Hunting Reports Week 9/27 - 10/3

Rauly · 09-27-2003, 03:50 PM

Everyone ready for deer season to start?

Rauly

Crayfin · 09-27-2003, 06:16 PM

Just got back from Eastern Oregon--extremely tough hunting out there considering the weather. Hunted SE Oregon actually. Bugled in a nice 5x5 on Saturday and my brother (Crayfin69)killed a whooper on Thursday (pictures forthcoming) I think he'll go 315 P&Y.

Very little activity all and all--I personally only saw 7 elk, but 4 of them were bulls with 2 of them being nice ones

So............2 5 points and 1 6 point for seven tags was the best we could muster!

Crayfin OUT!!!

MikeT · 09-28-2003, 07:27 PM

I took my nephew Dave out to Lewis and Clark NWR today for the youth hunt. This was his first ever hunting experience. He passed the hunter safety course just last Wed.

We launched the Aqua Pods at around 7am and paddled out to an area I'd scouted a couple weeks ago, and set up a dozen decoys. Dave got quite a few chances early, and managed to bag two. Around 10:30 the tide started in so we picked up and moved out to a grassy point that the birds cross on their route to a feeding area. It was hot and heavy for an hour or two, and he bagged four more. Couldn't get that final bird, but we had a great day regardless. Final score: two mallards, three teal, and one widgeon.
We both had a ball, and I think I've got myself a new duck hunting partner.
Check out the photo: Dave's birds
Mike

[ 09-28-2003, 08:32 PM: Message edited by: MikeT ]

Gary Miller · 09-29-2003, 06:10 AM

Mike T. - Great story and pic!!! I spent the weekend shooting Ducks with my son on the eastside and we both had a "Blast". Blake shot quick limits each day of mostly Mallards. My son, Blake, passed his Hunters safety and goose test when he was 8 years old and we both look forward to the youth hunt each year. Its great to have to whole marsh just for the kids.

Lured In · 09-29-2003, 07:06 AM

Spent 5.5 hours yesterday morning pushing brush for pheasants at Sauvie. Final result, 1 up - 1 down. A fair bit of shooting for being the day after Saturday, just not much for us. Rumor has it they are planting more often this year, which seems possible given the amount of shooting yesterday.

Only two more weeks until the Duck opener.

greenbuttskunk · 09-29-2003, 07:27 AM

Hunted out near Ukiah all weekend. Very SLOW!
hunted out of tree stands over beds both monings. I was so bored, I watch a timber tiger gather pine cones. lost count at about 20. How's that for fun!!!! Nothing seemed to bugle, and we only saw 2 cows running from us. Overall, it's been very slow this whole season. Seems like fewer bulls in gereral, much less bugling. We did get into some grouse while hunting along some creek trails at evening, that was fun. Hope others did better than we did. May hunt the late season, break out the camo rain gear.GBS

birdhunter · 09-29-2003, 07:47 AM

Went out Sunday morning outside of Tiller. Scouting some for a big bear I'd been hearing rumors about. Lots of sign, but no bruin. Saw a few birds. Busted up one covey of mt. quail and went 4 for 4. Jumped one other grouse, but that was about it. Tons of wildlife as always; deer, turkey, elk, gray fox, coyotes and the like.

Bait O' Eggs · 09-29-2003, 08:32 AM

What a great last weekend of bow hunting. I decided to go to a new area I have been hearing about from a friend and see if the elk were as thick as he describes.

After a late start, re-routing up 84 due to HWY 26 being closed Friday afternoon, and a 6 1/2 hour trip east we arrive just in time for a couple hours sleep.

I hunted with a friend and his dad. Saturday morning we walk up to a view point and can see a herd of about 20 elk with a couple branch bulls. Another bull bugling in the bottom of the canyon we couldnt see. We split up and my friend dives in the bottom to chase the bugler and his dad and I spend an hour getting around the ridge to where the elk were we spotted. Before we get there my friend calls and he can see another herd of 10 elk with a branch bull just below the ridge where we have to walk to get to the herd or 20 we were initially after. We get around to the first place we can see from on the far ridge and I hold up short in the trees and start to glass the openings below us, my friends dad walks right out in the opening and starts to blow his cow call before he pulls his head out ........

He then sees the herd at about 150 yards that were just alerted to our position due to his cow calling, and standing out in the opening there wasnt much left to do but watch them go. A nice 4 point and a few cows in my opinion are gone. My friends dad wants to chase this herd so in pursuit he goes. I go on down the ridge to where the initial herd of 20 was spotted. I get to about where I figured they would have crossed the ridge and let out a couple cow calls (from a concealed position

) A bull bugles about 250 yards over the ridge, then a second one bugles at about 100 yards in the timber. I slip in and cow call a couple more times and they both bugle out there a couple hundred yards. In no time one of the bulls comes back and is almost in sight (maybe 60 yards) but I cant see him. He is making all kinds of grunting sounds. Sounded like a nasty old man telling his woman to get over here or something. The herd moved down the ridge away from me, I kept in pursuit trying my best to sound like an elk. I get a call on the radio from my friends dad that he just took a shot at 50 yards, he intercepted another herd a couple hundred yards after I left him, he shot high and missed at a 4 point. With the radio chatter my friend reports he just ran the bugling elk in the bottom he went after. He got within 50 yards could see horns thru the brush but couldnt get a shot at the bull. I keep in pursuit of my herd and finally run them hard without seeing an elk but being close several times. I continue down into the canyon and run another herd a couple hours later that I didnt know was in the area until they ran. That evening I get back to the original viewpoint and watch another herd of 8 with a spike feed across the hill where the first herd of 20 was earlier in the day.

Sunday I commit to the hill the herd with the spike fed across and my friend and his dad go down the ridge prior because near dark the night before they had a couple bulls bugling off the back side of it. I get down to where I can see, and the first herd got spoiled the day prior. No elk are out feeding. I can glass quite a bit of country from this point and could not see an elk. No elk will answer a bugle. I am getting kind of depressed at this time, Just a few hours earlier I thought I had found elk mecca and now the hole appeared vacant. I work down the ridge about 500 yards and I got 2 bugles off the backside of the ridge that were so far away and faint I couldnt really locate where they were coming from. I get back on the front side of the ridge and bugle, a herd of cows start chirping about 400 yards below me. I slip down the ridge about 100 yards and bugle again. A bull answers in the bottom and some cows and calves are going crazy with chirping. My friend on the ridge across from me heard the bugle and decided to drop into the canyon I was headed in, rather than go off the backside of the ridge he was on. About then a cow and a calf decide they liked my bugle and they are going to come introduce themselves. Up the hill they come across a big opening right at me and my hunting buddy that got the 3 point the opening weekend who was tagging along with camcorder to film my kill

We are behind a half dozen christmas trees with nowhere to go and this cow and calf are going to ruin this hunt. The cow and calf are chirping up a storm and hot footing it our way. My buddy is filming this event over my shoulder and the cow walks up inside 5 yards before she sees us. She jumps 3 feet to the side and freezes. We don’t move, I have an arrow knocked but have no desire to kill a cow. The cow walks over to about 15 yards and stands broadside waiting for her calf to come to her. The calf is spooked and wont walk thru where the cow just did. The cow is waiting for her calf and this stand off last for about 3 minutes. The footage on the camcorder looked pretty cool when the cows eyes got as big as saucers :shocked: and she jumped sideways when she saw us. They finally run and thankfully they don’t spook the herd still down the hill. We slip down the hill and get within 80 yards of the bulls cows but the bull is across the bottom a ways and he is bugling up a storm. We work our way around a bunch of cows we saw and try to get between him and his cows. I don’t know if the cows smelled us, or saw us, but they ran and took the bull with him after we were about where we wanted to get. The bull is bugling and leaving and we our seeing our last chance at a bull slipping away as we were only going to hunt a half a day so we can get home at a reasonable hour. A few minutes later my friend coming down the ridge from the other side of the canyon is on the radio whooping it up. “Double lung, 5point, huge bull, 20 yards,..........” We get across to where he is and he is shaking like it was freezing out and he had no shirt on, what an excited boy. His first year of bow hunting and he had the herd single file by him. He let 10 cows go, a spike and then the 5 point following walks thru, he is at full draw while the whole herd moved by. He says he had every sight pin in the elks body when he let it go. We look for the arrow and nothing. We follow tracks and no blood. We go 50 yards before we find one drop. A half mile later we had found enough blood to maybe fill a thimble. We finally lost the track and couldnt find any more blood after 3 hours and the better part of a mile. There had been so many elk in the area there were fresh tracks everywhere. I know he didnt hit this elk in the lungs.

He did not see the arrow fly, he did not see it hit the elk. I don’t know where he hit the elk but it was a flesh wound at best. The blood drops were far and few between. We spent the day trying to track the bull and there was just nothing to track. I get that sick feeling when somebody sticks a bull and doesnt get it.

I got home late and tired last night.

I will be back in this canyon to hunt again.

I dont think I have ever hunted an area that had so many elk in it. The extra 1500 feet of elevation was a killer, we have been hunting between 5000 and 6000 feet but its nothing I wouldnt get use to.

Lured In · 09-29-2003, 10:40 AM

Great story BOE and I am sure that hunt will provide memories long past when the meat would have been gone.

Gun Rod Bow · 09-29-2003, 12:53 PM

Holy Smokies Nitro Bass!!! That is a whopper.

Gary Miller on IFISH. I can't believe the lurker posted :shocked:

Well, for me it's "the year of the miss". Three years ago, in four consecutive arrows between fall and spring I killed a buck, a bull, a bear and a turkey. I was thinking, "I got this bow huntin' down" [img]graemlins/stupid.gif[/img]

Man, this was not the year for me to kill anything (but the ever present bear)

First of all, of 4 of us that hunted this year, 1 killed a bull, 3 killed bears. The one that killed a bull this year, killed a bear last year. Sheesh, not a big study group, but sure seems to be alot of bears.

I took off Thursday PM for the last few days of elking. Went solo, got into a hot bull bugling Thursday night, running at each other, got within 100 yds, held up my bow and couldn't see my pins, game clock ran out.

Friday morning, 1 hr before daylight, no bugles. Slip in to the spot where I think they'll be, and just as I'm looking for my set up, I bump a bull. I got a chuckler going but he wouldn't move and he was over a fence line that I wont cross.

I'm bumbling back toward my truck and walk right into a dry heifer. (unlike BOE, I was ready for some meat, horns or no) She jumps a little and I coax her back with the call. Sets up a good clear broadside, I let fly and she ducked the arrow

I could've shot lower, didn't factor the down slope.

I sat on a water hole all afternoon and watched beef and wild horses come and go.

I decided to go back to one of my old rifle hunting haunts, pulled in at 12:00 midnight. Had a crisis of ambition the next morning and finally drug out for a walk. Had a bull bugling me from the bottom of a hole, but he lost interest, and I decided to come after him from below in the afternoon. Nothing Sat pm but more miles, deadfalls and sweat.

Sunday morning, got up early and got into an old Honey Hole. 5 bulls talking, no one else around, talked to a couple, one seems pretty interested in the cow talk but starts to move off. I take off and dog him and give a few bugles, he fires back. I close in and bugle/cow call within 100 yds of him and he's ****ed, he comes back for some Whup Ass and comes in just like in the videos to 30 yds. I draw, lean out, he's broadside with a deadfall completely covering his ribs...no shot. I stopped him again at 50, but he was facing away and I wasn't gonna take a bad shot on a herd bull (he had about 20 cows) Beautiful 6X6 bull with "crown points" on both sides, just like a Red Deer.

I'm stumbling back and figure well, nice finish, no elk, guess I'll head home. I get another response and I'm back after elk. Closing on the bugler, he's moving, I bust about 6 elk that were bedded in dark timber. I go sit down in the timber and just reflect on the season, ready to leave get up and take about 3 steps and I'm looking at an elk. I freeze, it's a spike (freezer trophy!)takes about 10 minutes of cow calling once ina while and he gives me a pure broadside in the only lane I could see. I let fly a perfect arrow, and just as it gets to him, I see the fletches kick :whazzup: but I hear the arrow strike. I watch as he walks away and get a good mark on his path. I look with my glasses and cant see anything that would deflect the arrow. I'm sure he's down, it was 4" off his elbow, had to be a good shot...I think...I'm pretty sure. After 30 minutes, I slip up, no blood in his trail, found my arrow with just a smear of blood 2" long, at the tip, not on both sides. I find a 3/4" diameter staub about 3' high right where he was standing. Just enough deflection to cause the arrow to slice but not penetrate.

I've shot (over) 2 bucks and shot at 3 elk, (One ducked, the other two clipped branches), I had a fun season, saw alot of game, spent alot of time close to elk, hunted without hardly seeing another hunter. I guess I'll be buying some beef, and eating lots of salmon.

Saw alot of branch racks in rigs coming home.

Good luck rifle hunters.

Lured In · 09-29-2003, 02:34 PM

GRB...that's one heck of a season in my book.

Thanks for sharing.

nitrobass · 09-29-2003, 11:50 PM

Bugled in this one in the 3 Sisters Wilderness last sunday. Started tracking the herd around 8am and finally got him to answer around 10. After a few set ups and lots of calling he finally came in for a look. At 25 yards the arrow shot right through him. He went only a few yards and that was it. The taxidermist estimated him at 8-9 years old. For a Cascades elk this one is a whopper! I'll post a story of the hunt with more pics when my computer gets fixed.

[ 09-29-2003, 05:00 PM: Message edited by: nitrobass ]

Reel Crazy · 09-30-2003, 12:01 AM

Had a great time with the kids this weekend hunting geese. They got limits both days and the clay shooting paid off. They all shot very well. This was some of the boys' first goose hunt. These were taken off stateline near Klamath.good memories for all

Gun Rod Bow · 09-30-2003, 05:47 AM

Hey,

Looks like "Guideface" did OK for yah. Where's the bear?

Reel Crazy · 09-30-2003, 05:52 AM

The " AFB" is kinda in the same situation as yours.

Bait Bucket · 10-02-2003, 06:55 PM

I need to change things. The Thunderbirds and Jungle Chickens I've been hunting since the season came in have gotten wilder and are starting to flush a little wide. I'll hold off for a couple of weeks and leave the woods to the deer hunters. But when I return I'll tighten the chokes some to probably I/C and LMOD and maybe change to size 6 shot. I killed two Thunderbirds this morning but missed a few good shots so no joy with a limit. :depressed: Most birds flushed out of range.

You deer hunters have fun out there and be safe.

[ 10-02-2003, 08:08 PM: Message edited by: Bait Bucket ]

Ryan Pultz · 10-04-2003, 09:26 AM

Yuo all keep the stories comming I dont get to go hunting this year! i might go after some Yotes this winter after new year but between work and lack of Cash flow no deer or elk for me this year.