another smaller spruce between me and them, so I began to reload with shaking hands. Most of the powder got into the barrel. Just started to ram the bullet down the barrel when they got tired of standing around and disappeared over the edge in the direction they were originally traveling. Finished reloading and couldn't find them again. Guess I got bull fever on that one.


Same trip a few days later. Stayed up too late (no, alcohol wasn't the problem...don't drink. BSing about guns and hunting half the night on the other hand) and got up late the next morning. Well after sunup when I got into the area where I might see something. Couldn't believe that a bull would be out in an opening munching grass at 8:30 in the morning. Sure as schitt, I'm walking the trail, rifle slung over my shoulder and what do I see (way too late) as I come around a finger of trees extending into the park...6 point bull with black horns and white tips, head down munching grass like all get out. Course he saw me at about the same time. The rifle came off my shoulder and stayed there, I can tell ya that!


Muzzeloader season 2008:Got into a bunch of elk at close range in timber. Cows almost ran me over, thought I was going to have to move outta the way, but they veered around me at the last second. Bull on the other side of some blown down timber, can't see him but I know I saw horns when I first got there. Finally, 5 point bull and several cows come back down the hill and clear the tangled mess in front of me. I pull up the Knight rifle and BOOOOOOOOM!!! ...Missed that sonofabuck at 25 freakin' yards. I cussed myself for the rest of the trip 'bout that one.

Hunting with a road hunter that was glued to the seat of his bronco. Two separate seasons I drew on the area just out of Yellowstone on the Idaho side for a cow. He didn't even want to stop and glass. Just drive, drive, drive...what a waste of time. I saw 0 elk those years. But boy, I know Eddie Rabbit's and Alabama's greatest hits by heart, even 25 years later!

How about voting for an anti-gun, anti-hunting Muzzie wanting to destroy your country?

Unless you have a quality gun, scope, mounts, and are a real American hunter, rather than a true POS Muzzie lover.

Hiked in a few miles and camped close to our usual opening day spot. We got up at 5am and moved into position. We literally put our sleeping pads down and laid there all day. Not a beast in sight all day. It was cold as hell and we were frozen. Finally at 5 minutes before dark, we got up to head back to camp. We stood up and started stuffing our nick knacks into our rucks. We looked over and there was a dozen elk with 3 legal bulls looking at us from 75 yards away that literally must have rounded the bend in the canyon we were watching 15 seconds after we got up and there was still enough light to shoot. Busted and gone!

I just groaned and headed back for an MRE.

I've had a rifle change zero after being in a scabbard; no scope or mounts involved. An open sighted rifle with a rear sight that had a spring under it. You turned the screw up or down to change the height. Spring kept the sight up against the screw. The scabbard pushed the sight down and the screw turned out (because it was now unloaded) due to the jostling from the horse. Missed a four point bull at 80 yards because of that; shot right over his back. These types of rear sights show up on a lot of guns, best thing to do is locktite them, but it can make changing the zero a bitch, depending on how much glue one puts in there.

Not shooting the spike and holding out for a bigger bull....then going home empty-handed. Only did that once....then 2 6x6 bulls in consecutive years.

1. Loosing focus during midday in the dark timber. Busted them out of there beds.
2. Wind, not keeping it in my face
3. Forgetting my sleeping bag. Even early september nights get pretty cool at 9k feet. Hard to get a good nights rest.

Moving away from a state that actually has elk hunting. And one of the best at that (Arizona)!!!

Not a road hunter, but I am sure I have driven past more elk than I will ever see out in the open...

More than once I have been up at 0400, driven up the forest road and hiked for an hour or two, then hit the previously driven road only to come across elk tracks obliterating my tire tracks.

Made the usual mistakes, been scented, rushed through bedding areas, distracted hiking rather than hunting, misses at close range, bumped scopes, etc.

I always say "that is why it is called hunting, not killing."

Responded earlier about getting three animals down 3 miles from the truck. After some thought, I've decided the worst mistake I've made was not going at all, something that has happened maybe twice since 1982 when I got started.

Not actually Elk hunting, but on our way to Colorado to hunt Elkone November, I was driving and we would alternate drivers when we switched gas tanks,a chevy with saddle tanks. We stopped on the backside of the Baker Grade outside of the California/ Nevada state line,walked around the front of the truck when we changed drivers because we were pulling a utility trailer. Unbeknown to us was that my brother who was "asleep" in the campershell had gotten out for a pitstop, and we drove off and left him,Bare foot, levis, t shirt and light windbreaker, didn't realize it untill we reached Las Vegas for a gas fill up. We turned around and went back to where we had switched drivers and found him curled up on a big flat rock trying to keep warm. Do I need to tell you he wasn't very happy....

sharing my best spots with what I thought were good people

not befriending someone who is a good elk hunter and who has a good place to hunt elk.

The worst mistake that anyone can make on a hunting trip is--TO FORGET THE TOILET PAPER.