My first elk story
I set out this past weekend with a Starkey cow tag and high hopes of killing my first elk. I had invited an experienced friend for some help, and told him we'd split it if I managed to score.
We hunted all day Saturday with no sighting or fresh sign. On Sunday morning the snow started falling as we walked away from the truck. About 1/2 mile into the hunt, my buddy spotted a couple of cows on the hillside above us, about 400 yards away moving slowly uphill. We decided to go around and top the ridge to maybe intercept them or at least cut their tracks up on top. By the time we got to the top, there was at least 2 inches of fresh snow and it was still falling pretty heavily. Absolutely beautiful. We started back along the ridge towards the area we had spotted the animals, maybe an hour had gone by. We had open area on our right and a series of pine thickets along the top. I suppose we had gone about 300 yards, stopping to glass a few times when we found VERY fresh tracks right along the top, walking the same direction we were. Now things were getting exciting. After a few minutes of meticulously glassing the pine thicket ahead of us, my partner motions me over, and sure enough there she is between a couple of trees, feeding slowly away from us about 150 yds away and totally unaware of our presence. I didn't have a clean shot at that point, but we managed to stalk to within about 80 yards and I dropped to one knee and put the scope on the animal. There was a small tree covering her vital area and I was having a hard time getting the crosshairs to settle down. I didn't want to make a bad shot so I sat there for about 20 seconds or so, trying to calm down and hoping she'd step forward a few feet. I let out a deep breath and she brought her head up took a step back, away from the little tree and presented a near perfect broadside angle. The crosshairs settled behind the shoulder and I squeezed.
At the shot the elk bolted and went straight over the side. When we got to the area she had been standing, there was a modest amount of bright red blood in the snow...a hit for sure! The blood trail (more like spray now) increased as we followed it down the hill about 60 yards and there she was, down against a tree, dead. What a magnificent animal! Neither one of us spoke as I stared at it for about 5 minutes in awe, and relief that I had made a clean kill. The feeling is hard to describe but I think you know what I'm talking about.
Of course, now the real work begins and I won't bore you with the details but I will say that bringing my friend along was a wise decision...I knew it would be a chore but I had underestimated how much work it would be to get 400lbs of elk 3/4 of a mile in steep terrain, even if it was mostly downhill. I'm still sore 2 days later!
Anyway, hope you enjoyed the story. I'm not after congratulations or anything, just wanted to share with fellow hunters. Cheers
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Never play leapfrog with a unicorn.
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Ifishsum
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