Cascade Elk.....(pics) - Scoring Update 12-18

[nitrobass]

OK since we cant wait for tailchasers story to unfold I'll just butt in with one of my own.

I hunted the opening few days near Ukiah. Got into a few elk but got into even more hunters. Opening day I waited in a saddle for other hunters to move something by me. A cow came trotting by at 15 yards, and a few other cows came sneaking through. For three days of hunting my party of 4 brought home nothing. One took a shot at a cow and that was that. I got into elk each time out and scouted out some potential wallows so I was pumped for the rut.

We went back for Sept 12-20th to the same area and got really lucky with the weather. First morning the weather was near 30 with a hard frost on the ground and the wind howling. At 7000 feet its a serious form of cold. The first morning back found me hunting by myself down the top of a ridgeline with the intention of calling into some areas that held them a couple weeks earlier. Unfortunatly my first spot had another hunter walking ahead of me. I backtracked a quarter mile and started down another ridge with my eyes watering and my hands in my pockets. As I eased down the ridge I saw the body of an elk about 40 yards away with its head behind some trees. I ducked behind a small tree, knocked an arrow, and peeked around the bush with my rangefinder. I ranged it right at 40 yards but still couldnt tell what it was which was tough because the whole dang ribcage was there calling my name. The elk ripped off a bugle and started walking to my left. It was a decent 5 point and it had no idea I was there. I drew on him and tracked him as he walked off. Naturally I didnt have a reed in to stop him with so I just held the pin on him and hoped he would stop. He didnt. After he walked over the crest of the ridge I cussed, moved up on him about 20 yards, and dug out that little demon of a call everyone's been talking about...the Hoochie Mama. I hit a few notes with it and nothing. So I got out my bread and butter cow call and let out a few loud mews, really loud because of the wind. 3 bugles later he was on his way. Right at 7AM with the sun cresting the Elkhorns here comes this tall skinny 5point rack coming over the ridgetop towards me. He just kept walking and bugling these pretty 3 note salutes. I picked a window and drew and waited. Blame it on the watery eyes, numb fingers, or a bit of excitement but I didnt see a tiny twig in the middle of my shooting lane, right in front of the bull. The arrow deflected hard left and hit him downward right on the shoulder blade. No penetration to speak of. I sat down and pretty much wanted to toss the bow in the bushes.

In the following couple of days I took my dad around and tried to get him a bull.

With sign like this you'd expect to hear plenty of screamers, but they were being pretty quiet.

My dad's 58 and I'm hesitant taking him into a few places so we hunted the same group of bulls for 3 days because they were in pretty hospitable country but I definitely had intentions of looking into some distant canyons. My dad managed to get a shot at a funny looking 3point and a spike but no success. With the end of the trip in sight and no tags filled we were getting pretty antsy. During the middle of the week it snowed all day long and no critters were moving, other than deer. We decided to not hit the brush that day and went looking at deer in some burned areas. Deer were everywhere! My dad shot at a big forkie and missed, only to have a 4 point bull elk come flying out of the bushes behind it. Last time we saw it I'm thinking it was nearing the town of Granite, or somewhere along that way. What that elk was doing by himself in that burn I have no idea. Later in the day my dad shot a small muley buck. It was a relief to get a tag punched and have something hanging.

The last couple of days I went hardcore style and stayed out all day long, hiking until I couldnt hike anymore. I called in 2 more bulls and couldnt get shots at either. The last one came charging at my first bugle and I got caught with my pants down. By the time I got an arrow pointed in his direction he made my wind and took off. The woods dried out really fast.

The last day we slept in and went looking for deer. I got a little impatient and shot the first buck I saw, a monster forked horn with maybe 10 inch horns? [img]graemlins/dork.gif[/img] Ah well, he'll eat well. We made the long drive back home along I-84 in some serious wind that had the trailer blowing all over the road. Pretty hairy.

Saturday I stayed home and cut up the deer and watched the Ducks whoop on Michigan. Not a bad day at all. With all my stuff put away and the couch feeling pretty good I was content to watch a litle football and lick my wounds and get ready to chase the elk hard in the snow. A buddy called that was equally bored and we decided to hike into some road closures bordering the 3 Sisters Wilderness, an area my buddy deer hunted a long time ago. This was sunday the 20th or so.

A couple hours before light we were hiking back into some nice looking areas with my bugling quite a bit. No answers. My buddy doesnt elk hunt so he was along to carry my backpack. Friends like that are great! :grin:

After covering a few quick miles and no responses to the calls we decided to move higher in elevation. As I drove up the main road I noticed a few sets of tracks crossing. We got out to inspect and they looked fresh...REAL fresh. Also there was a fresh looking rub right there that helped get the juices flowing. The tracks headed into the heart of the wilderness, right towards middle Sister. I GPS'd the truck and started off after them. We immediatly got into a bunch of bear grass which makes tracking next to impossible. I lost the tracks lots of times, and made wide circles to find them again. All the while I was bugling and thinking of that rub.

We stayed on their trail for over an hour and they were heading to the top of the biggest mountain in the area. I figured they would bed on top, or on the north slope part of it. I had long lost the tracks and decided to hike to the top of the mountain for the hell of it(also to see if my buddy's legs could take it :grin: ). We crested the ridge and it was about as pretty of a sight as I've ever seen. All three sisters seemingly RIGHT in front of me, with snow and everything on them. All that was between us was a super steep dropoff and a nice bench in between. I was going to dig out the camera and take a pic but decided to let off one last bugle.

An elk answered way down the steep ridge. It was faint but there was no mistaking it. My buddy gave me a "we arent going down there are we?" type of look and off we went. The bull answered a few times but wasnt interested in coming up that hill. From all the tracks we'd seen I assumed he had quite a few cows with him. The wind(which has been really shifty all year) was blowing hard up hill. It was 10AM and with the morning thermal gone the wind would be great the rest of the afternoon. I dropped down(or slid down) about 200 yards and tried my magical cow call again. Nothing. I let off a pretty weak bugle and nothing. I waited a couple minutes and screamed one at him and he answered that, but wasnt budging. I figured we were about 200 yards from his last call. I checked the wind for about the 75th time and snuck in another 75 yards. This time I started with a rockin' bugle and he shot back an answer. I knocked an arrow and waited. Nothing. I grabbed a big limb and started really raking up the tree I was standing next to, breaking limbs and hitting rocks. A few screaming bugles completed the scene. He shot back another bugle and I could tell he was closer.

My buddy was hiding behind a downed log we were kneeling next to. I whispered to him "He's coming...we're going to get this one". I'm not sure if he or I believed it but its good to reassure yourself sometimes.

Some cracking in the woods ahead of me on this steep ridge gave away his spot. My buddy used my rangefinder and told me the first opening was 16 yards away. Right after that I could see a blond body and horns in the sunlight, headed for my opening. The bull then sidehilled up to get my scent and never made it in my shooting lane. With the hill and steep and brushy as it was the shooting lanes were really hard to find. Then the game time decision that put this bull down. I looked straight up the hill and saw a lane he'd walk through. The bull was behind lots of brush on a steady walk and was headed right for the lane. I hopped on the log we were kneeling next to, drew back, and walked down the buckskin log until I could see the lane. I had a fir tree right above me that I couldnt shoot through to save my life. I took one more step, bent over and found a lane through the tree, and saw this enormous head come through the window. My 30 yard pin settled on his ribcage as he moved through the lane. Thwack! The arrow went so fast we couldnt see it. The bull lurched forward about 10 feet and stood there. I couldnt see it but heard blood pouring on the ground like a hose. I cow called and knocked another arrow to shoot again. About then his hind end wavered a bit and he tried to run back to the herd. We heard a couple broken limbs, then the sounds of him crashing down and sliding down the hill. Then silence. Anyone who's bowhunted knows the raw emotion of being in a situation like this. You go from everything happening at once to total silence, not even a bird.

I looked at my buddy and we both knew he was down. I never really got much of a look at his antlers but the head was bigger than any elk I've seen. We went to where we last saw him and tracked blood for about 5 feet then there he was, laying down the hill.


Now the real tough part. My packboard, elk bags, and heavy duty saw was in my trailer parked at my dad's place in Corvallis. We had 2 knives, 5 cheapo game bags, and a T handled saw to quarter this thing. We got him cleaned and caped and headed to a phone to make some calls. We got ahold of his mom who located some pack boards and rope. I got ahold of my boss and got Monday off. When we finally got everything we headed back up there and got to work packing this thing out. This is the first time I've ever had to bone out a ribcage and leave it behind but it was just too much for us to deal with. It ended up being about a mile or so from the nearest road which wasnt too bad, but this mile pack out just about did us in. Our last pack out came in almost total darkness. We got back to town at 11pm.

I've been around a lot of dead elk but this one takes the cake, really a special animal. 7x6 antlers, awesome mass, 44 inches wide, and just a stud of a bull. The taxidermist estimated him at 8-9 years old. Best guess on weight was 1000-1200 pounds.

Yesterday for the last day of the season I took my dad, his buddy, and his kid up in our usual stomping grounds near Oakridge. We surrounded a big herd and they got all kinds of good looks. The kid I was dragging around got two good shots and blew them both, and my dad and his buddy each let arrows fly. We really let the elk off the hook.

Now the thoughts turn to ducks, steelhead, and helping some buddies chase down their elk during the late season. Thanks to everyone giving reports, hope your seasons finished up strong.
___________________________________________

Well it made it in P&Y but it sure was close. Deductions, deductions, deductions! The bull is missing a tine on its right side, and has two sticker points on the brow tines that were subtracted. Also some other symmetrical flaws were deducted. The missing tine alone cost it around 30 inches. It ended up being 47 wide, and the mass really helped the scoring. It will go in right at 268 inches, with a gross of 304.

__________________________________________________

[ 12-18-2003, 12:50 PM: Message edited by: nitrobass ]

[TheRogue]

One Word............WOW!!!!!!

TR

[stick flicker]

Thanks for sharing the awsomw pics and story. [img]graemlins/applause.gif[/img]

[crabbait]

Look at the size of that foreleg! That is a horse. Nice job.

[blacktail]

Great job! [img]graemlins/applause.gif[/img]

Mike

[SeanD]

WOW! That is an awsome bull! Congratulations, thanks for posting the pics and story.

[ 09-29-2003, 07:37 PM: Message edited by: SeanD ]

[Bait O' Eggs]

WOW!! Very nice bull.

[tag-a-long]

Good show indeed!!!!!!!!

[novice]

Great stories.
Thanks

[MarlinMark]

Way to go!!

Mark

[skein]

That is a HUNTING STORY! Congratulations on a beautiful bull - and on a great hunt. Wow. I felt as if I was there.

Honey, you know that addition on the house you've been wanting? You know, the one with the vaulted ceiling? Well, I think maybe it's time to go ahead on it....

:grin:

Skein

[Mello-Yello]

Most impressive Nitro! Not only an absolutely fantastic bull, but an equally fantastic story to go with it. I especially liked your decision to move when you needed to for the shot. Anyone that's been in that situation knows how hard it is to do anything for fear of blowing their cover. Sometimes you gotta take that chance.

I'll be real interested to see how he scores, and I'd agree, 1,000 - 1,200 lbs. A monster indeed.

I shot a real big bodied Roosevelt 10 yrs ago and we ended up with 400+ lbs. of packaged meat. You'd better have a big freezer!
[img]graemlins/applause.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/applause.gif[/img]

M-Y

[Kentucky Hog Hunter]

Thats what I'm talking about....

Congrats on a great hunt!!!!

[glowball]

Thats awesome!!! Congratulations on your successful hunt.

[Bill Monroe]

Terrific story! Thanks for it all...(I had to cheat and scroll down to the end after reading about your windy trip home...)

[SLEDDER]

WOW! your story made my morning. That is a bull of a lifetime.

[Gun Rod Bow]

WTG NB

[pdxkevin]

Very nice. That is one sweet bull. Congrats. Thanks for posting the phots and story.

[blackdog]

nitrobass - SWEET BULL!!! I think everyone that's ever bowhunted for elk is very jealous after reading of your encounter. Congratulations!

also, sent you a PM.

[ 09-30-2003, 08:02 AM: Message edited by: blackdog ]

[greenbuttskunk]

Now THAT'S what a bow hunt for elk is all about!
Great job!
GBS

[nookerdude]

Holy Mackerel NB! - GREAT story and pics - what a bull that is!!

As skein said "felt as if I was there".

[Hagen]

one word- - - WOW. [img]graemlins/applause.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/applause.gif[/img]
Nice bull nitro.

[Hooker]

Nice bull!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[jokester]

That's a SWEET bull and a killer story (no pun intended :grin: ) to go with it. Nice job Nitro!!!

[tailchaser]

Watch out what he tells you blackdog, he's a UO grad! :grin:

tc

[nitrobass]

I'm sure the general student population would be really proud of me about now!!

I think in my UO days I can count the number of students I met that hunted on one hand. A few fishermen though they were mostly the orvis types.

[Norski]

Now thats ONE BIG ELK CONGRAT THANKS FOR SHARING

WHERE DID YOU GET IT?? I WANT TO GO THERE.

[nitrobass]

That elk was killed in 3 Sisters Wilderness, somewhere near the old McKenzie pass. Have at it!




I dont mind telling people where I shot it because that wilderness is a "day here day there" place - definitely not a real honey hole of a spot. I saw very little old sign telling me elk hung in there. Wilderness elk are pretty tough to hunt but obviously there's some good ones running around in there.

[Radke]

I've done a bit of bowhunting in the Cascades, one thing I've always wondered about were the yellow-jackets (always a problem). When you cleaned out that beast, how much of a problem were they? They have never bothered me too much in eastern Or, or the coast, but they are terrible in the cascades.

[nitrobass]

The yellowjackets were terrible. In general they are always a problem hunting the cascades. When I was younger I stepped on lots of nests and got hammered pretty bad so these days I keep a bit of an eye out for them. On this elk we only got stung once but there were always dozens of them swarming us.

I've seen them bad over east too but I've also seen areas over there where the bees were almost nonexistent. Unfortunately I cant seem to kill one in those areas. [img]graemlins/dork.gif[/img]

[KingFisher85]

Nice bull elk! Good lookin pictures too!

[Birdnest]

A little late, but HOLY COW, I mean BULL. What an incredible animal. Reading your story I have no doubt that every detail of that hunt will be forever burned into your memory. Congrats.

Joe

[Beer Waggin]

Very nice Bull!!

I've spent many a seasons chansing elk, but have never been fortunate enough to run into something like that!

[ 10-05-2003, 03:19 PM: Message edited by: NorRivDave ]

[seadog]

Hey Nitro are you sure that is not a Clydesdale with antlers? I just can't get over the size of the body on that bull! :shocked: That is huge!! Congratulations, way to go.

[id. painter]

Congrats. You have killed the best bull you will ever get . Most likely.
I killed my big bull in 83. I still relive the experience often. I still look at the rack with pride and wonder,, and I cant help but reach up and feel the mass. Still thrills me 20 years later. Congrats on the bull of a life time. id. painter

[sliverpicker]

Congratulations nitrobass! [img]graemlins/applause.gif[/img]

It doesn't really matter if it makes "the book", as long as it makes "your book".

How's it eating, very tuff? My hunting partner killed a 325 6x6 a couple years ago. Most of it got the crockpot treatment.

sliverpicker

[Mello-Yello]

Don't be dissappointed by the score Nitro. It's still a monster bull by all accounts. Deductions can be hard to swallow once you tally up the scores.

Or...look at it this way. You still had 43" to play with. It was so freeking big, that you could have cut off an eye guard on each side and still made book.

[nitrobass]

I'm definitely stoked to get it in. It was kind of weird listening to someone tear it down but thats the scoring game. In the end its a special animal, and I still look at the rack 3-4 times a week.

[nitrobass]

TTT

[fishuntr2]

Nitro...from the pics that rack looked to me to be better than 350. What kind of mount did you do? Jasons elk is gonna be our first european mount, should be done soon and I will try and post a pic. Again...NICE BULL.

[stickflicker]

I hunt the silver butte area over there on the eastside near the towerMt summit fire is that where you guys hunt for deer?I called in a bull over off of silver butte that my buddy shot tha scored 282 gross

[nitrobass]

We hunted silver butte a few times but there were lots of people hunting the trails. Saw one nice 5x5 that came out of there. That country can get pretty hairy down on the breaks. One of our guys killed a cow near there this year.

[SHOUGALNITE]